The man who saved Colombian coffee
哥伦比亚 “二手咖啡” 的终结者

At first glance, the farm didn’t look any different than the one next door. A gravel road, flanked by short palm trees and overgrown brush, led to a modest home overlooking hundreds of coffee trees that sloped along the hilly landscape. Their leaves were decorated with a multitude of brightly hued beans, ranging from vibrant yellow to faded pink to plump, luscious red.

一眼望去，马丁的农场和旁边的一家农场没什么不同。碎石铺成的大路，两边是矮矮的棕榈树和茂盛的灌木，大路的尽头是一座不起眼的房子，远眺着山丘坡地上种植的数百棵咖啡树。这些树的叶子中间点缀着大量颜色鲜艳的咖啡豆，有的是亮黄色的，有的是淡粉红色，还有圆润的鲜红色。

To the naked eye, this farm was just like any other. But it didn’t take long to realise that the farm of Jesus Martin was anything but ordinary.

从肉眼上看，杰西·马丁的这个农场与其他农场都一样。但是，用不了多久就可以发现这个农场非比寻常。

Martin grew up like many others in the Santa Ana Valley – known as the Coffee Triangle of Colombia – on a coffee farm owned by his father and grandfather.

圣安娜谷（Santa Ana Valley）号称哥伦比亚的咖啡三角洲。和圣安娜谷很多其他人一样，马丁是在父母的陪伴下在咖啡农场长大的。

“I am the youngest of six children and we all worked the farm,” Martin said. “My parents focused their energies on teaching us the agricultural trade, but also the love behind it.”

马丁说：“我是六个孩子中的老幺，我们都曾在农场上工作。我的父母把精力主要放在教导我们如何从事这种农业贸易上，同时也让我们体会到了这背后对我们的慈爱。”

Despite this dedication to coffee, he ended up pursuing a different trade all together: law and business management. However, coffee was never far away. During every visit to his family’s humble farm, the rich, toasted aromas of beans roasting and the smell of his mother’s carrot cake caused his heart to ache. Coffee was his life, and in 2004, after years practicing law, he found a way to blend his legal knowledge, business education and family’s lifeline into what he dubbed “the coffee dream project”.

尽管马丁热爱咖啡，但是他最后却选择了一个完全不同的行业：法律和工商管理。不过，他始终没有忘记咖啡。每次他来看望自家简陋的农场时，烘焙咖啡的醇厚芳香还有他母亲做的胡萝卜蛋糕的香味总会刺痛他心头。咖啡就是他的生命。他在从事法律工作若干年后，终于在 2004 年找到了一种将他的法律知识、商业教育背景和家人的生活融合到一起的方法，这就是他所谓的“咖啡梦想计划”。

Despite growing some of the most coveted beans in the world, most Colombians have never even tasted the Colombian coffee that is renowned around the world. Instead, locals drink what they call “second-hand coffee”, which is made from berries that haven't fully ripened, have been over-roasted or even infected with insects and diseases. Like most businesses in struggling economies, the farmers only make profits on exports – so they save their best stuff for higher paying countries.

尽管哥伦比亚人种植的是世界上最美味的咖啡豆，但是他们大多数人甚至都没有品尝过举世闻名的哥伦比亚咖啡。本地人把自己喝的咖啡称为“二手咖啡”，其原料是未完全成熟、烘焙过度甚至感染了病虫害的咖啡豆。像很多经济水平较低的国家/地区的企业一样，这里的农场主只能依靠出口赚取利润，因此他们会将最优质的产品留给出价更高的国家/地区。

“Farming coffee for a profit is very challenging,” Martin explained, tossing a few berries in his hand. “The coffee trade intermediaries, exporters, roasters and big multinationals are the ones that benefit the most in the coffee-trade chain.”

马丁一边一只手把玩着几粒咖啡豆，一边解释说“种植咖啡要想盈利很难，咖啡贸易中间商、出口商、烘焙商和大型跨国公司是咖啡贸易链条上盈利最多的群体。”

Martin’s dream project, however, was to turn this process around, bringing specialty coffee back to Colombia. “When I first told my family, they told me I was crazy,” he said.

但是，马丁的梦想计划就是扭转这一局势，将精品咖啡带回哥伦比亚。“当我第一次告诉家人这个计划时，他们说我疯了，”他说道。

Even with his background in farming, starting the project from the ground up was difficult. Convincing his workers to focus on quality was his biggest obstacle; most only cared about quantity since their wage was dependent on how many beans they picked. Martin recalled many hours, days and weeks training local farmers to understand the process, from the colours of the raw berries to the smell and taste of the beans once they’d been dried and sorted.

