Coffee is a fruit?

One of the main reasons I came to Boquete, Panama was to go on a coffee plantation tour. I had read about tours that take you through every step of the process. They weren't lying!

I was picked up at exactly 9:00 a.m. on Sunday by a 29 year old native (Indian) Panamanian tourist guide named Carlos. I arranged the tour through my hostel. Unknown to me, they don't usually offer tours on Sunday. I was the sole tourista along for the ride, so I had my own private tour.



We began at one of the 10 farms owned by Cafe Ruiz. Carlos told me the story of how his mother was one of the natives who came to pick the coffee fruits and how this led to him working at the farm at the age of 11 and eventually becoming their main guide. Carlos is very passionate about coffee, loyal to the Ruiz family, and said everything at least three times. Everything. It was also pretty clear that Carlos was not a fan of the growing gated communities in Boquete. Many coffee farms are selling off their land to retires for quite a profit. I have to admit, Boquete seems like the ideal place to retire. The development is still saddening.

Here is a coffee tree.



The company claims to be eco-friendly and has a few certified organic farms. I was convinced. I was shown the coffee trees, which are not planted in rows. Rather, they are planted sporadically all around the hilly country side. They grow arabica coffee, which can only grow within a certain altitude (1300 - 1500 feet above see water) and requires lots of water, shade, and volcanic soil. There are only two places in the world where such coffee can be successfully grown. Boquete is obviously one of those places.

They have some special trees called geisha. This coffee sells for up to $500 dollars a pound. Holly cow.



I thought coffee grew in pods like a pea. Not so. A coffee tree takes up to 7 years to mature and begin producing little fruits that start out as dark green and then eventually look like small cherries. A tree can live and produce over 100 years. When you pop open the fruit, two and occasionally three coffee beans are discovered. They are slimy and white. Carlos insisted that I put one of them in my mouth and it was actually really sweet.





Because the fruit doesn't all ripen at the same time, the farm has harvesters come through and scour each tree every two weeks for several months. All of the fruit is picked by hand. Pickers earn 6.50/day including housing, electricity, day care and health care for the whole family. No one under 14 is allowed to work and those under 18 must be on summer break and obtain permission from their school and parents. Apparently this has only been in effect for the last 7 years. Coincidentally, the farm started taking their beans to international competitions about 7 years ago. I was informed that they have won the gold metal four times and the other three times other farms from Boquete won. Impressive. I was also told that women are allowed to get groceries and other necessities prior to the men receiving their pay checks. There are quite a fee AA meetings offered each week as well...

There is a volcano nearby, which provides volcanic soil. Here is a photo, but the top is covered in fog.



Its Panama, so its definitely wet. In order to get shade, the company has planted over 40 different varieties of trees and edible plants, which are scattered at random. All of the fruit is given to the workers. Many of the trees and other plants help add nitrogen to the soil. When trees are pruned, the debris is used at the processing plant for fuel to aid in the drying process. The large trees also attract birds. To prove this point, Carlos threw a rock at a random three and several brilliantly green parrots and other varieties of birds quickly took to the air. The birds eat insects, thus reducing the need for pesticide. Chickens run wild on the grounds providing fertilizer. Its a pretty well balances eco-system.

I got to see seeds being dried, germinating, budding in the nursery, and growing tall and strong.

Here is Carlos at the nursery.



Next we headed to the processing plant. Here the beans are floated. This involves submerging the beans in water. If a bean floats it is either infested with bugs or fungus. Not to worry, there is no waist in the harvest of coffee beans. The skins or peals of the beans are sent back to the farm to be mixed with the chicken poo as fertilizer. The floaters are sent to Folgers and Nescafe. In Panama, Folgers is referred to as Floaters and Nescafe as Notcafe. The sinkers are squeezed, fermented, washed, pre-dried, dried, aged for several months, pealed of a parchment like layer and also a very thin skin layer, sorted by size, shape, color, and density. Finally, the green little guys are sent to companies all over the world to be roasted. Apparently Pete's Coffee is a big purchaser (not of the floaters though).



Our next stop was the roasting facility. Only 10% of the coffee beans are roasted by Ruiz to be sold locally. I had to wear doctor's scrubs in order to prevent contamination of the facility.

At this stage of the everlasting tour, I was shown the uniquely designed bags from each of the farms. This allows the company to tell which beans are from where and keep everything separated. In addition, I saw the old school roasting machines, including the very first one used by 86 year old Mr. Ruiz himself (a old beat up pan and a spoon welded to a screw driver).



In the picture above I am standing next to the bagging machines. They inject nitrogen into the bags to keep the beans fresh.




After viewing the intimidating machinery, we headed over to a cabana like bar. Carlos stepped behind the bar like a seasoned bartender. This bar didn't have any alcohol. Rather, he began describing different scents from fishy to chocolate. I was given the smell test (sniffing various jars and identifying the scent). I passed with flying colors, correctly identifying each and every one. I was also given a gruesome, yet enlightening lecture and bad and good coffee. I learned that French roast is not the strongest and actually has less caffeine than most other roasts because the beans are roasted too long. European roast, a must lighter shade of bean, is one of the best flavors and has a higher amount of caffeine. According to Carlos, some coffee farms mix in bad beans, corn, and other materials in order to "fill" ground coffee. Thus, I was instructed to never ever under any circumstances buy ground coffee. I was grossed out to learn that a few farms, of course outside of Panama, are spraying their beans with cows blood in order to get the desired color that customers are demanding. Yuke to infinity.

The last stop of the tour was the Ruiz coffee shop, were I was given an espresso, a souvenir bag and some goodies including a bag of ground coffee, which now I don't trust. I also bought a bag of award winning (whole) beans. They better be worth lugging around Central America.

Note: you can tell a good espresso by dragging your spoon through the foam. If the foam immediately goes back together, your good to drink. If not, you got screwed.