la voz fall 2012

A Coffee Kids publication fall 2012

GROW it Forward

The state of food security in Mexico

What we talk about when we talk about sustainability

El camino de Santiago: The Coffee Way

coffeekids.org2 fall 2012

Carolyn Fairmanexecutive director

José Luis Zárateinternational program director

Pedro Pérezinternational program coordinator

Joey Apodacadevelopment coordinator

Elisa Kellydevelopment liaison

Kristina Morris Herediacommunications coordinator

coffeekids.org 505.820.1443 [email protected]

4 news bytes

7 targeting food security in mexico

11 featured donor

12 ¡gracias!

13 what we talk about when we talk about sustainability

16 capacity building 17 el camino de santiago: the coffee way

http://www.coffeekids.org

3helping coffee farmers improve their lives and livelihoods. fall 2012

Letter from the Executive Director

Dear Coffee Kids Supporter,

Imagine having no income for four to six months every single year. For the

majority of small coffee farmers around the world, no imagination is necessary.

This is their reality.

If we want to ensure a line of supply of quality coffee, we have to recognize that

quality begins at the farm level. Only when a family can attain a quality of life

that allows them to put food on the table today and every day of the year can we

consider coffee sustainable.

That’s why we recently launched the GROW it Forward campaign, running now

through October, to support coffee farmers during the months when there is no

income from coffee. Our goal is to raise $20,000 to put toward food security

projects in coffee-growing communities throughout Latin America.

In much of Latin America, the coffee harvest ends around the end of February.

Three months later, most farmers must find a way to feed their families for the

remainder of the year. Without the ability to feed your self and your family

throughout the year, it is virtually impossible to focus on a quality harvest.

If we want coffee farming, and hence our morning cup, to be sustainable, we

have to include qual ity-of-life issues in our sustainability efforts.

Coffee Kids projects, such as those that establish family gardens and community

grocery stores, help families ensure an adequate supply of fresh, local food,

minimizing the impact of rising global food prices and the lack of income during

this time of year.

We’d like to thank you for understanding the critical nature of this reality, for

taking the time to con sider the problem and address it head-on with us. Thank

you for supporting Coffee Kids.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Fairman

winter 2011 coffeekids.org4

This special, autumn issue of La Voz highlights Coffee Kids’ GROW it Forward Campaign.

What is GROW it Forward?

Coffee Kids believes that sufficient access to nutritious, fresh, sustainable food is a human right and that food security is the very foundation upon which any discussion of quality of life is built.

GROW it Forward is part of Coffee Kids’ commitment to fight seasonal hunger.

In much of Latin America, income from the coffee harvest sustains a family for only a little while. When income runs out, coffee-farming communities face 3 to 8 months of hunger every year. These months are referred to as the thin months.

SEASONAL HUNGER IS NOT INEVITABLE

Coffee Kids projects that establish family gardens, worm-composting sites and provide nutritional workshops help families ensure an adequate supply of fresh, local food, minimizing the impact of rising global food prices and the lack of income during this time of year.Grow it Forward will:

• Raise $20,000 to put toward food security projects by the end of October 2012• Deliver improved food security, better health care, and economic diversification to

nearly 900 people across 8 communities• Support projects that are community-run and sustainable, thus contributing to long-

term food security

BUT, WE URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP!

WE ARE HALFWAY TO OUR TARGET, but there is a long way to go!

Your contribution can prevent a family from going to bed hungry.For the price of a hamburger ($5), you could buy a family a fruit tree.For the price of a dinner out ($35), you enable a family to sow a garden that will feed them for half a year.

So please enjoy this month’s issue of La Voz, and thank you for your support!

http://www.coffeekids.org/donate/grow-it-forward-end-seasonal-hunger-in-the-coffeelands/

5winter 2011 helping coffee farmers improve their lives and livelihoods.fall 2012

news bytes

The Roasters Guild brought us halfway to our goal of $20,000 to put an end to hun-ger in the coffeelands.

The Roasters Guild’s Silent Auction at their annual retreat from August 16 to 19 man-aged to raise awareness of Coffee Kids’ work at origin as well as almost $10,000 to go toward food security projects such as community gardens and grocery stores.

Thank you Roasters Guild!