虽然他拥有种植行业的背景，但是从头开始实施这个计划还是困难重重。最大的困难是说服工人注重质量，很多工人都只关心产量，因为它们的工资与他们采摘的咖啡豆数量挂钩。马丁回想起他曾经接连几个小时、几天甚至几个星期地对当地农民进行培训，让他们了解相关流程，包括识别生咖啡豆的颜色以及熟悉干燥和分拣后咖啡豆的气味与味道。

Once the farmers understood the importance of quality, it was onto phase two: bring the roasting process in-house, instead of paying for the beans to be roasted elsewhere. Buying his own roaster – one of the only five in the entire country – was expensive, but the purchase offered a huge saving in roasting, packaging and exporting costs.

当农民们意识到质量的重要性之后，计划进入第二阶段：将咖啡烘焙流程引入计划内，而不是付钱请外部机构进行烘焙。他购买了自己的烘焙机，他们整个国家只有五台烘焙机，这就是其中一台，虽然很贵，但是购机之后节约了大量的烘焙、包装和出口成本。

By 2008, his passion started to pay off; he opened his flagship store Café Jesus Martin in the charming town of Salento. The shop and its team of trained baristas, Martin said, has done much to teach the locals about enjoying specialty coffee. The look on their face when they take their first sip is what keeps him motivated.

到 2008 年，他的激情终于获得了回报，他在迷人的萨伦托镇（Salento）上开办了他自己的旗舰店——杰西·马丁咖啡馆。马丁说，咖啡馆和其中训练有素的咖啡师团队成员做了很多工作，教导当地人如何享用精品咖啡。当地人第一次品尝精品咖啡时脸上露出的表情一直激励着马丁。

“They are reacting so positively; they’re discovering something entirely different than what they’re used to consuming,” Martin said. “When they discover the difference in quality of their coffee, they start to care more about where and whom it’s coming from.”

他说：“他们反应非常积极，就像发现了一种与他们之前喝的咖啡完全不一样的东西。当他们发现我们咖啡的独特质量之后，他们开始关注这些精品咖啡的来源和制作者。”

Because of this interest, each bag of coffee sold in the vibrantly painted cafe has three distinct markings: the name of the coffee farm; the farmer who produced it; and the date it’s best enjoyed by. For Martin, this connects the locals to the farmers around them.

正因为如此，在他咖啡馆出售的每袋咖啡上都会明确标注三条信息：相应咖啡种植场的名称、生产此咖啡的农场主，以及最佳享用日期。对于马丁来说，这样可以将本地人与他们周围的农民联系起来。

For many, a bustling cafe, a respected reputation and a profitable farm is success defined, but for Martin, it wasn’t until he watched his father sip a cup of his “crazy” idea, that it all sunk in.

在很多人看来，拥有一家生意火爆的咖啡馆、一种备受推崇的声誉和一个获利丰厚的农场已经很成功了，但是在马丁看来，除非他父亲认同他的“疯狂”创意，否则都是失败。

“That moment that I saw my father enjoying a cup of coffee grown on his farm and roasted by his son, I realised my idea had been successful. That single cup of coffee came with my father’s history and a story of hard labour and dedicated perseverance. That was the day he told me that his coffee tasted like it always should have,” Martin said.

他说道：“我看着我父亲品尝他自己农场上种植的并且由他儿子烘焙的咖啡豆做成的一杯咖啡，那一刻我才意识到我的创意取得了成功。这一杯咖啡蕴含着我父亲的历史，还有一个关于辛勤劳动与坚持不懈的故事。就是在那一天，我父亲告诉我那才是他的咖啡该有的味道。”

Today, you can find Martin in the fields of his Santa Ana farm, plucking ripe beans alongside his staff. Afterwards, he spends his afternoon rinsing and drying the beans, taking a quick break to consume a cup of his specialty blend or take a bite of his mother’s famous, homemade cakes. Then, he’ll stop into his Salento factory to help sort through the beans or make his way to the cafe to oversee the baristas and ensure that each cup is the best of the best.

如今，您可以在马丁的圣安娜农场田地间看到他和他的员工一起采摘成熟的咖啡豆。然后，他会在下午清洗和干燥咖啡豆，利用闲暇时间享用一杯他自己的精品咖啡，或品尝一下他妈妈做的出名的家庭自制蛋糕。之后，他会去他的萨伦托工厂帮助分拣咖啡豆，或者去他的咖啡馆监督咖啡师工作以确保每杯咖啡都是上上之品。

It’s a busy life, but Martin’s story is far from over. He plans to open more cafes around Colombia and train as many farmers as he can to grow, roast and produce high-quality coffee. His days are long and exhausting, but he never stops working, dreaming or pursuing his passions. He’s changing the world of coffee for his family, friends, neighbours and fellow farmers – and that optimism is as contagious and addictive as the coffee he produces.