My name is Alex E.B. Trapp and I am working on ways to transition monoculture coffee crops to more sustainable agroforestry systems. In 2013 my wife and I bought a small piece of land in a coffee growing region of Colombia, and immediately began learning new things about coffee and its production chain.
We continue to learn about and grow coffee at Finca Buena Vista. Our delicious, dried in the fruit coffee is sold at qetamerica.org and shipped internationally.
Part 1: From Planting the plants….
This is Part 1 of an anticipated 5 part series on the TRUTH about coffee. This series will culminate with a 1lb of coffee giveaway, which I will send to anywhere in the world. Please upvote, follow and/or resteem to become my friend and show me your interest in the topic!
Where does it come from?
Coffee comes from the fruit, or berry of the Cafea Arabica or Cafea Robusta plants. Coffee bushes have very hard wood and long thin branches along which they grow leaves, flowers and fruit. The flowers of the coffee plant are as beautiful as they are delicate; any damage to these flowers will damage next year’s harvest.
The fruit has a pulpy red flesh surrounding a mucous covered pit in the center. This pit is what we roast and grind to make our morning beverage. The mucous or murcilago plays an important part in the coffee process. Its fermentation process gives most Colombian coffee its smooth flavor. The flesh of the fruit is made into a beverage in Peru, called cascara. http://www.freshcup.com/what-is-cascara/
These fruits are hand-picked and selected to continue into the supply chain and become a beverage. Coffee plants have cycles in which not all of the beans mature at the same time and so care must be taken in harvesting. Twice per year the main harvest occurs, and it is most pleasurable to pick coffee in this time. Outside of main harvests, coffee plants should be reviewed once or twice a month to pick only the ripest fruits.
Hand Picking the Mature Fruits
The best coffee is hand-picked, this is due to the fact that only the most red and ripe fruits should go into any batch of coffee. Beans that are green are under ripe and will not have as well developed flavor. This is not ‘green’ coffee beans, which also can refer to the unroasted dry bean after it is shelled. Again, this phenomena is caused by the fact that coffee beans do not all mature at the same time.
In some parts of the world, attempts at automation have occurred, with car-wash like machines attempting to batter the ripe coffee into falling off the plant. Unfortunately, this also generally removes green beans, flowers and buds and so this technique diminishes from multiple harvests to only one harvest per year or even once every 18 months.
Truly then the highest quality coffee is handpicked, for only with the watchful hands and eyes of humans can we maintain a high standard where only the ripest beans make the cut. I also highly encourage the tendency towards origin coffee, for this reason.
The Difference between Arabica and Robusta
Arabica and Robusta are not just varieties of coffee, they are actually different species of the Cafea genus. The Arabica species is better in every measure of quality, but it is harder to grow. Arabica coffee is very susceptible to plagues that affect coffee plants, such as Coffee Rust and boring insects. Robusta coffee on the other hand is very resistant to plagues and pests, but has a much harsher and acidic flavor.
Globally, this has resulted in mixing, adding small amounts of specialty coffees or flavors to less savory Robusta coffee; this helps the bottom line for large coffee distributors. But the highest quality of coffee will be 100% arabica bean. In order to be sure your coffee is actually 100% Arabica, it helps to buy straight from the origin.
Call to action!
Please upvote, resteem and follow me for more of my adventures in sustainability and to signal to me that this article was valuable to you! Personally, blogging is one of those things I have to force myself to do, and every friendly voice that I have met so far has helped motivate me to continue to actually publish my content. All original photos from myself or my wife!
Upvoted and resteemed.
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OOOooo Can;t wait to see the rest of this series! Happy to trade Local Indian coffee for yours! Great Info @ecoinstant ! Well done!
Oh my gosh that gif is hilarious! Thanks for the support @ecoknowme
Great article @ecoinstant!
Out of curiosity, in what way are you trying to transition to more sustainable systems?
Looking forward to reading your next piece. Upvoted and following.
Thanks for reading @fabulousfungi !
I've got more to show but for now check out this picture:
https://steemit.com/nature/@ecoinstant/intercropping-agroforesty-food-forest-systems
The short answer is intercropping with more trees and bushes.
Thanks! In fact I was going to suggest looking into using some of the agricultural waste generated in your farm to grow mushrooms. There's an extensive scientific literature on the subject of cultivating fungi on coffee pulp and coffee husk.
