Blake Thomas and Helen Schafer never expected to find the loves of their lives while on a two-year stint in the Peace Corps. But that’s exactly what happened when they both found themselves working in Nicaragua.
It wasn’t love at first sight. Schafer recalls having to put herself out there to get his attention. As one of the few men on the team, Thomas was considered “fresh meat.”
“He was the new guy,” Schafer recalls. “I remember I was trying to get his phone number. I was part of the Peace Corps group that was in charge of calling other volunteers, so I put myself in charge of calling Blake. I was hunting him down for eight months.”
Many calls and surprise visits later, they finally found themselves together at a big festival. The stars had aligned, Shafer says, and “we mutually agreed on our feelings for each other.”
During the rest of their time in Nicaragua, the couple visited many different coffee plantations. They learned how the earnings of many coffee farmers were still pretty meager.
“We found that they weren’t rewarded as well as they could be,” Schafer says. “They don’t speak English or have access to the Internet, so they don’t have an easy way to sell coffee. So they would sell beans to exporters to ship to the U.S., Japan, and Europe.”
It was an eye-opening experience for both of them.
“We were actually going to coffee farms and seeing how much work went into producing the dark beverage we drink to wake ourselves up in the morning,” Thomas says. “So many hands touch it. It’s incredibly hard work. A ton of energy and resources go into it.”
When the couple returned to the United States, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Thomas reached out to a well-known coffee importer in Austin who represented fair trade coffee farmers in Guatemala and absorbed everything he could about the business.
“After I got a snapshot of the market, I decided to give it a go,” Thomas says. “I bought a little $1,500 roasting machine, hooked it up to my computer, and just practiced. I spent hundreds of hours on that little roaster cranking out coffee, sometimes burning it, and mostly making it for family and friends.”
This month, they’ll celebrate the three years that they’ve known each other by traveling back to Nicaragua. But this time, they’re co-founders of Tiny House Coffee Roasters.
Once there, they’ll spend time with coffee farmer friends who will be able to supply them with quality beans.
“If we want a long-term road, we need the highest quality possible from our coffee farmers,” Thomas says. “That’ll be the center of the conversation for this trip.”
Last year, Tiny House Coffee Roasters imported 3,000 pounds of coffee from six different Nicaraguan coffee producers. This year, the amount rose to 10,000 pounds. Demand has risen sharply as they have sold to outlets ranging from restaurants to convenience stores to Austin’s WeWork Congress.
Thomas says their vision for the company is all about starting small and growing big.
“I walked away from Nicaragua being able to think on my feet and find a solution to a problem,” says Thomas. “Nicaragua fine-tuned the skills of being scrappy and resourceful.”
Photos: Adam Saraceno