Directly after culture week (see last post) 6 volunteers including myself met in Boquete for a week of coffee training. Boquete happens to be a top tourist destination but for good reason. It has a cool climate and is located in a beautiful valley surrounded by lush forests and raging rivers (think eco-tourism). Boquete is also at the base Panama’s only volcano, Volcan Barú. From the top, on a clear day, you can see both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea! I will be back to make this trek!
The Peace Corps Panama coffee program is only 4 years young. It´s goals are to work with Panamanian coffee growers to increase their production using sustainable techniques and to improve the post harvest processing of the beans. We also work to empower community members by linking them with organizations, agencies and companies to find the right markets (local, domestic and/or international) and fetch the best prices for their coffee. My group will have 6 volunteers working with coffee farmers and 2 of us will be in indigenous coffee sites.
The week was filled with visits to many specialty coffee fincas in and around Boquete, which is known for producing the finest coffee in Panama. I won’t bore you all here with the details of the coffee industry (that will come later), but in a nutshell we covered how to: select seeds, prepare the soil, sow, grow, prune, identify pests and disease, harvest, de-pulp, ferment, dry, store, peel, roast, grind, cup to determine quality and price, find markets, sell, export and finally, drink coffee (preferably con leche).
We also met with coffee producers who are in the highest specialty market here in Panama. Even though the coffee production in Panama is just a drop in the bucket when compared to world production, it was interesting to speak with roasters and industry players to get an idea of the potential for Panamanian coffee abroad. For example, most farmers in Panama received between .85 cents and 3 dollars/ pound this year for their coffee. A special variety of coffee called Geisha that grows best in Panama received between $150-180/ pound. That means that each cup would have to be sold for around $25 each just to break even. Insane! Who buys this stuff? Apparently, the White House and high-end restaurants in big cities throughout the world were big buyers this year.
There were many exciting revelations this week but perhaps the best moment was finding out that the volunteer who is serving as our coffee coordinator is constructing a bicycle coffee grinder! This is the perfect combination of a practical tool and a farmers’ spinning class (ok, maybe just for me)! Grinding coffee by hand in large quantities is strenuous and the campo of Panama does not have electricity, so this could be an excellent tool for campesinos to utilize in their communities. Check back within a few months, I intend to make one of these and think it is necessary to fulfill my bicycle withdrawal! If anyone has any designs or ideas, please send them my way!
The Peace Corps Panama coffee program is only 4 years young. It´s goals are to work with Panamanian coffee growers to increase their production using sustainable techniques and to improve the post harvest processing of the beans. We also work to empower community members by linking them with organizations, agencies and companies to find the right markets (local, domestic and/or international) and fetch the best prices for their coffee. My group will have 6 volunteers working with coffee farmers and 2 of us will be in indigenous coffee sites.
The week was filled with visits to many specialty coffee fincas in and around Boquete, which is known for producing the finest coffee in Panama. I won’t bore you all here with the details of the coffee industry (that will come later), but in a nutshell we covered how to: select seeds, prepare the soil, sow, grow, prune, identify pests and disease, harvest, de-pulp, ferment, dry, store, peel, roast, grind, cup to determine quality and price, find markets, sell, export and finally, drink coffee (preferably con leche).
We also met with coffee producers who are in the highest specialty market here in Panama. Even though the coffee production in Panama is just a drop in the bucket when compared to world production, it was interesting to speak with roasters and industry players to get an idea of the potential for Panamanian coffee abroad. For example, most farmers in Panama received between .85 cents and 3 dollars/ pound this year for their coffee. A special variety of coffee called Geisha that grows best in Panama received between $150-180/ pound. That means that each cup would have to be sold for around $25 each just to break even. Insane! Who buys this stuff? Apparently, the White House and high-end restaurants in big cities throughout the world were big buyers this year.
There were many exciting revelations this week but perhaps the best moment was finding out that the volunteer who is serving as our coffee coordinator is constructing a bicycle coffee grinder! This is the perfect combination of a practical tool and a farmers’ spinning class (ok, maybe just for me)! Grinding coffee by hand in large quantities is strenuous and the campo of Panama does not have electricity, so this could be an excellent tool for campesinos to utilize in their communities. Check back within a few months, I intend to make one of these and think it is necessary to fulfill my bicycle withdrawal! If anyone has any designs or ideas, please send them my way!
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