This month of October is the last time we pass with the machetes de-wedding the farm. The soil needs to be clear of weeds so that the workers can start picking coffee. This time of the year weeding is not only essential for weed control, but also for the safety and security of our workers. The workers are afraid of animals, ants, snakes, spiders, etc., on the ground and if they cannot see the ground because of the weeds, it creates cause for fear.
We started with pre-picking on September 18th, this was done with a crew of 15 women who went around the farm collecting any ripened beans and was done as a days job, instead of payment by weight. It took them approximately 15days to go through the entire 500 acres of coffee. The second round took place around October 9th with about 25 people and it took them the same 15 days to collect all the newly ripened beans. There is a great need for initialize the picking season with this pre-picking since these beans usually serve as host for the "broca" or coffee borer. This broca is one of the most damaging pests on a coffee plantation, it drills through the coffee bean, lays its eggs in it, which will feed on the beans, and when they hatch, they will continue the process and thus multiply rapidly. By collecting these beans that ripen ahead we take away the habitat of the borer and avoid its multiplication. The other solution followed by most farmers is to let these beans fall on the ground and use herbicide (which we don't use either) to kill the weed and any pest off the ground. This is a very expensive operation as you send crews of several people to do a job that does not provide financial benefit; its only benefit is that of slowing a plague.
As of mid-October we have a crew of about 90 pickers already at work. This number will continue to rise as the rate of maturity on the plant increases reaching a height of approximately 500 pickers this year. The coffee this year seems to be maturing slowly, allowing us to work with a smaller number of pickers yet doing more rounds per plantillo. Since coffee beans mature at different rates, even if they are on the same branch on the same tree, each plantillo will undergo approximately three to five passes to pick the red beans before the harvest season is over. The employees picking coffee are usually accompanied with a team of assistants. These assistants are usually comprised of other members of their household. All employees and the members of their team take meals together. The meals consist of the traditional Nicaraguan staple of rice & beans and tortillas. Along with a meat and vegetable of the day. At the end of the picking day each employee is called up and the beans that his team has collected are measured. The measuring process involves the use of a wooden box that has measurement marks on it, the beans are then transferred into bags and taken to the mill. At the end of the week, the employees are paid based on the sum of these measurements.
Once the beans have been collected, they are taken directly to the mill and deposited on a large bin from where you begin the processing of the beans. Selva Negra employs the washed method for processing the coffee beans. This means that water is used to break apart the coffee cherry and separate the two parts of the coffee bean (like the two parts of a peanut). This process involves the processing of the beans to separate various layers including the cherry pulp and the mucilaginous layer (sweet honey like coating). The entire process starts with the receipt of the beans from the field. The beans are received from the field and transferred straight from the truck to a large bin with a V shaped groove at the bottom, this groove funnels water, which moves the beans to the milling equipment. (Water is only used as a vehicle to move the coffee; this water is then recycled and reused to continue moving coffee).
The beans then move to the milling equipment (Industrias San Carlos from Guatemala) that is among the most environmentally sensitive equipment available. At this stage the shell is removed from the bean. The pulp of the bean is discarded to a separate bin, where it is collected and taken to be part of the compost. This pulp will be decomposed using Californian and African worms as agents and used as a fertilizer in the coffee plantillos. The beans are moved (using water as the moving agent) to the fermentation bins. The fermentation bins are made out of concrete and are thoroughly cleaned after each batch of coffee is moved out. The beans remain in the fermentation bins for approximately 24-48 hours depending on the temperature and humidity levels. A stick is used to determine if the beans have set long enough and are ready to be washed. The stick method is similar to testing if a cake is cooked through using a wooden stick, if beans are left on the stick, the fermentation process is not quiet done. The purpose of the fermentation process is to remove the mucilaginous around the coffee bean. Once the beans have been determine to be ready, they are pushed from the fermentation bins and pushed through many feet of channels and a concrete waterfall where the beans are bounced around and washed to remove the remaining mucilaginous layer that may be remaining after the fermentation process.
The fermentation and washing stages produce what is referred to as honey water. The following are honey water: 1) The water that was used to push the beans into the fermentation bins, 2) the water that is removed from the fermentation bins and 3) the water that is used to wash the coffee. This honey water, which contains the mucilaginous layer of the coffee bean can be a serious source of pollution in local water sources if not discarded properly. At Selva Negra it is transferred to bio-digester tanks, where it will be decontaminated and in its process it will produce methane gas. The excess water is now clean enough to be used. The farm uses this water for irrigation in the cattle pastureland, during its dry months of the year.
During the washing process, an interesting quality control opportunity arises, the weight of the beans is tested by how quickly they sink into the channel after the waterfall. The beans with the greatest densities (higher quality beans) sink to the bottom and allow the "floaters" to float along the top and be captured at the end of the channel. In this picture you can see how multiple wooden slats are used to prevent the higher quality beans to pass until all the floaters have been captures. These floaters are then dried in separate racks and maintained separate from the "A" quality beans to be sold locally as a separate category of beans. Once all the floaters have passed, the "A" quality beans are passed trough and sent on to the drying process.
Coffee beans must contain a humidity level of between 14% at this stage. Since Selva Negra is located high in the mountains, it is difficult, if not impossible, to reach this level of humidity when drying the beans only at the mill Selva Negra. Therefore, the beans are bagged and transported to the city of Chaguitillo (approximately a 30-40 minute drive) where the drying process occurs. Here the beans are laid out on large cement patios and spread out into a thin layer of beans to expose them to as much sun as possible. Since the beans are lying on a cement patio they do not have the benefit of the air reaching them from the top and the bottom, therefore they must be continuously rotated to improve the drying process.
