This is one of my least favorite things to do. Reading a bit on the Wendelblog about re-bagging Kenyan coffee's, it reminded me how much I hate doing it.
We had a lot of Brasil coffee that were worrisome. We transferred them out of jute (as we do any coffee not sealed at origin) and had them in liner bags until we vacuum packed them a bit later when the equipment arrived. It was not fun packing. You really had to be careful how you bagged them and how you stacked them because if the seal broke, the entire purpose of repacking was lost. It took us a while to get a method down so that you could stack the 'bricks' and not worry about the pressure breaking the seal. We used nice bags and though I don't have photos to share, it is impressive to see the pallets of silver bags.
What made the Brasil so worrisome and really bothered me was every time I opened a bag to profile on the Mini, the coffee would change and fade relatively quick. We are talking about two to three weeks of time in my kitchen closet and the coffee just died. Rather strangely, this remarkably clean tasting screen dried natural became a fermenty wild 'strawberry' natural with the bready Brasil character I hate so much. A few times it even became peasy and/or dirty peanut. I doubt I will buy more Brasil in the future if I can get a good Rwanda source but that's another discussion entirely.
The weird thing was going back after six months, the vacuum packed bags are still fine though lacking that fresh character but I have a lot of half opened bags that just went nasty quick. Makes you really wonder what's going on when people say coffee can last so long or be stored in such poor conditions without them noticing an issue.
Jute is out, nitrogen flushing and vac packing is the new progressive standard.
Showing posts with label green age. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green age. Show all posts
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Jamin Haddox @ Cafe Imports
The following is an interview with Jamin Haddox of Cafe Imports. This flows from conversations in early November 07. It's good that the questions asked then are still so pertinent. Jamin's boss has a scathing article on storage/transport bagging methods for green coffees in the recent issue of Roast Magazine that is worth a read. His opinion's on freezing are worth noting as they break with notable wavers on the subject. We will follow up this green storage focus with a post of our own trip to Guatemala and the success barismo has had in this area with the invaluable Mr. Martinez which addresses the last answer Jamin provided in this interview.
barismo: What is your role with Cafe imports and how long have you been with the company?
Jamin: I'm the Quality Control Manager for Café Imports. I'm in charge of the cupping lab, and am responsible for roasting, cupping, grading, and all other quality-related issues. I've been with Café Imports since September of 2006.
barismo: We talk a lot about preservation of coffee but it's a very complex topic.
What factors affect fading/aging/decay and what factors are qualified as contamination?
Jamin: It is very complex. At Café Imports, we've designed some basic experiments to help us learn and understand in more detail what these factors are. Let me point out that I'm not a scientist, but am learning, slowly, what some of these factors may be. A lot of things can cause coffee to age, including its own respiratory processes as it sits after processing. Free moisture and water activity play a key factor in coffee flavor deterioration. Water activity is a way to describe water's specific energy, which can be explained in simpler terms as how stable the free moisture is inside the coffee. Put another way, water activity can describe how willing water is to enter or leave the bean. Water bonds readily to volatile chemicals in coffee, many of which are responsible for coffee's unique flavors and positive cup attributes. So water in coffee can act like a transport mechanism, carrying materials either in or out of the bean. Once volatiles are transported to the surface of the bean, they are oxidized or evaporate, and you can never recover that loss. Eventually all desirable compounds are lost or transformed, leaving mainly the cellulose structure of the bean. Many call this "baggy" or "wet cardboard", which is essentially, all that's left.
We don't consider oldish flavors in a past crop coffee to be contamination or defect, but rather an expected and accepted part of coffee "fading" in un-protected jute. However, in a new crop coffee, we would never accept a coffee that exhibited signs of oldishness or "baggy" jute flavors.
As far as contamination is concerned, there are a lot of weird flavors that can end up in coffee. We recently cupped an incredibly floral central American coffee, and learned that somehow handsoap had been spilled on the bag prior to shipment and the artificial fragrance had leeched through the plastic sample bag and into the coffee. This fragrance survived the roast and ended up in the cup. Coffee is hygroscopic and will soak up almost anything placed next to it and store this contamination mainly in its fats. Some countries treat jute with a petroleum-based preservative which imparts a fumy, menthol and diesel flavor to the cup. Many times, the first indication of contamination can be detected from simply smelling the green beans prior to roasting.
