The Mexican peso is as wobbly as a new born burro trying to get on its feet. The U.S. economy continues to affect Mexico’s economy. According to Reuters News Agency, “Mexico’s Peso Falls after U.S. Consumer Confidence Plunges”.

This apparently is signaling that demand for Mexican exports will erode further. This cannot be good news with the U.S. being Mexico’s largest trading partner.

From our limited vantage point we see little pain and some gain. We came down to Mexico last September with enough greenbacks to live until we return to do our taxes in May. Now those dollars are nearly 40% more valuable than when we packed them back in September. There is the usual higher inflation here. January is the month where annual inflation adjustments are made. Everyone girds up for higher prices on the New Year.

But, this year we have the spending power we had back in 2005 – perhaps even slightly better. Living amongst the poor provides less view of the financial collapse. It isn’t much of a fall from the poor rungs of the ladder.

Oranges in season (now) have been 4 kilos for 10 pesos since 2005. We bought 8.8 pounds of oranges for $1 U.S. dollar in 2005. Today it is still 10 pesos for 4 kilos but 10 pesos is about 75 cents U.S. I should mention the last U.S. oranges we bought were 75 cents each. Avocados were $1.00 U.S. a kilo in 2005. Today they are $1.30 U.S. a kilo (about 5 medium large avocados).  In October we had our clutch replaced for 900 pesos – then about $70.00 U.S. dollars; saving of $20.00 U.S. from 2005. On balance we have the spending power of 2005; this certainly can’t be said in the U.S.

In talking with an expat couple the other day, they have seen the economy upheaval as a two edged sword: the sale of their U.S. home netted money to invest in the U.S. stock market – currently a disaster. On the other hand the favorable rate of exchange for dollars to pesos has increased buying power here in Mexico.

A collapse of the Mexican economy would almost surely lead to still greater regional slowdowns in California and Texas as well as other states, and a substantial jump in illegal immigration into the U.S.  Is a peso support package in the offing from the Obama administration? I think there will be a lot less support for this than the overwhelming support the U.S. gave Mexico during the 1994-95 Mexican financial crisis.

During that era the U.S. peso support package kept Mexico’s liquidity crisis an economic misfortune, as opposed to an economic disaster. The risks in providing support were seen as, and turned out to be, quite small.

There has been much discussion in the past two years about a failure of political vision on the part of the American government watchdogs. Looking at the lessons that the political nation has drawn from the U.S.- Mexican relationship of the past few years, one must conclude that chances are slim that  Obama will get a lot of support from Congress to assist in a Mexican economy bailout like we have seen in the past.

This week the Mexican central bank bought $322 million worth of pesos at auction. We expect the peso to continue to be weak against the dollar and there will be adjustments made to where we will feel some of the pain. But, at the moment we see little affect from the financial disasters 700 miles to the north and we are enjoying additional buying power.

When the peso went up to around 13:1 a few months ago, we went out and bought a motor scooter. The peso now dropped to 14:1 – but we noticed the other day that the motor scooters went up 1000 pesos –so the price with U.S. dollars is effectively the same and certainly better than compared to a year ago.

Financially and otherwise ( it was a sunny 74 F here yesterday) it seems like a good time to be south of the border. Stay Tuned!

You wouldn’t describe this colonia as quiet, few pueblos in Mexico would be. Our small colonia has energy and muscle and fireworks and block parties with huge disco speakers. The people are mostly poor and Catholic. We have two churches and many religious and traditional celebrations; most recently there have been evening gatherings to collect up the nearly life size ornately dressed plaster Jesus babies displayed in some homes and the many shrines placed about the tiny community.

The story has vagaries. It has all the makings and intrigue of a Mexican novella –  a broken off love affair between an older hombre and a married woman; young tough guys hired for lots of pesos to beat or perhaps kill a stalking spurned lover. The woman may have led the victim to the crime scene? – murder for hire!

Saturday night a big black SUV with tinted windows was driven into the Colonia. The kind of vehicle that would not cruise through here unnoticed. The occupants jumped out and abducted one or more of our local hombres. A couple of whom live just a few doors down from us; now some of our homeboys are “detainees” being questioned about possibly having been hired for part of 300,000 pesos to kill. They are three of five or six with some knowledge or involvement in the murder of a Coatepec restaurant owner and rancher.

Some locals tell a story that it was originally thought the SUV was occupied by extranjeros, (foreigners), because of the large mysterious vehicle that had no license plates.

The mother of one of the abducted hombres called the police to report her son being taken. At some point later she was informed that her son was being detained for questioning regarding a murder for hire crime.

