Five Senses Coffee Blog

The Tim Wendelboe Event

Tim Wendelboe, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the most well known and respected names in the specialty coffee industry. One of the most consistent performers at the World Barista Championships coming second in 2001 and 2002 he finally took out the crown in 2004. Taking out the World Cup Tasting Championship in 2005 before starting his own café/wholesale roastery in 2007 aptly named Tim Wendelboe (TW).

One of the first things that Tim mentioned in his seminar was his goals for his business:

• To be the world best roastery,
• To be a role model to other roasteries,
• To constantly look for new ways to be the best and to never rest on laurels the company has achieved.

Last year TW roasted 23 metric tonnes of coffee. Most, if not all coffees that TW has on their roasting list Tim has personally visited the farm and worked to create an open and sustainable relationship with that farm. Many of the coffees that are used are found through the cup of excellence program. Tim’s process for finding new farms is:

• Start with COE auction lots
• Visit farms he liked the coffee from
• Most of the time farmers know each other, from the first farm he arranges to go to the farms of the COE farmer’s friends
• Maintain relationship with farm through tough farming cycles
  Tim will maintain a relationship with a farm that he has worked with, even through the poor quality seasons (when trees are stressed during a season to produce a more intence flavour profile in the cup the tree will more than likely produce a less vibrant crop the following season)
• Arrange guaranteed top dollar
  If Tim likes a coffee enough to want to buy it, he guarantees top dollar will be paid much sooner than COE can organise payment, which can be up to 4 months after the competition has ended.

At the event we cupped coffees that Tim W and Varney have been working with the table line up was:

Bourbon from Los Pinineros/ Los Palmas El Salvador

• Picked 2010
• Picked 2011

Pacas from Naciementas Honduras

• Picked January
• Picked April

Bourbon/Catuai from Sitio Canaa Sao Paulo Brazil

• Semi washed
• Natural

Geisha from the caballero family Honduras 2011

Geisha from hacienda la Esmeralda Panama 2011

Having two geisha’s on the table was one thing but for the other coffees on the table to stand out in their own right against the geisha’s was amazing.

The only coffee I didn’t like on the table was the past crop bourbon from El Sal. Tim is adamant about not using past crop coffees in his roastery to quote Tim here “ I am sick of the woody taste of a past crop coffee” and having tasted the past crop and current crop El Sal’s next to each other this really hit this home.

I think most people have tasted the Esmeralda geisha grown by the Peterson family in Panama but for those who haven’t it is one of the best tasting coffee’s in the world when done right. However this coffee was out shone by the geisha from the caballero family grown in Honduras it was BANGIN!! Unfortunately TW’s is one of two roasters in the world that will receive a shipment of this coffee due to the work that TW has done with the farm over the last few years (proof that hard work and building a solid relationship with farms can reap extremely good dividends for both parties)

TW holds charity events to raise funds to buy new equipment for the farms that he is working with. Check out his latest event.

Tim when working to improve the quality of a farms crop, will only work with the farmers to try some new ways of producing coffee. Tim stated that many times when he finds a good coffee he does not want to change the flavour of the coffee that he is tasting only to ensure it remains that way, many farms do not record the processes of farming instead it is more educated guess work Tim works with the farms he buys from to:

• Document everything that happens on the farm (rainfall, fertilizing times, etc)
• PH levels in fermentation tanks
• Water temperatures in fermentation tanks
• Drying times

I could go on and on and cover Tim’s whole seminar, but it will never be as eloquently expressed through this blog post as it was on the day.

Tim is one of the barista’s that inspired me to get into coffee eight years ago. It is an absolute testament to Tim’s skills and knowledge base that he can still inspire me to keep learning more about the specialty coffee industry even after all these years.

© Photo provided with permission by Guy Lavoipierre. All rights reserved by photographer. For more info on Tim, or supreme coffee news in general, checkout espressomelbourne.com