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Dear friends,

I am finishing this newsletter today October 22, 2001, for a very special reason. Today is my grandfather’s birthday. If he was still alive, this date would mark his 92nd birthday. This year on December 28th will also mark 20 years since his departure from this world. The memory of my grandfather has been instrumental in the development of this small company called Aroma Nica. It began following the footsteps of his love of coffee and his desire to elevate his poor community to a better life.

Although I was quite small when my grandfather died, I was only 9 years old, memories of my time with him and the reality of what he left behind have fueled my passion for coffee. The memories & legacy he left, are so strong, that even after 20 years, he is still very much with me. His presence is felt in every corner of the farm. Everything he built is a reminder of the hard work he loved, and every person who tells you a story about him is the greatest tribute to his humanity and generosity.

In honour to him, my father decided to prepare this year, La Reserva del Patron. This is a very special coffee, prepared just like my great-grandfather, and my grandfather did in their times. Let me tell you the story behind it.

This goes back to the times of my great-grandfather, Luis Fiallos Padilla. During the years of 1920 to 1930, coffee was dried in its fruit after picking. Once the coffee was dried, it was hulled in big wooden boxes with what looked like a big wooden hammer. The family would reserve the coffee that was picked at its peak of ripeness and prepare it this way to consume throughout the year. This is what was referred to as “La Reserva del Patron”.

When pulping machines were introduced at the end of the 1930s, the red cherries were then pulped and washed for exportation, and the green cherries (picked at the end of the harvest), were processed using the natural method. However, La Reserva del Patron was still processed in the traditional natural way and using exclusively red cherries for it.

You can look forward to tasting some of this history in the coming crop.

Café Las Sabanas, a grower’s story!
Alberto Mendez & Elma Gonzales

Elma Gonzales was raised by a single mother in a near by coffee farm belonging to Mr. Ruben Padilla, one of the oldest families in our village. When Elma and Alberto got married, her mother gave her a small piece of Land for her and her new husband to work as a wedding gift.

Alberto & Elma have worked and sacrificed themselves for their small piece of land, which is barely two acres. They fought against the Sandinista’s invasion of their land, prayed as Hurricane Mitch water destroyed farms not far away from theirs, and struggled with the usual surprises nature throws at them. In spite of all of this, they have managed to create a beautiful coffee farm. Their farm is in a slope on the side of the road. A lush gardens of roses, sunflowers, carnations, hibiscus, mums, irises, and white lilies welcomes you in. As you walk through this garden you come to their humble home. It is made of mud walls and mud floors.

Their farm is called “ El Chaguite” the name comes from the many natural springs ( chaguites) found in their small farm. The ducks and chickens, bananas and oranges also add to the beauty of El Chaguite.

Their relationship with Aroma Nica begins after Hurricane Mitch. Alberto was one of the many growers to join our program. Alberto who can’t read or write, participated to the best of his ability in the seminars, and he received 2000 coffee plants to improve his plantation. This past January when I visited them, the seedlings had grown to beautiful yellow catuai bushes.

Alberto & Elma have 8 children. Four of which still live with them and four are away working in other coffee farms in the Matagalpa region. She looks after two grandchildren who are already great coffee pickers. This family picks their own coffee, and on horse and truck their cherries are transported to Aroma Nica’s processing site.

We are very pleased with the quality of coffee produced by this small family, and are anxious to savour their latest efforts.

What’s up and coming with this new crop…

I think many times now, you have heard me say that every crop brings new hopes and dreams. This couldn’t be more true for this coming crop. To begin with, the rains we had late August and early September, relieved the drought conditions we had endure since last crop. It came at a good time to help the coffee cherries mature and ripen. All this leading to what seems an earlier picking season, by about three weeks or even a month. Hopefully this also means that we won’t suffer too many losses due to small beans, which was the case with this past crop.

One of the biggest excitements around the farm and our village this year though, is due to some very special visitors. Mr. Tony Wagner and Ms. Dru Wagner, our friends from The Planet Coffee Roasters, are coming to visit us and with them they are bringing some generous souls. Tony and Dru have invited their friends, Dr. Wayne Klettke & Family, Dr. Charles Klettke & family, and Dr. Jacques Branch & his wife, Lisa, to hold a medical clinic at my farm from December 26 to January 03. My family and my community extend our deepest thanks to them for such a wonderful and generous act. We can’t wait to have you with us!