The news accounts are sketchy at this point. But it has made television news and our Hood hombres pictures are in newspapers and on Internet news sources.

3 Ursulo Glavan Hombres and Patricia Sanchez Garcia

The reports are all in Spanish and include different accounts. Four or five people including a woman and a former municipal police officer are detainees involved in a case of murder for hire. It is alleged that 300,000 pesos was to be paid to have Gonzalo López Galán murdered.

Apparently Patricia Sanchez Garcia, 37 years of age, residing in the nearby pueblo of Coatepec is linked romantically to the victim. One report said the authorities have Sanchez’s phone records, incoming and outgoing, possibly linking her to the plot.

“Authorities continue to search for Roberto Guapillo Rodriguez “El Pelón” or “El Chillon”, who is the purported ringleader.”  Guapillo allegedly received 300 thousand pesos from someone to kill the restaurateur (the someone is un named).

Our homeboys were hired to kill? I was told by some people that know the alleged conspirators that they might have thought they were hired to beat the victim rather than to put bullets in his head.

Then there is a .38 caliber gun found in the victims truck at the scene of the crime near the victim’s body. It had been a gift given to Patricia Sanchez by the 65 year old victim whose body was found December 16th of last year.

One account has one of our locals reported to have “Canto” (sang); Francisco Quiroz, called Poncho here in the Hood, admitted to having been recruited by “El Pelón” and together with others including a former police officer and current taxi driver allegedly arrived at a place called La Marina, where they laid rocks to deter passing vehicles, thereby setting a trap for Gonzalo Lopez.

The accounts remain cloudy, varied and incomplete. We do know the detainees are in cells of the AVI (Agency of Veracruzian Investigations), located in the former Police Ministerial, save one who is hospitalized under guard for gastritis.

The story on that here is he was beaten by the police during interrogation; lots of intrigue and novella like stories filtering through our little Colonia. In a few days more will be known about the legal status of the detainees, more about who may have done what and who might have been paid and by whom in order to kill the businessman and rancher. Stay Tuned!

Mixing coffee beans to achieve certain flavors and aromas is an art form. It can be likened to a chef concocting designer meals. There is controversy as to at what point in the coffee production blending should take place – combining green beans before or mixing beans after the roast.

The most important qualities of coffee are the organoleptic qualities. These are smell and taste. It is after all about taste. There is little blending of beans here in our neighbors small production. But much of the coffee sold here to the beneficio’s will end up in a blend.

We use a French press coffee maker when we aren’t using our La Pavoni Espresso maker. The French press is a simple device wherein you simply pour water over spoonfuls of ground coffee. Then you press a screen down through the water which removes the grounds – easy.

Calypso Coffee Maker – Cappuccino and Lattes at the Rancho

Now here in the Hood they drink what I call “cowboy coffee”; add sugar and 4 or 5 spoonfuls of ground coffee to about a half a liter of cold water – heat all together for 10 minutes and pour off the coffee. When finished they often add water creating what they call “painted water”. Then add a few additional spoonfuls of new grounds and sugar for another pot of coffee – getting more mileage out of the grounds.

When using the French press if a lot of foam surfaces as you add water to the grounds it is a sure sign that there are materials other than coffee in the mix; additives for weight or just ‘dirty; coffee. Very oily beans have probably been over roaster which seldom happens here as they are very concerned about the cost of the propane gas used to roast – it is more likely you will have to shop for darker roasts or ask specifically.

Kathe in Merida actually pan roasts her purchased roasted beans to darken them. Unfortunately this is not as good as the rapid heating process from the large roasters – but as she reports they enjoy the coffee more having done the pan fry.

As suggested buying whole beans gives you an opportunity to inspect the quality of the beans and whether there might be extraneous material. But coffee has nuisances that will not be determined by the looks of the beans. As is the course of things in the U.S. much attention is directed towards how the coffee beans look (like their attention to beautiful looking often tasteless fruits and vegetables). It certainly isn’t all going to be decided by the look of the beans.

A Good Coffee Grinder is a Must for Serious Java Fans (our La Pavoni)

Going back to my music making days for yet another comparison we discovered back in the early 70’s that we would have a better recording if we quickly went from tape to disc (remember records?). There was a logarithmic degradation that occurred within the first two weeks of putting the music to tape. This discovery started the process of recording direct to disc bypassing recording to tape completely.

The interesting part of this discovery was that there was no measurable way of documenting the degradation. We studied complex sound waves with third octave analyzers and state-of-the–art measuring devices with no sign as to why this rapid degradation in spatial quality occurred. We coined the situation as “presence edge smear.” We could distinctly hear the difference and yet had no measurable way of explaining it.

