Geovanni Leiva continues to grow the mission of Leiva’s Coffee, becoming a large contributor to the booming coffee scene in the greater Little Rock area. Leiva has seen a 75 percent increase each year since 2008 in the amount of coffee sold annually. This past season Leiva’s Coffee produced 25,000 pounds of coffee. The amount of care that goes into each cup of coffee is something that coffee drinkers are taking note of, and now they are ready to extend their line up.
Leiva will release his first set of K-Cups (Keurig single serving pods) this week. He wanted to ensure that every K-Cup contains freshly ground coffee. Often K-Cups are left in a storage facility when they are made in bulk. Leiva’s Coffee K-Cups will be handmade each week to ensure freshness. Leiva personally roasts each batch of coffee beans weekly in North Little Rock, and looks to ensure freshness and quality remain the core business principles.
“We waited to get into the K-Cup market because we did not want to compromise the quality of our product,” Leiva said. “We never want to lose that fresh element. When most companies make K-Cups, they make 600,000 at once. Majority of those products sit in boxes for 10 months to a year before they are sold. When our K-Cups are sold each week, we want them to have freshly ground coffee inside.”
If you are not familiar with the Leiva brand, their goal is ‘Coffee With a Purpose’ and aim to not only sell coffee, but have a strong mission. The company has grown from two employees to 150 employees this past harvest season. The harvest season for coffee beans in Guatemala lasts from Dec. to March. Positive changes are being made in Leiva’s village each day because Arkansans are choosing to drink a quality product. Leiva believes in creating opportunities where they may have not been otherwise.
“We have partnered with Lan Vwa, Inc. to help fund a virtual school in Joconal, where I grew up,” Leiva said. “One example of the good that I have seen as a result of the virtual school is truly amazing. A young girl fled our village as a child when her father was murdered. She has now returned to the village as an adult because she felt compelled to teach at the school. She had a young boy in her class that was the son of the man who murdered her father. Because of the school she and the boy had a moment of clarity and they have since ended their family feud. Our coffee had a hand in that, it is amazing to me.”
Leiva’s has also began incorporating additional coffee beans from Agua Blanca into his company. Agua Blanca is a village located on the opposite side of Guatemala from Joconal. His hope is to create a model to assist multiple villages in Guatemala create a self-sustaining source of income.
“I want to help create a business model to help these villages grow other crops during the months that coffee can’t be harvested,” Leiva said. “I am creating a non-profit to help develop these goals of mine even further.”
Leiva’s Coffee can be found locally in the Capital Hotel in Little Rock, Ouachita Baptist University and the North Little Rock Athletic Club as well as several retail locations. Additionally Leiva’s Coffee will be featured in the swag bags during the Little Rock Gran Fondo, a cycling event that will be held on May 21 in Little Rock.
