It feels like just yesterday that we got back from Neiva because these fieldworks are both long and short– short in the absolute sense of time, but long in the relative sense of hustling around, meeting people, and interviewing/conversing with people.
And of course, all of this is occurring in Spanish, by which, mental taxation compounds the exhaustion. I’ve told Andrés that I’ve been genuinely trying to listen to the Spanish questions/responses during our interviews a) so that the onus of engagement isn’t solely on him, b) so I can actively participate and formulate my own questions/responses in real time, even though they’re in English c) so I can improve my own third-language skills (at what point can I technically consider myself a polyglot?) for engaging with transcripts/audio for our eventual data analysis. Aside from data collection, I’ve gotten to talking quite a bit with two of my three apartment doormen, Jorge and Jhon. Duolingo has not taught me verb conjugations and I’m obviously way behind on vocabulary, but a 20 min conversation with Jorge or Jhon here and there has, for certain, accelerated my Spanish from my first day.
Anyways, before I start on my recent trip to Pitalito, a quick catch up on things that happened in the interim.
First, after weeks of messaging the Asociation Israelite Montefiore about being able to go to the Megillah reading, I was finally able to join that night. It wasn’t a proper Megillah reading, but rather an extended play of the story of Esther (in Spanish). And following it was the Purim carnival (complete with the hamantaschen I was worried I would miss out on). But being able to celebrate holiday with community was very nice. In a couple of days, I’ll be going back there for the first night of Passover seder.
Then, as a souvenir, I bought myself an “upside down” style traditional Colombian sombrero. It’s a custom build from Don Sujeto, complete with a “hattoo” (since I’m not getting any real tattoo) of a coffee branch with cherries.
I also met up on Easter Sunday with one of the other Fulbrighters (a full professor in urban history at University of Colorado Colorado Springs) and went to Libertario for coffee and then out for some Asian fusion for dinner. It was really nice to have an English conversation with someone here, talk about our experiences, and get a bit of mentoring from a full professor. Singularly, it was probably the most career mentoring toward next steps I’ve received in the two years since becoming tenured.
A week ago, there was a Mercado Campesino in Parque 93, and I only wish I could’ve bought some things to take back to the US from there. But alas, it was a farmer’s market so almost nothing would be able to return home with me. Nonetheless, I was able to get some mocha-flavored arroz con leche while there, which was really good (especially since it was refrigerated and the day was quite warm for Bogotá standards).
And then, I found out a paper I started 10 years ago, was submitted 10 times across 8 different journals, and was rejected 9 times, 8 of which were desk rejections, was finally accepted for publication. But there was a lot to do and no one really to celebrate with. So that morning, I celebrated with a cup of 1.500 peso tinto while waiting for my cab to campus.
The specialty coffee market really takes hold in Huila department, and Pitalito (pop. 137,000), which is south of Neiva, is a hotbed of activity for specialty coffee growers. It’s also a hotbed for specialty coffee buyers, as some of the country’s top specialty coffees come from Southern Huila (and Tolima department), due to the elevation, soil conditions, microclimates, etc. Several barista/brewers cup championship coffees have been sourced out of Pitalito (including a decaf typica that won the US Brewers Cup earlier in the month).
So for my last domestic fieldwork trip here before I return to the US in about 10(!) days, Andrés scheduled some meetings in Pitalito with some producers and the likes. We ran into a bunch of scheduling confusion ourselves to make it work, but eventually got to book one last “hurrah” of data collection before I’d be leaving.
Tuesday noon, we took off for Pitalito. After getting settled at our hotel, we were picked up by one of the producers of a farm out in Palestina– about 45 min SSW of Pitalito. Another windy path through the various farms of the region, however it was clear that there was far more sophisticated road infrastructure than Neiva than Zipacón. Windy, yes, but smooth, paved, marked roads. It completely had me wondering what things would be like if more of the coffee regions had more sophisticated infrastructure to be able to transport coffee in less time. This was a question I’ve had since my trip to Zipacón in January and the difference seemed evident to me. With more coffee money coming in, better roads were built.
The farm was rather large (55,000 trees, I believe they said, which would yield around 200-250,000 kg, or about 2,000 cargas of green coffee a year, which would convert to about 210,000kg or 464,000 lbs of roasted coffee). We stopped at the hacienda for some coffee produced on the farm and roasted in the area. Again, really an awe-some experience to get to have the coffee from there prepared and served by the family.1
On the way back, there was some smoke from bonfires in the area. So at dusk, almost the entire atmosphere was pink-hued. I tried to take a picture, but it would not do justice. Anyways, that evening Andrés and I went to dinner on the other side of the city.