When you get down to taste testing coffee there is a “presence edge smear” factor. No explanation, no scientific principals or measurements to prove the taste will be better than another cup – an intangible but real difference in flavor. You will have to find this part of the coffee drinking experience out for yourselves.

There certainly may be a scientific trail as to how a coffee bean became as good or bad as it is – but there is also the undefined that can make or break a cup of coffee meeting your satisfaction.  It can come down to “expert” tasting.

Contracts for purchasing coffee between exporters and dealers is often finalized by a sample taste testing performed by a group tasters using a goute-café (a specially shaped spoon)’ tasting samples from various lots prepared both as brewed coffee and espresso.

They will judge taste and aroma avoiding excessive caffeine absorption by not swallowing the coffee but spitting it into basins after tasting much like expert wine tasters. This process is called “cupping”. “Cuppers” exist even here in our somewhat less sophisticated coffee country. You can be your own taste expert as there certainly is a personal best aspect to even the highest quality beans. You don’t even need a lab coat and gout-café.

In the last few days I read that a Mexican company called  Java Times Caffé, has a concept similar to Starbucks. They are attempting to expand with franchise opportunities in the United States.

Contemporary coffee-house in bookstores and specialty coffee houses remain thriving industries. When you find good beans it is nothing short of the best way to start one’s day. No matter what coffee culture you are from if you have a personal favorite to recommend – comment in – and Stay Tuned!

Roasting coffee (café tostada in Spanish) is the final act on the road to improve the quality of coffee beans and to make them easier to prepare. There will be chemical changes as well as physical changes. All the various processes will finally be borne out in the all important test – taste.

Mexican coffee often gets a bad rap; some of it may be deserved. Mexico is capable and does produce some excellent coffee beans. You are going to learn the good, the bad and the ugly here.

Much of coffee’s character is developed in the roasting process. Gold or green beans (oro o verde frijoles) will store for several years, roasted beans will only keep for a few month without sophisticated packaging. Because of the short shelf life of roasted beans most coffee is normally roasted in the country where it will be sold for consumption.

There is a lot of science to the roasting process – briefly roasting is a process of pyrolysis – increasing the beans from room temperature to 200-230 C degrees within 12 to 18 minutes. The principal physical changes are a loss of weight due to evaporation (15 to 20 per cent) and an increase in volume by about 60 per cent.

Loss of weight and increase in volume include a change in the structure of the bean. It will become more brittle, less elastic, easier to grind. The color changes from green to brown by the caramelizing of the sugar and other carbohydrates as well as the formation of pigmented substances produced by chemical reactions know as Strecker’s reactions.

These reactions only occur at higher temperatures. The higher the temperature the darker the roast will be. If for example the roasting is stopped at 200 C the coffee will generally be light. I won’t go in to great detail about the chemistry – there is plenty of information on the Internet. There are new substances formed from the heat. The main chemical changes however concern the presence of some group of substances that vary before and after roasting, and the formation of new compounds.

The new substances that develop are a result of the pyrolytic process. They will represent about 30 % of the bean weight. These are caramel, carbon dioxide and some 700 substances that compose the volatile aromas. These are formed by the Maillard’s reactions, named after the discoverer. The degrees of bitter and acid tastes are a function of these reactions that occurs at the most delicate stage of roasting around and above 200 C. The simple explanation is lighter roasts (less high temperatures) have an acidulous taste, while the darker roasts contrarily are more bitter. Darker roasted coffees contain less caffeine as compared to lighter roasts.

Roasters can be a very expensive costing upwards of $50,000. I saw a nice used roaster the equivalent of the one our neighbors use selling for $10,000.00. These roasters are usually referred to as in-store roasters as many specialty retail coffee stores display their beautiful chrome and shiny painted machines. The machine used here is manufactured in Coatepec.

Beans in Cooling Hopper – notice beans in small window (ENLARGE Here)

Cooled Roasted Beans Being Discharged (ENLARGE Here)

A roaster is essential a gas fired cooker with a drum to slowly turn the beans and a cooling tray or hopper where the beans are mechanically stirred while cool air is forced through them. There are some large industrial roasters which we won’t get into here as well as some counter top models for real coffee lovers.

