Café y Chocolate

Six espressos later (over a two-day period), I am buzzing not just from the caffeine. My project on sustainable shade-grown coffee began with a meeting at the Agroecological Center for Coffee (CAFECOL), an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to promoting sustainable coffee production in Veracruz. I met with the Director Dr. Gerardo Hernández Martínez, researcher Fany Escamilla Femat, and Dr. Robert Manson from the Institute of Ecology (INECOL). They were eager to have an economist at the table to bounce ideas. For the Mexican coffee industry to become more competitive in the global market, there is a need to improve production in terms of volume and quality. CAFECOL has done considerable efforts in terms of leading workshops and providing land management training to the coffee farmers. Their next step is to conduct a thorough economic analysis on marketing opportunities and price mechanisms. It was a fairly productive conversation until the point when they asked about coffee futures. Sadly, even my background in economics could not answer how to stop speculations from cutting into the profit margin of the small producer.

On the way back, I nearly caused a traffic accident in crossing the street to a chocolate shop called “Schatz.” It is rare to find a high-end chocolate shop in Mexico, but to my disappointment they import their chocolate from Belgium. I sampled the two truffles with a more Mexican flare: tequila and café.