Tuesday

Wow, today was a full day.  After driving back to the GROW property (in the fog) this morning, Faa, Ning, Beam and I headed up to the mountains.  We went to Doi Chang way way up in the mountain.

  There we met an Aka pastor named Pat.  This man came to Christ when he was twenty.  He began to have a heart to reach his people.  But he thought, "how can I teach them unless I go to study the Bible myself?" So, he went to Bible college and seminary and became a pastor.  He went to Bangkok and began preaching and teaching at a large church that had money to pay him and money to support church programs.  He worked there many years, but God reminded him why he went to Bible college in the first place and gave him a renewed passion to share the Gospel in his Aka village. So, he obeyed, quit his comfortable Pastor's job and went home.  He saw many old people set in their ways and their beliefs, not willing to change. So, he looked at the younger generation.  He saw many without jobs, doing drugs and drinking.  He thought, "God, are you sure about this?  These people are poor inside and out. How do I help them?" God answered him and showed him coffee as a way to help his village.  His mountain is laden with coffee farms because many years ago, his grandfather, Abonzo, planted the first coffee farm, changing the crop of the village from opium to coffee. Today, Pat owns Abonzo coffee company. 

Pat is friends with a famous Thai movie star who is a Christian and who Faa loves.  Pat had this guy sign a GROW shirt for Faa.

Pat's grandmother and wife of deceased Abonzo.

 

He seeks to buy coffee cherries from the farmers at a fair price so they can support their families.  Then he processes the beans and ships them to roasters in different countries. He is able to purchase from 20 growers now, but has a goal of 100-150 farmers.  But, he has no money.  He sold his own coffee farm to get started: purchasing a machine to shell the berries, renting land to dry the beans and building to store the dried beans. He is trusting God to provide the resources and the people to help with this vision so he can focus on studying the Bible and sharing the Gospel. I told him he is exactly the kind of person I am interested in buying items from to sell in our GROW store, especially our upcoming online store.  I look for people to purchase item from whom we can really help as well as helping to support GROW. I am really excited to hear that he is already selling the beans to a roaster in Columbus.  I asked him to talk to that guy, who is also a pastor, and ask if he would be interested in roasting beans for GROW to sell.  Pat has a trip to Ohio planned in April, so we plan to meet in Columbus and hopefully be able to discuss this with the roaster. After enjoying a better than Starbucks cup of coffee he so craftily prepared for us, we had the opportunity to participate in the process by picking the coffee cherries at his parents' farm.

Sorting the coffee berries

Picking the berries

After 15-20 minutes of work.

This is what we picked. About 2 Kilos, enough for 10 cups of coffee.

Pat's mom

 

Ok, I've learned some things today about coffee that will forever change the way I look at a cup of it:

1. It takes 10 month to a year to process the beans from the day they are picked to the day they are ready to ship to a roaster.
2. It took four if us working for a combined hour or so to pick enough coffee cherries for ten cups of coffee.
3.Coffee coming from Thailand marked "USDA organic" is not organic.  Certificates can be bought and are.  Sorry everybody, they use fertilizer!
4. Coffee marked "Fair Trade" rarely is. Again, certificates can be bought.  Coffee is a business. They might say the farmers are getting a fair price, but according to this expert here in the business as a ministry, it's anything but fair. These two things surprised me very much as we sat at a café of one of the biggest and first companies in the region and read the signs posted all over their buildings boasting of these certificates. Pat says it started out to be true,  but no longer is. Companies buy it cheap, pay for the certificates and sell it high because people are willing to pay for "certified" coffee. They then pocket a nice profit.  Abonzo coffee is marked neither "USDA Organic" or "Fair Trade" because he cannot afford to "buy" the labels. But his purchase price for the beans is more than fair! I will be bringing home a few bags if anyone wants to purchase one.
5. Last thing.  Instant coffee is made from bad beans.  No wonder it taste so bad!

Beans dry for one week being turned over with shovels every 3 hours.

Yes, I am lying in a bed of raw coffee beans. Pat said we could!

Dried beans are bagged and stored for at least 6-8 months. The longer the better.

After seeing the whole coffee process, heading to the top of the mountain, and enjoying another cup, we said our goodbyes and headed down the mountain.

Top of the mountain!

What a place to hang out and think!

 

  We stopped in Faa's village to visit a possible future GROW child.  He is actually a brother of a current GROW child. After a good visit there and a stop at Faa's relatives', we stopped at a resort for dinner.

View from our table!

What a full day! Oh, then I had to drive back to the hotel. LOL