Honestly! Why Paris?

With all due respect, as much as Paris is the food capital of the world, it used to be a joke to even think of Paris as a coffee destination. Well that was until just a few months ago.

For two days we want to make Paris the Coffee Capital. And as a matter of fact, things are changing quickly – and Paris IS on its way to becoming a coffee destination too and that is why we want to be here now.

We are in Europe after all. And Paris is at the center of it. Geograpichally it’s obvious. It’s Convenient. Its Beautiful.

CUTTING EDGE(S)

Lets start with talking about the fringes.

Any movement usually starts as a marginal thing. Even in marginal places. Just like Seattle once was the specialty coffee hub (deserved or not) it is at least geographically not at the center of the US market. And as we know, the cutting edge coffee places were not seen in NYC until recent years.  Japan´s most influential Coffee company is in a mountain hill town, Kentaro Maruyama moved into Tokyo last week. Scandinavia is an outpost on this continent, but in specialty coffee it has become a destination.

THE EVENT. THE IDEA. PARIS 2012

For one weekend we want to share. We want to facilitate. We want to participate.

The ambition is to build a community. Many eager and competent coffee roasters around the continent have received coffees through the Collaborative. On behalf of the coffee farmers we are proud to say that we have found good homes for their lots. Now that the coffees are ”out there” we want to ask for samples of it back that we can cup together.

We are gathering a bunch of roasters – you – from all over Europe, to get together as proud craftsmen and women. We’ll talk about our craft and proudly share the coffees that we have roasted with such skill and care.  Sourced by The Collaborative, roasted by you, all together on the same table. We are organizing a cupping where you’ll get the rare opportunity to compare you roast style with other ambitious roasters and craftsmen and women of Europe.  Not for competition, but for cultural interaction and education. Other professional coffee cuppers and Baristas from all over the continent (and further) have signed up to come as well. Thus this is a unique chance to get a truly interesting feedback and discussions on the regional, company or personal culinary craft of roasting coffee. (even coffee from same farm, but roasted, thus approached with different craft. Then cup it comparatively. On the same table, the same day). For collegial interaction and fun.

We have carefully restricted the number of attendees at the event.  We want there to be time and space for interaction and access to the coffees and the people who grew them.

THE COLLABORATIVE COFFEE SOURCE

It lies in the name. The Collaborative Coffee Source´s ambition is to be a source, and we want to do it in a collaborative way. We strive for making the coffee trade a transparent interaction between equally important partners; the maker, the importer, the roaster.

We source the coffees from the origins we work with that are outstanding the every meaning of the word. It goes without saying that the cup needs to speak for itself, thus beyond that – or better said – before that, there is a place and people who we want to learn about. The collaborative model is not to take ownership of that, but share it with you – the roaster. After all, it is your coffee.

There is no coffee trader around who’s ultimate goal is to connect you directly with the Place and the People who actually made the coffee you’d be roasting. The Collaborative doesn’t stock green coffee. We find it and we make sure it finds good homes, in Europe, and further afield. If you liked one coffee in the first place, you might be willing to stick to working with a farmer who has committed himself to making awesome coffee for you.

We want to make sure that that happens. And we want to make sure that you get it in a timely fashion.

Welcome to the collaborative!

THE NEWEST CROP: SOUTHERN BRAZIL

We are presenting and cupping the freshest lots of coffees right now.

BRAZIL finished their harvest in the highest growing regions a few weeks ago, the coffee lots are resting and getting ready to be shipped. We were there to preselect the cream of the crop from the highest merited regions - and now we’ll present them to you.

BURUNDI. We are thrilled to present to you this East African gem. It is like the new promised land. A new star from the African continent, wonderfully clean and sweet-tasting. We can’t wait to share our findings and our excitement.

HARD CORE EDUCATION:

VARIETALS

All of the coffees that we are getting from Carmo de Minas in Brazil and all of the coffees from Burundi are Bourbon coffees, thus this is a unique chance to taste & talk about and attributes of Bourbon as a varietal.  To further enlighten and enhance our understanding of varietals, we have invited some of the highest merited coffee farmers on the Planet, the person who has had the fortune, curiosity and skill to work out a strategy for this is what has driven the roasting end of the industry more than anything else in the last few years.

PROCESSING NATURALS

Flavio Borem is a big deal.  He´s never shown his work in Europe before and we are flying him over to share his work with us.  His investigations at the University of Lavras in Brazil are about how processing affects the quality and the taste profile of the coffee in the cup.  This is what we have all being dying to know for so long.  And here he is to tell us.

SO WHY, AGAIN?

Because it is a unique opportunity to choose coffees you wish to purchase.  And to mingle with your European counterparts.

Because it is educational and informative thus giving you a better understanding of what is happening in the coffee world – directly from source.

Lofty ambitions? Sure, why go for less.

So we have found a sexy loft for it.

- Robert

A portrait of a coffee personality: Daniel Peterson, Hacienda Esmeralda, Boquete, Panama

24 Panama, Daniel Peterson

Coffee is an old commodity. But the way we buy nowadays; tasting, describing and thinking about the coffee, it´s almost as if it is a completely different product. This applies at least to the coffee we know as specialty coffee.

The definition of specialty coffee can be just that: a specific coffee, made by concrete - often named people, that causes the coffee to have specific taste attributes - which is attractive - and thus a market value as something special. These coffees come with a higher price: let us call it added value.

Meanwhile, simultaneously to this development in the last 10-20 years, the industry has fostered personalities who have come to merit a place in coffee history. As the industry of specialty coffee is so young, and many people are working with coffee in groundbreaking ways, there are many who have been named (rightly or no) as experts and pioneers. In other fields those experts would have had to have studied and worked for a lifetime to be adorned with such titles.  It is only with hindsight that we appreciate the true value of their work.

However, I would like to take this opportunity, in the present, to talk about a person who has worked with coffee in a way that is going to make his mark on the history of coffee. There is evidence already.

This year it is 10 years since Geisha coffee's unique flavor attributes were discovered at Hacienda Esmeralda, for which the whole Peterson family should be congratulated. But it is individual people who do very specific tasks. So in this little history of Geisha coffee, despite it being a truly familial endeavor, it is Daniel Peterson who will be designated as the discoverer.  It was he who tasted his way through all the batches of coffee from the farms, to the revelation that one in particular had such unique attributes that it ought to be persevered.

Exploration, tasting and description, is the key. To taste coffee is nothing new. But to work on it in a systematic way, carefully separating the coffee varietals when picking, separating sections from different areas of the farm, separating the day lots and tasting everything separately, is a relatively new concept in coffee farming. It was only when Daniel Peterson started working with this methodology in 2002 that he was able to discover the true character of Geisha coffee.

The Geisha varietal could be found in Central America decades before this "discovery". The first seeds were planted in Boquete in 1978 on the advice of coffee agronomist Francisco Serracín. Francisco is a coffee farmer himself, and has succeeded in producing one of the finest Geisha coffees in the world at his own farm, Don Pachi in Boquete. The discovery of the taste attributes of the coffee were as new to him as to everyone else when it was first ´discovered´ ten years ago.

The varietal was in fact originally cultivated because of its resistance to fungal attack in the humid climate in Boquete, and not on account of its unique taste characteristics. This is where the distinction lies between specialty coffee and commodity coffee. Yes, it is an agrarian commodity, but it can also be a product with concrete, sometimes subtle yet very desirable attributes. That is the kind of coffee we enjoy, and it is the coffee we now want to celebrate.

Boquete is a small valley tucked in the corner of the Cordillera Central next to the towering presence of the Barú volcano. Here, the Peterson family have run their farm of cattle and coffee since 1967, under the name of Hacienda Esmeralda.

The family's coffee farms are scattered around the valley. The Palmira farm is located near the farmhouse and processing station; Cañas Verdes is located at the foot of the volcano and the Jaramillo farm is located on the south facing slopes of the Boquete Valley.

The Peterson family bought the 50 ha farm in the Jaramillo area in 1996 on account of its favorable microclimate and altitude: they grow coffee up to 1750 m.a.sl. Aside from these topographical recommendations, and the fact that the plants appeared to be in generally good health, little was known about what lay ahead.

Cousin Mario, another of the Peterson clan, chose the best view of the property, with vistas of the lush Boquete valley, and on a clear day, the distant Pacific coast. Mario is a wooden furniture maker, enjoying quiet rural life with the family in his self -built house within the cosy walls of coffee bushes on the Jaramillo farm. But despite Mario´s domestic presence on the farm, it has always been Daniel who has looked after the coffee, and he is the man who found those unique coffee bushes up there on the hillside - but it took some years before this discovery was made.

