Before we got into coffee, we rarely paid much attention to hurricanes. They seldom got into New England, and when they did, they didn't pack much punch. Of course, Ivan showed all of Greater Pittsburgh that you don't need 100mph winds to feel the brunt of a major hurricane.
But for the most part when hurricane season hits, we think of Florida and the Carolinas and New Orleans which is usually where the news cameras are when the winds and waves hit the beach houses (and who among us hasn't thought, "Why don't these people move inland?")
Hurricanes hitting Central America as late as November can be particularly devastating. Every country in Central America is currently in harvest season, which lasts roughly from September through March (Panama and Costa Rica, the two southernmost countries start a bit earlier). Mexico just started theirs.
So for countries at the southern and central parts of this narrow band of tropical nations, there are quite a few ripe cherries waiting to be picked at any given time. That is until a hurricane comes in and blows them off the trees.
But that's only one problem. Beans that have been harvested and are drying on patios are at risk of being lost - once they're tossed into the winds, they're gone. Heavy rains also bring mudslides (coffee is grown in mountainous regions, often on precarious slopes) that can threaten villages and make roads impassable - workers can't get in to harvest, trucks can't get out with freshly picked crop.
With the best coffees, picking the cherries at their ripest peak is essential. A day or two either way makes a big difference in the quality of the cup. Any delay in harvesting could have significant effects on coffee quality - which would also affect market price and the farm's income potential for the season.
As many of the best growing regions are fairly remote, getting infrastructure back in working order is not a matter of hours or days. It's often a matter of weeks.
Hurricane Ida just passed through Nicaragua, bringing heavy rains and the threat of mudslides and crop damage - it's too early to tell what the agricultural damage is. While it's great news that there are no reported fatalities or injuries from the towns that were hit hardest, we hope and pray that the farmers hard work this harvest season has not been put into peril.
The storm is expected to move north along the Honduran coast towards Cancun. Its projected path does not put it near the coffee growing regions of either Honduras or Mexico.
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