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COE winners are grinners … off to Sul de Minas Gerais
The Brazilian COE has only just come to an end, it was a busy week and most certainly a very intense last couple of days. It’s exciting, draining and lots and lots of work for everyone involved, but most importantly, an invaluable experience and program for producers, buyers and consumers the world over. I’ve always had a soft spot for Brazilian coffees and it’s probably the reason why I originally chose Brazil as a jury I wanted to be on. I’m not sure if it’s because I find them often misunderstood as I often hear “I really don’t like Brazilian coffees” from speciality coffee buyers, drinkers etc. Being here, learning and tasting super fresh Brazilian coffees has proven to me once again, that Brazil has a lot to offer the speciality world, especially (but not exclusively) the espresso market. Caramel, juicy, fruity, clean, sweet, spicey, chocolately, malty, citric … need I go on.
Jules (Juliana Nobre) and I have packed our bags once again and are now in Sul de Minas Gerais (South of the state of Minas) … a very well known coffee growing region in Brazil. We are surrounded by rolling hills of coffee and spending the next couple of days of the Santo Antonio Estates, where for the first time this year, our fresh crop Brazils are coming from. In fact, they are due to land in Australia just around the corner in early December. We are also spending time on some of the estates we get our micro lots from, Samambaia, Villa Boa, Pinhal as well as some new ones. The air is fresh, the coffee is sweet and those warm cheesy buns straight out of the oven are absolute heaven!!
We saw two Toucan’s yesterday … I couldn’t believe my eyes!!
The final days in Brazil
Zee best of zee best!
We’ve spent the last two days further narrowing down the original 60 coffees … things are starting to get really tight and it’s like comparing lots of great apples with apples but we’re still trying to pick out the best apples in the process! Today is the finale, a nice reward for a week of hard / fun work … I’m about to run down to the lab to taste our top ten picks, some 90+ coffees (in my opinion) so this is going to be a real treat.
More news soon …
Check out this vid for some thrilling cupping action:
Brazil COE — Day 1
We’ve all arrived safe and sound in the city of Londrina in the state of Parana. It’s nice to see so many familiar faces from all over the world … US, Poland, Japan, Korea, Hamburg, Norway, Australia (Ross Quail and Juliana Nobre) UK, Guatemala as well as a whole bunch of new ones. We had a massive day today starting with the standard calibration rounds; first with solutions representing different acids, combination acids and sugars, body, astringency etc .. an exercise that’s light and easy as well as a great way to draw focus to the fundamentals of cupping and the character (good and bad). The next three rounds are the same eight coffees three times over, a chance to evaluate your own consistency as well as how calibrated we are as group. By the end, I think we zoned into a good rhythm and there was a clear direction with scores. Lots of food, talks, welcomes and ceremonies to kick things off … we’ve all wet our whistles with a couple of standout coffees today and I think most of us are keen to put our serious cupping hats on tomorrow morning and do our best to select the top lots of the competition. Interesting fact we learned today was that Londrina used to be considered the coffee centre of Brazil until a major frost hit in 1975 and decimated the trees in this region, many of which were never replanted.
Brazil COE day 1
Day 4 of Q Graders course is about to wrap up
This year there were five people from Five Senses represented. Here are their experiences of the past four days, wrapped up in four adjectives…
Adam: happiness, joy, excitement, nervous
Brydon: nerve-racking, informative, frustrating, validating
Ron: fun, exciting, tiring, summertime!
Ian: exhausting, tiring, fatigued, awesome
Jacob: intensive, educational, relational, challenging
Megan: informative, exhaustive, relationship-building, nostalgic
Watch this space for a post course wrap-up. It is sure to be, exciting, fun, informative, nostalgic…….
Cuppers in action
Could this be Australia's next Q-Grader?
The kids are alright!!
After trading emails for the last couple of years the planets finally aligned and I managed to be in Bali at the same time as Jeff Neilsen. Jeff is a lecturer and academic at University of NSW and specialises in markets and supply chains in rural areas with a special interest in Indonesian coffee production. Jeff is definitely one of the good guys, a fluent Indonesian speaker and passionate humanitarian and it was great to finally show him our projects in Bali.
I also had contacted a Balinese based photographer Tommy Schultz. Tommy was raised in Virginia in the US, completed a degree in environmental science and spent some time working on aid projects with the Peace Corps in the Philippines. Tommy is one of those rare individuals who has a creative and humanitarian heart and one of the sharpest business minds I’ve come across.
