Category: Latin America Page 1 of 3

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #49.

The Community Agroecology Network (CAN) seeks to to link farming communities in Latin America to consumers in the United States. Researchers from five universities partner with faculty and organizations in Latin America to forge long-term community-based relationships. Researchers, organizations and farmer members address questions related to sustainable farming systems. Student interns work with farming communities and cooperatives. Often the work revolves around coffee farms themselves — such as mapping farms and surveying shade trees, orchids, or other fauna. Interns may also work on social projects, other aspects of sustainable agriculture in the community, or training members on computers, etc.

Among CAN’s projects is the AgroEco Coffee Initiative, in conjunction with the Union of Farming Cooperatives Augusto Caesar Sandino (UCA San Ramon) in San Ramon, Matagalpa, Nicaragua, an organization of 21 coffee cooperatives and over 1,000 members.  Research projects include tree biodiversity conservation, establishing a local herbarium, and food security issues. Part of CAN’s efforts include trade innovations, and in this case they work with Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting to bring AgroEco Coffee to market.

The coffee is available in both light and dark roasts, and can be purchased one-time, or by recurring subscription. CAN sent a bag of light roast for us to try.

This is a bag of coffee that does not have tasting notes, but instead has a “sustainability facts” label similar to the Nutrition Facts labels found on food products in the U.S.  What a great idea! It gives data on the coffee-growing community and its environmental, social, and economic conditions. You can see the environmental section on the label at right: there are 541 shade trees of 14 species per hectare. For comparison, Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certification requires at least 10 shade species in the production area (beyond that, how much canopy cover/shade is provided by a given density of trees depends on the height, species, and structure of the trees).

The AgroEco light roast was heading toward a medium, with some beans showing oil. I’d say this was closer to a full city roast. The varietal was not mentioned, but UCA San Ramon grows caturra, bourbon, and maragojipe (and some of these beans did look quite large).

Everyone found this coffee to be a well-balanced, not-lively-but-sturdy, good breakfast coffee. Chocolate and subtle cherry came up more than once in people’s descriptions. Brown sugar and fig were also mentioned. It got the most favorable ratings as a drip. In a French press it seemed a little sharp, but mellowed as it cooled. Nicaragua is a favorite origin of mine for dependable, quietly mid-tone, chocolate-based coffees. The AgroEco is a classic example of this cup profile.

For the first time, we are able to incorporate an evaluation of a review coffee as an espresso drink, as we’ve been supplied with a consumer-level espresso machine by Hamilton Beach (for consistency in our reviews, we won’t be incorporating espresso drinks into our ratings, but will provide our thoughts on them for completeness).  A light roast Nica is probably not the greatest choice for an espresso shot, but while the body and crema were a little thin, a nice sweetness was evident and it was quite tasty and enjoyable. However, it didn’t quite hold up to the addition of milk and/or foam in a latte and cappuccino, although the chocolate tones were nice in with the sweetness from the milk. The medium roast of this coffee might be a better choice for espresso drinks.

As of our review, it’s harvest season in Central America; this bag was no doubt from last crop season. I was in the San Ramon area last March at the end of harvest, and many coffee trees were very afflicted with fungal diseases due to the wet weather in the preceding months. This coffee had no flaws, and I can only imagine that with better growing conditions it could really shine. Certainly I expect that a newer sample would be perkier and demonstrate a little more complexity that this sample. It came in at a solid 3.25 motmots, and obviously supports a program that has done an excellent job at establishing a broad program of assistance that benefits farmers, students, and consumers.

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #48.

The backstory

I first heard about Bob-o-link Coffee on a local birding listserv. My first thought was, “Why would anyone use a grassland bird species to represent coffee?”  The answer is sort of a practical one: the owners have an Illinois home on Bob-o-link Road. And the area where the producing farms are located, the Mogiana Region of SÁ£o Paulo and Minas Gerais, Brazil, is so far south that few North American migrant birds spend the winter there. Bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) do travel there: these small songbirds have one of the longest journeys of any North American songbird — each year they make a 20,000 km round trip! They are strictly grassland and agricultural field birds, and never found in forests*. But given their very steep population declines (in part due to pesticide exposure on rice farms in winter), they do make good ambassadors for the problems facing Neotropical migratory birds.

Tenuous link aside, Bob-o-link Coffee comes from a group of small farmers practicing sustainable production techniques, including reforestation, organic methods, protection of water resources, and careful post-harvest quality control. The effort is spearheaded by Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza (FAF), an organic (though not USDA certified) coffee farm in the region just outside the town of IgaraÁ­. FAF also produces “natural” coffee. Not so much in the sense of a natural (dry) process coffee, but apparently coffee planted by merely scattering beans under a shade canopy and providing no further intervention: no chemicals, no fertilizer (not even organic compost), no pruning. Honey, vegetables, cheese and other products are also produced on the farm. FAF provides support and instruction on organic and sustainable agriculture to local farmers and volunteers from the organization World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.

