September 2006

Background information

Coffee basics

Coffee & Conservation is all about helping consumers make the right choice when it comes to picking great coffee that is good for the environment.  Coffee reviews are by regular folks using, we hope, understandable language and ordinary techniques.  Still, it seems like it would be helpful to have a post that provides links to definitions of some of our terms, and how-to’s on making coffee.  This is that post!

Roast levels
Coffee retailers use a lot of terms to describe the roast color/level of their coffee.  Many Americans are used to a fairly dark roast (the place isn’t called “Charbucks” for nothin’). Dark roasts can overwhelm the delicate flavors of some beans, or caramelize sugars and lend a hearty smokiness.

Here at C&C, we try to provide the roast level indicated by the retailer, and then describe the color and whether or not oils are present on the surface of the beans.  Here are some guides to roast levels:


Grinding
Grinding is probably the most neglected step in coffee preparation.  Ground coffee gets stale in a hurry, and to really enjoy coffee, you have to have fresh beans that you grind before you make the coffee.  It is the simplest single thing to do to vastly improve your enjoyment of coffee.

Coffee grounds must be uniform at a fineness appropriate to your brewing method in order to have proper contact between coffee and water so that essential oils and flavors are released.  Blade (“whirly”) grinders grind unevenly.  Burr grinders are better.

At C&C we always grind our coffee immediately before preparation (2 tablespoons of ground coffee per 6 ounce cup), with either a decent blade or burr grinder.

Brewing methods
There are plenty of ways to make coffee.  For our reviews, we nearly always start off with a press pot (French press) to bring out all the flavors of a coffee.  We also try the coffee brewed, in a typical, middle-of-the-road drip coffee maker (like most people have at home) using unbleached paper or a gold filter. Occasionally, we also use an Aeropress or Eva Cafe Solo. Here is the low-down on these methods:

  • French press. Water just off a boil is poured over freshly ground coffee, steeped for about 4 minutes, after which a mesh plunger is pressed down, separating the grounds from the coffee.
  • Automatic drip.  Ground coffee is placed in a filter basket, and water drips through it.  Good coffee makers heat water to the proper temperature, distribute the water evenly over the grounds, and deliver the water at a speed that insures proper exposure time.  Because the water is in contact for such a brief time and the filter removes particulates (and even oils, in the case of a paper filter), coffee from a drip pot is clean and mild.  Temperature is a key component in this method — most cheap pots don’t heat the water hot enough (190-200 degree F).
  • Aeropress by Aerobie. A small device that forces the water through the coffee and a filter using air pressure, producing very smooth, full-bodied coffee in about a minute.

George Howell Coffee provides links to instructions for many brew methods; there are videos and you can download PDFs guides for each method.

Coffee flavors
One reason we began doing reviews at C&C was that we just didn’t “get” reviews at some other sites.  Personally, I could not fathom tasting brandied tomatoes or Meyer lemon in my coffee. Other sites were too general, or liked every coffee they tasted.  We try to strike a balance here at C&C, as best we can as regular folks, considering taste is pretty subjective.

Still, there are some commonalities and standards in coffee flavors.  Here are some great overviews and tutorials.

Those are some of the basics. There are also posts here on botanical varieties of coffee, as well as a link to variations in coffee taste by growing region.  If there’s anything else you’d like to see added to this post, just leave a comment.

 

Birds and other biodiversity / Research on coffee growing

Research: American Redstarts in Jamaica

Johnson, M.D., T.W. Sherry, R. T. Holmes, and P.P. Marra.  2006.  Assessing habitat quality for a migratory songbird wintering in natural and agricultural habitats. Conservation Biology 20:1433-1444.

This study examined American Redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla) in natural and agricultural habitats in Jamaica.  Redstarts are beautiful warblers that nest in North America and winter in the tropics (see map).