Grinding the Beans – Best to Buy Before This (ENLARGE Here)

The roaster here will toast 11 kilograms maximum load. After the initial warm up and first load it will toast a load of coffee every 15 – 20 minutes or less. A kilogram of coffee contains around 12,000 beans and hopefully little else. In order to add weight at less cost some unscrupulous sellers will add corn, sorghum, garbanzo, and/or haba (fava bean). Others roast ‘dirty’ coffee, beans with a lot of extraneous material such as stems, parchment shells, dried pulp material, dirt and pebbles.

If you are more than a pedestrian coffee drinker you must buy beans rather than ground coffee. In this way you can inspect the beans for size, quality and to insure there are only good beans. We found that as the word got around that we were ‘real’ coffee drinkers our purchases improved a lot; prior to that it had been hit or miss.

You can get a get excellent coffee in Mexico contrary to the generalization that it is not remarkable or less. But, you will have to learn how to be an intelligent buyer to get to the good stuff. It certainly isn’t a matter of paying more. I have witnessed small finca owners having a batch of beans roasted and then quickly ground the results being unpalatable coffee only to sell for 80 to 100 pesos a kilo when we are buying excellent coffee beans for 60 pesos a kilogram.

One fellow had been spraying his finca to reduce vegetation rather than using the machete that is the custom. He told me he sells his coffee in Xalapa for 80 pesos. I took a handful of beans to try. It was terrible, undrinkable! Later I learned the story of his reputation with the spray.

Next we will discuss coffee blends, the best ways to prepare coffee and some tips to help become a better coffee bean shopper. Stay Tuned.

It is necessary to gently strip away the golden parchment shell that encloses the green coffee beans. Getting from a red or yellow pulp berry to a dried green coffee bean is quite a journey.

We left off with the beans sun drying on our neighbor’s roof for a few days. Fun in the sun is over. There remains a tough fibrous shell that must be stripped away to release the green beans within.

The golden beans in their parchment skins are now at yet another marketable stage. The aforementioned beneficios in our area (you have been reading along?)  pay from 1200 to 1500 pesos for café oro in bulitos (golden coffee beans in hemp bags).

At this point the 250 kilos of  berries after having the red or yellow outer pulp removed, then washed  several times with a 1000 gallons of water and sun dried over the course of three or four days, have been reduced to a weight of  57-62 kilograms.

An approximate 60 kilogram bag (132 lbs.)  fetches an average of 1400 pesos (currently $100.00 US). This is the last stage that the beneficios companies will buy the coffee. In this form the beans can be stored for as long as three years. Proper storage includes avoiding absorption of odors, moisture and humidity.

There is little profit to be made at this stage of a coffee beans development; most small finca owners will continue processing stages to maximize profit. In order for the beans to take on their next persona from gold to green they must have the parchment skin removed. Our now 60 kilo bag of oro beans are ready to have the husk removed. Our neighbor’s facility will strip off the shells for ½ peso a kilo – 30 pesos or $2.15 U.S. for a 60 kilogram.

The decorticating process or removing the final parchment shell is called mortiado (sp?) in Spanish. The golden beans are loaded in a hopper connected to spline shaft driven by an electric motor turning belts on wheels. This rather amazing machine gently strips away the outer shell exposing the green beans.

Husking the Parchment Shells Happens Fast (ENLARGE Here)

From Here to the Roaster (ENLARGE Here)

The removed shell material is used as a bedding material in horse, mule and burro stalls; goat pens; and chicken coops – nothing goes to waste in Mexico. Additionally the Calypso family utilizes the removed shells for their compost toilets – more on this later.

Our 250 kilograms of  berries will be reduced to a final weight of approximately 36 kilograms of roasted beans or ground coffee. This converts to approximately 80 pounds of finished coffee. Using $10.00 U.S. as an average retail cost per pound would mean our 80 pounds would produce $800.00 U.S. (I assure you the organic coffee we are drinking would command more than $10.00 in the U.S.). Our neighbor’s organic coffee currently sells retail for 60 pesos a kilogram. That is $4.29 U.S. for 2.2 lbs. of excellent organic coffee; or $1.95 per pound. Later we will learn more about the desperate times the coffee producers are experiencing and about fair trade coffee programs.

More than twenty years in the music business fed my curiosity and interest in the blending of science and art. Highly technical rooms designed for sound with hundreds of meters, dials, speakers, microphones and wires were state-of-the-art equipment used to record musical artistry, often to be heard by literally millions.

Here in the tropics of southeastern Mexico there is a surprising amount of science involved in raising healthy coffee plants in good soil, extracting the fruit, then in a timely fashion getting it depulped, washed, dried, husked, and finally roasted. In this case science, a bit masked by tradition, joins art to become a libation enjoyed by millions. An interesting parallel that I will touch on more later.