The other farmers that produce Bob-o-link Coffee are located at 900 to 1300 meters, and grow a number of arabica varieties: yellow and red Bourbon, yellow and red catuai, and Mundo Novo, to name a few more common ones. What’s in a bag of Bob-o-link Coffee might vary by crop year, so check with your roaster. Like many Brazilian coffees, this is typically dry processed. Note that this coffee is sometimes labeled as “bird-friendly,” but it is not certified by Smithsonian Bird-Friendly at this time (and the term “Bird-Friendly” is trademarked by Smithsonian; you must see the Bird-Friendly seal on the coffee to assure that is is certified). Bird-Friendly certified coffees must also by certified organic. Not all of the supplying farms are, which is an impediment for BF-certification.

Review(s)

We have tried this coffee in two crop years from three different roasters. Last year, we purchased it from Klatch Roasting; the Bob-o-link Coffee was a regular offering. Recently, Klatch announced that it is discontinuing its relationship with FAF and will no longer carry Bob-o-link Coffee. We also bought it from Portola Handcrafted Coffee Roasters, which has since morphed into Portola Coffee Lab and no longer has online sales. This year, we were contacted by Peter Asher Coffee and Tea Company in Champaign, IL, who sent us a 12-oz bag to try. Peter Asher has been carrying this coffee for two years, the buyers have made trips to FAF. They are so impressed with the mission of FAF that they also support student visits there through the University of Illinois Office of International Programs.

Of course, as an agricultural product, coffee quality and taste can vary widely from year to year, even from the same farm(s).  Further, every roaster will treat beans differently. It’s hard to tell what contributed to the dramatic contrasts we experienced between crop years and roasters with the Bob-o-link Coffee, but here is what we found.

The Portola version was sold as organic, and we found it sweeter than expected, a little spicy, with a pleasant tobacco-essenced finish. However, it was always the first few sips that were most interesting, then the coffee faded a bit and veered into monochromatic territory. In general, folks were ambivalent about the coffee, so we sought it out again. We were even more disappointed in the Klatch batch. Whether prepared as a drip, Chemex, Aeropress, or French press, it had a persistently tinny taste. Personally, I often tend to find a metallic aspect in many Brazilian coffees, but I wasn’t alone in detecting it this time. Knowing this was a coffee with a strong backstory working toward a sustainable “brand,” we decided to wait another year before publishing a review. Indeed, the current crop year roasted by Peter Asher is barely recognizable as the same coffee.

The Peter Asher Bob-o-link Coffee was a blend of dry and pulped natural processes. From the dry aroma to the last sip, this is a coffee loaded with cocoa and chocolate, not normally what I associate with Brazilian coffees. In addition to chocolate, tasters reported (each of the following qualities more than once) caramel, French vanilla, nuts, and butterscotch. I think you’re getting the idea: this coffee was like a candy bar. The only time we picked up the metallic taste was when it was prepared in a Chemex. Brewed, it was pleasantly sweet and smooth, balanced but subdued, and unremarkable. As a pourover, using a Clever Coffee Dripper with a longer-than-usual extraction time (5 minutes), it was fuller and more interesting. But preparation in a French press was when it had the richest chocolate tones along with a medium-bodied but creamy mouthfeel. Please start with one of these manual brewing methods to get the most out of this coffee.

Since the Peter Asher version is the current crop year and the only one of the three roasters which we tried which has the Bob-o-Link Coffee available, it is the one we rated here. At 3.75 motmots, it is one of the higher-rated coffees we have reviewed in some time. Bob-o-Link Coffee is gaining traction in the U.S. and not too hard to find online.  While it would be interesting to see how it fared from other roasters, we found a winner at Peter Asher, and thank them for reaching out to us so we could give it another try!

*The bird list from the supplying farms does not, in fact, include Bobolinks.

Male Bobolink photo by Janet and Phil under a Creative Commons License.

In recognition of National Pollinator Week, another review of a coffee with a great backstory.

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #44.

The Great Northern Roasting Company out of Traverse City, MI has started an initiative called Birds, Bees & Trees. They will donate 3% of all proceeds from Birds, Bees & Trees-designated coffee to the Pollinator Partnership, a non-profit organization geared toward the preservation of bees and all other pollinators.

About the Pollinator Partnership
P2, as they call themselves, is one of the best sources for information on pollinators and pollination, including many resource links and excellent planting guides for North America. They also manage a number of projects, such as the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) a collaborative group of over 120 organizations and individuals that promote and implement a continent-wide Action Plan to encourage activities to protect the numbers and health of all pollinating animals.

GNRC joins a number of other companies (Burt’s Bees, HÁ¤agen-Dazs) as a supporting partner of P2. Since arabica coffee is self-pollinating and P2 appears to be exclusive to North America, at first blush this might seem like an odd partnership. However, a number of studies have shown the importance of shade coffee to pollinators in general, and the benefits of cross-pollination to coffee fruit set. The NAPPC does include Mexico and a number of Mexican organizations are partners.

About the coffee
GNRC has chosen their TerruÁ±o Nayarit Sun-Dried Organic as their primary Birds, Bees & Trees coffee. (This is currently available online from their site, and the BB&T-badged version, which will generate the donations, is coming soon; I’ll post a link as soon as it is.)

This coffee comes from cooperatives in the west-central Mexican state of Nayarit, mostly around the extinct Cerro San Juan volcano west of the capital Tepic. This is one of the northernmost locations in Latin America where coffee is grown. Most is grown at over 1100 meters, and is of the bourbon, typica, and caturra varieties.

