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An ‘eye opening’ tour of Honduras

Posted on August 30, 2007 by Staff

By Jack Carley
Staff Writer

Scott Conary knows coffee. He knows it well enough to be head judge for the World Barista Competition in Tokyo – which is like the Olympics, only more aromatic.

The co-owner of the Open Eye Cafe knows it well enough to teach to even the people who actually grow coffee what it takes to make a good cup. And for 16 days in Honduras, that’s what he did.

Conary was flown to the Honduran mainland in late June. A grant from USAID, organized by Winrock International, a non-profit working toward economic development, covered the flight and rooming expenses.

There, in coordination with IHCAFE, the Honduran Coffee Association, he toured coffee-growing regions dispensing advice on how to prepare the perfect bean and brew the perfect espresso.

Conary explains, “It was an overview of the entire coffee industry of Honduras.
“I spent 14-hour days just constantly going from one place to the next. Every day.”

Conary was helping small growers understand what he called “the connection
between process and product.”

“They know growing, they know milling, the only thing they’re missing is the connection of what they’re doing and what it means in the end.”

Because stock markets treat coffee as a commodity, farmers have less incentive to prepare quality beans, Conary explains. “There’s really no connection to quality … it’s just market-driven price. That’s the disconnect that farmers have.”

Because he also co-owns the Carrboro Coffee Company, the roasting wing of the Open Eye (you may have smelled it in the mornings), Conary was able to help small farmers roasting with relatively basic equipment.

“I was amazed at the stuff I saw and what people were doing with it,” he said, “they’re completely winging it.” But by helping small producers find better equipment — and making a few quick fixes here and there — Conary hopes to help.
Ironically, Conary says, Hondurans don’t drink the best coffee.

“They grow it, they sell it, it gets shipped out of the country…. Whatever’s left, that’s what they drink. So they have no idea — the best coffee is gone.”

And with the best being exported, the culture of coffee shops has had trouble in developing countries. Conary taught classes in brewing espresso to the growing “café culture,” in Honduras, where rising baristas are improving their techniques and their beans.

The work also has a social aspect. If farmers can’t make enough money to keep farming, they are more likely to move to large cities that cannot support them.

Slums without proper infrastructure for sanitation and other basic needs are the inevitable result.

“People are migrating to the cities because, generally, they’re not making the money they need farming. And that’s part of our goal, too – to prevent that kind of thing from happening … to get people to stay in their communities and farm them.”

Conary says he will return in the picking season (in Honduras, November to February) and continue the work.

3 thoughts on “An ‘eye opening’ tour of Honduras”

  1. Pingback: Rulablog » An ‘eye opening’ tour of Honduras (The Carrboro Citizen)
  2. Pingback: Much to do today…so little time « Bean Chaser
  3. Pingback: Cupping with one of the World’s Best « Bean Chaser

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