Salvador Trip Report, March 18-26, 2009

In 2008 we purchased our first lot of Organic Salvador coffee from a cooperative who never had a direct buyer prior to us.  Six months prior to this, Monika Firl (producer relations, Cooperative Coffees) brought us a green coffee sample from a small producer group she just met while traveling in El Salvador.  She mentioned that although it may be a bit challenging to pull off, if we made it work, the producers would get the chance they've been waiting for and we would get our first shot at a direct relationship in country with such prized coffee.

Challenging as it was, everything came together and we had begun our relationship with ACOES:  Organic Coffee Association of Eastern El Salvador.  The group consists of the collective of 19 families called La Concordia along with 10 individual farmer families.  To begin, we had to front a large amount of money to bail the group out of a debt they'd built up with the mill which processed their coffee.  Then we had to accept that the amount of coffee we would receive would be approximately one half the minimum amount for a typical contract (equating to 1/2 container load).  Finally, we had to agree that in the event anything went wrong, we could lose the coffee and the money.  I graded and sample roasted the sample.  The cupping table had a glow to it when I prepared the sample.  The coffee felt good before even slurping it.  Somewhere within the first slurp I realized everything was going to work out just fine as this coffee was saying "bring me home."

It's 9 months after the first bags hit the roastery and we're down to our last couple roasts of the ACOES.  This trip brought me to ACOES to meet these folks and get the full picture.  During the week of bouncing around this relatively small country, I met up with several different producer groups from the East to the West.  I visited mills, cooperative offices, exporter offices, and of course cupping labs.  I also started the first meal of the trip at the street side pupusa stand.  Had it not been so early I would have certainly washed it down with our preferred alternative to bottled water...Pilsener.

High quality El Salvador coffee has a bit of a reputation in the US thanks to the artisan/culinary segment of the Specialty Coffee industry.  The first Salvador Cup Of Excellence Competition was in 2003 and continues to be in the spotlight year after year with exclusive coffee varieties auctioned at very high prices.  The Pacamara variety became a superstar as a result of the COE and Salvador single origin espresso became the cool new kid on the block after Kyle Glanville (Intelligentsia Coffee) took the 2008 USBC with his unadulterated infusion.  The country seems to be filled with gems of all shapes and sizes...that is if you're prepared to buy from a private estate farm, private exporter, or that exclusive importer who always has the nugs (if you have the money).  Each visit I made to the communities broadened the picture being painted of the struggle small scale coffee farmers face on a daily basis.  It's a similar story to most coffee producing countries...if a direct relationship doesn't exist and isn't based on an equitable trade agreement, the farmer is a the whim of the commodities market, which seems to be down more than up, causing farmers to sell their harvests somewhere near the cost of production.  The exception to this is Fair Trade coffee that sells under Fair Trade contract terms.  For as much coffee as this little country puts out, there seems to be only a tiny amount of growers on the FLO (Fair Trade) register.

I landed in Salvador 3 days after the historical election of Mauricio Funes took place and in talking with the locals it seemed to have a buzz similar to that of the US when Obama was elected...change!  This theme would travel with me through my visits with communities.  As much as I saw common with the struggles of the small producers, I envisioned a Salvador with a changed small holder position...one with equitable compensation for farmers' labor.  My vision would continually be countered with many realities.  The first one being pre-financing for the farmers.  Prior to the harvest, farmers must find a way to get money to cover the costs associated with harvest preparation and labor wages for pickers.  Often times the mill or local bank will provide some of this but at an interest rate so high it cuts into what would have amounted to a potential profit.  The next issue I saw repeatedly was the lack of sufficient funds necessary to cover the cost of fertilization.  Even in the case where a producer group was receiving the Fair Trade and Organic premiums, they still didn't have enough money to buy the necessary inputs (ie: chicken manuer) to add to their composted coffee cherry pulp.  As a result, it was common to see tons of decaying coffee pulp on the sides of roads and in piles throughout the farms.  Ideal fertilization is a major factor in this whole picture.  Most everyone we visited had very low yields per coffee shrub and this is a direct correlation to insufficient fertilization.  With the correct fertilization, these shrubs could produce 3 to 4 times as much as they currently yield.  Other factors that contribute to the low yield issue which were not able to be attended to frequently enough due to lack of funds included shade mitigation, soil retention on steep slopes, shrub pruning, and re-planting management.

My visit with ACOES in Ahuachapan turned out to be productive, however not what I expected.  The membership of the cooperative is not growing and growth is crucial to this groups success at increasing exportable yield.   Based on last years cup quality and how well it has held up in the green bean form, I expected overall healthy farm conditions.  Instead it was obvious ACOES faced the same low yield challenges as so many small holders but with the added issue of Broca.  Broca is an insect which bores into the ripening cherry, reproduces and spreads like wildfire.  ACOES is at a critical point right now facing a much needed overhaul of their farms.  Our cupping of this years harvest turned up some critical processing faults which led to ferment in the cup.  This is most likely due to negligence on the part of the contracted wet mill who is in control of the freshly harvested cherries from within 6 hours after being picked to their ultimate container loading stage.   We hope to get resolution on the cause of this fault and work towards eliminating the risk for next years crop.  Although it remains to be seen if we'll have the ability to import their 70 bag harvest this year, I have committed to taking the next 3 years to assist ACOES in getting through this very challenging time.

I had a very good visit with an association of producers named COMUS, located in Usulutan.  Here is a very small cooperative which has very large potential.  Although the coffees which grew at 350 meters above sea level (masl) from the Zipotil Cooperative were very soft/mild and difficult to imagine finding a home in the specialty market, the higher elevation coffees (1,000 masl) from Las Conchas Cooperative cupped beautifully on the table.  These coffees are of the Bourbon and Pacas variety, showing very good body, sweetness, and fruit in the cup.  COMUS has its own small aqua-pulp mill which uses collected rain water as its source for all the milling.  It also has a 60 pound capacity, home-built, gas fired roaster used to produce the lower elevation coffee which is sold on the local market, providing an alternative income to the coop.  Comus has never had a direct buyer in the past and as a result has never been able to confront the typical issues the small holders face.  We contracted the 40 bag harvest Las Conchas produced this year and look forward to working directly with them over the next several years to overcome the many issues they face growing coffee.

One of the highlights of this trip occured on Monday in San Salvador at PROCAFE (a lab/cupping facility).  We brought together 13 small holder producers from a variety of regions along with their coffees and had a formal cupping session.  Included in this group were representatives from each of the communies we visited during the week prior.  The coffee samples were gathered the week before and graded for physical defects.  They were sample roasted and cupped using the Cup Of Excellence grading forms for sensory analysis.  We spent the day engaged with producers and project managers, highlighting the cup qualitys relationship to all we experienced at the mills and on the farms.   It's incredibly rare for producers to get live feedback on their coffee quality and advice on recommended steps to overcome some of the obvious issues tied to cup quality in relation to production practices.  For many of the farmers in the room, this gathering of idea sharing and dialogue gave them a sense of what to expect in the specialty coffee market and what to work towards for gaining premium market access.

This trip marked the first stage of a 3 year project I'll be participating in to try to assist small holder producers in 3 areas:  Improve yields, Improve cup quality, and Assist in developing markets.  We will work closely with ACOES and COMUS as well as many others we visited.  As Mauricio Funes and Obama begin their work toward change, rowing upstream for as long as it takes, so will the producers and those of us who maintain hope, positivity, and hard work despite the constant gnawing of the Broca.  

Until next trip...