Care to know more? Every bag of coffee has a coded label. You can go online to Track Your Coffee, enter the code, and trace your beans to their source. Our bags, for instance, were comprised mostly of beans from the community of El Malinal (86%) along with 14% from Xalisco, processed at the IPCONAY mill. There’s even a link to a map. No secrets here — and you know how much I like transparency and making it easy for consumers to know more about their coffee.

TerruÁ±o Nayarit coffee is available exclusively via San Cristobal Coffee Importers, which has done a tremendous amount of work helping small holders in this area of Mexico. I had the pleasure of seeing founder Jim Kosalos speak at the recent SCAA conference on his work, and found him and it remarkable. You can learn more: in this article: Mexico’s Nayarit Coffee Producers’ Quest To Quality Continues — Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, Aug 2003.

We tried both a light and a dark roast, supplied by GNRC’s owner Jack Davis. The aroma of both — redolent of blueberries — gave it away as a natural (dry) processed coffee. The light roast also hinted at dried summer grass; a hint of oregano was detected by one taster. The flavor was much more gentle than the dry smell would suggest. It was smooth, and prepared as a drip and in a French press the fruit flavor developed as the cup cooled, but it never was as aggressively berry-forward as natural process Ethiopians can be, for example. We like it best made in a Chemex. It really shined: clean, with a little more piquant acidity (“lemon rind at the edge of conjecture” one taster rather poetically intoned). The light roast scored consistently at 3.5 motmots. The dark roast was a tad too dark for many in the tasting panel — dark roast aficionados rated it highly at 3.75, while light roast lovers pegged it a full motmot lower. Everyone should be able to pick a favorite.

Great Northern Roasting’s Birds, Bee & Trees will be an ongoing campaign, with other or more offerings in the future. While they gear up, please honor the many pollinators — birds, bees, bats, flies, mammals, and more — by learning more about why they are important, how to garden for pollinators, and what to plant in your area. Biodiversity preservation starts at home.

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #43.

Coffee reviews have been a little sparse lately. The focus of reviews here is evolving, with an emphasis on educating about corporate coffee, and on sustainable coffees with great backstories or associated projects. This coffee is one of the latter.

Café Choco Andes is about more than just coffee. This project includes multiple international partners working not only to improve coffee quality and move toward organic production methods, but also has reforestation, biodiversity, ecotourism, and educational components. It is part of the larger Choco-Andean corridor project, which seeks to create a network of protected areas, both natural and restored and managed, from northwestern Ecuador to the Pacific coastal mangroves.

Location and background
The Café Choco Andes project takes place in northwest Ecuador. This is an area of very high biodiversity, and the Maquipucuna-Rio Guayllabamba Important Bird Area (IBA) is located here. Over 350 bird species have been recorded in this IBA, including the near-threatened Toucan Barbet (top) and the vulnerable Giant Antpitta (middle). The bulk of the IBA consists of the Maquipucuna Reserve, founded in 1989 by the non-profit Maquipucuna Foundation. The reserve is 6000 ha and located about 50 miles northwest of Quito. It is surrounded by another 14000 ha of protected forest, much of which is undisturbed cloud forest. Altitudes range from 1000 to 2800 meters, thus encompassing coffee-growing zones. It includes an ecolodge and scientific station.

In the late 1990s, the University of Georgia’s School of Ecology and the Maquipucuna Foundation began a project to preserve the area’s biodiversity while improving the livelihoods of residents. Goals included reforestation and creation of forest corridors to improve habitat, especially for migratory birds, and working with coffee farmers to re-establish shade trees and convert to organic production. Over 50,000 coffee trees have been planted since 2000, and over two dozen farms have received organic certification. Other sustainable cottage industries help diversify local income and prevent habitat destruction: beekeeping, paper making, hand-crafted jewelry, jam production, and shade-grown cacao. The project now includes over 160 coffee farmers and 400-plus cacao growers.

The importance of the shade coffee is reflected in research that takes place on these Maquipucuna Foundation-owned lands. A recently published paper [1] by University of Georgia and Foundation researchers looked at the response of resident forest birds to disturbance and canopy cover in this area. It found that 18 species of specialized forest birds sharply declined in areas with less than 21 to 40% canopy cover. The authors noted that this threshold level is the same as the 40% minimum canopy cover recommended for Bird-Friendly and Rainforest Alliance certified coffee.

Around five years ago, additional partners, including the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, the Georgia Museum of Natural History, and the Georgia Environmental Education Alliance established Our Shared Forests (Nuestros Bosques Compartidos in Ecuador). This bi-national education program for schoolkids focuses on awareness of migratory bird species that the two countries share, such as Summer Tanager, Blackburnian Warbler (right), and Red-eyed Vireo.

The coffee
The Macquipucuna Foundation’s coffee is roasted by 1000 Faces Coffee, located in Athens, GA. This particular microlot comes from one of the farms owned by the Foundation that is part of the Café Choco Andes project; Finca Orongo in Pichincha province, near the community of Palmitopamba. At one time, it was completely deforested. It consists of typica and caturra, and is grown at 1400 to 1700 meters.

