The Coffee You Drink

In the cities of the United States, coffee shops are scattered throughout, ranging from large companies such as Starbucks to small locally owned businesses. In the smaller towns, the occasional coffee shop may be found. And, even if there are no coffee shops in town, there are certainly bags of coffee in the local supermarket, usually available at a relatively low cost. Behind this commercial image of coffee, what coffee consumers do not see is the backbreaking work and the time-consuming processes needed to produce that bag of coffee on the supermarket shelf. For the enlightenment of coffee drinkers and in honor of the Mexican coffee farmer, here is a glimpse of this process.

Coffee plants are grown between 800-1800 meters above sea level. The higher the altitude, the better the coffee. Thus, to visit the coffee-growing region in southern Mexico, chances are the visitor will end up in the mountains. Depending on the altitude of the plants, the coffee is harvested anywhere between January and June. The coffee plants themselves produce a fruit called an uva (“grape,” called a “cherry” in English), which may be red or yellow, depending on the species of plant. Each plant is harvested between two and three times, depending on the level of care in tending to the plant.

To harvest the cafetal (coffee plot), a worker goes out into the field with a canasta (trade-specific basket) that is strapped around the worker’s waist, into which the worker places the uvas. The cafetales in this region are usually located on hillsides, meaning the trip to the coffee plants involves climbing up and down steep hills. The landowner usually does the harvesting, sometimes assisted by family members, or even by other hired hands from the region. Migrant field workers also often come up from Guatemala to work in the fields during the coffee -harvesting season. An individual worker can haul roughly six canastas up from a field. A worker with a horse can load up to twelve canastas on a horse, placing six on each side. A special yoke called an arquillo is placed on the horse’s back, allowing the bags to be divided up evenly on both sides.

When the uvas are then brought down from the field, they then begin the first stages of being processed. There is a “wet processing” and a “dry processing.” The wet processing is the procedure followed to remove the pulp of the uva from the actual coffee seed.

To begin the wet processing, the uvas are placed in a large tank that is then filled with water. The uvas that are rotten float to the surface and are removed. The uvas that are suitable for processing sink to the bottom. Once all of the spoiled uvas are removed, the water is released from the tank, with the good uvas being flushed into a de-pulping machine. As the machine churns, it de-pulps the berry, revealing the seed inside the uva (see photo on left). The seed is covered in a gooey liquid called miel (honey) that tastes sweet. The de-pulped seeds travel, aqueduct-style, into another vat, where they are once more cleaned and left to ferment for roughly two days.

After fermenting, the seeds are removed and laid out on patios to dry. The seeds must be raked regularly so that they dry evenly – the goal is to reduce the level of humidity present in each seed by exposing it to the sun.

Some coffee farmers live in regions, however, where there is a substantial amount of rain. In such conditions, it is difficult to dry the coffee properly at home. These farmers must instead bring the coffee to a lower altitude where there is less rain in order to leave the coffee out to dry.

Once the de-pulped coffee is dried, it results in what is called pergamino, which is the coffee seed surrounded by a paper-like husk. If the uvas are de-pulped immediately after being picked, the pergamino will be white in color. If the uvas are de-pulped several days after being picked, the pergamino will be yellow in color. The white color indicates higher quality (see photo, right), and if the coffee was raised organically (without chemicals), this white pergamino will fetch a higher price on the coffee market. The yellow, lower quality pergamino, however, will sell for less. This lower-quality coffee is usually what is sold to Nescafé, or other soluble coffee brands.

After drying the coffee, the farmer then bags the pergamino in special burlap bags, each weighing one quintal, and brings these quintales to the buyer. Depending on the political and social inclinations of the farmer, the buyer may either be a colectivo (collective organization) or a coyote (also called an intermediaro).

A colectivo functions differently than a coyote, providing certain benefits to the farmer. The colectivo maintains strict quality control regulations on the coffee, emphasizing organic coffee production, meaning that a farmer must be more diligent in the maintenance of the coffee crop. However, there are benefits to be had by being a member of a colectivo.

