FincaVistaHermosa

Usually when one is busy time passes quickly. The last 2 months have seemed an eternity. Carlos and Edwin Garcia Martin continue to be missed tremendously. In their absence many relationships have grown stronger.

I have learned much about how we all process differently. And different is not wrong. Grieving takes many forms. With out means to preserve a body, funerals take place with in 24 hrs. There were a few hundred at the funeral that mourned loudly for a few days. Sometimes it is most difficult to deal with the present reality, and anything outside of denial seems impossible.

At such a time everything else seems so unimportant, yet distractions seem to be so comforting. Two months ago we were right in the middle of harvest with full patios and Diego, Carlos’ oldest stepped forward and chose to take his fathers responsibilities. Juana and most of her kids have since been in San Juan their home town to be close to their extended families despite not having lived there for 20 years. Diego spends half his time at FVH and chooses to sleep in the bodega alone with the coffee rather than in his home, the managers home. Life is different for many of us.

Early March on a layover in LA I went to visit John Gozbekian at LAMILL where the food is unreal and their culinary approach is mind blowing. Then before leaving I had to pay a visit to TONX as well. Soon after arrival I met up with Ryan Brown from Ritual along with Ben and Jaime from Barismo to embark on a new venture. We cupped at 7 of the largest exporters in Guatemala along side many CoE judges. I will post more on this later… possibly on a different blog. Since then Jaime has written a piece that is thought provoking and hopefully inspiring any reader to get back to the basics. The post is dated March 31, 2008.

And we picked up a few more friends along the way…

Klaus, Aaron, Mark and Ben have also posted pics on flickr.

To read more detail on the latter part of this trip please check out:

Klaus Thomsen (TCC) PART1, PART2 AND PART3

Victrola PART1, PART2 and PART

On February 15, Carlos, the manager of Finca Vista Hermosa, and his son Edwin, were on their way back up to the Finca with supplies and money for payroll. On the way up the mountain, some bandits not from the area took their money and their lives as well. This was shock not only to the FVH Family, but also to the local community. If you wish to read more follow this post to the bottom.

CARLOS’ WIFE JUANA REMAINS WITH 11 KIDS. 100% OF THE FUNDS WILL GO TO TAKE CARE OF THEM. IF YOU WISH TO CONTRIBUTE VIA CREDIT CARD/PAYPAL CLICK HERE, OR MAIL CHECK TO: P.O. BOX 31123 BELLINGHAM, WA 98228 WITH THE WORD MEMORIAL IN THE MEMO. (If you wish to use this link on you website please email me)

Carlos 1960 - 2008. Husband and father of 12 kids.

Edwin 1991 - 2008. While not the oldest he was the first in his family to go to high school. Ever since he could kick a ball he fearlessly played with people twice his age and is a legendary goalie.

This year Carlos would have been 47 and Edwin 17.

Carlos wife Juana will be 42 yrs old in 2008

Remaining kids and ages in 2008:

Diego 27

Ana 25

Eluvia 20

Elena 18

Reina 14

Mariela 12

Ronaldo 10

Ashley 8

Dianet 6

Carina 4

Israel 3

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES.

It’s been 10 days and Nina and I are still in disbelief.  I apologize I have not taken or returned some of your calls. Email has proven to be a good emotional filter.

For years now there isn’t a week that goes by with out someone asking “How’s Carlos doing?”. The first thought that comes to my mind now is “It’s none of your business!” But, it probably is. And while it’s the last thing anyone wants to talk about in a time like this, the question remains: How will this impact FVH?

Carlos was a good mentor and delegator. It was just 1 month ago I was hiking the boundaries of a couple micro lots and I told Carlos “I don’t know what we would ever do with out you!” To see things at FVH continuing to move forward brings tears to my eyes as I see the impact this man has had. Particularly in his absence. Many managers are limited in what they achieve because they are afraid to let go of their managerial duties. Carlos was good at teaching, letting go and allowing people to make mistakes knowing that he too had made his fair share. With early morning jobs beginning at 5:00 a.m. and depulping sometimes running until 2:00 a.m. delegating was not an option. Carlos knew if he made himself obsolete by training others to do his job that it would be good for everyone. While some hold the reigns tight in the interest of job security Carlos proved to move far beyond what his job called for. He was a forward thinking innovator that was aggressive in getting things done but also a tender and sensitive listener that was eager to hear others opinions.

He committed his time to developing new projects that always somehow improved the quality of the coffee, quality of life or quality of the environment. Some of the things Carlos supervised the last 12 months include the construction of new restrooms, new sleeping quarters and laundry mat for seasonal workers. He also discovered a new small spring and protected it while building a multiple tank reservoir system which provides good pressure with out a pump while also filtering and providing clean water. And of course he always took joy in remodeling the wetmill area. This was where all the fine tuning and experimenting took place. Carlos built a few new roads and diplomatically maintained good relations while settling multiple property line disputes with honesty and integrity. The list goes on, but most importantly he was a loving husband and father that will be greatly missed.