This coffee is not certified organic or shade-grown, although it is grown under these conditions. Coffee & Conservation readers know that I have mixed feelings about certification, in particular because I don’t believe requiring small producers who grow coffee in perfectly environmentally-sustainable ways should have to pay for it. Many are unable to cover the costs (especially if we as consumers are unwilling to make it worthwhile) or even have the skills and time to manage the paperwork.

The last time we reviewed an Ecuadorian coffee, we weren’t especially impressed. That was a Caribou selection, and it was from Loja. Although it wasn’t a dark roast, it was a tad darker than we tend to like. 1000 Faces roasted this coffee lighter. The roast level indicates medium, but it was on the lighter side. This lighter touch served the coffee well.

This was a solid, middle-of-the-road coffee that reminded us of a good Colombian or Central American coffee. The sweetness was subtle; 1000 Faces describes it as raw honey which seemed apt to me. There was an interesting smoky accent which appealed to some panelists, while others perceived it as ashy. It had a quick and pleasant finish that I associate with a solid, reliable breakfast cup. Nothing else stood out to tasters, but I will say that it was a coffee that seemed to taste better a little further past roast day (at around ten days) than really freshly roasted. It mellowed and had a more rounded and balanced personality, losing some of the ashy notes that we detected at our first tastings. It was much better than the Caribou Ecuadorian selection; we gave it 2.75 motmots.

Read more:

• Set aside 20 minutes, and look at the short film Slow Coffee, which is all about this coffee and the partnership between the Macquipucuna Foundation and 1000 Faces.
• Eco-Exchange, Rainforest Alliance: Kids and Conservationists Unite in Ecuador and Georgi to Benefit Cultures, Farmers, Forests and Birds.
• National Geographic Geotourism Challenge 2009: Macquipucuna application with many details on Foundation partners and initiatives, includes a video.

[1] Mordecai, R. S., R. J. Cooper, and R. Justicia. 2009. A threshold response to habitat disturbance by forest birds in the Choco Andean corridor, northwest Ecuador. Biodiversity and Conservation 18:2421-2431.

Toucan Barbet photo by Michael Woodruff via Wikimedia Commons; Giant Antpitta photo by Andy Jones, Cleveland Museum of Natural History; Blackburian Warbler by Petroglyph, all under Creative Commons licenses.

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!

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #32

In our background post on El Salvador, one of the coffees we reviewed was Counter Culture’s Finca Mauritania, from the slopes of the Ilamantepec (Santa Ana) volcano. The Santa Ana region (shaded on map) is a premier coffee-growing area in El Salvador. The Apaneca-Ilamatepec Mountain Range where Finca Mauritania is located is in close proximity to one of the country’s most important parks, El Imposible.

Counter Culture still offers the straight Bourbon varietal from Finca Mauritania. They’ve also had a limited offering of Aida’s Grand Reserve, a peaberry selection from all three of owner Aida Batlle’s neighboring farms: Finca Mauritania, Finca Kilimanjaro, and Finca Los Alpes. For this review, we chose another special set of microlots, Counter Culture Coffee’s Finca Mauritania Microlot Gift Pack. This unique set consists of three microlots, all from Finca Mauritania, but each set of beans underwent a different type of processing.

Nearly all coffee from Central America is “washed” or wet processed. After the coffee cherries are picked and sorted, the cherries are sent through a depulping mechanism that removes the skin and flesh. Some amount of sticky mucilage or flesh may remain, and so the beans are soaked in water for one or two days to break down this matter, which is washed away by more fresh water. Beans are then dried, often in the sun on large patios.

Pulped natural is a process by which the cherries are only skinned or partially depulped before they are dried. The climate in Central America, especially the humidity, is such that this drying process must tended to vigilantly, with a lot of raking and turning, not only so the gooey beans don’t stick together, but also to prevent molds or fungi from developing. Nearly non-existent five years ago, this process is becoming more popular in El Salvador because the country grows so much Bourbon variety coffee, according to Counter Culture buyer Peter Giuliano. The pulp natural process and Bourbon beans are great for espresso blends. In Latin America, Brazil dominates the espresso-component market, where the drier climate is more appropriate for pulp natural processing. Conquering this technique opens up new frontiers for El Salvador.

If done with finesse, the enzymes in the pulp transfer flavors to the beans — the intensity will vary depending on the amount of pulp left on, drying time, and other factors. This method lowers acidity and increases body, and introduces an often fruity sweetness.

We indeed found this to be a medium-bodied coffee with a syrupy mouthfeel. Nearly all tasters found some curiously unique flavors in a French press preparation: pepper, salt, garlic (which was not as bad as it sounds), basil, spice, a complicated enzymatic astringency (this from a student who had just taken his chemistry final). As a drip coffee, it struck a couple of us as vaguely Sumatran, with muted woodsy and leather tones. One taster adequately summed up what we all experienced, “There’s a lot going on on my tongue right now.”

I was reminded of the pulped naturals we’d tried from Brazil’s Daterra Estate, although this selection was clearly more complex. I think it had the characteristics that would in fact make it terrific in an espresso blend. It was interesting and valuable to taste beside the other lots, but we were sort of confused by it and agreed that on its own, it was the least compelling of the three to drink straight. It garnered 3 motmots.

