JulieCraves

Retail and specialty roasters / Starbucks

Starbucks to discontinue Organic Shade Grown Mexico

Late last month, Starbucks announced they will be offering four “Blonde” roast coffees beginning in January 2012. This comes after many years of complaints from consumers that the company roasted all their beans too dark, hence the often-heard “Charbucks” moniker.  The lighter roasts will be two new regular coffees, Starbucks Veranda Blend (using Latin American beans) and Starbucks Willow Blend (Latin America and East Africa), a decaf (Decaf Starbucks Willow Blend), and an instant (Starbucks VIA Ready Brew Veranda Blend).

Rumor has it that four of their current offerings will be replaced by the new coffees. They are the Fair Trade certified Café Estima Blend, the decaf Café Verona, the decaf House Blend, and the Organic Shade Grown Mexico. In response to my specific inquiry, I have confirmation from Starbucks that the latter will indeed be discontinued.

We reviewed the Organic Shade Grown Mexico here awhile back, and provided a lot of background information. In a nutshell, this coffee was sourced from farmers in Chiapas in the buffer zone of the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve. The sourcing of coffee from this area was done in partnership with Conservation International, and lead to the development of Starbucks’ green coffee sourcing standards program, known as CAFE [Coffee and Farm Equity] Practices. The Starbucks/Conservation International partnership began in 1998, continued for years with substantial reinvestments by Starbucks, being known as the Conservation Coffee program.

Starbucks just recently renewed the partnership for two years and $3 million, with a focus on climate change. The renewal will mark the beginning of work in Brazil, and expand on programs in Sumatra and Chiapas. However, I was unable to get a direct answer from Starbucks on whether or not they will still be providing an organic, shade-grown Mexico coffee as a seasonal offering, whether it will be used in one of the new Blonde blends, or in some other blend.

With the advent of the Conservation International partnership and the development of their CAFE Practices, Starbucks imposed quality standards on the Chiapas cooperatives supplying  this coffee. While it supplied significant benefits to the co-ops initially, many objected to the requirements and quit selling some or all of their coffee to Starbucks once their own capacity and abilities improved. These included CESMACH (Ecological Farmers of the Sierra Madres of Chiapas), Organizacion de Productores Cafetaleros de Ángel Albino Corzo (OPCAAC), Finca Triunfo Verde Sociedad Civil, and Organizacion Regional de Productores Agroecologicos (ORPAE). At least one source [1] indicates that many of the suppliers to Starbucks in this area of Chiapas are small producers that do not belong to cooperatives. Perhaps there is not enough volume to support a quasi-single-origin coffee from this region any longer.

In any event, the Blonde roast roll out will coincide with an overhaul of coffee packaging/branding at Starbucks to emphasize the three roast levels (with the lightest being Blonde, which is still roasted to second crack) rather than origin, and that may also play a role in the discontinuation of this coffee.

I have generally recommended the Organic Shade Grown Mexico to friends who are Starbucks customers looking for their most eco-friendly offering.  While I generally believe that the Starbucks CAFE Practices environmental standards, which apply to nearly all their coffees, are quite strong and relevant, I’ll have to reassess to come up with a specific recommendation once the Mexico disappears from shelves.

Renard, M.-C. 2010. In the name of conservation: CAFE Practices and Fair Trade in Mexico. Journal of Business Ethics 92:287-299.

Coffee awards and competitions

Support Cup of Excellence

What was to become the Cup of Excellence program began over a decade ago in Brazil. The goal was to recognize the efforts of individual farmers who were producing outstanding coffee, often lost in blends at the time. Today, there are COE competitions in nine countries which select the best coffees produced each year. Coffees are cupped at least five times by a jury of national and international judges, and must achieve high scores each round to move on. Final winners are sold to the highest bidders in an internet auction.  Not only does the farmer get a very good price for the award-winning coffee, the farm and producer are recognized for their quality, attracting attention from roasters for future crops. Often this recognition also trickles down to benefit the entire community.

