AUDIO: Cup of Fair Trade Competition ( mp3)
SLIDE-SHOW: Slurping a Cup of Fair Trade
ESSAY belwo
Slurping a Cup of Fair Trade- Essay by Gary Howe
From Bolivia’s high altitude capital of La Paz to it’s coffee growing mecca, a small town called Caranavi in the Yungas valley, you descend 11,000 feet along what has been named the world’s most dangerous road by the Inter American Development Bank. Hundreds of people a year plunge to their deaths down cliffs that border the single lane highway. I took this journey to witness the “Cup of Fair Trade Coffee”, which is a coffee cupping competition that was held this past September 2006. The aptly named “Death Road” is just one of many hurdles the Bolivian coffee growers must overcome in order to reach consumer markets in N. American and Europe
What the world calls the “road of death”; Bolivian coffee producers call the “road of life”.
I traveled with Michigan based Coffee Roaster Chris Treter, of Higher Grounds Trading Co. He said the competition’s emphasis on small, fair trade growers, made it the first cupping competition of its kind. The goal was to create an avenue for small-scale Bolivian coffee cooperatives to bring attention to the quality of their beans. This is a long-term project to create relationships between the importers and the 
growers.
“As a result of the U.S. government pulling out of the U.S.A.I.D funded Cup of Excellence program, the Fair Trade farmers along with some organizations in the United States and Canada are funding a project to have a cupping competition,” Chris Treter said at the beginning of the four day event. “This is focusing on the small scale grower that does not have access to a market. This event is smaller in the sense that it is driven by the growers and the roasters and it’s creating partially the same means of identifying higher quality.”
During cupping competitions the best samples are identified and described by professional cuppers from around the world. These events help to improve sales by raising the profile of a region’s coffee economy and educate farmers, and roasters, about coffee quality. Treter attended to learn what Bolivian coffee has to offer and also to strengthen his relationship with the coffee producers in this expanding market.
“This is educating the roaster in the difference between coffees in Bolivia,” Treter explained. “This process is more looking at the long term and identifying trends in quality and then working with producers to produce a quality coffee every year.”
Cupping events such as this one help buyers distinguish between the unique coffees of a given region. “Some roasters want a coffee that has a lighter body rather than a fuller body, or has nuances of chocolate rather than nuances of vanilla,” Treter said about the international interest in cupping events. “Roasters can then identify those aspects of that particular coffee and hopefully in the future create relationships with those growers.” Eight other coffee roasters from North America and New Zeeland joined Treter at Cup of Fair Trade Coffee event.
So, what is a coffee cupping competition? It’s like wine tasting, only with coffee. And instead of wine aficionados, you have coffee connoisseurs who grade the coffees. Experienced coffee cuppers can distinguish between many different aromatic differences like sweet citrus fruits, creamy vanillas and earthy chocolates, for which Bolivian coffee is known. To make the September event a success, the organizers brought in a renowned cupping expert, Mané Alves from Coffee Lab International. As one of the most discriminating cuppers in the world, Alves guides importers as they choose the best quality coffeees for their particular markets. At this cupping event, all the cuppers compared their own findings to his.
“This is always a learning experience for everybody,” said Alves. “I’ve never tried Bolivian coffee so this is a very good”
During a cupping session there is a quiet stillness to the room that is broken only by the sounds of cuppers sniffing, slurping, and spitting. The entire session is formatted to ensure a consistency from cup to cup, and coffee to coffee. As they go back and forth between the coffees, cuppers evaluate the coffees according to visual, aromatic and flavor characteristics. They then grade and describe each coffee on a scorecard. After days of cupping, judges compare cup profiles under the guidance of Alves to ensure consistency in cupping reports. Where one cupper may taste a hint of grapefruit, another may be struggling with a sense of cheese flavor.
After four days of sniffing and slurping over 150, coffees the cuppers narrowed down the competition to the best 10. Then final evaluations were made and descriptions attached. These descriptions will be used for marketing the coffee. Some markets, for instance, call for a more chocolate flavor. Others want a more fruity flavor.
One thing unique to the Cup of Fair Trade was the significance it had for the town of Caranavi and the surrounding coffee growing region. The region’s population is mostly Aymara indigenous communities and, like elsewhere in Bolivia, traditional music is an important part of ceremonies and the receiving of guests. On the night of the last day of the competition, coffee producers arrived by vanloads to see how their beans placed, and as well as to meet some of the buyers like Treter. Many cooperatives came with their community band and played at the closing ceremony held in Caranavi’s soccer stadium. Over 2000 people gathered for speeches, award ceremonies, music and dances.
The Cup of Fair Trade Coffee is not without its politics. The competition filled a vacuum created by the cancellation of an annual U.S.A.I.D. funded cupping event. According to many Fair Trade importers, the U.S.A.I.D. pulled its support from Bolivia due to policies by Bolivian president Evo Morales. Many coffee growers are also coca plant producers, and Morales has refused to enforce a United States request that Bolivia stop growing coca. As our driver told us on our drive, the coca leaves are a highly treasured part of the Bolivian culture and economy. Our driver explained that when someone chews coca, they don’t feel drugged or sleepy, and they can go all day without eating.
There is a deep connection between the coca plant and coffee. Coffee farmers are particularly vulnerable to the fluctuating rise and fall of commodity prices. In the last decade, despite the rise of the $80-billion a year retail coffee industry, little of the profit has filtered down to the producers. They use the coca plant, as a much-needed source of extra income.
The Fair Trade market, which buys organic coffee at a minimum of $1.41, is at its best when developing long term relationships with producers to improve bean quality and reach out across the standard buyer producer relationship. Recent criticism, in the Economist and Reason Magazine, of the Fair Trade importing model as protectionist and supporting inferior quality coffee seems to have missed the point of relationships that many Fair Trade importers have with the producers they purchase from. Cupping competitions like the Cup of Fair Trade focus attention on the fact that many of the finest coffees on the market are grown on small-family owned farms. Many of these farms would not survive without cooperative marketing and buyers willing to make a long-term commitment to local community development.
Organizations involved with the Cup of Fair Trade include:
- FECAFEB (the Federation of Bolivian Coffee Exporters)
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