The more typical wet processed selection in this gift pack was the peaberry microlot. Peaberries are those coffee cherries which only develop a single, round seed rather than the pair of flat-sided seeds usually produced. About 5 to 10% of coffee cherries produce peaberries. These small, round beans roast more evenly than typical flat beans, but also more quickly because of their size so they must be roasted with care.

Although there isn’t any scientific proof that I know of that each peaberry gets “twice the flavor,” they are commonly thought of as being more intensely sweet and acid. Nor can I say that this peaberry microlot was twice as sweet as the rest of the FM crop, but we all agreed — bright, clean, sweet, deep, and lovely! Various tasters got some malt, baker’s chocolate, nuts, cherry, and honey. I picked up a bit of a floral aroma and tasted sweet apple in the cooling cup (I’m always pretty pleased with myself when I can pick up some sort of unique flavor, and nearly pulled a muscle patting myself on the back when I read later that some of Counter Culture’s cuppers also tasted apple). The finish was super smooth and syrupy when prepared in a French press.

This is a superior example of an exceptional classic Central American coffee. I could drink this every day and not get tired of it, and when I think of great coffee, this is the profile that I hold standard. When we cast our votes on this one, something happened that hasn’t occurred in a long time: it got 4 motmots across the board.

“Pasa” means “raisin” in Spanish, which is what coffee cherries look like when completely dried with their flesh intact. Dry process coffees are dried without removing any of the coffee cherry; the beans are removed, or hulled, after drying. The drying may take up to a month, and as with pulped naturals must be done very carefully — especially in humid climates — to prevent any molds, fungi, or bacteria from tainting the cherries. This process, common in more arid African nations, creates bold flavors, often berry-centric fruitness with heavy body.

Dry process is essentially unheard of in Central America, but it captured the imagination of Aida Batlle. I’ll let Peter Giuliano relay the story:

“Aida has completely innovated the Pasa process, based on things she has heard (but never seen firsthand) about Ethiopian and Brazilian natural processes. Aida has a strong experimental streak, and jumped into the process with her trademark enthusiasm and quality focus. Aida is always innovating, and she decided to experiment with tree-dried coffees. Just leaving them on the tree to dry was a challenge, she had to post a security guard so that people would not sneak onto the farm and pick the coffee while it dried on the tree!  Milling was another challenge — since nobody does dried-in-the-fruit coffee in El Salvador there was no equipment to do the milling, so they had to improvise with a small mill intended to husk samples in a cupping lab. As a result, it was incredibly labor intensive to produce this coffee.”

We were blown away when we opened the bag of Pasa — it was boldly fruity, mostly the familar blueberry aroma of an Ethiopian coffee. There was also a bit of a woodsy/earthy smell. The blueberry translated into the cup, although perhaps not as forcefully as an African. I’d recently tried Counter Culture’s Ethiopian Biloya and the Pasa was its more restrained and modest sister. Other than the berries, tasters commented on hints of apricot, the balance, smoothness, creamy mouthfeel, and overall sweet richness. We would have certainly thought this was a dry-process Ethiopian, but I believe we also would have wondered about the quiet differences. 3.5 motmots.

Post-script: I don’t know what Aida’s future plans are for the Pasa, but I think this a perfect substitute for an Ethiopian coffee. It has the added advantage of having less distance to travel — less fuel for shipping. Whereas Ethiopian coffees come from many small shareholders, we know exactly where the Finca Mauritania comes from, and that it is grown in a shade polyculture that benefits biodiversity. Aida is also in the process of converting all of her farms to certified organic. I know if I had the choice between a dry process African and this coffee, I’d pick the Pasa. Same great flavor, more sustainable.

Tasting these three selections, from the same farm with different preparations, was fun and enlightening…and tasty, of course. Bravo to Counter Culture for putting this package together, at a bargain price.

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #31.

We don’t review many blends here at C&C (yet), mostly because it is easier and clearer to provide background and information on single-origin coffees. But we were fascinated by the 2007 Holiday Blend from Counter Culture Coffee. The coffee is a single origin, from the 21st de Septiembre co-operative in Oaxaca, Mexico. The “blend” is actually the use of different roasts of this same coffee, mixing and blending them in an old European technique called Vienna MÁ©lange. More on that in a moment.

The 21st de Septiembre co-op consists of over 950 small family farms (all under 3 hectares) growing certified organic coffee. Over 40% of the coffee comes from the vicinity of the small mountain town of Zaragoza, but there are over 20 communities contributing to the co-op. These farmers were once all part of a larger co-op, but broke away in order to market their higher quality crop alone rather than have it intermixed with lesser beans. Counter Culture buys nearly all of its coffee lots from Zaragoza; as the highest-altitude community (around 1800 meters) it tends to have the best beans.

