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About
Us We (Mary Whitney and husband John Barker) have been roasting green coffee beans for years, keeping careful records. The coffee beans are purchased in burlap bags the way they are shipped from producers. Coffees from the Americas are shipped in 70 kilogram (152 pounds) bags; the rest of the world ships theirs in 60 kilogram (132 pounds) bags. We buy from wholesalers/importers who sell quality green beans, some of them direct trade and/or organic. “SHaBean” our roastery name is an invented word/name, now registered. In the Americas many high-end, single-source beans have after the name of the specialty coffee the upper case letters (SHB). SHB stands for Strictly Hard Bean. The SHB tells the purchaser that the beans have grown slowly at high altitudes and have developed intense flavours. One also sees the designation (SHG) on these specialty coffees which stands for Strictly High Grown. But we have not yet invented a word from SHG. |
Mary Whitney and husband John Barker who does what he is told at least most of the time!  |
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1950's coffee bag from Mary's
Uncle Ralph Sweet's Store
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Our Trip to Guatemala Antigua In February 2019 Mary and John visited Antigua Guatemala, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and important to us an outstanding high-end coffee growing area. The highlight of our trip was a visit to the coffee farm of Juan Carlos Rodriguez at San Miguel Escobar. Juan Carlos is a member of the De La Gente cooperative. Here are photos (courtesy Mary’s cousin Pam) of Mary picking coffee cherries, Mary, John, and Juan Carlos standing between two rows of coffee plants, and John raking drying coffee beans on a concrete patio near Juan Carlos’ home. |
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