Roasters Guild Supports Coffee Kids’ Food Security Projects

The silent auction setup at the Roasters Guild retreat

Coffee Kids Board members Rob Stephen and Mike Ebert at the retreat.

winter 2011 coffeekids.org6 fall 2012

Melbourne International Coffee Expo Media Launch to raise money for Coffee Kids’ GROW It Forward Cam-paign

Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) will host its first official launch event on 11 October, to celebrate the World Barista Championships coming to the city while also raising money for Coffee Kids GROW It For-ward Campaign.

Mirroring the success of last year’s MICE Me-dia Launch, this year’s event will take place at CoffeeHead in Camberwell. The event is open for industry professionals and coffee lovers alike, in a charitable twist on the Latte Art Smackdown format.

The event, entitled Barista Heroes, will see at-home baristas, coffee enthusiasts, and corporate sponsors bid for a chance to pair up with celebrity baristas to compete in the Barista Heroes Latte Art Smackdown.

Following the bidding process, teams will have 15 minutes to practice before they com-pete in a ladder-style format. The winning team will be featured in the next edition of BeanScene, and take home some impressive prizes. Raffles and other door prizes will also help raise money for the event, as well as the proceeds of all BeanScene and Global Coffee Review subscriptions sold on the day.

CoffeeHead will be offering food and drinks, and 100 per cent of the money raised will go towards Coffee Kids GROW It Forward Campaign. Coffee Kids is aiming to raise $20,000 before the end of October to help end seasonal hunger in the coffeelands. In much of Central America, coffee-farming families face three to eight months of hunger every year. This seasonal hunger leads to chronic illness and malnutrition.

Contact details:For more information on the event, or to arrange a media pass, please contact Sarah Baker or Christine Grimard Email: [email protected]: +61 (3) 9690 8766


Targeting food security in MexicoIn a nation with one of the higher per capita incomes in Latin America, a nation where large supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart declare record-breaking profits year after year, a nation brimming with fruits and vegetables, meats and grains, it is shocking to learn that more than 21 million Mexicans (nearly 19 percent of the total population, and nearly 30 percent of the rural population) regularly do not have enough to eat1.

Mexico’s bad harvest Even where poverty is supposedly being reduced throughout Latin America, Mexico has, for the last several years, been falling behind, with more than 52 million people (and 60 percent of the rural population) living in extreme poverty at the end of 2010. The majority of these also suffer from chronic or seasonal hunger, going as many as eight months of the year with insufficient access to food. Indeed, after improving briefly in 2004 – 2006, Mexico’s population living in food poverty is significantly on the rise. Current rates of those living with not enough to eat are 37 percent higher than hunger rates in 20062.

The percentage of those living in hunger leaps to even higher numbers in the most vulnerable southern states, with 47 percent of Chiapas and 38 percent of Oaxaca suffering from inadequate access to food as of 2008 (see figure below). These are exactly the regions where Coffee Kids has also seen an increase in demand for food security projects.

1 Source: 2010. Encuesta Nacional de Ingresos y Gastos de los Hogares, INEGI.2 Source: 2010. National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL)� see also 2008. En- Source: 2010. National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL)� see also 2008. En-cuesta Nacional de Abasto, Alimentación y Estado Nutricio en el Medio Rural.

By Elisa Kelly

A participant in VIDA’s Food Sovereignty Initiative shows off what agroecological techniques can produce.


Does it hurt to be a little hungry? Why food security and seasonal hunger in Mexico is a BIG problem

We might often think of large-scale food crisis in terms of famine and starvation. What then, do we mean by “food poverty,” and why is seasonal hunger such a big problem? Food poverty is defined as a state in which a household does not have “enough income to purchase goods from the basic basket, even if they used their total income3.” The World Health Organization (WHO) defines food security as “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”4. It is thus that situations of very high food poverty negatively impact the food security of the region or country. In Mexico, the nature of food poverty is both seasonal and chronic. It is also highly reactive to climate and market events. Small changes in weather patterns, supply or demand can be devastating, sparking a full-on food crisis for whole regions, even the entire country.

