Month: August 2008 Page 1 of 2

Sweet Maria’s Farm Gate Coffee

On August 28, 2008

Green coffee and home roasting supplier Sweet Maria’s has formalized their direct trade buying program, calling it Farm Gate Coffee. Farm Gate prices are at least 50% (but often 100% or more) over Fair Trade prices. Their latest newsletter gives a more thorough explanation.

Even if you don’t roast your own coffee, head over to the Sweet Maria’s web site. I have learned so much there — not only in the coffee library, but also reading the bean reviews and descriptions and the many travelogues that are sprinked throughout the site. It’s a real education!

Research: Woodpeckers and ants in India’s shade coffee

By JulieCraves

On August 26, 2008

In Birds and other biodiversity

Vishnudas, C. K. 2008. Crematogaster ants in shaded coffee plantations: a critical food source for Rufous Woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus and other forest birds. Indian Birds 4:9-11.

Rufous Woodpeckers are ant specialists.

The Rufous Woodpecker is one of the twelve woodpecker species found in the Western Ghats of India; it is widespread throughout Asia. Rufous Woodpeckers have a particularly interesting life history, as they are ant specialists. They not only feed largely on ants, but they excavate their nests in large paper-wasp-like nests of the stinging tree ants in the genus Crematogaster.

These ants are common in shade coffee plantations in India, and the author reports that 31 of the 37 ant nests he observed being raided by Rufous Woodpeckers over the previous ten years were on shade coffee farms; only six were in natural forest. Other bird species also take advantage of the woodpeckers ripping open the ant nests. Secondary feeding on the ant eggs and pupae by Greater Racked-tailed Drongos, Oriental Magpie-Robins, and Common Tailorbirds and other bird species are described.

The ants, however, are not welcome on the coffee farms. They protect and support mealy bugs, which are pests on the coffee. Although the woodpeckers and other birds can help control the ants (as do other natural predators), many Indian farmers have traditionally used copious pesticides to control the ants. The author notes that the increasing popularity of organic coffee is reducing this practice, and concludes, “It is high time that the conservation value of shaded coffee plantation, as a critical habitat for Rufous Woodpecker and other forest birds, be recognised and proper agro-ecological management practices developed and popularised amongst planters.”

Photo by Lip Kee.

Coffee review: Caribou Colombia TimanÁ¡

By JulieCraves

On August 21, 2008

In Caribou Coffee, Coffee reviews, Latin America, Retail and specialty roasters

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #38.

Pursuant to our backgrounder on Colombia, here’s another review of a Colombian coffee, one which is quite readily available, Caribou Coffee Colombia TimanÁ¡.

This is Caribou’s regular Colombian offering. It is Rainforest Alliance certified (100% of the beans), and comes from the the area near the southern town of TimanÁ¡ in the Huila department (coordinates 1.983,-75.95). It is primarily of the Caturra variety, and grown at 1600 meters.

Caribou sources this coffee from a cooperative called Asociacion de Productores Agricolas de TimanÁ¡ or ASPROTIMANA. In late 2005 ASPROTIMANA started the process towards Rainforest Alliance (RA) certification, with 26 growers participating. Now all 52 members (with 53 farms averaging about 6 ha) have received RA certification. As I mentioned in the previous post, there are many growing areas in Colombia at high altitude in which clouds provide shade. Growing coffee under additional cover in these areas creates problems with very low yields and sometimes issues with pathogens such as fungi. Farmers in these areas often preserve adjacent forest plots. This is the case with the ASPROTIMANA growers. Almost 250 ha are in coffee grown in semi-shade (fulfilling RA requirements of 70 trees per ha of a dozen species), with another 35 ha being set aside for conservation.

This was a light roast with a really pleasant aroma; one taster found it “buttery and complex.” This was a very nice middle-of-the-road coffee, and we agree with Caribou when it says that it is “the perfect beginner’s coffee” or “perfect everyday coffee.” I have to say that (in keeping with making coffee like an ordinary person) that I prepared it one day in a French press a bit too strong. It was even better like this: more richly-bodied and robust, another reviewer that day described it as “resonant.” Another was extremely enthusiastic and rushed down the hall, cup in hand, to my office to ask me what he was drinking. We gave this coffee 3.5 motmots.

In 2007, Coffee Review gave it 88 points. It’s also one of the coffees available in several of Caribou’s Roastmaster’s Choice Clubs.

I also tried the Colombia TimanÁ¡ Reserve, one of Caribou’s Origins Select coffees. It is from the same producers, but only from 6 select growers. This was also very nice coffee, but I honestly could not detect a significant difference from the regular TimanÁ¡, although more discerning tasters might very well be able to. Anyway, kudos to Caribou for this tasty, sustainable selection.

Vietnam: Will replacing old coffee mean more deforestation?

By JulieCraves

On August 19, 2008

In Coffee news and miscellany, Coffee regions

A news report states that half of Vietnam’s coffee trees will have to be replaced in the next 5 to 10 years:

According to the Vietnam Coffee — Cocoa Association, the current 500,000ha of coffee comprises three kinds.

The first is coffee planted prior to 1988, totalling 86,400ha, accounting for 17.3% of the total area. These coffee trees are very old and need to be replaced.

The second is trees grown from 1988 to 1993 on 139,600ha, making up 27.9%. Many trees are growing old and their productivity is declining.

The third kind is trees planted after 1993, with around 274,000ha or 54.8%. These trees are yielding high productivity. In the next few years, Vietnam’s coffee output will depend on this section of coffee.