We want to find ways to preserve coffee's nuance and delicate flavors. Coffee that's only 3 months off the tree should still taste fresh and vibrant, but many times this is not the case. Coffee is easily damaged by fluctuation in temperature and humidity, and can suffer considerable loss of quality during transport from origin to its destination alone. This is so common in the industry, that many cuppers (including myself at times) fail to recognize it in the cup. Most coffee shops would never accept stale pastries from their baker, yet they sell old coffee (green as well as roasted) all the time. The question that we're interested in exploring is how to minimize fading in green coffee in a realistic and sustainable way. What are the ideal storage conditions for green and how much fading naturally occurs under ideal storage conditions verses how much do we enforce and expedite because of careless practices and lack of good information?
barismo: Moisture appears the biggest problem in green, can you detail some byproducts of moisture problems?
Jamin: Mold growth is probably the biggest problem. Mold growth can occur in green coffee when water activity in the bean is at favorable levels to support mold growth. Mold growth can lead to Orchratoxin contamination in green coffee. This is regulated quite heavily in Europe and other countries around the world (though not in the US), since Ochratoxin A is a mycotoxin that has been shown to cause renal toxicity and liver and kidney cancer. Most studies I've seen involving mold and roasted coffee, however, refer to the fate of Ochratoxin A during further processing (roasting, brewing, etc.).
Other problems include flavor taints, or loss of flavor, as described earlier. Mold is a terrible thing to taste in coffee.
barismo: We have focused a lot on defects (not taints) on the small scale and have actually noted increases in pales, molds, and other discolorations as coffees age, can you elaborate on this phenomena and what roasters can do to slow or stop this once coffees are to be warehoused?
Jamin: Coffee that is improperly dried at origin can exhibit these characteristics. Also, coffee that is stored in high humidity can mold and change color. Certain coffees from Indonesia are shipped with very high initial moisture. These coffees are less stable and can break down, discolor, or mold more readily than properly dried coffee. They are also more susceptible to insect damage. Coffee that has been exposed to extremes in temperature and humidity, especially large fluctuations, can also exhibit these traits.
barismo: Can you detail the hermetic grain tent (GrainPro)at origin idea?
Jamin: I can offer a brief explanation. Storing coffee at origin can be challenging because of infrastructure and lack of adequate storage conditions. GrainPro, Inc. is a company that manufactures products mainly for the seed industry and has a product for preserving food sources such as grain and seed in countries of origin, mainly in the third world. They've developed a tent or "cocoon" for controlling temperature and humidity for storage of bulk coffee at origin. Coffee in parchment is placed into shipping container-sized cocoons that are designed much like a Hazmat suit with special zippers and a layer of nearly-impermeable plastic. These can be set up outdoors with a refractive tarp for shade and seal hermetically to keep pests and other maladies at bay. An interesting side effect of hermetically sealing coffee, however, is that the natural respiration of the coffee actually flushes the chamber with CO2, creating an almost ideal environment for coffee storage while killing insects and molds. Studies have been undertaken that show almost no decrease in cup quality or moisture content of coffee stored this way for 9 months.
barismo: Freezing is a controversial topic. Can you detail current investigations into freezing, flash freezing, and related thawing issues?
Jamin: Freezing is controversial, and I don't have enough direct experience to feel comfortable commenting on this.
barismo: What are the issues we face economically and customs related in supplanting jute as a packing material?
Jamin: Jute has some great things going for it: It's cheap, and relative to other man-made products, especially petroleum based plastics, it is environmentally friendly. The drawback is that it provides almost no protection from environmental conditions that are detrimental to coffee quality. Coffee is largely a cost-driven economy, with few willing to compete on quality. Like anything, there must be a desire within the market for emerging storage technologies, and a willingness to embrace the pricing changes that this would certainly demand, before this will be explored seriously by those able to provide it.
barismo: What is your role with Cafe imports and how long have you been with the company?
Jamin: I'm the Quality Control Manager for Café Imports. I'm in charge of the cupping lab, and am responsible for roasting, cupping, grading, and all other quality-related issues. I've been with Café Imports since September of 2006.
barismo: We talk a lot about preservation of coffee but it's a very complex topic.
What factors affect fading/aging/decay and what factors are qualified as contamination?