We all shared the common trait of offering our opinions freely and with conviction which made for a very entertaining and stimulating day as we criss-crossed the high country of Bali!
Once we all piled into the car, accompanied by “our man on the ground’, the newly married Komang Sukarsana and Bali’s best driver, Made Mertiasa we started the journey to Git Git to check in on the progress of our nursery at the Tri Karya Subak Abian. It was super exciting to see that our tiny seedlings had now been transplanted from the beds into poly bags and stood proudly in long, neat rows. The plants looked healthy and strong and we now have to wait until February when the mammoth task of getting them into the ground begins. Each plant require a hole 60 cm deep and 30 cms in diameter. With some 7,500 plants to go into the ground, that’s going to take some digging!!!
There was a very tangible air of excitement at Tri Karya about getting stuck into this coffee project. The plan is to plant out around 25 hectares of coffee (somewhere around 40,000 trees!!) over the next couple of years. It’s fair to say this is a very ambitious project and has the potential to have a profound effect on the security and wellbeing of this area. Tri Karya are currently very dependent on clove production for their livelihood and any dip in prices or production would see them in some trouble.
We then moved on to meet our old friends at Kerta Waringin and Ulian Murni, the car was alive with “vigorous” and informed debate. Tommy managed to come up with an online business strategy for anything and everything we discussed whilst Jeff rightly pointed out some of the “holes” in our relationship with the coffee farmers of Bali. Time to revise our game plan a little and start to share the risk a little bit. It’s very much a trust model with FSC exposed to most of the risk!!
One of the highlights of the day for me was when Made Sukerta, the always smiling and hospitable head of Ulian Murni, proudly told us how he declined the offers from some “Aussies”, who tracked them down through our blogs and stories and tried to buy the coffee he has stockpiled to be shipped to us in Australia. Maybe our trust model is not so bad after all!!
Coffee Seedlings
Rows of Seedlings
Jeff at the nursery
Coffee flowering
Project Nanhi Kali
With Poddy currently in India visiting the Araku Valley, we thought it might be time to present a fantastic opportunity for anyone that wants to support a worthy cause.
“In many parts of India, the arrival of a baby girl calls for mourning rather than celebration. Abandoning them at birth or marrying them off as children is common practice. Looked upon as huge economic burdens, it is hardly surprising that many Indian families don’t see the point of investing in their education.” ~ Nanndi Foundation.
We have visited these schools and seen firsthand the impact the Nanhi Kali project has on the young girls of tribal coffee farmers of the Araku Valley.
Nanhi Kali is a girl child education program aimed at educating the under privileged girl child from socially and economically marginalised families living in urban, rural and tribal parts of India. This is a national sponsorship program which provides academic and material support to disadvantaged girls so that they can complete 10 years of quality education with dignity. It is currently reaching out to over 70,000 Nanhi Kalis and has a presence in many states.
The Sponsorship cost is Rs.2400 per annum (approx. AUD$50) for a Nanhi Kali (studying in Std.1 to Std.5) and Rs. 3600 per annum (approx. AUD$75) for a Nanhi Kali (studying in Std.6 to Std.10)
Donations can be made through the Online Payment Gateway on: donor.nanhikali.org/DonorRegister.aspx
The period of sponsorship is for one year, however you can decide to sponsor the education of many Nanhi Kali or for a number of years instead of just one. As a sponsor you will receive the following during your sponsorship period: a postcard size photograph of your Nanhi Kali and a profile of your Nanhi Kali, which gives you details of her family and her living environment (approx. 60 days of receipt of your contribution). First progress reports informing you how well your Nanhi Kali is doing in school (approx. 6 months of receipt of your contribution) and a second progress report (approx. 1 year of receipt of your contribution) towards the end of your sponsorship period. You may also receive correspondence in the form of cards and drawings from your Nanhi Kali, along with the progress reports. The progress report can also be checked on-line at nanhikali.orq with your donor ID and password that they will provide in the acknowledgement/receipt letter.
In addition, the money you invest in supporting the girl child is exempt under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act and you will be sent a copy of the tax exemption certificate along with your receipt once you make your donation.
