Thursday, May 31 – Day 3: Coffee Commercialization at the Co-Operative
Blog by Catherine Meyer

Today we headed off to la Cooperativa de Caficultores de Andes – “punto de servicio de compras de café” where farmers can sell the coffee beans they have grown, harvested and dried at their own farms.
Before a single bean is bought, employees from the mill run an entire battery of tests here on the coffee to ensure its quality. The mill employees sort through each bean in order to separate the damaged ones (by insects, fungus, the de-pulping process, etc.) from those that are of high quality. Afterward, they formulate a percentage that will show whether or not the farmer’s coffee meets Nespresso’s strict standards, and how much the co-op is willing to pay for the beans (the price fluctuates daily, much like that of ever-changing gasoline prices).

After bean density and humidity tests, the next step in the Co-Op’s testing process is sensory evaluation. Nespresso has employed a person whose sole responsibility is to taste and smell cups of coffee from each farmer’s batch. Orlando, the leader of our tasting class, samples up to 300 cups of coffee each day. In just one whiff he can pinpoint any and all exact defects caused by as few as one single bad bean that may have made its way into the roasted and ground coffee. I watched in awe as he took a single sniff from a cup and told me that the coffee contained bean(s) that were kept too long at the farm before they were sold, inhibiting their freshness and often contributing to a fermented/fungal defect.

Nespresso is so dedicated to precision, that Orlando even uses a special spoon to taste the coffee during this process. He used his spoon, made of pure silver personally engraved, to carefully part the foam on top of the coffee cup, break open the notes by twirling the mug’s contents close to his nose. His technique was very delicate, but his dainty demeanor quickly changed as he began to slurp up the coffee, swish it around his mouth as though he had just taken a gulp of mouthwash, and spit it into a bucket. We each took turns trying to emulate Orlando’s technique, and after much smelling and tasting it became easier to understand which cups contained a higher quality of coffee than the rest. In the end, Orlando approved only two batches of coffee to be sold to Nespresso out of the six we tried this afternoon.

Today I was continually was impressed by how thorough Nespresso’s quality control process is, and learned that this is just the beginning of an entirely different set of tests each coffee bean will endure before it is allowed to make its way into your cup. Now when I reach for a Nespresso capsule at my office in New York City, I will have an entirely new appreciation for how much time, thought and care went into those few little grounds, which help kick start my day each morning.

Tuesday, May 29 – Day 1 of Colombia Coffee Project
Blog by Annika Horn

Waking up early to green Jardín, in the heart of Antioquia (one of Colombia’s 32 departments) was like waking up on Christmas morning. Our Colombian experience was finally about to begin. We young explorers are as excited as children about to unwrap the shiny gifts awaiting us under the tree. We have no idea what to expect here, but we are certain that what awaits will be unlike anything any of us have ever experienced.

We assembled together for a morning meeting at the Hacienda Balandu where we had spent the night. After a filling breakfast complete with hot chocolate (the traditional morning beverage in Colombia) we learned from Santiago Arango, Nespresso South America Green Coffee Project Manager, that each one of us young explorers would be allocated to a different farm in Jardín. (Our very own coffee farm!) We will spend the next three days apart from each other, living the life of our Colombian coffee farmer who had each generously volunteered to host us in his home.

After the meeting, the Nespresso coffee technician team arrived in a fleet of rugged turquoise Jeeps for introductions and distribution of wellington boots, ponchos, and bug spray. With a final wave goodbye to my fellow young explorers, we went our separate ways. After a long bumpy ride deep into remote green canopies, I finally arrived to my home sweet farm. My host farmer’s name is Fabio; he was waiting for me with the biggest welcoming smile I had ever seen. As I hopped off the truck, Fabio helped me with my luggage and showed me to my room.

Fabio is a 36-year-old coffee farmer, who has been living alone, working on his “finca” (Spanish for “farm”) since the age of 14. He owned the most adorable little house, so much different than what I was expecting. It was just two bedrooms, with a kitchen and a minuscule bathroom. The walls were painted in a sky-like blue and Fabio’s designated color for his cement floor was a bright yellow — which reminded me of a shining sun. His little finca looked like paradise on earth, his front yard had been freshly cut, his goats were munching away happily and a 2-week old puppy was following me curiously. The gay and joyful colors of his tropical looking flowers were a pleasure to observe. The air I was breathing was fresh and clean and nature’s quietness that surrounded me was pure delight to my ears. Amongst the full-sensory bliss, what struck me most was the view. The scenery was mind blowing; through all of my travels, my eyes had never seen such beauty. The green mountains were standing tall and proud in the distance, rolling hills were covered with never ending coffee fields, exotic trees and every squares of colorful little fincas could be spotted against bright blue skies. The clouds that rolled in looked dramatic and intimidating as the heavens threatened rain not far in the distance.

