Any coffee roaster who has traveled beyond the tourist confines of origin country knows the paradoxical reality present in coffee growing communities. Those that grow the world’s highest quality beans are usually cursed to wake up to some of the worst tasting coffees known to anything with taste buds. Most times this is true for pretty much all of coffee growing countries except for the privileged who are able to buy imported coffees. The rest drink Nescafe.

The reason - fairly simple. Countries who depend on coffee as a main source of their GDP, export the highest quality beans for sale to the highest bidder. As well, most producers do not have the available credit to purchase a roaster, bags, and grinder nor access to a market.

In an $80 billion industry, producing countries receive only 20% of net revenues—farmers earn less than 10% (according to Food First). Deviron and Stefano point out in the Coffee Paradox that the top five coffee multinationals, Kraft, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Sara Lee, and Tchibo control 69% of the global coffee roasting industry. This doesn’t leave much of a market for the rest of us in a country which holds 1/5th of the world’s coffee drinkers and much less for our unfortunate coffee growing friends.

Moreover, due to the poor economy of almost all coffee growing countries, most homes purchase the least expensive option - instant coffee usually dumped from far off - cheaper locales, such as Vietnam. And at the ironic bottom of the pole, are most coffee growing communities, consuming defected beans they can not sell in the market. Roasting them over an open fire they then hand grind and brew em’ cowboy style - boiled in water.

But there is hope for our coffee drinking companeros south of the border. Small scale growers are hooking up propane tanks to old drum roasters, dropping in batches of freshly picked and processed green beans and roasting up some specialty coffees to be distributed throughout their home countries. Sure, they won’t size up to the well-balanced bright taste of our export friendly friends up north but they are much better then what they’ve been drinking down south. I had the unique opportunity to backpack across the Mayan Highlands of Southern Mexico and Guatemala to check on the status of this burgeoning wave of truly handcrafted coffee roasting.

My first stop was at Maya Vinic - our oldest partner growing co-op and very good friends. Maya Vinic is a great example of a cooperative that is working toward vertical integration. The nearly 500 growers own their own bodega, processing center and have a small roasting facility. Not bad for being in the coffee export business for just 7 years! All coffees that don’t pass through the processing plant as export grade are returned to their roastery where they throw them in their 30 pound roaster for use in their national market. Distributors in Merida and Mexico City sell the beans under the brand “Maya Vinic” to restaurants, grocery stores, and hotels throughout the country.

After a day of crossing the border at La Mesilla and negotiating the various mountains, ravines, and rivers that make up North-West Guatemala I arrived in Xelajú (or Quetzaltenango as the Spaniards renamed it after conquering the Mayan Mam population). This bustling highland city acts as the center of commerce for the various indigenous communities that ring the ten mountains that hover over it. There, I met with Cafe Conciencia - an organization formed to help commercialize the coffee of 4 different growing cooperatives scattered in the mountains of San Marcos and Quetzaltenango.

At the end of a long winding road that cuts into the side of a mountain, the road up to Tajulmulco Organic Coffee Organization of Small Organic Coffee Growers Maya Mames (Apecaform) is the most dangerous I’ve been on since traveling the “death road” in Bolivia. Over the course of two hours we climbed the side of the Tajumulco Volcano, weaving between boulders trying to stay between the cliff and the side of the mountain. The roasters at Apecaform have a great history. For nearly 10 years they roasted their beans over an open fire. As the wooden shack that housed their “roaster” would fill with smoke, shifts of women took turns inhaling the smoke and turning the barrel by hand. Today, thanks to the Fair Trade Fund at Catholic Relief Services, the women now have a brand new roaster and much better coffee to drink each day.

Chiapas visiting Maya Vinic. In a quick few days we’ve worked on preparations for a water project in the highland community of Chichilton, trekked to the top of a mountain to speak to the municipality of Chenalho via the Las Abejas radio station Chanul Pom, and had a great meeting with representatives from the co-op to discuss a

plethora of topics about this year’s harvest. With Monika Firl from Cooperative Coffees in tow, President Jose Vasquez - an old friend who came to the U.S. with us on a speaking tour a couple years ago- sat down and also signed contracts for 4 containers.