Admittedly a calculated move, our coming to Mexico has paid off in so many ways. Being exposed to the twists and turns of producing coffee has been a terrific bonus. Next we will learn some things about the science and art of toasting (roasting) coffee.

Stay Tuned!

In Xico, Veracruz we pray for sol (sun); rain takes care of itself. Producing coffee takes both. Coffee is the most widespread drink in the world with approximately half-a-trillion cups consumed every year. The majority of people prefer to drink coffee with milk and/or sugar while a number of people (such as me) have a fondness for black coffee. Here in our part of Mexico most coffee is brewed with lots of sugar.

Now that we have our cherries in house; they have been depulped and rest in a tank of water for 24 hours.  Typically in our neighbors small production facility the harvested berries are processed in 200-250 kilogram batches (440 to 550 pounds). After pulp removal a 250 kg batch will weigh 80 kg, about 1/3 the original weight. After depulping the beans are washed twice over a two day period removing any pulp material that had not been removed heretofore. Also at this time in the process some bad seeds are culled.

Beans After Depulping – Next A Bath (ENLARGE Here)

Beans Soak 24 Hr – Then Two Washings (ENLARGE Here)

Two hundred and fifty kilograms of pulp (eventually thirty-six or so kilos finished coffee) will require about 1000 gallons of water to process to the point of drying. They say it takes “tres sols” to dry the beans, or three sunny days. At the end of each day the beans are gathered back up, placed in hemp bags and stored overnight to avoid rain or humidity reintroducing moisture content.

Beans can be dried by a gas drier or in the sun. The mission is to reduce moisture from about 50% per volume to 12-14%. The preferred method is sun dried. We haven’t seen any sun for about four days now and the next few days aren’t predicted to be sol days. This is a cause for concern; not so much because the beans have to be dried, but it is a bottleneck in the production process which is in full swing during this time.

Up On The Roof – Beans Sun Drying – 3 Sols (ENLARGE Here)

One thousand coffee plants worth of beans requires 50 square meters of drying surface (about 538 square feet). On the second floor of Dona Alma’s casa is an approximate 40 square meter drying area (about 430 square feet). Each morning sun or not the beans are spread out; of course not on rainy days.

All around our area there are larger coffee production facilities referred to as beneficios. These outfits will buy harvested berries brought in from the small fincas. At the north end of Colonia Ursulo Galvan off to the side of the road that begins to head to the ‘outback’ the beneficios wait with a scale that can measure up to 500 kilos of coffee cherries.

Those who choose to sell their coffee berries can have their bags weighed. The weight will be recorded. The harvesters can collect payment right there or if they are out of pesos at some point they will receive a statement of what is owed and payment is made later. The price paid per kilo varies depending upon a cursory inspection of the quality of the harvested berries. It seems to range from about 3.8 to 4.5 pesos per kilo.

A little further into the Hood on the same street is another beneficio site – there are a total of three.  Some sellers will go to all the places for quotes before settling on one – shopping their product around. The beneficio companies will buy coffee in two stages of production – the harvested berries or dried (not with the parchment shell removed or toasted).

Once the beans are sun dried for 3 or 4 days the resultant beans are golden in color and sometimes referred to as oro (gold in Spanish). Our neighbors used to have a large propane gas drier. Three years ago the head of the clan died rather suddenly of heart problems complicated by diabetes.

To cover some bills soon after his death they sold the drier assuming they would probably not carry on their coffee business. Things changed and they remain in the business but without the drier. As mentioned sun dried is the preferred method – yet it is more labor intensive and costly. Also production is at the mercy of the weather conditions more so than with the gas drier.

Beans at this point in production can be stored for as much as three years in hemp bags (bultos). Next we will learn about removing the thick parchment shell to expose the final green bean. Stay Tuned!

The De-Pulped Berries Waiting to Become Fertilizer (ENLARGE Here)

Continuing our journey following coffee beans from fertile earth’s plant to the cup on your breakfast table or desk I am reporting from Ursulo Galvan a small colonia in the Municipo of Xico. The suburb of 1600 people is in the state of Veracruz, Mexico – coffee country. Coffee has been grown and processed here for generations.

Beyond gathering ripe coffee berries the production is man’s work – sweaty and muscular. There are no genteel hombres in tweed jackets testing coffee from demitasse cups. Here they mash beans between strong hands cupping the crush around their nose. They breathe in deeply and report results.

Of all extensively produced agricultural crops, harvesting of coffee is the least mechanized. Yesterday Anita and I actually went out and cut coffee for the day to give a first-hand report about the effort.

