November Farmer Updates from Don Lencho
Our coffee farmers are in full swing of coffee harvest in Honduras, here is a brief update from them.
Just as the myriad of little streams spring out of the hollows and unceasingly flow down over the hills, so time keeps rushing on. Another harvest has begun! As you can see in the pictures, not all the cherries on the coffee bushes ripen at once. Over the next several months, our farmers will have to harvest multiple times as the berries ripen.
This makes the collecting process a very intensive activity because there is no easy nor simple way to pick this coffee. Every cherry needs to be selected by hand when fully ripe—not before, nor after. Green berries or overripe berries bring acidity and other negative flavors to the cup you drink. Therefore, careful picking is fundamental to producing a quality coffee.
The whole coffee cherry collection process generates so much work that at the end of the day, the cost of picking the cherries comprises the single greatest expense of the coffee farmer.Of course, this is a coin with two sides. What is the greatest expense for the farmer, becomes also the greatest work opportunity for the general population in these parts. So that is a reason to be happy! Another season of work, laughter and hope has begun!
Coffee growing on the tree
Misael on his way to pick coffee
Domingo and his daughter picking coffee
One of the streams on our farm
