September 2007

By Jody Treter

If you’ve kept up with the goings-on of Higher Grounds, you’ve likely learned that we are members of a one-of-a-kind fair trade, green bean importing cooperative called Cooperative Coffees . Cooperative Coffees is comprised of 21 roasters (soon to be 23) who are setting the bar for the global coffee trade. Built into our organization is the respect and honor we have for the people and environment that provide us the gift of coffee we so dearly covet. Together the roasters of CC import several millions dollars worth of green coffee from farmers who are leaders in their respective coffee communities and amongst circles of  industry experts who are hedging bets on the policies that dictate world trade.

Each year Cooperative Coffees hosts an Annual General Membership (AGM) meeting for members to join together to share ideas and take care of the formalities that come with importing over 300 containers of coffee from all over the world. This includes: the election of the board, financial updates and planning, and sharing proposals for new projects. Critical to these meetings is the sharing of information. The enthusiastic banter resounding from every corner of the hotel represents a group of folks with lots of work to do and lots of energy to do it.

In order to strengthen our relationship with producers and give farmers a chance to share their experiences amongst one another, the AGM is held in a coffee producing country every other year and our farmer partners are invited to discuss topics such as farming techniques, building domestic markets, cupping training and challenges/successes in the marketplace.

So, I find myself here in Nicaragua amidst an impressive roster of over 35 coffee farmers from all over Latin America plus representatives from 23 small roasteries based in the United States and Canada. Joining us is a like-minded group of allies including the director of fair trade at Catholic Relief Services, Central American staff from the Fair Labeling Organization, the newly elected director of the International Federation of Alternative Traders, Paul Myers, and representatives from two socially-minded funders, Oiko credit and RootCapital.

The AGM kicked off in typical Nicaraguan style - a lively reception with traditional music and dance presented by the community of Esparanza. The agenda for the first two days was oriented toward producer exchange with a visit to the fields, discussions about farming techniques and a tour of SolCafe, a local coffee processing facility. Yesterday evening, roasters and farmers learned the intricacies of identifying defects in coffee and spent several hours cupping coffees to learn how these defects impact the “cup profile”.

The feedback from farmers so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Here are a few anecdotes . . Javier from Cepicafe in Peru is working on opening a new processing facility and the trip to Solcafe helped solidify many decisions he needed to make. Antonio from Maya Vinic facilitated other farmers in identifying defects using his cupping skills he has gained from Higher Grounds and other roasters who’ve hosted cupping trainings at Maya Vinic. . Juana from La Fem in Nicaragua, a new co-op comprised solely of women, said she is learning invaluable skills to improve the quality of their coffee and, thus, improve their potential to enter new markets.