On Wednesday morning, we got picked up by a producer and went to the office of their commercial headquarters. After a good two hours of conversation, he then took us out to his farm in Acevedo, about 50 min ESE of Pitalito.
Again, we stretched through all kinds of coffee farms from different producers. On a couple of farms, we could already see pickers among the trees. Many places in this part of Southern Huila are about a month or so out from the main harvest, but several trees are already bearing some ripe fruit not to be lost.
Getting to Mario’s farm (about 20 hectares, of which 2 are set aside for ecological purposes), there were various sections by varietal:
Gesha
Laurina (a naturally low-caffeinated varietal)
“Yellow Ethiopian” (a yellow-fruiting variety that they don’t know where it came from, but is not a bourbon)
Pink bourbon (which is a common “differentiated” coffee in the region and looks like it’s starting to get some consistent ripening)
And then some other varieties as well. And I’d have been remiss if I hadn’t gotten a picture of myself among the trees among the farms. Also, Mario took some pictures of us visiting their farm. Building a good social media presence has been an important part of producers having some agency in their storytelling, controlling the narrative, and representing themselves to potential buyers of specialty coffee. It’s become an invaluable tool to those who know how to effectively use it and directly connect to other actors in the value chain.
Across from Mario’s farm is his father’s farm. His father was stopping by and we got to briefly meet him and discuss some of the differences in the thinking of selling conventional vs. specialty coffee.2
After that, we had more lunch at a Colombian parilla, then back to the hotel for a brief couple of minutes to process, and then back out to Café La Meca to meet with a former Nespresso curator over a cup of Elkin Guzman’s (El Mirador) honey-processed catiope. I believe La Meca was selling it for 60.000 pesos for 500g. I think Black and White sold a similar one (hydro honey) not long ago for $24 for 340g (138.330 pesos for 500g).
We then spent a bit of time walking around the park in the downtown of Pitalito before Mario picked us up to brew us even more coffee as a thank you gesture. Then one of the people we met on our flight down to Pitalito who was returning from the SCA Coffee Expo in Chicago picked us up at the Kawa office and took us to dinner in San Agustin. Regrettably, we didn’t get to see San Agustin during the day (or get to meet the people at Semilla Coffee’s Monkaaba project), but this guy was a commercializer for one of the roasting cooperatives, so we got to get his additional fresh perspective– especially since he was coming straight from Expo and trying to make sales connections for local coffees.3
Thursday morning, we got over to The Coffee Quest Pitalito buying station. I’d known TCQ from my friends at Tiny Arms Coffee Rosters back in Lowell (Shirley), MA, brewing Laboyano sourced from TCQ. I also realized that Tiny Arms just sourced another coffee from Jacinto Lozada from TCQ and relayed that to the folks at the buying station. It was really interesting to be a consumer from the “end” of the chain, yet there as a researcher back at its middle. There was a definitely smile that I was familiar with the farmer whose coffee they sampled, analyzed, bought, and sold to the US.
Over the next couple of hours, we got to see how coffee was sample milled, analyzed with screens, analyzed by sight (for defects), sample roasted, and determined whether the farmer’s lot would be bought or sold. In this instance, there was too much humidity and too much broca for TCQ’s buying standards, so they would have to be rejecting the coffee for purchase and calling the farmer later to give feedback on the coffee.
They then sample roasted the coffee so they could cup it for additional feedback. While we were there, we got to cup the coffee, alongside another pink bourbon coffee.
By cupping the coffee, it was even clearer how radically different the coffees were– how one might be a solid coffee for a coffee shop that I’d be familiar with, while the other was kind of flat tasting and maybe could be used for some large chain. But it was also this point where you realize, a farmer’s ability to earn a bit of income (such as selling to the FNC) vs a better income (such as getting to sell to TCQ) can change just by this brief hour spent analyzing the coffee; where the tastes of downstream buyers and consumers can, at each stage “butterfly effect” into changing the farmer’s life.
As we were waiting for our mid afternoon flight back to Bogotá, Andrés and I were debating the risks assumed by each actor along the coffee value chain.4 Unlike from Neiva, the flight back to Bogotá was on time. However, for the first time in months, the city started to get a good rain.5 The result was that our flight nearly touched down but instead was put in a holding pattern for three go-arounds around the airport. On the third go-around though, the pilot definitely made some intensive maneuvers in the middle of the cloud, nosediving and pulling up without our visibility to gain bearings. The only thing I could feel was intensive g-forces beyond typical takeoff/landing and beyond rough turbulence. Suffice to say, I think both Andrés and I thought that was going to be it for the both of us. Fortunately the third time was a charm and we landed.