Jamin: It is very complex. At Café Imports, we've designed some basic experiments to help us learn and understand in more detail what these factors are. Let me point out that I'm not a scientist, but am learning, slowly, what some of these factors may be. A lot of things can cause coffee to age, including its own respiratory processes as it sits after processing. Free moisture and water activity play a key factor in coffee flavor deterioration. Water activity is a way to describe water's specific energy, which can be explained in simpler terms as how stable the free moisture is inside the coffee. Put another way, water activity can describe how willing water is to enter or leave the bean. Water bonds readily to volatile chemicals in coffee, many of which are responsible for coffee's unique flavors and positive cup attributes. So water in coffee can act like a transport mechanism, carrying materials either in or out of the bean. Once volatiles are transported to the surface of the bean, they are oxidized or evaporate, and you can never recover that loss. Eventually all desirable compounds are lost or transformed, leaving mainly the cellulose structure of the bean. Many call this "baggy" or "wet cardboard", which is essentially, all that's left.
We don't consider oldish flavors in a past crop coffee to be contamination or defect, but rather an expected and accepted part of coffee "fading" in un-protected jute. However, in a new crop coffee, we would never accept a coffee that exhibited signs of oldishness or "baggy" jute flavors.
As far as contamination is concerned, there are a lot of weird flavors that can end up in coffee. We recently cupped an incredibly floral central American coffee, and learned that somehow handsoap had been spilled on the bag prior to shipment and the artificial fragrance had leeched through the plastic sample bag and into the coffee. This fragrance survived the roast and ended up in the cup. Coffee is hygroscopic and will soak up almost anything placed next to it and store this contamination mainly in its fats. Some countries treat jute with a petroleum-based preservative which imparts a fumy, menthol and diesel flavor to the cup. Many times, the first indication of contamination can be detected from simply smelling the green beans prior to roasting.
We want to find ways to preserve coffee's nuance and delicate flavors. Coffee that's only 3 months off the tree should still taste fresh and vibrant, but many times this is not the case. Coffee is easily damaged by fluctuation in temperature and humidity, and can suffer considerable loss of quality during transport from origin to its destination alone. This is so common in the industry, that many cuppers (including myself at times) fail to recognize it in the cup. Most coffee shops would never accept stale pastries from their baker, yet they sell old coffee (green as well as roasted) all the time. The question that we're interested in exploring is how to minimize fading in green coffee in a realistic and sustainable way. What are the ideal storage conditions for green and how much fading naturally occurs under ideal storage conditions verses how much do we enforce and expedite because of careless practices and lack of good information?
barismo: Moisture appears the biggest problem in green, can you detail some byproducts of moisture problems?
Jamin: Mold growth is probably the biggest problem. Mold growth can occur in green coffee when water activity in the bean is at favorable levels to support mold growth. Mold growth can lead to Orchratoxin contamination in green coffee. This is regulated quite heavily in Europe and other countries around the world (though not in the US), since Ochratoxin A is a mycotoxin that has been shown to cause renal toxicity and liver and kidney cancer. Most studies I've seen involving mold and roasted coffee, however, refer to the fate of Ochratoxin A during further processing (roasting, brewing, etc.).
Other problems include flavor taints, or loss of flavor, as described earlier. Mold is a terrible thing to taste in coffee.
barismo: We have focused a lot on defects (not taints) on the small scale and have actually noted increases in pales, molds, and other discolorations as coffees age, can you elaborate on this phenomena and what roasters can do to slow or stop this once coffees are to be warehoused?
Jamin: Coffee that is improperly dried at origin can exhibit these characteristics. Also, coffee that is stored in high humidity can mold and change color. Certain coffees from Indonesia are shipped with very high initial moisture. These coffees are less stable and can break down, discolor, or mold more readily than properly dried coffee. They are also more susceptible to insect damage. Coffee that has been exposed to extremes in temperature and humidity, especially large fluctuations, can also exhibit these traits.
barismo: Can you detail the hermetic grain tent (GrainPro)at origin idea?
Jamin: I can offer a brief explanation. Storing coffee at origin can be challenging because of infrastructure and lack of adequate storage conditions. GrainPro, Inc. is a company that manufactures products mainly for the seed industry and has a product for preserving food sources such as grain and seed in countries of origin, mainly in the third world. They've developed a tent or "cocoon" for controlling temperature and humidity for storage of bulk coffee at origin. Coffee in parchment is placed into shipping container-sized cocoons that are designed much like a Hazmat suit with special zippers and a layer of nearly-impermeable plastic. These can be set up outdoors with a refractive tarp for shade and seal hermetically to keep pests and other maladies at bay. An interesting side effect of hermetically sealing coffee, however, is that the natural respiration of the coffee actually flushes the chamber with CO2, creating an almost ideal environment for coffee storage while killing insects and molds. Studies have been undertaken that show almost no decrease in cup quality or moisture content of coffee stored this way for 9 months.
barismo: Freezing is a controversial topic. Can you detail current investigations into freezing, flash freezing, and related thawing issues?
