Five Senses Coffee Blog

A day to remember

Today was one of those days when I need to pinch myself to remember I’m actually at work! Deano had joined the team and we headed up to Ulian Murni to check on our preparation experiments and make sure everything was going to plan. The washed sample was still in need of some more fermentation time so we left it in the capable hands of Made Sukerta to finish later in the day. With everything squared away we set off for Kerta Waringin for a cupping with the local farmers and some representatives from Tri Karya where we had built the nursery earlier in the trip.

Whilst waiting for the Subak head to arrive from a meeting we sat down with Putu Pancha the head man from Tri Karya to discuss what financial support we can offer them in the massive project to plant out the seedlings when the time comes.

We have learnt a lot about negotiating in the years we have been working in Bali. There is a widely held perception by the locals that westerners have an endless supply of money that they can be easily parted from. Straight out charity does not work. It destroys the dynamics of the relationship and prevents the formation of a true partnership. We emphasised our long term commitment to the farmers of Tri Karya and arrived at an amount that will allow them to plant out about seven hectares of coffee early next year. There will be a significant amount of labour required that will be worked out equitably amongst the farmers in their typically democratic and community orientated way.

Once the negotiations had finished Putu moved closer to me and fixed my eyes and gave a very sincere thanks to me as a representative of Five Senses. Very emotional!

Meeting with Putu Pancha the head man from Tri Karya in Bali

Meeting with Putu Pancha

Tags: Bali, Five Senses Coffee

The Fresh Prince takes the honors

Wow, its been a big couple of days! We ventured to Seminyak to hang out at Sea Circus for a low key barista jam. As usual the barista crew couldn’t keep themselves away from the gleaming synesso and were soon side by side with the local baristas sending out the orders. We staged a little latte art smackdown with Brad “the fresh prince” Nixon taking out the honours in a closely fought battle. After a few hours it was time to bid an emotional farewell to the Captain, Mat, Chris and Amy as they were staying beachside until their flights back to Oz later in the day.

We headed back to Ubud to do some barista training and machine maintenance at Indus and Casa Luna. Dashing Dave Carnaby replaced possibly the filthiest, most clogged shower screens on the planet and we soon had the ageing Rancilio humming.

Jen reported great progress at Casa Luna with many of the staff busting out some great latte art with confidence. Our boy Komang has obviously been doing some in house training of his own. Stay tuned for our next instalment as we pulled out the buckets and got down and dirty (and a little sunburnt) and started to pick our 90kgs of cherry for our processing trial!

Latte art smackdown Bali style!

There's only one Captain!

Dashing Dave gets "his Bali on"

Blessing the grinder, they take their coffee seriously!

After a bit of hard work the nursery is complete

Wow, what a day! The good captain managed a solid 1.5 hours sleep after a debauched Kuta run with Dan and Jamie. Despite looking decidedly shakey at breakfast he managed to drag his weary body into the van with the rest of the crew. We met our friend Made Sukerta and wife Ketut a little further down the road and fell into a three car convoy en route to Bedugul. Made’s farm had provided the seed for the nursery so we felt it was important to get him to meet the Tri Karya farmers. He also has a wealth of coffee farming knowledge that would come in handy.

We arrived to find seven basic mounds of soil and lots of eager workers awaiting us. We were treated to some roasted cassava and some fairly nasty robusta laden coffee. Descriptors of burnt rubber and car tyre were passed around but we respectfully finished our cups and got cracking.

The locals quickly got to work splitting and cutting bamboo into a variety of sizes with amazing dexterity. The versatility of this natural product is amazing. Our team engaged quickly with the locals and were quickly employed in a number of tasks and we settled down to work. Our “man on the ground” Komang Sukarsana, a Uni gaduate in agriculture kept an eye on things and made sure everything was done correctly. Komang will be our liaison man with the farmers and a key driver of the Bali project.

With everyone chipping in and having fun it didn’t take long for things to take shape. We were amazed at the precision of each of the completed seven beds comprising of little more than some plastic, bamboo and lots of experience and ingenuity. In total we have planted somewhere around 10,000 seeds and should finish with around 8,000 seedlings after some natural attrition.

Lara took control of the GPS and got us some co-ordinates of the proposed planting areas so we can establish some basic maps. I’ve quickly learnt if you want a job done well just give it to Lara! The long term plan is to map each farmers lot and the varietal grown to help us with quality control and improvements in years to come.