First, the colectivo does not pay the farmer the full price upfront. Instead, the farmer receives a percentage of the pay upfront for the anticipated market price of the coffee. When the colectivo sells the coffee, the difference goes back to the farmer. A coyote, however, pays the farmer all at once when the farmer initially sells his coffee. While being paid the total amount at one time may seem more desirable, the colectivo’s method is a self-regulated method that ensures the farmer has funds later on in the year. Namely, this method ensures the farmer has funds when it comes time to purchase seeds and materials to sew the next harvest. Second, as a member of a colectivo, the farmer may participate in various workshops and training exercises designed to improve the cultivation of the coffee plants. Third, a member of a colectivo may take out loans from the colectivo without interest. If a farmer takes out a loan from a coyote, the famer must pay back the loan with interest, often at very high rates.

Thus, the farmer must choose who will buy the coffee harvest - some choose the colectivo, some choose the coyote. These colectivos exist throughout the regions where coffee is grown. In the region of Jaltenango, located in the southwest part of Chiapas, several such colectivos exist, including Union Ramal Santa Cruz and CESMACH (Campesinos Ecológicos de la Sierra Madre de Chiapas). The coyotes in the town are also easily identified, bearing signs stating “Compras de Café.”

Once the farmer brings the quintales of pergamino coffee to the chosen buyer, the buyer then examines the product, first weighing the bags. Samples are then taken of the pergamino, used to check the humidity and the mancha (rottenness) of the product. To check the humidity, the tester takes a handful of the pergamino and crushes the husk, inspecting the seed inside. An experienced tester can determine if the humidity ranges between 10-13%, the usual acceptable range of humidity. The mancha is then checked by hand as well. The tester observes how many seeds are spoiled or generally unusable. After the humidity and the mancha have been checked, the tester takes a sample to a small de-husking machine. The pergamino is put into the machine, which then de-husks the seed. The resulting seed is a light blue-green in color, and is now referred to as café oro (gold coffee). The mancha is once again checked, this time calculating in human error for any seeds that may have been damaged during the de-husking process. The sample that has been de-husked is used to represent a percentage of the quintal – the humidity of the sample is the humidity of the overall bag, and the mancha percentage of the sample is representative of the mancha percentage of the bag.

Once the colectivo or coyote has purchased the bags of pergamino from the farmer, the bags are sorted according to size and type of coffee. In the colectivos, certain specialty coffees may also be found, apart from the usual organic coffee. At least in CESMACH, there is a special category of coffee dedicated to women farmers – women who often have lost their husbands or sons, and are reliant upon their coffee product to sustain themselves. In such case, this café feminina (female coffee) is sold at a slightly higher price on the market so that the additional proceeds may go back to the women farmers.

When the buyer aggregates a total of 465 quintales, this forms a lote (that is, 1 lote = 465 quintales). The lote is then transported to a maquiladora for the de-husking process to occur on a large scale. While the pergamino can be de-husked by hand and turned into café oro for the sake of checking the humidity and the mancha, there is no feasible way to process by hand all of the coffee that comes into a buyer’s store. Thus, the coffee bags must be shipped to a location where the maquiladora can de-husk the pergamino, turning it into café oro on a grand scale.

When a bag of pergamino is put into the maquiladora, the coffee seed is first de-husked and turned into café oro. The oro seed is then sorted according to weight and size. After several additional sortings according to size and weight, the oro that weighs a premium weight and is of a consistent size is bagged in a burlap bag and set aside. This coffee is now ready to be sold to a roaster, most likely to the United States or somewhere in Europe, where the coffee can be sold at a higher price than is available in the domestic market. The remaining coffee, which was either too large or small, or weighed too little or too much, is sorted once more according to size and weight. The goal is to catch any beans of good size and weight that slipped passed unnoticed during the first sorting. These beans are then bagged as well, and set aside for shipping to the international roaster. The remaining beans are then bagged, intended for the domestic market.

If a coffee shop or coffee organization, whether in Mexico or abroad, has its own roaster, it can directly buy the café oro from the colectivo or the coyote, roast the coffee, and sell it in stores or cafes. Some roasters, however, buy the coffee, roast it, and then sell it to coffee shops or stores that do not have roasting capacity of their own. Either way, the coffee ends up making its way into your hands, allowing you to enjoy a product made by the farmers of Mexico.