Month: April 2010 Page 1 of 2

First Coffee Conservation award announced

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On April 27, 2010

In Coffee awards and competitions

A few months ago I wrote about the announcement of new award for coffee farmers initiated by Cooper Ecological Monitoring, Roast Magazine, and Birder’s Exchange (a program of the American Birding Association). The Coffee Conservation Award will be presented annually to recognize farms making a significant contribution to global biodiversity preservation. The award is a $1000 cash prize, to be used to further meaningful, science-based conservation practices on the winning farm.

The award will focus on a particular country each year. The inaugural country was El Salvador, and the winning producer is Finca El Porvenir.

El Porvenir is actually a group of three properties between 1,000 to 1,600 m in elevation on the slopes of Cerro El Tigre (13.44998, -88.42947), part of the isolated Sierra Tecapa—Chinameca range in eastern El Salvador, in the department of UsulutÁ¡n. This is the orange region on the map below (click to enlarge). This El Porvenir should not to be confused with former Cup of Excellence winner El Porvenir, located in the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountains, in green.

El Porvenir covers 54 ha, which includes 16 ha of protected forest. Coffee varieties grown are pacamara, bourbon, and typica, and the last two crops have been exported to Germany and Italy. It is Rainforest Alliance certified, and also certified under Starbucks C.A.F.E. practices. The owner, Agroindustrias Homberger, S.A. de C.V., also owns and/or manages over 550 ha of additional adjacent coffee farms. These include another 100+ ha of protected land. Some of the farms have been in general manager Mauricio Homberger’s family for decades.

Biodiversity claims made in the nomination process for the Coffee Conservation award must be verified on the ground by partner organizations. A bird survey was performed at EL Porvenir in spring 2010 by SalvaNatura, one of the first inventories taken in this region. SalvaNatura found some bird species that have restricted ranges in northern Central America, including the Green-throated Mountain-Gem (Lampornis viridipallens), a large hummingbird; Bushy-crested Jay (Cyanocorax melanocyaneus), Rufous-browed Wren (Troglodytes rufociliatus), and Bar-winged Oriole (Icterus maculialatus).

El Porvenir plans on using the award funds for a biologist-led conservation course at the local school, along with an art contest for students with the theme ”Forest Conservation.” In addition to the cash prize, a pair of binoculars was also awarded, and will be used to help farm personnel participate and share in birding tours.

This award was sponsored by Cafe Imports, and Skyscrape Foundation/Mark Cappellano supported SalvaNatura to do the biological inventory. Congrats to El Porvenir.

Scenes from SCAA

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On April 25, 2010

In Coffee news and miscellany

Every so often there needs to be a break from the serious and educational for something a little more fun and personal. Here are some photos from the recent Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) event.

First off, we had to stop and visit our friend Kyle, at the Coffee Kids booth. This is an awesome charity, and Kyle is awesome as well. In fact, this photo has a backstory. Check it out.

Andy Sprenger is the roaster at Caffe Pronto in Annapolis, MD. Andy is a birder and former field biologist, and we’ve been in touch for years now. Yet, we’d never met. He tracked us down when he recognized the slogan on my husband’s Rouge River Bird Observatory t-shirt! Julie: “A light-roast Central is best before a spring bird walk.” Andy: “No way. A blend with some Peru boosts your flycatcher ID skills.” [Stand off.]

Andy competed in the U.S. Cup Tasters Championship, where he came in third place (second last year). This is a fast, fun competition where people have to pick the odd coffee out of eight flights of three cups. We found it more enjoyable to watch than the U.S. Barista Championship, which is much slower and more serious.

I’m in the odd position of not being in the coffee industry, but counting among my coffee friends some of the VIPs of coffee. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned from Counter Culture Coffee’s sustainability and producer relations manager Kim Elena Bullock, Counter Culture director of coffee and co-owner Peter Giuliano and Intelligentsia’s VP of coffee and green coffee buyer Geoff Watts. They’ve been incredibly generous with their knowledge, and I’m very grateful!

If only George Howell of Terroir Coffee had been in the previous photo. Another VIP of specialty coffee who has been thoroughly patient and kind in answering my questions. I always enjoy catching up with him at these events.