We also discussed Higher Grounds social premium of $2,800 given to the co-op in recognition of the deep partnership we have with the co-op. Many visits to the co-op have continually reminded us that our success is intricately related to theirs. As such we are providing a yearly bonus of $.15 per pound above the beyond fair trade price for all coffee we purchase from the co-op. This year the co-op has decided to fix their 3 ton truck which will allow them to travel to the various growing communities that make up the community to collect coffee. By doing so they will be communicating more regularly with the members and eliminate a costly expense for producers – delivering coffee to the co-op.

Maya Vinic is quickly positioning itself to be a highly successful cooperative in an industry where most are struggling to get by. They have vertically integrated – processing all coffee at their warehouse. After picking, washing, fermenting, drying, and sorting their beans, Maya Vinic is roasting non- export coffee for their national market under their own brand. Their national brand coffee is distributed throughout Mexico thereby providing an income for the coffee that is not sold to international buyers, such as Higher Grounds.

For that reason, I finished my adventure in Chiapas by providing a roasting and cupping training at Maya Vinic roastery and offices. More to come soon on that when I blog about the 3 other trainings I just completed in Guatemala.

Last week I had the pleasure of trekking up through the Mayan Highlands to meet up with our old friends and first partners, the fair trade coffee cooperative of Maya Vinic. Wow, have they grown since we first met them over 6 years ago! Back then, they had no buyers and collected their organic coffee in an old wood-planked building in the refugee center of Acteal. Now, they have their own large warehouse and processing capacities, two trucks and plans to build a wet processing center across the street. After it is completed, centralized wet processing will enable farmers to simply pick the ripe cherries off their Bourbon, Caturra and Typica coffee trees and bring them to the bodega, where co-op members will process all the coffee together. This will provide growers with the capacity to more accurately and uniformly process their coffee thereby ensuring an ever more consistent cup. It will be hard to beat the handcrafted coffee they have been providing the last few years as it has been my favorite since we started Higher Grounds Trading Co.!I also stopped by Chichilton for a visit to see if they have decided to move forward on the water project we have been working on. Last year, we dug deep into the “madre tierra” in search of water. Luckily we found it exactly where a village elder had dreamed there was water! One year later, water still fills the whole and after contemplation, the community anxiously accepted the project. Chichilton is a community perched above the municipal head of Chenalho. There, 5 coffee farmers from Maya Vinic must peregrinate down the mountain to their coffee fields to pick and depulp their prize beans before carrying them up the incline to their homes where they ferment and dry their coffee.

Water is a coffee growing community’s most important resource not only for drinking and cooking, but also for washing coffee. Unfortunately, Chichilton has hardly any water. So, with the help of the Chiapas Water Project we plan to install a hand pump in the community to bring much needed water to the community. Once again, I was reminded of the significance of finding clean drinking water as I left the community and was told that traditional Mayan prayer services will be held 15 days before we start the project. Ernestina, a quite and deliberate village elder, dreamt that the well project will be a success if the community pays homage to the site by bringing the village elders to pray. Check back this fall for updates!

Oaxaca City has had a rough year. It all began in May of 2006 when thousands of teachers staged an annual sit - in on the city’s center to protest low wages and inadequate conditions in the schools of the state. The demands were not unfounded. According to Oaxaca based EDUCA, axaca is the 2nd poorest state in Mexico (after Chiapas) with 76% of the population living in extreme poverty and only 2.9% of the state’s annual budget going to social programs in the country side.

After police violently attacked teachers on the 14th of June the townspeople, coffee farmers, activists, and campesinos came out in throngs to support the teachers from Section 22 of the CNTE teacher’s union. Barricades were set up to protect the teachers, roaming para- military police assasinated many and brutally attacked the struggling community as the democratic movement which became know as APPO - (Popular Assembly of the People’s of Oaxaca) - resisted and demanded the resignation of the state’s mayor Ulises Ruiz. Death threats, drive - by shootings, the continued closure of 14,000 schools and popular resistance became an everday reality as 50 blocks of downtown came screaching to an ungovernable standstill.