Jamin: Freezing is controversial, and I don't have enough direct experience to feel comfortable commenting on this.
barismo: What are the issues we face economically and customs related in supplanting jute as a packing material?
Jamin: Jute has some great things going for it: It's cheap, and relative to other man-made products, especially petroleum based plastics, it is environmentally friendly. The drawback is that it provides almost no protection from environmental conditions that are detrimental to coffee quality. Coffee is largely a cost-driven economy, with few willing to compete on quality. Like anything, there must be a desire within the market for emerging storage technologies, and a willingness to embrace the pricing changes that this would certainly demand, before this will be explored seriously by those able to provide it.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
En jute y reposa
There were two big debates on this trip and one of them centered around reposa, the resting period where coffee is off the patio but still in parchment. This is a way to let water content stabilize and in theory, to get a more homogeneous product. Reposa often happens in a place with a balance of temperature and air flow that will allow the green to settle but not promote mold growth.
The debate for me came from the materials used in reposa. I often have a big problem with jute. Jute bags are the scourge of great coffees everywhere and yet there are few alternatives that aren't much more expensive. One common exchange is the plastic feedbag that is used for agricultural products and comes much cheaper than jute. The problem is that it does not 'breathe' freely and molds will grow so it is never used in transport.
This presents an interesting balance as a coffee in reposa will homogenize better if stored in jute but risks some contamination during this critical stage. If the sterile feed bags are used, there is the real risk that the coffee may have increased mold growth. The jute quality seems to play greatly into this as the thicker and better quality the bag, the more the flavors seem to seep in. A pristine coffee could quickly develop nutty hazelnut flavors that in time will become the hallmark of baggy notes. You probably won't pick it out in a darker roast but with the right profile, you will.
The best project we undertook was to get some green coffee last year at Finca Vista Hermosa and vacuum seal it. I then returned with the green coffees and kept them stored in both frozen and room temp situations. Having this coffee taken straight from reposa and sample milled gave a stark contrast to other coffees from FVH that had made the travel from origin via ship and packed in jute.
We recently roasted a sample of the jute coffee vs the vacuum sample with an almost identical profile through first and in the drop. The results were staggering. A fresh clean note and sweet acidity on the vacuum sealed coffee and a spice snappy unpleasant acidity on the jute coffee. At close to a year from harvest, this presents a unique comparison.
The quick summary of what we learned this trip was that coffees stored in plastic during reposa are a risk for one problem while in jute another. It's possible that drying racks of either metal or wood with liners should be considered for progressive farms to use at this stage. The other item reconfirmed what we already knew, coffees deteriorate and fall apart as they age and jute is a big contaminant. Aroma first, acidity, and then finally sweetness goes all the while the bag flavors increase.
At some point, we are going to have to see if reposa can be done in a vac sealed bag on the way to Cambridge.
The debate for me came from the materials used in reposa. I often have a big problem with jute. Jute bags are the scourge of great coffees everywhere and yet there are few alternatives that aren't much more expensive. One common exchange is the plastic feedbag that is used for agricultural products and comes much cheaper than jute. The problem is that it does not 'breathe' freely and molds will grow so it is never used in transport.
This presents an interesting balance as a coffee in reposa will homogenize better if stored in jute but risks some contamination during this critical stage. If the sterile feed bags are used, there is the real risk that the coffee may have increased mold growth. The jute quality seems to play greatly into this as the thicker and better quality the bag, the more the flavors seem to seep in. A pristine coffee could quickly develop nutty hazelnut flavors that in time will become the hallmark of baggy notes. You probably won't pick it out in a darker roast but with the right profile, you will.
The best project we undertook was to get some green coffee last year at Finca Vista Hermosa and vacuum seal it. I then returned with the green coffees and kept them stored in both frozen and room temp situations. Having this coffee taken straight from reposa and sample milled gave a stark contrast to other coffees from FVH that had made the travel from origin via ship and packed in jute.
