On the road to the fields of coffee Near mirador de Los Cuchumatanes, Guatemala, December 18, 2012 In Guatemala, the meandering roads in the distance seem to cut their way through the mountains. I have spent much time anticipating this journey, beyond just a vision of the extended valleys and fields of coffee plants, which had always seemed inaccessible to me. As I approach the demanding world of coffee cultivation, I am particularly eager to encounter those, previously only seen in the distance, who harvest the red coffee cherries with their bare hands. That day, after weeks of research, I travelled to the source of the great human chain of coffee production, to tell a story through photographs of the farmers’ daily lives; men and women who have been a part of this sustainable development program founded by Nespresso ten years ago. We were close to the highest point of the land where we could see the tallest volcano of Guatemala. The fog was concealing the landscape that I had wanted to capture on camera. Suddenly a passerby, a shining descendant of the Maya, and without a word she presents me with her confident smile and a bouquet of flowers.

Transmission Village of Chanjon, Rio, Guatemala, December 18, 2012 After having crossed the mountains and plateaus, passing by small towns nestled in the valleys, we reach the tiny Guatemalan hamlet of Chanjon, consisting of fiteen houses. Some of the woman among the community have chosen to be single, raising their children on their own. Around 8 am, the children cross the roads down the slopes covered in coffee plants, with red cherries or white flowers, depending on the seasons. They are at school until lunch time. Members of this community of 22 families joined an association called “Asdeflor” in order to unite the strengths of each individual and to share out the products of the harvest. They became part of the AAA program in 2011. Their coffee is of great quality, and they have been asked to produce more. They replied that it was not possible, as they did not want to change the quality of the product, and that time was a precious factor in their product’s results. At dusk, the day ends and a silence pervades the town of Chanjon.

Red cherries Hanchibetta plantation, Poli betta village, district of Kodagu, Karnataka, India, January 7, 2013 This plantation has been operated by the Rodrigues family for four generations, couples arrive from different regions to work here during the coffee growing season. Husbands and wives often work together to harvest the cherries. There is an abundance of them on the terrace, the gathering of cherries remains the main subject of attention. None of them escape from the eyes and hands of these seasonal workers, as they are paid by the quality and quantity of coffee cherries that they gather and sort. An inspector passes by the mounds of red cherries for a last verification. After his approval, the coffee cherries are stocked in sacks. After weighing each name is attributed with a weight and a sum of money to be collected. The cherries are then washed and their hearts are separated: the coffee bean.

A night of celebration Madikeri, Chickmagalur district, Karnataka, India, January 8, 2013 She is wearing ceremonial attire, there is a celebration taking place tonight. From the different shades and colors of her skirt we can tell that she is from a nomadic tribe from Rajasthan, here for the coffee harvesting season as a seasonal worker in a plantation. The day’s work, constantly bent over coffee plants, is finished. Fatigue and physical labor are behind her for now. This night will be filled with laughter, where the men and women will be able to escape their daily tasks of labor. So now, with a noble air like a free-spirited queen, she continues her way amongst the coffee shrubs.

Under the sun Kumbrikhan plantation, Chickmagalur district, Karnataka, India, January 9, 2013 Coffee beans are laid bare beneath the sun at the Kumbrikhan plantation in India, in the heart of the Chickmagalore region. Here, like elsewhere, the methods of coffee production are the same. After having been separated from their first layer of red skin, they are fermented for several hours. Then a strange dance begins. The men fill up large baskets with wet coffee beans, and two by two, they pour them out onto the terrace. They appear to follow the steps of these imaginary lines that form a sort of chessboard creating perfect domes of coffee beans. A woman then bends down and spreads all of the moist coffee beans on the floor, lining them up, allowing each one of them to dry under the sun rays. For twenty-four hours, they are constantly turned so that not a single bean can escape the sun’s heat. Only once they are fully dried will they be put in bags for storage, ready for sale.

