In the next Indiana Jones movie, maybe Dr. Jones should visit coffee bean farms instead of seeking ancient treasures.
On their separate journeys seeking coffee beans, two Clark County coffee roasters entered a world where they could experience volcanoes that erupted every 15 minutes, travel on roads that would unexpectedly close for hours and take hikes to waterfalls to cool overheated engines. And that’s not even counting having to push broken down buses and navigate livestock traffic jams.
Despite — or maybe even because of — their sometimes harrowing journeys, they both made their own deep connections to the places and people they visited. As Mitch Montgomery of Relevant Coffee later said: “Coffee is a story about people.”
Farming connection
During the 12 years that Mitch Montgomery has roasted coffee, he’s wanted to visit coffee farms. He just opened a new coffee shop, roasts most of the coffee at Relevant and has young children. Despite all these responsibilities, when he learned that his coffee supplier, Mercanta, had a spot on one of its roaster tours of Central America, he knew he had to go.
Montgomery’s mother’s family were farmers. As a kid, he would spend summers with his cousins working on his uncle’s farm. He didn’t connect his farming background with his career as a coffee roaster and coffee shop owner until he visited coffee farms in Central America.
“I realized I was on a working farm,” Montgomery said. “For me, I always knew that coffee was an agricultural product, but getting there helped me connect the dots.”
Montgomery visited coffee farms in Guatemala and El Salvador. They varied in size and technological sophistication. He visited lush forests at various elevations and with varying climates. He sipped beer while a volcano erupted every 15 minutes in the distance. He ate breakfasts of plantains, black beans with ham and thin triangles of cheese. He met a coffee roaster from Chicago, Luc Rodgers of Metropolis Coffee, who he believes is his doppelganger.
He vividly remembers the sights and smells. “It’s a lot of driving. Most of the day you’re in a van. Then you get to your destination and you step out and you’re in awe. The natural beauty is spectacular, and the smell of ripe coffee cherries … the whole place smells of ripe fruit.”
Montgomery felt a special connection to Luis “Wicho” Valdes II, whose family has farmed coffee for generations.
“Wicho is a super nice guy, great laugh, loves coffee, loves growing coffee, and is dedicated to the farm. He went to university to study agronomy and then came back to the farm,” Montgomery said.
He also was struck by the fact that of Wicho’s four children, only one wants to farm coffee. This reminded Mitch of his own family — only one of his fifteen cousins (a farm manager) works on a farm.
This visit changed how Montgomery will buy coffee in the future. In the past, he’s picked beans based on quality and price. From now on, he plans on ordering to support this generation and the next generation of farmers. He views them as a partner in his business.
“If the cost to produce coffee is higher than the profit, is the next generation going to farm coffee?” he said. “That falls on my shoulders as a buyer. I want to support farmers growing quality coffee sustainably and treating their staff and workers well. I want to reward them with my dollars. I’m willing to pay 20 to 30 cents more per pound for that.”
Montgomery looks forward to sharing this experience with his customers. When they sip a cup of coffee, he wants them to think of the farmer who grows the coffee beans.
“In the U.S., we can picture corn fields,” he said, “but, we don’t grow coffee. Being on a farm the first day was eye opening. It gave me a level of respect for the farmers and the beans.”
Montgomery plans on holding classes at his coffee shop to share all that he learned on his trip with his customers.
Close connection
Seidy Selivanow of Kafiex Coffee Roasters has a lot in common with the women who grow, harvest and process coffee beans for Cafe Feminino in Guatemala. Selivanow grew up in Mexico City and is a native Spanish speaker. She’s a woman in the male-dominated field of coffee roasting. She started her coffee company, with her husband, Matthew, after they traveled to different coffee growing regions; such as Mexico, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Selivanow has made several attempts to visit coffee farms with Connie Kolosvary, director of Cafe Feminino. Cafe Feminino, founded and based in Vancouver, is a coffee program that uses an ethical sourcing method to end the cycle of poverty afflicting female coffee farmers throughout the world.