I want to express my gratitude to not only our customers but so many in the coffee community who have expressed their condolences and to you who are currently doing something about this. If you wish to put a DONATE BUTTON on your website or blog please email me and I will gladly forward the picture file as well as the link. It is very easy to do.

Sometimes there are difficult questions in this life that we cannot possibly understand the answers to. Carlos was quite possibly one of the happiest finca managers in the world. When he went back to his home town to visit he was treated like royalty because people knew that he had a good job where he did a great job and intern he was paid well for it. Few things brought him more joy to know the level of appreciation people had for the fruit of his labor. His grin was ear to ear when told about where FVH coffee ended up and that people asked for it by name and even asked and cared about him.

I will soon be visiting with the rest of his family to try to begin expressing some of the warmth that has been expressed to me. However much we are able to gather up in the coming months this will never make up for what was lost. And however little it may be we trust that it will be multiplied and meet their every need.

Despite so many things that are uncertain in this world, we are confident that we will see Carlos and Edwin again one day and that they are much happier today than ever before.

Harvest is a season and everyone seems to have a different point of view about exactly when this begins as the cycle of growing coffee is exactly that… a cycle.

Although we did start some picking in early January, this year the first day of harvest for us is January 21.

PEPENA is the word in spanish we use for the pre picking which we do to capture early ripes. This also prepares the tree for a more uniform harvesting and allows maximum nutrient to be available to the fruit that is prepared for export.

It is costly to have a separate PRE harvest picking wave, but the cup quality proves this to be well worth it. Traditionally it is common practice to catch the over ripes during the first wave of picking and for quality’s sake sort them out somehow at some point. However the fruit that is reaching “IT’S POINT” ends up competing for nutrient with the fermenting dying coffee that is ahead of the game and now dying on the tree.

We’ve tried to send out a “STATE OF THE HARVEST” newsletter each year to our customers in the past. Instead I’ve thought more about creating a TOP 10 list of reasons why NOT to write it. Of course it would include the fact that we have few customers, no one reads it and if I’m not procrastinating and I get around to writing - my writing gets wordy. The truth is it is hard to write a years happenings concisely and you should just come down and see for yourself. To answer the most common question “How’s the harvest looking?”. It’s looking great. Quantity will be less this year and much less for many of our neighbors. Not so much because of one time weather related events.. rather a cycle of having relatively strong production the last couple years. This is a year that the mountains are taking a breather.(small tip for those working of the C) I will try to post more “happenings at FVH” in the coming weeks.

On that note- a few weeks ago we (Guatemala) lost aproximately 150,000 bags or 20 Million dollars worth of coffee due to high wind. Click here for more info (in Spanish). It was previously expected that the 08 crop would exceed the 07 crop in quantity. No longer the case.

IMG_2305, originally uploaded by edwinfvh.

There’s always magic in the air when the seed to cup circle is completed. Picture with the half head is Tony from Octane, then M’lissa who I have to imagine is a vital part of Octane, then Chris and David who represent Counter Culture Coffee in Atlanta and finally my father, also Edwin Martinez. Chris and David led a blind cupping of two coffees from Cauca and a washed Yirg with a memorable intense aroma. Others attended and collaboratively shared an ocean of VERY specific descriptors that made me want to go back and cup everything again. I still have so much to learn about cupping…  Click here to see the descriptors.

I try to spend little time blogging.  I find it worthwhile to both be consistent and put up good content.  Seems I rarely do both.  Last week Nina and I had a great time meeting some serious coffee people that don’t HAVE to talk about coffee.  One thing is for sure, for Chris and M’lissa, coffee is not just a fad.  And YES!  M’lissa did beat me to the punch in with her post.

I gave some coffee to Mike… and he reciprocated by giving me a bomb.  I grew up with fireworks in Guatemala, but this - I was afraid of.  It was heavy.  I kindly accepted the gift, but was not going to light it.  All I could think of was how badly it could go.  Me tripping as I’m running away, getting arrested… etc.  I couldn’t give it away or delay my decision of what to do by taking it with my wife AND in-laws in the van or much less on the plane back to Bellingham, so I called Mike back and got some help lighting it.  Take a close look at the wick.  It gives you just enough time to get about 100 yards away if walking briskly which is barely enough time.   Mike actually does fireworks professionally for resorts around Guatemala… among many other things.  If you’re in Panajachel he’s worth paying a visit to.   Pictured above is the outside of Crossroads and his roaster, which of course is hidden in a secret (now not so secret) room behind a false bookshelf.

