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18 Jan 2011

Salvadoran Immigrant Follows Dream, Opens Roasting and Coffee Shop

By Richard Bammer - Vacaville Reporter

SUISUN CITY - In more ways than just a flourish of words, Guillermo Moran has coffee in his blood. He says history nurtures his preference for a full-bodied, flavorful and aromatic cup of Joe. His family has grown coffee trees for five generations in Ahuachapan (a Nahuatl word pronounced "AH-watch-ah-pahn"), in the heart of El Salvador's mountainous coffee region, going back to the 1880s.

Moran, 56 and a Fairfield resident who immigrated to the United States in 2009, clearly recalls his grandfather and father working the plantation, originally 1,500 acres but reduced -- by "agrarian reform," he said -- to 300 acres after a long, bloody civil war that ended in 1992.

"It broke the economy," he said of the armed conflict and land reform, adding that post-war governmental policies dramatically reduced nationwide coffee production from 450 million pounds to 150 million pounds annually, impoverishing the country accustomed to sizable export revenue from a major cash crop.

Seeking opportunity elsewhere, Moran recently decided to sell his share of the family business, pull up stakes, join forces with a Costa Rican coffee grower and coffee-milling equipment maker, and, on Saturday, will open a new coffee roasting and coffee house business, Eco-Delight Coffee, in Suisun City. After some ribbon-cutting fanfare, with local and Salvadoran consular officials on hand, it will open to the general public at 4 p.m. The 1,300-square foot space, which Moran leases from Main Street West Partners, opens for its first full day of business at 7 a.m. on Jan. 23.

"It's my first investment in the United States," he said during an interview outside the store, at 700 Main St. "It's a start-up."

And Moran, clad in a cotton black jacked over denim jeans, already envisions expansion. Smiling, he declined to give details, promising to do so in the coming months.

On Wednesday, as he spoke in the sunny courtyard of the Harbor Square Building, workmen, opening boxed equipment and taking measurements, hurried to install new, dark-red roasting machines and seating.

Besides importing and selling newly roasted beans, Moran, doing business as Bendig-Moran Roasting, will also sell ground roasted coffee beans, coffee and espresso drinks and locally made artisan baked goods. The store will offer Wi-fi access, too, he added.

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