After a team photo we headed back to the cars. I for one was feeling super proud of the contribution we had made to this beautiful community and the way our team had thrown themselves into the work and engaged with the farmers.

This is the first significant step in a long journey we have undertaken with the people of Tri Karya. I look forward to the day when our group of baristas and cafe owners on the trip can use the coffee that has come from the seeds that they planted in the earth with their own hands. Truly seed to cup!

The captain working off a few Bintangs

Finally!!! ... Brett gets his hands dirty.

Shane from Coffee Cat getting the seed into the ground

The final nursery

Nursery taking shape

Little proud today, the nursery really starts to take shape. There’s nothing these guys can’t do with some bamboo and a machete! Everyone’s chipping in, the location is majestic and the vibe is great. Thank you Bali!

Getting started on the Nursery

Everyone getting stuck in

Cherry picking followed by lay day

It’s lay day today in Ubud and our intrepid group have scattered to get massages, do some yoga and generally chill out. Some of the younger crew have headed to the coast to chase some sun and surf.

Yesterdays seed picking went well and despite lots of bragging and posturing from Captain Coffee (Charles) and The Eating Machine (Jamie), Lara was hands down the fastest and most diligent picker of the day. We were guided to the best plants by Made Sukerta. It is critical that these plants are the best examples of their respective varietal, the quality of their genetic dna will be a huge factor in the prosperity of an entire village. We took the responsibility seriously and split the teams, one to pick S795 and one to pick USDA. USDA is named after the Unites States Development Corporation who took this and some other indigenous Ethiopian varietals and scattered them in various regions all over the world. They do have some shortcomings in the field with a smallish seed and propensity to produce a higher percentage of slightly defective beans that are culled out as floaters and have an impact on overall yield. They are however definitely the sweetest in our slightly unscientific “taste the cherry” test! This is supported by the Civet cat, the “producers” of Kopi Luwak who seek out the USDA in preference to all others. Good enough for us!

At the end of two hours picking with ten people we had collected our 30kgs of cherry required and the baristas present had even more respect for the coffee they work with on a daily basis. Our combined 20 man (and woman) hours of labour would result in about 4kgs of roasted coffee! It doesn’t need a mathematician to work out that coffee farming is an incredibly labour intensive enterprise.

So it’s up early tomorrow and back out to Bedugul to get cracking on planting around 7000 seeds. Could be a long day!

Made Sukerta and "super guide" Santosa

A classic Bali scene

Day 2 – old friends and a mere flesh wound

The day started out well enough, the sun was shining, captain coffee was at his entertaining best, Sunday whipped up a tasty omelette for breakfast and we were all ready for our first day at origin.

Minutes before our scheduled departure Dan returned on his scooter with a nasty injury to his foot. Whilst he was keen to still come on the trip one glance was enough to confirm we were off to clinic for some real medical attention!

With Dan in safe hands we headed out with mixed feelings to Bedugul to meet the farmers and discuss plans for the nursery. It was great to see they have already made a solid start and are enthusiastic about our ongoing involvement. After some discussions we mapped out a game plan for the coming week and where ferried back out on scooters to our cars.

Ulian Murni was our next stop and we looked forward to catching up with our old friends. The leader of our other Subak Abian partner, Kerta Waringin, was also there and we sat down to negotiate an appropriate price to reflect the changing coffee market.

Unfortunately Made Rida, the representative from KW was highly stressed due a large payment default from a coffee buyer and an unsympathetic bank. After a fairly lengthy discussion we worked out a way to advance some money to them to allow them some relief from the bank. The grey cloud lifted from Made and it felt like the day was back on track.

The farmers there plan to plant out 23 hectares of coffee over the next 3 years, a huge undertaking but if successful will have a big impact on the future of the area. So exciting to be able to play apart.

After a quick farm tour we jumped back in the car to head back to Ubud. Tomorrow we head back to Ulian and pick the cherry which will be the seeds for our Bedugul nursery.

Bali crew before heading out to the farms

Meeting with farmers

Drying beds

Dockers no.1 ticket holder

Bali – It’s good to be back!

