InterAmerican’s new Hoboken headquarters, and its bespoke, state-of-the-art Quality Control lab have been missing one essential element—a dedicated QC professional—until now. We’re thrilled to share that Daniela Altamirano, previously a colleague at InterAmerican Europe in Hamburg, has joined us full time in Hoboken!
That she should wind up in this role, and this company, seems almost fated.
“Coffee is just really in my genes,” she smiles. In Guatemala, on her mother’s side, her uncle worked as a trader for a green-coffee exporter. And in Germany, part of her family is also in roasting and green trading. When her maternal grandfather was a young man, he worked for a German company that was extracting caffeine for medicinal purposes and sent him to work in Latin America. When he retired, he moved to Mexico and purchased a coffee farm and roastery with friends.
“After a while, they sold the farm to Neumann Gruppe. It’s now La Puebla. Or, part of La Puebla.” She was 5 or 6 years old and has memories of being on the farm and marveling at the coffee cherries. She moved from Mexico to Germany when she was 10 and grew up in Hamburg.
“So I had this funny connection to Neumann Gruppe,” she says, “though I didn’t know this at first.”
As part of her university studies, Daniela signed on for a 2-year apprenticeship with Neumann Gruppe that entailed learning about each of its departments and so every aspect of the green coffee business.
“But I knew from the first day that I wanted to get into the Quality Department, and I was always mentioning it,” she laughs. When she finished her studies, Neumann Gruppe offered her a position in Quality Control.
After a year and a half, she decided to take the Q Arabica Grader test.
“I’m embarrassed to say now that I didn’t prepare well for it at all!” she grimaces. “When I got there I found out that the other participants had been studying every day for months—and then of course I was horrified. I had just figured that since I worked in coffee every day, I was prepared.”
And to the credit of Neumann Gruppe, it turned out she was.
The InterAmerican team in the Neumann Gruppe U.S. quality control lab.
“In the end it was a confirmation for myself that the work we were doing at InterAmerican was really very high level. I think there were 22 tests, and I had to re-take three of them—I was so relieved. The others had to retake many more. It was so good to see that, within all the Neumann Gruppe import companies, the QC work being done is at the highest level.”
InterAmerican Europe to U.S.
Now that she’s been with us two full weeks, we’re officially declaring: We’re all smitten.
“It’s exciting to get to know another market and get to know the roasters,” she says. “It’s been super interesting to see how, within the same group but just on different continents, how diverse the clients are, and how diverse their palettes are and their different ways of thinking.”
She’s also been enjoying the InterAmerican team and how many members will join in a cupping and offer feedback—the conviviality of it all.
“I’m super, super comfortable with this team, and I’m feeling very at home,” she smiles. “It’s a very nice, fun atmosphere, but still very professional.”
It also helps that she arrived at a perfect coffee moment.
“It was the best start day ever—Kenya microlots!” she laughs. “It was 25 samples, and one after the other, they were so excellent. Complex, lots of acidity, lots of different types of flavors. Kenya microlots are such a specific coffee. And it was one of those things where, just how you imagine it should be, is exactly what it is.” •
