Barista Magazine is your home for the worldwide community of coffee and the people who make it.
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/96027
volunteered to drive one and handled it quite well given the dangerous conditions and the considerable difficulty of the road. The Fernandez family gave us shelter until the rain subsided and we could carry on by foot up to the new wet mill shared by Sebastian and his brother Natividad Benitez. We arrived as Sebastian was planting 5,000 new Pacas seedlings called Chapola in his nursery, and I was very happy to see that his family remembered me. The following day Steve Ford arrived and we went back up the mountain, picking up producer David Mancia at his house along the way to a ridge opposite from the Benitez brothers. We hiked an incredibly steep and slippery trail up to to David's farm, Finca La Familia, which has been a Coava coffee for three years now. It was amazing to watch David scamper and fly up the trail as the lowland gringos struggled behind him in the rain to keep up. We wound our way through wet coffee trees until finally we reached a clearing where David was tending to his own nursery. We turned around as the rain let up to receive the most amazing view of Lake Yojoa and the descending clouds. After Brandon interviewed David, we hiked back down to visit the farm of Nelson Ramirez, a new relationship for Ritual, but not without a few slips and spills through the trees. On Thursday, we returned to visit the Benitez brothers, and found that Benjamin had arranged for Natividad's daughter to roast and brew some coffee for us over a clay wood-burning stove, as she had done on my last visit. She roasted the coffee on a pan over a period of 20 minutes or so before adding a candy from boiled local sugar cane, which caramelized on the beans as they roasted. We drank the coffee while Brandon interviewed Natividad, and it was really special to watch Mette-Marie interact with Natividad because she has worked with him and his coffee for many years, going back to her time with Kaffa in Norway when Natividad won the Honduras Cup of Excellence competition in 2005. From there we hiked up to the top of Sebastian's farm, where I set up a brew bar on the same table that Sebastian had previously mounted his hand-cranked depulping mill. He held the the bag of Ritual coffee with his name on it so tightly and with such pride. I can't even begin describe how special it was to grind Sebastian's coffee and to explain how it was was roasted to showcase the amazing flavors of his harvest, and to tell him stories of customers who look forward to his coffee every year. As I brewed the coffee, I explained everything I was doing, and why I was doing it, to ensure that every cup translated all of his hard work. It was such an honor to serve him his own coffee with care and precision for its final process of preparation on the very table where the processing began. Even though Sebastian is a reserved and quiet man, it was clear how special this experience was for him; for me, this became the most significant coffee service I had ever delivered. In contrast to his father, Sebastian's eldest son José Mauricio tasted the coffee and with a huge smile on his face, exclaimed "¡Que Rico!" and continued to drink, smiling and laughing. The next morning several producers were all invited to BSV for a breakfast and espresso service with their coffees. Just as I had the day before, I explained everything I was doing as I prepared espressos and single cappuccinos for each of the producers. Their expressions when first tasting the intense flavors of their espresso was priceless and they thoroughly enjoyed the cappuccinos, especially the latte art. I made a The meeting house for the Cultivadores del Reino Cooperative, built by the nonprofit Growers First Foundation, along with a coffee storage building and solar dryers. Working in Mexico and Honduras, Growers First is commi ed to community and development work in rural coffee-producing villages. www.baristamagazine.com 43