COE is owned and managed by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, a non-profit organization based in the U.S. It is funded by partners, corporate sponsors, and members. Currently, COE has 220 Community Supporters (primarily roaster, many small roasters), 58 Benefactor Supporters (larger roasters and importers) and 17 Lifetime Pioneer members. In 2010, COE added a Solo Supporter membership category.  Coffee & Conservation paid our dues as soon as we learned of this opportunity to support the program, and are among the 35 charter solo members.

Among the benefits of a solo membership is an 8 oz share of COE award-winning coffee. This year, it was from the 2011 Nicaragua COE:  Finca Bella Aurora, Dipilto, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua.

Farmer Joaquin Augusto Lovo Lopez grows caturra on 33 ha at 1350-1400 m. The coffee scored 88.17, earning it 6th place. Bella Aurora previously ranked 27th in 2010, and 14th in 2007. The coffee sold for $5.10/lb in the auction held in June 2011. It was purchased by Invalsa Coffee® (USA) with Specialty Coffee (Korea), Java Blend (Canada), Montana Coffee Traders (USA), Rojo’s Roastery (USA), Willoughby’s Coffee (USA), Social Coffee (Canada) and Brasett AB (Sweden).

We really enjoyed this coffee — and part of it was simply knowing what it represented.

Coffee news and miscellany

Update on Finca Dos Gatos

In April, I gave an overview of my home coffee growing project, a.k.a. Finca Dos Gatos, prompted by my discovery of buds on one of my Panama plants, planted from seed collected in 2008. Here is an update.

The plant on which I discovered buds on 12 April, and which I believe to be the only typica variety among 10 other caturra, flowered on 25 May. I think I ended up with four flowers.

The flowers lasted only a couple of days. Meanwhile, some of the coffee beans I had picked up in Nicaragua in March 2011 were starting to germinate. First was a one of two coffee cherries I picked up at Selva Negra. These were not from the production area, but from a plant growing wild in the cloud forest, right next to the spot where I saw my first Resplendent Quetzals. I thought a coffee plant from that location would be a great memento. My germination method is the same as how I sprouted lima beans in elementary school: on a wet paper towel, kept warm in a plastic food container. One bean sprouted which I planted in soil on 7 May.

Bourbon or caturra seedling, from Selva Negra, ready to plant.

At around the same time, on 15 May, I had a number of beans from El Jaguar start to sprout. Although they grow several varieties, I only collected yellow catuai, for the sake of variety. This variety was developed in Brazil and is commonly grown there, and is a cross between caturra and Mondo Novo

Some ripening yellow catuai at Finca El Jaguar.

We had a very rainy spring here in southern Michigan, so I did not put the coffee outside for the summer until June. By mid-summer, it got very hot here, and I do not have enough shady places in our small yard for all the large plants, so I created some. I purchased some 40% shade cloth, and some plastic snap-on grommets. “S” hooks go through the grommets and hook on to the gutters, and the other grommets fit on tree stakes in the lawn. The shade cloth is therefore very easy to take down to mow. A spare piece of shade cloth can be clipped on top to provide some extra protection on really hot days.

I kept the seedlings in a more protected spot. The Selva Negra seedling grew faster than I remember any of the others progressing. By mid-July it already had its first set of true leaves.

Meanwhile, not much was happening on my plant that had flowered. I read it takes some time for beans to begin to develop. Indeed, I did not find any sign of beans until 15 July.

I have a two-bean crop; perhaps they will be ripe by Christmas. One of the other Panama plants also flowered, and had many buds. But the heat and humidity took it’s toll, and I lost most of the buds before they opened. Further, every plant was in dire need of repotting, so on 6 August, I potted up every plant. I used  a good topsoil, plus organic potting soil, all mixed with Espoma Organic Bio-Tone Starter Plus, which contains beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae. Up to this point, I’d given these plants plenty of root space, using deep, narrow tree pots. The problem at this point was that new containers deep enough for the roots were ridiculously large and heavy. Several Panama plants (3 years old) went into 15″ deep 3.2 gallon tree pots, the last size up that I have.

