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After our visit to Calvo, we made our way to the headquarters of CEPCO (State of Oaxaca Coffee Producers Network), an organic coop comprising thousands of small farmers.

Here our crew would sample roast and cup many small coffee lots from different growers, seeking out the best quality samples, noting comparisons with previous years and providing feedback to the coop. CEPCO’s marketing director Jaime Hernandez played host to us while John and Geoff meticulously roasted the samples, often roasting a coffee three or four times to ensure an honest representation on the cupping table. Opening these bags of green coffee, the fruity, floral smell is wonderful - a smell that is usually diminished and vaguely burlap by the time coffees reach our shores.

After a quick lunch we returned for a few flights of blind cupping, selecting the most interesting samples for an additional flight. Many of these coffees would be getting a second look back at the cupping labs of Royal and Intelligentsia. The coffees were primarily of typica and bourbon varietal and the range of flavors on the table was impressive.

After the cupping, much discussion of the coffees and of the relationships Intelligentsia is seeking to evolve. Intelligentsia’s soon to be unveiled Direct Trade program is going to be a compelling model in the efforts to move beyond mere fair trade and towards more durable relationships with growers. The economics of coffee farming can be brutal and everyone in the industry has a part to play in finding more sustainable systems. Dean Cycon of Dean’s Beans has a good overview of CEPCO and the work it does for its members on his site thats worth a read.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 13th, 2006 at 2:01 pm and is filed under Coffee, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.