We walked to the northeast from our casa into the ‘outback’ a total of about 2 miles or 3.25 kilometers. The last ¼ mile was steep and this day muddy. The horse that would carry our kilos of coffee berries back into Ursulo Galvan had to be tied up 200 yards or so from the area we would work as it was extremely steep.

We cut coffee all day. This was our first (and probably last) coffee cutting experience. We managed to collect 24 kilos of berries between us. We would be paid 48 pesos for having worked a 9 to 5 day including the walk-in. That would be $3.42 U.S. I immediately had thoughts about escaping to the United States.

We picked coffee during a misty cloud covered day. This was a blessing as the flies and mosquitoes were not a problem as they often are when it is warm and sunny. However there were armies of ants that if we weren’t careful would crawl up our pant legs, and they bite.

Later in the day on the hike back we stopped at Silvano’s trout finca. He offered up aguardiente shots to warm us. After complaining about the ants to Silvano, he explained that getting bit was not a bad thing in that the ant bite’s ‘venom’ makes a person tranquil – wives’ tales abound in the outback; could this be one of them?

We worked with our neighbor and her son. The finca is property that our neighbors rent specifically to grow coffee plants. The approximate hectare and a half or 3.5 acres of hillside land has been leased with ten years remaining.

Also working was a family of four. The mother and father along with their 13 year old son and 12 year old daughter managed to collect 108 kilos for the work day (they were there when we arrived). They would be paid 216 pesos or $15.43 U.S. for the day. The father was thin, the mother obese. The boy and girl were both following in their parents footsteps; the boy was thin and daughter plump.

They were a friendly family. Both children no longer went to school declaring they did not like to study. Obviously the family needed them to work to eat – very heartbreaking. It is difficult to spend time with people so very poor. It kept coming into my mind, why must these good people be so poor?

After working the day with them as we walked back towards civilization Rosy, the mother, invited us to come any time to visit them. They live along the river at the north end of our shared Colonia.

Rosy explained that they would very much like us to visit but added, “I am sorry we are poor”. I stated emphatically there was no need for her to apologize – “We would very much enjoy visiting.” In the evening discussing the day’s events with our neighbor we expressed how hard life seems to be for Rosy and her family and all of them really. She shrugged explaining that this is the life God has given us. They embrace all aspects of their lives in our Hood – no one complains.

Alma our neighbor and the family matriarch invited us to dinner knowing we had had a long day and probably Anita wouldn’t feel like cooking. This even though Alma got up at 4 AM – ground some coffee; took a bus to Banderilla just north of Xalapa and sold seven kilos; bought trout at the Mercado in Banderilla; returned home and showed up where we were cutting coffee. Even though she came at about 1 PM she cut 15 kilos of berries and walked back home to prepare dinner for all of us.

We had a wonderful trout soup. Vicente eventually joined us returning from his day at about 8 PM;  twelve hours of work at the Coke distributor’s plant emptying bottles of coke nearing or past their expiration date.

After we all had eaten Alma mentioned that there was 200 kilos of berries that needed to be de pulped. They had been there for more than 24 hours and would start to ferment if not dealt with. I held a flashlight as Vicente and his son Stephen set up the machine and began loading buckets of the “drupe” or berries into the vat.

Out of the Machine De-Pulped Coffee Beans Waiting for a Bath (ENLARGE Here)

We picked three different varieties of beans. One was bright yellow and quite large. Another was bright red and large picked from tall vines well over 8 feet in some cases; finally the arabica bean which is a smaller rounder berry. The bulk of the beans we were de pulping were bright red; The outer covering is a thick pulpy skin, the exocarp, which encloses a layer of jelly-like pulp, the mesocarp. Inside are the seeds or beans. These are enclosed in a thick, yellow-white colored protective endocarp, often called parchment or the husk. Commonly there are two beans within each berry. Insufficient pollination can cause the formation of just a single bean, called a pea berry; rarely there are three beans in a berry.

We worked for an hour or so. It was now 9 PM and the day’s work was finally done. Anita and I went to our camper and dropped off to sleep immediately. Next washing, drying and husking. Stay Tuned.

Our coffee growing area is often referred to as cloud forest territory. Generally, there is a relatively small band of altitude where the atmospheric condition is suitable for cloud forest development.

Many days throughout the year, like today, there is a persistent mist or clouds at the vegetation level, resulting in the reduction of direct sunlight. Trees are generally shorter and the moisture promotes the development of an abundance of epiphytes (organism that grows upon or attaches to a living plant). These are ideal coffee plant growing conditions. 100% of coffee is grown inside 1000 miles of the equator.