For small-scale commodity farmers (particularly coffee producers), income from the harvest is rarely enough to feed the family year round – and farmers in Mexico are overwhelmingly small-scale. Indeed, some 72.6 percent of farms are on 5 hectares or less (with average farm sizes diminishing in the past decade)5. Even with measures to intensify agriculture and increase yields, it is virtually impossible to maintain a family on income from such limited resources, even when prices surge6. Furthermore, for many families across Mexico, market forces and government programs have encouraged farmers to move away from subsistence agriculture, focusing instead on cash crops. This growing tendency to plant cash crops on increasingly limited arable land has meant that many families are progressively growing dependent upon insufficient income from cash crops to feed their families. Coupled with several other factors, this has resulted in large-scale, chronic hunger for many farming families, a situation that is likely to worsen in coming decades as climate change brings on new forms of extreme volatility to food markets7.

3 Source: 2010. Juarez, B & Gonzalez, C. Food Security and Nutrition in Mexico. Global Agricultural Information Network Report #MX0043 . USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.4 Source: 1996. WHO, World Food Summit.5 Source: 2007. INEGI, Censo Agropecuario. 6 Source: 2007. Cordero, E. de la Madrid. El Minifundio y el Campo Mexicano. Financiera Rural. 7 Source: 2012. Oxfam. Extreme Weather, Extreme Prices: the Costs of Feeding a Warming World. See also: Ruiz-

Uvaldo Martínez can now put food on his family’s table thanks to the RED 5 worm-composting project.


But is a little hunger so bad? In fact, chronic hunger can be as devastating to communities and families as famine. It is just less noticeable to those not in the midst of it since its impacts are long-term.

HealthWhile certain statistics such as infant mortality and life expectancy at birth have improved, more complex health issues and the occurrence of certain preventable diseases are on the rise. Malnutrition, anemia, and obesity are all increasing in Mexico – signs that many do not have access to enough food or only have access to the wrong kinds of food8. Furthermore, many rural communities have seen increases in their vulnerability to preventable illnesses with a strong correlation to undernutrition, such as diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria – all diseases whose impact on life expectancy and quality of life are significant9.

Chronic hunger is taking its toll on the health of rural and indigenous populations in particular. And this takes its toll on social, physical and cognitive development in the long term.

EducationChildren are overwhelmingly the most affected by the current food security crisis in Mexico. As of 2007, the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in children under five years of age in the southern states of the country (where coffee is grown) is at 18.3 percent. Prevalence of the problem is considerably higher in rural areas (19.9 percent) than urban ones (10.1 percent)10.

Not only do children with poor nourishment suffer more from illness (up to 160 days a year)11 than children who receive enough to eat, they also perform poorly in school and have low educational attainment levels. According to CONEVAL’s analysis of the “Climate Diagnostic Evaluation in Public Elementary Schools,” 20 percent of Mexican children do not eat breakfast at home or at school and go to class hungry.

Not only do illnesses caused or exacerbated by malnutrition lead to missing class or inability to concentrate during lessons� malnourished children are less likely to attain higher levels of education, impacting their earning potential in the long run. Those, then, who experience food poverty in their youth are likely to have less of a chance to climb out of poverty in the future.

Funes Macedo, M. & Smith Ramos, K. Food Security: a G20 Priority, the Input of Mexico’s Experiences. Matías Romero Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.8 Source: 2006. Encuesta Nacional de Salud y Nutrición (ENSANUT). Note: 2011 results will be out later this year (2012)9 According to recent studies, the estimated proportions of deaths worldwide in which undernutrition is an underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%). See: Bryce, J. , Boschi-Pinto, C., et al. WHO Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group. 2005. “WHO estimates of the causes of death in children.” Lancet ; 365: 1147–52. 10 2006. Encuesta Nacional de Salud y Nutrición (ENSANUT). 11 Source: 2011. WorldHunger.org

“I’m not naughty; I’m just having fun” A young boy from Veracruz, Mexico, shows it is never too early to start learning about food and nutrition


InequalityFinally, the impact of food poverty is greater on some groups than it is on others. Particularly affected are young people, women and indigenous people12. For example, access to reliable sources of protein is significantly higher for Mexico’s non-indigenous population than for its rural indigenous (which, in turn, affects levels of iron deficiency and overall health)13. Furthermore, the incidence of chronic malnutrition in indigenous children under 5 currently stands at 33.2 percent, compared to 10.6 percent in non-indigenous children14. The lack of running water in areas with the highest food poverty rates is over 25 percent15, showing a strong correlation between extreme poverty and food poverty.

