Retreat!!!

 Ahh... a good old patio.  This is where we spent most of our time at our most recent retreat at the Coffee Finca (plantation) Santa Elena outside of Quetzaltenango.  Before coming we read a book called Silence on the Mountain on the history of coffee fincas and the attempted (and then violent) Agrarian reform just decades ago.  
We did get to do some physical labor also, and learn about the coffee production process:

From bush to basket.  This day the workers were picking Robusto coffee.   To the untrained eye, there are green and red berries, but to those for whom coffee is life, there are many shades in between...including yellow (??).  We ended up only picking the red.



These were my teachers.  While we were picking, Mari, on the right, began to hum 'I have decided to follow Jesus' (she was humming in Spanish :)  I started to whistle the tune and she asked me if I was 'evangelica' (aka protestant).  I said yes, Presybterian, although it was a little different here than...  Before I could finish she said, "Yeah.. but there's only one God."  Yep.  There's only one God.  Then we sang together:
He decidido seguir a Cristo
He decidido seguir a Cristo
He decidido seguir a Cristo
No voy atras.  No voy atras. 



From basket to bag.  Families work all day to fill these bags and at the height of coffee season, get paid 40 quetzales ($5.00) per 100 pounds.  This is much better than what it used to be, but still under Guatemalan minimum wage. 



The bags are brought back in a truck and workers walk back to begin sorting the beans...or join in on a game of futbol.

After sorted, leaving some out to fullen ripen, the beans are sent through a pulping process where quality control is done by sinking and floating (good beans sink, bad beans float).   I'm obvioulsy not an expert on this, but after many steps, the 'cafe de oro', or just the unroasted seed is left.



The cafe en oro is spread out to dry naturally for a day,  and then heads to a tumbler to release the rest of the humity. 
From here, this particular coffe is sold--mostly exported.  And THEN starts the roasting and the blending, probably more shipping and the brewing!  Hope that this small insight to the process helps you appreciate your next cup of Starbucks and perhaps is an inspiration to become an educated consumer. 
For more information on this particular finca you can visit http://www.fincasantaelena.com/.