Coffee
Study Tour Highlights
- Learn where coffee comes from and meet
the people who grow it
- Learn what geographic factors
influence the location and flavor of coffee
- Learn how to prepare a perfect cup of
coffee
- Learn the difference between
shade-grown and sun-grown coffee
- Learn about the colonial background of
the world coffee economy
- Prepare and enjoy traditional
Nicaraguan foods
- Visit post-earthquake, post-revolution
Managua
- Hike to waterfalls
- Visit an active volcano
- See tropical plants and animals
- Compare fair-trade and mainstream
coffee farms
- Meet workers from several kinds of
farms
- Participate in a “cupping,” where
exporters assign grades to coffee and growers learn how to improve the
next crop
- Listen to Sinatra’s “Coffee Song,” and
then hear a ska version!
- Best of all, harvest shade-grown
coffee in on of Central America’s
most important growing regions!
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January 3
Overnight
Managua
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Traveling from Boston to Managua, via
Miami International Airport, the "Capital of Latin America" |
January 4
Managua
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Tour of Managua, including the Museo
Nacional, revolutionary monuments, and early human footprints
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January 5
Managua
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Travel to the villages of the plateau
Meseta de los Pueblos, the city of Masaya, and the Masaya volcanoes
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January 6
Matagalpa
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Travel to the city of Matagalpa, the heart
of Nicaragua's coffee country, meeting with the national farmers and
ranchers union, and visiting the Coffee Museum
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January 7
La Corona
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Introductory talk by CECOCAFEN, the
Organization of Northern Coffee Cooperatives, followed by travel to the
coffee-growing community of La Corona, a farm tour, and introduction to
host families
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January 8
La Corona
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Coffee harvest, traditional cooking
lessons, forest hike, a visit to hacienda workers in Barrio Nuevo, and
farewell dinner with a performance by local youth
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January 9
Matagalpa
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Visit to nearby community, women's
cooperative coffee farm, and natural medicine, before returning to
Matagalpa
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January 10
Matagalpa
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Visit large-scale farm and meet with its
owner, and then an ecological farm and a presentation on the
campesino-a-campesino program, followed by a group meeting
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January 11
Finca
Esperanza Verde
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Meet with farm workers union and then
visit a coffee processing plant for tour and cupping ,
before departing for Finca Esperanza Verde (Green Hope Farm), a retreat
with coffee, waterfalls, rainforest walks, and a butterfly house
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January 12
Finca
Esperanza Verde
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A day to explore Finca Esperanza Verde,
enjoy local foods and juices, and meet as a group to reflect on what we
have learned
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January 13
Boston
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Wake up in the mountains of Matagalpa, go
to sleep in Greater Boston! (brrrrr)
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