Indian girls
The ABA Makeover is Complete
After only three days, Fintan Magee has finished his mural on the Australian Barista Academy wall in Victoria. Although a few rain delays prevented the portafilter idea from eventuating the new artwork has still given the west side wall a whole new look. Check out how the some of the balloons are actually part of a coffee branch! On the box heads there are stencils of coffee syphons and group handles, which are visible to Melbourne trains all day, every day. Next time you’re in West Melbourne, drop in a have a look. It’s an appealing image with fun, subtle coffee images woven in.
Thanks Fintan Magee!
The final artwork on the Australian Barista Academy wall by Fintan Magee
London: I need a good coffee!
Getting good coffee in London, could it happen? I wasn’t sure, but I really needed one. After the full on week at Host in Milan, which involved a daily routine of walking as much as 10km, fuelled by very few specialty coffee pit stops, a good coffee hit was just what the body craved.
After arriving in London and settling into the accommodation, we earmarked a few places to visit. Our time here was limited to one day, so we needed to make the most of it. My travel companion ipad, and his mate Google, helped us out with the rest. The day was planned.
First stop Prufrock, the funky new store owned by Gwilym Davies. The cafe is located on a street which had a market running when we arrived, with stalls filled with all manner of paraphernalia. Interesting food smells filled the air and distracted us temporarily from our goal. In fact, there was a moment where we thought they had moved the café, as it was hidden by a large clothes stall. We soon realised where it was and headed in. First impression was a large, well lit space with beautiful old wooden flooring and a clean spacious brew bar with a lever machine on the bench behind. James the barista, whilst working the brew bar and prepping a syphon for us, informed us that the machine was going to be used for the first time this coming weekend. They intended to make some traditional Italian cappuccinos — with 8g of coffee in the basket. Interesting! I really wished I could extend my stay to take part. Sadly, this wasn’t going to be possible. We settled in and enjoyed the hospitality for an hour or so, drinking some great Square Mile coffee brewed both by syphon and aeropress (in homage to the recent World Championship). The Guatemalan COE that Prufrock is currently serving was a highlight — crisp, snappy and clean.
Next stop — our friends at Square Mile Roastery. We had received an invitation from John Gordon and James Hoffman to visit them when in London. We were very excited to see what they were doing, as it seems to be creating such a noise in the specialty coffee world. We caught a cab to the roastery and drove up the street — and back again. No roastery or signage! We got the cab driver to drop us off so we could search on foot. We looked around, trying to spot the tell-tale chimney stack or afterburner – to no avail. Finally, deciding on a ‘knock and see’ approach, we took a punt on an address and John answered the door. It was great to be back inside a real working roastery after the past week at Host. The familiar smells and sights were so appealing and inviting.
Sharing time and thoughts with others within the global coffee roasting business is just so much fun. We spent far more time talking through the victories and challenges of setting up a roastery than I anticipated, but gee it was great. We discussed all manner of things from roasters, fluing, afterburners, colour analysers, layout, staffing, labs and espresso machines to cafes, training, packaging and delivery. In hindsight I was surprised we didn’t talk more about the hot topic of pressure profiling. This was only briefly touched on, as John made us a couple of spectacular espressos on the Synesso Gen 2 in their new training space. That coffee really hit the spot. It was a ‘play around’ blend made up the day before by James (three differently processed Kilimanjaros from memory), and although John played it down, it really was lovely in the cup, with long lasting berry flavours, (which I am currently very biased towards). This coffee made my day.
The tour took a fair bit longer than anticipated, but it was a great time of sharing. I got a great sense of the enthusiastic spirit within the Square Mile Roastery. With such passionate and dedicated individuals, it is no coincidence that they are so highly regarded in the specialty coffee industry.
The rest of the coffee tour that was planned kind of fell by the wayside as time evaporated, but it didn’t matter, because that coffee REALLY hit the spot!
A big thanks to John and all the guys at Square Mile for giving up your time and hospitality. I do know it just made your tomorrow more busy 
Relaxing for a brew at Gwilym Davies new coffee shop: Prufrock
From Attikan to Araku
After heading back to Bangalore and spending a few hours wandering around the streets, we jumped on a plane and headed for the Araku Valley on the east coast of India. We landed in Vishakhapatnam, about three hours from Araku. I have never seen so many cars, bikes, trucks, buses and people in my life. This place was out of control … and I loved it! We hit Araku at about midnight, excited for what was to come the next day.
