WATTS WORKS - GREETINGS FROM OAXACA

Hola,

Many warm wishes from Oaxaca, Mexico… literally. I’ll do what I can to bring this weather back with me when I return to Chicago next week, but of course, I cannot promise much as my “Sun Dance” moves are a bit rusty these days. Still, I will try. If you read any news reports about odd public displays in the Zocolo, just pretend you didn’t read this and go about your day.

A rooftop drying patio.

This has been a great trip thus far, in one of those full-circle kinds of ways. La Perla de Oaxaca was our first ever Intelligentsia Mark, and it remains one of our most beloved coffees. It was six years ago when we first visited San Agustin Loxicha, and I can still credit that trip for opening my eyes to the possibilities that exist in the coffee business. Better quality, full traceability, transparency in business, real sustainability and the ability to support practices that preserve the integrity of our natural environment... in other words, the foundations of the Direct Trade model that guides and measures our efforts to help build a better industry.

Since that time six years ago, we’ve worked with a variety of different producer groups here in Mexico, and tomorrow I’ll be returning to the place it all started. A lot has changed since then, and every year has seen further evolution in our understanding of how the coffee trade can be re-made in a way that elevates the taste in the cup to the highest of priorities while giving producers an alternative to the historically inequitable commodities market and erasing the anonymity that was endemic to the industry in the past. Along the way we’ve established Direct Trade relationships in more than a dozen countries, and my efforts this week are all directed towards bringing the creation process of La Perla up to the vanguard.

Cupping individual producer lots, pure and unblended, is critical to our ability to give constructive feedback to each and every contributing member of the coop and help them identify ways to increase the quality of their crop. It is a process that is exxxtreeemeeely time consuming—just ask EJ (our quality control head) how much time it takes to sort through hundreds of tiny lots of coffee (some only 20 lbs!) in the effort to put together almost 80,000 lbs! Or ask KC (our Latin American specialist) how long it takes to analyze countless pages of data to generate meaningful advice that we can transmit back to the farmers. Or think for a minute about the logistical challenges in transitioning from coffee management that has traditionally been handled in bulk to a farmer-by-farmer quality control system. It’s daunting...but the good news is that CEPCO, our coop partner here in Oaxaca, is excited about what this can mean and seem ready to take on the challenge. Suffice to say I’m thrilled at the moment, and I hereby dedicate this next sip of Mezcal... [long pause]... to the continuing development of La Perla.

Talk to you soon,

Geoff