I have bags of it laying around! I usually mix it into my compost. The only real doubt I have is getting spores for a commercial variety of mushroom....any suggestions?
Also following you for fungi posts! We sometimes explore the backwoods looking for interesting mushrooms to photograph. When you find a good tag for fungi posts I'll be there.
I am really excited to follow where this goes!! I am a HUGE lover of coffee .. I, to this day will say to my husband "who ever invented coffee is amazing!!!" .. I got so much out of this first post .. cant wait for more!! I have upvoted and resteemed .. SUNSHINE247
I should have included this anecdote:
Rumors have it that coffee was invented by an arab nomad after watching his goats get excited and stay active after nibbling on the fruits of the strange cafea bush!
Around here, where coffee is our livelihood, we say, ' Who really was the smart one, the Arab man or the Goat?'
Good morning!!!! I am literally making my cup of coffee right now!! Smell is amazing :)
Just a friendly voice dropping in to say, keep em coming! Great work! @stortebeker sent me!
Thanks for the mention!
of course! your welcome!
Hey @ecoinstant, I liked this article of yours so much that I put it into my most recent issue of Look What I Found! I know, it's not quite the same as curie, still I hope to share your post, and hopefully your name, so more people get to see these amazing posts of yours. Take a look here: https://steemit.com/curating/@stortebeker/a-permaculture-consultant-a-chinampa-builder-a-coffee-grower-and-canadian-gardener-preparing-for-winter
Thanks so much!
This is a good one - GREAT job - well deserved!!
I love coffee and I look forward to starting each day with a large mug of very strong, black, dark roasted coffee from my French Press or Espresso maker. I'm very interested in knowing more about the coffee plant and how it is cultivated, processing the fruit, roasting the beans, and finally various methods of brewing and how these methods alter the final product. I would also like to learn about the various producers and how to obtain a good high quality product without having to spend a fortune. Great blog, thank you for the information!
Thank you for this comment! This helps me when writing more articles.
The blockchain has the potential to shift how money is distributed in the supply chain. To ensure local growers receive a more appropriate value for their coffee crops, no matter where they may reside in the world.
This is a good point. Ive been keeping an eye out for ico's and coins related to sustainability, development and environment. We make the future we build!
I'd love to see blockchain applied to this
Resteemed and 100% upvoted. Thank you for using my service!
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Hello friends @ecoinstant , I congratulate you, I like your post, keep it up, greetings
Love coffe ☕️ ! Very interesting 👍🏻
Great post.I guess your work is difficult.
Waiting for more such posts.
Okay, just as I said in my reply to your comment on my chinampa post: this article deserves a nice payout. So Curie is down, but I'll think of other way.
I shared it with Jerry Banfield already to see if we can get this thru Curie :)
I agree, very good information post, about a topic a lot of people like. I added my upvote, small as it is, but good content is good content.
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Now I want coffee!! :)
1st question that comes to mind is how safe is it in Colombia , and the second question is did you know that you have to thank the Dutch for having coffee plants in Columbia :) great story hope your adventure works for you .
I did not know that! Would love to read an article about that story!
Saftey in Colombia: I feel safe. I also am a man, wrestled and trained in martial arts in my youth and speak very good spanish. To others I would recommend learning as much spanish as possible, develop networks (before you travel is nice) and use cautious optimism and common sense.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee
That was well written and very interesting.
I am waiting for the next part ... 🙃
Finding Pinto Peanut (Arachis pintoi) is the single greatest thing you can do for your coffee system.
This one plant fixes multiple problems all at once
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awesome, informative, relevant, engaging
Love coffee , love this post. Especially the difference between Robusta and Arabica , and the pictures are great too. It's a follow, upvote and resteem from me and I look forward to the next 4 installments.
Thank you so much!
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What an amazing project! I cant wait to see more.
Very nice informative post. I hope you enjoy your growth, and have a great harvest. Upvoted, and I will resteem also. I found your post because @professorbromide had resteemed it. Thank you Professor for the resteem directing me here.
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STOPYes, we used to get those bugs in hawaii, really bad there. I heard that before those beetles, the best coffee was dried on the plant. I l'll be catching up on your coffee adventures!
This is a great point I'll be tackling as we get further into the process of coffee!