Chris Scott. Photo compliments of Counter Culture Coffee.
That morning cup of Joe, water poured through a filter over grounds or delicately French pressed. You add a bit of creamer and sprinkle in some sugar, or maybe you leave it black. After a slurpy, hot sip—ah—the day can start.
But where does this delicious concoction come from, who grows it, and why should anyone care?
In March, Chris Scott, general manager of Midtown Scholar Bookstore, took a journey to Honduras to find out.
This trip was an unexpected one. He had planned to visit Sweden when he happened upon the website for Counter Culture Coffee, which supplies the coffee sold at Midtown Scholar.
“Honduras wasn’t anywhere that was on my bucket list,” said Scott.
He quickly adjusted his travel plans after he saw that Counter Culture was offering an opportunity to travel to the Central American country for people interested in learning more about its coffee.
He wanted to address a question that had been on his mind from pouring countless cups of Counter Culture Coffee from behind the bar at Midtown Scholar: “Here we are drinking a cup of coffee, but what all went into this cup?”
Plant to Mug
The trip began by giving participants an understanding of how coffee is grown and processed before it leaves Honduras.
An evergreen shrub, grown in high elevations in tropical climates, the coffee plant produces cherries. The cherry holds two seeds, which eventually become drinkers’ morning pick-me-up.
Cherries ripen at different rates, so workers must handpick the ripe fruit, about a 100-pound sack per day.
Scott and his group picked coffee, viewed the washing process used to remove the pulp from the coffee seed and watched how the beans were sorted. Lastly, they visited the coffee storage areas, where thousands of sacks of beans are stored and loaded on to ships, one of Scott’s favorite parts of the trip.
As a result, Scott received a 360-degree understanding of how coffee is made—from plant to cup.
“I feel like a part of the process on both sides,” he said.
A Passion, an Understanding
Scott also learned about the struggles of growing the product and how Counter Culture helps growers address them.
One of those struggles is climate change. Farmers said that warming temperatures have forced them to move their crop to cooler areas farther up the mountains, as lower land has become unusable for coffee. Counter Culture helps farmers learn how to diversify their crops by growing cacao, more suited to the higher temperatures, or educating farmers about shifting to animal crops instead.
“We seek coffee that not only tastes good but also does good, from our local communities to the communities around the world where we source our coffee,” says Counter Culture’s mission statement.
That “good” includes fairly paying growers for their crops. Counter Culture works directly with the farmers, eliminating the need for middlemen such as exporters and importers. Its website also lists how much each farmer or cooperative earns.
Farmers Moisés and Marysabel, who hosted a visit from Scott’s group, make $3 to $4 per pound, according to the company’s 2013 report, compared to the less than 50 cents per pound that globalexchange.org reports growers typically receive.
Scott explained that Counter Culture is similar to fair trade coffee with a few exceptions. Fair trade organizations require growers to belong to a cooperative, which charges them for their portion of the expense for the Fair Trade label. Counter Culture, Scott said, has created its own type of fair trade without the label and the expense to farmers.
Scott was most impacted by the Honduran people.
The coffee growers and workers displayed an immense amount of national pride and, despite their poverty, showed terrific hospitality to the Counter Culture visitors, he said. In coffee shops they visited, workers took special interest in them, insisting on making them their best coffee. Scott said this represents the mutual respect among those in the coffee world. One worker came in on her day off to meet these coffee visitors.
Another farmer, Oscar, roasted beans grown on his own farm; and in his home, proudly served the group his farm’s fresh coffee. Just a few days from field to service, it was a fantastic cup, Scott said.
“It instills in me a passion, understanding and respect for these people, that it’s so important for us to be serving a quality product,” he said. “We represent all the hard work these people did.”
Essentially, if an espresso shot is poorly poured, or coffee left to sit too long, it’s a disservice to the growers as well as those partaking, he said.
Ironically, farmers aren’t drinking much of their own best coffee.
“People who grow it can’t afford to drink this quality of product,” Scott said. “It’s too valuable.”
Scott overflows with fervor about the trip. He said that many of the employees at Midtown Scholar scold him with, “Shut up about Honduras already!” For a man who had no expectations for the trip, he came home with a lot: lasting friendships with trip participants, Counter Culture employees and coffee growers.
He also left with something else—responsibility.
He can’t drink or serve a cup of coffee without thinking about Oscar, Moisés or Marysabel and whether their dedication and pride are being adequately represented.
You can enjoy Counter Culture Coffee at Midtown Scholar Bookstore, 1302 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg. www.midtownscholar.com
