Christian Schaps was born and grew up in Guatemala. He is a fourth generation coffee producer and has considerable experience as both a farm manager and owner.
Christian is passionate about coffee and began cupping at home while he was still an undergraduate at Cal Poly in California. After graduating he returned to Guatemala to work on his family’s coffee farms and went on to source coffee for various companies worldwide.
Christian joined Mercanta in 1997 to source coffees from Guatemala and El Salvador. He has since set up the Mercanta Central America office and lab, dealing with purchasing, logistics and quality control for Central America, Bolivia and Mexico.
Christian has served on Guatemala Cup of Excellence juries in 2008, 2009 & 2012.