Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/158781
ROASTERS REALM continued from page 52 each cup of coffee. By that time I considered myself somewhat of a roasting expert, but I discovered I knew very little about producing. In turn, these producers were experts at growing coffee but knew nothing about roasting it—they were roasting beans in a frying pan. Our mutually beneficial relationship was based on an exchange of valuable information and a realization that we had a lot to learn from one another. When I saw the level of work required on the producers' end, I became more dedicated to improving my own technique. They had invested years of hard work into their crop, with modest resources—for example, they walked across a rope bridge, transporting bags of coffee by hand. If I as the roaster failed, their hard work was for naught. I returned home with a heightened awareness and passion for my roasting duties, as well as an itch to return to origin as soon as possible. The next year's excursion brought me to Costa Rica, where I cupped various coffees from different lots. I was surprised to discover farms that grew some of the best coffees in the world but lacked the means to roast and cup properly, often thanks to a lack of electricity. a thank you for bringing his roasting time down to 20 minutes. The growth I've witnessed as a result of direct trade on one of the farms I have visited in Colombia stands firmly in my memory: The first year we traveled there, we saw a soccer field. The second year, we saw schoolchildren learning on 15 computers donated by the roasters and importers. The third year, significant improvements had been made to the quality control lab that houses the farm's cuppings. A CUP-LE OF SUCCESS STORIES I traveled to Guatemala the following year, where our importer had brought along a small home electric coffee roaster as a gift to help one of our partner farms there improve its quality-control measures. They were extremely grateful as they learned to use the machine and properly prepare samples for cupping, thus enabling the farm to produce better coffee and realize a greater return for their efforts. From Guatemala we traveled to a co-op in Chiapas, Mexico, where the members used a large roaster to distribute the product domestically. I was shocked to learn their average roast time was anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, to which I replied, "You're not roasting, you're baking!" I determined the roastmaster was getting inadequate airflow through the roaster and offered suggestions to achieve better flow, illustrating the process and my suggestions on a napkin. A couple months later, he emailed me 54 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com One of the most rewarding occurrences I have witnessed is the growth of specialty coffee in Honduras. Many years ago, Honduras wasn't known for its quality coffee—the country produced a "filler" coffee that sometimes was good and sometimes wasn't. The farmers were storing the processed coffee in warehouses at the port, where it was susceptible to heat and humidity. We suggested they store the coffee at the farm in the mountains and send it to port just as it was ready to be loaded onto the ship. Needless to say, the quality of the coffee improved, and then income did as well. When the farmers saw the fruits of their labor, they invested it back into their infrastructure to achieve more modern processing methods, even forming their own trade industry. We saw subtle indications of improvement as we returned: The roads were in better shape; the kids were learning in an actual cinderblock school rather than a farmhouse; the schools' books and desks were in better condition; and new medical clinics were being built. As a roaster partnering with these farms, it was satisfying to see consumers drinking coffee from a country that was previously off the map. DIRECT BENEFITS Thanks in part to Joffrey's great relationship with Royal Coffee New York, I'm able to visit origin several times a year to source great coffees. I love having the opportunity to expose our customers to coffees grown by our partner farmers, and as we work directly with these farmers, I'm excited at the quality-of-life improvements we can help initiate for them. For me, that's what it's all about.