Although Roast & Brews is a coffee company based in the Nashville area, its roots can be traced back to Guatemala.

The farm-to-table concept was established by family members and co-owners Juan Matias and Miguel Mendieta with the help of Juana Matias and Amalia Mendieta. The Matiases and Amalia Mendieta are siblings, and Miguel Mendieta is Amalia's partner.

The siblings' father is a second-generation farmer from Huehuetenango. He usually visits each year. During a trip in 2019, he promised he would bring back coffee beans for the family, so they could try the coffee and understand why he often raved about it."He went during February, which is around the harvesting time, and then he brought his coffee beans," Miguel Mendieta said. "He randomly mentioned that his family had grown coffee for a long time, and his father was still trying to grow coffee back at home ... It was just like a little bag of coffee beans, and we learned how to roast it and everything. That's kind of how our interest in coffee started growing."In 2021, the group launched their brand Roast & Brews.At first, they were mainly focused on roasting. But, soon enough, they expanded to preparing and servicing coffee — essentially doing everything they could with the product. Major milestones have included the addition of a delivery service and an online store.

Interest grew further when the group became more active at farmers markets in Sumner County, where they live. That led to event invites and new opportunities.

New directions

Miguel Mendieta believes the group has a clear vision for the company's future."Honestly our plan is not really to be too involved in wholesale," he said. "We really want to just keep it in our family, and then to keep roasting and selling to customers, not really to businesses. So just keeping it for our customers and keeping it for us to serve as well."

The family, Miguel Mendieta said, enjoys sharing the story behind their coffee.

The coffee growing process is also labor intensive, as they also explain. For one, coffee beans can only be harvested once a year from around February until April, at the latest. Usually, they aim for February or March. As soon as the beans start to become ripe, they have to be picked.

"A coffee bean is basically just like a little cherry. It's a fruit," Miguel Mendieta explained. "So if you don't pick it within the right time, it's not going to last more than ... a couple of weeks or a month, maybe a few months, and then it starts going bad."

Reaching the fields to pick the coffee beans is also an ordeal. There's an hour hike through the jungle without technology because there's no signal. And once they reach the growing fields, it takes two to three weeks to complete the harvest, Sometimes, the workers will work through the night. Many often sleep in sheds or on the ground beside the coffee tree plant so they can start where they left off the day before, the family explained.

In the past, family members would have to travel to Huehuetenango and bring back the beans themselves or pay for shipments via UPS, Miguel Mendieta said.

Last year, they teamed up with an exporter, who prepped and packaged the beans before sending them to the U.S.

Roast & Brews received 1,500 pounds of coffee beans in their most recent shipment — enough to last a whole year.

They're also exploring partnerships with other Guatemalan farmers.

"I think as we're growing, that's going to be the route," Miguel Mendieta explained. "We'll have even more farms working directly with farmers and forming relationships. We're doing it one-on-one, because, unfortunately, if you think about it, coffee comes from mostly third world countries, where they're in poverty."

Roast & Brews is dedicated to paying those they work with a fair market price. The family also wants to stay mobile, possibly expanding their coffee cart into a coffee trailer.

"Our big goal is to eventually get a coffee shop, but I think we need to learn more first and have those relationships with farmers and with people in Guatemala," Miguel Mendieta said. "We want to form relationships with partners where we have enough supply, and we have enough connections, so if we do need more beans, then we can get them directly from them instead of having to buy from the middleman."

Weathering tough times, savoring the good

When asked about their favorite and toughest parts of running Roast & Brews together, each family member had a different story to tell. Here is what each of them had to say:Juana Matias: I get to meet a lot of new people. I'm always open to meeting new people. Everyone kind of remembers us, and that's nice. That's my favorite part. I think one of the most difficult parts about this is finding people that are willing to listen ... Once you work your way up, that's when you start to have value, and people want to understand where it's coming from. I think I want people to respect where it comes from, and that it's a family company.Miguel Mendieta: The most fun part has just been seeing how we started and how, little by little, it's growing and developing. The hardest part is actually going to the different spots and setups because you've always got to carry everything. It's always having to pack up and unpack and take everything everywhere."Amalia Mendieta: The fun part and the most exciting part will be we're doing it together as a family, and I like how we know we can control everything and how we can share coffee with the customers together. The downside is just getting everything down. It's just a lot of work, but we're getting there. Juan Matias: I like meeting people, to be honest. I'm always open. I used to not be like that, but once I started roasting coffee and talking to people, I now am. That's the best part. And knowing people have a story to tell — I feel like that's pretty interesting. The downside is I hate when I can't get the coffee art!

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Family-owned Roast & Brews passes on tradition in Nashville