Supermarkets have enormous influence through their purchasing decisions. In the example of "Lenca", a coffee from Coop's range, a supermarket takes responsibility, makes investments on the ground, and pays fair prices. We were able to support the project and are delighted with the finished product.
In a recently published Blogartikel and video, we discussed the opportunities and shortcomings of supermarkets when it comes to coffee. Particular attention is paid to blends and mixtures. With the volumes sold in supermarkets, it is usually cheap green coffees. And because these are a commodity, an interchangeable raw material, the coffees are replaced depending on availability and prices, so that consumers don't notice.
But there is another way: and that would be a commitment to a specific coffee, to a specific producer group, to long-term investment in a location. We are happy to support such projects, and they can have a lighthouse character. And the Lenca project from Coop is exactly one of those.
Fact Finding Mission 2019
In late 2018, we came into contact with a project group from Coop. Their goal was to launch a coffee project along the lines of their erfolgreichen chocolate project in Honduras: specialty coffee in the supermarket, fairly paid, sensorially distinctly different from the mass market, produced by a cooperative interested in long-term collaboration.
Chocolat Halba, Coop's chocolate arm, already had local staff with experience in intensive collaboration with small producers. It was with them that I undertook a so-called fact finding mission to Honduras in the summer of 2019.
We visited various cooperatives that had been carefully pre-selected for the project. As exciting as such a task is, it must be managed with precision. Because making a selection always means making exclusions too.
The selection criteria were thus multifaceted. In one of my first origin projects with small producers, I learned from my mentor that one must proceed with great care in a discovery process, especially in the initial clarifications - not making premature promises, being open, but somewhat reserved in the concrete steps. With this principle in mind, we visited various cooperatives in Honduras over the course of a week and sought a partner for the project.
The Coffee Producers: COSAGUAL, Gualcinse, Honduras
We found our partner in COSAGUAL, a cooperative in Gualcinse, on the border with El Salvador. COSAGUAL was already Fairtrade and organic certified, was very strong in community building, and had great interest in pursuing the joint project.
Gualcinse is located in a very dry area. The climate is heavily influenced by the Pacific. Clouds typically empty their contents about 50km further east. This created the opportunity to produce dry-processed coffees. However, the infrastructure was not yet ready for this - COSAGUAL had just made a microlot of 600kg naturals for the first time, but for large-scale production, the appropriate setting was lacking.
Investments on the Ground
If you are serious about a project coffee, you must invest on the ground. And long-term. Since drying capacity was mainly lacking, Coop committed to making the investments for a drying house. Tim Willems, our project manager at the Kaffeemacher:innen Farm Santa Rita in Nicaragua, was on hand. Tim has already implemented several drying systems and was now able to support this project in Gualcinse as well.
What began as simple drying tables was transformed within months into a solid drying house with good ventilation. In the first year, production was increased from 1 to 8 tons, with 12 tons planned for this season.
COSAGUAL with standard drying tunnels in summer 2019
The construction site in 2020
The completed drying house at the end of 2020
Coffee cherries are dried on seven levels
Training on the Ground for an 86.5-Point Coffee
An investment is worthless if the know-how is not trained. A local coffee trainer trained the COSAGUAL team. Coop financed a Ikawa-Sampleröster and so the quality teams in Honduras and Switzerland can taste the same roast profiles and jointly determine quality early on.
Tim Willems also helped define the post-harvest process. Coffee cherries are now washed and floated upon arrival, then laid out on predefined drying beds. They start in the drying house higher up, and as the drying degree increases, they move down, drying to the desired residual moisture content over more than 20 days.
The resulting coffee is very dense, abundantly fruity with notes of cherries, a juicy acidity, and a deep chocolatey foundation.
The cherry quality needed for such a specialty coffee must be high and uniform. Ripeness and uniformity are independent of altitude. This means that this project includes producers from different altitudes and does not exclude lower farms.
What is the Correct Price for Such a Coffee?
Coop asked us how the price for such green coffee should be set. It is not our job to determine the price, but to ask the producers what they need. So COSAGUAL defined the price and Coop paid it. That simple. No haggling. Coop pre-financed the coffee, which was especially important during the coronavirus situation.
A New Supply Chain: COSAGUAL - algrano - Hochstrasser
The coffee from COSAGUAL was made export-ready at the Beneficio Santa Rosa in Copán. With algrano , we found a partner for Coop who delivered the coffee to Switzerland. From Basel it then went on to Hochstrasser in Lucerne, where the coffee is roasted by the team around coffee trainer and roaster André Strittmatter.
Lenca - a One-Off?
We as Kaffeemacher:innen are happy to support such projects that encompass various areas like community building, training, fair prices, long-term commitment, direct investments, and purchase guarantees.
Supermarkets and large roasteries have the leverage to create a big impact with a simple change of course.
How we otherwise think about supermarket coffee, we discussed in detail here:
Lenca, the project coffee from Honduras, is a great example for us that shows exactly the points mentioned above. However, Lenca is only one coffee in the Coop range that works this way. The sensory aspect of the Lenca coffee is a fundamental pillar here, so the effort is significantly greater than for other coffees.
The other coffees in the range are sensorially less complex and do (not yet) come from projects where Coop takes such strong responsibility. We wish for, and encourage, all supermarkets to take this path. More commitment, taking responsibility, setting up new supply chains, and pursuing direct relationships. Only this way can we create prospects for coffee producers. The constant switching to the cheapest green coffees on offer is a vicious cycle that leads steeply downwards and helps no one. We see Lenca as a lighthouse example of how much can be done differently.