Daniel Peterson is a boqueteño, born in 1974, youngest son of Susan and Price. After studying, including periods in the U.S., he came home and took responsibility for coffee in the family business Hacienda Esmeralda.  I became acquainted with Daniel on one of my new origin trips.  Panama was the new destination, the year was 2005. In the Best of Panama competition (BoP) the year before, Daniel and his family won the contest with a coffee with a character that no one had tasted before in Central America. No one had ever before tasted a coffee from that continent that had such a floral aroma, and such a fresh acidity, with such a silky and elegant mouth feel. The closest one could get to explaining the taste was by referring to the best coffees of Yirgacheffe in Ethiopia, but even there you will not find a coffee that is quite so perfumed, and certainly not as well processed.

At the ensuing internet auction, this little lot of coffee made at first historic - then astronomical prices - at $ 21/lb. It was initially thought that it was a hacker who had sabotaged proceedings, but no: it was just many, many willing bidders for the # 1 of Best of Panama! The following year it won again and we had to bid over $ 50/lb for the lot. Everything has changed since then.

In those days there were only a few bags that went to auction, while the rest of the farm´s 100 bags of Geisha needed to find their buyers through other channels. We bought a small lot through Ian Kluse, a coffee trader in California. Then our characterful friend, Duane Sorenson of Stumptown casually wondered if we might share some bags of a coffee that he had come across that was completely 'radical, man'.   Sure, man!  We paid $10/lb. for that coffee, outside the auction.  At the time that was 6 times more than paid for specialty coffee elsewhere. But this was more special!

This was at a time when it had not yet become common to communicate the coffee´s varietal. But with such explicit flavor attributes it became necessary to refer to that, since terroir alone could not explain it all. Thus there has been a clear shift in how we must now communicate coffee flavour: it starts with the varietal.

Some years earlier, Daniel and Ian (Kluse) got to know each other around the cupping table at Hacienda Esmeralda. Hacienda Esmeralda has many types of coffee from different farms and Ian traded from these. Ian was already trading green coffee with customers in the U.S. who would pay a little extra for a coffee that had extra freshness of acidity, and Ian was in Boquete to test this year's harvest.

As a coffee farmer, Daniel´s interest in the sensory evaluation of coffee was once a rarity. The custom at Hacienda Esmeralda has always been to pick coffee berries as they ripened, plot by plot, but all the coffee from Jaramillo was mixed. It was only in 2002 that Daniel became aware that it was the few plants (3%) on the farm of this special varietal, which elevated the overall fresh acidity of the whole lot. Daniel began to selectively pick and separate the berries that he considered to be the particular varietal creating this unique aroma and flavour.  This is where the new era begins.

Boquete is a very special place in this respect: there is good camaraderie and professional solidarity between clever and ambitious coffee farmers in one place. From this fertile ground sprung the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP), and the Best of Panama (BoP), first held in 1996 - three years before the CoE.  Many coffee farmers here know their coffee well.  They are seasoned roasters and skilled cuppers. Daniel has been a part of this community since its inception. (In 2012, the BoP made the radical - and absolutely natural - intervention to separate Geisha coffee in a separate category of the competition.  This made BoP the first auction program to do so, but we are going to see more of it ahead!)

Daniel is a meticulous, curious and ambitious person. When I visited him in 2006, I was presented with a coffee that he had put great pride in "making".  Daniel had selectively picked from the areas on the farm he had presumed to be the best.  He then tasted his way through the coffees, selecting only the best, mixed the small lots, and sold it as Esmeralda Special Geisha. Winning the BoP every year from 2004 to 2007 would suggest that this was not a bad strategy. But I wondered if it would be possible for us - who would buy his coffee anyway - to taste the day lots, from different areas of the farm separately. Given that the characteristics would be slightly different from area to area, from early to late in picking season, we would thus be able to select the best of the best.

To begin with, Daniel wasn´t sure of idea of etting us have this opportunity.  He had, after all, taken great pride in finding the best, and then creating (by blending) the best of the best. But the following year Hacienda Esmeralda agreed to this strategy. They even put up an auction where they offered small lots from all areas, with different picking dates. All were from Jaramillo, everything was Geisha, but all the lots were a little different. It was a success!

They early Hacienda Esmeralda Special Geisha offerings have become an exercise in showing the different characteristics and potential of a single varietal; with aromas ranging from highly refined bergamot to jasmine; flavors varying from stone fruit sweetness to citrus acidity, and different mouth feels - and all from a small geographical area. Prices at auction have also shown that subtly different attributes attract different buyers, and show that roasters are valuing those attributes very differently. This auction has now become a yearly barometer for the value of The Geisha Coffee from Boquete in Panama.

The Coffee World can consider itself lucky that this single piece of land, a small coffee farm in Jaramillo, Boquete, ended up in the Peterson family's hands. In such a short time, the trend in the specialty coffee world has gone completely parallel to this story: this practice is no longer unique to Hacienda Esmeralda.  In that sense, this is also the story of the development of specialty coffee in recent years.

Lucky for us, that at this time in history, in our time, a clever young man named Daniel, saw an opportunity – and grabbed it with both hands.  Daniel's work and his impact on specialty coffee are undeniable, but still the inquisitive and dedicated family as a whole must be commended. In a clever way, the Peterson family of Hacienda Esmeralda have helped us to define the true value of truly good coffee: it’s about its taste. And that is priceless.

Robert

Going In-Depth in Burundi

After one big move across the ocean from Canada to Norway, a year of adjusting to a new place and culture (not so much the cold - I am already from another place that is proudly "North"), countless lectures and furious exam writing, and the start of exciting new work with the Collaborative, it's time for me to begin another adventure. This time in Burundi.

The whole reason I came to Oslo was to study and examine coffee in a new way. I had been working for a company that proudly participates in direct trade (let's ignore the complexity and contentiousness of this term for now) and was both fascinated by and happy that good money was being paid for a higher quality product. But I was also very curious as to how these newly establishing ways of trading coffee is having an impact on the producers. And being the kind that likes to methodically examine things I'm curious in, I decided I needed to go about my study in a rigorous way. So I began studying at the University of Oslo because they offer a unique interdisciplinary program that investigates the wide and far-reaching concepts of environmental sustainability and development.

It's time to put all the theory and discussion I've absorbed over the last year - both at school and with coffee professionals from Norway and abroad - and go and do my fieldwork. It's an exciting time for me, both as an academic, and as a professional at the Collaborative. I chose Burundi because I'd tasted some very interesting coffee from there while still working in Canada. I also had a vague notion about it being one of the least developed countries in the world and was curious as to how that wasn't hampering the production of great coffee (although there is a lot of reforming and development of the coffee sector happening/still to come). The Collaborative is now working in Burundi and I have a unique opportunity to spend a good amount of time learning about this exciting origin on the Collaborative's behalf, as well as for my thesis.

The doing of this fieldwork is pretty straight-forward: I will be talking with/interviewing people involved in producing specialty coffee (i.e. coffee that is grown, picked and processed with care - there is no good short phrase for this, is there?). I want to know what they think about this direct trade concept. I want to know how direct trade affects their livelihoods - their ability to live the kinds of lives they want to live. In a word, how does direct trade affect their "wellbeing"? I'm starting with seemingly simple questions because I know the conversations will yield complex, diverse and unexpected opinions and thoughts. Do producers experience the benefits to their livelihoods that direct traders assume? How do producers perceive this trade model and what direction would they like to see it move ahead in?

In addition to my data collection, I will be visiting washing stations and farms the Collaborative will purchase from. I want to give you roasters as detailed a picture of the people and places you're buying from, as possible. Robert met some very motivated and ambitious producers while in Burundi for CoE last month and now we have an opportunity to better know these people and places. There are some amazing coffees coming your way soon; right now is the time for you to get in on the action!

Drop Joanna a line about what is on offer. Better yet, get in on the action and choose your own lots for us to bring in

Melanie

Le Carnaval du Café: tickets on sale NOW!

That's right chaps, the wait is over.  Tickets go on sale today.

Drop whatever you are doing! Grab your wallet! Get to a computer near you! Limber up those enter-hitting fingers and GET IN THERE QUICK!

Two days in PARIS, surrounded by the speciality coffee community of Europe, cupping some of the world´s best coffee and being at the forefront of groundbreaking research are just a few clicks away...

Intergalactic cupping #1*

´The future has arrived!´ exclaims Jeremy as Robert´s face looms into view across cyberspace: from a cupping lab in downtown Oslo to projection onto a brick wall in buzzing early-evening east London.  The party has assembled, ready to cup six of the best samples Honduras has to offer, a classic Costa Rica and an unparalleled Panama Geisha.

