Supermarkets have a huge influence through their purchasing decisions. In the case of "Lenca", a coffee from the Coop range, a supermarket is becoming aware of its responsibility, making local investments, and paying the correct prices. We were able to support the project and are delighted with the finished product.
In a recently published blog article and video, we discussed the opportunities and shortcomings of supermarkets regarding coffee. Special attention is paid to the blends. In the volumes sold in supermarkets, it is usually about inexpensive green coffees. And because these are a commodity, an interchangeable raw material, the coffees are replaced according to availability and price, so that consumers do not notice.
But there is another way: a commitment to a specific coffee, to a specific producer group, to long-term investment in a location. We are happy to support such projects; they can act as a beacon. And Coop's Lenca project is exactly one of those.
Fact Finding Mission 2019
At the end of 2018, we came into contact with a Coop project group. Their goal, analogous to the criteria of their successful chocolate project in Honduras, was to start a coffee project: specialty coffee in the supermarket, correctly paid, sensorially significantly different from the mass market, and produced by a cooperative interested in a long-term collaboration.
Chocolat Halba, Coop's chocolate arm, already had local employees with experience in intensive collaboration with small-scale producers. They were the ones with whom I carried out a so-called fact finding mission in Honduras in the summer of 2019.
We visited various cooperatives that had been determined for the project through a careful pre-selection process. As exciting as such a task is, it must be managed precisely. Because a selection always also means an exclusion.
The selection criteria were therefore multifaceted. In one of my first origin projects with small-scale producers, I learned from my mentor that one must proceed with great caution, especially during a discovery process, especially during the initial clarifications - not making any hasty promises, being open, but still somewhat reserved in the concretization. With this maxim, we visited various cooperatives in Honduras over a week and looked for a partner for the project.
The coffee producers: COSAGUAL, Gualcinse, Honduras
We found what we were looking for at COSAGUAL, a cooperative in Gualcinse, on the border with El Salvador. COSAGUAL was already Fairtrade and organic certified, was very strongly positioned in community building, and had a great interest in tackling the joint project.
Gualcinse is located in a very dry area. The climate is strongly influenced by the Pacific. The clouds usually empty themselves about 50km further east. This opened up the possibility of producing naturally processed coffees. However, the infrastructure was not yet ready for this - COSAGUAL had just produced a microlot of 600kg of naturals for the first time, but lacked the appropriate setup for large-scale production.
Investments on site
Anyone who is serious about a project coffee must invest on site. And for the long term. Since there was primarily a lack of drying capacities, Coop committed to making the investments for a drying house. Tim Willems, our project manager at the Kaffeemacher:innen Farm Santa Rita in Nicaragua, was on hand. Tim has already implemented several drying systems and was now able to also co-supervise this project in Gualcinse.
Within months, simple drying tables were turned into a solid, well-ventilated drying house. In the first year, production was increased from 1 to 8 tons, and 12 tons are planned for this season.
COSAGUAL with standard drying tunnels in summer 2019
The construction site in 2020
The completed drying house at the end of 2020
The cherries are dried over seven floors
Local training for an 86.5-point coffee
An investment is useless if the know-how is not also trained. A local coffee trainer trained the COSAGUAL team. Coop financed an Ikawa sample roaster, allowing the quality teams in Honduras and Switzerland to taste the same roast profiles and determine quality together at an early stage.
Tim Willems also helped define the post-harvest process. Upon arrival, the coffee cherries are now first washed and floated, then spread out on pre-defined drying beds. Initially, they are placed higher up in the drying house, and as the drying level increases, they move downwards, thus drying to the desired residual moisture content over more than 20 days.
The resulting coffee is very heavy, lushly fruity with notes of cherries, a juicy acidity, and a deep chocolate foundation.
The quality of the cherries required for such a specialty coffee must be high and uniform. Ripeness and uniformity are independent of altitude. This means that this project includes producers from different altitudes and does not exclude lower-lying farms.
What is the correct price for such a coffee?
Coop asked us how the price for such a green coffee should be set. It is not our job to determine the price, but to ask the producers what they need. Thus, COSAGUAL defined the price and Coop paid. Simple as that. No haggling. Coop pre-financed the coffee, which was more than important, especially in the COVID situation.
A new supply chain: COSAGUAL - algrano - Hochstrasser
The coffee from COSAGUAL was made export-ready at the Beneficio Santa Rosa in Copán. With algrano, we found a partner for Coop that delivered the coffee to Switzerland. From Basel, it then went on to Hochstrasser in Lucerne, where the coffee is roasted around the team led by coffee trainer and roaster André Strittmatter.
Lenca - an isolated case?
As Kaffeemacher:innen, we are happy to support such projects that provide for the most diverse areas such as community building, training, correct prices, long-term commitment, direct investments, and purchase guarantees.
Supermarkets and large roasters have the leverage to create a major impact with a simple change of course.
We have discussed our thoughts on supermarket coffee in detail here:
Lenca, the project coffee from Honduras, is for us a great example that highlights exactly the points mentioned above. However, Lenca is only one coffee in the Coop range that works in this way. The sensory aspect of the Lenca coffee is a cornerstone here, and the effort is significantly greater than for other coffees.
The other coffees in the range are sensorially less complex and (as of yet) do not come from projects where Coop takes such a strong lead in personal responsibility. We wish for, and encourage all supermarkets to take this path. More personal commitment, taking responsibility, setting up new supply chains, and striving for a direct relationship yourself. This is the only way to create prospects for coffee producers. Constantly switching to the cheapest green coffees on offer is a vicious circle that leads steeply downwards and helps no one. We see Lenca as a beacon example of how many things can be done differently.