Meeting producers is a highlight of SCAA events. This is Sandra and Israel Gonzalez of Sandra Farms in Puerto Rico. They are the in-laws of one of my University colleagues and a supplier to Michigan roaster Rowster Coffee, so I have long wanted to meet them. What an incredibly charming couple! You’ll be hearing more about them and Sandra Farms in the future, because I know we will visit the farm when we go to Puerto Rico within the next couple of years.

Of course, we have to stop by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center booth and say hi to our friend Dr./Mr. Robert/Bob Rice (inside joke), who runs the Bird-Friendly certification program. Aside from Andy Sprenger, there aren’t too many people at these events with whom we can talk coffee AND birds.

We were invited to a cupping of some Utz Certified Latin American coffees…

…and we got to spend more time talking with folks from Utz (Graham Mitchell here) about their certification. They have modified their standards since I last wrote about them, and I now have a better understanding of their goals and achievements. I’ll be writing more about them in future posts.

And we also spent time with the good folks from Rainforest Alliance, like Petra Tanos, who has been great about getting me information. RA rolled out an excellent implementation guide for Latin American coffee farmers, which I’ll be writing about, and told me about a couple of other upcoming initiatives that I am excited about — in spite of what the expression on my face might suggest. Believe it or not, there is a worse photo of me from this conversation!

We spent some time with folks from S&D Coffee. S&D supplies some McDonald’s and other restaurants and retailers, in addition to have several of their own coffee lines. I was impressed with their concern with sustainably-grown coffee, as evidenced by my conversation with two representatives from the importer Sustainable Harvest, who were at the S&D booth making deals. I am learning more about the import/export side of specialty coffee, as well as about the larger roasters and suppliers. Expect more on these topics as I incorporate this knowledge into my posts.

The foot soldiers of the specialty coffee industry are the roasters. Here I am talking trash (at the garbage bin next to the Barista Guild brew bar) with Chattanooga’s finest roaster, Bryan Dyer. Bryan is one of the funniest and sweetest coffee guys we know. We’ve met and befriended so many excellent people at SCAA events that we no longer wander around like aimless outsiders, but now have a full social schedule!

Aside from hob-nobbing, we attended several lectures every day on sustainable coffee issues, tasted a lot of great coffee, watched talented baristas do their thing, pondered many coffee-related products, and generally had a good time. I was invited to be on a panel on eco-certifications next year in Houston, and I hope we will be able to work it into our schedules. There’s this little conflict with spring bird migration and my day job…

Caribou Coffee: All Rainforest Alliance by 2011

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On April 22, 2010

In Caribou Coffee, Certifications, Rainforest Alliance, Retail and specialty roasters

Caribou Coffee recently announced that it will be sourcing all of its beans from Rainforest Alliance certified farms by the end of 2011.

Caribou has been working towards this goal since mid-2006. Many of its coffees contain varying levels of Rainforest Alliance certified beans; Rainforest Alliance allows use of their seal on packages containing a minimum of 30% certified beans, so long as the percentage is displayed on the seal. That made me wonder if this announcement meant that every variety of coffee at Caribou would have RA-certified beans, or that every variety would consist of 100% RA-certified beans.

At the recent Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) event, I verified that every variety of coffee at Caribou would consist of 100% RA-certified beans. This certification doesn’t necessarily mean it is shade-grown coffee, but meets a variety of environmental and social criteria.

Caribou Coffee is the second largest coffeeshop operation, behind Starbucks, with over 530 stores in 16 states as well as outside the U.S. It currently has seven varieties which are 100%  RA-certified: Colombia TimanÁ¡ (my personal favorite), Guatemala El ParaÁ­so, Sumatra Samosir Batak, La Minita Peaberry, Costa Rica Sombra del Poro, Lacuna (a blend of Guatemala, El Salvador and Ethiopia), and Lakeshore Blend (Guatemala, Costa Rica and Ethiopia). Including other coffee offerings which are at least 30% RA-certified, Caribou currently sources about 17 million pounds of coffee a year from RA-certified farms.

SCAA Coffee of the Year

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On April 21, 2010

In Coffee awards and competitions

Let’s take a look at the winners of the annual Coffee of the Year competition for single origin coffees, announced at the Specialty Coffee Association
of America (SCAA) event. There were around 140 coffees competing this year.

This year the COTY coffees were available for tasting as pour-overs in a spacious tasting area where information on each coffee (including score) was available. People could taste them all and submit a ballot indicating their single favorite coffee. In past years, the open tasting was from airpots, blind, and we submitted our top three favorites. I liked this format, in particular that the data given on each coffee included region, varietal, and farm certifications.