The Line Up:

Honduras, Santa Barbara region

1) Oscar Tinoco         HICAFE 90/Catimor 

2) Don Amado             Yellow Catuaí 

3) Danny Moreno       Pacas 

4) Jesus Moreno         Pacas 

5) Neptaly Bautista    Pacas 

6) Eulogio Martinez    Pacamara 

COSTA RICA, Tarrazu region:

7) Don Mayo. La Loma farm, lot march12th      Caturra

PANAMA, Boquete region:

8) Hacienda Esmeralda      Geisha

Robert introduces us to the coffees one by one, the history of the farm, the successes and challenges of the farmer, the varietal, the terroir, the journey of the beans in each cup.

The Honduras line up is immensely varied considering the proximity of the farms to one another.  Although some are from different micro regions, many are from adjoining family farms, and all hail from the broad, lush hillside of Santa Barbara.

We start with Oscar Tinoco, who has won Cup of Exellence, but struggled with consistency.  We know he has the quality, we have seen it.  And we keep working with him, following his investments in farming and equipment, in the knowledge that there is so much unlocked potential.  This sample is full bodied and clean, but there is a briney tang to the cup we had not anticipated.  But this savory characteristic is distinctive, and while not as floral as that of his neighbours, this coffee has its own character, not to be overlooked.

We proceed to the much loved (excuse the pun) Don Amado.  This is the only yellow Catuaí on the table.  Seen widely across Brazil, most of central America does not favour this varietal above others.  Fresh, clean, crisp, delightfully well balanced with honey, toffee and milk chocolate.  Not for nothing is it extremely difficult to get hold of this coffee.  This farm has world reknown, and we are lucky to has this coffee.

We proceed to Danny Moreno, whose crisp, clean and well-balanced coffee establishes the theme of the Honduras for this year.  A mild burnt sugar finish, improving on cooling, bright acidty with enough supporting body to balance out the cup.

His brother Jesus overshadows him on this table however (well he ought to, with a name like that).  Here we have all the clean, fresh, balanced attributes of Danny´s coffee, but there is an intensity, and a fuller mouth feel which starts to introduce the quality we have come to expect from this region.  Dried fruits mix with caramel and plums, blackcurrants and dark chocolate.  The liquid level rapidly depreciates in the glasses; people nod earnestly while re-dipping spoons.

Neptali Bautista does us proud.  This coffee is juicy and round.  Full bodied and bursting with fruits and that burnt caramel finish again.  People like this coffee.  Some cuppers site this sample as their favourite and it´s easy to see why.  The complexity of this coffee gives it an edge, and has the power to render its excellent neighbours less interesting.

The name of Eulogio Martinez´ farm is Los Yoyos, which makes me like the coffee before we´ve even started.  It good: consistent, well balanced and bright.  But most saliently, it has a beautiful aura of coffee flower.  Not the hefty intensity of his neighbor on the table, but a delightfully delicate contrast.

Today Don Mayo does not live up to the quality we know and love.  We think the roast was off and the beans are underdeveloped.  We examine them.  A slight shade too pale perhaps, 30 seconds more would have done it.  This is an excellent lot and the man is internationally acclaimed, so we are sad not to be able to do justice to the product of his toils.

And now for Geisha! Where to start? Before we reveal what the coffees are, one cupper asks ´what is this coffee? This is not like any coffee I have ever tasted before´.  I nod, and a knowing smile escapes from the corner of my mouth.  Hacienda Esmeralda have been pioneering the Geisha varietal in the area for years, cultivating the little known variety against the advice of their neighbours, and with outstanding results.  We don´t know why the varietal is called Geisha, but its pretty apt.  I imagine an early explorer, a botanist: notebook in hand, braces, linen shirt and Panama hat.  Cupping the coffee for the first time he wonders how to capture all the attributes in one name: beautiful, exotic, floral, demure, accomplished, different from ordinary coffee - Geisha!

From Central America to Oslo, from Oslo to London; these coffees have travelled the world to reach us.  From our friends on the hillsides to the land of the midnight sun, and onwards to Clerkenwell of all places.  What a long old journey for such a little bean.  And who came to join our party?  Cuppers from down-the-road and round-the-corner, from Poland, from France, from Japan, from America.  A veritable United Nations of Cuppers it was.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and will be back again for more.

- Jo

*ok so it was only really international, but skype was involved, which made it kind of exciting...

Producer Profile: Miguel Moreno

Miguel Moreno
Farm Name: El Filo
Micro Region: El Cedral
Region: Santa Barbara
Farm Size: 3.5 hectares
Variety: Pacas
Altitude: 1550 m.a.s.l.
Processing: Washed

Daniel Moreno – patriarch of the Moreno family – wanted to give up coffee farming 10 years ago, when coffee prices were abysmally low. At this point, the sons had all moved to the US to work and earn a better living, and Miguel in particular, moved in order to earn enough to pay off mounting and substantial debts. In 2005, however, Miguel returned to Honduras and his neighbor, Mr. Benitez, won the 2nd Honduras Cup of Excellence competition. He didn’t make it to the awards ceremony, so Miguel accepted in his stead.

This experience ended up being a turning point for the family and Daniel split up El Filo into five lots (keeping one for himself and calling it “El Campo”). Currently, El Filo is split into eight lots, with Miguel’s son Dolmin most recently receiving his own plot to manage. The brothers began submitting their coffees to CoE and in 2007, Miguel’s lot won 4th place at the competition, with 90.6 points. This same year, he began to pick more selectively, pulp and dry his own coffee. In each subsequent year until 2010, his coffees placed well at competition. In 2010, motivated by the successes of his coffees and his neighbours’ successes (more than half of CoE winners were now coming from the Santa Barbara region), Miguel and his brothers began looking for a buyer for all the coffee produced at El Filo. Due to his hard work, dedication, innovation and investments, we decided to enter into a long-term partnership with the entire Moreno family and in 2011, we received the first of these shipments.

The brothers have bought more land at a higher altitude and decided to plant more unique varieties there. Because production will substantially increase in the coming years, they have already invested in good quality equipment, which will be able to handle these increased volumes.

Although the Moreno brothers work closely together, each brother’s and their father’s lots are processed separately, which is why we label each lot distinctly. Following from unique and individualized practices, each lot cups distinctly and differently.

We are proud and excited about the progress of these relationships and looking forward to even better quality coffee in the years ahead.

pdf version

washing facility

miguel moreno

hillside

drying room

London Centrals Cupping: Thursday 27th September

After the overwhelming success of our last London cuppings, we have decided to come back and present our latest coffee gems in the shape of Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama (Geisha).

We will be hosted by the wonderful people at Prufrock coffee on Leather Lane and will be joined with a skype link to the Collaborative founder Robert Thoresen who will introduce us to the coffees and regions and lead the discussion after cupping.

Date: Thursday 27th September

Time: 5pm

Location: Prufrock Coffee,  23-25 Leather Lane EC1N 7TE

The timings are as follows:

16.45 Arrival

17:00 Introduction to the coffees with Robert Thoresen via Skype

17:30 Cupping Honduras, Costa Rica & Panama Geisha

18:30 Discussion including Robert via Skype

19:00 Ends

Farm Profile: Don Amado

Jose Amado Fernandez Farm Name: Don Amado Micro Region: Las Flores Region: Santa Barbara Farm Size: 3.7 hectares Variety: Yellow Catuai Altitude: 1550 m.a.s.l. Processing: Washed

Jose Amado’s father, Don Amado (Jose’s farm’s namesake), divided his farm into four lots – one for each of his sons. While all the brothers share facilities, each owns their own equipment and each farm’s lots are processed separately. Jose’s yellow catuai variety won the Cup of Excellence competition in 2010, with 91 points, and we bought the remaining three bags from his harvest that year.

Since then, we have visited the farm 1-2 times per year and have encouraged Jose to invest in more processing facilities. One planned future investment is drying beds, which will lead to higher quality coffee and better prices for his coffee. Jose has shown clear merits as a dedicated and conscientious producer and his coffee was one of Kaffa’s favourites from Central America in 2011. This particular lot was consistently clean and maintained its quality throughout the year.

The villages Cielito, Cedral and Las Flores follow one after another along the mountain range in Santa Barbara. Grown on this hillside is mostly Pacas, a coffee species akin to Bourbon, as well as Yellow Catuaí and Pacamara. It is challenging to process coffee cherries in areas like these, which are close to the jungle and thus, to rain. The drying process, in particular, is especially demanding. But when these processes are precisely controlled, seemingly problematic factors (like drying under challenging conditions) are what make coffee from this area particularly interesting. The coffee produced here cups with flavour attributes not found anywhere else in Central America.

Since 2005, the region, Santa Barbara, and the small producers living and working there, have shared the distinction as the place and the people producing exceptional coffee within Honduras. Our work and the beginning of the on-going relationships we’ve since established here began during the 2005 Cup of Excellence. We came to realize that there are exceptional producers from this small area. And since that inaugural year, we have purchased from over twenty different Santa Barbara producers.