We recently roasted a sample of the jute coffee vs the vacuum sample with an almost identical profile through first and in the drop. The results were staggering. A fresh clean note and sweet acidity on the vacuum sealed coffee and a spice snappy unpleasant acidity on the jute coffee. At close to a year from harvest, this presents a unique comparison.
The quick summary of what we learned this trip was that coffees stored in plastic during reposa are a risk for one problem while in jute another. It's possible that drying racks of either metal or wood with liners should be considered for progressive farms to use at this stage. The other item reconfirmed what we already knew, coffees deteriorate and fall apart as they age and jute is a big contaminant. Aroma first, acidity, and then finally sweetness goes all the while the bag flavors increase.
At some point, we are going to have to see if reposa can be done in a vac sealed bag on the way to Cambridge.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Pandora's Box
'You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.' - Morpheus, The Matrix
Ever wonder why not many ppl talk about green quality?
This question has been bugging me quite a lot lately. If you read any of the online forums, you will notice that so much focus was on the machines and barista techniques. The coffee itself is actually not often discussed, and those who do seem to love what they are tasting.
I really don't understand what is going on? Most of the coffee I sample these day pains me. With few exceptions, I found most don't live up to the fantastic description written on the bags/cupping notes. What are these ppl tasting? Is my palate so flawed that I could not pick up all the wonderful things that most are tasting? Why am I tasting so many defects?
I dunno.
Since April of this year, we have been roasting seriously and starting to pay attention to green quality (and everything that is wrong with it). Here are things that I've learned thus far:
- Roasting light reveals everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Green defects and age will shout at you loudly. Roast defects (mostly improper drying) will slap you in the face.
- Defects taste bad.
- Contrary to some ppl's belief, a well sorted defect-free green actually enhances complexity. The "definition" of the coffee increases as a result of clarity, and all flavor components are more focused and pronounced.
- Agey green sucks. It make the coffee taste like cheerio when roasted light, and taste like wood when roasted dark. Interestingly, that woody note tastes EXACTLY "like coffee". It's the generic flavor you find in extracts and gas station coffees.
- There is a direct correlation between how the green smells and the roasted coffee tastes. In fact, when roasted correctly, the green aroma components carry over to the roasted beans.
- Specialty grade coffee is not so special at all. Most are loaded with defects. Sit down and pick thru your beans. You will be surprised at how much crap is in there. The nastiest stuff I've seen so far are some beans from a "new crop" of Antigua that has fuzzy molds growing on it. It really made me sick to think I drank these before.
- Good quality greens do exit. Additional green sorting, vacuum packing, and air freighting are all options available - you just need to demand it and pay for it. The really good stuff is gobbled up by the Japanese and the Scandinavians.
Just like any food product, quality starts with raw ingredients. Everything you do afterwards is merely preserving and revealing the quality inside. There is nothing you can do to make a crappy green taste good - you can roast in such way to make it drinkable, but what's the point of shooting for the lowest common denominator?
So if green quality dictates the majority of what's in the cup, then how come not many are stressing over it? I think it's an accumulation of things that make it this way:
- Ppl don't really roast light - most of the "problems" are covered up this way.
- Ppl don't have the chance to taste defects - they end up associating it and accepting defect tastes as part of the coffee flavor.
- Ppl never truly sit down and get to know their beans. If they do, they are either oblivious to the problems or choose to ignore it.
Understanding green quality turns out to be one of the definitive turning points in my coffee experience. I truly did not know the kind of problem I would discover. Once your eyes are open, it's very scary and the light at the end of tunnel seemed so far away. There were so many issues and the lack of access often make me feel helpless. Suddenly, all these focus on equipments and barista techniques seemed meaningless - nothing really matters if I don't even have good ingredients to work with.
Will you choose the blue or the red pill? Are you prepared to face the demons from Pandora's box?
- Ben C.
Ever wonder why not many ppl talk about green quality?
This question has been bugging me quite a lot lately. If you read any of the online forums, you will notice that so much focus was on the machines and barista techniques. The coffee itself is actually not often discussed, and those who do seem to love what they are tasting.
I really don't understand what is going on? Most of the coffee I sample these day pains me. With few exceptions, I found most don't live up to the fantastic description written on the bags/cupping notes. What are these ppl tasting? Is my palate so flawed that I could not pick up all the wonderful things that most are tasting? Why am I tasting so many defects?
I dunno.
