ACATENANGO, GUATEMALA — Like most Houston businessmen heading to work in the pre-dawn darkness, all Mike McKim could think about was coffee.
But as others satisfied their urge sipping takeout lattes on traffic-clogged highways, McKim was following his obsession up a winding mountain road into Guatemala's misty highlands.
The owner of a small Houston coffee-roasting house, he spent the morning trudging between snow-capped volcanoes thousands of miles from home looking for the perfect brew.
In the past, small U.S. coffee roasters seldom visited faraway Third World producer countries. Instead they bought beans directly from an importer.
But now a growing number of small-scale, high-end roasters are going straight to the farmer's gate to find "single origin" beans that will dazzle picky customers' palates.
"Flying down here is a massive investment, but it's one I'm prepared to make," McKim, who owns Spring-based roaster Cuvée Coffee, said recently during his first trip to Guatemala in search of a supplier. "There are some really great coffees in some very obscure regions."
In a process dubbed "direct trade," roasters sign multiyear contracts promising farmers more than the volatile world coffee price in exchange for steady, high-quality supply.
McKim pays farmers between $2.50 and $4.50 a pound for green coffee, which is currently going for about $1.33 a pound on the New York Board of Trade.
Industry giant Starbucks already offers such long-term contracts. Now small- to medium-size roasters focusing on the $12.3 billion-a-year luxury food market are getting in on the act.
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