The 2011 harvest trip is officially underway! The WA contingent were first to arrive and our new favourite “saffa”, Charles Stewart was quickly anointed “coffee captain” and proceeded to smash out some Clever brews to an appreciative and dangerously under caffeinated crew!

The main project for the trip is to build a nursery at Tri Karya, an isolated farmer group in Bedugul. It will be particularly challenging as transport in and out is by scooter only and will make bringing in people and supplies tricky! Watch this space for our progress.

In true Bali style our wish for a photographer has materialised in the form of our second favourite “saffa” Abbey Rands. It’s her magical Bali shot you see below. Can’t wait to see her images from the farms.

Welcome to the team Abbey! The crew have scattered for massages and yoga sessions before our first team dinner tonight.

Its great to be back!

Bali Crew - 2011

Some work from Abbey the photographer

Against the odds.

We’re now into day 4. The first 2 days were spent in Huila meeting with farmers and millers – the most notable being the growers from Monserrate.

Yesterday (our third day) we visited a farmer “just out of Bogota” roughly translated as “four and a half hours out of Bogota by bus until it could go no further and then by Jeep”.

I have to admit I was tired – my heart wasn’t in it and spending another long day on the road wasn’t exactly what I felt like doing. Over the previous two days (starting at 4.00am on the Monday and finishing at midnight on Tuesday) we had probably spent about 18 hours in total on the move in either bumpy buses, jolting dusty jeeps or planes – I was over it.

So, back to yesterday….

Our journey started early again with usual battle through traffic to get out of Bogota. Once out into the countryside things became a little saner, some of my travelling buddies slept, some read and others discussed and debated the finer points of the coffee world. (Notable absence of reference to crazy drivers that made us think that we were all going to die).

We travelled for a few hours before rendezvousing at a roadside kiosk with the farmer whose farm we were going to visit. Obviously we needed directions – hmmm, road not on the map maybe? With instructions to follow the farmer off we went.

It didn’t take long for the road to take the form of a goat track as it wound further and higher into the mountains. Our bus proved not to be the goat that it needed to be to get us to the farm. The driver eventually stopped and refused to go any further. After a bit of head scratching we worked out that we could all fit into (or more accurately – into and onto) the farmers 4WD and continue with the rest of the trip.

There we were, 7 people in the vehicle and 4 people hanging onto the outside of the car for dear life – bumping along track. You’d think that given how we’d felt at the start of the days trip we’d have all just wanted to turn around and go back to the hotel.

But not so – things had changed. We had become aware that we were in a very peculiar place. Not only were we confronted with a vista of breathtaking beauty but we also realised that we were in the presence of an equally intriguing farmer. Her name: Juanita Sinistera from a farm she calls La Fragua.

Let me tell you about the farm.

Firstly, I’m not even going to begin to try and describe the spectacular landscape of close and distant mountain peaks, plunging valleys and lush diverse vegetation – You’ll just have to believe me or I’ll have to leave it to the photos to paint the picture as I’m not nearly a clever enough wordsmith to do it justice.

The farm was started by her Great (x many) Grandfather five generations ago sometime in the 1800′s and has been worked on ever since – almost – I’ll get to that later. The farm still uses the steam driven equipment that was first commissioned about 150 years ago. The place is literally a working museum with its original homestead, stables and processing plant still intact and still in use.

Upon arrival at the farm Juanita starts to leads us towards the veranda for some refreshments. As she walks us towards the house past the mill she animatedly and with great enthusiasm tries with her best broken English to give us a sense of the farms history. She’s hilarious. Everyone’s demeanour is beginning to become infected by her effervescence. It wasn’t long before we collectively started to feel a sense of connection to the farm and in particular this lady. As we walked through the homestead she pauses to show us the photos of her family hung on the whitewashed wall in the main entry. She starts talking us through the linage from oldest to most current – each photo representing a generation and each one with a story. She finally gets to the most current photo on her wall. It’s a photo of herself, her husband and her two daughters posing on horseback somewhere on the farm. Gauging by the age of her children in the pictures (they are early teens now) I’m guessing the photo was about 3 years old. Unlike the rest of the photos where she wasn’t short of words she hesitated, waved her hand over the photo and then spun away quickly, leading us through to the back where some fresh juice and snacks awaited.

