Coffee and Trails

Beans, bikes, and Jungle Mists in Manizales

We keep moving forward , the jungle is thick, clouds create small windows that let us see our surrounding landscape, senses are saturated by so many different bird and insect sounds, sights, amazing lush and intense green jungle landscapes, the drops of rain on our clothes but the most powerful of all... smell, we perceive earth, vanilla, tobacco, an infinite combination of aromas, which bring back so many memories and create so many new ones. What a powerful sense the smell is!

Welcome to Colombia!

We arrive late in the afternoon to the hacienda, and instantly got into the mood of the place, the mind and body relaxed to all the different nature sounds, although we were far from the city or any town, still there was a war of insect and bird chatter that got really loud for moments, and sum it up with the ham- mocks and some good shots of espresso it was clear we were in paradise.

It is mind-blowing that we take for granted all the work that is behind some simple things we consume back at home, and being here knowing that the coffee we were drinking was produced from start to finish in this same place was quite satisfying.

The Hacienda is a beautiful 100 year old traditional Colombian construction in the middle of coffee plantations dedicated to grow and export high quality coffee to all the world, located about 40 minutes from Manizales city, this is quite a dreamy place, magnificent gardens, breathtaking landscapes and it even has Peacocks living around freely in the gardens, always aware of some- one’s attention to display their magnificent feathers. This was an ideal place for relaxing after everyday’s riding.

Time passes slowly in this part of the world, days last long and every moment went by we got more into the Hacienda lifestyle. Relax to a max, enjoy the surroundings, drink coffee breathe and ride bikes!
On our arrival we got to know the plantation, met some of the workers picking the fruits, and while we were there we set our eyes on some sweet looking trails that the workers used to access the plantations and other nearby towns so we decided to have a go! We pedaled and pushed for a while through the steep access roads, amazing views all the way up. From time to time you could see the mountains in front being cleared by the clouds and then in an instant covered again. This is the jungle, the air is dense and humid, the lush green vegetation always present and the sky always reminding us that any moment it might open up or fall down on us, but all that matters is to get some riding done, and since the temperature is quite nice a little drizzle would just be a part of this jungle riding mood.

After a while up-hilling we got to the top of the highest peak and could see the whole plantation, the hacienda, we could spot just where we started, what a view, and what a place! Since time is not an issue here, we took our time to admire the landscape and soak in the magnificent views... we drop in!

The trails here are paths made to access the coffee plantations and some are tight narrow single tracks that run straight through the coffee plants, sometimes we just charged and hoped that the branches would not present us with unexpected obstacles on the next corner. From time to time trails would open up and traverse through open valleys of young small coffee plants and large Guadua forests. Guaduas are a type of Bamboo, and are quite common here. As we kept descending we encountered some of the workers from the plantation and they all waved happily, excited to see these crazy gringos charging though their everyday working trails!

On one of our rides, right before sundown while we were exploring these trails, we heard this loud horn honk very near to where we were, as we approached we got to see this gathering of people, we were ten told that at the end of each day a little truck climbs up the steep roads that access the fields from the Hacienda, you can hear it’s horn loudly echoing over all the plantation to signalize to all the workers in the fields that it is time to weigh how much the days pick has delivered, its is a sight to see, being in the middle on the Colombian mountains, right in the coffee plantations just at sunset and as all the workers gather up is some of a surreal and poetic image.

The coffee fruits are then taken down to the hacienda, weighed again and then dumped through these ingenious type of special tubs that by gravity feed the fruits to start the whole process from removing the fruit’s skin, selecting different qualities to cleaning and drying it. I could go on and on all day on all the proceses that take for you to have a cup of coffee, this sure makes you enjoy even more that cup in the morning for sure!!! Some of the best coffee exported to the world comes from this place!
There can be as much as 450 workers during the day depending on the season picking the coffee fruits. As we rode through the coffee fields we got to meet some of the workers, they explained how much coffee they picked and how the technique and process was of doing this, some workers on prime seasons got to pick up to 300 kg of coffee cherries a day! It is a hard days work and they get payed by kilo so it all sums up to how much you pick.
What a days ride, so much input, so much to see and learn, we were mind blown and so happy to have witnessed this. We arrived late in the afternoon to the Hacienda, straight to hear the bell toll from the kitchen which meant dinner was served! Life really does not get any better than this, believe, we were in paradise!

The early morning routine was to go straight to the coffee machine and make some fresh brew, lay on the hammock for a while listening to the ambient sounds and enjoy the moment. A perfect double espresso to get our engines going for the next ride.
Being in the the jungle, weather is quite unpredictable, form one moment to another it changes drastically, someday’s riding plans were traded for a full hacienda and coffee day, just chillin’, but there was never any lack of activity, the Hacienda is always busy and full of things to learn and see about the coffee process.
Anita and Caro being avid and serious coffee drinkers, got to see the whole process the coffee beans went through before it could go into a cup. From picking some fruits all the way to roasting their own batch to take home and make in their own machine.

The Hacienda Venecia exports 90% of it’s coffee beans to several parts of the world, mainly, lower quality is used for their home market, it is typically very dark roasted to cover the faults of the lower quality beans. The hacienda produces several different coffee types, mostly Arabiga and some spe- cialty coffee process too, the honey process is one of the specialty coffee that this place is doing and the process is somewhat similar to normal coffee except during the Honey Process coffee is picked, sorted, de-pulped, and then dried in drying patios or beds with some or all of the mucilage remaining on the encasing of the seed making this type of coffee have a less acidic taste, contrary to the washed process which is the most common, it removes all the skin, pull and mucilage and is left to dry this way.

As for all coffee types, the roasting part of the process which is as essential to coffee taste as all the previous steps, and if this is not enough the brewing process is a whole universe if it’s own too. To sum it all up, coffee is a extremely complicated luxury! We often take for granted how simple it is to get coffee, but the reality is that to get a great cup of coffee a whole complicated and delicate process was done before we could enjoy it. It is said that coffee has become more complex than wine, so many variables from picking the cherries at the right time, all the way to the roasting process can change our coffee. There are said to be 36 different identified aromas in coffee that dedicated coffee tasters identify on different coffees, these aromas range from earth notes, spicy notes, fruity notes, tobacco, peanuts, and so on, there can be up to three aromas in each cup of coffee, so next time you venture into the mornings coffee let go and se where the aromas take you this time!

With each sip, every great cup of coffee comes to and end as every trip does too. This is no exception but we leave Manizales and specially the Hacienda, charged, renewed and buzzing from all the caffeine ready to face our daily live’s challenges and new trails and places to explore.

Epilogue

...senses are saturated, what a powerful sense the smell is, we perceive earth, vanilla, tobacco in this cup of coffee in the middle of the jungle, take a sip, this coffee is magic!

Category: MTB Editorial & Adventure Photography

Location: Manizales, Colombia

Featured: Anita Gehrig, Carolin Gehrig, Hacienda Venecia

Tags: Norco Bicycles, La Marzocco

Words and photography by Nicolas Switalski