What Is Real Puerto Rican Coffee?
Did you know that Puerto Rican coffee is usually not Puerto Rican coffee? Many people, especially Puerto Ricans, are especially proud to support their own products as they would like to celebrate what is "Puerto Rican". However, in most cases, Puerto Rican coffee is not Puerto Rican coffee. Even if the coffee states that it is "Made in Puerto Rico" or "Hecho en Puerto Rico" that does not mean what it says. Most often, this coffee is actually semi-roasted in Mexico and then shipped to Puerto Rico in the semi-roasted (almost cooked) process. Then the coffee roasting is finished (cooked a little more) and bagged in Puerto Rico. Since there is some process that takes place in Puerto Rico, government regulations allow labeling to identify the product as "Made in Puerto Rico" ("Hecho en Puerto Rico"). In truth, this coffee is grown, harvested and roasted somewhere else. In order to investigate the matter, one can look more closely at the labelling on the coffee bag where you will find there are words that will more specifically identify whether the coffee is actually grown by Puerto Rican farmers. For example, the bag will say, in small lettering at the bottom, "importado" or "100% importado" or "puro importado", demonstrating that the coffee is from somewhere else. This is important information for those that seek to support Puerto Rico and its farmers.
Why labelling matters? In the first instance, its good to know where your coffee comes from if your intent is to support the Puerto Rican economy and its farmers. Puerto Rican farmers are hit hard by the economy and false labeling. Second, many new farmers are developing and it would be helpful to them if they could get credit for creating a product made in Puerto Rico. The truth is always illuminating and helpful to the consumer. Frequently, very cheap labor is used to produce a foreign product. Lastly, coffee that comes from other countries is highly chemicalized. It is our goal to help motivate local farmers, with economic incentives, to produce a high quality coffee reduced in chemical processes so that the environment benefits. This is why labelling matters.