Most of the coffee plants are 5-8 feet tall; the average being about 6 feet. The berries whose seeds are the coffee bean are stripped from the vines into a bucket or bags hanging from the neck. It is a tedious job often done in wet misty conditions or in the heat with plenty of mosquitoes and ants to be bothered by. There have been some automated devices designed, but they tend to damage the leaves and plants so it is very much a hands on job.

Gathering coffee is often a family affair. There are very few souls in our Colonia that haven’t had the experience of gathering coffee berries. Women and children join their men in the coffee finacas. People from 5 – 90 can be seen sliding red berries off of vines into their bags or buckets. Locally they call the gatherers “cortadores” (cutters). Their hands are blackened by the “miel” (the nectar of the fruit).

When the red berries are abundant on the plants a cortadore can collect as much as 180 kilos per day. The average cutter does about 80 kilos (176 lbs) a day. They currently are paid 2 pesos per kilo. It is often as much as an hour’s walk to the fincas in our friend’s case. They pick for 10 hours – so this can be a 12 hour work day averaging 160 pesos or about $12.00 US dollars at the current exchange rate. I have seen a couple that left before daylight arrive home after dark having made $15.00 U.S. dollars between them.

The berries are often brought home on horseback. The cortadore must maintain his pack horse, mule or burro. It is not glamorous work, but the work environment is lovely. Our friends whose coffee we will focus on have a number of small fincas. They can be reached in 20 to 60 minutes from our casas in Ursulo Galvan. The area is called agua escondido or hidden water. They report that water can be heard running beneath the soil; also that their fincas are covered with taller trees that act as an umbrella creating the cloud forest effect.

In addition to location, the quality and flavor from the coffee bean is influenced by other factors. These include the type of the coffee plant, the composition of the soil and the weather. Important is the quantity of rainfall as well as sunshine, and the particular altitude where the coffee grows. These factors together with the manner the berries are processed after being harvested accounts for the differences between coffees from countries, regions in which they are cultivated and plantations around the world. This intricate combination of factors results in variation in quality and taste even from a single finca.

Horse, Rider & Java Heading Home (ENLARGE Here)

A this point an owner might sell the pulp ‘cherries’ to a major coffee production house that will pay 4.3 – 4.5 pesos a kilo. Completing the process of producing roasted coffee brings in more pesos ‘profit’.

Once the red berries arrive home they must be de pulped within 24 hours to prevent fermentation that will adversely affect the flavor of the bean. Our friend’s have a de pulping machine. It is essentially geared wheels that strip the soft pulp from the seed or bean.

The Depulping Machine (ENLARGE Here)

The Gears Grind Off the Soft Pulp to Get at the Bean (ENLARGE Here)

From one side of the ‘exit shoots’ the peeled away pulp is dumped into a pile where it will be used as fertilizer to be placed around the coffee plants – it will be hauled back to the fincas. The other shoot dispenses slimy beans that will be soaked in a tank for about 24 hour and then washed three times.

In this case an average of 250 kilos of berries produces 80 kilos of beans in the soaking tank – the balance being removed pulp. From here the washed ‘green’ beans will be dried either in a large gas heated drier or by the sun. They say it takes three sol’s to properly dry – three sunny days. We will start there next. Today my head is in the cloud forest; tomorrow here comes the sun – hopefully. Stay Tuned!

It is said that coffee stimulates the thought process. The scientific community has studied coffee for possible benefits or harm for years with many conflicting results.  Coffee certainly stimulates the economies of several countries.

Coffee is an important export commodity on the world stage. It is in the top ten of largest legal agricultural exports by value.  Over one hundred million people in developing countries have become dependent on coffee as the primary source of income. Mexico ranks sixth in coffee production worldwide and third in the Western hemisphere, and exports most of its coffee to the U.S.

Coffee Plant Early November Enjoying the Shade of Banana Leaves

Here in our part of Mexico all around you will see coffee plants often in the shade of banana trees or next to sugarcane fields. In all pueblos within the area you will be treated to the smells of roasting coffee and occasionally the stench of rotting coffee berry pulp.

The Mexican States of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Veracruz account for most of Mexico’s coffee production. Here in Xico we live in the heart of coffee country. Xico is located 20 minutes from Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz. To get here, you travel southwest through the town of Coatepec, past the ex-hacienda of Zimpizahua, curving through San Marcos de León, then straight ahead with coffee fields on both sides until you reach the town of 15,000.