After soaking up the view and some refreshments the farm tour began – on horseback – as you do. Juanita elaborated on the early history of the farm. There was no road to the farm until the late fifties. Up till then then everything was carried in on horseback. Tucked uncomfortably in the saddle while the horse picked its path up and down the slopes through the coffee it was very easy to imagine what it would have been like for the last 150 years. Sitting up on that horse was an experience that would have been largely identical for those that had worked the slopes since the farms inception.

Juanita is a dynamo, though despite being part of such a long tradition of coffee farmers, it appears that she lacks expertise. Little things give it away – like questions she asks Sebastian (our exporter and host) about her varietals and also, the coffee trees and the plots of coffee scattered across the valley, to be honest, look like they need a bit more work. Hmmm, things weren’t really adding up and I’m even more intrigued.

Our lack of tolerance to saddle soreness coincided perfectly with arriving back at the stables where the mill tour begun. The pickers had just assembled after a day’s work and were just getting ready to have their picks weighed. We had the privilege of watching the process from go to whoa and this is where I started to get my first insight into what was going on. As each individual farmer dumped their picks into the silo Juanita urged us to clap and cheer according to each farmer’s quality of pick. Sebastian explained that they had started working with Juanita a few years ago after she approached them for help and the first thing they did was address the issues of pickers picking unripe and overripe fruit. They (Racafe) had come to the farm and together with Juanita, brewed coffee with the pickers with only ripe cherries and then with over and under ripe fruit to get the pickers to understand what influence they had on cup quality. This was the first time Sebastian had seen an example of the picking post their input and he was mighty happy – and Juanita was whipping us up into a cheering frenzy, like a cheerleader at a sporting event. I don’t think that I’ve ever had as much fun watching the cherries being dumped into a silo – ever! It must have been awesomely gratifying for Juanita and Sebastian to see an obvious shift towards quality on account of their technical input and Juanita’s commitment and enthusiasm. The beaming faces of the pickers – priceless.

Next, mechanical washing. Last year at the recommendation of Sebastian’s team at Racafe, Juanita bought and commissioned a mechanical washing mill. Unlike some of the other farms we saw, hers was spotless. There was no doubt that this lady was desperate to take things to the next level. So clean was her processing, it’s the first time that I’ve actually felt that I wanted to taste the mucilage slurry coming off the parchment. So I did and it was sweet.

This commitment to quality continued right through the milling process. It wasn’t perfect at every stage but we were left with the impression that with the right support this amazing woman would get there.

As the day wound to an end, dinner was set out for us on the veranda overlooking the sun setting behind the mountains. It was a perfectly beautiful moment in time. As we ate, Juanita started to share her story and things became clearer.

About ten to twelve years ago, Colombia was gripped in fear. The government had lost control of law and order outside of the cities so nobody travelled. No one left the city, no one went out at night. The farm was abandoned and no one was able to return safely for eight years. About five years ago Juanita’s husband started to become more defiant and frustrated by the stranglehold the guerrillas had on his country and decided that he needed to try and get the farm back into order so despite the danger (which fortunately was diminishing) he and Juanita started to make intermittent trips back to La Fragua to get things rolling. She explains, with tears welling up in her eyes that it was around about this time (about three years ago) her husband Ahlandro was diagnosed with a brain tumour and passed away. Juanita’s reaction to the photo on the wall suddenly made sense – as did all of the other things that just didn’t appear right.

For the last three years Juanita, a widowed mother of two has single handedly continued the painstaking process of returning the farm to its original glory and then beyond. She describes the months it took using machetes and plenty of sweat and tears to uncover the coffee trees which were completely overrun by weeds. Hearing this makes me think that this farm is looking pretty good – I’m seeing it in a totally new light. A community now exists at La Fragua. Despite the odds, it’s a community made viable by the relentless spirit of a lady who has taken on the responsibility to rejuvenate it and give it a future.

And she’s using coffee to do it.

I’ll leave you to ponder this over your next brew.

An agent of change

So I’m sitting here in a mini bus at the start of another 12 hours exploring some coffee farms closer in to Bogota. We’ve already done two days in the Huila Department. They were also long days. We left the hotel at 4am on Monday and got back to our hotel on Tuesday night at about 10.30pm. Needless to say, I have so much I want to share (both stories and photos) but have had so little time to share it.