Drops of labor Virajpet, Kodagu district, Karnataka, India, January 6, 2013 The humidity is inundating her state of being as she is holding a machete and pitchfork; the tools she uses to pick out the weeds from the soil. A headscarf is protecting her head from the blazing sun. She starts at the break of dawn in order to avoid the most powerful rays of sun. On the plantation of Pombolakku, in Virajpet, there are many women by her side on the fields. An ambient green landscape populated with women in colorful attire. On the fields, they are moving to the rhythm of the machete hitting the ground. A dry sound which coalesces and constantly repeats itself, accompanying the gestures of these women. As the wretched heat invades her entire body, marking her face, and the wrinkles carving her skin, she is completely covered in sweat. They appear with her exertion, they stay fixed, appearing to hang there for an instant and finally, like the movement of waves, they fall to be replaced by further drops of sweat invading her beautiful face one after the other.

Eternal and ephemeral art Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu, India, January 10, 2013 At dawn this small village, and its lines of houses, comes to life with the whisper of the women’s saris as they emerge from their homes. Each woman performs a ritual that is passed down from mother to daughter, equipped with a bowl of rice flour sometimes mixed with marble dust. In all silence and humility, she sweeps away the dust on the ground, moistens the earth, and crouches down on the floor not too far from her own house. She starts her drawing with the white powder at a particular point and delicately improvises her way down, creating a beautiful pattern. Each drawing is unique, and ephemeral. The drawing fades throughout the day, while bringing good luck, pedestrians step over as they pass by. The next day, and for those that follow, the ritual is repeated. On that particular day, the flower of a coffee plant had sprung from the earth.

The expression Santa Rosa farm, San Jose Valley, Colombia, January 24, 2013 On the plantation of Santa Rosa, in the valley of San Jose, in Colombia, a huge net brings little shade to the two different groups of workers who work harmoniously their daily tasks. Today, Freddy Ferney Fernandez Azaza and his companions are responsible for breaking up the hard chinks of soil to make it easier to dig over. Behind his group, women are following, equipped with coffee seedlings from the nursery that are ready to be planted, the earth is now ready to receive them and help them flourish. In our collective consciousness we often have the image of a traditional farmer from the past in our minds. Freddy is handsome, young, and strong. His expression and attitude depict his pride of working as a coffee cultivator.

Women of force Tierras Blancas plantation, Inza, Cauca Department, Colombia, January 29, 2013 She is standing in a room filled with darkness, the only source of light comes through a small window. Her presence fills up the tool shed with a deep energy. She is in a room of the shed constructed of wood, located on a hill of one of the coffee fields. For some of these women this is where we find the very heart of “Buscando Futuro” an association of women farmers and plantation owners, where they can grow their coffee on small plots of land, in the face of adversity. There is a sweet and joyful atmosphere of community amongst these single women of all ages, aided by the FNC; the legendary Colombian Coffee Growers Federation. Most of them have lost their husbands, their fathers, their brothers, often in tragic circumstances. The upheavals of Columbia’s history have deeply affected the lives of these courageous women who have learned to fend for themselves by taking on the opportunities of working in coffee cultivation. Each one of these women’s faces is composed of tenderness, sorrow, and above all force. The face of Gerardina Caldon was imbued with a refined combination of beauty and gravity.

Lifelines Campo Bello farm, San Jose Piendamo, Colombia, January 30, 2013 Alcides Hurtado, producer of a small farm in the town of Piendamo, within the Cauca region, reaches his hands out towards me with pride. Marked with the stigmata of working the land, these hands reveal a lifetime dedicated to the cultivation of coffee. This man’s hands are large, dry, venous and worn, with scars on the fingers. They are his primary tool. He lays his hands on the child’s shoulders. They seem very powerful, but this gesture towards his grandson is both tender and serene. Transmission, procurement of experience and passion for coffee from one generation to another, are values with which the cultivator’s children are raised from an early age. They transmit the lifelines of their hands to the younger generation of the community. One does not become but rather is born a coffee cultivator.

Aromatic memories South Sudan, February 7, 2013 We have left Ethiopia and the celebrations behind us, to venture off to South Sudan, where the planned launch of the AAA program in 2014 is currently taking shape. We travelled along the roads for several hours. In the middle of what seemed to be “nowhere”, appeared abundant flowers of coffee plants, where strong fragrances were brought to us by a breeze. The scent reminded me of my first childhood joys in the discovery of blossomed trees, while on vacation in Northern Iran. I had not encountered these visual and aromatic joys of my childhood memories again until I reached these Southern Sudanese trails, five decades later.