Not sure how long this one will stay in the larger pot.

The Nicaragua plants (2 years old) are all two growing together. They went into two or three gallon pots. The largest pair posed a dilemma. The little rubber trash can seemed like overkill, so I ended up using a cat litter bucket, after drilling drainage holes in the bottom. What could be more appropriate for Finca Dos Gatos?

I now have a finca too large for the bedroom window, where I overwintered the plants last year. Indoor winter vacation, which began last month, is now in the basement under two four-foot Sun Blaze T5 fluorescent fixtures, each with four 6500K (blue) bulbs (same as before, just an additional fixture). The lights are on a timer, about 12 hours of light a day.

Three Panama plants on the left; six Nicaragua on floor/to the right (I gave away a pair of Nica, and some seedlings). I have a little class: I covered the cat litter bucket with four duct tape sheets. I didn’t even know such a thing existed, but it sure makes for a durable, waterproof covering. I chose black, but they come in all colors and patterns. Those pots are heavy, so they are on rolling stands.

The seedlings are under a smaller set of lights. As of now, late October 2011, here is the  Selva Negra seedling; it’s about six inches tall.

And here is the El Jaguar seedling, about 4.5 inches:

The two unripe cherries survived being transplanted. They are full size, but still green.

I’m happy to report that the two cats for whom the finca is named have stayed out of the pots. Actually, they both like lounging in the bright lights on gloomy days.

Sophie guarding the finca.

This winter, I plan to induce and promote flowering by providing a dry period followed by renewed water, switching out half the bulbs for red spectrum, and changing the fertilizer. I’ll let you know how it goes early next year.

Coffee regions

Coffee growing in India

Legend has it that coffee was smuggled into India around 1600, spread around the region by Dutch traders, but not commercially grown until the early 1800s when the British began establishing coffee plantations. Today, India produces approximately 300,000 metric tons of coffee annually; around 30% is arabica, while the rest is mostly robusta. Kents and S795 are two popular arabica varieties grown in India.

Southern India; Western Ghats in pink. Click to enlarge.

Nearly a quarter of the coffee that is exported from India goes to Italy (no doubt largely robusta that is a component in espresso blends). The United States receives only about 1% of India’s coffee exports. Frequently what ones sees offered in the U.S. is “monsooned” coffee — green coffee stored in open warehouses and subjected to wet monsoon wind, simulating ocean-going ship conditions of yore. This hardly represents the many interesting and varied coffees grown in India — and we’ll be reviewing several in a follow-up post. First, let’s take a look at how coffee is grown in India, with an eye towards biodiversity.

Indian coffee growing regions

Nearly 390,000 ha are planted in coffee in India, 70% of which are small farms of less than 10 ha. The vast majority of coffee is grown in the three southern states of Karnataka (71%), Kerala (22%), and Tamil Nadu (5%). Eighty percent of India’s arabica coffee is grown in Karnataka. In this region, arabica coffee is grown at elevations of 1000 to 1500 m, with some production up to 2000 m. Robusta, of course, is grown at lower elevations. Some familiar regional designations are Chikmagalur, Coorg, and Mysore (all in Karnataka), and Madras (Tamil Nadu).

These southern coffee growing regions are in the Western Ghats mountain range, a biodiversity hotspot that runs some 1450 km along India’s southwest coast. Over a third of the region’s 5000 plant species are found no place else on earth. BirdLife International has also designated a Western Ghats Endemic Bird Area, as it has 16 restricted-range species confined to this region. Among them is the engaging little Black-and-rufous Flycatcher (Ficedula nigrorufa), right. This species lives only in the Western Ghats, and can be found in coffee plantations, but only if there is dense undergrowth. Another near-threatened flycatcher endemic to the Western Ghats is the Nilgiri Flycatcher (Eumyias albicaudatus), below right. This bird is declining due to habitat destruction, but it can be found on shaded coffee plantations, and this is important to its conservation.

