This article is sponsored by our partner, Coffee Culture Travel.
Traveling to coffee-producing countries and meeting growers has become an important step for industry professionals who want to develop a deeper sense of the coffee supply chain—including an awareness of both its beauties and inequities.
Now, the newly launched Coffee Culture Travel is here to make origin trips more accessible and responsible. It offers guided experiences in Antigua Guatemala, a coffee-growing hub known for lush landscapes; volcanoes; and a well-developed network of coffee farms, producers, importers, and cafes. Trips are tailored to each group’s experience level and priorities.
This new travel experience company is led by Matt Milletto. He’s built relationships in the Antigua area for more than 15 years through his work with the Portland, Oregon-based Bellissimo Coffee Advisors and Water Avenue Coffee Company. Now, he spends half his year in Antigua, drawn by what he calls “a world of exploration and adventure.”
We spoke with Milletto about what responsible origin travel looks like, how Coffee Culture Travel alters the agenda to suit each traveler’s goals, how the region’s producers want to be engaged—and why standing on volcanic soil tends to change how people understand the industry.
Why is Antigua, Guatemala a good place to host these coffee origin experiences?
Antigua is almost tailor-made for this kind of immersive learning. It’s compact, incredibly diverse, easy to navigate, and full of producers who are both masters of their craft and generous with their knowledge. It’s also beautiful, it’s raw, and it’s real—and that combination sparks growth in people faster than anything I’ve seen in a classroom.
Coffee in Guatemala has a complicated history built on exploitation. Today, its industry is challenged by climate change and various social pressures that threaten its survival. But out of these challenges, specialty coffee is helping reimagine what this crop can mean for locals—in part by encouraging cultivation that is traceable and regenerative, and which uses practices that honor both people and the land.
At its best, specialty coffee can offer a path toward sustainable development, and a brighter future for the communities who grow it.
On our trips, you’ll do much more than just taste coffee. You’ll meet the people who grow and produce it, walk the volcanic soil that shapes its flavor, and learn from producers. Hopefully, you’ll fall in love with coffee all over again, and develop an authentic connection with a special coffee-growing region.
How do you tailor the trips for different groups of people?
Our team has spent decades teaching everyone from home baristas to coffee professionals, so tailoring these experiences feels like second nature. Each group has a different dynamic, and I work with a team of local coffee professionals to ensure every trip is authentically dialed to that stage of harvest. We also ensure no one misses out on the true cultural experience of Antigua.
For shop owners, roasters, and green buyers, we go deep exploring processing nuances, fermentation experiments, drying techniques, cupping through fresh lots, and export discussions.
For baristas or coffee enthusiasts, we focus on immersion and storytelling. They get the hands-on introduction, including picking cherries; tasting freshly harvested coffee; eating meals with the producers’ families; and exploring culture, food, and history.
Can you share some of your personal history with Antigua?
For more than 20 years, I hosted coffee education workshops and trainings in Portland. At some point, I realized hosting people at coffee origin would be the natural next step. You can talk about terroir, processing, brewing, and sourcing in a classroom, but standing on a farm under a volcano with cherries in your hands—that’s where everything clicks.
My first organized trip was back in 2013, when I organized a group of coffee roasters to come for a week of origin exploration.
Since then, Antigua has become where I reconnect with the reasons I got into coffee in the first place. It’s where my relationships with producers immediately turned into friendships, and where I’ve watched hundreds of coffee professionals and enthusiasts have those “aha” moments that change the way they see the industry.
Walk us through a typical day on one of your origin trips.
Mornings start slow and easy, with breakfast, great coffee, and a quick rundown of the day. Then we’re often off to a farm or mill. One day might be spent hiking under Volcán de Agua with a producer who’s been farming since he was a kid. The next day, everything is happening right in front of you: staring into fermentation tanks, talking through processing variables, and pushing coffee across drying patios.
Lunch is usually at a family home or local restaurant where we may also learn how to make the traditional Guatemalan dish of pepián and fresh tortillas. Afternoons may be spent cupping at a lab, visiting another farm, taking a detour to learn how textiles are made, or exploring the night markets.
Evenings are mostly spent in Antigua and full of good food, drinks, and conversations. We are also working on logistics for future overnight stays on a coffee farm.
What kinds of connections do you have around Antigua that you bring into the experiences?
After so many years traveling and living here, the relationships we have in Antigua run deep. We visit producers who’ve become lifelong friends, families who welcome us into their kitchens, and mill operators who open up their entire processes. I am purely a catalyst for the amazing people of this region, and we work with locals to curate a true authentic experience.
What does “doing origin travel well” look like through your local partners’ eyes?
Producers tell me they want visitors who come with humility and curiosity: people who aren’t just looking for a photo but who genuinely want to understand the work. We work closely with community organizations doing important work, such as Niños de Guatemala and EcoFiltro, creating a sustainable path of collaboration and financial support year-round.
Doing it well means asking thoughtful questions, respecting their time, slowing down enough to see the nuance, and carrying their stories home with care.
Traveling responsibly matters here. Antigua gives us so much, and we make sure what we bring back flows both ways. We support local organizations, education programs, and community efforts so the people who open their farms, kitchens, and stories to us feel that same care returned to them.
What’s your favorite part about running these origin experiences?
Honestly, it reminds me of why I dedicated my life and career to coffee education in the first place. I love watching people connect the dots, seeing something they’ve done for years suddenly make deeper sense.
And I just love being here, and now call Antigua home half the year. I’m raising my daughter amongst coffee farms and showing her a world of exploration and adventure. It offers a change of pace and immersion into something more linear, reconnecting with the soil and the people who are at the very foundation of our industry.
Then there’s the food, the warmth, the conversations, the volcanoes rumbling in the distance—Antigua just has a way of making you feel alive and grounded.