Located in the village of Pena Blanca is coffee exporter San Vicente – the company that coordinates the coffee we buy from Santa Barbara. Over the past several years, one particular hillside has become the largest supplier of CoE winners in Honduras. The most successful farms with the smartest and most innovative farmers are neighbours on this hillside and they help each other to refine the best of their lots.

There exists an eagerness here; a willingness, motivation and ambition to produce the best coffee in the country. But there are also large differences amongst the farmers and our purpose is to be close to this special coffee community and get to know the most ambitious of the farmers here; the ones we can develop something with. In order to build relationships – that allow both parties to have a common understanding of quality coffee – there must be frequent and long-term presence.

To produce coffee that tastes fruity is not very complicated. But to produce coffee that is clean, clear, fresh and fruity – that’s an art. One of the biggest assumptions within specialty coffee is that coffee from high-altitude areas naturally exhibits these characteristics. But high elevation can lead to potential problems, even in tropical climates. In the highest areas of Santa Barbara, up to and over 1800 meters, producers can experience “freezing”: the combination of temperatures between 4-5C and rainfall that combine to cause cherries to not ripen and leaves to die on the bush. These conditions create a cold and humid climate, which is hazardous for processing and requires steady and reliable drying conditions for coffee so quality will not deteriorate. These natural conditions, of course, cannot be evaded. But clever and prescient coffee farmers, like the ones we collaborate with, invest in drying systems that minimize the risks associated with weather.

pdf version

Producer Profile: Jesus Moreno

Jesus Moreno Farm Name: El Filo Micro Region: El Cedral Region: Santa Barbara Farm Size: 1.05 hectares Variety: Pacas Altitude: 1580 m.a.s.l. Processing: Washed

The Moreno Brothers: Miguel, Mario, Danny, Jesus, Gerardo, and Olvin inherited their farm from their father Daniel, who divided El Filo into lots for each son. More recently, Miguel’s son Dolmin was given his own plot on El Filo to manage. Together, the family has built a wet mill, raised beds, and solar dryers to process and prepare specialty grade coffee. The Moreno brothers are model producers in El Cedral, as well as the wider region. Together, the Moreno family helps and motivates neighbouring farmers to produce and prepare better quality coffee through the sharing of their collective knowledge and facilities.

The villages Cielito, Cedral and Las Flores follow one after another along the mountain range in Santa Barbara. Grown on this hillside is mostly Pacas, a coffee species akin to Bourbon, as well as Yellow Catuaí and Pacamara. It is challenging to process coffee cherries in areas like these, which are close to the jungle and thus, to rain. The drying process, in particular, is especially demanding. But when these processes are precisely controlled, seemingly problematic factors (like drying under challenging conditions) are what make coffee from this area particularly interesting. The coffee produced here cups with flavour attributes not found anywhere else in Central America.

Since 2005, the region, Santa Barbara, and the small producers living and working there, have shared the distinction as the place and the people producing exceptional coffee within Honduras. Our work and the beginning of the on-going relationships we’ve since established here began during the 2005 Cup of Excellence. We came to realize that there are exceptional producers from this small area. And since that inaugural year, we have purchased from over twenty different Santa Barbara producers.

Located in the village of Pena Blanca is coffee exporter San Vicente – the company that coordinates the coffee we buy from Santa Barbara. Over the past several years, one particular hillside has become the largest supplier of CoE winners in Honduras. The most successful farms with the smartest and most innovative farmers are neighbours on this hillside and they help each other to refine the best of their lots.

There exists an eagerness here; a willingness, motivation and ambition to produce the best coffee in the country. But there are also large differences amongst the farmers and our purpose is to be close to this special coffee community and get to know the most ambitious of the farmers here; the ones we can develop something with. In order to build relationships – that allow both parties to have a common understanding of quality coffee – there must be frequent and long-term presence.

To produce coffee that tastes fruity is not very complicated. But to produce coffee that is clean, clear, fresh and fruity – that’s an art. One of the biggest assumptions within specialty coffee is that coffee from high-altitude areas naturally exhibits these characteristics. But high elevation can lead to potential problems, even in tropical climates. In the highest areas of Santa Barbara, up to and over 1800 meters, producers can experience “freezing”: the combination of temperatures between 4-5C and rainfall that combine to cause cherries to not ripen and leaves to die on the bush. These conditions create a cold and humid climate, which is hazardous for processing and requires steady and reliable drying conditions for coffee so quality will not deteriorate. These natural conditions, of course, cannot be evaded. But clever and prescient coffee farmers, like the ones we collaborate with, invest in drying systems that minimize the risks associated with weather.

pdf version

Farm Profile: La Tigra

Martir Muñoz

Farm Name: La Tigra Micro Region: El Sauce Region: Santa Barbara Farm Size: 3.5 Hectares Variety: Caturra Altitude: 1550 masl Processing: Washed

The Muñoz family has been growing coffee for many years, but this year is the first they have focused on producing and processing specialty grade coffee. La Tigra is a plantation of Caturra bushes and the plants are young – just three-years old. The Muñozes process their coffee at their own wet mill, which is then dried on their patio.

Since 2005, the region, Santa Barbara, and the small producers living and working there, have shared the distinction as the place and the people producing exceptional coffee within Honduras. Our work and the beginning of the on-going relationships we’ve since established here began during the 2005 Cup of Excellence. We came to realize that there are exceptional producers from this small area. And since that inaugural year, we have purchased from over twenty different Santa Barbara producers.

Located in the village of Pena Blanca is coffee exporter San Vicente – the company that coordinates the coffee we buy from Santa Barbara. Over the past several years, one particular hillside has become the largest supplier of CoE winners in Honduras. The most successful farms with the smartest and most innovative farmers are neighbours on this hillside and they help each other to refine the best of their lots.

There exists an eagerness here; a willingness, motivation and ambition to produce the best coffee in the country. But there are also large differences amongst the farmers and our purpose is to be close to this special coffee community and get to know the most ambitious of the farmers here; the ones we can develop something with. In order to build relationships – that allow both parties to have a common understanding of quality coffee – there must be frequent and long-term presence.

To produce coffee that tastes fruity is not very complicated. But to produce coffee that is clean, clear, fresh and fruity – that’s an art. One of the biggest assumptions within specialty coffee is that coffee from high-altitude areas naturally exhibits these characteristics. But high elevation can lead to potential problems, even in tropical climates.

In the highest areas of Santa Barbara, up to and over 1800 meters, producers can experience “freezing”: the combination of temperatures between 4-5C and rainfall that combine to cause cherries to not ripen and leaves to die on the bush. These conditions create a cold and humid climate, which is hazardous for processing and requires steady and reliable drying conditions for coffee so quality will not deteriorate. These natural conditions, of course, cannot be evaded. But clever and prescient coffee farmers, like the ones we collaborate with, invest in drying systems that minimize the risks associated with weather.

pdf version

Farm Profile: Jazmin

Edy Neptaly Bautista Farm Name: Jazmin Micro Region: El Cedral Region: Santa Barbara Farm Size: 2.10 hectares Variety: Pacas Altitude: 1500 m.a.s.l. Processing: Washed

Neptaly lives on the border of El Cedral, very close to El Cielito, where he owns another small plantation, planted with Pacas bushes. We first met Neptaly at San Vincente in 2009 and have bought from him since. Throughout our partnership, we have had several discussions about how the potential of producing even better quality coffee through investments in his own facilities, especially drying beds. We have seen improvements each year in the quality of the green coffee coming from Jazmin and this year is no exception - the quality of his coffee has improved substantially this year. We have known each other for several years now, and it has become a good friendship and sustainable partnership for both of us.

Neptaly is one of the greatest representatives to exemplify the wonderful improvements in Santa Barbara in recent years.

Husbandry and processing work and improvements: - he has the resources to buy the fertilizer he needs and he applies it in timely fashion, which is very important. - he does all the pruning and field work himself. He has a small farm and he is a very proud farmer (and wants to do as much as possible himself) - he manages the picking team of 12 seasonal workers (cherry pickers) during harvest to ensure a good quality. Red picking is key and in working with Neptaly, the pickers really understand the importance of quality! - he has built his own processing facility after he decided to do it by himself, not with his brother in-law as previously. He now with full control. - he has built a new parabolic/solar bed for drying his coffee, just like the Moreno brothers, so he is more in charge of that process too. - he has bought a new little piece of land so he can plant more coffee trees. - he has built a new house in the city so his children can go to college there. - he doesn't own a car but he has just bought a motorcycle so he can get around more easily.

Neptaly has two farms (less than 1ha each). The one that has the best coffee is an hour’s walk away from his farmhouse. So during picking season, cherries are transported by mule to the processing facility.

