Hondurans love coffee, as a morning wake up beverage, in the afternoon for 'cafe-cito' and in the evening after dinner with a little 'pan dulce' or sweet bread. At this time of year coffee has another significance as now it is harvest time.
Many of the people we know here are very involved with growing coffee, either as a property owner, a land manager or a worker who looks toward the seasonal employment at harvest time.
We went with a friend to a mountain property where her family grows coffee. A fungus has devastated many of the coffee plants in Honduras, so they are having to cut down all the existing trees and plant a new resistant variety.
This is a fresh coffee bean with the skin removed to show the pulp around the bean.
We also went to a local "Secadora" or coffee dryer. Here is a local man from the mountains who came in with a sack of fresh coffee beans.
The beans are weighed on a scale before being processed.
The beans are quickly examined and graded before moving on.
Next they are shoveled into the grate and travel underground via conveyor.
First stop for the beans is this giant hopper where they'll wait until there are sufficient beans to process.
There is an amazing amount of huge equipment all well maintained and very clean!
One of the great things here in Honduras is that they don't hesitate to let us climb up on all the equipment to get an an up close view. This machine carefully strips the outer peal and pulp from the bean and then moves it on to the dryer.
These beans are in the dryer and it's a massive machine. At one end is a furnace that you could literally walk in. Interestingly they burn the white coffee hulls for the heat and fans blow it into the beans. This machine drying the beans is at least two stories tall and rotates the beans from top to bottom for an even drying. This is NOT roasting but only the drying process.
At the same place they also dry the beans outside on a concrete slab. This is very common and we see people doing this all over. Even parking lots are used to dry coffee at this time of year. In the picture the two men are turning the beans for even drying.
They also use simple hoop greenhouses with just a common clear plastic stapled to the wood. This is a more effective method than drying on the concrete slab.
Here coffee is drying out in front of a little house in the mountains.
Roasting the coffee is a totally different process. People will dry their coffee to sell to companies who roast the coffee. Some people will roast their own coffee in their home using a round pan over a wood fire.
Seeing the coffee drying outside this time of year is very common for us. Hopefully this has given you a little glimpse into this process and the life of the people here.
Hondurans enjoy their coffee. For many it is also their work. We pray that the Lord blesses their labor and that in their work they see the goodness of the Lord!
Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. Ecclesiastes 5:18