What can be done to help, and how Coffee Kids contributes to the solution

Although developing niche markets and improving prices for small producers is part of the solution to food poverty and, by extension, food insecurity, the fact is that it hasn’t helped most of them overcome seasonal hunger. Harvest income is still seasonal and yields are still too small to generate a living. Furthermore, climate change – which affects not only subsistence yields but can drive up breadbasket prices – is worsening the situation.

What can be done, however, is to listen to communities’ needs, help them create a sustainable agricultural foundation for a future of food security. Coffee Kids is currently helping coffee-farming communities diversify crops and livelihoods, intensify their production through organic fertilizers, better management and an agroecological systems approach, and is promoting better access to technology and information through capacity building and regional knowledge and skills transfer. These are all measures that will sustainably build a better food future for the communities with which we work – and for the wider regions.

And with our annual GROW it forward campaign, highlighted in this La Voz, we are looking forward to even bigger impacts ahead.

12 Source: 2010. CONEVAL13 Source: 2006. ENSANUT.14 Source: 2010. Juarez, B. and Gonzalez, C.. Food Security and Nutrition in Mexico. Global Agricultural Information Network Report MX0043 . USDA Foreign Agricultural Service15 Source: 2010. Benjamin Juarez and Carlos Gonzalez. Food Security and Nutrition in Mexico. Global Agricultural Information Network Report MX0043 . USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.

Mrs. Carmen is the women’s group coordinator for APROVAT, whose efforts in microcredit and food security are making a BIG difference to rural communities in the Tabaconas Valley, Peru.


featured donor

Newman’s Own Foundation awarded Coffee Kids $40,000 in July to support food security projects in Mexico. Based in Westport, Connecticut, the foundation receives royalties from Newman’s Own, Inc., the food products company. Paul Newman established the foundation as a means to continue his pledge to donate to charity all net proceeds and royalties from the sale of the company’s products. Newman’s Own, Inc. is celebrating its 30th anniversary through the end of 2012. by doating $30 million to charity in recognition of 30 years of giving. This represents the largest amount the foundation has donated in a single year. Newman’s Own has supported Coffee Kids since 2006. “Newman’s Own Foundation has continued Paul Newman’s remarkable charitable legacy. Coffee Kids is honored to be a recipient of that legacy for many years,” said Carolyn Fairman, executive director. For more information about Newman’s Own Foundation, visit: www.newmansownfoundation.org.

http://www.newmansownfoundation.org


¡gracias!

Thanks to all who walked with and supported our friends who endured a week of walking fun on the Camino de Santiago this summer. They supported the GROW it Forward campaign as they made their way from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. That’s 111 km of great coffee and growing it forward! You can learn more and sign up for next year by contacting Elisabet Sereno at [email protected]. Thanks to Elliot Wallis of Monkshood Coffee and all the team behind the Pull-BrewMelt festival held at Waddesdon Manor on September 29 – 30. Lots of fun and funds were raised with Coffee Kids at the center of all the (delicious) activity. Carrie Owen’s Spanish class at La Salle Catholic College Prep in Milwaukie, Ore., held their annual coffee sale to benefit Coffee Kids. Owen organized this fundraiser to educate students about the social and economic impacts of coffee in Latin America. Shauna Alexander Mohr donated her time and expertise to facilitate a stra-tegic planning session at the Coffee Kids Board retreat in August. Thank you! Employees participating in Casual Fridays at Autocrat Premium Coffee and Syrup in Lincoln, R.I. contribute to charities chosen by employee sug-gestions. Coffee Kids has consistently been a recipient over the years. The Roasters Guild, an official trade guild of the Specialty Coffee As-sociation of America, partnered with Coffee Kids on the GROW it For-ward campaign and raised $9,300 toward food security projects in Latin America at their annual retreat. Thank you to all who donated their time and effort toward the silent auction. Greg and Nolan of Ozo Coffee in Boulder, Colo., recently had an art show fundraiser. They had photos from their recent trips to the coffeelands on display, and all proceeds were donated to Coffee Kids.


There’s a lot of talk these days about sustainability and what it means for the coffee industry. It’s also water-cooler talk here at Coffee Kids. Here’s what a conversation about sustainability might look like—if we were all in the same office, that is.

Kristina: Hey compañeros, gathering around the water cooler, huh? So I was thinking, you know, I keep hearing people use the word sustainability for just about everything. It’s made me wonder what we really mean when we say it.