In the beginning Bokaso, Ethiopia, February 5, 2013 Some say that the cultivation of coffee originated near the Nile River. In Ethiopia, Nespresso’s sustainable development program is still in its early stages. I was accompanying the delegation who came to visit the plantations. It was the day for them to meet the workers, some who had been displaced from far away. The majority of them have been a part of the AAA program for a short period of time. The day was a festive one for those receiving this label, guaranteeing them a stable income and for those of the delegation who met the workers fulfilling the demands of coffee cultivation. This man has the air of a prince in his immaculate attire. Here, in Ethiopia, we are at the very source of coffee, not far from another historic source: Southern Sudan… It is said that the AAA program of Nespresso will be dedicated to Africa in 2014.

The Tool Guaxupé, São Sebastião do Paraíso region, Minas Gerais, Brazil, February 13, 2013 I have travelled throughout six countries in four months. From India to Colombia, Brazil to Guatemala, Ethiopia to South Sudan, I have shared moments with farmers, coffee producers, and owners, while also spending time with agronomists, technicians, professional tasters and engineers. Not only did all of them have a desire to fulfil the highest demands of quality coffee production, but also an aspiration of living a better life in a rural environment. I carefully observed man’s primordial necessity for the cultivation of the land; his hands and feet. I have shaken callused hands, wounded hands, and hands with protruding veins from stress. Throughout my journey I have focused on the tools, this natural extension of the hands, which changes from one country to another, depending on the climate and the work conditions on that particular land, soil or coffee plant. There is a special relationship, a sort of coalition between man and his working companion: his tool. In Brazil, an old man had stopped digging for a moment to show me this particular tool that guides him in his everyday life.

The warriors of coffee production Sao Roque Curitiba Mariano plantation, Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil, February 15, 2013 Brazil: an immense country, leader in the production of coffee. I have seen the large plantations, passed down from generation to generation by owners dedicated to their land. It was a day of celebration on São Roque Curitiba Mariano’s plantation. The Rainforest Alliance certificate, obtained through the AAA Nespresso program and which guarantees a good quality income, had just been delivered to them. The men of the Barbosa family proudly exposed their achievement. They could have kept the news to themselves, but they decided to share it with those who participated in the hard work of coffee labor, that brought them to this achievement. We encountered these men whom I address with respect, the warriors for the land of coffee, who repair the damages caused by rough weather conditions and natural disasters. A torrential downfall of rain had recently swept up and washed away the planted coffee seeds. The earth is a place of growth, patience, humility, and tenacity. The shared festivities of the newly obtained label seem to have erased the weariness of routine.

Pride São Roque Curitiba Mariano plantation, Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil, February 15, 2013 In Brazil, I met the determined and frank gazes of people working in coffee plantations, ignoring the ever-increasing siren call of the exodus from rural zones to the big city. I’ve met men and women show pride in their commitment as part of the human chain of coffee production working eight hours a day under the blazing sun despite the physical challenge of their labour. Often their salaries allow them to live a comfortable life and provide for their families. These workers are part of a community that is loyal to the earth’s resources and to the coffee production based society in which they live. Adilson Aparecido de Souza, a farmer on the plantation of São Roque Curitiba Mariano, has just learned that the coffee he produced has been certified by Rainforest Alliance through the sustainable development program. Standing underneath a powerful sun, in front of a land ravaged by such a wet and intense climate, destroying the coffee seeds that have been carefully planted, he stops his work for a moment, and takes a pause to feel a sense of pride in his achievements.

