Soppexcca and Espresso
This morning, October the 24th, I got up, packed my life into my super cool high-tech weight distributing backpack, and hiked around the streets of gorgeous Jinotega, Nicaragua, until I reached the cooperative office of Soppexcca.
A small wooden sign on the wall indicated the locations of the offices, the cupping lab (for coffee tasting and quality control procedures), and the newly opened gourmet coffee café (where high class mochas and cappuccinos come in glass goblets and cost only 60 cents, eat that, Starbucks). This café, opened just last month with the aspiration to foster appreciation and consumption of said beverages among native Jinoteganos.
In the under construction lobby, I was immediately greeted by a friendly mustached man who introduced himself as José Antonio, secretary of Soppexcca’s general assembly. With Doña Fatima (Soppexcca’s renowned general manager) currently out of the country doing Fair Trade promotions, one of the cooperative’s board of directors manages the office for a week’s time. This week, le tocó a José Antonio.
I was immediately ushered in, relieved of my heavy pack, and served a steaming cup of locally grown black coffee. After explaining to Toñio about my project and that I was here to learn about the organization, I was informed that right then, there was a meeting of the cooperative’s organized youth going on in the next room. Why didn’t I go and join them?
Slightly nervous, unsure of what to say to this group of 20 some youths, I sat down and introduces myself, told where I was from and what I was doing. From that instant, all burden on me was removed. Two young men instantly began to explain that they all came as representatives of the organized youths in their communities, that they were all children of producers, that today they were finishing a workshop and taking a quiz on quality control; for that reason they all had their noses buried deep in books. They went on to explain that they had been coming to the central office from their homes (anywhere from15 minutes to 4 hours away) once or twice a month for the last two years. They receive various workshops, and are expected to impart the information they receive back in their own communities.
As the younguns were ushered into their exam, José Antonio gave me a tour of Soppexcca’s three facilities, a small warehouse, the offices, and the lab. He recited a bit of the cooperative’s history, founded in 1997 with 64 producers and $850,000 in debt, after a previous cooperative, supposedly founded with the same goals, robbed its 2,000 members blind. Since that time, Soppexcca has been working to rebuild trust and relationships, and now represents 650 producers.
My tour ended in the lab/café. There, I met Wilmer, Marvin, and Javier, three of the coop’s four trained “cuppers” or coffee tasters (imagine certified wine tasters to get the idea). These children of producers, aged 19 to 22, work full time on quality control of coffee, cupping with buyers, and determining quality, flavors and characteristics of producers coffee. They share their knowledge with the producers in special workshops, training them to recognize how certain deficiencies affect taste, and to identify particular attributes of their own coffees, from citric, to chocolaty, to nutty or fruity. The descriptions could go on wine bottles: “Good acidity, with full body, fruity aromas complimented by a chocolate aftertaste”. Who knew?
After explaining this process, the boys and I entered the café, where I let slip my Opus experience. As newly trained baristas, the boys were thrilled at my experience, and put me to work discussing drinks, steaming milk, grinding espresso, and most importantly, making foam. Then, we practiced pouring drinks to end up with the multiple color layers that are the signature of really high class, impractical, but well-made espresso beverages. We practiced, drank, and laughed, spilling foam, making fun. I realized how much I miss working in a café! I miss you Opus and the Opusites! I felt full and happy, overjoyed to join these two parts of coffee culture, the realm in which I have some expertise, and the other that I am investigating. Full circle, and less than three months in….
A small wooden sign on the wall indicated the locations of the offices, the cupping lab (for coffee tasting and quality control procedures), and the newly opened gourmet coffee café (where high class mochas and cappuccinos come in glass goblets and cost only 60 cents, eat that, Starbucks). This café, opened just last month with the aspiration to foster appreciation and consumption of said beverages among native Jinoteganos.
In the under construction lobby, I was immediately greeted by a friendly mustached man who introduced himself as José Antonio, secretary of Soppexcca’s general assembly. With Doña Fatima (Soppexcca’s renowned general manager) currently out of the country doing Fair Trade promotions, one of the cooperative’s board of directors manages the office for a week’s time. This week, le tocó a José Antonio.
I was immediately ushered in, relieved of my heavy pack, and served a steaming cup of locally grown black coffee. After explaining to Toñio about my project and that I was here to learn about the organization, I was informed that right then, there was a meeting of the cooperative’s organized youth going on in the next room. Why didn’t I go and join them?
Slightly nervous, unsure of what to say to this group of 20 some youths, I sat down and introduces myself, told where I was from and what I was doing. From that instant, all burden on me was removed. Two young men instantly began to explain that they all came as representatives of the organized youths in their communities, that they were all children of producers, that today they were finishing a workshop and taking a quiz on quality control; for that reason they all had their noses buried deep in books. They went on to explain that they had been coming to the central office from their homes (anywhere from15 minutes to 4 hours away) once or twice a month for the last two years. They receive various workshops, and are expected to impart the information they receive back in their own communities.
As the younguns were ushered into their exam, José Antonio gave me a tour of Soppexcca’s three facilities, a small warehouse, the offices, and the lab. He recited a bit of the cooperative’s history, founded in 1997 with 64 producers and $850,000 in debt, after a previous cooperative, supposedly founded with the same goals, robbed its 2,000 members blind. Since that time, Soppexcca has been working to rebuild trust and relationships, and now represents 650 producers.
My tour ended in the lab/café. There, I met Wilmer, Marvin, and Javier, three of the coop’s four trained “cuppers” or coffee tasters (imagine certified wine tasters to get the idea). These children of producers, aged 19 to 22, work full time on quality control of coffee, cupping with buyers, and determining quality, flavors and characteristics of producers coffee. They share their knowledge with the producers in special workshops, training them to recognize how certain deficiencies affect taste, and to identify particular attributes of their own coffees, from citric, to chocolaty, to nutty or fruity. The descriptions could go on wine bottles: “Good acidity, with full body, fruity aromas complimented by a chocolate aftertaste”. Who knew?
After explaining this process, the boys and I entered the café, where I let slip my Opus experience. As newly trained baristas, the boys were thrilled at my experience, and put me to work discussing drinks, steaming milk, grinding espresso, and most importantly, making foam. Then, we practiced pouring drinks to end up with the multiple color layers that are the signature of really high class, impractical, but well-made espresso beverages. We practiced, drank, and laughed, spilling foam, making fun. I realized how much I miss working in a café! I miss you Opus and the Opusites! I felt full and happy, overjoyed to join these two parts of coffee culture, the realm in which I have some expertise, and the other that I am investigating. Full circle, and less than three months in….
posted by Hilary King at
5:51 PM
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