After our usual breakfast of dosa (fermented crepes made from rice batter and black lentils), idly (savoury ‘cakes’ of fermented lentils and rice), samba and coffee, we jumped in the jeep and headed for the first farm. There are close to 12,000 farmers here, all with about an acre on which to grow their coffee. These farmers come from about 600 different villages, which are broken down into 73 branches and looked after by 24 board members. The board members and branch officers are elected each year by the farmers themselves, ensuring that the needs of the farmers are met and that they are getting well looked after. Naandi, the non-Government organisation (NGO) who oversees this project, have been helping to build and develop an ethical and rewarding system for each and every farmer here. This came after money lenders had these communities by the throat and were holding them in constant debt, a cycle which has now been broken. Naandi specialises in four areas within the communities here — education, livelihood, nutritional security and health, particularly maternal health.
Both men and women are seen as equals in the eyes of the Naandi foundation which has had positive benefits. Over time the women, who only used to come out of their houses to work in the plantations (and work hard they do!), are now happy to meet with total strangers, inviting us into their village, smiling, and more than keen to get into a few photos. This gender equality then flows on to the children which is great. Naandi fund all of the farmers’ daughters’ schooling in a programme called Nanhikali which means ‘blossoming bud’ and includes their books, lunch and uniform. This programme continues right through until the end of high school. They push hard for each and every girl to be educated, which in the past was unheard of. We were also lucky enough to visit one of the villages’ Early Childhood Education Centres which prepares kids aged three-five for school. It was one of the highlights of the trip! Naandi makes this a full life-cycle project, running from pre-natal care, to early childhood, school and through to helping develop a livelihood.
Next we headed out the coffee processing unit or CPU as it is known here. This central CPU was built in 2006, because the farmers themselves could only manage poor quality processing previously. There is constant development happening at the CPU, with offices being built, and all kinds of organic and bio-dynamic practices going on. All the water is recycled, all the manure and fertiliser is fully organic and it is all prepared here at the CPU and distributed to the farmers. There has also been a development in mobile phone technology here — every Indian seems to have at least one mobile. Each of the farmers have a phone and each phone is equipped with a programme which allows them to fill out details such as how much coffee they picked, when, what village they are from, who they are etc. A truck then appears by the end of the day to pick up the coffee and take it to the CPU. But it doesn’t stop there — the programme also allows the farmers to be paid within 24-48 hours. Amazing!
There are also plans to grow and plant six million different fruit trees by 2013 amongst the coffee, not only to offer shade but to help provide a secondary income for the farmers. All in all, I’m looking forward to tasting the next crop, and seeing the constant development that is happening here in Araku.
But for now I’m going to enjoy Diwali, India’s biggest festival, the Festival of Lights — a huge public holiday. We’ve stockpiled a small arsenal of fireworks and rockets, and look forward to joining in with the festivities and, of course, blowing some stuff up!
Women of Araku
Indian women collecting water from the river
Surprising Results from our Bali Experiments
On my last trip to Bali I brought back the last of our green samples from our processing experiments. This was started by the brave team on our June harvest trip and involved careful cherry selection of each varietal (B1, S795 and Usda) and subsequent processing by either washed, pulped natural or natural method. We had already cupped the washed and pulped natural samples and these natural samples were the last part of the puzzle.
The overall standard of the naturals were very good with the surprise winner being the S795. The Usda varietal is a reliable winner of all previous Bali cuppings and I thought the natural preparation would really suit it. The Usda is an indigenous Ethiopian varietal, a country that produces some amazing naturally processed coffees. But my theories didn’t stand up in practice. I guess it’s a bit like assuming every Ethiopian is going to be a great long distance runner!!
The winning coffee exhibited an atypical (for Bali) fruity brightness accompanied by the usual voluptuous body we’ve come to expect. It was scored at 84 and we’d be pretty confident in thinking this is the best coffee to come out of Bali. This coffee came from the Ulian Murni Subak which is relatively low at 1000 to 1100 meters above asl. Using the rough rule of thumb of 1 cupping point per additional 100 metres above sea level, my dream is still alive to bring back a 87+ coffee from Bali. Just need to find that S795 plantation above 1400 metres asl!!
The natural prep requires a lot more time and space than the usual washed process, so it probably doesn’t have much appeal to the farmers but we may be able to persuade them to do a few bags for us next harvest for our Backroom program. Watch this space!!
Cupping the S795
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