“My favorite Mercanta origin partner is El Salvador, particularly the honey and natural processed coffees we source from there. These coffees tend to have great body, and complex layers of sweetness that I really enjoy in my cup. Also, my maternal family is from El Salvador and I love connecting to that part of my history and culture through coffee.”
Samantha was born and raised in California. She has a BFA in Dance Performance and an MA in Arts Management. While pursuing her education in the arts, she realized a budding passion in the coffee industry beginning in 2012. After working at a variety of large and small scale cafes in San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, DC she got introduced to the specialty coffee industry with the small-batch roaster, Zeke’s Coffee DC in 2015. At Zeke’s Coffee, Samantha served as a Barista, Production Associate, Roaster, and ultimately Director of Quality. She had an ever-growing interest in building partnerships and evaluating coffee quality to help further the specialty coffee industry.
In June 2019, Samantha became a licensed Q Arabica Grader. It felt like the right move was to head to Seattle where she could build upon her experience and connect with the broader industry. She is thrilled to join Mercanta North America as the Lab Manager. She supports Mercanta North America with sample roasting, cupping evaluation, inventory management, and administrative assistance.