And, as in much of Oaxaca, the coffee is grown in a fairly traditional manner, in small plots under shade. You can plug in the coordinates of Zaragoza (16.670, -97.793) to see how forested the area is, also shown in the photo at right. The forests of this region, the Sierra Madre del Sur, are considered important endemic bird areas by BirdLife International. This conservation organization lists deforestation from agriculture, including coffee, as one of the threats to the area, so supporting farmers who grown coffee under shade and are able to make a living from their coffee is a way to help preserve this area. The White-throated Jay, shown here, is one of the restricted-range birds found only in the Sierra Madre del Sur.

Counter Culture has developed a direct relationship with the 21st de Septiembre co-op, providing them with generous fair prices for their beans. Additionally, Counter Culture will donate $1 of each pound of the Holiday Blend to the women of the co-op to help them diversify through raising small livestock, and increase their income via a tortilla-making business. Around the world, empowering women is one of the fastest ways to help eradicate poverty. Not only does this buoy entire communities, it goes a very long away in preserving biodiversity and ecosystems. I wrote about the connections between poverty, biodiversity, and coffee here.

On to the coffee itself!

As mentioned above, the Holiday Blend used a roast style called vienna mÁ©lange, mixing and blending different roasts of the same bean selection. I thought this might be something like the “black and tan” blends I’ve seen before, but really the Holiday Blend looked more uniform than expected. In fact, I found it difficult to pick out notable color differences in the beans. This makes sense, as dark roasting Mexican beans would stamp out their delicate sweetness. I’ve done a little coffee roasting in my time, and one reason I quit was because there was no way I would ever be able to figure out whichever precise roast level brought out the very best in each type of bean. I leave that to the experts. So my/our inability to discern subtle differences in the light roasts just proves that we are indeed ordinary people and not coffee experts. Counter Culture isn’t talking smack here — there are really two distinct roasts that each have their own cupping profile in this blend.

Nutty was a word that popped up in descriptions of both the aroma and the flavor of the Holiday Blend. Honey and caramel, and a buttery smoothness were initial impressions, with the nuttiness becoming more pronounced as the cup cooled. Everybody seemed to have had a different nut in mind: peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds, or “anonymous nuts” (trust me, those were in the room that day!). Without having a one-roast-level sample of this coffee to compare it with, it’s hard to say if the vienna mÁ©lange technique added a lot to the coffee. However, the Holiday Blend is mild and mellow, silky and sweet, and I think it would be hard to find anybody that wouldn’t like it. Ergo, it would surely be a great coffee to serve guests. It earned 3.5 motmots, with bonus points for the coffee being organic, Counter Culture’s direct relationship with the 21st de Septiembre co-op, and the financial support empowering women in the community. That all adds up to a great sustainable coffee story.

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #30.

Daterra Estate — Brazil. Sampled from three roasters: Rowster Coffee, Terroir Coffee Company, and Sweetwater Organic Coffees.

In a previous post, I discussed coffee growing in the cerrado region of Brazil. This area is a biodiversity hotspot, and is being rapidly converted to large-scale agriculture. While coffee growing is a small portion, land converted to coffee in the cerrado is nearly devoid of native biodiversity. This is because the cerrado is primarily savannah. Unlike coffee growing in forested ecosystems, where coffee farms can approximate natural habitats, a coffee farm cannot mimic a grassland. One of the most unique and important aspects of the cerrado’s biodiversity is its high level of endemic plants. These are essentially eliminated when any kind of agriculture takes over. Biodiversity preservation on farms in the cerrado depends on the existence and quality of protected set-asides.

While Brazil produces a large volume of low-quality coffee, the cerrado region is one of the areas that is important to the country’s emerging specialty coffee sector. For this review, we’ll look at Daterra Estate, a company known for its sustainability practices.

About Daterra
Daterra, established in 1974, is not a single farm but five large areas divided into 88 smaller areas, and covers over 6000 ha, of which 2500 are protected (much under Brazilian law). There are further subdivisions that each grow a specific variety of coffee. Some names you may hear associated with Daterra are Boa Vista, Sao Joao, Tabuoes, Santo (or San) Antonio, Santo Buriti, and Santo Ignacio. A number of the units are near Patrocinio in Minas Gerais. The average altitude is 1150 meters. The original crop was avocados, and land was also used for cattle ranching. Coffee was introduced in the mid-1980s.

Much of Daterra’s distinction and acclaim come from the precision in which the farms are managed, intense research into new varieties, use state-of-the-art technology, innovative packaging, traceability of every lot, and so forth. This is very interesting stuff (you can read a great overview at Sweet Marias), but we’ll concentrate on Daterra’s biodiversity and sustainability measures.

Daterra was Rainforest Alliance’s (RA) first certified farm (RA says it certifies just over 3000 ha, in both coffee and avocados). Several Daterra units are also Utz Certified (2754 ha certified). Daterra also has ISO 14001 certification (standards that help organizations minimize environmental impact).

The RA profile notes:

Daterra is located in an area where the natural vegetation is grass, shrubs and low trees. Because the ecosystem does not lend itself to shade coffee, the beans here are grown in sun and planted in tight rows. …certification should promote conservation of the natural ecosystem called cerrado.

