Sorting through cherries at the end of the day

Just had a french press of (RED) with a partner, and it inspired me to create another post!
This shot was taken just outside Bella Vista and shows the coffee pickers sorting through their cherries at the end of the day. Although the utmost care is taken in only harvesting perfectly ripe red cherries, some underripe beans and leaves do find their way into the basket. Pickers can leave up to 2% green cherries in their harvest, but anything above that means their basket will be turned away. Many keep the green cherries and try to ripen them further in the sun on a patio, and then process, roast and consume it locally.

The average picker can pick from 100 - 150 lbs of cherry per day, and will be paid about $1.30 per cajuela (a cajuela is the volumetric measurement of cherries, and is about 13kgs or 28.6 lbs). The pickers work on both small farms and large estates, with 95% of farms being between 1-5 hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres). The other 5% of farms are large estates that account for 40% of production in Costa Rica.

Tune back in next week for the life cycle of a coffee tree!

Picking the Worlds Best Coffee

Here is a shot of some coffee pickers hand picking ripe red cherries at the peak of their flavour. One of these coffee trees will only produce 1 - 1 1/2 pounds of coffee beans THIS YEAR. Each flavourlock bag of coffee in your store represents the yearly production of ONE TREE....

As we reassert ourselves as the COFFEE AUTHORITY with our Spring Promotion, I thought that I would share some quick coffee facts:

25 million people work in the coffee industry.
Over 60 countries world wide grow coffee.
Coffee is the second most traded commodity after oil.
Brazil is the world's biggest producer of coffee, accounting for 25-30% of world production.
Latin America accounted for 78% of our 2008 global purchases.
Coffee trees take 4-5 years to produce their first harvest.

And it is our responsibility to get it right in the stores. As a partner, I ask you that for the Spring Promotion:
Taste the Coffee of the Week, record your thoughts in your new coffee passport, and sign off on the Coffee Passport Tracking Poster.
Keep your passport in your apron, as part of your dress code, so that all of the information is at your fingertips to help you connect with a customer
Make sure that the brew baskets are so clean you can see your reflection, your urns have fresh faucet cups and your grinder is perfectly calibrated. This will ensure that our customers really taste the worlds best coffee.

Share the passion that our farmers have...love what you do...I do!
Cindy GH

Douglas picking coffee Day 1

This is a video of a coffee picker named Douglas demonstrating his experience and skill!

Not a great picture, but a great story

You just know that we are having a positive impact in origin when the principal and three students open up their school in the middle of summer vacation so that they could greet us, show off the improvements to their school, and thank us directly for being such a great company and contributing to the well being of their school and town. The principal spoke with such passion for her school and her students, and was so grateful for the new lunch room that recent funding provided for the school. She mentioned that when the price of coffee is good, the school does well as they rely soley on the Terrazu Cooperative and the money they make from selling us our coffee for their programming. It was so touching to have her apologize (more than once) that the school was closed, and that she could not show off all of the wonderful things going on at her school. She made sure to invite us back during the school year so she could have us see the quality of education her students are receiving. I think I just may have to take her up on that!

Cindy GH

Ed Barker and Mark Chandler from the Earthwatch Institute sharing their work with us at Ernesto Chacon's farm in Terrazu. Our partnership started in 2007 and has had a significant impact on the sustainability of coffee farming. Earthwatch's purpose is to bring people and science together to motivate people to something to positively impact the world. Terrazu is one of the most highly productive coffee areas of the world, and it is a great testament to our partnership with Earthwatch that this has been achieved while limiting the negative impact on the earth by promoting environmentally friendly methods of coffee farming. We are fortunate to work with such a great organization, and the farmers who have opened up their farms to test how to increase coffee yields using natural and sustainable methods. "Green" coffee took on a whole new meaning with this visit!

Cindy GH

One of my gold medal moments in Costa Rica

A picture of Ernesto Chacon, a small farmer with 3 hectares as part of the coope Terrazu who works with the Earthwatch Institute on his farm. Ernesto and his family were so welcoming the day we visited his farm, and very proud to show us "the best coffee in Costa Rica (his words). What really struck me was how thankful they were to meet us, so that they could show us their gratitude for what we have done for them, the opportunities for their family, and the postive impact that we have had on their community. At one point his wife patted Ernesto and his son on their tummies and exclaimed "look at how well-fed my family is, we have a good life", and it struck me that we are making a world of difference to people in origin. Even if you do not sell a lot of whole bean coffee, know that every latte you perfectly prepare and hand off is helping people on another continent have a better standard of living, and all they ask us to do is "sell more coffee"!

Working Hard on the Farm

Here are some pictures of Ward, Marie and myself working at Doka estates during our last day of our trip!