Carolyn: I know. I worry that sustainability is an overused word. It seems most often to signify environmental sustainability for people.

Pedro: The first thing that comes to my mind is balance. I think of something as being sustainable when it does not compromise the future by existing in the present—it’s the balance between taking something from the earth and restoring it fully.

Carolyn: But it’s important to recognize that it goes beyond that. Social sustainability is equally important. I define sustainability as sustainable livelihood. It isn’t just about the earth or a project—it has to be all encompassing.

Pedro: Totally. When it comes to coffee, I can say that to me it is the act of maintaining that fine balance between restoring to the land what you take away from it, meaning the harvest, and obtaining a return, meaning money, equal to the effort the coffee grower puts into producing the coffee.

José Luis: I think it’s a good idea to begin with the concept of growth, since it’s one of the main objectives communities hope to reach through Coffee Kids projects. There’s growth in sales, products, income, savings, capacity and so on. Growth, in other words, means progress. Although, one can also grow in a negative sense: problems, inequality and poverty, for example, can also grow. Since the intention to grow within a project is also an intention to better participants’ living conditions, it’s necessary to have a plan to grow responsibly, using the necessary resources without generating waste and contamination, aiming to the future and thinking strategically in a local and global sense. So, in my opinion, if a project achieves growth in the positive sense, with sustained, lasting results, respectful of the environment and of biological and cultural diversity, then we can say that we are moving in the direction of sustainability. Sustainability is achieved through flexible, dynamic and adaptive work practices.

Kristina: What’s an example of a sustainable project that has led to positive, long-term growth?

José Luis Zárate Pedro Pérez Carolyn Fairman Kristina Morris

What we talk about when we talk about sustainability


José Luis: There are quite a few projects that have reached sustainability. One of them is our partner ADESPA, from Guatemala. Two of their projects—the shoemakers’ workshop and the textile project—have reached sustainable status.

Both projects were created in 2008 and became sustainable this year due to continuous training, control of and responsibility for the project, the ability to learn from mistakes, accurate cost-benefit analysis, close communication and observation in every stage of the project, and leadership to resolve conflict. In the case of the shoemakers’ workshop, they also responded to an immediate community need—lowering the price of shoes.

Kristina: Right on. So, since sustainability is such as complex thing, what do you think people mean when they say sustainable coffee?

Pedro: Well, it’s like I said: Sustainable coffee would be that coffee that is grown and harvested with the concept in mind that whatever you take from the land you have to give back, and whatever effort the producer puts into producing the coffee—assuming that the plant is actually producing the coffee—he or she should get back.

Carolyn: Doesn’t exist.

José Luis: Well, it doesn’t exist in the strict sense of the word.

Carolyn: There is no such thing as sustainable coffee. Sustainable families and communities can provide a sustainable line of supply, but without the family and community being sustainable, it is difficult if not impossible for coffee to be sustainable. So, coffee can be harvested in sustainable ways, such as by tending the earth and plants in a way that the soil is not compromised for future crops and future families to grow their crops. But a family cannot tend well to the details required to harvest sustainable and quality coffee if they are worried about how to put food on their table or care for a sick child or relative. If a family can provide for itself throughout the year and live well, they can focus their attention on sustainable, quality crops.

José Luis: My opinion is that it’s an ideal, potentially within reach. But, personally, I would even dare to say that talking about sustainable coffee frequently has more to do with marketing strategies than with guaranteeing that a product has been effectively cultivated within the principles of sustainability.

Just like any other productive system, coffee will be close to achieving sustainable status if it’s produced in a way that is respectful of the environment, highly productive and whose commercialization allows for a fair and profitable price, and also provides an equal and fair benefit to the community members who produce the product without becoming dependent on it.

Kristina: OK, so then what makes for a sustainable community?

Pedro: I’d say that what makes a community sustainable is its collective interest in preserving the balance between taking too much, or taking enough, and returning that to the land. The aim should be taking enough while keeping the balance for future generations.

Carolyn: Right. I would add that a sustainable community is able to meet its most pressing needs without outside sources of help. An organization like Coffee Kids can help a community implement projects that allow them to meet their needs: health, education, nutrition and so on, but in the long run, they need to be able to meet those needs on their own. Capacity building, training and a few resources and guidance help communities on the path to sustainability.


