Retail and specialty roasters

Coffee news and miscellany / Fair and Direct Trade / Retail and specialty roasters

Counter Culture announces "Source"

One of the major criteria a roaster must meet to get favored nation status on the left sidebar as a source of sustainable coffee is transparency. C&C is all about educating consumers on how to recognize and appreciate sustainable coffee. All the knowledge in the world won’t help a coffee buyer if the roaster doesn’t provide enough information on where they get their beans. If a roaster provides country, region, and co-op or farm it goes a long way in helping consumers understand whether the coffee was grown in a sustainable manner. When a roaster has a close relationship with a farmer, they can provide even more data on exactly how the coffee was grown.

Counter Culture Coffee has always been excellent about giving customers lots of information on each of their selections on their web site. They recently announced an expansion and refinement of this commitment, which they are calling “Source.” Each bag of Source coffee includes the farm or co-op’s real name; authentic production details and tasting notes; a precise roast date; a regional map; and vibrant, original artwork inspired by the community that produced it. Indeed, the whole point, noted in their press release, is to

“…achieve a deeper level of consumer education through real, transparent information about each coffee’s distinct seasonality, tasting notes, geographic and cultural origins, and artisan cultivation methods.”

This program goes well beyond marketing and consumer education. Like Intelligentsia’s Direct Trade, and similar “unbranded” programs by other roasters, Source is about working closely with farmers to improve coffee quality and the quality of life for farmers. Fair Trade is such a darling of the green set, but it’s certification is restricted to cooperatives, and does little to address quality. Programs like Source or Direct Trade can do even more than Fair Trade, including paying higher than Fair Trade prices straight to farmers for their crops. For example, Counter Culture paid a 153% premium to the Guarapamba farmers for their La Golondrina Microlot, one of the Source coffees.

Not all roasters can follow this model. Economies of scale make it difficult for very large roasters; they are profit-driven and treat coffee as a commodity rather than a specialty food crop. You simply will not find specialty-grade coffee and close relationships with farmers from corporate coffee roasters. Very small roasters often don’t have the resources to develop working partnerships with individual farms or co-ops (which is not to say many are not sources for sustainable coffees).

Hats off to all roasters who strive to follow this philosophy. Working to transform coffee from an anonymous caffeinated beverage to an identifiable crop, nurtured by real farmers on land that sustains people and biodiversity, is a model we’d be wise to adopt for all of our food. Only then can we choose to purchase sustainable products, increasing demand, and in turn take steps to help to transform the world.

Retail and specialty roasters / Starbucks

A note from Terranova Estate (Starbucks Black Apron)

Last month, I posted about the latest Starbucks Black Apron selection, from Zambia’s Terranova Estate, owned by the Street family. Warren Street was kind enough to leave a long comment on the post, giving more detail on things I found difficult to research, such as the water management at the farm, the fact they have a 400-acre natural reserve, an update on the school, and that the $15,000 from Starbucks Black Apron program will go to fund a clinic.  Please give the comment a read — it’s a worthwhile addition to the post!

Africa / Coffee reviews / Retail and specialty roasters / Starbucks

Starbucks Black Apron Terranova Estate

(Update: As of 2013, the family that owned Terranova made the difficult economic decision to cease farming coffee. More here.)

I have commented on two previous Starbucks Black Apron selections (Sulawesi Kopi Kampung and Ethiopia Gemadro Estate), so I may as well keep going. The latest Black Apron coffee is Terranova Estate from Zambia.

Recall that the Black Apron Exclusives are limited offerings that are described by Starbucks as being rare, exotic, distinctive, or unique in some way. Farmers receive a cash award of $15,000 for community projects.

As far as I can recall, this is the only coffee I’ve seen from Zambia. This country lags behind the big players on the African coffee scene, such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Tanzania.  Zambia is a land-locked country, and at times its coffee has suffered from transportation problems getting to and sitting at port. Coffee is not a traditional crop in Zambia, which first began exporting only about 15 years ago in an effort to diversify the economy. The majority (greater than 95%) of Zambian coffee comes from the 30 to 50 large commercial coffee farms. About 40% of Zambian coffee is grown in the northeastern part of the country, the southern Mazabuka region accounts for about just under 50%.

