How coffee gets from my back yard to your cup

Hello again dear reader,

So as a teaser (and since I wasn't able to put all my pictures from an update into one blog) I've decided to post a few separate updates.  This one is focused on coffee and its production since that is what truly comes out of the mountains of northern Nicaragua where I live.  Once again mainly pictures :)


These first four photos are my attempt at panoramic shots that I've taken of vantage points I've seen in the adventures through the mountains.  These are where the coffee farms are located and this is where I get to do a majority of my work:

Mountains full of coffee or as it was explained to me "This side goes to Starbucks, and this side goes to Folgers"

The coffee bean before it is mature

Coffee that is maturing

The coffee is picked by migrant worker, placed into a machine that removes the shell and allowed to ferment in pits like this one for a day

The water is drained out and the coffee is pushed down shoots with fresh water to separate

The flowing water carries the empty shells with it leaving the seeds

Empty shells collecting at one of the many separation gates

I've taken some friends advice and started editing some of my photos, this is a good example

The coffee is then collected and placed to dry on long drying tables that also sift out unwanted produce

Migrant workers moving coffee

The coffee is then placed in sacks to the taken to a central collection area

I've spent a couple of days working on the farms doing the lifting and what not, those sacks weight around 200 pounds

This is coffee that hasn't been shelled that will be toasted for local consumption

One of the farm owners sons tired after a day of work and his puppy who doesn't want to stop playing

The coffee is taken to a central location where it is placed out on long toasting slabs and flipped regularly

Toasting coffee

More edited shots, but the coffee does look amazing

The beans are then washed one last time, dried, and ground to make coffee which is packaged and shipped...this is the BEST coffee I've ever had in my life

My friend I stay with when I go way out into the mountains tells me how much he likes his life here because he has no worries, everything he needs is provided for around him, is demonstration he went to get me some milk straight from a cow in the early morning.

My friend Adolfo giving me a glass of amazing milk

And that my friends is coffee.  For those of you caffeine addicts who want a cheap vacation, feel free to come visit, you wont regret it.

A lot more posts to follow.

Thanks for reading,

Nish