Months after the brutal police repression that left 23 dead, a slow creaping presence of undercover police vigilance and harrasment remains in Oaxaca City. Most recently, April 14th saw 24 year old student activist David Venegas detained and beaten as police drove him for hours through the streets of this tourist city. Though he was snatched off the streets in midday while meeting with a school collegue, his family did not know he was “officially” in police custody until nearly 10 pm the same night. Eventhough family and friends pleaded for information of his detainment throughout the day. This week saw us meeting with the family and friends of David to learn about his incarcelation and police sure took notice!

As his family and friends (names withheld for security) told the story, undercover police piered in to the small cafe in downtown Oaxaca City where we had taken refuge. We were not suprised by the vigilance of the police as many in the city were afraid to meet with us fearing arrest or disappearance. Earlier in the day undercover police, with radio in hand, took pictures of our groups as we waited outside to meet a friend. We had done nothing but simply listen to the testimony of his family and friends.

Family and friends painted a picture of David as a former student turned activist, working with the disenfranchised youth of the city while advocating justice for the crimes committed against members of APPO by police and paramilitary. They stated that his charges are ludicrous and unfounded. David was “officially” charged with possesion of cocaine, although his friends told us he did not use drugs, deal drugs, or have any drugs found in his system. They state that the official photo released to newspapers show a beaten David with a large bag of cocaine held by someone behind him as he refused to touch the bag. In fact, they insisted, the first bag of cocaine they put in front of him was too big to even fit in the backpack he was carrying! Later, after the attempt by police to paint him as a street kid on drugs failed, they charged him with burning down a building that he was no where near and as such were no witnesses to place him within miles of the location.

Family asks you to join Amnesty International and may others in the international campaign to free David Venegas: signatures of support and proposals of help and assistance can be sent directly to vocal@riseup.net

For more information on what is happening in Oaxaca, check www.oaxacalibre.org for more information and resources on David’s case.

terday I had a great visit with Yeni Navan/ Michiza (meaning eternal sunrise in the Zapotec Language) in Oaxaca City to discuss purchasing coffee and learn more about their organization. After years of exploitation caused by discrimination of the indigenous populations and evils of the conventional coffee market, the organization was formed to support small-scale producers by finding direct fair trade markets with buyers around the world. Nearly 20 years later they have done just that. Comprised of 932 Indigenous peoples from 42 communities of Mixtecos, Mixes, Chinantecos, Chatinos, Cuicatecos, and Zapotecos decent, they now export nearly 14 containers of coffee to the United States, Australia, and Germany. This will be the first year they are exporting to the U.S. via our importing cooperative, Cooperative Coffees. With the majority of the coffee trees of the typica variety, the growers have been able to consistently produce an extremely well- balanced cup year after year and have created a unique 3 payment system for producers. Each producer is partially paid for his coffee at the beginning of each season - before he even picks the beans. The second payment comes when he delivers the coffee to the cooperative and the third when the cooperative receives final payment from the buyer. This system ensures the producer income throughout the harvest season as opposed to the conventional market which gives a low one-time payment after the harvest.

Michiza has also used its fair trade premiums to provide much needed supplies for the children of growers so they can afford to attend school. The importance of finding alternatives to the conventional market through fair trade was punctuated by Francisco Cruz Sanchez, Secretary of the Board of Directors who stated, ¨The government and its neoliberal economic system has done nothing for us so we must find our öwn path to developing our indigenous communities.¨

Odds are you’ve never heard of San Salvador Atenco. Yet, one year later - the survivors of the police attack on flower vendors and neighboring town of Atenco still await justice for the crimes committed against them. In our ever neoliberalized world, small scale growers and businesses continue to be pushed aside to make way for foreign owned big box transnationals. As was the case in Texcoco a year ago on May 3rd when the police violently attempted to remove flower vendors from the street. The growers and neighboring community of Atenco resisted - demanding that they had a right to sell flowers in their town as they had done for years.The consequences were horrendous. Francisco Javier Cortes Santiago, an unarmed 14 year old boy, was shot in the chest and killed by a police officer. Alexis Benhumea, lay in a coma for hours after being hit by a tear gas canister. The police would not allow an ambulance to reach him and he later died of his wounds. According to the Jesuit Human Rights Center, Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez, 47 women were sexually assaulted by police and dozens tortured. Photographers from major publications were beaten by police for attempting to cover the events. Hundreds of protesters were imprisoned with many still in jail as political prisoners. Yet, no police officer has been relieved from duty or formally charged with a crime!

