HOUSTON - On a typical balmy October morning in Houston, Richard Mazza stepped off his Continental Airlines flight from Costa Rica and for the first time in five years he was back in the US.   “It’s good to be back in the states again and the first thing I want is a thick, juicy steak!” said the president of Coffees of Atenas R&J, S.A.  Even though he appreciates a thick porterhouse steak, his passion is his Costa Rican coffee.

Richard is on a mission to get his award winning coffee into the stores, coffee shops and on the lips of many a coffee lover as he knows he has something special to sell.  “We’ve got an excellent coffee that will stand up to anything on the market; I’ll cup our La Villa Diamante against most coffees on the market and win every time” says Mazza.  A self proclaimed perfectionist, Richard retired from the off-road professional racing circuit a few years ago in order to settle into the tropical tranquility of Costa Rica.  “Racing was such a thrill for me and it taught me many things in life and business; always look far enough up the road to see what’s coming your way but never look back!”  And that’s exactly what he has done with Coffees of Atenas as he charges ahead bringing with him nearly 1,210 Costa Rican micro farms who grow and cultivate the high mountain grown coffee in and around the town of Atenas which has a population of about 7,000 people, most of which are related in some fashion or another.

“I live in a very tight knit community which I love very much.  Many locals here have accepted me and our concept and I’m very proud to bring more attention to this area of Costa Rica; to bring more revenue in to sustain the lifestyle of many families who work in our Coopeatenas.  This Co-op of coffee farmers depends heavily on the sale of coffee to sustain the local economy and Richard takes to heart his responsibility to make his company thrive and prosper.  “We built a website and that did okay and we’ve done some advertising that has yet to pay off, so I decided to just get out and personally meet people in this industry and see what we can do to promote our brands” Mazza said.  The realization of selling direct to consumers through a website was not the entire solution, so Mazza reached out to the wholesale gourmet food community and came across wholesalegourmet.net, then things started to happen.

“I finally got somebody on the phone with some experience in the industry who could tell us what we needed to do and a plan to get it done!” Mazza exclaimed.  “I first spoke to Richard back in August when he called our office looking to list his coffee on our wholesale website” said Jerry Gabbert, president of Sell Gourmet, Inc.  “We were looking to partner with a premium coffee brand in the US and was interviewing roasters to be featured on our site when Coffees of Atenas fell in our lap…it was really a stroke of luck to find them.”

Jerry Gabbert (left) and Richard Mazza celebrate with a cup of La Villa Diamante at the Steamboat Steak House in Houston.

“It’s not every day a Central American coffee producer calls you on the phone looking to make a deal.  Our ears perked up when Richard told us about his plans for his business and wanted to know if we’d be interested in partnering with him to expand their reach into the US.  We definitely said ‘yes’!” said Gabbert.

After an initial consultation about their current sales strategies, it was determined that what Coffees of Atenas needed to do was penetrate the wholesale US market with a strong push to get their green coffee beans into several coffee brokerage houses where the brand could gain traction with roasters and other wholesale buying groups to gain momentum.  The next recommendation was to revamp their wholesale offerings into several pack sizes from selling 5 pounds of roasted coffee all the way to an entire pallet.  “We wanted to cover all of our bases to offer a competitive program that most any retail gourmet business could realize benefits to stocking and selling the Coffees of Atenas brands” said Gabbert.

Coffees of Atenas offers four varietals of roasted and green coffee beans for their wholesale and retail consumer clients.  The four beans follow:

Cafe Ateneo Fino SHB has a medium roast with a lighter body, a mild aroma with hints of caramel.

Cafe Villa Colonial Fino GHB is a high grown, Hard Bean (HB) Arabica displays balance between acidity and body. It is a medium roast with slightly fuller body, remarkable aroma and smooth chocolate notes.

Cafe Villa Diamante Fino SHB Especial is our award winning brand and was crowned Best Traditional Coffee in Costa Rica in 2006 by the Specialty Coffee Association of Costa Rica. Selected from the best SHB Arabica beans grown at the highest elevations this brand has a higher acidity balanced with a rich body and aroma. Award winning flavor that you can’t wait to taste.

Cafe La Villa Taza Suave HB Hard Bean (HB) Arabica is a favorite of locals and visitors.  It has a medium roast with a lighter body, a mild aroma with hints of caramel.  Previously reserved for consumption within Costa Rica, La Villa is now proudly offered worldwide by Coffees of Atenas.

While Richard was in Houston during a three day visit we visited a leading coffee broker in the area, Walker Coffee Trading.  We met with Jim Patton and Carl Walker and asked them to roast and cup the four varietals and they gave the La Villa Diamante an excellent rating and have shown strong interest to bring it into their green coffee offerings.

Coffees of Atenas sells their roasted and green bean coffee direct to the US wholesale trade and retail to consumers.  We are proud to have partnered with a coffee company who offers top quality coffee at reasonable prices.  We offer for sale all four brands in the followings pack sizes:

• 4 pack sampler (12oz of each varietal)
• 5lb bulk, 15lb bulk and 25lb bulk
• 40lb master case
• 540lb pallet

For more information about wholesale orders please contact us or visit us at our website.

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