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February 2024
By Wiliam nieman
Prelude — Some History
Coffee was being roasted and brewed decades before Co- lumbus “discovered” the “New World.” By the 15th Century, it was being enjoyed in North Af- rica, much of the “Arab” world, and as far north as Turkey. Con- stantinople was renowned for its coffee bars on the shore of the Bosporus. In that ancient city, coffee was roasted on pans above open flames. One can imagine customers waiting to hear the “popping” of the beans, sig-
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Coffee and Cultures: A Shared Odyssey
including, I suppose, the trees that today yield the quality beans that are now roasted for patrons at a cafe called “Odysea” in Bris- tol, New Hampshire.
Bristol, though a small town, is fortunate to have an offering of fine places to dine or visit over a beverage (either hot or cold). Its venues are cosmopolitan, featur- ing traditional American food as well as Mexican, Irish, Italian, and Chinese cuisine. With this abundant cultural diversity of faire, it might seem a stretch to describe Bristol’s newest “coffee
and to experience the richness of the country’s culture, includ- ing an exploration of the indig- enous Mayans' pre-Columbian architecture. While in Honduras, Gabrielle was drawn to the per- vasive presence of “coffee cul- ture” and the people who gave it expression through their labor and unique skills. When the stu- dents returned to Laconia, Ga- brielle was determined to return to the beguiling Central Ameri- can republic. She would do so on her own in 2013 not only to learn but also to teach.
In 2015, a friend of Ga- brielle’s introduced her to a young, enterprising Honduran, Francisco Galeano. Francisco’s grandfather, Hector Galeano, had been a successful coffee farmer for many decades, and from him, “Fran” had learned the art of coffee cultivation. At the time Gabrielle “Gab” and Fran met, the young entrepre- neur and his brother Daniel were busy promoting their fashionably designed T-shirts at their store in Tegucigalpa. “Home-grown” coffee was available in the store as well. Gab and Fran were soon “a couple.” They were married in 2018. By then, coffee was no longer a sideline to the T-shirt business. The product was now central to several shops operated by the venturesome brothers. The Galeano brothers’ success inspired their parents, Francisco Galeano and Mabel Ortiz, to take up the family tradition of coffee cultivation. All seemed well until the COVID-19 Pan- demic proliferated in Honduras during 2020. That same year, Gab and Fran became parents with the birth of a daughter, Amelia.
COVID brought Honduras to a standstill. There were curfews, business closings, imposition of travel restrictions, and price con- trols. By the end of 2020, there were 150,000 active cases (as understated by the government) and 3,500 deaths in that Cen- tral American country. Gab and Fran, concerned about the vul- nerability of an infant child and encouraged by both of their par- ents, opted to “visit’ the United States where a health care sys- tem, although severely tested by
From Honduras to Bristol.
naling the end of the primitive roasting process. (It isn’t known if the science of coffee prepara- tion included a waiting period of several days before grinding the beans.)
Coffee would not come to Southern Europe until the 16th Century. By the 1600s, enterpris- ing Dutch merchants added cof- fee to their already popular tea concessions. French King Louis XIV received gift seedings from a Dutch merchant. It is said that Louis gave one of those seedlings to a naval officer who brought the plant to Martinique in the Caribbean. The story goes that all coffee trees in the Americas are descendants of that one tree,
bar” as unique, but given Ody- sea’s intimate familial connec- tion to the nation of Honduras and that family’s concern for the coffee workers of that Central American nation, the distinction seems appropriate.
Here Is That Story
In 2011, students from the Laconia Christian Academy trav- eled to the capital of Honduras under the supervision of School Director Rick Duba and his wife, Margaret. The couple’s daugh- ter, Gabrielle, then a high school junior, accompanied them. The sojourners were on a mission to bring help to native Hondurans
the virus, seemed to afford better protection for their child. Gab’s parents welcomed her, Fran, and their new grandchild in time for Christmas in 2020. The visit evolved into a permanent reset- tlement for the young Galeanos. They remain Bristol residents to this day, making occasional trips to Honduras. With a growing fondness for his new home, Fran, with his partners Gabrielle, Rick, and Margaret Duba, as well as his parents, Francisco Galeano, and Mabel Ortiz, decided to invest a capital of knowledge, finance, and human energy in a venture on Lake Street transforming a one-time liquor store (and later a pawn shop) into an authentic cafe, with the fittingly somewhat Homeric name, “Odysea”.
Odysea’s owners focus on three priorities during the coffee’s journey to their customer’s cup. The first priority is the monitor- ing and maintaining quality, from the choice of coffee tree seedlings to the skilled cultivation of fruit and beans. Later, when the beans arrive in Bristol, roasting is con- trolled with heat carefully cali- brated and timed to produce the
most desirable product. A final check on the coffee’s appeal or “cup score” is made by Fran Ga- leano who is certified to evaluate quality by the Specialty Coffee Association. A second priority is advancing the well-being of coffee cultivation laborers. The company’s wages set a standard for the industry. There are oppor- tunities for the workers to share in ownership. Odysea 's owners also encourage the elimination of industry intermediaries (such as exporters and holdovers from colonial days) to increase the la- borers’ share of the industry’s profits. Lastly, the Dubas and Galeanos have brought changes to the cultivation process so that cultivation will have a more be- nign impact on the natural envi- ronment. An example of this is the reduction of water use in the cleansing and maturation of the beans.
Bristol’s Odysea offers two dozen coffee products, the choice of a dozen sandwiches, and sev- eral full lunches. It is a friendly place, not only when you arrive, for as you leave you will probably hear “le deseo buena salud”!