The article notes that despite warnings from experts and bank loan restrictions, farmers have planted more and more coffee, destroying forest to do so. This is almost all low-quality robusta sold to multinational roasters for grocery store blends.

Vietnamese agricultural authorities have tried to increase quality and discourage poor farming practices, without much success. This article again notes the recommendation to “put an end to the habit of selling low-quality coffee in the international market” in an effort to move towards sustainability.

This can’t happen as long as the demand from multinationals — in other words, from consumers — remains high. Poor farmers will continue to clear land to plant more coffee. The resulting glut in supply 4 years down the road causes prices to plummet. Multinationals snap up the cheap beans. The cycle of poverty and deforestation continues.

Don’t contribute to this madness. Stop buying cheap, mass-produced coffee.

Update, May 2015: In Vietnam, “Deforestation, monocropping and intensive pesticide use that helped create the boom now leaves coffee farms more vulnerable to climate change,” reports an article in The Guardian outlining the disastrous effects of drought on coffee in the country.

Know your coffee birds: Tennessee Warbler

By JulieCraves

On August 15, 2008

In Birds and other biodiversity, Know Your Coffee Birds series

The Tennessee Warbler (Vermivora peregrina) is a great example of a “Neotropical migrant”: a bird that breeds in North America and winters in the tropics. They can be common to abundant during migration over a wide swath of the continent (including Tennessee, where it was discovered, resulting in the rather inappropriate name). Tennessee Warblers are one of the classic winter residents of shade coffee farms in Central America and northern South America, which led tropical ornithologist Alexander Skutch to conclude that they really should be named “Coffee Warbler.”

A Tennessee Warbler in winter in the Costa Rican highlands.

Tennessee Warblers nest across the Canadian boreal forest. They are one of the warblers that specialize in spruce budworms. In years when these insects are abundant, populations of the warbler swell. In fact, Tennessee Warblers are one of the most important predators of these devastating pests.

On their wintering grounds, Tennessee Warblers like semi-open to open second growth forest, and shade coffee plantations share the habitat characteristics of these forests. On coffee farms, Tennessee Warblers are often associated with flowering trees, especially those in the genus Inga, which are very common on shade coffee farms. Although the warblers may defend a flowering tree, they are also often found in mixed species flocks. Since Ingas do not flower for a long period of time, these flocks may track the flowering trees across the landscape. The warblers also fond of two other tree genera frequently used as shade trees on coffee farms, Erythrina and Grevillea.

Why do the warblers like the flowering trees? Winter is dry season in the tropics, when insects are less abundant. Nectar becomes and important part of the winter diet of Tennessee Warblers. For this reason, shade coffee farms are considered very important to the survival of this little bird with the understated colors and loud, ringing voice.

The Coffee Warbler (Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, by my friend Tom Dietsch.
Tennessee Warbler (Boreal Songbird Initiative)

Photo of Tennessee Warbler by Jerry Oldenhettel.
Range map from All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Coffee review: Terroir Coffee El Descanso

By JulieCraves

On August 11, 2008

In Coffee reviews, Latin America

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #37.

As noted in the the post with background information on coffee growing in Colombia, finding a notably tasty, really sustainable coffee from Colombia is still not incredibly easy. There are a couple of choices for those concerned with migratory and resident bird habitat preservation. One includes coffees that are often known as “Cerulean Warbler” coffees. Thanksgiving Coffee Company imports and roasts one on behalf of the American Bird Conservancy which was reviewed here (includes background links).

The other option is Mesa de los Santos, a farm that is certified organic, Rainforest Alliance, and Smithsonian Bird-Friendly. We reviewed this coffee from Counter Culture here, but it is one of the most widely available Bird-Friendly coffees on the market. Just Google it and you can get your hands on some pronto.

One roaster doing a great job of sourcing small lot, specialty coffee in Colombia is George Howell’s Terroir Coffee. We recently tried a selection from Terroir, El Descanso. Terroir has run out of the 2007 crop reviewed here, but they will have a new crop available in October 2008.

El Descanso comes from the 8 hectare farm of Jesus Orlando Lopez, at 1700 meters in southwestern Huila. Terroir indicates this is of the caturra variety, although Sweet Maria’s Tom Owen notes (in the pages indicated below) that the farmer is using the castillo variety in his new plantings.

This farm won 12th place in the 2006 Cup of Excellence. At the time, it was indicated that the coffee was sun-grown. However, the Terroir web site notes that El Descanso is being reforested and applying for Rainforest Alliance certification. The bag came with the RA seal on it; I don’t see it specifically listed on the RA site, but there are many producers listed for Huila in a sort of generic form and El Descanso may be included in one of those listings.

In addition to coffee Sr. Orlando Lopez has plots of yuca, sugar cane, and beans, and a couple of pastures. The “rastrojo reserva” is, I believe, set aside for compost or mulch, or may be a fallow field.

The tasters all really enjoyed this coffee, which was obviously a step beyond the ideal Colombian profile. The aroma was distinctive, and our amateur noses couldn’t quite pin it down. Suggestions included honey, fresh baked caramel buns, and yogurt-covered pretzels. Like some of the best and brightest Central American coffees, it had a lovely almost citrus “zing” on the first piping-hot sip. Citrus and honey were again mentioned, as were faint cherry, blackberry, ripe plum or yellow plum (leading to an off-topic discussion of the difficulty in obtaining truly good plums around here). It remained sweet as it cooled, with candy and chocolate notes moving to the forefront.

We really enjoyed this coffee, and felt it was a great example of what the best Colombian coffees have to offer. We gave it 3.5 motmots.

Our next review will be a very nice Colombian that is also Rainforest Alliance certified, always available, and easy to obtain!