On Coffee

Admission: I LOVE coffee. If you’ve spent more than 8 hours with me, you already know that. Naturally, I was thrilled when I heard I was going to be living in Huehuetenango, famous for its coffee. There has been no shortage of coffee drinking and learning in the last two years, so I wanted to share a few of the things that I’ve learned.

Lesson #1- Huehuetenango coffee really is unparalleled. It’s smooth and rich and wonderful. My uncle actually claims that the coffee I brought him for Christmas last year is the only coffee that doesn’t leave him with heartburn!

Lesson #2- The coffee process is incredibly labor and knowledge intensive. I’ve gotten to watch and participate in all of the stages of coffee production: growing, picking, de-pulping, drying, shelling, toasting, milling and brewing. In that process, there will typically be at least 4 people involved- a grower, who also depulps and dries, the businessman who buys it and shells it, the toaster, and the barista who makes the drink. Each of those knowledge sets is unique and requires time and patience to learn. Which brings me to lesson 3…

Lesson #3- The coffee industry is broken. The coffee farmers who live in my town and the surrounding areas are lucky if they receive $1 per pound of coffee (the price is based on international standards set in NY and is the price that farmers worldwide receive). The buyer then typically sells it to a buyer in the US for a 200% markup where it is toasted, packaged and sold again for another 200% markup- effectively keeping the producers in poverty and the middle men wealthy and powerful.

I have a friend here who is the son of a coffee farmer who grew up and decided to try and change the system. He owns a coffee shop here in Huehuetenango and also trains farmers in organic techniques and fair trade regulations.

I recently sat down with him and he explained that even “fair trade” labeled coffee in the U.S. isn’t usually fair trade, the extra $2 that we spend on the bag in a grocery store ends up somewhere in the pockets of the toasters and the “fair trade” certifying organization. He advised me that the best way to ensure that the farmer is getting a fair wage for his work is to buy direct- to buy from a toaster who has a relationship with the farmers growing his coffee.

Living here and having friends who farm coffee has made me much more aware of where my money goes. It’s easy to drink coffee detached from the system, we don’t grow coffee in the U.S. (except in Hawaii) so we don’t see farmers toiling for poverty wages. Now that I’ve seen it I’m committed to doing all that I can to buy direct and make sure that my enjoyment of coffee doesn’t come at someone else’s expense.

If you’re interested in learning more about direct buy, check out these websites/articles:
https://www.larrysbeans.com/
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/coffeecity/2012795613_direct_trade_seeks_integrity_f.html?syndication=rss
http://www.directtradecoffee.com/

Also, watch the film "Black Gold." It takes place in Ethiopia, but applies everywhere coffee is grown.