In 2022, filmmaker Russell Oliver was awarded an American Folklife Center Community Collections Grant for his project, Documenting the Stories, Agricultural Traditions, and Culture of Specialty Coffee Farmers in Puerto Rico. The resultant audiovisual collection, Specialty Coffee Farmers in Puerto Rico, documents the traditions of coffee growing and production in the mountains of central Puerto Rico, mainly through interview videos and photographs representing the perspective of coffee farmers and specialists. In particular, the collection comprises over two dozen interviews, thousands of photographs, and hours of footage featuring well-known haciendas and farmland of Ciales, Yauco, Guayanilla, Adjuntas, Jayuya, Maricao, Lares, and Utuado. Through the careful selection of ripe cherries to the rhythmic drying of beans under the Caribbean sun, the collection highlights how coffee sustains families and fuels the island’s spirit. It also brings to light the challenges of farming alongside moments of triumph, revealing how Puerto Rico’s coffee farmers preserve tradition while adapting for the future.
