The Human Element of Coffee
One of the most fascinating elements of coffee, is how much it reflects back our own humanity.
It is the great uniter, even though we never really pay it that much thought. Most humans on this planet drink coffee, especially as part of our morning rituals. Our friends drink coffee. Our enemies drink coffee. All races and backgrounds of humans drink coffee. A goat herder in the mountains of Afghanistan is possibly sipping a cup right now. Or, a carpenter on a Winter jobsite in Maryland. Or a sailor on a stormy Arctic ocean. Someone is crying over a cup. And someone is celebrating over one.
Its fascinating to think about.
Another dimension of this humanity is more focused on just how the coffee ends up in our cups every day. It’s another fascinating journey as the coffee bean moves from human to human. The chain of humanity begins on the humble coffee farm. A producer carefully tends to her plants, ensuring a healthy yield of specialty coffee.
Sorting coffee cherries picked on a coffee farm in Buenavista, Colombia,
Once ready, this tree’s fruits are cautiously picked by hand (some workers paint their fingernails the correct color to denote the ripeness to pick), leaving behind cherries that are not quite ready. These cherries are walked over to the beneficiadero, for de-pulping. Farm workers then take the de-pulped seeds (read: beans) and lay them out for drying in the sun.
Our friend, Fabian Hernandez drying coffee on his farm in Ibaue, Colombia.
Once dried, these beans get bagged up and loaded for sale, taken to the local coffee station. Most farmers sell them at this point.
The mill or coffee station will consolidate the coffees and sell them to local mills for sorting, cleaning, and other processing.
Once ready, these coffees are bagged again, and placed on pallets, loaded into shipping containers. These containers will careen off to all corners of the Earth. Port workers will ensure the coffees arrive at the port for pickup. Local truck drivers will pick up these pallets and deliver them to the warehouses.
Our friends at Caravela Coffee bagging specialty coffees for shipment.
Even more local trucking companies will pick up these bags and deliver them to specialty coffee roasters in cities all across the Earth. These roasters will cup the coffees, to test for quality. They will fire up big, steel roasters and carefully roast these coffees until they are ready, and drop them into cooling trays.
These coffees will be enjoyed in cafes and kitchens once again - in every corner of our crazy World.
Sometimes I’ll hold a single roasted coffee bean and think about the journey it told. The calloused hand that picked it from a tree, clinging to a cliffside somewhere in a cloud bank in Colombia. Or the noisy mill in Ethiopia, with sweaty men slinging heavy burlap sacks, amongst the sounds of barking dogs and strange insects. Even the journey of the bean in a container over the ocean.
Our friend and roaster, Philip of Cycle Roasters, rocking our shirt in Lubeck, Germany.
I’ll drop that bean into my grinder, with a thousand others and pulverize it, to create my own personal coffee in my kitchen.