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Here at Union we’re very excited to be one of the sponsors of the 2012 UK Barista Championships. Marc Pierre Dietrich from UK Coffee Events spoke to Alan Miller from Union recently about what’s in store this year.

MPD:  UK Coffee Events would like to thank yourself and Union Hand Roasted for getting involved with UK Coffee Events this year.

Additionally we would like to thank you for introducing a brand new prize category for the UK Barista Championships – Best Newcomer (Working Barista) – and for offering a trip to origin for the best newcomer in the UKBC.

What gave you the idea?

AM: Thanks Marc. We are pleased to be associated with UK Coffee Events as Roasted Coffee Supplier, and have been part of the UKBC for several years now, hosting the SouthEast Heat in London last year.

We are hoping to bring a new dynamic to the UKBC with this Origin trip prize. In our day job we support, advise and train many in the coffee industry: baristas, restaurant and bar managers, cafe owners. With the current upward trend in new businesses to the industry, we believe it’s important to support new talent, encourage skills development, as well as bringing our expertise in our ‘Direct Trade’ sourcing model to a wider audience.

Coffee education is pivotal in a barista’s understanding of coffee, from how to recognise quality in coffee to best practice brewing. A true 360 degree knowledge of how to extract the best out of the coffee is really important to arm the barista with knowledge and confidence to showcase the contributions of both producer and roaster.

MPD: This is a very generous offer. With taste being so important, will the baristas be cupping at origin?

AM: Places on trips like this are highly sought after, and are once in a lifetime opportunity for most people. The best newcomer to the UKBC, who is a working barista – who has scored the highest points after the regional heats – could find themselves heading off to a producing country such as Rwanda, Brazil, Guatemala, Costa Rica or El Salvador.

This will not be a 5 star holiday in comfort, but will be 5 star in experience!

During the trip the barista may need to adjust to altitude or put up with extreme weather, and he or she should be prepared to help with a coffee harvest (if one is taking place when they visit), or maybe get their hands dirty sorting or grading coffee. They may participate in a cupping but more importantly he or she will get to meet with farmers who we source from whilst seeing at first hand a working coffee farm and experiencing its environment.

The trip will be led by either Steven Macatonia or Jeremy Torz – both of whom travel regularly to origin to build relationships with existing producers for Union as well as uncovering new coffee gems, as their Direct Trade sourcing model delivers.

MPD: What reaction do you envisage from the barista community?

AM: It is our intention, I hope, that we engage and excite a whole new generation of coffee enthusiasts who are inspired enough to choose coffee as a career as Jeremy and Steven were when they first discovered their love of coffee.

MPD: Why do you work for Union Hand Roasted coffee?

AM: The energy in the coffee industry in the UK currently is exciting. The opportunity to tell our story and meet very talented people, be they baristas, producers (farmers) or suppliers, is a great part of the job that I do. And with such fabulous coffees in our portfolio to enjoy, the challenge in foodservice is maintaining the quality through to serve across a diverse group of customers.

People shouldn’t have to settle for a dud cup of coffee in the UK these days. Being part of the team that aims to bring great tasting coffee to all who want it, direct from origin in an honest and transparent manner is satisfying and fun!

MPD: What trends are you noticing in the UK at the moment?

AM: Tea menus are a common sight. Many cafes are now thinking about offering multiple coffees on their menus. We are excited that operators are beginning to realise that coffee drinkers want choice as well, so there is the start of offering a menu coffees with diverse taste profiles, or perhaps brew methods, will in turn showcase a good barista’s knowledge in understanding the large variety of wonderful coffees now available.

MPD: If you were entering the UKBC what coffee would you use this year and why?

AM: (without hesitation) I would use the Genesis Microlot, West Valley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ8Iz1nwXdQ from Costa Rica.

The taste is wonderful, allowing the opportunity to create a superb signature drink marrying up with the flavours of red berries, toasted hazelnut and dried apricot.

This coffee is grown by Oscar Mendez who is almost theological about coffee. His approach is very inspirational, as he grows for quality not quantity and his focus and commitment to great coffee grown in harmony with the land on his farm is just brilliant.

Series about Union Direct Trade

In previous post about Union Direct Trade we’ve talked about how we’re gathering information from smallscale coffee farmers in Huehuetenango in Guatemala. This work has been undertaken by Pascale, a masters graduate in Development Economics from Wageningen University as a research project to define how Union can have a positive impact on the lives of coffee farmers.

Pascale has been in Huehuetenango for five months and now reflects on her experiences as she completes her first period of work there and prepares to move on to Costa Rica.