Also, a community or family cannot be reliant on a single source of income, particularly coffee, which is only harvested once a year, and the income cannot last through the remaining months. People need alternatives and supplemental income. These are the kinds of things that help a community become truly sustainable.

Kristina: Sure, that makes sense. So is buying fair trade coffee the closest you can come to buying a sustainable coffee?

Pedro: Well, in my opinion they’re correlated but not the same. To me, achieving a level of fairness in what coffee growers obtain for their coffee is fundamental for running a sustainable coffee operation, but it is not the same as sustainable coffee. Whenever I hear “fair trade” it’s often associated more with fair price than with assuring that the coffee grower is maintaining a certain equilibrium between what they’re getting from the land and what they’re giving back to the land.

Carolyn: Yes, I agree. It’s a step toward creating more sustainable communities in that it brings a somewhat better price and requires social projects to be implemented with their premiums. If the social projects can truly provide the additional resources communities need to sustain themselves beyond the coffee harvest, then they are on the path toward sustainability.

José Luis: Yes, a certification, no matter what kind it may be, can’t guarantee that a product is sustainable. Sustainability depends on numerous factors, some of which are very difficult to quantify much less standardize. Actually, standardizing is a procedure that can limit the flexibility needed for production to be more sustainable. Fair trade, like other initiatives, can without a doubt help put communities on the path to sustainability. That much is clear to me.

Kristina: So when people ask me how they can support sustainable coffee, what should I tell them? Besides supporting Coffee Kids of course…

Pedro: By learning more about where they are buying it from and what kind of ethical stances the company has for buying coffee. I think—and it might not be the case in a lot of situations—that consumers can obtain quite a bit of information if they only ask. My personal opinion is that buying coffees that are certified organic, fair trade or other kinds of certification support the sustainability of coffee, but I would not dare to compare certified coffee to sustainably grown coffees.

Carolyn: Exactly. Pay attention to where your coffee comes from and the business practices of your local roaster and retailer. Are they sustainable? Are they buying their coffee responsibly? Do they support efforts to help improve the quality of life for coffee farmers?

José Luis: Also, just learning more about the complexity of sustainability issues, especially as it pertains to coffee.

So what does sustainability mean to you?Let us know over at GROW at Forward on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/GrowItForward


Capacity Building

When we enthusiastically said to some of our supporters, “We’re preparing a workshop on tax laws in Mexico!” we were not met with the excitement that we thought this event warranted. I mean, who really cares about tax laws in Mexico?

Well our partners do. Knowing those laws is what will allow them to stay open and continue making a difference in the communities where they work. Laws and regulations, as they pertain to Mexican nonprofits, are ever-changing and difficult to understand. This has led to a number of crises within many of our program partners that have threatened their very survival and, therefore, ability to continue supporting the coffee-farming communities where they work.

Coffee Kids depends on donations to carry forward our work in coffee-growing communities. That being said, lasting change comes from capacity building. Capacity building begins with the recognition of the obstacles in any given community that prevent them from reaching their developmental goals. This allows communities to move beyond a perpetual need for assistance, and members learn to be better coffee farmers, administrators and professionals.

For three days, eight program partners from three Mexican states came together to share the tools and knowledge necessary to keep their organizations alive and growing. This workshop marks the beginning of a series of annual capacity building workshops. This is just one of the ways that we work together with coffee-growing communities to bring about change in a sustainable, community-oriented way.

As an investor in Coffee Kids, you are also doing your part to make coffee a more sustainable industry.


el camino de santiago: the coffee way

A small group of coffee lovers walked the Way of St. James, also called el Camino de Santiago, this summer. They collected money for the GROW it Forward campaign and brewed coffee with an aeropress, sharing and teaching other pilgrims that quality and socially respinsible coffee is possible.

They walked from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela (111 km) and finished in Finisterre, an outstanding place named “the end of the world” in the Middle Ages.

The trip lasted 6 days. The coffee pilgrims walked an average of 20 – 25 km every day. They hope to make this a yearly event.