Background to Santa Barbara

The villages Cielito, Cedral and Las Flores follow one after another along the mountain range in Santa Barbara. Grown on this hillside is mostly Pacas, a coffee species akin to Bourbon, as well as Yellow Catuaí and Pacamara. It is challenging to process coffee cherries in areas like these, which are close to the jungle and thus, to rain. The drying process, in particular, is especially demanding. But when these processes are precisely controlled, seemingly problematic factors (like drying under challenging conditions) are what make coffee from this area particularly interesting. The coffee produced here cups with flavour attributes not found anywhere else in Central America.

Since 2005, the region, Santa Barbara, and the small producers living and working there, have shared the distinction as the place and the people producing exceptional coffee within Honduras. Our work and the beginning of the on-going relationships we’ve since established here began during the 2005 Cup of Excellence. We came to realize that there are exceptional producers from this small area. And since that inaugural year, we have purchased from over twenty different Santa Barbara producers.

Located in the village of Pena Blanca is coffee exporter San Vicente – the company that coordinates the coffee we buy from Santa Barbara. Over the past several years, one particular hillside has become the largest supplier of CoE winners in Honduras. The most successful farms with the smartest and most innovative farmers are neighbours on this hillside and they help each other to refine the best of their lots.

There exists an eagerness here; a willingness, motivation and ambition to produce the best coffee in the country. But there are also large differences amongst the farmers and our purpose is to be close to this special coffee community and get to know the most ambitious of the farmers here; the ones we can develop something with. In order to build relationships – that allow both parties to have a common understanding of quality coffee – there must be frequent and long-term presence.

To produce coffee that tastes fruity is not very complicated. But to produce coffee that is clean, clear, fresh and fruity – that’s an art. One of the biggest assumptions within specialty coffee is that coffee from high-altitude areas naturally exhibits these characteristics. But high elevation can lead to potential problems, even in tropical climates. In the highest areas of Santa Barbara, up to and over 1800 meters, producers can experience “freezing”: the combination of temperatures between 4-5C and rainfall that combine to cause cherries to not ripen and leaves to die on the bush. These conditions create a cold and humid climate, which is hazardous for processing and requires steady and reliable drying conditions for coffee so quality will not deteriorate. These natural conditions, of course, cannot be evaded. But clever and prescient coffee farmers, like the ones we collaborate with, invest in drying systems that minimize the risks associated with weather.

pdf version

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Farm Profile: Los Yoyos

Eulogio Martinez Farm Name: Los Yoyos Micro Region: Las Flores Region: Santa Barbara Farm Size: 0.7 hectares Variety: Pacamara Altitude: 1400 m.a.s.l. Processing: Washed

We met Eulogio in 2008, while visiting producers at San Vincente we were already working with. We are always looking for new, innovative and diverse producers and because Eulogio was the first producer to develop the Pacamara variety in Santa Barbara, we were interested in cupping his coffee. His coffee proved to be quite unique with a lot of acidity – albeit unbalanced – not found in any of the other coffees produced by our other partners in Honduras. We decided to buy his lot that year, both because of the potential we saw in it and because we did not want to see it wasted by going into an export mix.

Each year since, we have visited with Eulogio and discussed processing and quality – specifically the need to be even more selective in his cherry selection than before. His coffee has shown tremendous improvement and is cupping more balanced this year. We look forward to even better quality in the seasons to come.

The villages Cielito, Cedral and Las Flores follow one after another along the mountain range in Santa Barbara. Grown on this hillside is mostly Pacas, a coffee species akin to Bourbon, as well as Yellow Catuaí and Pacamara. It is challenging to process coffee cherries in areas like these, which are close to the jungle and thus, to rain. The drying process, in particular, is especially demanding. But when these processes are precisely controlled, seemingly problematic factors (like drying under challenging conditions) are what make coffee from this area particularly interesting. The coffee produced here cups with flavour attributes not found anywhere else in Central America.

Since 2005, the region, Santa Barbara, and the small producers living and working there, have shared the distinction as the place and the people producing exceptional coffee within Honduras. Our work and the beginning of the on-going relationships we’ve since established here began during the 2005 Cup of Excellence. We came to realize that there are exceptional producers from this small area. And since that inaugural year, we have purchased from over twenty different Santa Barbara producers. Located in the village of Pena Blanca is coffee exporter San Vicente – the company that coordinates the coffee we buy from Santa Barbara. Over the past several years, one particular hillside has become the largest supplier of CoE winners in Honduras. The most successful farms with the smartest and most innovative farmers are neighbours on this hillside and they help each other to refine the best of their lots.

There exists an eagerness here; a willingness, motivation and ambition to produce the best coffee in the country. But there are also large differences amongst the farmers and our purpose is to be close to this special coffee community and get to know the most ambitious of the farmers here; the ones we can develop something with. In order to build relationships – that allow both parties to have a common understanding of quality coffee – there must be frequent and long-term presence.

To produce coffee that tastes fruity is not very complicated. But to produce coffee that is clean, clear, fresh and fruity – that’s an art. One of the biggest assumptions within specialty coffee is that coffee from high-altitude areas naturally exhibits these characteristics. But high elevation can lead to potential problems, even in tropical climates.

In the highest areas of Santa Barbara, up to and over 1800 meters, producers can experience “freezing”: the combination of temperatures between 4-5C and rainfall that combine to cause cherries to not ripen and leaves to die on the bush. These conditions create a cold and humid climate, which is hazardous for processing and requires steady and reliable drying conditions for coffee so quality will not deteriorate. These natural conditions, of course, cannot be evaded. But clever and prescient coffee farmers, like the ones we collaborate with, invest in drying systems that minimize the risks associated with weather.

pdf version

Farm Profile: El Pozo

 

Edwin Pineda Farm Name: El Pozo Micro Region: El Sauce Region: Santa Barbara Farm Size: 0.35 Hectares Variety: Pacas

El Pozo is located in the micro-region of El Sauce and Mr. Edwin Pineda has decided to focus on producing high quality/specialty grade coffee. To this end, processes his own coffee at his father-in-law’s wet mill, located in the town of El Dorado, Santa Barbara. In addition, he has invested in raised beds and dries his own coffee – a practice not yet commonplace amongst the farms in Santa Barbara.

El Sauce is a micro region that is increasingly becoming renowned for high quality coffee within Santa Barbara. It is a region that has been represented well at Cup of Excellence. Edwin is a newer partner for us and we believe he has the drive and ambition to produce ever-increasing quality coffee, as evidenced by the investments he’s made in his facilities and due to the care he’s shown in the processing of his coffee.

Since 2005, the region, Santa Barbara, and the small producers living and working there, have shared the distinction as the place and the people producing exceptional coffee within Honduras. Our work and the beginning of the on-going relationships we’ve since established here began during the 2005 Cup of Excellence. We came to realize that there are exceptional producers from this small area. And since that inaugural year, we have purchased from over twenty different Santa Barbara producers.

Located in the village of Pena Blanca is coffee exporter San Vicente – the company that coordinates the coffee we buy from Santa Barbara. Over the past several years, one particular hillside has become the largest supplier of CoE winners in Honduras. The most successful farms with the smartest and most innovative farmers are neighbours on this hillside and they help each other to refine the best of their lots.

There exists an eagerness here; a willingness, motivation and ambition to produce the best coffee in the country. But there are also large differences amongst the farmers and our purpose is to be close to this special coffee community and get to know the most ambitious of the farmers here; the ones we can develop something with. In order to build relationships – that allow both parties to have a common understanding of quality coffee – there must be frequent and long-term presence.

To produce coffee that tastes fruity is not very complicated. But to produce coffee that is clean, clear, fresh and fruity – that’s an art. One of the biggest assumptions within specialty coffee is that coffee from high-altitude areas naturally exhibits these characteristics. But high elevation can lead to potential problems, even in tropical climates.

In the highest areas of Santa Barbara, up to and over 1800 meters, producers can experience “freezing”: the combination of temperatures between 4-5C and rainfall that combine to cause cherries to not ripen and leaves to die on the bush. These conditions create a cold and humid climate, which is hazardous for processing and requires steady and reliable drying conditions for coffee so quality will not deteriorate. These natural conditions, of course, cannot be evaded. But clever and prescient coffee farmers, like the ones we collaborate with, invest in drying systems that minimize the risks associated with weather.

pdf version

Burundi - Part II

[gigya src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" width="700" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=/photos/kaffa1/sets/72157631279228920/show/&page_show_back_url=/photos/kaffa1/sets/72157631279228920/&set_id=72157631279228920&jump_to=" allowFullScreen="true" ] Burundi is geographically and politically divided into provinces, municipalities and hills.

A hill or a big hill (as it often literally is) defines rural communities. One’s life is often defined by the hill s(he) lives on –  the way the land is shaped informs the way one lives.

As mentioned in the last post, the whole country is in use, and farms are glued to the terrain, along the hills, or at the bottom of them (the area between hill formations). In some areas, over 500 families live per square kilometre (!), making for extremely cramped conditions.

