Hola:
It's always a big time thrill to visit a country for the first time. The local languages; cultural views on human, ethical, and political topics; and details about traditional lifestyle are fascinating. You step off the plane not really knowing what to expect, and after a few days, you begin to feel like a sponge as you attempt to absorb as much as you can. I landed in Papua New Guinea earlier this week ostensibly to participate in a small coffee competition organized by the Federation of Coffee Growers, but really I'm here to scout and lay some groundwork for developing a Direct Trade program. This effort can take on many forms, and in every country it is different, yet the basics still apply.
The first thing I do is just observe. It is important to gain understanding about the way the local industry has been working (or not working) and who the players are. Learning about the history of the coffee sector is the first step towards preparing oneself to dig in and figure out how to create positive change. Part of this usually involves deciding who not to work with for reasons that can range from extreme apathy or overwhelming cynicism to the more serious obstacles like apparent corruption or historical misdeeds.
Once I've gotten a general lay of the land, I try to understand what the key quality hurdles are and where the problems reside. This means assessing processing traditions, looking at infrastructure deficiencies, and examining the chain of custody. Typically the greatest sources of quality loss come down to harvesting (cherry ripeness), wet milling logistics, and post-fermentation drying. Every scenario is different. In some places farmers deliver cherry to centralized wet mills while in others they sell dry or semi-dry parchment. Fermentation can take place in plastic sacks, in wooden boxes, in cement tanks or on patios; sometimes it is skipped altogether in favor of mechanical processes where the beans are scrubbed free of pulp using friction.
It also makes a big difference whether or not farmers have close access to mills. Those who are the farthest away tend to face bigger hurdles as transport of just-harvested cherry can present a lot of quality risks. In the ideal scenario, freshly picked coffee cherries are depulped and enter the fermentation process within 4 to 5 hours after harvest. The ability of a mill to separate lots and retain traceability to the farmgate is critical and often lacking. And steady, uniform drying is a huge challenge in many growing areas that receive sporadic rainfall throughout the picking season.
Once I've got a sense of how things typically work in a given place, I then focus on two things: finding the right environmental conditions that are especially favorable to quality potential and finding the right people to work with. The latter involves meeting with various farmer groups and millers and spending time together to see if our interests can align. I've found that it is critical to partner with farmer groups who have some degree of organizational stability. Most often it is the smallest groups that qualify since they all live together in a community and trust one another and know how to work together. The bigger a cooperative group gets the more likely it is that politics will interfere with progress.
Part of it comes down to the intangible… or just the vibe of the place. My vision is long-term. We hope to work with the same farmers for years or decades and to stay in close communication. So it is important that we like each other and are able to relate to a similar vision for the future. I've learned to trust instincts when it comes to these things, and over time I have gotten better at identifying red flags that might mean headaches or frustration down the road. No one wants to invest time, energy, and dollars in trying to build something only to realize that it isn't going to work. I've had one or to Sisyphus-like experiences where it seems that you could be battling the same issues over and over again perpetually. One of the most important measurables in Direct Trade is progress over time; if quality and farmer livelihoods do not improve in step and in some tangible ways, we have failed in our mission. One ingredient in success is ensuring that the preconditions exist to make it possible.
It's been a long time since I have had a day as exhilarating as yesterday. We set off in the morning to visit the Asuke cooperative, just north of Goroka. It was a quick 45 minute ride in the back of a pickup before we reached the end of the road. From there we disembarked and hiked for about an hour and half to get over the ridge into the adjacent valley where we encountered a fairly sizeable river. Fortunately there was a small raft that the farmers had constructed, so we stripped down and loaded our gear onto the raft and then swam across the river. It was invigorating…the hike had gotten us pretty heated up and the cool river was a wonderful antidote.
Once across the river, we entered the forest and were instantly immersed in a huge coffee garden. After about a 10 minute hike up the hill, we heard some high-pitched wailing, which our guide explained was a “cry of joy” at the arrival of visitors. Minutes later, as we continued through the lush forest, we were ambushed by a group of young boys wielding spears and bows and completely covered in oils that gave them a jet-black appearance. They had been hiding in the trees all around us, and in seconds we were completely surrounded. If they had wanted to take us out, it would have been no trouble at all. But of course they were just messing around.
Up at the village we met the growers and had a look around before heading out into the forest again to check out the coffees. I saw a mix of Typica, Bourbon, and Arusha varieties. It was completely gorgeous… forest coffee at its most lush and raw. After about two hours of walking up and down mountain slopes, we arrived back at the village where they had prepared some MuMu for lunch, amazing stuff. In the morning they dig a hole in the ground, fill it with some stones, and create a fire on top of it. Once the fire has died down to charcoal and the stones are hot, they put a layer of wet banana leaf on top and then proceed to stack sweet potato, yams, chicken, pig, greens, and bananas to form this big mound of food organized in such a way that the stuff that demands the most heat to cook is closest to the bottom. The whole thing is covered with more leaf and lots of dirt so that it appears as a 4 foot mound of earth. The heat from below evaporates moisture from the banana leaf and steams the food.
Hours later, the mound is uncovered and layer by layer the cooked food is removed. It was a feast, enough for 40 people or so. The whole village ate together and I had to marvel at the impressive communal feeling that is so lacking in many parts of the world. Being here is like traveling back in time, as the remote villages remain pretty untouched by the modern world. Most of the farmers don't get into town more than once a year or so, and rule of law is nonexistent. They live the way they've always lived, and it feels wonderful to witness a lifestyle where the stresses we encounter living in the material world don't really exist. For sure there are other types of stress, especially related to health maladies and climate conditions. But as far as mental well-being goes, it seems like a good enough trade off.
I was surprised to learn that the tribe still goes to war every now and then with neighboring tribes. Their bows and arrows and stealth attack tactics are not for show; they still face off with other tribes looking to take over their land, and even today fight battles from time to time to protect the land that they occupy. But no one seems worried about it. It's just a part of life. There are more than 700 tribes and languages in PNG, and they've been competing for land and resources for centuries.
Tomorrow we will finalize the coffee competition by holding a short awards ceremony, and then we head west towards Mt Hagen where we'll meet up with a cooperative group somewhere in between and spend the night. I'm looking forward to a good couple of days in the bush.
Cheers,
Geoff Watts
VP of Coffee
Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea
