El Acopio-the Coffee Collecting Challenge
For their 4th challenge this Monday, teams Sapa Inca and Blackfoot walked 1 kilometer outside of Finca la Encañada, to a small caffee-farming community of 20 houses called Belén.
The task: To act as workers for el acopio, the process of collecting coffee from each coffee farming family in the community. The families in the community had ready at their houses 35-pound bags of coffee parchment to give to the baristas—if the baristas convinced them to ‘sell’ it.
The baristas were told to act just as if they were actually collecting coffee - they went to each house in the community and talked to each family, learned about their lives, and caught up on news in the village. In doing so, they learned a lot about daily life in the farming community, stopping for a while in one house to help grind corn, in another to chat about coffee quality. In exchange, the baristas talked to the farmers about their roles in the coffee supply chain, and what it means to be a barista—to be the last ones to handle, process, and present the beans before they are consumed.
The twist: Collecting the coffee was only a part of this challenge. Not all of the bags of parchment were created equal—some were full of good, clean coffee beans, while others were full of dried cherries, broken beans, and unhealthy-looking parchment. One candidate from each team was blindfolded and had to sort the good beans from the bad. The blindfolded representatives from each team started sorting by smell and feel, and later realized that they could tell coffee quality by seeing which beans floated and which ones sank. It took some trial and error to realize that the floating/sinking technique only works after you remove the parchment from the bean. There is so much to learn about the nuances of coffee production and processing!
The winners: Raul Rodas, Guatamalan champ, had worked on a farm for a couple coffee harvests so he had extra knowledge. His team, Blackfoot, was the first to evaluate the green beans in a bowl of water, and this crafty technique allowed Blackfoot to pick the best beans quickest. This means the teams are tied for the fifth and final challenge!
Below, hear from Kyle Straw, 2010 Canadian Barista champion, on his perspectives after three days experiencing the process of coffee production on Finca la Encañada.