Since April of this year, we have been roasting seriously and starting to pay attention to green quality (and everything that is wrong with it). Here are things that I've learned thus far:
- Roasting light reveals everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Green defects and age will shout at you loudly. Roast defects (mostly improper drying) will slap you in the face.
- Defects taste bad.
- Contrary to some ppl's belief, a well sorted defect-free green actually enhances complexity. The "definition" of the coffee increases as a result of clarity, and all flavor components are more focused and pronounced.
- Agey green sucks. It make the coffee taste like cheerio when roasted light, and taste like wood when roasted dark. Interestingly, that woody note tastes EXACTLY "like coffee". It's the generic flavor you find in extracts and gas station coffees.
- There is a direct correlation between how the green smells and the roasted coffee tastes. In fact, when roasted correctly, the green aroma components carry over to the roasted beans.
- Specialty grade coffee is not so special at all. Most are loaded with defects. Sit down and pick thru your beans. You will be surprised at how much crap is in there. The nastiest stuff I've seen so far are some beans from a "new crop" of Antigua that has fuzzy molds growing on it. It really made me sick to think I drank these before.
- Good quality greens do exit. Additional green sorting, vacuum packing, and air freighting are all options available - you just need to demand it and pay for it. The really good stuff is gobbled up by the Japanese and the Scandinavians.
Just like any food product, quality starts with raw ingredients. Everything you do afterwards is merely preserving and revealing the quality inside. There is nothing you can do to make a crappy green taste good - you can roast in such way to make it drinkable, but what's the point of shooting for the lowest common denominator?
So if green quality dictates the majority of what's in the cup, then how come not many are stressing over it? I think it's an accumulation of things that make it this way:
- Ppl don't really roast light - most of the "problems" are covered up this way.
- Ppl don't have the chance to taste defects - they end up associating it and accepting defect tastes as part of the coffee flavor.
- Ppl never truly sit down and get to know their beans. If they do, they are either oblivious to the problems or choose to ignore it.
Understanding green quality turns out to be one of the definitive turning points in my coffee experience. I truly did not know the kind of problem I would discover. Once your eyes are open, it's very scary and the light at the end of tunnel seemed so far away. There were so many issues and the lack of access often make me feel helpless. Suddenly, all these focus on equipments and barista techniques seemed meaningless - nothing really matters if I don't even have good ingredients to work with.
Will you choose the blue or the red pill? Are you prepared to face the demons from Pandora's box?
- Ben C.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Seasonal coffee and preserving quality.
Coffee is an agricultural product and due to the multitude of growing regions throughout the world, it has multiple harvest dates through the year. The question I ponder today: when is coffee 'in season?'
I glanced at a forum post by Geoff Watts of Intelligentsia where he briefly touched on the facts that coffees, especially high grade coffees can degrade quickly.
"...coffees that campaign on a platform of delicate floral or fruit notes and seductive aromatics usually have a much more limited time frame within which to impress. Those are the first things to go when Chronos comes knocking, and are sitting on the beach getting a suntan long before any hint of woodiness or paper shows up. Another thing to consider is the original quality level of the coffee. Like Jimmy says, the harder they come they harder they fall. A coffee that earns a 94 in May might be closer to 87 by December, whereas one that starts at 82 might only slide to 79 in the same time frame. It's like the supermodel/beauty queen syndrome--most of these models/actresses are in their teens and twenties. Forty is geriatric by those industry standards, whereas your average person can still be considered quite attractive and vital at that age." Geoff
I know some people will disagree with that. Still others will agree then point out coffee being a seasonal crop which must be served 'in season.' Then there are others who are pushing that we simply abandon jute bags and do much more to preserve great coffees that believe the lifespan of a great coffee is much shorter.
I count myself as the latter. A sample of green for our green storage project that was open has already faded and lost considerable color and aroma. My initial fear is that our home style vac setup and freezing method are only able to slow age rather than stop any significant amount of aging.
The argument that irritates me enough to write is simply the 'seasonality of coffee' argument. Coffee is produced around seasons but I wonder if it is ever really in season. Simply put, we often get the coffees months after harvest, when are we ever really drinking something that is in season? Maybe the 'in' season is 3-6 months after harvest, after the coffee has sat in jute bags on docks or in transport on ships or over land for several months before we cup it.