Selivanow tried to go on an origins trip before she opened Kafiex’s coffee shop last fall. She also tried to go at the beginning of this year. She finally made it to Guatemala with Kolosvary in May.
“This opportunity came, and I had to make it happen,” Selivanow said. “I love Guatemalan culture. It’s just too close to my country. So, I wanted to go to meet the ladies. We use a lot of Cafe Feminino Guatemalan coffee.”
On May 13, Selivanow arrived in Guatemala City and met up with her group — Kolosvary, some people from the Cafe Feminino Foundation, and coffee roasters from Ampersand Coffee Roasters in Boulder, Colo., and Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea in Florida.
Selivanow and her group visited eight Cafe Feminino farms in Guatemala during a weeklong visit. She vividly remembers their visit to Nahuala Farm near Salama.
The drive to Nahuala Farm from Guatemala City, usually a 4-hour trip, took 13 hours partly due to unexpected construction on the narrow one-lane road. They were delayed for two hours while they waited for construction to be completed and the road to be cleared. Selivanow and her fellow travelers passed the time petting pigs and talking to women washing clothes by the side of the road.
When the road was cleared, the group continued to Salama, where they took a smaller truck to get to the farm. The dirt road was narrower and more rugged than the previous one. The driver had to dodge roaming livestock.
At Nahuala farm, they were greeted as special guests. Cafe Feminino provides funding for each woman in its program to buy 182 plants, 13 sacks of organic fertilizer, compost and plants to provide shade, and additional income. These 182 coffee plants will produce two 150-pound sacks of coffee beans per year (Kafiex uses two to four bags of beans a month); the women have to pool their resources to create a successful coffee business.
This type of matriarchal business structure is unusual anywhere in the world and particularly in this village, where one of the initial barriers was an ingrained cultural stigma against women meeting without men.
Selivanow said the effect of the Cafe Feminino program was made clear to Selivanow by a sign that said: Hitting a woman or a girl doesn’t make you more of a man.
“It was so powerful that this little community has this sign out in the main area. It just shows that we’re really empowering women,” she said.
The women obtained a grant from the Cafe Feminino Foundation for a small library, and a librarian, for the children to visit after school. They also have an office with computers and Wi-Fi (with a sign that welcomes everyone in Spanish and Kiche) from which they run their business. Coffee is speculative, so they’ve branched off into other businesses in the off season. They sell honey, organic fertilizer, oyster mushrooms and colorful handmade clothing.
During her trip, Selivanow visited seven other farms in Guatemala, some accessible by primitive roads. One time, Selivanow and her travel companions had to hike to a waterfall to get water to cool down an overheated engine.
She stayed in small, modest hotels in the villages near the farms and shared meals with the local farmers and their families. It was easy for her to fit in with the women, because most of them spoke Spanish.
Selivanow’s connection to the farmers doesn’t merely exist in photos from her trip. She recently received an email from Leti Choc, a community leader who runs the organic fertilizer business at Nahuala farm.
“I was asking how they were doing, and she sent an email telling me about how they’re making organic fertilizer,” she said. “What I liked about her email is that I asked about how the ladies were doing, and Leti said we’re all good and always working together. I love their sense of community and how they work together.”
Selivanow said she treasures being able to take trips to where the beans she buys for her company are grown.
“I love being at origin,” she said. “It’s a magical experience. I love meeting the women and putting a face to our coffee.”
She said she feels a responsibility to share her experience.
“The cost of coffee doesn’t cover production. So we need to work as a community to fix this,” Selivanow said. “Also, being a female in this industry, it’s so powerful for me. I feel like it’s more important for me to be that bridge being female and Hispanic.”
She will be sharing her photos and travel experience with the Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise on Friday. She will also be the featured speaker at Slow Food Southwest Washington’s meeting in August.
