Dave & I have been supporters of Partners Worldwide (PW) for a number of years. We like their concept of business as mission, helping people rise up out of poverty through business development. About half a year ago, we heard about a coffee-growing organization in Honduras (Elevar) that was a PW partnership. We love coffee and we also found out that our church buys Elevar’s coffee from Good Neighbour Coffee Roaster in Lacombe. This seemed like a fit and so we got involved.
As Business Affiliates (BAs), we were invited to visit the Elevar coffee producers in Honduras. We had a lot to learn about coffee production and export. The trip was a whirlwind of farm visits, meetings and experiencing Honduran hospitality and culture.
Getting There:
We were a team of nine BAs from both Canada and the United States, all arriving on different days and flights. For four of us, it was an overnight in Houston before landing in Comayagua shortly after lunch.
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| Gary, Rick and us at YEG - ready to go! |
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| getting for a warmer climate in Houston |
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| Jen, Antonio, Jake and Lisa at Comayagua. |
Eventually we began the road trip together in a convoy of three white vehicles from Comayagua airport, driving about four hours drive out into the countryside to Juticalpa, our home base for the week.
Juticalpa is a small city that services that farming community around it. It is a unique blend of modern and old. Over the course of the week we had a chance to go to a regular shopping mall for lattes, and to the old downtown to visit the square and tour the cathedral. On a hot sunny day, we also needed to stop for ice cream bars in a tiny shop.
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| We didn't leave the hotel compound without our fearless leader, Andrea, leading the way. |
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| Time for a latte run at a local mall. Team members: Andrea (PW), Doug, Antonio (translator), Dave, Rick, Gary. |
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| Mind your step - the sidewalk is narrow, uneven and prone to wires hanging down. And the street has traffic that has no patience for pedestrians! |
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| Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción Built between 1835-1847 |
The Boqueron Hotel was very nice, including a pool and restaurant. After a day of driving around to the farms we were so glad to just unwind and not have to find another place for our evening meal.
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| covered stairways in case of rain |
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| the house cat |
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| typical meal: fried eggs, cheese, fried plantain, beans and sliced deli meat |
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| The one night meals were ready and waiting for us. The nachos and bean dip (bottom next to the drinks) was everyone's favourite. |
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| evening relaxing over a game of Tens |
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| Sunset from our balcony |
Coffee Producer Visits:
Each day we headed out into the countryside in a convoy of vehicles to visit the coffee producers.
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| The road began as a paved two-lane highway, |
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| then turned into a dusty gravel road |
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| getting more rutted and rocky |
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| with stream crossings (and a few more after a rainshower) |
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| All the farm produce - coffee, beans, corn, etc. needs to come down the mountain somehow. |
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| Higher and higher, with tight switchbacks |
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| the final track. |
We stepped out of the cars and admired the view. It was so lush and beautiful, but a very difficult terrain to work on.
This producer and his family lived in their harvest home from Christmas till Easter, right near their coffee fields. They had set up a gravity-fed water tank for washing the coffee and for the tilapia pond. After the tour, we joined together to eat the ‘bag lunches’ that had been provided for us. It was a wonderful time of fellowship even if we couldn’t all speak Spanish. Sign language and the odd word here or there works wonders!
After visiting a coffee farm, we need a coffee break! We stopped at a brand new little coffee shop in San Fransisco de la Paz. It would rival any independent coffee shop in Canada.
The most memorable visit was the day we drove for about four hours up into the mountains, to the end of the world. We stopped for a few stretch breaks along the way, including lunch with a view. Finally we arrived. There, perched on the mountaintop, was a settlement with three brothers and their families. They were so excited to tell us about their farming practices and to show us the church that they had rebuilt. We couldn’t imagine the challenges they must have getting the coffee down the mountain to market.
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| our white convoy is slowly looking less white |
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| living on top of the mountain. What a view |
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| discussing coffee production |
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| They were so appreciative of our visit, loading us down with bananas. |
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| Pastors together in the church |
In the one little village, the children were peeking around the corners, wondering what kind of visitors these must be. The producer had his coffee drying on tarps on the ground and had several horses and riders which would bring the sacks of coffee down from the mountain. We had to hike across the harvested bean fields before we entered the forest of trees with the coffee plants growing in the shade.
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| Some of these hikes were a lot more challenging that I'd expected! |
Again we enjoyed a ‘bag lunch’ under the coffee plants, listening to the producer talk about how coffee was in their blood. This was now his daughter’s coffee farm, a fourth, or maybe even fifth, generation coffee farmer.
