The coffee company that’s living out a saint’s mission

In its mission work, Guadalupe Roastery lives out the words of Catherine of Siena.

Meet Guadalupe Roastery, the coffee company that’s making a big impact. The “coffee for the common good” has quite a remarkable story that started when founder Brad Fassbender went door to door selling coffee to fund his mission trip to Honduras. While there, he took a job as a bean picker on a local coffee farm. It was from these humble beginnings that Brad’s dream to own a coffee cooperative to provide jobs and a living wage for farmers was born.

In 2015 his dream was realized. and it’s a remarkable story of a conscientious company whose main desire is to reconnect consumers and producers and help support farming communities to live out their personal dignity. Guadalupe Roastery, through their their success, has been able to give back to farming communities by partnering with missions like Guadalupe Gardens.

Guadalupe Gardens was founded by Paul Rush, a lay Catholic missionary whose approach in mission work is to look at every visitor to the gardens as a future missionary. Due to the incredible needs in Nicaragua, the mission’s hope is that when visitors come to Guadalupe Gardens, they will be deeply touched and compelled to respond with their own personal gifts and talents to serve. The mission goes by the motto of St Catherine of Siena: “Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”

GUADALUPE ROASTERY,BRAD FASSBENDER — Coffee bean farmers, Blanca, Lucio, and Felicito in Nicaragua

By purchasing from Guadalupe Roastery you directly give your support to families, farmers, and Guadalupe Gardens. The Roastery’s most generous program is their coffee club, which for just $13.95 a month delivers one pound of coffee to your door with a portion of your purchase going to a non-profit of your choice — such as Mary’s Meals, Guadalupe Gardens, Fight the New Drug, Fraternus, JP2 project, and Lifeteen.

You can listen to Brad Fassbender and Andrew Natali, who joined the team in 2016, talk about the roastery and their mission work on the Catholic Hipster podcast and the Catholic Coaster podcast, as well as follow them on Twitter and Instagram, for wonderful photography by Travis Ratcliff.

Editor’s note: The roastery just purchased the entire 2018 harvest from their family farm partners in Nicaragua, and currently have a special offer: You can buy 3 lbs of single farm, single origin, organic Nicaraguan coffee for $35, plus free shipping.