It is not just a cup of coffee

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I will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.  Last week we were in the sunny Caribbean and this week we are in Selva Negro ( www.selvanegra.com ) just outside Matagalpa.  Selva Negro is a very unique coffee and organic farm in the mountains of northern Nicaragua.  It is in a cloud forest and is beautiful. What makes it truly unique is it was founded by a German family over 150 years ago.  To this day it looks like an alpine village in the cloud forest of Nicaragua.  It is very odd to say the least.

The life blood of the property is its coffee farm.  They take great pride in growing true organic coffee in a sustainable way.  They are the principal coffee supplier to Whole Foods.  Their coffee is that good and well known.  It is an incredibly difficult and labor intensive crop and to do it right is even harder.



hand picking the coffee berry

Like I said earlier, Selva Negra is committed to growing sustainable and organic coffee.  This means in part, that they are restoring the tree cover in the cloud forest and growing the coffee in the shade.  The more canopy, the bigger the cloud forest.  This is a win-win because the cloud forest generates much of the water needed by everyone.  Of course, this is less efficient than using chemicals and fertilizer but it better for the environment.

The processing plant is impressive.  The coffee berries are washed and the water is captured and filtered through a 30+ meter well and then recaptured and used to water the pastures for the cows.  [They make the best european cheese in Nicaragua.]  This prevents the acidic water from getting into the river systems.


The freshly picked berries poured into the processor
 to remove the pulp to get to the coffee bean

The coffee husks are fermented into compost, the primary fertilizer.  The gasses from the compost are captured and used in the kitchens for the workers.  That brings me to the people side of the operation.

First, Selva Negra is the current role model for an eco-sustainable operation.  They take so much pride that they offer tours of their operation.  With that said, the migrant pickers have a rough life.

Coffee is grown on the side of the mountains.  When I say side I mean it is almost cliff.  The land is very steep and can be hard to navigate.  That is the first challenge.  The second challenge is it is entirely manual.  From picking the berries to carrying them out it is all manual.  Needless to say it is hard work and they need a lot of people to harvest the crop.

This is a dorm - the upstairs is  for single men
 and the downstairs are for families

Selva Negra has several dormitories for the migrant workers.  The picking season is approximately 4 months and they need many hundreds of workers to pick the berries.  So where do they stay? In the dorms.  There are dorms for single men, families and single women.  The singles live in what look like camp cabins.  Lots of beds in a common room.  The families stay in little dorms that would make a submariner claustrophobic.  Wow, I would go nuts in one night.  When the doors are shut there is no window.  I could not imagine what it is like with a mom dad and kids in the little room.  However, they genuinely seem appreciative for what they are provided.

A family dorm room - see the little baby
 sleeping in the bunk

Keep in mind this is probably as good as it gets for a coffee picker.  Selva Negra provides a clinic, school and a commissary for the workers to buy necessities.   This might be the best place in the world to pick coffee and yet, they live in conditions you would not consider humane.

I have no idea where all the money goes from the berry to the grande soy milk cafe latte but it is not going to the migrant worker.  I will never look at my cup of coffee the same.