I occasionally get requests for this and although they exist in Guate, you probably don’t want it. A well processed natural calls for slightly drier climate or a controlled mechanical drying. As we dry everything on the patio we need to get lucky with a solid week of exceptionally strong sun to handle this. There are still 2 greater reasons why not to buy naturals from Guate.

photograph taken by Mike Garber

1. I think it’s illegal. I think all exports must be “CLEAN COFFEES”

2. If you dried it adequately and gave it good drymilling/processing that yielded a nice “looking” bean it probably still tastes fermented and or grainy and grassy. Why? The only naturals I’ve ever seen are the result of sifting off the floaters in the first water tank before depulping and some of this is nice because it is a cherry that has only 1 bean in it, BUT IS NOT A PEABERRY. The other parchment/mucilage shell inside is hollow, thus it floats. However most floaters float because of other internal defect, or most likely it is simply overfermented and clearly appears it as the skin has already begun to shrivel and dry up like a raisin. This means although it maybe remains connected to the plant it is no longer in growth mode receiving nutrients, rather it is dying ON the tree. The other natural coffees found in Guate tend to be under ripes. Whether this was picked accidentally or on purpose, sorting them out is easy, and the taste is poor, so everyone ensures they’re not part of the “export” coffee. If you’re cup ever tastes like wheat grass… this is probably why.

2007 Cup of Excellence FVH results

We received $8.05/lb green but after all itemized expenses below are pulled out the amount totals to $6.19/lb. Then we must back out another .32 for misc expenses related to getting our coffee to the warehouse and additional warehousing fees not included in report that were prepaid. This leaves $5.85
I expect we’ll see more interest on behalf of growers next year because of these prices. The last time we were in an auction it was the “Exceptional Cup” in 2004 and we got $1.65/lb before any expenses were backed out. I still find that most growers think that auction winners are able to sell their entire crop at auction prices. Sounds like a dream? Not so much. This the goal of the Q.

I wanted to add a few more comments…. after a few email exchanges with Gabriela at Anacafe I realized I may be giving off the wrong impresssion. We were very pleased with the results of this auction and are extremely supportive of both CoE and Anacafe. My goal in sharing these details is not to complain about how much is taken off the top, rather to be transparent. I realize such a program has overhead and I would recommend involvement to any grower/roaster who has interest in long term relationships with other like minded quality driven folks.

This is free next Tues if you’re in Guate.

There are few things I enjoy more than spending a day sample roasting and cupping our micro lots. It’s strange how some things never get old. I suppose in large part it’s a sign of how much more there is to learn. While many will not distinguish a notable difference there are subtle nuances that are fun to identify and a challenge to highlight in a production roast.

Philip Meech has been growing his business one batch at a time and while growth often pulls roasters away from sample roasting and “playing” aroung with coffee, Philip seems to be experimenting even more getting to know each bean more intimately. As a grower we rely much on roasters big and small that invest into thorough evaluation and testing of all kinds. It’s amazing how much we learn from others about our own coffee. Phil had to bring his roaster up to our warehouse and sample roast every microlot before buying a few more bags. If this trend continues we’ll have to send left overs to the CoE auction next year.

On my way to Tokyo I had a direct flight from Seattle, but my return had a 9hr layover in Hawaii (where I went surfing and got burned) before arriving in San Francisco. Here I boarded an Alaskan Airlines flight and soon after boarding I’m reading Alaska Airlines Magazine and I’m see an article titled “True Brew” - Small roasters take coffee to a new level. And then a close up cupping pic with that beautiful new cupping table at Victrola, their roaster, pics of stumptown and vivacce. A clip from the article:

“The growing emphasis on single-origin coffees demonstrates that coffee’s flavor is deeply influenced by it;s place of origin - its terroir, to borrow a winemaking term. In searching for flavorful coffees, roasters develop a rich understanding of coffee-growing regions and become very speific in their choices. Victrola and Barefoot, for example, have both determined that they’ll be purchasing coffee from small parcels of Finca Vista Hermosa in northern Guatemala.

Newbom visited the farm in February and spent several days working with the growers to identify the four microlots he wished to purhase. “Some of these microlots can be as small as one hectare [roughly 2.4 acres], and we’re selling the coffee with the name of that farm and microlot. They’ll all be separately labeled and sold, and this is the first year they’ve had a reason to separate them from each other.”

Well we have separated them since the begining, but this is the first year we’ve had a realized a demand for this and are pleased that people are taking interest and actually working with us in differentiating our micro lots. As many roasters like to share what coffee they’re drinking… I sometims sample roast our own and enjoy different microlots each morning. This won’t have the same meaning for everyone, but when you KNOW the work that has gone into each bean, including details of soil types and amounts of sun each plant receives, the varietal and age of the plant… the steepness of the mountain side, the honey jasmin smell of the flowering and the feel of the inside of the washing channels and wooden pannels etc… tasting microlots really is taking coffee to a whole new level.

Keep you’re eyes open for the new crop now at Victrola and Barefoot. Barefoot actually has purchase 4 different microlots and a almost all of our peaberry.