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Yes. You can book your own lodging, however we highly recommend having us help, or approving where you will be staying. We want to ensure you are centrally located and maximize your experience.

Yes we will. You can select between 3 tiers of pricing and our team will help place you in the best hotel to suite your budget. 

We are not opposed to you looking for an AirBnb, especially if traveling as a group. We just recommend staying within Antigua proper and within walking distance of Parque Central. Many locals prefer to use platforms like AirBnB.  

Yes. You will need to show that you have a personal travel insurance policy covering your dates of our experience at least 1 week prior to arriving. 

Like any country, Guatemala has areas where travelers need to be aware and use common sense — but Antigua is one of the safest, most welcoming cities in Central America. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site with a strong tourism infrastructure, a visible security presence, and a community that genuinely looks out for visitors.

We’ve been coming here for over a decade, often multiple times a year, and I’ve hosted countless groups of roasters, baristas, coffee shop owners, and enthusiasts. We walk the city, explore markets, grab dinner at night, and visit farms outside town, and I’ve always felt comfortable bringing people here.

Antigua is vibrant, warm, and full of life: families in the parks at night, travelers from all over the world, incredible food, and a pace that makes you feel at ease almost immediately. Our itineraries are structured, we work with trusted local partners, and transportation is always arranged with people we know personally.

Travel smart, as you would anywhere, but know that Antigua is genuinely a beautiful, safe place to experience Guatemala’s culture, coffee, and hospitality. Most people who visit once end up planning their next trip before they even leave.

Yes we do. We will plan for a group shuttle from GUA airport the day before the workshop, and the day after, depending on arrivals and departures. If you would prefer a private shuttle, we can arrange this for you to or from Antigua for an additional fee. 

No matter what you are building – carefully craft every moment of your story online. Brands built with love are the ones that stand out.

If you want to cancel your booking, or part of it, you should contact us as soon as possible. Cancellation may not be possible depending on the type of your booking and timing of your request and any cancellation is at our discretion.

This cancellation policy does not affect any of your statutory rights as a consumer.

Where cancellation is acceptable, how much it costs to cancel your booking, varies depending on how much time there is before you're due to travel.

Our standard cancellation charges cover the cost of processing your cancellation and to compensate us for the risk that we may not be able to resell your travel arrangements.

The cancellation charge may be higher for certain travel arrangements, such as coach tours or scheduled airfares. Please ask for details of cancellation charges when you book and check your insurance policy to see if you'd be covered for the cost of any cancellation charges.

Our standard cancellation charges are set out below:

70 days or more before travel: Loss of full deposit

69 - 63 days before travel: 30% of total booking price

62 - 49 days before travel: 50% of total booking price

48 - 29 days before travel: 70% of total booking price

28 - 15 days before travel: 90% of total booking price

14 - 0 days before travel: 100% of total booking price

Any refund shall be made less any platform, transaction and processing fees that have been incurred.

Please also see our Terms and Conditions of Sale for further details.

I’ve been coming to Antigua for over a decade now, and at this point it feels less like a place I visit and more like a place that’s shaped me. My first organized origin trip was back in 2013, but the roots go deeper — I spent over twenty years hosting coffee education programs in Portland, watching baristas, roasters, and café owners grow through hands-on learning.

Eventually I realized the next step in that growth wasn’t another classroom or cupping table — it was standing under a volcano with a coffee cherry in your hand, talking to the farmer who grew it. Antigua became that extension of everything we were building: connection, curiosity, and community.

And over the years, friendships formed, families welcomed us in, and the city became part of my own story.

Antigua is almost suspiciously perfect for coffee education. In one morning you can go from cobblestone streets to a world-class coffee farm tucked under an active volcano — and the people doing the work are some of the most skilled and generous you’ll meet anywhere.

It’s approachable for first-timers, yet endlessly deep for seasoned coffee pros. You get biodiversity, centuries of agricultural knowledge, and a tight geography that makes each day feel full but never rushed.

Add in a city that pulses with food, culture, and history, and you get a place that makes learning feel like an adventure rather than a seminar.

After decades of teaching everyone from first-day baristas to seasoned green buyers, adapting these experiences comes naturally.

For roasters and buyers, we dig into the details — fermentation curves, drying experiments, cupping through lots, and honest conversations about challenges and opportunities at origin. It’s the kind of education you just can’t replicate off-farm.

For enthusiasts, we keep the focus on immersion and the human side — picking cherries, tasting different processes, visiting mills, cooking meals with families. It’s approachable, eye-opening, and often life-changing.

And when you blend all these people together? You get this incredible mix of curiosity and expertise — everyone learning from each other while hiking through rows of bourbon trees or cupping coffees in a small town lab.

Mornings start with a relaxed breakfast — fresh fruit, great coffee, and no rush. Then we’re off to farms or mills around the valley. One day you might be walking through a canopy of shade trees under Volcán de Agua; the next you’re standing over fermentation tanks discussing flavor development with a farmer who’s been experimenting for years.

Lunch is often in someone’s home — pepián simmering on the stove, tortillas made by hand, stories shared around the table.

Afternoons might be a cupping session, a visit to a cooperative, or a spontaneous stop because someone heard a neighbor is trying something new with honey processing. These trips have structure, but they also have room for discovery.

Evenings are spent exploring Antigua’s restaurants and bars, decompressing, laughing, and connecting as a group.

These aren’t transactional relationships — they’re friendships built over years. We work with farmers around Ciudad Vieja, mill operators, cuppers, exporters, chefs, and community leaders.

Because of that trust, our groups get access to real conversations and real life — meals in family kitchens, behind-the-scenes processing, open and honest discussions about climate, labor, pricing, and the future of Guatemalan coffee.

Responsible travel is a core part of what we do. Antigua gives us so much, and we make sure the impact flows both ways — partnering with and donating to local organizations, educational programs, and community initiatives so that our presence directly supports the people and places that welcome us.

It’s not charity; it’s reciprocity. We show up with respect, we learn, and we give back in tangible ways.

Producers consistently tell me they don’t want passive tourists — they want engaged listeners. People who come curious, take the work seriously, ask thoughtful questions, and understand that coffee is rooted in land, family, history, and culture.

Doing it well means respecting their expertise, slowing down enough to absorb the nuance, and returning home as storytellers who honor the people behind the cup.

It also means acknowledging the Indigenous communities whose traditions and labor form the backbone of Guatemalan agriculture — and amplifying their voices responsibly.

There’s always this moment — sometimes during a cupping, sometimes during a meal — when someone really connects the dots. When coffee shifts from being a product to being people, landscapes, effort, and story.

That moment is why I keep doing this. It reminds me of the same spark I saw for years in our Portland workshops — but out here, surrounded by volcanoes and hospitality and the rhythm of farm life, it feels even more powerful.

And honestly, I just love being here. The energy, the culture, the warmth, the sense of aliveness — Antigua has a way of pulling you into its orbit and not letting go.