I spent the last of my days in the country familiarizing myself with Burundi's northern coffee regions. The country is small, so you can travel around very quickly, but everywhere are rock formations that must be manoeuvred and the roads are always full of people. Bicycles, mopeds, cars and trucks must all push forward into the stream of people along the roads. Bujumbura is located within 800 meters of Lake Tanganyika. The drive into the country ends here and within a short time, you’re already up in the mountains. Just north, toward Kayanza, one first passes the known tea regions in Teanza. The hills here are covered in tea bushes, as though covered with green velour carpeting. At around 2000 meters, one notices the climate is fresher, wilder, the wind gusts through the treetops.

My hosts and I travelled to the Coffee Washing Stations (CWS) in Kayanza, where presumably the best coffee in the country is processed. Several of the CWS here delivered the best lots to Burundi's Prestige Cup last year. Prestige Cup was predecessor to this year’s Cup of Excellence. This year the winning lot at Burundi CoE also came from Kayanza.

A little background on CWS

Burundian coffee farmers use their land to grow sustenance food for the family, as well as coffee bushes. The people of Burundi have little tradition when it comes to coffee consumption and sell their coffee cherries for cash to buy clothes, school books, and other things. Farmers no longer process their own coffee cherry; they sell them to CWS, which then processes them into green coffee. But a farmer can be a member of a cooperative that owns a processing station. One typically belongs to whichever CWS is closest to his/her hill or hillside. Cherries are transported daily to the processing station on foot (more accurately, on one’s head) or by bike. After a few hundred farmers supply their daily pickings, everything is mixed and processed the same afternoon. The coffee cherries are then fermented, washed and dried together to represent one day’s production.

This year's winner is “Businde” but we visited neighbouring Mpanga at 1750 masl, which came in second place at Prestige Cup last year. Jean Clemént built Mpanga three years ago, after having worked for over ten years as head of several CWS in the district. He took out loans, partnered with a good colleague and built a CWS as he thinks it should be. But Jean Clément does not speak English, so I got to know him through his cousin, Jeanine.

Jeanine is a graceful woman in her forties who speaks very good English, having lived all over the world throughout the years. She left Burundi just before the first ethnic executions began in 1988 and until a few years ago, she had not seen or heard from her cousin. The last she’d heard of him was that he and his siblings had managed to escape into the woods, as rebels stormed their home and took the lives of all the adults in the house. Now the cousins are ​​reunited and Jeanine has set out to tell the world – in English – about cousin Jean Clément’s work and success. I was all ears.

Over 3,000 families/farmers sell their coffee cherry to Mpanga. Everything is right: altitude, climate, soil and varietal. Each family delivers an average of 500kg per season and Jean Clemént insists on red and ripe cherry. If cherry to this standard is not delivered, it’s sent back to be well sorted. The wet processing technique, which has been common in Burundi since the early 1980s, was reportedly implemented with pressure and support from the World Bank – because it gives coffee value. This is the first time I have seen the use of this technique: after removing the pulp, the coffee is initially fermented for 18 hours in its fruit. The next day the coffee is fermented further in fresh water for an additional 18 hours, but without having been washed. Then the coffee is cleaned in the classical method of washing in channels of fresh water, before it is finally soaked and dried, as is the standard practice in Kenya. For many, this double-fermenting technique has died within the last 2-3 years. If not due to the privatization of CWS, or to allow for less work, then for other causes, which I do not yet have clarity on. But it was difficult to have clarity, when I encountered representatives from the entire coffee industry: members from all levels. Everyone I met was hungry to know what coffee professionals outside the country want and think. It is both strange and wonderful to know that we now discuss how coffee cherries should be processed - to achieve desirable flavour attributes. It's a conversation coffee roasters and coffee farmers could not have had just a few years ago. At least not in Africa.

Jean Clément is provisionally willing to continue with both techniques, at least as long as he has buyers who want one or the other. According to him - I have yet to taste it for myself, and he did not have empirical experience for this - double fermented coffee tastes sweeter, while single-fermented coffee has more acidity. If anything, I would have thought it was the other way around. But the point is that Jean Clément, a farmer and coffee processor in an African country, holed up in a mountains, far off the beaten track, with no means to communicate other than in French; only now has he come in contact with a market that he can communicate with (via his cousin) - and produce the coffee you want.

The future has arrived.

Jeanine (aforementioned cousin) has also helped set up an export company so Jean Clément can send coffee out of the country directly to the buyer and be left with all the profit of his work.

A little number crunching: a farmer delivers and therefore sells his/her own coffee cherries and this is the source of income for the family. Last year the minimum paid for cherries was, on average, 600 BFR or $0.45 USD per kilogram of cherry. If one has 500 kg of cherry per harvest, the annual income is 1250 BFR ($225 USD). Keep in mind that 5 kg of cherry yields about 1kg of green coffee.

During my last visit, I hung out with Angéle, a very hands-on and lively woman. She was born and raised her four children (now almost adults) in Bujumbura. Previously she worked with buying and selling green coffee on the commodity exchange, but in the last six years, has acquired some pieces of land in Kirundo, her home district. She knows the people here and is confident that she can run coffee farms, even though she still lives in Bujumbura. The layout of her farms is drastically different from what one typically expects from coffee plots of 100-300 trees and she will soon have 30,000 coffee bushes on her land (a 12 hectare plot). The "oldest" part of the farm is five years old and produces about 10 tons of Bourbon. She wants to make her coffee operation organic, through the use of organic fertilizers and compost, active farming and frequent maintenance of her coffee bushes.

A few months ago she bought four CWS in the area. We visited Gasura CWS in Kirundu province, which receives coffee cherry from about 1700 farmers and their families, living on 10 different hills. She is currently double-fermenting but wishes to stop using this technique.

Stay tuned for my next post, where I discuss my visit to the Gitega region in the south, where 7 of the 17 CoE winners are from. I talk about cup profiles in this coming post.

Robert

Introduction to Santa Barbara, Honduras

Since 2005, the region, Santa Barbara, and the small producers living and working there, have shared the distinction as the place and the people producing exceptional coffee within Honduras. Our work and the beginning of the on-going relationships we’ve since established all began with the purchase of a microlot from Mr. Benitez when he won the 2005 Cup of Excellence. We came to realize, through working with him, that there are more exceptional producers like him from this small area. And since that inaugural year, we have purchased from over twenty different Santa Barbara producers.

This year we have chosen coffee from 16 smallholdings located along one hillside in Santa Barbara, where the villages Cielito, Cedral and Las Flores follow one after another. Grown on this hillside is mostly Pacas, a coffee species akin to Bourbon, as well as Yellow Catuaí and Pacamara. It is challenging to process coffee cherries in areas like these, which are close to the jungle and thus, to rain. The drying process, in particular, is especially demanding. But when these processes are precisely controlled, seemingly problematic factors (like drying under challenging conditions) are what make coffee from this area particularly interesting. The coffee produced here cups with flavour attributes not found anywhere else in Central America.

Santa Barbara is the name of a region in Honduras, but it is also the name of the mountain range that stretches through this part of the country. Located in the village of Pena Blanca is coffee exporter San Vicente – the company that coordinates the coffee we buy.

The one special hillside mentioned earlier has, over the past several years, become the largest supplier of CoE winners in Honduras. The most successful farms with the smartest and most innovative farmers are neighbours who help each other to refine the best of their lots.

On this hillside exists an eagerness – a willingness, motivation and ambition to produce the best coffee in the country. But there are also large differences amongst the farmers and our purpose is to be close to this special coffee community and get to know the most ambitious of the farmers here; the ones we can develop something with. In order to build relationships - that allow both parties to have a common understanding of quality coffee – there must be frequent and long-term presence.

To produce coffee that tastes fruity is not very complicated. But to produce coffee that is clean, clear, fresh and fruity – that’s an art. Assumption number one is always that coffee from high-altitude areas naturally exhibit these characteristics. But high elevation can lead to potential problems, even in tropical climates. In the highest areas of Santa Barbara, up to and over 1800 meters, producers can experience "freezing": the combination of temperatures between 4-5C and rainfall that combine to cause cherries to not ripen and leaves to die on the bush. These conditions create a cold and humid climate, which is hazardous for processing and requires steady and reliable drying conditions for coffee so quality will not deteriorate. These natural conditions, of course, cannot be evaded. But a clever and prescient coffee farmer can invest in drying systems that minimize the risks associated with weather.
 

Moreno Brothers

Of the people we have been working with in Santa Barbara, our work with the Moreno brothers is one of the longest standing. It is amongst our coolest relationships anywhere. In previous years, the Morenos preferred selling their best lots through the Cup of Excellence auction because they always achieved good results and prices. But in the last few years, however, they have decided to trade differently because they are now confident that they can produce all their coffee to CoE quality standards, and thus prefer to sell directly, knowing they will receive good prices and a stable working relationship.