Our final visit was a breakfast on the farm. This farmer was renewing his land with young plants under the canopy of the older plants and beautiful forest trees.
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| Lance, Antonio and Dave |
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| Sandra (Elevar) |
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| Time for a group photo in San Francisco de la Paz, a town we passed through every day we headed out on a coffee tour. |
Coffee Production:
The point of this trip was to learn about Elevar's work as a producer organization, and to learn about coffee production. As this was Dave and my first trip, there was a lot for us to learn! The other BAs had been here several times over the years, continuing to build the relationships with the Elevar team.
Coffee Plants – they are grown from nursery stock seedlings and planted in the forest floor, nurtured to production in about 3 years time. In this part of Honduras, it is shade grown coffee at high (1200 m and higher) elevation. Doing it this way is much more environmentally sustainable. The trees, if pruned and fertilized properly can produce for a lifetime, but most varieties are at their prime production for about 8-10 years.
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| Eduardo (Elevar) |
Coffee Cherries – each cherry contains 2 beans. They are picked by hand and only the bright red ones are picked. That requires several passes to get all the crop off.
The next step would be hulling, removing the coffee beans from the cherries. As we visited near the end of harvest so we didn’t see this step in progress.
Drying – beans need to be dried to a 10-12% moisture content which is monitored by a moisture tester. The bean still has a parchment layer on it at this point. There are several methods of drying the beans. The most efficient is using a solar dryer – something that looks like a greenhouse. Elevar is helping their farmers acquire the solar dryers which are quite costly.
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| This farmer was using horses to carry the sacks down and drying the coffee on tarps. |
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| a solar dryer |
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| some coffee was dried with the cherry hulls on |
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| drying coffee on a concrete slab |
The next step is a dry milling machine that removes the final parchment layer, sorts and grades the coffee for sale. This is the green coffee that is shipped for local and export use.
Elevar:
The organization was named Elevar which means to elevate.
The first goal is to help the farmers elevate coffee in its quality through training in best practices and access to capital to purchase fertilizers, solar dryers and other tools. We as BAs are working together with Elevar to help them get a base price that is above the cost of production and helping them with access to markets. Check out goodneighbourcoffee.ca and galanacoffee.com - two of the BAs who are buyers of Elevar coffee.
Secondly, Elevar’s goal is to elevate the producers and their communities, helping them out of poverty. Through community surveys we, together with Elevar, are trying to help assess the most urgent needs and how these can be met.
And above all, Elevar’s goal is to elevate the name of God in this mission. Our efforts as a BA team are to encourage and assist the Elevar team in fulfilling their mission. Thus, we had a long day of meetings and discussion. It wasn’t burdensome when the venue was in the shade with a light breeze, overlooking the pool courtyard area. To learn more about Elevar, check out elevarcoffee.com
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| Rick, Eduardo (Elevar), Vivian (PW) and myself |
The following day was a day to honour the producers. A large number of them came out to the event, participating in the training sessions, enjoying the banquet and awards ceremonies. We were so thrilled to see the group that came from the top of the mountain – all ten of them in the back of the pick-up truck down that long rutted road that we’d travelled on a few short days ago. Now that’s commitment.
Tegucicalpa:
After a week of learning about coffee, we had a little bit of tourist time. We went to the capital city, Tegucicapla, staying in the quirkiest hotel I’ve ever been in. Rumor had it that it was once a mansion. It was across the street from a mall where we enjoyed our last meal all together.
The next day we went to Santa Lucia which is a cute little tourist town just a short distance from the city. Apparently on weekends it’s packed with local tourists. On a Monday morning we had it almost to ourselves. After walking around, admiring the views, and lunch we returned to the city for a final meeting over coffee, at a coffee shop billing itself as one of the top 100 coffee shops in the world!
Heading Home:
With all this eating and coffee drinking, by dinner, all we were interested in were some snacks, gathering together on the roof-top level of the hotel.
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| Dave, Jake, Lance, Lisa, Doug, Rick and Gary |
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| and some tres leches cake |
Four of us Canadians needed to be on the way to the airport at 1 a.m. We tried to catch a few zzz before heading out, because it was going to be a long night! The flight connections through Panama City then Calgary were uneventful and we returned home to snow!
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| Last Leg - still awake! |
What an amazing experience this has been. We’d been meeting over Zoom for the past six months and now finally we were able to meet face to face. We began to build deeper relationships among our BA team as well as with the Elevar team and the PW staff. I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to be the last time we visit Honduras!
