Oso Negro Coffee

COLOMBIA Tales of a Coffee Reconnaissance Mission

by John Cossette, Royal Coffee Inc, Green Coffee Importers, San Francisco

Last summer I was robbed here in Oakland and was harassed and provoked by a gang of hoodlums in New York city. My stomach was bad. I figured these events were the perfect preparation for my recent trip to Colombia. As it turned out, these urban American misfortunes weren't necessary at all, as my travels were free of bodily harm aside from the self-inflicted alcohol-related type. I am thus happy to report that Colombia did an absolutely terrible job of living up to its dubious reputation of crime, violence and kidnapping. While the U.S. has denied a traveling visa to the president of Colombia, I was treated like a king by virtually everyone I met. Sounds like we owe Colombia some good karma.

The intent of my mission was to meet with the exporters we buy from and visit the regions where our coffee is grown and processed, namely Huila and Popayan. I had further intended to find some other potential growing areas to source; however, my trip has left me thoroughly convinced that we already are buying the best Colombia has to offer. Nothing against Bucaramanga, Armenia, or Medellin-it's just that the geography, agricultural techniques, and social setting of Huila and Popayan lead not only to a better cup of coffee, but also one that is ethically and conscientiously easier to buy.

POPAYAN - Fresh to the Last Bean

Our windblown and wobbling propeller-driven plane descended into the city of Pereira, in the Cordillera Central. This was the nearest airport to Cartago, where the coffee we import from Popayan is milled and bagged. Pereira is a rapidly expanding agro-industrial city, its rivers oozing filth, the air clogged with smog, and its streets packed with vehicles and humanity. Directly in the center of town is an eyesore of a city dump where derelicts vie with vultures for edible food, the poor scrounge desperately for anything valuable, and youths lean back against rocks reeling from a recent inhalation of glue. I was promised we wouldn't be stopping here for lunch.

We drove south out of town and into the Valle de Cauca en route to Cartago. We arrived at the relatively small mill of our exporter just as the lunch hour was ending. A provocative woman wearing fishnet stockings rang a bell announcing all hands back to work. In seconds, some fifty or sixty women appeared in the courtyard and entered the mill to perform the art of hand-sorting the green beans. Despite the advent of electronic equipment, hand-sorting is still the norm in Colombia, as it is a source of employment. Entering the mill, I noticed there weren't bags of coffee in parchment lying in storage in some vast dusty warehouse waiting to be milled, nor were there huge stacks of bagged green beans ready for export. There was only the coffee immediately being processed in the machinery and on the sorting tables, and two small but steadily growing stacks of finished 70 kg. bags - one stack of Supremo and on stack of Excelso. Jaime, the mill manager and the closest thing to Jesus I've ever encountered, informed me that they only process one lot (250 bags) of coffee at a time.

They buy only fresh prepared pergamino (coffee in parchment) from farmers and cooperatives in Popayan and process it immediately. Once one lot is prepared, it will be on a boat to Royal within seven days. Thus, when you buy Popayan, you are guaranteed fresh coffee year round. Furthermore, the Popayan Supremo is sorted out at 90% screen 18 and above, as opposed to the industry standard which requires 90% screen 17 and above. This not only means that the Popayan Supremo is larger than most other Supremos, but it also indicates that the Popayan Excelso is larger than most other Excelsos in that it has a larger percentage of screen 17 beans.

Of final note regarding the Popayan, we purchase this coffee from a small, family-owned exporter. This family has been in the coffee exporting business for over 100 years and five generations. The owner, Dón Hernan, approves all coffee which is purchased and processed, selection coffee grown throughout Popayan, in the south of Colombia. The coffee is characterized by a smooth and sweet cup, with good acidity and excellent body, and of course, is always fresh.

HUILA - Land of the Small Farmer

Ever since I began working for Royal, I've always wondered "Where the hell is Huila and what is so special about it?" In the three days I spent in this remote part of Colombia, I found the answers to both these questions. Framed by the Cordillera Oriental to the east and the Cordillera Central to the west, Huila is the most southeasterly of all the coffee growing regions in Colombia. The department is dissected by the Magdalena, the mother of all Colombian rivers. The coffee is grown on the slopes of both or the cordilleras heading upwards out of the valley. The southerly location, year-round distribution of rainfall and ambient temperatures, allow the farmers of Huila to cultivate coffee up to 1900 meters (6300 feet) above sea level. This high altitude creates the trademark Huila acidity, while the greenhouse-like conditions provide for frequent flowering periods throughout the year, which most likely explains the notable floral aroma and cup of the Huilas.

While Huila is naturally blessed with the optimal coffee growing geography, the real key to the greatness of the coffees from Huila are the growers-thousands of them. Of these thousands of farmers, roughly 80% are cultivating coffee on less than seven acres of land. Such small farms are typically tended entirely by the family, as opposed to bringing in outside labor. When the family is working its own field the work tends to be more thorough and intensive, which in turn leads to better tended and cared for fields.

These smaller, intimately cared for farms are also more healthy and more ecologically sound than coffee farms in the more "industrial" coffee growing regions of Colombia: Medellin, Armenia, and Manizales, for example. In these areas, larger farms are the norm, the labor is hired from outside, and chemicals are the usual solution to growing problems. Despite this "chemical solution," these areas are still being ravaged by "la broca," the coffee berry boring insect. Meanwhile in Huila, the broca problem is rare, and where it does occur it is combatted with biological control methods-the release of parasitic wasps, for example-and also with simple manual farm clean-up and close observation. According to agronomists in Huila, growers in Huila have resorted to fumigation in only 2% of the cases when the broca has occurred.

The way the coffee from these small farmers of Huila eventually finds its way to us at Royal is through the farmer-owned cooperative system. The farmers turn their pergamino in at the local cooperative warehouse, which in turn arranges with an exporter for final processing and export. The farmer receives top price from the cooperative, and also receives advice and training from the coop's agronomists. All of the coffee we purchase from Huila arises from this small farmer-owned cooperative system. I think we are doing the "right thing" buying this coffee.

EPILOGUE

During the two weeks of my visit to Colombia, the country was locked up by a trucker's strike which paralyzed the coffee industry at the height of new crop processing and exportation. The warehouses were becoming stuffed to rafters with coffee while motionless trucks were strewn about the roadside like dead fish in a dried up pond. On my final day in the country, the strike ended and things got rolling again. The end result, however, was considerable backup in fulfilling shipping contracts as competition was fierce amongst exporters trying to secure space on ships for their coffee. Thus, if we were a little late in getting our October shipment Colombians, you now know why. If you are a buyer of the Huilas or the Popayans, however, I am sure it was worth the wait! Happy Trails, John Cossette