Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/853621
Arturo Hernandez ADVANCING SPECIALTY COFFEE IN MEXICO By Sarah Allen MASTER ARTURO HERNANDEZ GREW UP far from the buzz and grandeur of Mexico City, in the small town of Pahuatlán in the Northern Sierra of Puebla. He was the sixth of seven children born to José Hernández and Gloria Fujigaki, themselves native to the same town, which is coffee country, bordering on an area known as Huasteca. His was a quiet, idyllic childhood spent racing (like children do) between the sundries store his parents owned, and the coffee fi elds and wet mill that they operated. Because Pahuatlán only of- fered primary school, Arturo's brothers were sent one by one to live with grandparents and continue their education in Mexico City. By the time Arturo was 5, however, José and Gloria decided to move to the city all together, so the family could be closer. They established another sundries store, this one with a coffee roaster. Still, they returned to Pahuatlán to oversee the wet processing during harvest season, and Arturo, on school vacations, would tag along. "I loved to participate in the various activities of the process, such as getting into the tanks to wash the coffee, then putting it into a wheelbarrow and taking it to the patio, and raking the beans exposed to the sun," says Arturo fondly. "At night, I liked to take a nap under the guardiola dryer, lulled to sleep by the noise of the coffee inside the rotating cylinder." Falling in love with coffee so fully, at such an early age, it's no surprise Arturo is active today in the industry. After studying biochemical engineer- ing at Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey, and in Tsukuba, Japan, and then completing a master's degree at Cornell University in New York, Arturo 97 www.baristamagazine.com