This year I will also be running our school supplies program with my many children in Las Sabanas. I can’t wait to reward those who completed a full year of school and made the best of the opportunities presented to them. To help me in this cause, my many, many friends in Canada have offered all sorts of help. Through our Canadian charity LOS FRUTOS DEL CAFÉ, we will be hosting a Fashion show with talent from the community college in London, Ont. Fanshawe College, on November 24. And we will of course, host our second New Year’s Eve charity dance. I hope to raise lots of funds towards our University scholarship program for those children graduating from high school for the first time in Las Sabanas history in 2003.

Many of you have already offered your support and my thanks are not enough to express the immensity of your actions. The most valuable lesson we are teaching these children is that generosity knows no boundaries, and one day they’ll make us all proud by being true citizens of the world. And the greatest gift you have given my community, is the cup of coffee that you serve everyday to a coffee lover.

As our efforts materialize, I will update you through the next newsletters on the dreams this great coffee family is making true.

Get to know our employees!

This time I want to introduce you to Mr. Justo Betanco. He is one of those faces you won’t miss at the farm.

He has been with my family for over 40 years. He began his work with us at the age of 13 years. His father, Santos Diaz, worked with my grandfather during the times when the coffee was transported in mules to the port. Justo has worked in the wet and dry process at the farm for over 30 years. His best skill is the regulation of the milling machine.

Justo lives in Las Sabanas with this family, and owns a small piece of land in which he cultivates coffee. His coffee production is of very high quality has many times been part of Las Sabanas’ blend. His children are now grown up, and he is the proud granfather to Francisco Betanco ( 14 yrs old) and Julia Betanco (10 yrs old). He is very much involved in the development of his grandchildren. He was one of the first ones to register them in school when we began our school project at the farm.

Justo is a quiet man, and though a little reserved at times, he is not camera shy. That’s probably why he is in so many of my photographs. I think this is one of his best ones.

Beans, Books & Bytes
A path to learning

Los Frutos del Café’s 2003 Education Project

The community of Las Sabanas had its first high school inagurated in January 2000. Prior to that time, the options for a higher education were not readily available. An extremely low percentage of children in the community even finished the elementary grades; and furthermore the idea of a post secondary education was seem as impossible. So instead children were encouraged to enter the work force early.

Most parents with large families also found the financial burden of school supplies and uniforms unbearable. Having three, four or even more school-aged children represented an investment in education that they simply couldn’t meet with their poverty level incomes.

Los Frutos del Café main purpose is to encourage the education of children. Our organization believes that only through education, poverty chains are broken and true sustainable development can be achieved. If supplying the tools and scholarship funds can encourage one student to pursue an education, our organization will have met its objective.

Our education project this year is called: Beans, Books & Bytes. A path to learning.

This path will consist in setting up the first computers available to the elementary and secondary schools in Las Sabanas, Nicaragua. The Fairmont Hotels donated 24 computers that will allow for the first time ever to introduce the tools that one day these students will use if they decide to pursue a post-secondary education. This project will once again incorporate the school supply distribution (notebooks, pencils, backpacks,etc), and this year we are rewarding students with an attendance record of 80% and higher for the 2002 school year, with new school uniforms and shoes. For children it’s a great pride to wear a new and beautiful uniform to school. What better way to reward their efforts!!

The “BEANS” in the name comes from those members of the coffee industry that are helping us build this path. Aroma Nica (an importer of coffee from Las Sabanas community) has created partnerships with coffee roaster & retailers to raise funds for Los Frutos del Café education projects. The funds raised will cover the costs of transportation and set-up of computers, as well as the school supplies, uniforms & shoes.

The delivery of the computers, school supplies, toys & clothing, is scheduled to take place in early February, with the goods leaving Canada by the first days of 2003. There are so many people and businesses that are making this possible.

Phone: 604-946-5767 Toll-Free: 1-888-547-9309 Fax: 604-946-5951 Email: roy@pistolandburnes.com

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