This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
Visitors to the library on Tuesday mornings are in for a pleasant surprise! Daniel Harkins aka one half of the coffee company Yucca Café, is often there selling plain brown wrapper bags of his small batch, hand-roasted coffees.
Dan arrives at the library with open bags of coffee, in compliance with border inspection procedures. He then seals the bags for customers either as whole beans or after grinding them. He offers Veracruz, Chiapas or blended beans. Side note: this author has sampled the Chiapas and was thoroughly pleased with the light, smooth flavor without a trace of acidity or bitterness.
Dan got into the roasting business quite by accident. Back in 2017, he spent a year riding freight trains and doing agricultural work until he met a group of Mormon farmers who told him that Mexico was the place to be. He eventually worked his way down to a ranch south of the border—and met Karla, his now partner in life and business.
Green Coffee 
Roaster 
Roasting beans 
Finished product
Dan joined Karla and her dad in their Bed and Breakfast venture in Neuvos Casas Grandes—which stalled out due to Covid. But their side hustle, a coffee roasting business started in 2019, took off during the pandemic.
“People have been at home, they’ve been experimenting with coffee. And they want good coffee, better coffee.” Dan started hand-roasting ½ kilo batches of coffee he got direct from farmers in Veracruz and Chiapas. Very soon he bought better equipment to keep up with demand. “Right now I can do 2 kilos (~4.4lbs) at a time and that takes about 20 minutes each batch.” As the business continues to grow, Dan has his eyes on even bigger equipment. “Veracruz is the center of the coffee industry in Mexico. It’s where coffee was first introduced to America. So they have the trade and industrial equipment to support it.”
1/4 kilo bags are $7 and 1/2 Kilo bags are $12. Dan & Karla also ship throughout the United States. You can find their full story and order information on their website at: https://yuccascafe.com/
