About Us

Alex Velasco and Brent Bromstrup founded Top of the Lake Coffee as a means to partner with entrepreneurs, cooperatives, schools, and coffee farmers in and around the village of San Juan la Laguna on the shores of Lake Atitlan in Solola, Guatemala. Excellent coffee is the result of countless hours of work invested by farmers, their families, and communities and we want to honor their work through creating stronger connections between our coffee loving customers and the community. That pursuit has changed our narrow view of the world. What began as an exploration of our business supporting a community has morphed into something much more significant, an opportunity to move toward each other as our partnership flourishes. All while creating meaningful opportunities for greater good.

New Chapter
In 2023, Gus Aguirre became the new owner of Top of the Lake Coffee as Brent Bromstrup stepped down to retire. Under new leadership, Top of the Lake will continue to build upon our legacy of excellence by championing our commitment to sourcing and roasting great coffee for the greater good. We are thankful for the continued hard work of the farmers and communities that we work alongside and will continue to make every effort to raise awareness about the positive impact ethically sourced coffee can have on the producing communities. We look forward to many more years of collaboration, innovation, and meaningful impact as we continue our goal to empower both our customers and the coffee-producing communities we support!

Greater Good Initiative

Greater Good is the focus of our vision to interact with and partner with a variety of people and organizations in coffee producing communities. In Guatemala, our 10 years of relationship with some of the amazing people of San Juan la Laguna, meaningful friendships have begun to flourish. We’ve had many conversations about the community and have worked together to create initiatives that support and expand opportunities for individuals, small businesses and the Colegio Nuevo Amanacer in the town. When seed funds are needed, our Greater Good fund carefully lends and sometimes donates money or resources to create or sustain the vision of our partners in the town.