The 3rd and 4th of May I took to the streets of Mexico City as part of our fair trade tour to participate in the march in support of the political prisoners from San Salvador Atenco and to demand the release of the nearly 400 political prisoners jailed since the start of the Fox administration in 2000. Ok, maybe I didn’t pound the pavement per se as it is illegal under the Mexican Constitution for any foreigner to particpate in demonstrations. Instead I acted as “photographer” and walked side by side with the macheteros, punks, zapatistas, and campesinos, swerving in and out of the hundreds of police that protected the large transnational businesses and conglomerate news publications that litter the main thoroughfare of Mexico City.

Carefully, as I kept my eyes on police photographers that documented the actions of all participants, I witnessed a true struggle for democracy. Thousands convened at the statue of Angel de la Independencia, stopping traffic while marching through the city. Flowers in hand the vendors marched side by side with the machete wielding community of Atenco as they made their way through the city.

While the community and supporters manifested their demands and a caravan from the Other Campaign arrived at the Santiaguita Prison to push for the release of those arrested a year ago, the Calderon administration spit a big luggy in the face of justice - firmly placing the candles on the birthday cake commemorating the one year anniversary of state oppression. Friday, exactly one year after the events in San Salvador Atenco, the Mexican authorities sentenced Ignacio del Valle, Felipe Álvarez and Héctor Galindo, leaders of The United People´s Front to Defend the Land (FPDT), each to 67 years in prison. Even though they were not present when members of their group held state officials captive for half a day before releasing them unharmed to the Red Cross, the Mexican government charged them with kidnapping and made them an example of what happens if you question the authority of the government when working toward community self - determination and social change….

I couldn’t help myself! I pitted the wealthy and elite against the cafe de los trabajadores. The over marketed and trendy vs. the humble and everyday cup.

I journeyed out into the wilds of Mexico City to investigate the coffee scene. My criteria was simple. The cup must have a pleasant and welcoming flavor while the conditions it was produced were sustainable for the grower and most- supportive of the local economy.

When outside the United States, the easiest way to locate the nearest Starbucks is to 1) trace back the steps of anyone in a suit and tie with a coffee cup or 2) find the fanciest hotel in the area where there is more than not - bound to be a Starbucks. So, I did both and found your typical Starbuck’s Cafe outside the Embassy Suite’s hotel on La Reforma. Sitting in the shadow of a monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus, the cafe (one of 70 in Mexico City) greets its customers with a sign on the door that says, “We respect society and the culture of all people.”

Unfortunately, this doesn’t hold true when translated to their coffee offerings. There was no fair trade coffee and they did not serve any Mexican coffee (remember, I am in one of the largest coffee growing countries in the world!)- Of 16 bagged coffees offered only two were Mexican with the vast majority coming all the way from Indonesia. I forked over 19 pesos, more then most Mexican coffee growers earn for a days work, for a Gold Coast Blend. It was bland and nondescript, lacking any character or nuances typical of a great cup.

Tossing it in the trash, I ventured out on the street for a cafe de ola. A traditional coffee made by boiling Mexican coffee with cinnamon. Top it off with milk and you have a wonderful treat full of rich chocolate overtones accentuated with a lasting cinnamon finish. The digs were locally owned and the cup was only 6 pesos, 1/3 the price making it affordable to more Mexicanos and produced by local coffee growers. The coffee of the working people far out-shined its rich and powerful, yet bland competitor across the street! Sipping it as I took in its rich aroma reinforced the notion that true support for the specialty coffee farmer means looking beyond the fanciful and glitz of the latest trends and putting some thought into our cup.

It is the only way we can assure ourself a truly remarkable jolt each morning.