Once the beauty before me had finally soaked in, I regained my senses and went off with Fabio into the fields to pick my first coffee cherries. He gave me a poncho, a sombrero, a bucket to tie around my waist and a few instructions about the picking process. Then we were off! I was told to pick the red ripe cherries amongst the green ones and I had to make sure I didn’t miss a single one. Because for Fabio — as for every other farmer in this region of Colombia — every single coffee bean counts.

As we were picking, Fabio and I couldn’t stop chatting. We were comparing our lives, from the food we eat, to the clothes we wear, passing through short descriptions of our homes, our jobs, our pets, our religions, our families, our houses, and daily habits. As excepted, we had not much in common in the details, but for one all-important exception, we were both happy and perfectly satisfied people. I was amazed by Fabio, he had so little yet he was so proud of his life and especially of his finca, and I was delighted at his impatience to share every single detail with me.

Blog written by NaÄ‘a VUKAŠINOVIĆ, Serbia, 15 (Pangaea Africa Expedition Young Explorer)

Today is the day we left Kraljevo and went to Tara! After three-hour drive during which we payed a visit to Drvengrad, we finally arrived at Tara National Park.

Amazing landscapes welcomed us with one of the park rangers Ranko. We talked about the eco-camp with him for a while and then started discovering the beauties of the National park. Our destination for today was a nearby lake called Zaovine. Freezing water didn´t stop us from swimming, kayaking and playing volleyball on the coast was great and we had a lot of fun.

With two inflatable boats, we went around the lake and managed to explore its coast. We swam from one coast to another and played around in the water. They say that when you have fun, time flies. Maybe that´s the reason we barely noticed the sun setting behind the mountains, perfect ending to a perfect day. And our last team member, Luana, joined us. We’re all happy that she’s here now.

Blog written by Rebecca BERKER, Germany, 18 (Pangaea Mongolia Selection Camp Young Explorer) and Magdalena 'Leni' GRUENDL, Germany, 20 (Pangaea Mongolia Expedition Young Explorer)

“Seeing our 16 Eco-kids talk to most of the students from the school about recycling made me cry for joy and really believe that we, the youths of today can make a difference. “ Our last day here in Kraljevo could not have been any better. Today we were interacting a lot with the students, mainly with the 16 eco camp participants. But let’s start from the beginning…

So we all gathered in the morning to get to know the participants better. We started off with a short introduction game, followed by a lively discussion about local environmental problems and solutions. Waste management and reducing the amount of trash are the biggest problems of the city. We were surprised how carefully the children observe their environment and how much they know.  They suggested a lot of valuable solutions like installing a recycling system at the school and raising awareness by talking to their own classmates first and then spreading the message in the whole city.

In order to show the importance of taking action we opened one rubbish bin to see its content and to recycle PET bottles from the other trash. Since the kids were participating so actively and eager to act straight away we had the idea to immediately try to convince their peers about recycling. Before spreading out to all classes that where at the school at that moment we practiced how to motivate others to join the green movement of recycling. Then they turned everything they have learned into action while talking either one by one or in front of a class of students. Their enthusiasm and passion for the environment was awesome to see and they managed to create an amazing atmosphere despite the short training they had. Their peers were very interested and moved by the examples they gave, and our Eco-kids where even more motivated to act by their success and positive feedback.

“That is when I realized that there is nothing better than a smile on a kids face. And seeing our 16 youngsters talking to more than 27 classes and convincing more than 750 in total to recycle made me cry for joy and really believe that we, the youths of today can make a difference.” 
“In order to do so we must share our passion with the young people and plant the seed in their mind so that it can grow.”

After a short evaluation and eating well-deserved cookies we worked out a concept on how to start an Act Project.  Finding and getting sponsors seems to be the biggest problem. We did another role-game but this time they had to either sell a useless article or convince a sponsor to donate money for his own trip during the summer holidays. The kids where highly motivated and came up with creative ideas and the more we practiced the more professional and comfortable everyone got. 

With no doubt this has been a very successful day that exceeded all our expectations and we are all looking forward to meet up with the excited kids in a few days in Tara to spend 5 days exploring and learning about the beautiful area.

We were kindly invited out for dinner by Marina, the school principal. When the table was fully packed with all kinds of delicious Serbian food and we thought that this is the main meal, we were told that we’re only eating the starters. This continued and more and more delicious food came. I think we now all have quite a good idea what a “real” Serbian dinner looks like and we all enjoyed it a lot. Thanks for the invitation! Tomorrow morning we’ll now leave for the National Park…