Meet the Team
Nadine Rasch
Founder & Director
Working in coffee since: 2012
Born and raised in Guatemala, she spent much of her childhood on her family’s coffee farm. After studying & working in finance in the UK, she started working in coffee in 2012. Realizing the potential in the specialty coffee market, she returned to Guatemala to work on her family’s farm with coffees from other producers. In 2013 she founded Third Wave Coffee Source Ltd., now Primavera Coffee to connect the best coffees from Guatemala to roasters in Europe. In 2016 she opened La Central de Cafe, the sister exporting company in order to be completely vertically integrated. 2017 with a higher demand in the North American market the USA importing branch opens to share more of our coffees.
Nadine is a certified Q Grader and Q Processor.
Tom Merrow-Smith
Sales UK
Working in coffee since: 2014
Tom started in coffee in 2014 behind the bar and quickly became immersed in the values, people and culture surrounding specialty coffee. After developing a strong interest in coffee roasting and sustainable sourcing he landed a job at a London roastery and spent the next 6 years broadening his skills and deepening his understanding. With every cupping, event, opportunity to travel Tom's enthusiasm for the community has grown. Now with such a diverse background in the coffee industry, Tom is excited to be helping bring together producers and UK roasters.
Primavera Green Coffee
Stijn Braas
Sales Europe
Working in coffee since: 2007
I'm a customer relations manager for Europe. Ever since I started working in coffee, the thing I love most about it is living and working in a community. Living within the coffee community for me is to be surrounded by the most fun and ambitious people. Working within the coffee community for me means working together towards a future where quality means more than just a better cup of coffee.
Stijn is a certified Q Grader
Hillary Rodriguez
Sales North America
Working in coffee since: 2011
Hillary is our Sales and Customer Relations Manager for North America. She began working in coffee in 2011, at a small roaster and has since worked in coffee quality and roasting for various companies around the US. In 2017-18 she worked with coffee farmers in Peru, Nicaragua, and Ecuador, learning about nurseries, post-harvest processes, and leading roasting and cupping trainings. She lives in Berkeley, California currently and loves being part of the connection between the coffee roasting world and producers.
Hillary is a certified Q Grader
Kim Staalman
Sales Europe
Working in coffee since: 2009
Kim started her coffee journey in 2009, working behind the bar as a barista. Her curiosity in the product was quickly expanding and she decided to venture into coffee competitions to learn as much as she could. Not long after she was hired as a trainer, teaching fledgling baristas how to get the best out of their coffee beans. After working as a store manager and in quality control the path led her to be a community manager for a global coffee member organisation. After years of travelling the world working on projects with many different coffee professionals, she is more immersed in the specialty coffee community than she ever thought possible. She adores the coffee community and can’t imagine not being part of the industry.
Kim is a certified Q Grader.
José Lopez
Agronomist Huehuetenango
Working in coffee since: 2010
I work as an agronomist and technical advisor in Huehuetenango. I started working on my family parcel in 2010, trying to improve the coffee farm and innovate our practices, I always knew there was a great potential. But then I that one of the key challenges is finding the right markets for quality coffee. I met Nadine in 2013 and worked with her in selling my coffee, and now since 2015 I have joined the Primavera team to share my knowledge with other producers as well. That is what I love about this work, I always visit new farms and get to know new people.
Jose is a Certified Q Processor.
La Central de Cafe
Seiner Mérida
Quality Control La Central (Guatemala City)
Working in coffee since: 2005
I coordinate quality control in our lab in Guatemala City. I fell in love with coffee a long time ago, even before I can remember. I'm born and raised in a coffee community and had my first experience of city life when I started working as a cupper, over 13 years ago. I love sharing knowledge and experiences with others. And with my work I feel I can contribute to the lives of coffee producers in Guatemala.
Seiner is a Certified Q Grader.
Santos Moran
Dry mill Manager
I have been working in coffee for more than 25 years, working at every stage of the process, with experience in harvest, wet milling and fermentation, and dry milling - everything up to the point of storage and shipping. During harvest I help ensure that the dry mill is running smoothly, and I’ve taken charge of processing honey and natural lots at our mill. I also serve as a contact for many of our producer partners in the central part of Guatemala such as Fraijanes, including making visits to growers and associations to help ensure high cherry quality.