Four natural habitats were compared with two agricultural habitats: citrus groves and shade coffee plantations, which were shaded primarily by Inga vera, with understories of varying densities.

Measures of habitat quality for redstarts on the coffee farms was generally intermediate between the best and worst natural habitats.  Two measures, body mass and overwinter survival, were very similar in shade coffee and the best natural habitat. Body mass is especially important.  It indicates that enough food is available, and maintaining body mass is critical for later survival, even after departure from the wintering grounds.  This study estimated that a loss of 0.1 grams (a very tiny amount!) over the winter corresponded with a 6.8% reduction in annual survival probability.

The authors provide two caveats: First, this study focuses on a single species in a single region.  And importantly, there is no similar data to compare the quality of present coffee farms with the habitat from which they were carved. Although shade coffee farms can provide habitat for some species, they do not possess the complete suite of species or ecosystem functions as the original habitat.

The paper named the three shade coffee farms/areas that were used in the study.  None were in the eastern Blue Mountain region. One was in the western growing region, in James Hill, Westmoreland Parish.  Two were in the central highlands in Manchester Parish, Coleyville Farm and Baronhall Farms.  Most coffee is pooled and single estates are hard to find, but Baronhall (formerly Broomhall Estate) is apparently an exception.  I have been able to find various roasters offering this coffee.  Here is a review of Jamaica High Mountain, Baronhall Estate at Coffee Review.

Certifications / Coffee regions / Rainforest Alliance

RA certifies in Africa

Rainforest Alliance has announced its first certification for coffee outside Latin America, certifying a group of 678 farms in the Djimmah region of Ethiopia, according to a report in Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

RA’s certification requirements are not focused on, but do include, environmental criteria.  They are not as stringent as the Smithsonian’s Bird Friendly criteria when it comes to preserving biodiversity.  But as the only sustainability certification available (aside from organic certification) outside of the Americas, this is a welcome development.

Djimmah is in the southwest part of Ethiopia, and its beans are not as well known as Harrar, Sidamo, and Yirgacheffe (which is in the Sidamo region).  Djimmah beans tend to be of mixed varieties, and are sometimes low grade (different sizes, a lot of defects) and thus hard to roast evenly.  These beans can be wild or gamey, are most often used in blends, and quality varies. I’ve heard it called the most lowly of Ethiopian coffees.  There are certified organic coops and farms in the other, more popular, growing regions, so perhaps this RA certification will give the Djimmah a needed boost in visibility, a marketing point, and that may lead to an increase in quality as well.

Coffee reviews / Indo-Pacific

Kopi luwak

What is kopi luwak?
In a recent post I mentioned kopi luwak, the coffee that is “processed” in the digestive tract of a civet cat (usually Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).  These animals (found in southeast Asia and related to mongooses, although they look and behave a bit like raccoons) eat ripe coffee berries.  Stomach enzymes have a subtle but apparently genuine chemical impact on the coffee beans, which are gathered as soon as possible after being passed by the civet, e.g., in the scat.

I mentioned Animal Coffee in my post, a company which specializes in kopi luwak.  I soon received a 4-oz sample of luwak beans, as well as a hunk of civet crap in lucite (left), and a brochure, all enclosed in a very attractive gift box, a really nice presentation.

Is this sustainable coffee?
I’ll get to a review of the coffee itself, but first let’s try to determine if this is sustainable coffee.

Civets eat mostly ripe fruit and seeds, but also small vertebrates and insects.  Since the civets do not eat coffee berries exclusively, luwak-processed beans are not common.  They also must be harvested from fresh scat, before rain breaks up the clustered beans/poop.  This is because 1) the elements might further change the taste of the beans, 2) the beans would be very hard to find on the forest floor individually, and 3) Animal Coffee, at least, requires the beans to come to them in scat form to be assured they are genuinely luwak-passed. So, the availability of luwak beans is limited; I’ve read that annual production is between 200 to 500 pounds (100 to 250 kilos).