In our agreement with them, we have determined that after the best lots have been identified for the season, we will cup to verify that they meet our quality standards, and then pay a higher base price than their already higher-than-average price. For lots cupping even better, we will pay more. We only buy coffee we score at 86-points or higher. For coffee scoring between 86-88 points, we have decided to pay an additional 25% premium on top of the established base price. Coffee scoring between 88.5-90 points receives a 50% premium and, if coffee scores higher than 90-points, the Morenos receive a 100% premium! We believe the Moreno family, in the future, will produce more coffee of better quality (i.e. lots of 88-90-point coffee). The family is very motivated by the outlined agreement and we are very happy and excited about this partnership.

Stay tuned for soon to come posts on our other Santa Barbara partners!

Teaser to Borém Presentation - Le Carnaval du Café

As mentioned in our post about the upcoming event in Paris, Flávio Borém from the University of Lavras, Brazil, will be joining us to present his groundbreaking work on natural processing and coffee quality.  This will be the first time Flávio will present his work in Europe and is a unique opportunity to put yourself at the forefront of coffee research. Because of its status as the world's largest producer of arabica, Brazil is a producing country that is always in focus. In recent years, the coffee trade has become more and more about targeting specific markets, whether micro-region, species variation or processing method.

"Natural processed" coffee represents 80-85% of all coffee exported from Brazil. But much of this coffee is disregarded as inferior in quality and taste, compared to coffee processed through other methods. Yet there are, increasingly, more and more examples of fantastic natural processed coffees. To such an extent that roasters are beginning to pay more attention to naturals and the Cup of Excellence program arranged its first naturals competition this year. We now have increasing experiential evidence that very clean and interesting naturals can be found in Brazil, but this leads to some important and fundamental questions: What factors are contributing to these superior lots? How, specifically, can producers change and control their practices in order to produce great naturals?

Over the last three years, Mr. Borém has been collecting and analyzing data about how a coffee's processing environment affects cherry development and maturation. He and his team have been looking at many different variables (e.g. whether coffee bushes are grown on the sunny or shady side of a slope; effects of different altitudes; different humidity levels in dried coffee; temperature of coffee during drying, etc.) and how these affect the final cup profile. During his presentation in Paris, he will focus on the role of processing - and some of the many factors involved - on quality and flavour. The processing of high quality naturals is a very complex endeavour - something that may seem evident due to the fact that it has been difficult to find high quality naturals - but if certain variables are taken into account, it is possible to manipulate specific factors in processing, to yield better quality coffee.

Flávio's research and the questions it raises (as well as addresses) have some very important and practical implications for the coffee industry in Brazil. For one thing, natural processing represents a potential risk to the farmer, should he/she choose to process this way. But if it's risky to produce naturals, why devote time, effort and study to it? Amongst many reasons, natural processing has a long history and tradition in Brazil, while mechanical wet processing was not common before about 20 years ago. A very practical reason for natural processing is that there exist many places where it is necessary to process in this way, due to a lack of water resources. Perhaps most importantly from a buyer's perspective, naturals can possess very good characteristics such as intense aromas, sweetness, fruity flavors and a rich mouthfeel. The list of factors and debates related to this topic are truly endless.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to hear more about and debate on this important and fascinating research! Contact info@collaborativecoffeesource.com for more details on how you can participate.

Background to Burundi and CoE Burundi 2012

Baby Bourbon

Burundi is a tiny country in the heart of Africa and extends almost 30 miles in one direction and about 30 miles the other way. The land is mountainous and the characteristic hills roll, resembling a beautiful quilt. With the exception of a few national parks, each square meter of land is in use. Burundi shares a border with the Democratic Republic of Congo along the Tanganyika lake in the west, Tanzania is neighbour east and to the south, Rwanda borders north. Once upon a time, all this was one kingdom. These days, the countries represent the "new" promising coffee countries in East Africa.

With 200 people per square kilometer, Burundi is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. This puts great pressure on land resources, which can hardly be called virgin forest after all the clear-cutting done for firewood and for the grazing of cattle. All this has amounted to, literally, eaten up vegetation. The country is rich in fruits, but the population is impoverished. Of a population of 9.8 million, over 600,000 families earn their livelihoods from coffee cultivation. Coffee is the cash crop. An average coffee farm is in reality a garden with 2-300 coffee bushes, yielding a harvest of about 2-4 bags of green coffee per year. Whether the market pays $3 or $6 per pound for green coffee, matters a great deal, both for a family's living conditions and the country's economy as a whole. Burundi is first and foremost an agricultural country, and coffee and tea exports, together, represent 90% of the country's export income.

Burundi gained independence from Belgium in 1962, but ethnic conflicts that followed the genocide in 1993 (following the course of the genocide in Rwanda) and rebellion have impoverished the people in every sense. In 2009, the country signed a ceasefire between the government and rebels. The Tutsi ethnic group, a minority of the population, has dominated the coffee trade in Burundi. Hutus, the ethnic group representing the vast majority of the population, have been sitting in government over the last few years and have been working to re-build the country. The incoming generation recognize that ethnic conflicts are politically created; these are not conflicts based on race nor are they legal in nature. Tutsis and Hutus have more in common than differences. Nevertheless, Burundi is one of the world's poorest countries, life expectancy is an average of 46 years, half the population is under 15, and half the population over 15 cannot read and write.

Gross domestic product is about $175 USD per capita and the coffee sector, already an essential part of the culture and economy, is also proving to be a cornerstone in the building of a more prosperous future.

Café du Burundi

Politicians at all levels and many organizations, including aid agencies and the World Bank, have worked actively for Burundi to become a producer of specialty coffee. The highlands, climatic conditions, soil quality and plant material go a long way, to this end. Historically Burundi produces OK coffee, but the market has not appreciated its potential. There are three basic factors that always need to be addressed in order to produce specialty coffee: processing techniques must be fine-tuned, the infrastructure and logistics of moving coffee must be in place, and the market must be established and informed.

The former government sector that processes coffee cherries in Burundi, Coffee Washing Stations (CWS), has, over the last few years, been privatized. Of the 175 CWSes, over a third are held by private companies. According to local sources, people in Burundi are more enterprising than in neighbouring countries. The coffee sector, with organizations such as the Alliance for Coffee  Excellence (ACE), has taken over the challenges of processing, logistics and marketing. ACE, owner and organizer of the Cup of Excellence program, seeks to find the areas of the country that demonstrably produce the best coffee. The first step is to train a squad of qualified coffee tasters who can evaluate what the country actually has to offer. This work started four years ago, partly with the support of the agriculture department at the University of Michigan in the US. Paul Songer, head judge for CoE Burundi this year, studied sensory perception at UC Davis and helped educate a dozen proud coffee tasters. These cuppers received over 300 coffee samples from processing stations around the country this year. Of these, 150 were found worthy of sensory evaluation at the national jury level and finally, 60 of the best coffee were selected for evaluation by the international jury.

During the first five days of competition we tasted the submissions in three sections. After the final day, only 17 lots were left, all scoring over 85 points, and two lots having scored over 90 points. I visited the two areas where winning coffees come from and will, in the following post, further describe the country, articulate more on how the coffee trade operates in Burundi and also introduce the people behind these operations. The coffee industry, after all, is a people-centered industry.

Stay tuned,

Robert

Le Carnaval du Café 2012: a Parisian Cupping Extravaganza, 26-27 October 2012

Collaborative Coffee Source Presents: small dogs; BIG COFFEES

Move over vin et fromage - le cafe: c´est arrivé!  That´s right light-roast lovers: no more the robusta filled double espresso, non!  Never again the frothed-to-butter café au lait, sacré bleu! Because for two days only the culinary capital of the world will be transformed into coffee´s The  Place To Be.  O la la!

Over the 26-27 of October, we will be holding a two-day coffee extravaganza in the world´s most romantic city.  Come, stuff yourself silly with crumbling patissiere whilst cupping some of the most delightful coffees your bouche will ever be amused by.

Cupping spoons and notepads at the ready!  The programme will focus on the following areas:

1. Sourced by The Collaborative; roasted by You A unique opportunity to cup, compare and contrast coffees sourced by the Collaborative and roasted by individual specialty roasters across Europe.

2. Presenting: BRAZIL The Collaborative will be accompanied by Cup-of-Excellence-history-making producers. Together we will showcase the newest, freshest and boldest coffees available to Collaborative customers from the regions of Carmo de Minas and Piatá.

3. The Enlightenment Series: Processing! Varietals! We have invited leaders in their fields to come and talk to us about their research on the effects of different processing methods on the quality of coffee and cup profile, and the advantages and disadvantages of pioneering varietals.  This is the cutting edge of agronomy and coffee production and an exclusive opportunity: don´t miss it!