I think we have lived with coffee in and around our lives long enough now to tell some stories about it. First some personal history about coffee and us:

We quit imbibing for one entire year. After being a coffee lover for my entire adult life up to that time. This was due in part because Anita was with child. She was as much a coffee lover as I.  My thinking was to support her effort. Our son is approaching 19 so this was a few years ago. Also at that time we were very much health nuts – still are. And at that time I was the vice-president of a health food company.

This was essentially our scientific test for coffee’s health effects. The conclusion after an entire year of coffee abstinence (some think it better than sex) was that there was no apparent physical gain from deleting coffee from our diets. This after noting dramatic differences from quitting red meat and then a couple years later chicken. Reducing sugar intake also had profound observable health changes – but not so coffee. We went back to drinking about two average sized cups a day – no more.

Not long after our son was born we became coffee vendor’s. In a short time we had a stable of five elegant coffee carts that we parked in malls, theater lobbies, at fairs, air shows and even in front of a Walmart store. We strived to learn everything there was to know about coffee and espresso in particular.

Later I became the entertainment editor for a state wide newspaper. My job included reviewing the then trendy new espresso coffee shops and gourmet roasters and bean importers.

Having long since moved on from those ventures we still have one of our coffee carts stored in the U.S. and we have a complete professional espresso making system at Rancho del Cielo our home in the mountains above Xico.

Now as aforementioned we live in coffee growing central in Mexico to boot. So we come to the table with some experience with the brown nectar of the gods.

Xico was founded in the year 1313. Originally it was called Xico-Chimalco which in the Náhuatl (Aztec) language means “where there are bee hives of yellow wax.” It is commonly reported that coffee planting was started in our area in the late 1700’s. The long history of this area is steeped in coffee growing and production. Our region has the resources to produce some of the best coffees in the world. It also has producers and growers committed to improving the quality of their coffee, along with favorable soil, excellent altitude, suitable environment and temperatures, and generous rainfall.

It is now coffee berry harvesting season. Before dawn large stake bed trucks are loaded with people stacked in like so much cordwood. They are coffee cutters, campesinos (Mexican farm workers). They will be transported to fincas (farms) where coffee plants abound. Some leave our small colonia early in the morning walking to their small fincas to harvest their coffee berries. This is where it all begins.

The Coffee plant is native to our tropical area. A few plants grow wild on our small lot in Ursulo Galvan. But the plants on the fincas are cared for by controlling vegetation growth as well as each season enjoying a dose of fertilizer.

The plant leaf is glossy and looks like Holly. It is an evergreen shrub or small tree usually not taller than 8 feet around these parts. It produces clusters of fragrant, white flowers that bloom simultaneously; eventually evolving into an oval shaped red fruit berry. The berries ripen in about six to seven months; often there are two harvests per year.

Coffee Arabica, coming from the Typica and Bourbon varieties is cultivated in our area. Much of the coffee in our area is grown organically – no chemical fertilizers. The coffee that we drink is grown by friends organically. We followed their process from the finca to our cups. Stay Tuned for more of the story tomorrow.

Mari Cruz is a now a fourteen year veteran of marriage, a housewife and mother of two. She and her family live in three cinder-block walled rooms with a rough cement floor and a tin roof in Ursulo Galvan. We sit around her kitchen table purchased 8 years ago for the equivalent of 15 US dollars.  She slowly brushes away imaginary crumbs from the warped table top as she begins a story.

She has fond memories of her upbringing in the campo; and of her father who died 3 years ago at 50 from diabetes complications.

It seems that when she married at 16 she soon believed she had acquired certain adult liberties. Prior to her marriage she was not allowed to walk in the neighborhood at night; even to just walk to the bakery (panaderia) to buy bread.

Believing she was operating within her new found freedoms, one evening with nino in tow she started off to the panaderia to buy bread for her husband’s meal.  The path to the panaderia included passing by her father’s casa two doors up from hers.

As she passed her father came out and said, “Hija (daughter) you should go to your house – you have no business going to the panaderia at night. There may be hombres that don’t know you are married – they may not understand; they may bother you. You could have problems in your house from this”

“But, Papa I need to buy bread to feed my husband.” She cried.

He replied, “If there is a need for your husband to have bread then he should go right now and get it for himself or you should wait until morning – you should not be on the street at night!”

Probably not humorous at the time, now she smiled broadly. In her face you could see she understood a father’s love and the strictness of 19th century mores in a 21st Century world. She mentions that one day they will face similar concerns with their now lovely five year old nina. Life advances slowly in small pueblos of Mexico. Stay Tuned!