Day 1

23 km from Sarria to Portomarín

Beautiful landscape, nice weather and a walk through eucalyptus forests

The coffee of the day was roasted by Right Side Coffee: Kenya, cooperative Kapsokisio; region: Busia/Mt. Elgon 1600 – 1700masl, 800 – 1000 smallholders; variety: SL28 – SL 34, Grade AB, 15/16; process: pulped, dry fermented, washed, soaked and sundried

Most pilgrims start the day very early, around 4 am. They get an early start to reach their destination and secure a place in the next hostel. In summertime there are so many pilgrims on the Way of St. James that often, after a long walk carrying a heavy pack, tired and sore, they reach a full hostel and have to walk many more kilometers to find accommodation.We understood that coffee at breakfast was not so easy, therefore we stopped in a bar midmorning where pilgrims were having a rest and brewed our coffee of the day. How we got hot water is another story…

It was the first time that most of the pilgrims saw an aeropress and heard about Coffee Kids.

Chencho, a Basque pilgrim and professional photographer, usually drinks espresso. He discovered that a filtered coffee can taste good and wants to repeat this experience at home.


Day 225 km from Portomarín to Palas de Rei

Enjoyable walk, again beautiful landscape,

walking among eucalyptus

The coffee of the day roasted by Has Bean: Ethiopia Sidamo Deri Kochocha, Giji Washed. In the cup is a bowl of red berries covered in cloud lemonade, juicy sweetness and amazing clean mouthfeel, long lingering aftertaste that develops into pear drops.

Today we discovered Taxi-Rucksack services: if your rucksack is a pain you can send it by taxi to the next stage for 3€ and pick it up in a hostel agreed upon beforehand. While this is a very convenient service, the aim of this walk is to travel only with the essentials and then extrapolate this into your daily life–that’s the real value!

We’ve started to find familiar faces along the way and enjoyed nice talks and coffee with late-starting pilgrims.

Early birds left the hostel at 4 am with no time for coffee, but we caught up with them later.


Day 327 km from Palas de Rei to Ribadiso

Longer boring walk mostly on the road, final kilometers were beautiful—a wild landscape. Our most fruitful day yet!

The coffee of this day roasted by Right Side Coffee: El Salvador Buena Vista/El Molino; region: Apaneca Ilamatepec, Sta Ana, 1600masl; producer: José Antonio Salvatierra; varieties: Bourbon, Pacas, Catuai; Grade 16 zero defects; natural process sundried on patios

As usual, we left early for us but later compared to other pilgrims. Also as usual we brewed our coffee on an aeropress and shared with everyone who was willing to learn and taste.We started out full of energy. At some point we found a little terrace, a perfect place to stop and brew coffee. All of a sudden, familiar and new people showed up and joined us. We created a circle around our aeropress and improvised a coffee lecture.

Meanwhile, our audience helped us by manually grinding the beans. We told them about the Coffee Kids’ campaign Grow it Forward. All attendees were sensitive to this subject and gave us their emails to receive more information and pitch in.

Luis Marin from Brazil spread the spirit with such enthusiasm—thanks Luis!


Day 423 km from Ribadiso to Pedrouzo

Short, but one of the hardest days with a lot of ups and downs; fortunately it was a chilly day

The coffee of the day was roasted by Cafés Siboney: Ethiopia Sidamo Moplaco

As we approached Santiago de Compostela, or Santiago DC, we met even more pilgrims. In some areas we had to slow down as if we were in Las Ramblas in Barcelona.

Thanks to some pilgrims, we received practical advice on how to avoid dreadful blisters on our feet and how to heal them if they appear. All of us had already experienced these blisters and had tried to cure them with different treatments.

As usual, we shared our coffee with many pilgrims, but this morning we met a lovely Danish girl who not only wanted to learn about coffee, but also wanted to help out Coffee Kids as part of her university project.

Thanks Karina—we wish you all the best!


Day 520 km from Pedrouzo to Santiago DC

A short but intense walk with ups and downs; a cloudy day with light rain as we approached Santiago DC

The coffee of the was day roasted by Costa Rica Coffee Shop: El Tajo Micro-lot CoopeDota, Tarrazú; Varietal: Caturra, Catuai; 100% Arabica SHB

We knew that our goal was just around the corner, and our spirits were light during the journey.

When we entered the old city we felt the magic: the always-present rain in Santiago, the old stones of the Cathedral and the marvelous sound of the Galician bagpipes welcomed us and made us feel more than rewarded for our efforts.

We made it! We were pilgrims—coffee pilgrims!

