Hi, I’m MikaElla Pamaran and I was today’s Lider del Dia for Global Business.
Two of Nicaragua’s major exports are coffee and chocolate. Today, we visited Soppexca, a cooperative in Jinotega that produces coffee and chocolate. We started our morning by walking to Soppexca. Once we arrived, we all sat down for a morning coffee. Most of us had Cafe Helados (Iced Coffee), while some had unknown drinks like Bombons. We then split into two groups for coffee sampling and chocolate making.
I was a part of the group that started with chocolate making. We learned that Soppexca is actually fairly new to chocolate making compared to their coffee brewing. A couple of employees showed us the process of how cacao is made into chocolate. The cacao beans are first put into a roaster that heats it up to 150 degrees celcius. The roasted beans are then put into a Willy Wonka style machine that separates bean and the shell. The beans are ground down and heated 3 times until being mixed with sugar. Once the beans and sugar are melted together, the chocolate is finally made. Soppexca premade some chocolate for us so we could create our own chocolate bars. We each made five bars, purposefully spilling the chocolate so we could lick our fingers. We were like little kids in a candy store, literally. Soppexca had boxes and boxes of chocolates we could buy. Taking a break from our sugar rush, my group made its way to sample coffee.
The coffee sampling was a bit of a shocker to the group. The barista, Manuel, presented us with the process of coffee making. The bean is initially encased in a shell. After, the bean and shell are separated. Once separated, the bean is roasted to a dark brown. Manuel then had us smell 3 different bowls of coffee beans. They all smelled different but were actually all the same bean. Manuel explained that coffee beans are scaled for their quality by acidity, aroma, aftertaste, and bitterness. Even if they’re the same, they can taste or smell differently because of the climate, location, and impurities it gets exposed to while growing. Tasting coffee comes with 3 steps: infusing, breaking, and cleaning. Infusing meant adding the ground coffee to the hot water. Breaking the coffee meant to mix the coffee settled at the top and push it down to the bottom of the cup. Cleaning the coffee mean to scoop out the foam. With these preliminary steps finished, we finally got to sample the coffee. Sampling the coffee consisted of taking a huge slurp of coffee, making it reach the back of your throat, and spitting it into a cup. This step is repeated three times: when the coffee is hot, warm, and cold. The group’s favorite part was definitely taking pictures of each other while we spit into cups.
Global Business was a day that everyone looked forward to and enjoyed. I’m pretty sure all of us never want to go back to Hershey’s ever again.a
We are thrilled to follow your trip, and know that all are having such a great experience. We can’t wait to hear all about it in person!
Courtenay, Matthew emailed us a few minutes ago that you need a ride to Davis Thursday night. We have plenty of room and would love to bring you home. Please count on it; it is the least we can do.
We will see you at the airport Thursday night!
Thanks so much for offering to give me a ride home. We will see you soon…Courtenay
Yum, yum, yum! I knew coffee was a big industry for Nicaragua, but I didn’t know about the chocolate. How fun to make your own bars. I would have been right there with you licking my fingers :o) I bet the chocolate and coffee smells were very welcome after your day on the farm LOL
It was interesting to hear the process for both the coffee and the cocoa beans and to learn that coffee beans can be so different even though they are the same kind. I guess that kind of explains how so many coffee beans taste so different. Yes, you are all becoming quite the coffee drinkers.
Lol, Thea the chocolate maker! Following in your dad’s old footsteps, eh? Hehe
What a great opportunity to see the chocolate making process, it’s actually a lot more complicated than one would think, it usually gives you a greater appreciation for that Hershey Bar after seeing all the steps in the chocolate making process. I worked for awhile as a chocolate roaster while Thea was a toddler and was excited when I found out that you Glimpsers were able to visit the factory in Nicaragua. Did they discuss the type of beans or the name of the beans you had a chance to see? Are they using the winnowed shells as mulch in their gardens? Are they pressing the liquor into cake to gring into cocoa powder? I can’t wait to hear the stories and see the photos from the trip.