Cooper & Co
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Child Labour
Dispatches on Channel 4 last night (2/3/20) raised the thorny issue of child labour in coffee being purchased by such behemoths as Starbucks and Nestle from Guatemala. Simply put, the pickers are being paid so little money that families have no choice but to get their kids working from a young age so that they can put food on the table. -
Lessons from Honduras (Part 11)
Every time I visit a country where coffee is grown I am struck by the resilience of those at the very beginning of the coffee journey. You can’t help but have enormous respect for the extraordinary effort that is made to achieve the quality of the coffee that we have the enormous pleasure of consuming. Thankfully Honduras is a coffee drinking nation and can enjoy some of the fruits of their labour. -
Coagriscal and XOL Chocolate Factory (Part 10)
We’re staying in Hotel Bethania, Copan. It’s an odd mix. My “room” is more like an apartment with a huge entrance hall, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Complete overkill but then I didn’t book it so I guess I shouldn’t complain. However for all the surface glamour getting the shower to produce any water, hot or cold proved to be a challenge. Downstairs there was no sign of a breakfast offer. So a coffee and a muffin had to suffice. It reminded me of the slightly risqué term “all fur coat and no knickers!” -
Coffee planet (EXPROCCI) and the Oompa Loompa (Part 9)
Following breakfast, we settled our bills, packed and were on the move again. For the first time we were headed out of the mountains and as we dropped down towards Santa Rosa there was a noticeable rise in both humidity and temperature. -
Omar and the vision (Part 8)
The general manager of Copacus Jose “Omar” Rodriguez wasn’t able to meet with us the previous evening but made up for his omission in spades today. He is as I discovered a devout Christian and I nearly found myself in a church that evening, not something that happens very often if at all on these origin trips.
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San Marcos – Capucas (Part 7)
The breakfast routine had become quite settled and our starts continued to err on the slightly later side as the distance to the processing plant of San Marcos was a matter of minutes by car. -
From Liquidamber to SanMarcos (Part 6)
Another relatively genteel start however Delmy who took us around the COCAFELOL operation yesterday, today wore a different hat namely that of the business owner of her own brand San Marcos. -
COCAFELOL co-operative Monday 10th February (Part 5)
Breakfast consists of loads of fresh fruit and coffee and I can almost feel my body breathe a sigh of relief after all the processed food of the last 24 hours. A gentle 08.30 start in origin terms and we’re off to visit our first coffee processing plant the co-operative COCAFELOL. -
Road trip - San Pedro Sula – Hotel Colonial, Coban (Part 4)
So at some crazy hour of the morning, I set off on the final leg of this endurance test of a trip. Yoly was at the wheel and her dad remained steadfastly on the back seat. The roads were absolutely dead and we made good progress eating into our 4-hour marathon. Almost imperceptively we gained altitude as we headed towards the coffee growing territory. -
London – New York - San Pedro Sula, Honduras (Part 3)
I can’t believe how smoothly the journey has gone so far. The connection between Gatwick and Heathrow went like a dream. I’ve missed flights in the past because of that apparently simple link, but today the coffee gods are with me. At Heathrow once again the flight was on time and left ahead of schedule. The “toothpastegate” issue at Jersey airport turned out to be a minor skirmish! -
Honduras - Carbon Footprint and Coronavirus (Part 2)
I left Jersey at precisely 14.00 on a pristine and gorgeously sunny spring day, the proverbial calm before the storm predicted for the following day. I’m off on my next coffee adventure to Honduras a mere 5,500 miles away but I wonder if the days of the “origin” visit are numbered? How do I now justify the inevitable carbon footprint this journey will make? I’d probably struggle to look a certain Greta Thunberg in the eye as I claimed there was a greater good in this journey.
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Honduras - Gangs, Violence and Coffee (Part 1)
Having abstained in 2019 from visiting a coffee origin, I’m pleased to announce that my coffee adventures will re-commence in 2020 with a visit in February to Honduras.
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