Innovations in Coffee Growing at CoopePalmares R.L. 2015-2016 Crop By Pete Maskiell - The Caffè Umbria Farm Alliance Project was started in 2015 as a way for us to expand our support of the coffee cooperatives we work with. This year’s recipient of our contribution is CoopePalmares R.L. for the purchase of an innovative new coffee plant nursery.In a traditional coffee nursery, individual plants grow in recyclable plastic bags filled with about 4 pounds of soil.  In Costa Rica, common practice is to place two plants next to each other in the same bag, doubling their crop for a yield...

By Stefano Bizzarri - Flying over the ocean of lights that is Lima, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this trip. I had visited coffee farms in Hawaii but I already knew this trip was going to be very different. After a busy first day in Lima involving a distracted taxi driver, frenzied traffic and a missed flight at the tired and overcrowded Lima International Airport, we finally made it to Chiclayo, one of the bigger cities in northern Peru and a major hub for Peruvian coffee. Our first visit was to the Perhusa Dry Mill, where we were...

At the mill in Chiclayo, Peru, these black bags contain parchment coffee (coffee beans that have been processed and dried, but are still encased inside the parchment envelope, the endocarp). Warehousing coffee this way keeps it fresher until it is ready for export. Once sold, these beans will be sent to the mill to be hulled, polished, graded and sorted. Once milled, coffee beans are referred to as ‘green coffee’ and are ready to be shipped to the importing country’s roaster.