Recall from the previous post that 35% of cerrado property must be set aside for wildlife. Specifically, 20% on the property itself, and up to 15% within the same watershed. Because there are multiple units, it’s hard to pin down how many hectares Daterra covers. There are somewhere between 2800 to 3300 ha of coffee and about 3000 to 4000 ha of protected area. Daterra’s web site gives the figure of natural preservation areas as 50%. No source mentions whether this area is contiguous or fragmented. As also noted in the previous post, any type of unused land might be counted in this set-aside.

The RA profile on Daterra states that biologists have found rare macaws (presumably Hyacinth Macaws) and owls, jaguar tracks, and a giant anteater in the Daterra protected areas. These animals indicate there is some forest habitat there. Daterra was kind enough to send me a short list of more typical grassland species found on their protected areas. In addition to a half dozen common trees and shrubs, the list included four animals: the anteater, Pampas deer, Greater Rhea, and the Red-legged Seriema (photo). If these species are represented by healthy, self-sustaining populations it indicates that there are some large, contiguous patches of classic cerrado habitat being preserved.

Further information from Daterra focused on one of the large units, Fazenda Boa Vista in Patrocinio. Purchased in 1987, it is nearly 6900 ha, with over 2800 ha of natural habitat (41%). This property was largely degraded when purchased, and Daterra has restored the rivers, streams, waterfalls, and savannah, and wildlife has returned.

Other sustainability efforts at Daterra include:

• Water. About 20% of the coffee is irrigated, as is the case in much of this region. Most or all of the water used to wash and process the coffee is recycled and used for irrigation.
• Areas are reforested using native tree species which are grown on the farms.
• Recyling. The company minimizes use of consumable products and recycles paper and other similar items. Coffee parchment is compacted into “logs” which are burned in place of firewood.
• Weed control. The by-products of coffee processing along with other organic matter is composted and returned to the soil as fertilizer and mulch. Herbicides are only used when weeds get too unruly.
• Daterra supports the use of the farm for environmental restoration and education in
  collaboration with a local college.

Reviews
A wide variety of coffees from Daterra are available as single origins and used in regular and espresso blends. We tried two different types from three roasters.

Terroir Coffee Company. Special reserve. Organic, Rainforest Alliance certified. Light, “full flavored” roast. Catuai and Mundo Novo varieties. Pulped natural process (skin removed, then bean with most of its mucilage dried on a patio, raised bed, and/or with mechanical dryers).

Terroir describes this coffee as clean, smooth, low-acid, and full flavored. “This cup has a California merlot character emphasizing mellow bass notes. It begins with fleeting floral notes of roses while very hot gradually revealing nutty flavors of walnut and pecan with a trace of
cocoa as the cup cools.”

We found it medium-bodied, and agreed it was smooth and uniform. Two people found it a bit too smooth and called it “boring.” Tasters variously detected hints of hazelnut, cinnamon, and butterscotch. Overall, it was good but lacked distinction, rather solidly like a classic Central American, but without the brightness. The final tally was 2.5 motmots.

Rowster Coffee. Sweet yellow bourbon. Rainforest Alliance certified. Full city roast. Pulped Natural. Rowster describes this as a “Round, noble, sensible cup, with touches of light chocolate, vanilla, carmel sweetness, some orange and cinnamon.”

We found this coffee to be just on the light side of medium-bodied, with a nice, smooth mouthfeel. It had a different sort of sweetness than the Terroir Special Reserve, with a faint hint of black licorice and perhaps chocolate, but it was fleeting. Beyond that, it was slightly generic, once again a very classic feel. 3.25

Sweetwater Organic Coffees. Organic Special Reserve. Rainforest Alliance certified. Same bean as Terroir selection, pulped natural, and also a very light roast.

Sweetwater roaster Chris Neumann once worked with Terroir founder George Howell, and uses similar light roasts. Considering this was also the same bean, we thought these might be very much the same. However, the Sweetwater tasted much better than the Terroir. There was still the same medium-bodied smoothness and slight nuttiness, but this selection had a slightly longer finish and seemed more balanced and refined. It was much sweeter, with several tasters all converging on some combination of subtle flavors that reminded them of rum cake, as well as cocoa notes. One taster thought it was a perfect fall coffee, although once again, one person was not impressed.  It ended up with 3.5 motmots.

Bottom line: These were all nice coffees. Looks like Daterra has worked hard to merit their reputation as environmentally-friendly coffee source, in addition to their dedication to many other unique innovations. If you wish to try cerrado coffees, chose them carefully. Hold them to at least Daterra’s sustainability standards. Personally, I still have reservations about buying coffee from any farm in such an ecologically-sensitive area, no matter how good it is. I’ll continue to look at coffee growing in this region, perhaps even visting my friend in the area, and pass on more information as it comes available.

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #28.

It’s taken too long to get around to reviewing coffee from one of the most well-known coffee farms in the world that is marketed as sustainable, Panama’s Carmen Estate. Although often available from a variety of roasters, this review will feature a top boutique roasters. Let’s look at Paradise Roaster’s Panama Carmen Estate 1750 Reserve.

Carmen Estate is located in Chiriqui province near the town of Paso Ancho (you can input these coordinates into Google Earth or Maps for the exact location: 8.823611, -82.631944). It is Rainforest Alliance certified, and 60% of the property is native forest. It is not certified organic; I know they use some non-organic soil amendments such as calcium. They grow cataui, caturra, and typica varieties, which are represented in this lot.