If anybody knows the outcome of the expo participant voting, or the roaster/availability to consumers of any of the winners, please let everybody know in the comments.

The overall point leader with a score of 90.5 was — as it was last year — from Colombia (San Agustin, Huila): Finca Buenavista. This was a microlot from the farm of Carlos Imbachi submitted by Sweet Maria’s (right now the notes are in Thom’s Colombia offering archives), imported by Virmax. The 7-ha farm is Rainforest Alliance certified.

Here are the rest of the winners, in descending-score order. I’ve put the certifications, if any, in italics below.

  • Best of origin, Guatemala: Puerta Verde (Antigua, Sacatepequez). Score
    89.625. Placed 7th in the 2009 Cup of Excellence competition, and certified under Starbucks CAFE practices.
  • Best of origin, Honduras: La Isabela (Mogola/Marcala/La Paz). Score
    89.313
  • Best of origin, Kenya: Gichathaini (Nyeri). Score 89.222. Fair Trade certified.
  • Best of origin, Peru: Tunki (Puno). Score 89.2. Fair Trade, Organic, and Rainforest Alliance certified, also a winner in this year’s Rainforest Alliance Cupping for Quality competition, where you can read more about it. This was our personal favorite, and was getting very favorable comments from people. It was really nice, very distinctive and bright. I would not have guessed it for a Peru. (Update: here’s an interview with the farmer. He has a quality tip: no sweaty mules.)
  • Best of origin, Panama: Hacienda La Esmeralda (Boquete). Score 89.125. Rainforest Alliance certified.
  • Best of origin, USA/Hawaii: The Rising Sun (Ka’u). Score 87.563. Nice article here.
  • Best of origin, El Salvador: El Recuerdo (Apaneca/Ilamatapeq). Score
    87.375. A participant in the 2008 Cup of Excellence competition.
  • Best of origin, Nicaragua: Un Regalo de Dios (Mozonte/Nueve Segovia). Score 85.558. Starbucks CAFE practices.

That’s an average of 89.22.

Coffee & Conservation covered previous versions of this competition in 2009 and 2008.

SCAA 2010 Sustainability Award

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On April 18, 2010

In Coffee awards and competitions

The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has awarded its 2010 Sustainability Award to Coffee Lifeline. This project uses the wind-up, solar-powered Lifeline radios of the Freeplay Foundation to provide vital information on agronomy, timely market conditions, weather bulletins, technical expertise, and other coffee news.

Coffee-growing communities are often remote, with isolated farmers having limited or no access to cell phone or Internet coverage. The lack of basic weather and climate forecasts hinders optimum scheduling and care of their coffee crops. Farmers don’t know what coffee characteristics are in demand in the marketplace. And without knowledge of current market prices, farmers cannot evaluate the value of their coffee, or negotiate a fair price. Traditional means of farmer assistance — through community workshops or visits, usually by NGOs or governmental agencies — can be costly, impractical, or too infrequent.

The possession of these simple, hand-powered, rugged radios changes all of that. Special coffee-related programming, developed and broadcast by UNESCO-sponsored Radio Salus at the National University of Rwanda, brings farmers specific and important information. The radios are AM/FM/shortwave capable, so plenty of other information is available as well.

Coffee Lifeline began operating in Rwanda in 2005, conceived by American coffee importer Peter Kettler and supported by InterAmerican Coffee, Ancora Coffee Roasters, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, the actor Tom Hanks, and others. Nearly 500 radios have been distributed to farmers, but their reach is multiplied many times because groups of up to 100 farmers listen to programming together.

Coffee Lifeline is just one of the Freeplay Foundation’s humanitarian projects utilizing Lifeline radios across Africa and Asia. Access to information has been life-changing to a broad spectrum of participants. It’s easy for us to take something as simple as basic broadcast communications for granted, so learning about projects like this helps us remember that knowledge is truly empowering, and we don’t have to spend a lot of money or reinvent the wheel to bring about transformation.

In 2003, the Sustainability Council of the SCAA created the Sustainability Award to promote, encourage and honor the efforts of those serving as role models in the fields of sustainability. Coffee & Conservation also covered the 2008 and 2009 awards.

Rainforest Alliance Cupping for Quality 2010 winners

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On April 16, 2010

In Certifications, Coffee awards and competitions, Rainforest Alliance

The first set of 2010 winners of the Cupping for Quality competition, featuring Rainforest Alliance-certified coffees, was just announced at the annual Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) meeting. RA now certifies 2% of world coffee exports.