And I usually don’t mention insect diversity here because it is so under-studied in general in these areas. However, in addition to birds I do a fair amount of insect work, especially with dragonflies and damselflies. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) just released a report, The Status and Distribution of Freshwater Biodiversity in the Western Ghats, India which notes that this area has 174 species of dragonflies and damselflies, 69 of which are endemic. Ten species are of conservation concern,and they, like many other aquatic organisms discussed in the report, are threatened by agricultural pesticides present in the waterways; coffee farms are specifically mentioned. These insects make excellent environmental indicators because of their aquatic and upland life stages that are often tied to specific types of habitat and their sensitivity to water conditions.

Most Indian coffee is shade coffee

Most in coffee in India is grown under shade; pepper and cardamom are frequently planted with coffee as supplemental crops. Not all shade is the same quality. Up to 50 species are used as shade trees, and while they may be comprised of native tree species (various Ficus spp., Syzigium spp., and Artocarpus integrifolia),  increasingly farmers look to supplement their income with fast growing timber species, especially silky oak/silver oak, Grevillea robusta, a tree native to Australia. Various studies

have shown that silver oak is not preferred by birds, and an increase in its use corresponds to a decrease in bird diversity. Some estates severely prune their shade trees, destroying much of the canopy, and it is often timed to coincide with post -harvest — and bird nesting.

Typical arrangement: coffee in the understory, peppercorn vines growing up the trunks of shade trees.

Relatively little coffee grown in India is certified organic. According to the Coffee Board of India, only about 2600 ha of coffee are organic, occurring mostly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. A number of pests and diseases of coffee in India are fought with chemicals, although integrated pest management is also increasingly used. For example, one prominent pest, mostly of arabica, is the white stem borer (Xylotrechus quadripes), a fairly large beetle. Pesticides once popular for control are now banned, but since the beetle likes to lay its eggs in sunny positions, shade trees are a control option, as are pheromone traps in development.

As in Latin America, various studies have indicated that many bird species can be found in shaded coffee farms in India, although the number of species was slightly lower than in forests and the diversity in farms leaned towards those species that were more adaptable, favored more open or disturbed areas, and that did not depend exclusively on a diet of insects.

Coffee plantations in India are often surrounded by native forests or preserves, and insects, birds, and other wildlife can move between and among the forests and coffee farms. This is extremely valuable for conservation, particularly if the farms are using few chemicals and growing coffee under high quality, native shade.

The C&C tasting crew will be dipping in to some Indian coffees in the coming weeks. Look for a post or two with short reviews of a number of coffees representing the variety that India has to offer. I hope doing a series of mini-reviews will inspire American consumers in particular to expand their coffee horizons and seek out some offerings from this interesting origin.

Links to more information:

  • The articles on the I Need Coffee web site written by coffee farmers Dr. Anand Titus and his wife Geeta Pereira include many profusely illustrated posts on all aspects of coffee growing, biodiversity, climate change, and related topics. You can, and perhaps should, spend hours reading through their detailed information.
  • Ecoagriculture is a relatively new site promoting sustainable agriculture, focusing on coffee and tea, in India. Rainforest Alliance and the Sustainable Agriculture Network are part of the initiative, so it includes resources on RA certification. There is also an associated blog.
  • India, through a birder’s eyes (New York Times)
  • Nature Conservation Foundation

My posts on research studying coffee and biodiversity in India:

Rufous-and-black Flycatcher image from Wikimedia Commons; Nilgiri Flycatcher photo by Sandeep Somasekharan; coffee plantation from INeedCoffee/Michael Allen Smith; all under Creative Commons licenses.