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The last days of COE were at once exciting, tiresome, perplexing and interesting. Politics continued to rear its pedantic head in the form of long speeches (all in Spanish) and high-profile politicians attending the awards ceremony (initially the President was scheduled to come but was replaced by the Vice-President last minute). In the end, 25 winners emerged, with Amado Fernandez of the Sánta Barbara region taking first place.
As Poul mentioned, Arturo and Benjamin of Beneficio San Vincente graciously hosted us during our visits to farms in Sánta Barbara. Benjamin acted as translator and provided invaluable information about the region, which he grew up in. Without Benjamin and Arturo, it wouldn’t have been possible to access all the farms we visited and we definitely wouldn’t have learned as much as we did about the coffee industry in Honduras. It was inspiring to see how hard the people at San Vincente work to elevate the quality of coffee in Sánta Barbara. Arturo is an agronomist, so he has a lot of knowledge about the growing of coffee in the region. On top of that, he is a cupper (he judges COE at the national level), a roaster and helps process coffee for export. I’m quite sure that if Poul hadn’t introduced himself to Arturo, we wouldn’t have had as complete an experience visiting farms as we ended up having.
Meeting and talking with farmers (through Benjamin) was humbling. Considering the challenges they face – lack of electricity; roads constructed by their own hands; limited means of communication with one another and the international market; lack of access to equipment (just to list a few) – Honduran farmers are producing fantastic coffee. While this was my first time visiting coffee farms and meeting coffee farmers (admittedly giving me a limited perspective), I was incredibly impressed by the dedication and care these farmers have about the quality of their coffee and how it is perceived internationally. These are people who earn (maybe) a few dollars a day. If all they thought about were how to provide the next meal for their families, no one could blame them. If they met visitors with distrust and weariness, few would be all that surprised. Yet all we experienced was warmth, openness, grace, and lots and lots of questions. What do you look for in a cup of coffee? What do you think about how I planted my trees? What do you think about the varietals I’ve planted? What do you think I can do to improve the quality of my coffee? Most of these questions were directed at Poul, who did his best to answer based on his experiences in other coffee growing countries. One of the main things I took from these visits (and it’s been a generally recurring theme as I explore more of this industry) is that I know very little about coffee. It’s what constantly keeps me both challenged and motivated to stay.
Poul asked the farmers if there’s anything they want us to tell our customers and the responses were resounding: a lot of hard work goes into producing coffee and there are many, many challenges. Despite this, it is evident that these farmers are continually striving to produce better coffee. The evidence of this is in the fact that Sánta Barbara farms are increasingly dominating the top-25 spots at Cup of Excellence. Arturo believes the best way for Honduran coffee to improve is through the competition and more international exposure and purchase. Honduran coffee farmers aren’t looking for aid or handouts from the international community; they’re proud of what they do and as I keep mentioning, they care a lot about how their coffee tastes and how it is perceived in internationally.
Something that was reinforced during this trip is that there are some amazing people working in the speciality coffee industry. I learned a lot from the COE judges and saw how passionate they are about serving great coffee at home, as well as doing as much as they can for the people growing coffee. While there are lots of questions regarding how to best go about buying coffee “fairly”, it is reassuring to know that many people doing the buying are aware of the complexities involved in “fair trade” and are willing to forge ahead and learn as much as they can about how to responsibly buy and sell what we all love.
I hope you’ve found these posts about Honduras interesting and (at least somewhat) informative. We hope to build long-lasting relationships with the people we met this past week and hope you’ll soon be able to enjoy coffee from this exciting country.