This year, there will be two rounds of awards in order to better accommodate coffees from around the world, since coffee is a seasonal crop. The results below are from a cupping held in December, which included submissions from Brazil (11 samples), Peru (10), Hawaii (2, first time for this origin), Indonesia (6), Kenya (4, first time), and Tanzania, Uganda (first time) and Zambia (first time) with one sample each.

Here are the top ten coffees, with their scores, variety of coffee grown, farm size, altitude, processing method, and any details I’ve uncovered. The average score for the top ten coffees was 84.26.

  1. Kigutha Estate — Kenya. 86.54. Growing the bourbon (“French mission”) variety on 122.76 ha at 1700 m. Washed. Kigutha is in the Kiambu region, an area dominated by large privately-owned estates and plantations. It’s managed by Tropical Farm Management, part of the Neumann Kaffee Gruppe. TFM manages over 40 coffee estates and operates coffee projects for over 30,000 smallholder farmers. Many of their worldwide operations also have Rainforest Alliance certification.Environmental-related initiatives at Kigutha include integrated pest management, water conservation (including a dam that provides habitat for hippos), and soil erosion management. One of the bigger challenges for the farm was how to incorporate shade, since most coffee in Kenya is typically grown in the sun. The farm nursery is now cultivating 12 native tree species for use on the property, and they are aiming for 30% shade cover.
  2. Tunki — Peru (Puno, Tunkimayo sector). 86.00. Typica and bourbon on 3 ha at 1650 m. Washed. This coffee comes from members of CECOVASA (Central de Cooperativas Agrarias Cafetaleras de los Valles de. Sandia), a group of Fair Trade cooperatives totalling nearly 5000 members. CECOVASA has also been working with Conservation International. CECOVASA has won coffee quality awards before, as well as an award for their work preserving biodiversity.  Tunki is one of the eight cooperatives/brands (two others also placed in the top ten — see 5 and 6 below), and is also organic. “Tunki” is the local name for the national bird of Peru, the spectacular Andean Cock-of-the-Rock. Equal Exchange has a good article on a visit to CECOVASA. (Update: here’s an interview with the farmer. He has a quality tip: no sweaty mules.)
  3. Machare / Uru Estates — Tanzania (on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro). 85.71. KP and N39 on 300 ha at 1400 m. Washed. There are shade trees on the farm (many photos on the estate web site indicate something of a shade monoculture), and 30% has been left uncultivated. There is a nursery of indigenous trees used to plant in the protected area. The farm uses integrated pest management. The owners are involved in much community work, including coordinating hydro-electric generators to provide power and irrigation for nearby villages. Marchare was the first Utz Certified farm in Tanzania.
  4. Ipanema Coffees — Brazil (Alfenas – Sul de Minas). 84.50. Bourbon, catuai, and Mundo Novo on 2800 ha at 1000 m. Semi-washed.
  5. Quechua — Peru (Puno, Alfonso Ugarte sector). 84.06. Typica and caturra on 2 ha at 1700 m. Washed. Another coffee from CECOVASA members (see #2).
  6. Tambopata — Peru (Puno, Belen sector). 83.46. Typica and caturra on 2 ha at 1500 m. Washed. Another coffee from CECOVASA members (see #2).
  7. PT Olam Indonesia — Indonesia (North Sumatra). 83.4. Crowned Garuda Mandheling Grade 1 on 127.9 ha at 1000 m. Semi-washed. Small farmer group.
  8. Terranova Estate — Zambia. 83.33. SL28 and bourbon on 1000 ha at 1250 m. Dry process. I wrote about Terranova when it was one of Starbucks Black Apron coffees, and it includes a lengthy comment from the owners.
  9. Mirante da Boa Vista — Brazil (Minas Gerais, cerrado region). 82.79 (tie). Bourbon, Catuai, and Mundo Novo on 190 ha at 1000 m. Semi-washed.
  10. Nchengo Estate — Kenya  (Central Province). 82.79 (tie). SL28 on 135 ha at 1550 m. Washed.

The next round of cupings will take place May in New York City. It will include primarily Central American origins, along with Colombia, Ethiopia, and India.

Coffee & Conservation covered previous Cupping for Quality winners in 2008 and 2009.

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