Our focus of the last couple of days has been on visiting farmers that we already have an existing relationship with. Today, tomorrow and the next day will be spent exploring other areas of Colombia, cupping and assessing viability of supply for later down the track.

It’s been really exciting – we’ve cupped some outstanding coffee and seen the effort that some farmers are going to in order to present specialty grade coffee. For about ten years the Colombian Coffee Federation has had a policy that has effectively discouraged farmers from focusing on producing coffee with unique character in an effort to normalise the flavour profile coming out of Colombia. The Federation has had a bit of a change of heart in recent times and now, with the influx of buyers like us committing to buy excellent coffee that reflects regional character – and pay a good price for it – growers are starting to step up and put in the extra effort to produce increasingly better coffee. To me it is exactly this that makes what we do really exciting. Paying higher prices for coffee has a noticeable impact on local village economies. Over the last six years the village of Monseratte has epitomised this perfectly. Even since my last visit I’ve noticed many small upgrades to people houses – new rooves, fresh paint and more glass in windows. Monserrate only started growing coffee ten years ago. They used to grow coca (what they use to make cocaine). A guy called Don Gabrielle recognised the failings of this crop in terms of it’s negative impact on their community and persuaded over 100 farmers to pull up the coca and plant coffee. Producing coffee is very labour intensive but the upside to this is that the community suddenly found themselves very busy being productive. The psychological landscape in the community almost changed overnight. From living with fear and anxiety and dealing with the pressure of meeting quotas from a less than savoury industry they essentially moved into an industry where they became part of a legitimate traded global commodity.

Now Monserrate is well on its way to being a viable wealth producing community.

There is real sense of pride within the whole community about what they have achieved.

The atmosphere is upbeat. It’s a great place to support and an even nicer place to visit.

WBC 2011 and Colombian coffee expo

I’m now in a head space where I can reflect on some of the finer nuances of this great event – the World Barista Championship. This event brings nearly every coffee legend into one space and generates a vibe that is rarely repeated at any other coffee event throughout the year. The host country changes every year providing maximum opportunity for people across the globe to catch the atmosphere and be a physical part of it. Ordinarily the competition is also part of a bigger show – and this year it’s part of the big Colombian Coffee Expo which unlike many other coffee events in the western world is far more producer focused as opposed to end-consumer focused. The Colombians coffee industry have pulled out all stops to ensure that this event showcases their coffee of which they are so proud.

This year we feel like we are making a real contribution to the event – both the WBC competition and the show itself.

Our own Ben (Espresso Ranger Bicknell) has continued to become increasingly more acknowledged for his expertise and passion and this year is part of the panel of judges who will ultimately decide who becomes the 2011 World Barista Champ.

Jen is just as busy. This year Five Senses, Racafe (one of the biggest exporters of Colombian specialty coffee) Atlas coffee and Synesso have teamed up to run a booth to showcase how good some of the Colombian microlot coffee is. We’re running public cuppings and also running the coffee through the Gen 2 Synesso (The farmers are loving it – most have never had the opportunity to stand by and watch their coffee carefully prepared as espresso and then have the chance to drink it). After the show we are heading out to the growing regions and meeting up with some of the farmers. Some we’ve visited before – others will be new to us. Atlas and Racafe have gone to so much effort to bring the producers and consumers just one notch closer together. There honestly couldn’t be a better picture than a world class barista cupping a coffee unaware that the farmer who produced it is standing silently just off to the side amongst the other spectators with gaze intently trying to get a fix on the cuppers reaction. Another great picture – a farmer who has probably never seen an espresso being made stepping up into the ampitheatre and watching the worlds best baristas going to mountains of effort to extract the best from the beans – I’m amazed at what I continue to see and I see it all the time. I can only imagine what they might think.

We are now in the final stages of the competition. The 12 semi-finalists have been reduced to 6 and have yet another night to replay their routines in their minds and decide on the what or if any adjustments will be made. Sadly the Colombian competitor didn’t make it. Had she got through I think that you could quite possibly have heard the roar of the crowd from almost anywhere in the world. I’m thinking that now she’s no longer competing tomorrow the noise of the applause in the ampitheatre might settle down to a level just louder than thunder. I can’t wait to hear.

So, the final 6: UK, USA, Japan, El Salvador (a producing country is still in the mix), Spain and Australia!

More tomorrow.