Although great coffee is a year-round passion for us, the holidays mark a particularly special time to highlight all that we love about it, with a selection that matches the festivity of the season. Rockefeller, our annual holiday coffee, does just that—comforting and spirit-warming, it’s guaranteed to delight everyone around your holiday table.

Designed to be a crowd-pleaser, this year’s Rockefeller is a washed lot of Bourbon, Catimor, and Sarchimor from mother-daughter duo Miriam Florence Aguirre Wyld de Urruela and Florence Aguirre de Fanjul in Antigua, Guatemala.

Starting with flavors of sweet, dried fruits like dates and dried papaya, the flavors of the cup progress into candied nuts, baking chocolate, and butterscotch—making this coffee just what we hope for throughout the holidays: a moment to slow down, enjoy our surroundings, and embrace time for ourselves and our loved ones.

Antigua is a region surrounded by three volcanoes: Agua, Acatenango, and Fuego, the latter of which visibly erupts several times an hour. The nutrient-rich volcanic soil, cool weather, and high altitude contribute to ideal growing conditions and sturdy, high quality cups.

Under the leadership of Miriam and Florence, Finca San José has been selling their coffee cherry to Beneficio Bella Vista—the washing station and dry mill with which Joe Coffee also has a long, committed partnership—for over 20 years. Bella Vista is renowned in specialty coffee for their dedication to quality and their subsequent passion for raising awareness of the profile of Guatemalan coffees throughout the world.

Through Bella Vista’s extensive educational efforts, the team was able to get to know the owners behind Finca San José. Bella Vista shared with us that, as Miriam Florence, the more senior of the San José ownership pair, grew older, it was harder for her to fully physically engage at the farm. In response, her daughter Florence started an intensive season of training and education to better support her mother, focusing on the market, production, and processing of coffee. With Bella Vista’s support, Florence put her thirst for knowledge into action, and sought out better market opportunities for her family’s coffee. Bella Vista in turn invited her and her employees to their smallholder farmer Hunapu program training sessions, and also started separating their coffee in the beneficio’s processing facilities.

Prior to serving San José on our single origin menu last year, Joe Coffee had unknowingly benefitted from Finca San José‘s work in Bella Vista’s Bella Carmona blend, a coffee that Joe has purchased in the past. Now, we are so grateful to be able to showcase—in such a special, limited-edition format—this trajectory of visibility and mutual growth.