The early hours San Juan Atitan, Huehuetenango department, Guatemala, February 23, 2013 The sun has just risen above the mountains and its coffee fields, reaching the center of Ariel Palacious’ plantation. To the wakening sound of a horn every morning, all men and women gather around an assembly point. The traditional and colorful clothing worn by the majority of people here are also used as articles of celebration. The supervisors, who guide and accompany the workers, give them their daily tasks. They have come with their families from distant regions in Guatemala to work there for three months, and to inhabit the land throughout the rest of the year. The face of Romela Lopez Gomez is illuminated by the morning sun, as she turns around in a moment of intimacy and tenderness towards her son, carried on her back. There is expectation during this morning departure towards the hills, a successful harvest will bring a good salary. In the dawn’s fresh air one also senses a certain lightness and spirit. -

Dusk San Juan Atitan, Huehuetenango department, Guatemala, February 23, 2013 As the day progresses, the hands become entirely dedicated to doing nothing but picking the red cherries of the coffee shrubs. In spite of the intense heat every individual has given up all of their energy to fill up every bag of fruit to its maximum. Walking in the distance, along the hills, are large groups of farmers. Tied to this man’s head is a strap supporting at least sixty kilos of coffee cherries on his back. The men and some women walk slowly and steadily back up the slope nothing must disrupt their paths, they are so concentrated on their exertion. The moment they release the burden, which is then weighed, they return down the slopes in search of another bag to fill up with the coffee cherries. The sun begins to set during the last trip of the day, and in turn the men also settle. The families return to their shacks built by Ariel Palacios and his two sisters, who have inherited not only the plantation but a love for coffee and those who cultivate it.

Calling out Campestre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, February 13, 2013 On the Brazilian plantation of Campestre, the farmers depart by bus in the early hours of the morning to head down to the coffee fields. Eight hours pass by under the blazing sun. At night, completely worn out, fatigued and eager to be home, they return sitting on unsteady seats. Joao Aparecido Leite, like his comrades, spent the day preparing the soil around each coffee plants. Consistency, experience, and proficiency guide their every move. Working with the land, and maintaining the coffee plants is a daily task that requires a certain fervor; as the saying goes, we live to work. “Here, we do not work hard for survival, but we work hard to live a better life, that is what I’ve learned from working on this plantation.” Joao Aparecido Leite takes a pause from his work for a short moment. The look on his face is not only filled with a sense of hard physical labor, but also with force and determination. His attitude serves as an inspiration to the rest of us.

A shared life Lagoa Ouro Verde plantation, Muzambinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil, February 14, 2013 The plantation of Lagoa Ouro Verde in Muzambinho is operated by a woman; Carmen Ribeiro Do Valle Almeida. Everything on the plantation is extremely clean and well structured. There are many women working in the fields of her plantation. Rosa Helena Moreira de Oliveira, equipped with her tools, cleans out the weeds from the soil in order to prevent the coffee plants from being choked by the invading weeds. At night I followed her back to her house, located on the plantation itself. On the doorsteps of her house awaits her husband, who has only just returned from the coffee fields right. There is a moment of great intensity between these two, sharing feelings of fatigueand tenderness. They invite me into their house, we spend a moment sitting together in their living room. I am witness to their private and dignified complicity. After the reality of their everyday lives, there is a peaceful moment of happiness. A few signs persist on their faces to bear witness to their exhausting day’s work: a few drops of sweat still form and run along the marks of their lives.

A history of passion Guatemala, Huehuetenago, Union Cantinil City, Vista Hermosa farm, December 19, 2012 From one plantation to another, from a simple seasonal coffee cultivator to the owner of a plantation, from agronomists trained in Guatemalan universities that assist the coffee producers in the improvement of the quality of their production, their productivity and living conditions as cooperative governmental actors are all imbued with a true passion. The “artisans” who produce such quality coffee, are viscerally attached to the produce of their land, recognising nature as the dominant force that they cannot control in its entirety. I was accompanied by Juan Diego Roman; Agronomist for Nespresso in Central America who had come over specifically from Costa Rica. His respect for the whole of the coffee production chain is evident in his patience and attentiveness. On the exploitation of Union Cantinil, the coffee beans are drying in the sun, spread out on an immense cement surface. The old man takes a coffee bean and rubbed it in between the palms of his hands, in order to verify the quality of the product. This gesture is constantly repeated throughout the lives of passionate coffee producers.