Five Senses' Blog
General Coffee News
The SynessoMac Mark II is born
What was 18 months in the making is finally complete and stands proud on my kitchen bench — the SynessoMac Mark II.
My home set-up including the SynessoMac Mark II
It’s been about two years since Richard finished and installed the original SynessoMac at his home and after a few months or constant pestering, late night sms’s and post-it notes on his fridge, he finally agreed to go around the block again and create a Mark II of his original creation.
Once I got the nod, I raced my machine into the service department ready for its conversion. Richard assured me it would only take about eight weeks 
… ok, maybe it got dragged out just a little a bit, but I guess a few slightly more important projects like green bean lifting machines, roasted bean mixing trays and a 90kg Giesen roaster install were a little more important to bump my little machine further down the priority list.
Alrighty, enough about those other projects … a mere 18 months in the womb and the SynessoMac Mark II was born. It’s almost identical to the original with a few small differences: blue PID (at my request), a custom-made double walled cooltouch steam wand (thanks Synesso, you guys rock!) and the pump was mounted externally under the bench (making the internal area much easier to work around).
It came home just before Christmas, which was gold!!! … seens as it was holidays. I’ve been experimenting with different coffees, different temps and even dosing levels, which has been a lot of fun. I’ve been looking for something that’s chocolaty and super sweet. I really don’t know whether it’s possible to beat our Colombian Monserrate at 96°C, which is what I’ve been tasting for a few days now. I started at 92°C and one thing that I’ve definitely found is the shots get sweeter as I drive up the temp. Next up is to try some of our blends.
For all the technical details of Richards original project, check it out here: http://blog.fivesenses.com.au/category/project-x/
And just for the record … the wait was totally worth it.
Close up of the Synesso grouphead
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
Day One of the 2012 UAE National Barista Championships
The 2012 UAE National Barista Championship has provided me with the opportunity to travel to the Middle East, drink some interesting coffee and meet some coffee fanatics in Dubai. Given that this is a perpetually hot city which is surrounded by desert, a surprising amount of coffee is drunk in this part of the world. As Head Judge for the competition, I conducted a two day judges’ calibration workshop at the start of the week with Ross Quail of Sensory Lab. The UAE competition historically relies on international judges. The competition is now in its third year, so it was great to see many local industry professionals giving their time to be involved. After much scrutinising of the rules, tasting of interesting coffee and practical judging assessment, we came out the other side with a strong team, ready to provide the foundations of a local judging pool for this year and next. It was particularly encouraging to see past competitors giving back by stepping up to judge.
The coffee industry here in Dubai is still very grounded in the old school Italian model of espresso, with the likes of Illy being key shapers of coffee appreciation. Lots of super dark roasting, heavy robusta blends and very long extractions. Chain franchises rule the roost with much coffee being consumed in the mega-malls of Dubai, malls so large they contain full size aquariums, ice rinks and even a ski slope! Select local roasters such Coffee Planet, however, are attempting to redress this a little by bringing in better beans and sliding the roast profile as far towards a lighter style as local palates will allow. We visited their roastery with Head Roaster Rosco (a fellow Kiwi) and owner Richard, and were hugely impressed with their operation. They transitioned from a 12kg to a 120kg Probat roaster to meet the incredible growth they’ve experienced, and the roastery was an absolute model of cleanliness and efficiency; three guys shipping out ten tonnes a week without a speck of dust or single errant bean to be seen.
I don’t think another barista championship in the world can match the UAE for location. The competition is being held at the Meydan Hotel which is wrapped around a race track. It is also one of the longest buildings in the world — a monumentally spectacular building. We have 21 baristas competing over two days of heats, followed by a final Top Five on Saturday. Day One was yesterday and ran very smoothly thanks to our international judges who stepped into the fray straight after some very long flights. Most of the competitors are first time entrants thanks to the very transient nature of the workforce here, but we saw some very encouraging talent and barista passion emerging. Somewhat uniquely, the competition here runs from 3pm to 9pm, so sleeping patterns continue to be somewhat shattered. However I am off to review some local cafes today, so caffeine will be working its glorious magic in no time.
Day one of the UAE Barista Comp
A view from my hotel
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
HOST Trade show in Milan
HOST 2011 has come and gone. It was, as expected, a massive show. This is the 4th HOST show I’ve been to in a row and what I’ve started to realise is how this show has become a great broad snap shot of what the coffee industry looks like globally every two years. It almost acts like a time lapse photo being taken every two years of the coffee industry and every photo being a record of who was doing what, of people, of companies and most importantly of coffee trends.
