Hello Explorers!
As I write this, I am about to head back to Brazil, for the second time this year. This time focusing on some very important coffees in our Parisi line-up — those from Cocarive. I have written about them before and our very special relationship, and I look forward to sharing more about that story, and this trip, next month!
This month though, as we get ready for our long weekend to celebrate Labor Day, I want to take a moment and reflect on the journey coffee takes to get to us and the sheer number of people who work hard all through the chain.
Let's follow the example of a typical washed mild from Central or South America (but NOT Brazil. That's a story for another time!) We must actually begin our count before there are even trees.
Nursery
Seeds (green coffee beans) of proven strains or desired varietals are sold to the farmers, or distributed as part of a national plan. These can come from Agricultural Laboratories, National Agricultural organizations, Local Coops, or just by way of saving a small bagful at the dry mill. Someone sorted out some seeds, and sold/distributed them to the farmer/landowner. {1}
The trees are planted at a nursery and tended by a staff person who watches them through their process of sprouting up. {2} This person of course is part of a team, and certainly has a supervisor. {3} As they grow they are transplanted 2–3 times into progressively larger pots until they are big enough to be taken to the farm for planting. {4}
Farm
The seedlings are then taken up to the farm to be planted {5} in places that have been cleared of undergrowth. Year-round, employees work to keep the area healthy: monitoring soil conditions, weeding, trimming off non-viable sprouts to ensure that the tree that grows is the strongest shoot. {6} The workers all fall under the supervision of the farm manager ("Mandador" in Spanish speaking places) who directs all activities. {7} Trees grow and finally produce a crop to harvest 2–3 years down the line.
A person must pick the cherries from the tree. {8} Hoping for good selective picking (solo rojo, burgundy wine, or bull's blood) to get the very best out of a cup — it is hard, arduous, and done 1 bean at a time!
After the day of picking, workers bring their harvest to the Crew Boss and Scale Master {9} {10} who inspect quality, weigh it, and tally it in the Ledger. This is how pickers are paid — by the pound. Quality pick earns the best rate; rejected beans pay less. The seconds and rejects are processed as "Verde natural", kept for local consumption or sold to low-end local roast operations.
The coffee cherry sacks are loaded into a truck and driven to the wet mill. {11}
Wet Milling
There the dance of the mill begins. It is unloaded {12} and dumped into tanks filled with water. Using mechanical separators or simple sieves, floaters and debris are removed. {13} The good beans run through the depulper — the operator carefully watches that it removes pulp without damaging the beans. {14}
From there it moves into fermentation tanks to soak and loosen the mucilage, usually for about a day. {15} Then it is sloshed through the cleaning channel {16} and carted out to the drying patio {17} where workers spread it to an even depth. {18} Every couple of hours a patio worker {19} walks the rows turning the coffee so it dries evenly. At the end of the day — or when rain comes — it gets mounded up and covered with tarps. The next day, it all gets spread back out again.
Moisture content is closely monitored, and when it is at the right level, it is bagged and stored until ready for the Dry Mill.
Dry Milling
The coffee, still in parchment skin, is unloaded and stacked high. {20} It is an incredible act of strength, agility, and death-defying climbing of wooden ramps with 100lb sacks on the back. It terrifies me to watch the physical laborers at this task.
The sacks are opened into the loading hopper {21} and run through the separator that removes the parchment skin via vibration and friction. Then it passes through Screen Size Sorters {22}, Gravity Tables {23}, and Optic Sorters {24}. For the highest specialty grade, it runs down a conveyor line where a group of women hand-pick for anything unusual — typically at least 4 ladies. {25, 26, 27, 28}
The finished green coffee is weighed into burlap sacks, sewn shut {29}, and stenciled with individual lot details. {30} Filled bags are stacked to await the shipping container or truck that takes it to the port — and then to us.
And that's all just to get it TO us!
In our own roasting facility, a great team works on our piece of the puzzle: Roasting {31, 32}, blending {33}, bagging {34}, packing and shipping {35}, and QC and Compliance to keep our workspace safe and up to all food safety standards. {36, 37}
It takes a LOT of folks to get us our coffee. At least 37 individuals by this rough count touch a coffee before it is ready to brew. There are elements at every stage where if someone screws up, we can lose quality — and sometimes ruin the whole thing.
The labor that goes into getting a truly great cup of coffee is astounding. And if you really think about it, having a quality cup of coffee is really a miracle that should be celebrated.
So as we celebrate the efforts of workers everywhere this month, let's also remember those who come well before us in the coffee chain! Without the hard work of millions in the industry around the world, we wouldn't have this product we all love and care about so much!
It is a privilege to be able to share the story of these people with you and to tip my cap to all of them.
Cheers!
Robin Seitz
Parisi Coffee
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