Stories
Harvest time
Kevin Smith (CIDA intern with TransFair Canada) — June 2003
I'm out in the boonies. But this definitely isn't Canada: here there are no strip malls, and the vast parking lots of the suburbs are replaced by patchwork plots of maize and beans. But while Starbucks has no plans to come to town, coffee is everywhere. And now, harvest time in rural Guatemala, coffee is especially conspicuous.
The first clue is the pungent smell that hangs over the town. This is acrid and sharp and it lingers thick in the air. It's impossible to avoid - the smell rises from almost every home in town. The source of this vinegary stench is in backyards, front doors, even living rooms.
Here there are a number of piles of coffee in various stages of processing. The first are red berries, coffee in its raw form, picked within the past two days. These have been carefully selected since coffee picked green, before it's ready, or blood red, when its overripe will ruin the final quality. And if these farmers are like most of those I work with, they belong to Fair Trade cooperatives that need to be exceedingly conscious of their coffee quality.
Next to the ripe berries is an archaic looking contraption. This is the depulper and it's here that the peel of the coffee is separated from the two beans inside. Depulping is a family event, and every child, adult and elder in town is familiar with how this machine operates. To start, about 30 pounds of the raw berries are dumped into the top. Then, grabbing the handle and turning it vigorously, the machine makes a whirring sound as the red shell, the pulp, drops out one end. Out the other dribble the slimy beans that are collected in plastic bins. This is the coffee and like a fine wine these beans will now need to ferment, generally between 24 and 48 hours. A good coffee farmer licks his finger, puts it delicately to the air and will tell you exactly, down to the hour, when these beans will be done the ferment and ready for the final stage, the wash.
The wash is done by adding cool water into bins that contain the coffee to remove the slime or the mucilage around the bean that was loosened during fermentation. Like all the stages, careful attention to time and detail is required since any leftover residue on the beans will leave a tart or sour taste when roasted. This can potentially cost cooperatives their contract and therefore farmers their pay.
Coffee is then ready to be dried. This, one of the final stages for which producers are responsible, is especially finicky. Drying coffee requires that farmers have the foresight of a weatherman, precision of a scientist and constant attention of a day-care worker. During harvest season, you can't miss this stage.
Doorsteps, roads, rooftops - just about anywhere the sun isn't obstructed - become a drying patios and coffee is spread out in careful squares. Men and women can be seen with wooden rakes as they shovel the beans to ensure they dry evenly. 12-14% are the magic numbers. If the beans are removed from the drying stage with 15% humidity they will be too moist, while at 11% they are too brittle. Yes, farmers will tell you, there is a machine that determines the exact humidity of the beans but for most without such resources, the test involves grinding beans in the palm of their open hands. They watch to see how the outer shell crumbles, listen for a soft crunch and feel if the bean is crisp or moist.
With this complete, the coffee is in "pergamino" or parchment form and is ready to sell to coyotes (see above), who are not overly concerned about quality. But for farmers that sell to the Fair Trade, the process is not over. La Broca, Manchas, Caracol, Cafe Mordido: these are bean "defects" and what to the average onlooker is a uniform pile of rust-coloured coffee to the trained eye still has glaring faults.
Once again, the coffee is laid out and, in what is often a family event, any beans that might compromise the final quality are hand removed. The coffee is then put into 100 lb. bags and taken to the cooperative where it is stored until sold.
The final stage occurs when the parchment is shelled with sophisticated machinery to reveal the green bean underneath and turn the coffee into what is known appropriately as "green beans."
Wait, maybe more fitting after you understand the coffee processing is its street name in Latin America "oro." Gold.