Plus plenty of time for getting to know fellow specialty roasters from across the continent, award-winning producers and researchers from Latin America and of course The City of Lights in all its autumnal glory.

So: dust off your can-can shoes, practise your verb conjugations and loosen your belt a notch or two: nous allons à Paris!

Places are limited so get in there quick! info@collaborativecoffeesource.com

Carmo de Minas - Summary of First Visit, 2012 Season

Although coffee is an old commodity in Brazil, over the last 10-12 years, the country has showcased its very best coffee and it is only in the last 7-8 years that coffee in the Carmo de Minas municipality has been particularly noted.

Carmo is one village among twenty in the Mantiqueira region, south of the Minas Gerais county, in Sul de Minas. In the same way that Burgundy is an important name in the French world of wine, Carmo de Minas has become a destination in the Brazilian coffee world. Some of its distinction can be attributed to topographic and climatic conditions, but as always, there are people engaged in farms - from picking coffee cherries to processing, which are crucial to the quality of the product. People are the difference!

Although many of the farms in this area have won awards and garnered attention in recent years, there has not really been radical changes in farming and processing methods. Not even in terms of picking. I dare say that the area has achieved its status with a little luck, good growing conditions, good plant material - mostly Bourbon - but otherwise quite ordinary craft. However, good coffee has come out of all this and as a result, Carmo has experienced a "clean sweep" in Cup of Excellence competitions. But the quality can be even better and the amount of the best coffee can be increased. More on that, but first a little aside.

Over the past decade, Brazil as a nation has experienced fantastic economic growth in every field, with higher purchasing power and an ever-increasing standard of living. At least 20 million people have risen over the poverty-line and the middle-class has grown by 40 million in, relatively, few years. The value of labor has also increased; Brazil now has full employment and rising wages. All of this naturally affects the cost of coffee production in general, but it especially affects labor-intensive coffee (read: new processing methods with even higher costs). In some cases it is difficult to find labor at all, especially for farm work. Incentives must be strengthened in order to keep people at work within coffee! As the world's largest producer of coffee, Brazilian coffee is the main component in blends all over the world and the price is a reflection of the fact that coffee from here is considered a base product. In parallel with fluctuations in world markets and in the pricing of coffee in general, the specialty coffee segment has established its own price dynamics.

Handpicking in Sao Benedito

We want quality coffee. People notice differences in quality and the best must be paid for accordingly. Price according to quality will allow for further differentiation in price in the coming years. Brazil's macroeconomic situation will not change for the worse, rather the contrary.

Jacques Pereira Carneiro represents the new generation in Carmo. Together with cousin Luis Paulo (who currently is president of Brazil Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA)), he runs the coffee export firm Carmo Coffees. The boys are 5th generation coffee farmers and oversee 12 farms, with 6 processing stations - altogether known as the Pereira family. They are members of the cooperative Coca Rive which offers members courses on taste evaluation, distribution of fertilizer and storage facilities. Coca Rive has 400 members and is the smallest of the smallest cooperatives in the Carmo region, with its 8000 coffee farms. Previously Coca Rive worked almost exclusively with commercial coffee in this area and a few years ago it was a challenge to fill even one container (300 bags) of specialty coffee. Last year Carmo Coffees sold 150 containers of coffee over 80-points. We expect true specialty coffee from 86-points but know that this proportion is also increasing.

Carmo's reputation is so well established that there is an ever-increasing demand for more coffee of this quality. But quality coffee does not just happen. Carmo Coffees works to provide coffee from farms outside the family's and from other districts. Pedralva, for example, is just a few miles from Carmo de Minas and many of the farms here are good, with altitudes up to 1400 meters above sea level. The work now is for a few farmers to push the idea of working a little differently to achieve better quality. With higher prices in the specialty coffee segment comes the motivation to do better than before. According to Jacques, this change can be facilitated, but the first challenge is to pick a technique. On top of this are the added associated costs. Historically, the picking technique has been picking the coffee bush clean (stripping) during one picking and one harvesting season. Most people do this and even use partially mechanized equipment to do the job, which is more time-effective. But to get the sweetest coffee, you have to pick the sweetest, ripest cherries.

Minimum wage has increased to about $500 per month and although this is a low salary on any scale, these wages mean that the work of selective hand-picking coffee cherries represents up to 2/3 of the total cost of coffee production, even when coffee is sold at a 100% premium over commodity coffee.

Season 2012

The rain that has fallen in the ripening season has led to production that, as a whole, will be somewhat less for 2012 than in 2011. But first and foremost, this is a problem for the best coffee: there is significantly less of it.

Many areas are now being harvested in one picking that is not selective nor 100% mature, either because the cherries ripened at once, or because there is so little crop that it does not make sense to go out and pick several times. Despite this, the best coffee in Carmo is hand-picked. The first picking started in May.

Grandma "Vovo" - matriarch of the Carneiro family - is always out when the season's first harvest is initiated. Because there is often a difference between the degree of maturation of the cherries early in the season, the first pick has to be particularly selective. For botanical reasons, Bourbon ripens first and often the best cherries come from just the first picking. Other species in Carmo include Catuai, Acaia, Catucaí and Icatu.

Tasting sessions, to date, confirm that we should maintain relations with the Sao Benedito farm, which produces Sweet Bourbon coffee, both red and yellow varieties. We will also buy from several other farms in Pereira-Carneiro family including Sertao and Santa Ines, both of which are frequent Cup of Excellence winners. We're likely to take in some selections of natural-processed coffee as well, because we have secured some of the best so far this season: Red Bourbon from a plot on Sertao, with 100-year-old bush-material, very selectively picked and dried to perfection (it's not always easy to estimate how a processing of a batch of naturals will end).

Finally, we will continue the search for new coffee from skilled farmers in Pedralva and other surrounding areas.

All stages of the process

Yellow Bourbon on Fazenda Sertao

Warehouse in Coca Rive

Back in Carmo II, July 2012

The day is over (at least the part of the day with natural light). The sun sets earlier here than in Oslo and the night is young. The rain began just after lunch and the clay-like soil on the farms make the roads slippery and almost impassable. But we still made it up to Fazenda Sao Benedito today. The farm is known from Cup of Excellence and is one of the crown jewels of Carmo de Minas. Sao Benedito grows mostly Bourbon - yellow and red and production is about 10 containers per year (i.e. about 3 000 bags). This year it is estimated that the production in Brazil will go down due to climatic conditions, but it is also because of cyclical causes. A good production year typically follows a bad; the coffee bush taking a "sabbatical" and coming back stronger next year, so to speak.

Interestingly, following Carmo de Minas district's own cycle often proves the opposite of the country's tendency, which means that a moderate production year in Brazil often means a good year in Carmo. For coffee prices, this means that when the country as a whole has low production and prices of Brazilian coffee skyrockets in the world market, Carmo experiences an extremely good year and can sell their coffee at affordable prices. Price dynamics in the specialty coffee market now exhibit more and more pricing layers than in the commodity market. It's a trend we welcome! We want to pay a good price for good coffee from a good place and from a team of good people. It's only fair!

Sao Benedito is a good place. The farm's coffee bushes are arranged smoothly around the top of a hill, one of the many hills dotting the landscape in Carmo. The terrain is more rugged than in many other coffee regions in Brazil which creates microclimates from farm to farm and even within the same farm. Research done at an agronomic university, here in Brazil, has found distinct differences in sensory attributes of natural processed coffee grown on different slopes within the same farm. Some in the coffee industry have believed this to be true for some time, but now there is evidence. Presumably one would think that coffee cherries with the longest period of development give the most interesting flavour profile but the results are opposite.

Earlier this year I participated in a blind tasting at this university and was surprised that I preferred the natural coffee coming from  coffee species with typically lower acidity and grown at low-lying areas on farms. In other words, the exact opposite of growing conditions you'd want for washed coffee. The natural I preferred was very clean with fresh fruity attributes and exhibited a far more balanced mouth feel. It was this type of coffee that won the Cup of Excellence coffee auction for the naturals category this year. Most of the winners were from Carmo de Minas, farms of Jacques' and his family, which I am here to visit now.

Visits to fazendas like Sao Benedito, Santa Ines, Sertao and many others of the family's farms date back to our very first meetings with Carmo Coffee in 2005. On tasting sessions this morning, it was particularly a Sao Benedito lot that stood out as a favourite, and we are tasting coffee from many more farms tomorrow. The main purpose of the trip is to see what they do on the farms during harvest and to learn more about how processing methods of the best lots of natural coffees lead to the great results in the cup. We want to introduce a coffee of this processing method from Brazil that is extraordinary. (Most of the coffee drunk in Norway, in industrial mixtures at least, comes from this processing method in Brazil. But it always tastes so rough and inelegant.)

Now it is evening and dinnertime. Then, a delicious espresso in the Jacques' and his wife's new coffee bar. Good Evening!