Emigration was one of the coping mechanisms to deal with the coffee crisis in the late 90s. It has become the major reality of rural economies Central America.

Of the 87 households I’ve interviewed here in Huehuetenango. I discovered that 72% have or had migrant family members. The majority immigrated to the United States
(89%) and 11% to Mexico. In 40% of the cases it was the farmer (head of family) who went to the United States. The reasons for migration are: earn money to pay off debts, buy land to cultivate coffee, buying a car, or construct a house.

Although migration and the money earned from this have positive effects, such as lower poverty rates there are many social costs; broken families, a reduction in labour supply, the risk of death, injury or imprisonment from illegal border crossing, and a reduction in knowledge and skill transfer since producers are not there to teach their children how to cultivate coffee. (Steven has previously talked about the impact on the women who are left behind – Abandoned in Guatemala)

Listening to the women farmers at Todos Santos

Fair and reasonable coffee prices and long-term commitment is therefore very important for coffee producers. As the groups I interviewed indicated, knowing that they have a committed buyer such as Union Hand-Roasted Coffee gives them just and spirit to keep on working to produce high quality coffee. The previous unstable markets impeded producers from investing in their coffee fields because prices hardly covered the cost of production, it also does not make any sense investing in high quality coffee if there was no premium for quality coffee. Quality coffee requires extra labour and money investments. Only ripe cherries must be picked and traditionally pickers get paid by piece (per
quintal (46Kg) of coffee harvested). A disadvantage of paying by quintal is that workers will pick as much as possible, to earn more. To incentivise pickers to only select the ripe coffee cherries, farmers pay day labourers a higher price per day.

Although these producers in Huehuetenango are on the right track, it is important that low interest credits to fund paying for the harvest becomes available to producers.  This will reduce their cost of production increasing the profits.

Guatemala is a beautiful country, colourful, rich in culture and tradition and inhabited by a population which is generous, hospitable and hard-working. Yet, Guatemala faces many difficulties. The country is very unsafe and Huehuetenango bordering Mexico is a collection of drug traffickers. Bad road conditions, landslides and (violent) demonstrations on the roads make it difficult or sometimes impossible to travel from one place to another. Especially during the harvest this is a serious problem for those preparing their coffee for export. Hence, I have the highest respect for those working under these conditions. The farmers of La Libertad and Todos Santos have faced many barriers, but they never gave up. “For every problem there is a solution” is their motto. I believe that the fair and transparent relationship that Union Hand-Roasted Coffee has with the organizations that form these co-operatives will contribute to the development of towns in La Libertad, Chanjon and Tuiboch (Todos Santos).

boarding the bus to agronomy classes

Transparency and traceability are two important aspect of a company’s business model. Only by being transparent in the whole coffee chain, can both buyer and producer be sure that the benefits really reach the producers.

Almost Integrated into Guatemala Culture !

My next stop is going to be Costa Rica; there I anticipate the situation with farmers will be completely different. Besides the fact that the country is much more stable and is classified as a middle–development country, Costa Rica has embraced a “micro-mill revolution” which Union has talked about before and I will describe more in my next post.

Series about Direct Trade

My previous blog post introduced Pascale; she is studying the working and living conditions of some of the small holder coffee farmers that Union Hand-Roasted Coffee source from in Central America.  Here is Pascale’s next update of her work in Huehuetenanago.  This is a new relationship for Union;  now in our second year of sourcing from these producers, we want to identify the complexities the farmers face to enable us to determine what actions we can take to support them in the future.  (SM)

¡Hola!

 Everybody in the cooperative (and La Libertad) has been extremely helpful and friendly to me. I feel very welcome here. However, it is a distinct area they have their own rules which are important to respect. Therefore I prefer to stay close to the people of the cooperative since they know what to do and what not to do. However, this has several implications for the research:

It may influence amount of structured formal interviews that I can do; maybe not as many as planned. This is because everybody in the cooperative is extremely busy. The last harvest is coming in, contracts need to be made, the last coffee needs to be collected, people need to be paid. After this period there will be more time they assure me (semana santa, the period of rest, is coming).

 I know I must have a control group, although this is difficult for two reasons: First the speed in which I can work the questionnaire is slow. Therefore, I will first try to interview as many cooperative members as possible. Second, I prefer to stay within the area of cooperative members because it is safer and less risk when in remote rural areas.

Putting aside any negativity about these limitations, the cooperative is doing loads and loads of positive stuff. There is so much to write about. Iliana, the Manager of the Cooperative, is amazing; very smart, enthusiastic and full of energy to change and develop things.

