Day 3: Alamor and “Natural” Processed Coffee

Typical Landscape

On our final day in Ecuador was spent in Alamor, close to the world famous petrified forest in Puyango. We travelled to a relatively low lying village and this was my first experience with ‘Natural’ processed coffee.

The natural process means that, instead of the coffee beans being squeezed out of their cherry (pulped) then washed and dried, the cherry with the beans inside is left to dry in the sun. If done correctly this method can produce some excellent coffee, on the other hand it is often used to cover up a multitude problems.

As we approached the village on a rough road, all around we could see multicoloured cherries (mainly green) drying on flat pieces of earth. This is a classic example of farmers picking anything, whether it is ripe or not, and processing it for a quick sale. 

Visiting the farms, it is understandable why this happens. There is a relatively short ‘window’ when farmers can pick their crop before the weather changes and the beans start to rot on the trees. With a very limited number of people to pick the coffee and no money to pay others, all a farmer can do is pick what and when he can.

Coffee dried in its cherry tends to pick up the flavours that are around it, here in Ecuador they do not have any money to lay concrete patios so coffee dries on the earth and takes up the classic earthy taste of a poor quality, naturally processed bean.

This was a very interesting trip. I learned a lot about how Fairtrade coffee is produced and understand its advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately, unless I can source an exceptional lot, produced by a single farmer or focused group of small-holders, it is unlikely we will buy from Ecuador for Grumpy Mule in the near future.

We will however keep working with our colleagues because I believe that we can help the farmers I met to produce better coffee and have a better standard of living into the future. I have produced a separate report detailing more on the system for Fairtrade coffee in both Ecuador and Peru.