Fresh Cup Magazine April 2002

The Green Cafè: Cupping for Sustainable Quality
By Mark Inman

It’s sometimes tempting for people in the green movement to discuss sustainable coffee in a vacuum devoid of real-life financial and human interests. But how can we discuss “green” issues without addressing today’s shockingly low coffee prices? After all, doesn’t sustainability include the financial soundness of farmers and their families? How relevant are recyclable paper products or vermiculture when farmers are starving and losing their land? This month, I want to tell you about a recent trip I took to Nicaragua, where I witnessed the results of a project whose goal is to develop a vision of integrated quality: quality of coffee, quality of life for farmers and quality of the environment.

After Hurricane Mitch devastated northern Nicaragua a few years ago, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded the Cooperative League of the United States of America (CLUSA) to implement a series of disaster relief and economic reactivation programs. CLUSA signed a contract with Thanksgiving Coffee Company’s CEO, Paul Katzeff, to implement a project he had written in 1998. The project involved forming an advisory council as a forum for communication and collaborative decision-making among nine coffee cooperatives in Nicaragua. Katzeff signed on as project director; Nicholas Hoskins of Del Campo joined as operations director; Byron Corrales, Nicaragua’s organic guru and founder of UNAG (National Union of Farmers and Ranchers) joined as field coordinator; and the University of California-Santa Cruz’s Christopher Bacon became the project researcher and evaluator.

The project focused on building nine cupping labs in nine co-ops and training 32 young Nicaraguans in basic cupping and sample-roasting skills. These numbers may seem small, but the nine co-ops represent close to 6000 small-scale coffee farmers, or roughly 20 percent of Nicaragua’s coffee farmers. Katzeff’s philosophy behind the project was simple: “If farmers do not know what they grow, how can they expect to improve it? If they do not know what price was paid for their product, they do not know how the market is responding to their effort. And how can farmers have pride in their craft or be motivated to grow and improve when they are producing an unknown product, for an unknown buyer, at an unknown price?”

Katzeff’s answer to these difficult questions is to focus on value. Value is created by quality and direct access to international markets. But the existing model keeps most small-scale campesinos from realizing value. The goal is to change this dynamic.

Currently, the main player in the production chain is the dry beneficio, the facility that processes the coffee from wet to dry and prepares it for export. Dry beneficios are largely in the hands of agro-industrialists who often buy small-scale farmers’ coffees at reduced rates. This leaves small-scale farmers without access to their coffees as a finished product. With the exception of a few co-ops, virtually none of the smallholder co-ops export directly to roasters and importers. Because of low productivity, lack of organization and political exclusion, small-scale farmers are under-represented in national policy-making forums, such as the Nicaraguan Specialty Coffee Association, government committees and the organizations controlling the two national laboratories that certify coffee exports.

The nine co-ops (CECOCAFEN, PRODECOOP, PROCOSER, SOPPEXCA, La Gorrion, CORCOSAN, Solidaridad, and La Providencia) were selected based on their abilities to match the following criteria: (1) Potential to produce specialty coffee. (2) Display fiscal responsibility. (3) Desire to participate in the project. (4) Ability to raise additional funds (they raised an additional $125,000 collectively). The grant allowed for funds of $291,000 to be distributed to the nine co-ops for the design and construction of cupping labs, staff training, equipment, travel, and transportation.

One of the most impressive elements of the project was the training of the 32 cuppers. The project’s administrators selected participants who possessed a youthful enthusiasm, education beyond the sixth grade and, preferably, a familial connection to one of the participating co-op’s coffee farmers. The cuppers/roasters were selected from co-ops involved in this project. The potential cuppers were then sent to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) conference in Miami last April to attend cupping workshops. Back in Nicaragua, Corrales enlisted CLUSA’s quality coffee consultant to support a series of six training workshops.

In addition to choosing a head cupper, each cooperative selected young community members to learn the art and science of coffee tasting. CLUSA contracted professional trainers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the United States. These trainers then worked with CLUSA’s two in-house cuppers to provide a series of workshops designed to build on the community members’ basic cupping skills.

During my visit to five of the nine labs, I was extremely impressed by the professionalism of these cuppers. They are beginning to see how vital their role is in the coffee chain. In each co-op and mill, the cuppers seemed polished and well trained, and they offered nicely roasted samples that were even and clean. They openly discussed cup quality, offering their opinions on coffees they enjoyed and those they felt were not up to par. They all spoke of a desire to refine their skills on both the sample roasters and the cupping table.

The cupping labs were incredible. I was blown away by what was accomplished with such limited funds. Built to the specs of labs that the advisory council visited in the U.S., the labs resembled Royal Coffee’s lab in Emeryville, Calif., Holland Coffee’s lab in Novato, Calif., and, of course, Thanksgiving Coffee’s lab in Fort Bragg, California. But what sets the labs in Nicaragua apart from those in the U.S. was the beautiful woodwork and artistic touches of local craftspeople. I was truly envious of the labs’ beauty, and I could see the pride in the workers’ eyes as they unveiled them. I couldn’t help but notice that these groups knew they now had a very powerful tool that would make them serious players in Nicaragua’s coffee industry.

This project is strengthening the cooperatives that represent small-scale producers and, thus, addressing the inequities between large- and small-scale Nicaraguan coffee producers. Many of these co-ops have implemented programs that conserve natural resources and support local health clinics, schools and community development—efforts that made them strong candidates for the CLUSA project. The primary impact on sustainability depends on the degree to which the project strengthens the co-ops that direct their own sustainable development activities.

This project will also impact the environment. As the agricultural frontier and illegal logging continue to eliminate Nicaragua’s remaining forests, coffee agro-forestry systems become increasingly important to the ecosystem. Many small-scale Nicaraguan farmers grow coffee under an existing tree canopy; in fact, 95 percent of Nicaraguan coffee production is shade-grown. These coffee agro-ecosystems resemble the native forest’s ecological structure, diversity and ecosystem function. They provide environmental services, including soil, water and biodiversity conservation. But as coffee prices fall, farmers are increasingly tempted to cut their shade trees for quick cash. How can we help keep this from happening? By convincing farmers that quality pays. As Danielle Giovannucci’s Sustainable Coffee Survey of the North American Specialty Coffee Industry states, “Coffee buyers, even for the ‘sustainable coffee’ segment, are primarily concerned with quality.” Thus, to the extent that this project improves quality and increases coffee prices, it supports the conservation efforts of thousands of farmers.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this inspiring project. These types of individual efforts make our industry truly innovative. I encourage you to not only support projects like this, but also to encourage the development of more in the future. Whether you are a “birder,” a social activist, an environmentalist, or a capitalist, the development of coffee quality should be one concept we all see eye to eye on.

Mark Inman is co-founder of and roastmaster for Taylor Maid Farms, a certified-organic herb farm and coffee roastery in Occidental, California. He is also founder of the Organic Coffee Association of America.