This year roasting machine manufacturers were hardly represented in comparison to years gone by. Probat were present but only presented their shop roasting equipment. Typically there were trillions of European roasting companies on the floor and an equal number of low end espresso machine manufacturers — not much has changed here.
Things of interest. Call them trends if you will.
Pods are out. Capsules are in. (Don’t worry all you lovers of coffee — this doesn’t matter to you)
Domestic espresso machine manufacturers seems to have doubled — sorry all you home users of specialty coffee, the machines being made are basically capsule dispensing machines. Even traditional domestic espresso machine manufacturers are now pimping their existing lines to be able to brew capsules.
On top of this there were booth after booth of manufacturers selling equipment to roasters that enabled them to pack their coffee into, you guessed it — capsules.
Capsule rant done.
What was exciting was that for the first time at HOST the specialty coffee world appeared better represented in comparison with previous years. The epicenter for activity in the specialty coffee world was at the Marco (Uber project) booth and it was probably the busiest booth consistently throughout the show per square meter — certainly the noisiest and most fun. The booth consisted of a few brew benches, the Marco hot water delivery systems and the Baratza and Uber Grinders.
The activity went off the dial when the booth played host to the World Aeropress Championship. Brewed coffee is well and truly here and is well supported by the people who have become synonymous with espresso. Competitors included WBC champs James Hoffman, Gwilym Davies, Irish Barista champ Colin Harmon, UK champ John Gordan and a whole host of others who highly active in the specialty coffee world. We tweeted the action so feel free to trawl back through our tweets to get a feel for what was happening.
The other thing worth mentioning was notable efforts by some of in specialty industry to explore profiling. We went along to hear the results of some testing by a group that included James Hoffman, Tim Wendelboe and Tim Varney. The stuff they presented was by no means conclusive but there were definite signs that with further work in the area correlations between cup taste and pressure profile stages would become pretty obvious. One thing that has become apparent is the link between the length of pre-infusion and the flow rate during the next stages of the shot. Also, traditional understandings of shot time go out the window with a pressure profiled shot — this is consistent with my own experience thus far.
Now, off to the next part of the trip…
The Coffee Spectrum
It seems as though every day is a week. There is so much to take in, and I don’t want to miss a thing!
We made the long and very bumpy journey out of the beautiful Attikan Estate and on to the Lakshmi Coffee Curing Works in Hassan. The journey took about eight hours, but was well worth it. Mr Narayanan, the manager, took us on a tour and explained that the coffee he receives from the Sangameshwar Coffee Estates is all stored separately in individual fields or lots. The coffee being processed on the farm is their own lot, but it is all kept totally separate here too. We went from watching the de-stoning of the coffee and the hulling of the parchment coffee, through to seeing the ‘polishing’ (removing the silver skin) and the way they get rid of excess dust etc. Then the coffee is graded by machine and sorted for different defects such as black beans, by a machine called Spectrum which was imported from Brazil.
It uses a spectrometer to sort the defects out. The coffee then comes out as 95% ‘clean’ or free of defects. Next it goes through a vibrator which again sorts out chipped, triaged and damaged beans and it is now considered 98% clean or sorted. Lastly, all the coffee is hand sorted in order to be checked off as 99% clean or sorted. It is a long and laborious task, but the final product is one that was good enough to make our offering list at Five Senses, as the Attikan Estate.
Next we made the journey to the Karadykhan Estate which is about two hours drive from Chikmagalur where we are spending two nights. We arrived at 11:45pm having left Attikan at 8am — a long and magnificent day. We spent today looking at the Karadykhan Estate, the Gungegiri Estate and the Kondagkhan Estate, which all fall under the Sangameshwar Coffee Estates banner (along with Attikan). There is so much to see and it is such an organised and transparent operation. We were able to see ‘muster’ which is the roll call on all of these Estates. At muster, every single worker is accounted for. They are assigned a place to work on the farm, told what they will do there (weeding, shading, trimming etc.) and given an allotted length of time to work. So the coffee we get is traceable back not only to the field, but to each and every individual worker. Brilliant!
Tomorrow we are heading back to Bangalore and on Monday we will be flying into the Araku Valley. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming days.
India women sorting
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