Asian palm civets have a wide range throughout southeast Asia (see map). Because civets do not produce enough volume from any single location, the beans are from a variety of places — even (and probably) different countries.  Some beans will be robusta, some arabica, some lots mixed.  Distributors like Animal Coffee and Indonesian Grocery must be able to narrow down bean type at least some of the time, because both are types are available for order.  There is no way, however, to determine if the beans came from a rustic small plot, or a large sun coffee plantation dosed with chemicals. (Note that due to animal cruelty issues, most coffee certifications disqualify luwak produced coffee.)

Civets are arboreal animals, living in trees and raising young in tree cavities. This might indicate that they would require forested areas near the coffee farms where they forage. However, any bunch of trees will generally do, as these animals are quite adaptable to human activities and will live towns and villages.

What’s it taste like?
The sample I received was labeled  robusta from Sumatra.  The beans were all shapes and sizes, from the size of a BB to more typically-sized, along with shards and beans misshapen by, perhaps, their arduous intestinal journey. Their variety, a sample shown below, is also a testament to their unrelated origins. The roast was fairly dark, with most beans showing some oil.

The smell was unpleasant and discomforting, a burnt rubber/plastic smell.  It was vaguely reminiscent of the distinct aroma of other Indonesian coffees, but far more strong and offensive.  Musky I might have expected, but this smell was not animal-like it any way. It was just as pronounced and weird when the beans were ground.  It brought back memories of opening the door to the garage of my childhood home, where my dad and brother had disassembled a car and had greasy parts all over.  Yes, that’s it!  This coffee smells like used auto parts.

It tasted no better than it smelled, I’m afraid. We made it in a French press, as is our habit when first tasting a new coffee. Super hot, you were hit by the strong — ghastly — aroma, which battled with the taste.  It mattered not who won.  It was flat, mono-dimensional, and just nasty. It became rapidly and progressively worse as it cooled. It was not “crappy” tasting, it just had an overwhelmingly assertive flavor of dirty, burnt  rubber gasket.  We tasted it next to a fairly generic organic Sumatran, which was like ambrosia in comparison.

On the small chance this was an anomaly, we made it again, this time in the Eva Cafe Solo, and served it to more people, including some that were regular diner/pedestrian coffee drinkers. The kopi luwak was consistent, just as aggressively malodorous and grimace-producing as before. One of our most mild-mannered friends announced it was worse than vending machine coffee and declined a second sip.  Another was also repulsed by it, and later wrote to me: “After three light sips, I was lost and confused.  Was this from a cat’s rectum or a cat’s litterbox? I soon realized, it didn’t matter….”  Star[bucks]ling agreed it reminded him of a Jiffy Lube, and found it undrinkable as it cooled.

It’s possible, I suppose, that some batches can be good, some bad, since there isn’t enough of it to be sourced from one place. And having been shipped directly from Indonesia, which takes 7 to 10 days to the U.S., it was also not that fresh.  You can order green beans, and perhaps they’d be better.

Still, it is really hard to understand how even the freshest luwak coffee could overcome the shortcomings we experienced.  It might drinkable, but it has way too far to go to become outstanding or worthy of the price it commands. The chemical changes that take place in the digestive system of the civet are subtle — primarily, proteins are leached out. Proteins in coffee cause bitterness, but bitterness wasn’t really this coffee’s problem, so that can’t account for big improvements. Add that to the hodge-podge of beans — grown in various southeast Asian countries/regions on many different farms under different conditions — it’s just a literal crap shoot that you are going to get a great batch of coffee beans. I just can’t imagine that this coffee can in any way compare with a halfway decent bean grown and roasted with care.

The (ahem) bottom line
Ten people tried this coffee, more than our usual reviews. Some were not told ahead of time what it was, to prevent bias. I don’t think any of us had high expectations, and peculiar or unextraordinary we could have accepted.  This was wicked. None of us got past an ounce or two, which classified it as basically undrinkable.  It killed the motmot.

