Guadalupe Roastery: Direct-Trade Central American Coffee for the Common Good

Who They Are: From Missionary Service in Nicaragua to 'Coffee for the Common Good'

Guadalupe Roastery (online at guadaluperoastery.com) was founded in 2015 by Brad Fassbender after his time serving as a Catholic missionary in Central America alongside the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFR). Walking through mountain coffee-growing communities in Nicaragua and Honduras, Fassbender witnessed a painful economic paradox: hardworking Catholic farming families were cultivating high-altitude Arabica of remarkable natural sweetness, yet multi-layered commodity broker networks left those families with barely enough income to survive while consumers in North America paid premium prices for stale, blended beans.

Verified active on October 29, 2026 with seventy-four coffee, bundle, and parish bulk listings, Guadalupe Roastery was established under the motto 'Coffee for the Common Good' to replace that broken middleman chain with personal, long-term farm partnerships. By working directly with smallholder producers and estates—including farms near Matagalpa, Nicaragua—and roasting to order in the United States, the company seeks to honor both the livelihood of the grower and the palate of the drinker.

Current Coffee Catalog: SCA-Scored Nicaraguan Lots, Cristo Rey, and Gold Cup Parainema

Guadalupe Roastery publishes Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) cupping scores and technical roast metrics across its catalog, with verified lots scoring between 84 and 89 points on the 100-point specialty scale (where 80+ denotes specialty grade). Every coffee is roasted on demand and offered in 12-ounce bags, 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) bags, 5-pound parish and office bulk bags, and single-serve pods, with Whole Bean and Ground options.

The cornerstone of the lineup is Cristo Rey, a washed Nicaraguan medium roast scoring 84 SCA points that delivers a clean, comforting balance of milk chocolate and bright citrus acidity. For adventurous specialty drinkers, the roastery features its Gold Cup Champion — Natural Parainema 2026 lot, an 87.68-point coffee roasted to a medium-light profile (Agtron 61.70) with vibrant tasting notes of kiwi, crisp red apple, maple honey, and Swiss chocolate. Other core selections verified on October 29, 2026 include Tepeyac Medium Roast (named after Tepeyac Hill, where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Saint Juan Diego in 1531), Altura (a fruit-forward natural-process lot), and Three Kings Dark Roast, which offers deep dark chocolate richness with a warm hint of spice.

For those reducing or eliminating caffeine, Guadalupe Roastery roasts both a 100% chemical-free Water-Process Decaf and a Half Decaf blend featuring notes of nutty sweet malt. Select subscription tiers also include handmade rosaries crafted by families in the farming communities—a tangible link between prayer and provenance. As with all farm-direct roasters, competition microlots like the Natural Parainema are subject to seasonal harvest quantities.

What Distinguishes Guadalupe Roastery for Its Customers

Guadalupe Roastery distinguishes itself by uniting authentic Catholic missionary roots with objective specialty-coffee grading. Customers do not have to take quality on vague assurances alone: seeing an 84-point washed Cristo Rey or an 87.68-point Gold Cup Natural Parainema tells discerning pour-over and espresso brewers exactly what caliber of green coffee is in the bag.

Equally distinctive is the company's refusal to treat farmer support as distant paternalism. By building direct relationships with Nicaraguan and Honduran growers and inviting subscribers to pray with rosaries handcrafted in those same communities, Guadalupe Roastery fosters a sense of spiritual and economic kinship across the Americas.

Public Customer Feedback and Verified Buyer Reception

Company-hosted verified buyer reviews on guadaluperoastery.com product pages and National Catholic Register coverage, checked October 29, 2026.

Verified buyer reviews hosted on guadaluperoastery.com (checked October 29, 2026) consistently praise the low acidity, clean sweetness, and roast-to-order freshness of Cristo Rey, Altura, and Three Kings. Many reviewers note that after switching from supermarket coffee to Guadalupe Roastery's freshly roasted Nicaraguan lots, they experienced noticeably less stomach irritation and discovered natural chocolate and fruit notes they had never tasted in standard blends.

Subscribers also frequently express gratitude for the handmade rosaries and the knowledge that their household coffee budget supports Catholic farming families in Central America. As with other merchant storefronts, readers should note that product reviews displayed on guadaluperoastery.com are company-hosted.