by Natalie Ryno, Peace Coffee Shipping & Receiving Coordinator

I love coffee. Everything from the lightest roasted Ethiopian coffee to the darkest French roast. So where does my beloved treat come from? And who are the people that are involved in the process? I was about to find out as I was given the opportunity to travel for Peace Coffee to Guatemala. Oh, Guatemalan coffee is one of my favorites! Our light roasted Guatemalan coffee is full of body, chocolate and touches of citrus. I couldn't wait.

After a connection in Miami, I arrived in Guatemala City. The city was full of large buildings, shops and interesting people. Here I met up with the rest of my crew; Lee (Peace Coffee's director) and her partner Diana, Bill and Geneviève from Cooperative Coffees, Ruth from Bean North, Brenda from Alternative Grounds, and Anthony from Third Coast Coffee. Our group was lively, fun and, most of all, very interested in everything related to coffee. That night, we met at a restaurant in Guatemala City. As the leader, Bill sat us down for an overview of coffee growing and processing in Guatemala. Guatemala has many different types of coffee trees: Arabica, bourbon, robusta and many others. The trees bloom, and a cherry is formed. Once the cherry is red and ripe, the coffee is hand-picked from the tree. After picking, the cherries are soaked in water to ferment. At this point, they are milled and the cherry section is taken off and added to the compost pile. The beans are taken to a drying patio and dried to about 12% moisture. From this point, they are hauled to a dry processing facility where they are sorted by size and quality, and hulled. After this process, they are tasted for quality and then shipped out. Bill's explanation was great, but I wanted to see it for myself. Our trip was a little backwards in order, as we were going to see the dry mill first and end with visits to farms.

The dry mill was an amazing space; much bigger than our warehouse. On our first look around, Lee and I spotted a lot of coffee that was from Apecaformm, one of the coops we buy from. After a quick picture, we headed off to the section of the warehouse where the coffee was milled. The first step was to run the coffee through by a magnet. This ensures that the coffee doesn't come to us with chunks of metal in it (very convenient if you want to grind your coffee!) After that, the coffee is sorted by size, weight, and color through a series of machines. One of their new pieces of equipment was an electric eye sensor. Beans travel in a stream and the eye will sense if a bean has an off color to it. Once it senses one, a strategic puff of air hits it and is sent down a different path than the other beans. And this was all happening at 9000 pounds an hour. Whew! After a last quick sort, the coffee is bagged and stamped as lots. From here it is ready to be exported.

After a long drive from the dry mill facility, we ended up at Coop Nahuala. Located in the village of Pasac, the coop has 135 members and the coffee comes from 10 communities. Last year, they exported 3 containers worth of organic, Fair Trade coffee (That's 112,500 lbs of coffee!). We also learned that the coop was grafting coffee trees in order to increase yield. The robusta coffee tree has a better set of roots than the Arabica tree, but yields a lower quality coffee. The internal organic inspector, Sebastian, was in charge of the grafting project. So far, they have increased coffee yields to that of conventionally grown coffee. It was pretty amazing. We also met with the board of the coop and learned about their wet mill. The coop is surrounded by mountains and coffee farms, so bringing coffee to the coop is easier than at other coops. Farmers don't have to wet mill coffee by themselves; instead, they can bring it to the coop to be wet milled at the coop. The coop also had a vermicomposting project, which took the pulp from the coffee cherries and, with the help of 2 million worms, made compost. My inner gardener was thrilled! The rich, black compost looked like gold. We also met with Louisa; she represents the women farmers at the coop, making it possible for them to have a voice within the coop. She was soft spoken, interesting, and gave us a tour of a farm that had ripe cherries on the branches. Being surrounded by beautiful, lush forest was amazing. I could have hiked through there all day! After a night at the coop and a wonderful breakfast of beans, eggs, fruit and oatmeal, we headed off to another coop, Apecaformm.

The trip was long, bumpy, but full of amazing views of mountains, trees, birds and the beautiful Guatemalan sunset. Geneviève and I rode the last 2 hours in the back of a pickup. Although my back was a bit sore, the long journey was well worth it. We arrived at Apecaformm, which is located in the village of Pueblo Nuevo, a little town with a few stores and many friendly people. The coop has 400 members and involves 17 different communities. Although we were only 5 hours away from Coop Nahuala, the people here spoke an entirely different language. I found it incredible to learn that Guatemalan people speak 22 different languages within the country. Since Apecaformm doesn't have a wet mill facility, the farmers wet process and dry the coffee by themselves. After the coffee reaches 12% moisture, they take it to a drop off point to be taken to the dry mill. The next morning, we hiked through the forest to visit the farms of the coop's president and vice president. The hike included beautiful views, but was also strenuous because of the altitude. After a few hours hiking, we arrived at (the president) Anufo's small farm, where he grows coffee and bananas. His wife, Elena, was involved in a bird project, so there were many chickens, turkeys and ducks running around. After talking with him for a bit, we hiked some more and arrived at (the vice president) Aodelio's farm. He inherited the farm from his father, and grows coffee along with many other plants. Avocados, mangos, bananas, and hot peppers filled the spaces between the coffee trees. Like Anufo, Aodelio has to walk an hour with his de-pulped coffee to a drop off site. There, the coffee is collected, moisture is measured, and is driven to the dry mill facility. After our hike, I found it amazing that these farmers walk hours with coffee sacks on their backs.

At the end of our journey, we stopped at a few other cities. I have never felt more welcome in a foreign country. At Malatakan, a city outside of Pueblo Nuevo, I was greeted in English! The trip was amazing, and made me appreciate the hard work that goes into coffee production even more. The next time I take a sip of my favorite black treat, I will remember all the wonderful people that helped bring it to my cup.

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