Meanwhile, I have about 10 more days left in the country. My flight leaves here 9am on the 30th. In this timespan, I have a meeting on a paper revision (that is due the day after I return to the US), Passover seder at AIM, a full day of Fulbright-ICETEX program exchange, possibly a followup “capstone” presentation to the FNC, a cupping with Andrés at Catación Publica, followed by a return to the Usaquèn crafts market, hopefully another last stroll around the downtown/Candelaria, a “capstone/what I did on Fulbright” presentation at Uniandes… oh… and packing/cleaning up my Airbnb after 3 months in it.
I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about leaving here after four months away from the US. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about returning to the US after four months here in Colombia. The short of it is, while I wasn’t here as long as I was in Montreal for my undergraduate, it’s difficult to say that it’s been any less personally or professionally impactful; I’m forever changed by my experience here. As for the long of it? I’ll have to write another post…
- I mentioned before about speaking Spanish… This is one of the first times I noticed Andrés shift the language in our introductions from saying “Este es el Profesor Spencer Ross, el no habla español” to “Este es el Profesor Spencer Ross, el está aprendiendo y entiende un poco español…” I still don’t know if I get to call myself a polyglot, but I took a bit of pride in this shift. ↩︎
- One thing I noticed on this trip was that some of the terms translate fine to English, however the interpretation of the terms is not necessarily consistent with what I’d think. For example, I’ve been struggling with the term “conventional” (which is what I’d associate with “commodity” and the processing of the coffee) and “differentiated” (which is what I’d associate with “specialty” and the processing of the coffee.)
Instead, these two terms at origin seem to be more associated with the variety of coffee. Here, “conventional” vs “differentiated” refer to whether or not a coffee was traditionally farmed in the area, as opposed to newer, novel varieties. I’m not sure if this is consistent in other global regions, but certainly in Colombia, this difference of interpretation could have a significant effect on how coffee is bought and sold and to whom.
Another term, “rendimiento,” translates to efficiencies, or productivity. But I think in English, the “yield” translation is more common and as linguists will say, slight differences in perception of interpretation can change entire outcomes. In the instance of this word, the measure may be absolute, but the perceptual framing of the term could change how the farmer perceives reciprocated equity in the exchange. ↩︎ - This was one of the later times we were out at night, driving through unknown territory from one town to the next and it was definitely one of the more anxiety-inducing rides, as someone not from the area. ↩︎
- One possible position might be that the reason specialty coffee is so much more expensive from cherry to roasted beans is because that risk is a function of capital and, at each stage from the farmer to the consumer, the amount of capital increases, meaning the amount of risk increases, meaning the profit margin potential increases for increasing the risk. That way of looking at it is a very “pure finance” way of looking at it.
However, another position might be that the reason specialty coffee is less equitable is because that risk is a function of choice and, at each stage from the consumer to the farmer, the amount of choice decreases, meaning the amount of risk increases, until the farmer is faced with lots of risk and few choices. This “pure marketing exchange” way of looking at it makes sense considering that, even from a subsistence perspective, some farmers in Cundinamarca are starting to recognize the opportunity cost of shifting from coffee to flower growing because the risk is not worth it.
In other words, traditionally, the value of the coffee almost exponentially increases as it passes from producer to consumer (in marketing, we might consider this “markup pricing”). But what if we need to reframe the issue as one where value is inversely exponentially decreasing as it passes from consumer to producer (in other words, why is the retail price being marked down all the way back to the producer)? This might provide clues as to why the issue of equity is so difficult to tackle; everyone wants profitability, but few are transparent with their profitability as value flows back to producers. As a result, markups on value are not shared– especially as each actor en route to the consumer perceives the value of their assumed risk as more significant/important than the preceding actor and prices a risk premium accordingly. Additionally, competition (more choice) for actors closer to the consumer adds incentive for actors (all actors, including the gear manufacturers who help pro/consumers add value to their brews) to closely guard their own actions.
In other words, everyone assumes no one has equal risk; consequently, in the absence of total market transparency, no one prices the value of risk equally. Additionally, going from consumer (high choice in price making) to producer (low choice in price making), the reduced ability to make prices, instead of taking them, exacerbates the inequity. ↩︎ - Global warming has tripped up rainfall averages to be exceedingly low. The lack of sufficient rain that fueled the Chapinero fires in January also had the city’s 3 reservoirs at about 15% capacity. The result was a mid-April announcement by the mayor’s office of a series of water rationing measures rotated across almost all city neighborhoods over 9 days for as many cycles as necessary. However, it wasn’t just the rationing measures that were introduced, but additional conservation penalties and reduced city use of water as well. It’s extremely unsettling to know this is a result of global warming, that policies never fixed the potential effects in advance, and that I’ll be returning soon to abundance and people who complain about getting ticketed for “voluntary” water restrictions, while my colleagues here will still be affected for at least several weeks while I’m gone. ↩︎
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