Colombia Coffee Farmers Visiting (Part I)

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Because of something important, the author was absent from this year's Seoul Coffee Show. In the past, apart from sponsoring speeches, few outsiders would come to Hong Kong on their own initiative. However, with the rise of the local boutique craze, people from all walks of life in the coffee industry chain will stop by for a day or two at exhibitions in Asia or Australia and New Zealand. On that day, the coffee shop received two Colombians.

Brown hair, beard, plaid shirt, blue jeans. I thought to myself, isn't this image exactly the materialized Colombian coffee logo Juan Valdez? As soon as I shook hands, I felt the traces left by years of work in the fields: rough skin and thick palms. "your Colombian coffee is good. Where did you buy it? " Unexpectedly, after saying hello to each other, he immediately got to the point.

Farm production rating export one-stop

Detailed origin information is one of the features of boutique coffee. Nowadays, more and more people define "single coffee" as "single manor, single batch". In the past, farmers' coffee fruits were collected together and named after the area (such as Manning) or the port name (Santos). This "buyer" may know nothing about the quality of coffee, but only connects farmers and exporters through transportation and networking. But now, large-scale farms will actively set up their own export networks, hoping to export coffee in a direct transaction mode. Among them, some people even employ cup surveyors to grade and pack the farms in the producing area, and provide one-stop customs clearance and shipping services.

"Marco-Tulio? The Narino one, of course we know each other. " Although they are exporters, the author is quite surprised by their knowledge. This coffee, bought by a Japanese colleague, is a rare recent masterpiece: the acidity of plum and prune, the sweetness of coconut sugar and the slippery taste of honey. In the first cup test, everyone in the field was amazed. The author gives it a score of 89, which is not only comparable to the top five scores of Cup of Excellence (COE), but also only one point short of the highest honor "presidential level". But according to the official database, the farm has never participated in the competition! Although more and more farmers use COE as a springboard and stop participating when they win awards and become famous, the author is puzzled by the fact that they produce such a high level of coffee without trying to become famous on the international stage. I didn't expect that the person in front of me should know the owner.

Annual harvest in Colombia

Of course I want to know the truth. So he asked, "is there something wrong with the Columbia COE game?" Or is there not enough publicity? Why is such a high-scoring coffee so nameless? "

When they heard COE, they exchanged a deep smile and said, "to be famous by COE is to win the lottery for a living." Colombia's coffee industry is different from other countries. The vast majority of coffee farmers are small-scale family-run businesses, and it is impossible for them to send their only batches to compete in order to make ends meet. The whole process from preliminary selection to award-winning auction takes half a year, and they need to raise funds to prepare for farming in the coming year. What's more, coffee is harvested in Colombia all year round, so how can farmers who harvest in January stay until COE in October? " In order to compile the Coffee World Map, the author knows a little about the scale of the farm and the cash flow of farmers. As for the harvest in the country all year round, this is the first time I have heard of it. I continued, "isn't FNCC in Colombia your union?" Why not reflect through it? Do you know that coffee of this grade can be sold for dozens of times the market price? "

"well, if FNCC could represent farmers, we wouldn't have to fight the riot police stationed in the capital." Later, I found that a sentence he had written lightly touched on two national anti-government demonstrations in Colombia this year, which even involved the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. It is surprising that there is not a word in the local news about these major conflicts.

Patrick Tam (owner of the boutique coffee shop Knockbox, approved barista of the American Fine Coffee Association and European Fine Coffee Association, CQI recognized Cup tester in the United States, the first Hong Kong judge of Cup of Excellence