Nicaragua - Ramacafe
Posted by James Hoffmann and posted on September 17, 2008
Filed Under Event, espresso, news, origin, stephen, travel |
longish post
The light outside had woke me up, inviting me to peer out for the first time across Managua. I couldn’t identify any real town centre, just the hint of a city bubbling away under a floor of green. In the distance I could see the odd modern high rise standing out by its own looking embarrassed. I knew that if I could see it from my room on the 8th floor, that my building must be feeling equally awkward.
It was 5 am. In an attempt to beat the jet lag, I went to bed at 10pm the night before, (6am my time). The Crown Plaza had generously given me free board in a suite for my stay, complete with its own desk and living room area. I’d like to say I felt quite guilty, especially after seeing glimpes of the poverty on the drive in from the airport the night before, but once I had showered and got into bed, I was nothing but utterly grateful. Besides, I would go on to sleep in more simple surroundings later on in the trip.
At 6 am, I grabbed my Dad’s early edition of Casino Royale (so very very chauvinistic) and headed for breakfast. The breakfast was beautiful, and presented my first encounter where I had to speak spanish. Luckily I was able to say cafe solo easily enough as well as negotiate some extra orange juice. I was on the look out for anyone I knew, but at 6 am my only dining partners were hotel staff.
I had been told about Central American time, and how it seemed to move 30 seconds slower than what I’m used to. Despite the warnings, I turned up at the conference centre (across the road) at 8 am sharp. There were some people there already, but none I recognised bar Erika, one of the girls who met me at the airport the night before. Roughly 2 and a half hours later I met my co trainers for the workshops, Ellie Matuszak, Mireya Jones, Raul Rodas, Roger Alba, Luis Lopez Flores and Rodrigo Giammattei. We would be facilitating the training of around 30 baristas from Managua over two days. It was my first origin trip ever and the first event I’ve done since Copenhagen.
This is the 7th year of Ramacafe, the conference started and owned by Henry Hueck, a coffee farmer with farms in Matagalpa and Segovia in the north of the country. Its funny that this should be my first point of call on my first origin trip, following the exact same steps as my buddy Deaton Pigot two years previous, where he became friends with the 2006 World Barista Champion Klaus Thomsen and Kenneth R. Olson of Barista Magazine. I remember being incredibly jealous at the time, not knowing when I’d get the chance to do such a trip.
The three days of the event went by quickly. I loved training baristas who already had such a strong sense of the journey of coffee. Explaining the need to cut down waste, and drawing attention to the effort that had already gone into their coffee seemed a very obvious and simple concept to them, something that isn’t always comprehended too quickly at training sessions back home. Annoyingly, it became somewhat of a curse too if I’m honest.
We’ve been working off Anfims with timer modifications for quite a while now in the roastery, and to jump back on a machine preaching economy of waste and then begin to clumsily grapple with the throws of a super jolly made me feel just a little sheepish. Flashes of me traipsing through airports carrying my Anfim, refusing to ever make shots off anything else shot through my head, till I recalled my old distribution technique, and got back on point.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with other trainers, especially Ellie Matuszak of Coffee Solutions. We both teach in a similar manner, and I was delighted for her to be able to use my training presentation, her spanish being considerably better than my few broken phrases. I’m pretty excited to be working with Ellie again later next month in LA. We’ll be doing a special course bringing baristas up to date on whats expected in Barista Competitions, something I think far too much about and can’t wait to harp on about for two days. Those of you out West can learn more here.
Other highlights of the Nicaragua trip were standing on the back of a pick up with Mark Inman, driving around Managua at night, and sampling the various years of the national rum, Flor de Cana, (of course not all at the same time). I only got to see a few of the presentations, but remember really enjoying Tracey Ging’s talk on the Q Programme.
On the 4th day I bid farewell to my American friends and spent 4 hours, with 10 people driving north to Matagalpa in a small van that continued to amaze me as it trudged through rivers and up worryingly steep and rough terrain. Eventually we arrived at La Virgen, the estate belonging to Henry Hueck, the first coffee farmer I ever met, 4 years previous at a trade show in Dublin. Within minutes I was being shown the farm, a quick tour primarily in spanish but thankfully translated by Jose of Coffee Kids. The farm manager Benito showed me the housing for the permanent staff, the nursery, the clinic they’d built for both workers and the surrounding community, the washing station and eventually, despite it being a month before harvest, some coffee trees. It was interesting to see how this my first farm, made such an impression on Jose and the other visitors. Clearly the farm employs many socially responsible practices, something I knew I wouldn’t always see on future farm visits.
There were only a few red cherries on the branches and I was a little nervous when I picked the first one only to see an ant crawling over it. I’m not normally too bothered by ants but it was when the guys started saying just eat it, its only an ant, and me doing just that when I became slightly anxious, and now that I think about it, a little upset in the tummy.
Despite this, I was immediately struck by the sweetness. I think I was expecting something a little more subtle, and perhaps it was my appetite, but I found myself sneakily popping as many reds into my mouth as I could the rest of the stay. (Avoiding ants and bugs where possible)
I spent three wonderful days on Henry’s farm, relaxing in hammocks, touring the local lands, catching up on mail, making coffee for the kids on the farm, firing my first gun and getting my neck savagely burnt by the sun. On the last day we drove north to the border of Honduras to visit Henry’s newest farm Las Marias in Segovia, a beautiful small farm that Henry only recently took over. He was able to arrange a small green sample from the previous harvest to bring home. It’ll be great to taste it as I remember feeling slightly frustrated walking around with a thousand questions wondering how or if everything I saw related to taste. I remember seeing things like tree bears, frogs and butterflies and the first thought always being I wonder what they lend to the cup!
Catching up with James today, he recalled the similar sentiment of feeling that you knew far too little about this to get the most of it. This was very much the case for me, and I’m determined to do the relevant research before my next farm visit early next month to Colombia for the Sustainable Harvest conference, Lets Talk Coffee.
There were a thousand things that I could post about, the people I met, the scenery, the food, but these must wait as this post is far too long already. After Nicaragua, I flew to Guatemala - stay tuned.
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Cool report. Just wondering though is there actually anywhere good to have a coffee in Managua? I have a friend who’s often over there and he’s never found anything. He reckons most of the good stuff is exported and what they keep for themselves is of much lower quality.
A really lovely post, Stephen. Made me incredibly jealous… except for the ant thing.
Hi Stephen,
did Henry get to put up his “Cead Mile Failte” banner for your visit to La Virgen ? He had it made up for all the Irish visitors he has had over the years.