Gente de la Isla

Overview

Gente de la Isla is widely cited as the Dominican Republic's first specialty coffee roastery, founded by Dominican-French husband-and-wife team Edouard Beauchemin and Coral de Camps. The two met during graduate studies in London in 2008 and later certified as roasters, baristas, and tasters at La Caféothèque in Paris before returning to Coral's home country to open the roastery — explicitly to give Dominican consumers access to the higher-grade lots that historically shipped to the United States, France, and Japan. The roastery only roasts Dominican coffee, working directly with smallholder farms across the country's many producing regions, and runs cupping workshops alongside an online store, around 15 small resellers in Santo Domingo, and sales at Café 401 and other partner cafés. The brand also produces hand-baked granola and other breakfast products.

Known for

• Cited as the Dominican Republic's first specialty coffee roaster
• Founded by Edouard Beauchemin (French) + Coral de Camps (Dominican)
• Both certified as roasters/baristas/tasters at Paris's La Caféothèque
• Roasts only Dominican coffee — at least one lot from each of the country's 10+ producing regions
• 30+ public coffee workshops conducted to introduce Dominican consumers to specialty coffee

Why it matters

Gente de la Isla pioneered specialty coffee in the Dominican Republic — a country where roughly 90% of consumed coffee is imported despite being a meaningful producer, and where the highest-quality lots had historically all been exported. By building a direct-trade roastery focused exclusively on Dominican beans and pairing it with consumer education through workshops and tastings, the Beauchemins effectively created a domestic specialty market and shortened the carbon footprint of the country's coffee value chain.

Production

destoning

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head roaster

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color sorting

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roaster machine

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filter equipment

V60, Chemex, AeroPress, moka pot

cupping frequency

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roastery location

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

espresso equipment

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annual volume tonnes

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Sources

• https://www.lagentedelaisla.com/en/pages/about-us
• https://www.thecoffeecompass.com/introducing-the-domincan-republics-first-specialty-coffee-roaster-gente-de-la-isla/
• https://freshcup.com/diving-into-dominican-coffee-production/
• https://perfectdailygrind.com/2017/11/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-roaster-in-a-producing-country/