On this rainy day we shared coffee with freezing pilgrims and with the Protección Civil staff who rescued one of our pilgrim credentials. We ground coffee for them with manual grinders donated by Green Bean. The guys from Protección Civil loved the aroma and were quite impatient to try our coffee.

Thanks Protección Civil for your kind help!


Day 6

Santiago DC

Relaxing day dedicated to visiting and enjoying the old city

Thanks to our connections and our coffee family we were able to arrange in a very short time a Latte Art show in Santiago by Miguel Lamora, Spanish Latte Art Champion, and collect money for Coffee Kids.

The café owner invited us to the best dinner we had had in a very long time. If you visit Santiago DC drop by Iacobus Restaurant in Zona Nova and ask for Manolo!

Manolo, many thanks for your wonderful hospitality and the greatest dinner!


Day 7

21 km from Santiago DC to Negreira

A long journey with one remarkable uphill climb, too much in a very hot day, uncommon for the Galician weather, which is well known for its perpetual rain

The coffee of the day was roasted by Siboney: Honduras Finca Vista Hermosa

We reached our destination late, with aching bodies and sunburned skin.

The path from Santiago to Finisterre is less popular and therefore we came across fewer pilgrims. We shared our coffee with Spanish pilgrims after dinner in the backyard of a nice hostel in Negreira. They were astonished by the aeropress and all of our coffee tools.

Next morning, we met pilgrims from USA and Canada. We had a nice chat about coffee as they were more familiar with specialty coffee and love latte art. Happily we accepted an invitation to a birthday party in Finisterre as the coffee artists!


Day 8

21 km from Negreira to Santa Mariña

Another long journey, no shade could be found on this sunny and extremely hot day. We reached our destination very tired due the hot temperature

The coffee of the day was roasted by Costa Rica Coffee Shop: Costa Rica Tarrazú, Santa María de Dota; varietals: Caturra, Catuaí, Villalobos; 1650masl; Pure cocoa and caramel notes in a rich bright cup, citrusy piquant aftertaste; a careful blend of pure 100% specialty Arabica coffees from the Los Santos area in the Valley of Dota – Tarrazú, Costa Rica, considered one of the most beautiful regions in the country.

As usual, we shared our coffee with pilgrims the morning before leaving the hostel, and later on we stopped in a bar and brewed the coffee of the day.

How did we get hot water during our journey? Not easy. We bought a bottle of mineral water, transferred the water to a flask, came back to the coffee bar and very kindly asked to warm the water with the steam wand—sometimes it worked well and sometimes not!


Day 9

32 km from Santa Mariña to Cee

The longest walk on the hottest day of the year!

The coffee of the day was roasted by Has Bean: El Salvador Finca San Rafael; fully washed Pacas 2012; original sweetness, great mouthfeel, super clean mango acidity

Today was the first time we left early and the first time we got lost. We ended up walking 2 km more than planned.

We really missed the eucalyptus trees’ smell and protection from the sun. When we reached our final destination, Cee, we celebrated by winning a gold medal!

In this less populous route, we shared our coffee with Spanish pilgrims, a group of ladies that we met previously. They were curious about our coffees and the reason why we were carrying all of our coffee equipment. They understood that we really love what we do.

As champions we rewarded ourselves with a homemade black rice or arroz negro. We were so hungry, and it tasted so good that no picture is available—it disappeared too fast!


Day 10

15 km from to Finisterre, “the end of the world”

This was our last and shortest walk

The last day of our journey was cloudy, chilly and foggy. We walked while enjoying the sound of the sea and finally reached our final destination, Finisterre, the end of the world. We could not walk farther!

After check-in, we visited the lighthouse. The views were stunning!

We stopped in a café and after a short talk with the owner we improvised a latte art show and collected some money for Coffee Kids in our also-improvised piggy bank.

The café owners were willing to open their doors to us, and we were granted access to the coffee


bar as part of the staff. We felt very welcome and glad to help them serve a better cup. They were excited and wanted to learn more about coffee, which meant a lot to us.

Tradition dictates that pilgrims reaching the end of the Camino de Santiago burn the boots they wore. Instead, we celebrated with a party on the beach and burned all the clothing we could.

Next year we plan to leave from Roncesvalles and end… somewhere! Will you join us?

http://www.coffeekids.org/donate/grow-it-forward-end-seasonal-hunger-in-the-coffeelands/

la voz fall 2012

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