It takes a series of steps to notice age in a coffee. You first have to be exposed to 'fresher' coffees that are very close to harvest and cup them regularly. This largely depends on sampling coffees from a roaster who air shipped a coffee or vac sealed it at origin or simply carrying back some high grade green coffee from origin. You must then roast in a manner that you would notice the floral and fruit slipping away and turning into woody notes aka 'the generic stale coffee taste.' You would also then have to value that fruit and floral aroma as a key component of the cup to value it at the same time devaluing the woodiness of age. Many who value body over fruit and floral would simply never roast in such a manner as to notice the fruit. The wild cup lovers on the other hand are simply not working with coffees upon which it makes a big difference either way.
While I quote Geoff, I think he is one of the people who could use his influence to push for those changes in transport and bagging for many of the farms he works directly with as well as in the industry overall. The problem is, it comes down to a definition of quality. A balance of what is acceptable financially vs an ideal. Acknowledging a problem and actually doing something about it are two different things.
How do you really define quality in coffee?
As Simon mentions to us often, it's the total package when you talk about quality. As a North American industry, we always chest thump about quality but it comes down to the entire product from seed to cup and preserving that quality... It's not simply the barista skills, equipment mods, and 'artisan' roasting. As Edwin often points out, coffee is a product in which we strive to preserve value along the way. We cannot intrinsically add value, we can only preserve what was in the 'finished' product at the farm.
Preserve quality. It's an interesting thought.
I glanced at a forum post by Geoff Watts of Intelligentsia where he briefly touched on the facts that coffees, especially high grade coffees can degrade quickly.
"...coffees that campaign on a platform of delicate floral or fruit notes and seductive aromatics usually have a much more limited time frame within which to impress. Those are the first things to go when Chronos comes knocking, and are sitting on the beach getting a suntan long before any hint of woodiness or paper shows up. Another thing to consider is the original quality level of the coffee. Like Jimmy says, the harder they come they harder they fall. A coffee that earns a 94 in May might be closer to 87 by December, whereas one that starts at 82 might only slide to 79 in the same time frame. It's like the supermodel/beauty queen syndrome--most of these models/actresses are in their teens and twenties. Forty is geriatric by those industry standards, whereas your average person can still be considered quite attractive and vital at that age." Geoff
I know some people will disagree with that. Still others will agree then point out coffee being a seasonal crop which must be served 'in season.' Then there are others who are pushing that we simply abandon jute bags and do much more to preserve great coffees that believe the lifespan of a great coffee is much shorter.
I count myself as the latter. A sample of green for our green storage project that was open has already faded and lost considerable color and aroma. My initial fear is that our home style vac setup and freezing method are only able to slow age rather than stop any significant amount of aging.
The argument that irritates me enough to write is simply the 'seasonality of coffee' argument. Coffee is produced around seasons but I wonder if it is ever really in season. Simply put, we often get the coffees months after harvest, when are we ever really drinking something that is in season? Maybe the 'in' season is 3-6 months after harvest, after the coffee has sat in jute bags on docks or in transport on ships or over land for several months before we cup it.
It takes a series of steps to notice age in a coffee. You first have to be exposed to 'fresher' coffees that are very close to harvest and cup them regularly. This largely depends on sampling coffees from a roaster who air shipped a coffee or vac sealed it at origin or simply carrying back some high grade green coffee from origin. You must then roast in a manner that you would notice the floral and fruit slipping away and turning into woody notes aka 'the generic stale coffee taste.' You would also then have to value that fruit and floral aroma as a key component of the cup to value it at the same time devaluing the woodiness of age. Many who value body over fruit and floral would simply never roast in such a manner as to notice the fruit. The wild cup lovers on the other hand are simply not working with coffees upon which it makes a big difference either way.
While I quote Geoff, I think he is one of the people who could use his influence to push for those changes in transport and bagging for many of the farms he works directly with as well as in the industry overall. The problem is, it comes down to a definition of quality. A balance of what is acceptable financially vs an ideal. Acknowledging a problem and actually doing something about it are two different things.
How do you really define quality in coffee?
As Simon mentions to us often, it's the total package when you talk about quality. As a North American industry, we always chest thump about quality but it comes down to the entire product from seed to cup and preserving that quality... It's not simply the barista skills, equipment mods, and 'artisan' roasting. As Edwin often points out, coffee is a product in which we strive to preserve value along the way. We cannot intrinsically add value, we can only preserve what was in the 'finished' product at the farm.
Preserve quality. It's an interesting thought.
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