Carmen Estate has won the following honors:

• 2003, Best of Panama Cupping for Quality competition: 3rd place (88.05 pts)
• 2005, Best of Panama Cupping for Quality competition: 3rd place (92.54 pts)
• 2005, Rainforest Alliance Cupping for Quality competition: 1st place (90.75 pts)
• 2006, Best of Panama Cupping for Quality competition: 3rd place (89.71 pts)
• 2006, Rainforest Alliance Cupping for Quality competition: 2nd place (88 pts)
• 2007, Rainforest Alliance Cupping for Quality competition: 2nd place (88.96 pts)
• 2007, Best of Panama Cupping for Quality competition: 5th place (89.35)

Paradise’s 1750 Reserve is a special micro-lot from the top elevations of the farm (one might assume at 1750 meters, but I’ve read elsewhere it’s from even higher), although the “lowest” elevation of the farm is about 1450 meters — higher than the top locations of many farms.

I have to say, the Miguel Meza, head roaster at Paradise, sure knows how to roast coffee. I may have had some coffee from them I wasn’t crazy about (although none come to mind), but it was never the fault of the roast. He can really read a bean.

This was a light roast, with a truly room-filling, delicious aroma when ground. In the French press, it had all the best characteristics of a classic Central American: very sweet, with understated candy-like caramel tones, a hint of chocolate, and a light body, although not quite as bright and acidic as some Centrals. It was nicely balanced, and consistent as it cooled. Some of its delicate subtlety was, as expected, lost in a drip preparation. This is a great warm-weather coffee, as reviewers felt it was light and refreshing, perhaps even a little on the delicate side. It’s one of those very enjoyable coffees that you can drink all day. As we’ve said many times, it’s hard to really describe a classic Central, but this is as good as they come. It just made me feel….happy.  3.75 motmots.

Review of this coffee from Coffee Cuppers here.

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #26.

I first read about Guatemala’s Finca Vista Hermosa in Roast Magazine, in a series written by Edwin Martinez, Diary of a Grower. FVH is the Martinez family farm, and it was interesting to get a first-hand look at various aspects of coffee growing. Edwin also writes a blog about FVH. FVH has to have one of the most visible Internet presences of any coffee farm in the specialty coffee world!

FVH is in northwest Guatemala, in the Huehuetanago region. The growing area of the farm is around 35 ha, and they have just added some additional plots. Altitude ranges from 1600 to 2000 meters. Although not certified, FVH is “is ecologically sound and healthy, a model for many shade grown and organic plantations” according to the web site. I’ve gleaned from various sources that weeds are controlled the old-fashioned way (machete), a flock of sheep contribute natural fertilizer, and photos depict a jungle-like setting.

FVH coffee is used by ANACAFE (the Guatemalan coffee trade organization) to represent the Huehue region at trade shows, etc. FVH has won many awards, most recently placing 8th in the 2007 Cup of Excellence. The Japanese snapped up the CoE lot, but other lots of FVH coffee are available. Here we review:

Brown Coffee Co. Guatemala Huehuetanengo, Finca Vista Hermosa.

We chose Brown Coffee Co. because they have a great relationship with FVH, much of which is outlined in owner Aaron Blanco’s blog, the Coffee Press. In fact, to commemorate that this is the 50th anniversary of FVH, Brown put out a pretty cool t-shirt honoring this fact. It’s not easy for a smaller roaster like Brown to have direct relationships with growers, and they are to be admired and supported for their efforts. The whole Brown philosophy and manifesto is also right up our alley.

Brown’s crop comes from a section of the farm called El Eden, a pretty rugged plot with much intact natural habitat. It was a light roast, which we have concluded is a must to bring out the subtle flavors in Central Americans. The beans had an intoxicating aroma, with a hint of spice; one person also smelled fruit, perhaps cherry.  In the cup, it was another classic coffee –with notes of chocolate and caramel — and felt a little fuller on the palate and richer than many Guatemalas we’ve had. This was one of the sweetest Centrals we’ve ever tasted. Sweetness is not surprising in a Central, but we all noted the very long finish, which we tend to associate with Asian, African, or more complex coffees. That lingering sweetness gave the FVH a depth that we found pretty unique and very enjoyable. 3.25 motmots.  Here’s another review of Brown’s FVH, at Barisimo. And P.S. — Brown’s service is outstanding.

As an aside, now that we’ve reviewed over 30 coffees (yes, this post says #26, but short reviews are usually not numbered), something is obvious. There are a few dogs at 2 or fewer motmots, very few exceptional coffees at 3.75 or above, and a whole lot bunched up in the middle. Not only is the process of reviewing coffee this way (= amateurs!) really subjective, but providing a lot of ratings between 3-3.5 isn’t especially useful.

It is my hope and goal that much of the value in these reviews lies in the background information provided about the origin/region, farm, growing methods, and roaster. It’s my way of educating consumers on how to make responsible, sustainable choices, and highlight sources of coffee to seek out — or avoid. It’s the most time-consuming part of writing these reviews, and quite unusual (unique?) in the realm of coffee reviews. So don’t just go by motmots alone — the other stuff is just as important!