I have started to perform formal interviews. I have spoken to several people and gathered a large amount of knowledge. I have collected coffee in Palmira and spoke briefly with the people there, I had a quick visit to ANACAFE (the Guatemala Coffee Board), I have cupped coffee in La Libertad and Huehuetenango, I have visited the export company where the coffee is prepared to be exported. Talked to some people of the cooperative and now know a lot the history of the cooperative. This has meant leaving the house at 7am and coming back at 9pm exhausted in the evening, so there has been until now little time to write down everything. But I am catching up with this now in the coming weeks.

The farmers are introduced to me “as the girl who is going to calculate what is a fair coffee price”. Although for me this is a very interesting and challenging assignment it is an extremely difficult and complicated job. Information on other areas of interest, such as I will therefore collect in a more qualitative way.  I really believe that it will help the cooperative if I can help calculate a fair coffee price for them. It is not easy to do but will be very worthwhile.

Saludos,

Pascale

 Pascales’ main work is to focus on the social conditions of farmers but the producers want to take full advantage of her background in development economics to create a business model.  I think it helps to be transparent and reveal the complexities that happen in the field. Producing coffee is hard work, not romance. And farmers’ livelihoods depend upon getting a good income.  These cooperatives in Northern Guatemala are in remote areas and life is about survival. Until Union started to work with them they had uncertainty from one season to the next. Through continuing our relationship, our vision is to bring stability and economic prosperity.

Next posts from Pascale will continue to talk about the importance of helping small scale farmers do business.

Steven

Not all coffee is born equal

The importance Jeremy and I place on our coffee sourcing reflects the essence of what Union is about. For this reason I thought it could be useful to write a very short series of blog posts describing our approach to the ethics of coffee buying.  

I am aware that the Fairtrade logo is one of the most widely recognised symbols to UK coffee consumers, even if people don’t specifically know what it means in detail. Ever since we started Union in 2002, our core ethos was to trade equitably with coffee farmers, because we believed it was the correct way to treat people and this would give us access to the high level of quality we demanded.

But over the years we found limitations in what official certified Fairtrade can achieve for us and also for the farmers we buy from, so we evolved our own coffee buying philosophy to go beyond just buying Fairtrade coffee. We call this Union Direct Trade and I want to explain what this means to us and why we invest so heavily and give so much importance to this purchasing model.

Teaching farmers at Tuiboch, Huehuetenango to cup their own coffee

What is Direct Trade?

Direct Trade is a phrase increasingly used by coffee roasters who buy (or maybe just claim to buy) their coffee straight from producers. This approach eliminates the “middlemen” who buy in the local market. In its truest sense it should also remove the traditional export and import agents although if pricing is transparent through all steps of the supply chain then local agents can indeed add value to the coffee and provide a useful service.   

As an advocate of Direct Trade we think the model can be successful because it creates mutually beneficial relationships between roasters and coffee farmers and co-operatives. We developed Union Direct Trade to endorse our authentic business relationships with coffee producers.

What does Union Direct Trade mean to farmers?

     *Enables farmers to freely negotiate price and opens up transparent costs throughout the supply chain.

     *Establishes baseline price with premiums for quality, rewarding farmers who innovate and improve the value of their coffee.

     *Develops long-term relationships enabling farmers to plan for their future.

     *Establish forward purchasing commitments so farmers can plan for successive harvests.

     *Foundation for personal relationships essential for timely knowledge about coffee quality, social and environmental concerns.

     *Supports forward financing, either direct or with specialized pre-finance agencies, for smallholders most in need.

     *Does not restrict us to certified coffee or co-operatives in the way that Fairtrade does.

     *Applies a code of conduct that addresses labour and environmental standards. 

     *Enables us to communicate the stories of coffee producers with authenticity.

     *Targets our financial resource specifically to the producers we buy from, in contrast to the general Fairtrade marketing levy.

These personal relationships enable us learn more about the nature of coffee farming from producers directly. We consider it as a code of conduct or structure which is not only beneficial to small producers, but provides the channel for us to monitor and evaluate the quality of the coffee. By nurturing these relationships, and investing through a transparent set of standards, it enables farmers to benefit financially and improve their coffee and environment. 

We believe this is the most effective way to expand economic opportunity and for smallholders to escape the commodity market by producing coffee with addded value.

Roy Solis Blanco with Steven Macatonia at San Jeronimo micromill

What is the weakness of Direct Trade?

There are many criticisms about Direct Trade purchasing particularly as it is a term that is being widely adopted with limited explanation. But apart from that the main issue is:-

• There is no external agency auditing claims that are made or checking labour and environmental standards to an accredited benchmark in the way that other certification schemes operate.

In my next blog post, I talk about how we have looked at addressing this weakness.