Coffee planting: sowing seeds in coffee estates in Nicaragua

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When I visited the nursery when I was young, I only knew how to plant seeds, irrigate them at the right time, and have enough sunshine, so that the seedlings would grow. With more scientific knowledge, we also realize the importance of fertilization and disinfestation. People who grow up in cities have little contact with the lives of farmers except for potted plants at home. Because of coffee, the author has the opportunity to feel the actual difference between "planting with interest" and "farming for the sake of supporting his family".

Coffee is one of Nicaragua's main exports. Coffee is produced in 10 of the 16 provinces. Due to the high mountains in the north, it is more suitable for coffee cultivation, so 93% of the country's production comes from the four northern provinces: Jinotega, Matagalpa, Nueva Segovia and Madriz. Among them, the quality of Nueva Segovia is the best; in the national COE competitions in the past few years, more than 80% of the winning coffee came from this district. One of the farms I visited was Un Regalo de Dios, the 2010 award-winning farm surrounded by the Dipilto-Jalapa Mountains.

Select excellent seeds

"all the trees on this hillside can be picked. Remember to choose the branch that stretches in the middle of the trunk and the fuchsia ripe fruit that grows in the middle. " In the early morning of the next day, I was still getting used to jet lag. When I was half dreaming and half awake, listening to the translation, "in the middle and in the middle", can't you pick the red one? It turns out that the fruit we picked is reserved for seed. In order to retain excellent descendants, selection has begun from the fruit harvest stage.

It takes three years for a coffee tree to be sown and first harvested. In order to ensure that each seed can produce strong and high-yielding seedlings, farmers will choose the most potential fruit as the seed. They grow in the middle of the main trunk, and the fruit in the middle of each branch theoretically absorbs the most nutrients. Being able to survive on the tree to purplish red means that the fruit is healthy and has a more complete core.

"what you have to do after that is the same as dealing with drinking coffee beans: meat removal, fermentation and desquamation. However, in order to avoid damaging the embryo of the bean tip, all the processes have to be done manually. " I was secretly glad that I was inefficient and that there was only a small basket in the whole morning's harvest, otherwise "the more you work, the more you get". Dozens of coffee fruits, repeatedly pressed with two fingers to force the core out, took a total of 1 hour! Looking at the scattered beans at the bottom of the plastic tube, I can't help thinking that "every grain is the hard work of the farmers."

It's time to sow the seeds. The jeep drove to a fragmented hillside: there was no walk, only a few fig and banana trees of different heights, messy hay lying flat, some lying pine poles, and piles of citronella by the side of the road. The leading agronomist (agronomist) said, "this is where the seedlings grow." We planted those shadow trees (shade tree) two years ago and pruned them by calculating the distribution of sunlight in each season. The sand pile under the hay is sterilized by boiling water, and the first month of seed germination is spent here. Pine stalks are used to fix hillsides and avoid soil erosion, while citronella has a deworming effect. " Farmers use science and experience to make use of natural resources, a seemingly wasteland originally orderly and natural.

Working downstream, only know that coffee is a core. On that day on the farm, I realized the wisdom behind the production of high-quality nuts. On this trip, I found an important jigsaw puzzle of "from seed to From seed to cup".

Text, figure: Patrick Tam

(owner of boutique coffee shop Knockbox, approved barista of American boutique coffee association and European boutique coffee association, American CQI recognized cup tester, the first Hong Kong judge of Cup of Excellence)

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