Nor can we recommend it on the basis of sustainability.  There is no way to guarantee the beans were sustainably grown. On a positive note, you won’t find another fecal product as attractively gift-boxed as kopi luwak from Animal Coffee.

Here are some other reviews.  There are many fans of kopi luwak, but I have to wonder if those who pay top dollar for it have to convince themselves they love it. At any rate, you will note others are also impressed with the service and packaging from Animal Coffee.

More information, including updated links:

Coffee regions / Corporate coffee

Poor quality Vietnamese beans (that end up in grocery store coffee)

A short article entitled “Quality of Vietnamese coffee poor”appeared recently on a Vietnam news site. It notes that Vietnam is the world’s second largest producer of coffee, but that 89% of its crop is low-quality robusta. And it adds, “The reason is the massive use of inorganic fertilizer, water, insecticide and poor processing technology.”

Where do these beans end up? In your cup, if you buy cheap coffee from one of these large corporations.

Nestlè (Nescafe, Taster’s Choice) buys 20 to 25% of Vietnam’s coffee. Kraft (brands include Chase and Sanborn, General Foods International Coffee, Gevalia, Maxwell House, and Sanka) is another major buyer; at a 2003 shareholder meeting, Kraft Chairperson Louis Camilleri said that the firm buys coffee in Vietnam that does not meet even minimum ICO [International Coffee Organization] standards, the first admission from a major company regarding purchase of sub-quality beans.  At the Folgers web site, Proctor & Gamble admitted to buying Vietnamese coffee: “We purchase our coffee beans from all over the world, including Vietnam. The percentage of beans from any one country varies all the time, depending on availability.” (Note that Folgers is now owned by JM Smucker, but probably uses P&G’s sourcing avenues). Sara Lee/Douwe Egberts (Chock Full o’Nuts, Hills Brothers) also buys coffee from Vietnam and is in a partnership with Kraft in that country.*

Kenneth Davids at Coffee Review sums up the problem with most robustas in today’s market:

Apparently with the support of the World Bank, robustas recently have been planted in very large quantities in Vietnam. These are mass-produced coffees at their most dramatic: stripped from the trees, leaves, unripe, ripe and overripe fruit and all, and dried in deep piles. All of which means the essentially bland, grainy robusta character is topped off with an assortment of off-tastes, mainly musty/mildewed and fermented. These coffees sell for considerably less than all other coffees, including better quality robustas. I am told that production costs for Vietnamese robustas are about 20 cents per pound or less, compared to, for example, production costs of 80 to 90 cents per pound for the excellent “100% Colombia” coffees competing in the supermarket. And now the current episode: Commercial dealers and roasters have learned to steam the often foul-tasting Vietnamese robustas, removing the waxy covering of the bean and muting (but not entirely eliminating) the offensive flavor notes.

To read about the human and environmental toll of coffee in Vietnam, read this article from Tea & Coffee by Mark Pendergrast, author of the outstanding book, Uncommon Grounds. The article includes a history of coffee in Vietnam, and describes how more than a million acres of the Vietnamese highlands were planted in mostly robusta coffee in the late 1990s, land which was abandoned after the drop in coffee prices, “leaving the exposed soils to the torrential rain. Erosion, siltation, land slips, flash floods, and water shortage are the obvious results.”

It’s enough to convince you to seek out sustainable coffee.

Coffee reviews / Latin America

Coffee review: Paradise Roasters Bolivia Calama Marka

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #7.

Paradise Roasters Calama Marka Bolivia Cup of Excellence.

I had not actually intended on reviewing this coffee, but once a couple of us tasted it, we were so impressed we had to tell you about it. Calama Marka came in first place in the 2005 Bolivia Cup of Excellence competition, and a number of roasters (the now-familiar “Small Axe” cooperative) won the auction lot.  We tried it from Paradise Roasters, where it is also available green.

