Season 2, Episode 3: How to pack for a coffee origin trip in a personal item

​How to Pack for an Origin Trip in a Personal Item
Welcome back to The Newsletter!

This is the third article in a series about traveling to origin as a green coffee buyer. In this episode of the series, I am going to share my tips for packing for a coffee origin trip.

Most of the coffee origin trips that I take are to Latin America and are 1-4 weeks in length. I have found that this kit has also worked fine for trips to East Africa and Asia, as most coffee growing regions have a similar climate. My approach to packing is to bring clothes that are comfortable when it’s hot and humid and also layer easily for cold nights and mornings in the mountains. Over the last 10 years, I have spent over a year living and traveling in Latin America. Outside of work, I do some ultralight wilderness backpacking, which contributes to my more extreme “take only what you need” philosophy. The packing list and tips that follow are the result of that experience and years of overpacking and tinkering with my setup.

My personal goal for most origin trips is to pack in a backpack that can be an airline “personal item”. I almost never actually keep the bag at my feet during a flight, but it being that size will protect you from the dreaded mandatory gate check.

This very minimalist approach to packing for origin doesn’t work for everyone, and sometimes I do bring a carry-on bag if I have a long trip, if I’m bringing gifts for my hosts or my friends, or if I know I’ll want to bring something back with me like a woven thing, an alpaca sweater, or a bottle or three of mezcal.

With that said, here are my tips for how to pack in a personal item: 

​Tip 1: Think carefully about what shoes you bring

Try to limit yourself to two pairs of shoes.

Your first pair of shoes should be closed-toe and have a solid tread. These shoes need to be appropriate for visiting farms and dry mills, but you’ll also want something that you’re comfortable in on a long day in the car and walking around a city. I usually bring trail running shoes as my main shoes for origin travel. Blundstones are also a popular choice. Try to find a pair of shoes that you like wearing, and don’t feel like you need to go buy something new or fancy. You just need these to be good, solid, shoes.

Your second pair of shoes is for wearing on long drives and in the evening. These should be small and comfortable. Shoes take up a lot of space, so these shoes need to be small and light, like flip flops. I usually bring my EVA foam Birkenstocks.

Tip 2: Pay attention to your fabrics

When you’re packing for an origin trip, you want to bring clothes that are going to be comfortable in a wide variety of scenarios and temperatures and that resist getting smelly.

Some fabrics are much better for this than others, and some brands have specific travel fabrics that are designed to resist odor and be worn multiple times. Additionally, some nylon and polyester fabrics shrink down to almost nothing when you roll them up.

My favorite fabric is merino wool, especially for socks! Merino is naturally odor-resistant, and I basically only travel with merino socks because I have smelly feet.

Tip 3: Be prepared to wash your clothes as you go

Even with odor resistant fabrics, you’ll need to wash your clothes eventually if you’re on a longer trip and you pack light. The easiest way to wash your clothes is to have the hotel do it for you. A lot of hotels will wash your clothes for a fee. If you have a free day in a bigger city, it is sometimes also possible to find a laundromat.

Your other option is to wash your clothes yourself in the sink. It might sound silly and it might feel silly, but being able to wash your clothes in the sink gives you the freedom to travel basically infinitely with a small bag. When I need to, I wash my clothes with baby unscented liquid Dr. Bronner's soap. It’s as easy as filling up the sink, soaking them, wringing them out a few times, and then hanging them up to dry. Make sure you have enough time for your clothes to dry, and ideally get them into the sun. Please note that in Lima, Peru there is not enough sun and too much humidity for sink washing and your clothes will never, ever dry. You will end up trying to iron the water out of your socks. I have made this mistake for you, twice, so that you never have to do this.

Tip 4: Bring only clothes that you love

You’re going to wear all of the clothes that you bring with you many times. Make sure that you like them, or you won’t wear them. There’s nothing worse than getting a “perfect” travel shirt and then feeling dumb when you actually wear it because it doesn’t fit you well. Stick to stuff that you know you feel good in.


My Kit:

Of course, every trip is a little bit different, but here’s my general kit. I’ve accumulated this stuff over years of traveling, and lots of it is very old or second hand. Often, nice travel clothing is expensive, but good deals can be found on Ebay, thrifting, and on sites like Patagonia Worn Wear.

Backpack: ULA Dragonfly
There are lots of backpacks designed for personal item sized one bag travel. What I like about this backpack is that it has a clamshell opening which makes it easy to keep organized, is waterproof, looks small, has a laptop sleeve, and has good waterbottle pockets.

Jacket: Arterex Atom LT
This jacket is very good at being comfortable in a wide range of temperatures. I got mine on sale at REI 5 years ago and I would estimate that I have worn it at least 500 days. It’s my favorite piece of clothing in the world.
 
Hat: Irving Farm 5 Panel Ripstop Hat
A hat is a must for the field where it is often sunny and your hair may be in a sub-optimal state.

Pants/Shorts:
1-2 Lululemon ABC pants. These are basically jeans, but they are a little less hot and a little more stretchy. They’re good travel pants.

1 Kuhl Renegade Rock Pants. These rock climbing pants are super lightweight and I wear them when it’s very hot, on big driving days, or long cupping days.

1 Patagonia Baggies. I like to bring one pair of versatile shorts that I can wear at the end of the day and that can also be a bathing suit. Generally I don’t wear shorts out and about or when I’m working, but it’s nice to have a pair.

Shirts:
1 polo shirt. I like to wear a polo shirt in the field if I’m doing something important and I want to look professional.

2-3 T shirts I usually bring 1-2 T shirts from the company that I’m representing I might also bring 1 or 2 technical fabric T shirts that pack very small and are lightweight and very plain looking that I can get a few wears out of. My go-to T shirt is a Cotopaxi Paseo Pocket T.

1-2 short sleeve button downs I have a couple of very lightweight short sleeve button down shirts. They’re great for something to change into before dinner. Long sleeve denim button down I always bring a denim shirt that’s for going out to a cool restaurant, wearing on a cold day, or throwing over my hoodie for an extra layer.

Sweater: Black Hoodie
I always bring a hoodie which I wear on the airplane and also basically every day since it’s cold in the morning and evenings. You want one that’s pretty nice looking and comfortable. Smaller and more packable is better.

Shoes:
Trail Running shoes, EVA Foam Birkenstocks

Underwear:
4 pairs. I travel with 4 pairs of easy to wash travel underwear and wash them as needed.

Socks:
6-10 pairs of Merino wool socks. Socks are harder to wash and merino wool takes a long time to dry so I bring more socks than underwear.

Electronics:
Macbook air and charger
Kindle and charger
Iphone and charger
Portable battery
Sony noise-cancelling headphones (only if I have a long flight)

I also always bring: sunscreen, Imodium, a couple GoMacro bars, this travel pillow, a cupping spoon, and a little bit of cold hard American cash. 

​This is my kit and I feel like I can go basically anywhere for any amount of time. Obviously there is other stuff that you should bring, like a toothbrush, but this is all of the big stuff. Anything you forget, you can probably pick up along the way.

Go light and have fun!

Jay