Coffee country, Part 2

The small producers we visited in the Segovias region of northern Nicaragua mainly belong to PRODECOOP, a consortium of local coffee co-ops. In addition to certifying and marketing coffee at a fair-trade price, the organization has a number of social programs to support local development and food security.

The variation in the scale of operation along the coffee supply chain, especially in the small-producer specialty market, is striking. The process may start with the seedlings on a farm with an acre or two under cultivation...

I think most of the farms have moved beyond this old equipment for removing the husks...

The green beans are brought to a processing facility for final drying, sorting, and shipping. PRODECOOP has a big modern facility in Palacagüina...





This impressive machine uses a laser to test the color of the beans as they fly by and with a small puff of air culls the ones not up to standard. It is the noisiest place in a noisy factory...

Despite mechanical and optical sorting technologies, the final sort is done by hand, by women...

From there, into shipping containers and off to port for export. Most of the roasting is done at the destination...

Coffee country, Part 1

Having worked three plus years on an interdisciplinary study of food and water security in Nicaragua's coffee country, I finally had an opportunity to visit the place over the last two weeks. We were based in the city of Estelí, but took some drives up the rutted dirt roads into the mountains to visit the farms and the farmers. Beautiful country, impressive farming.

Shade-grown coffee plots are a great example of agrobiodiversity and pied beauty. Banana trees are a common source of shade and food...

Coffee berries are green this time of year...

50 shades of greenery on Don Marvin's finca in Sontule, Miraflor...

Bromeliads are blooming in the trees and on the ground...

Coffee leaf rust (la roya) has caused massive losses in the region over the last few years. Most of Marvin's plants are doing okay...

Banana and plantain leaves are impressive...

Amazingly, the entire massive banana plant grows in about a year, the bananas are harvested, and the plant is cut back at the base, where a new sprout spirals up...

Caf-fiends

Like addicts gathered outside the methadone clinic, the bleary-eyed customers line up every morning at Philz Coffee on Middlefield in Palo Alto. Oh yes, I am occasionally among them, even though I also brew my own at home. The prices are a bit steep, but you get what you pay for. I usually drink it black, but the other day I tried their Turkish with cream and medium sugar. Just about the best cup o' joe I've ever had. I'm trying not to order it again anytime soon... that would be a particularly hard habit to shake.