Calama Marka is a small farm, only 4.5 ha in coffee, in the Yungas region (in the central cordillera northeast of La Paz) where the majority of Bolivian coffee is grown.  This farm only grows typica, and although the farm is not certified organic, like most of the small holders that make up this area, it is passive organic and described as “nature friendly.”

The beans themselves, roasted to a medium brown without oil, had a candy-like fragrance. It was even more pronounced once freshly ground. One day, I ground a little too much, so I dumped the extra in my commuter French press to take the work the next day.  Many hours later, after only a few minutes in the car, the vehicle filled with this coffee’s enchanting aroma.

As usual, we prepared our first run in the French press.  For quite a few minutes, it evoked silence.  Finally, Risky Kingbird broke the spell.  “I am really enjoying this coffee!” he said.

It is beautifully balanced, smooth, with a lush, creamy mouthfeel.  Very hot, there is an initial juicy, citrus pulse. From first sip to last, it is full of chocolate, caramel, butterscotch, and hints of vanilla notes, especially as it cools.  You cannot come closer to a sweet, flavored coffee without adding extra ingredients.  There is an intriguing complexity that is subtle and delightful, like simple but great poetry.

There was not a hint of bitterness, not even in the last pour from the press, not even when I brewed it and left a quarter-inch in the pot to cook for a half-hour.  Every pot and cup was superior, even when the beans were past 10 days old.

Not only did everybody love this coffee, it got several “5 motmot” ratings. This is beautiful coffee.

But there’s more to this story…
There’s a bit of the star-crossed lover aspect to this coffee.  We have found true love, but will we ever be able to sip it again?

First, the farmer, Juan de Dios Blanco, was killed in a car crash shortly after he won the CoE.  Miguel Meza at Paradise Roasters told me that Juan’s wife is still operating the farm, but he does not know if she will continue to produce and market coffee.  Miguel was planning to visit the farm during the 2006 CoE competition, but the program was cancelled, which brings us to the next tragedy.

The coffee growing regions of Bolivia are also coca growing regions. In order to discourage coca growing and provide alternate sources of farm income, USAID has provided funding and support to promote specialty coffee in Bolivia.  Sponsoring the Cup of Excellence program was part of that effort, as the recognition and high price of winning coffees at auction are powerful incentives for farmers to improve their crops.  That the Bolivian CoE program was a stunning success is evident in the superb Calama Marka reviewed here. According to USAID, by 2003, over 5,000 families improved coffee harvest and post-harvest techniques, increasing their income by an average 38%; this in a country where 58% of the population lives in poverty.

Then the political situation in Bolivia changed, in a way that was not to the liking of the Bush Administration.  An article at Trade Aid summed it up:

Bolivia won’t be having a Cup of Excellence competition this year. Why not? Funding for the event has been provided previously by USAID, the main aid program run by the United States government, but this year USAID will not be contributing. Unhappy with the outcome of the presidential elections in late 2005 which installed Evo Morales in office instead of their own preferred candidate, the United States has
withdrawn funding as part of their wider campaign to hurt the Bolivian economy.

Promoting specialty coffee is not the answer to squelching coca production in Bolivia, but  the CoE was essentially the best and probably only way for farmers to become individually empowered (versus all their beans being mixed at a cooperative), for them to obtain the prices to truly motivate them to continue to improve their crops, and for these Bolivian coffees to get the recognition that commands attention from the coffee-buying public. This situation is really a shame, as it will do little or nothing to hinder Morales, and much to punish farmers and those of us who have discovered this wonderful coffee.  Hopefully, the Bolivian CoE will be held in 2007.  For more on the complexity and politics of coca and coffee in Bolivia, see this article in the World Policy Journal. A note from UK roaster Stephen Leighton about the cancellation of the CoE competition is at the Hasbean blog.

Other reviews of the Calama Marka: