Photo credit: Carambadas.com
Personality and fame have always intertwined with coffee—particularly in the sales and marketing aspects—and nowhere more than in the recent “Bean of Fire” launch by self-styled “Philosopher King” President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, who with perhaps-charming insouciance overlooked any potential conflicts of interest to launch what he calls a passion project: a high-end coffee brand sold in the United States and benefiting El Salvador.
Bukele has been named “The world’s coolest dictator” by… wait for it… himself. He came to office in 2019 and was just re-elected by a crushing majority of 85%, rising to power on a campaign to obliterate the decades-old gang violence which had left El Salvador exhausted and devalued, in the process building the largest prison in Latin America to incarcerate the 80,000 or so alleged criminals rounded up under his unchecked policies and handpicked courts while decreasing the murder rate by 50%. Now, somewhere in between limiting access to public information, sunsetting judges by implementing term limits, fending off former ally ex-President Trump’s accusations, and pushing the country into unprecedented amounts of debt, he has found time to front a coffee brand.
Bean of Fire is on its surface a carbon copy of other “direct-from-farm” style roasting brands: a slick website, boasting photographs of models drinking coffee and gorgeous videos of coffee farms. “Made in El Salvador”, “From the Land of Volcanoes to the World”, and “Experience Volcano Coffee” are a few of the lines of copy, while on the “Shop” page, various varieties as well as “Ethiopian” and “Kenyan” are listed (confusingly, since multiple claims of “100% Salvadoran” may be found throughout the site.) Bukele is not listed in the website, but as demonstrated by his promotion clearly has some sort of commercial interest in it.
STiR recently reported on the push by Latin American companies to establish vertical integration in the United States, such as Expocacer and Artidoro Rodriguez, but this is something else: a consumer brand with murky origin, pushed by a political figure who is at best polarizing, and who has unclear motives for the promotion. Claims of munificence, supported by posts on Twitter/X, have been made: 200 pounds of coffee, unspecified amounts of sugar, and 8000 cups per day to mostly-unspecified beneficiaries which include a privileged Salvadoran farm called Finca Vista Hermosa. President Bukele seems to be using the business as a way to incentivize diaspora Salvadorans to return home and start businesses, to which he would then donate coffee—though the actual offers are unclear. He also seems to be partnering with local food businesses as a way to boost his already very high popularity in a country where food costs have risen steeply in recent years.
Where the coffee is being roasted, how it could be entirely sourced from a “farm in Santa Ana” while also being from Ethiopia and Kenya, and how the actual economics of the business work is less obvious, but regardless of the stance of the viewer, this is a fascinating development in a world where reality TV seems to share principles with politics. And, for a president who ran for, and won, reelection in spite of laws outlawing it, success at hawking a consumer coffee brand seems obtainable.