So, what about the Terranova Estate? Terranova is one of the large estates, at 1000 hectares, of which about 20% is in coffee.  It supports a small village of 300 people year-round, and employs 2,500 people during peak harvest time. Terranova is located in the upper Kaleya Valley near the town of Mazabuka. The altitude is around 1000-1200 meters, at the low end of the arabica growing range.

During the European colonial era, when Zambia was known as Northern Rhodesia, large farms run by whites produced food for local consumption. Many European plantation owners left the country when it gained independence in 1964.  The Street family had been farming in the area for decades when they acquired Terranova in the mid-1980s.  In addition to other crops, including cut flowers for export, they began farming coffee with the help of financing from a number of sources, including the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the EU’s Export Development Programme.

The eco-friendliness of the estate is a bit hard to assess. Because coffee farming is relatively “new” in Zambia, the more modern techniques of pulp composting, water conservation, and natural pest control are often practiced. Southern Zambia has a very prolonged dry season, so coffee requires irrigation. In the case of Terranova, water is provided by at least one dam on the Kaleya River that was built by the Street family, as well as other advanced irrigation systems. However, there was nothing on the Terranova web site regarding their farming practices or sustainability measures.  The site does say that the “Estate contributes heavily to the wildlife management of the Lower Zambezi National Park.”

The export revenue as well as seasonal jobs provided by coffee is important to Zambia.  Zambia is one of the poorest nations in the entire world. Although I’m uncertain about biodiversity preservation measures at Terranova, there is a connection between poverty and environmental exploitation — and fighting poverty can preserve ecosystems. Terranova provides many jobs, and has constructed a school on the estate that has over 200 students.  It may very well be that this enterprise is a worthy cause to support.

As far as the coffee itself, Coffee Review pretty much flunked coffee from Terranova in 1999, calling it flat and woody. But according to Sweet Maria’s, 1999 was not a good year for Zambian coffee. Things have apparently improved.  Although not a fan of dark roasts, the Star[bucks]ling said that the Starbucks Terranova was incredibly complex, and fruity flavors emerging in stages as it cooled: blueberry, orange, apricot, and plum, with blueberry dominating.  He said it was “very African, like a fine, rich, wine,” and quite impressive.

Caribou Coffee / Coffee reviews / Latin America / Retail and specialty roasters

Coffee Review: Caribou Coffee Ecuador Changaimina

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #17.

Coffee from Ecuador is something you don’t see every day. In fact, I think I’ve seen more places offering coffee from the Galapagos Islands (which are Ecuadorian) than from the mainland. So I was surprised to see it offered at Caribou Coffee.  Their limited edition coffees are known as the Roastmaster’s Reserves, and the current selection is Ecuador Changaimina, from the southern province of Loja (red on map).

Coffee has been grown in Ecuador for generations.  The lowlands produce robusta, but the high mountain regions produce decent  arabicas. Most of the high-grown coffee, from Loja province, is grown on small farms with very little use of chemicals. The major co-op in this area is PROCAP (Asociacion Agroartesanal de Productores de Café de Altura Puyango), an
organization of 380 families of which about two-thirds are certified organic. The organic coffee from this co-op is sometimes marketed as shade grown Puyango (Puyango is a canton, or subdivision, in the province, and the most important coffee-growing area in Loja, if not the whole country). Typica, bourbon, and caturra are the most frequently grown varieties, usually all grown on the same farm.

The lack of Ecuador beans in the market has been due to a lack of attention to proper harvesting and processing, and the expense of transportation from the highlands to the ports. A lot of Ecuadorian coffee goes to making instant coffee, so the large corporate coffee roasters are major buyers of Ecuadorian coffee. Improvements have been made in production methods, and farmers are aiming more for the specialty coffee market, hence we may be seeing more Ecuadorian coffee in the coming years.

Based on this Caribou Ecuador Changaimina, we cannot say the region is quite ready for prime time.  This wasn’t bad coffee, just unremarkable. At the first tasting, three of us sat there sipping silently, unable to come up with much to say. The next day, I sent the Kingfisher off with it in his travel mug.  I asked him later what he thought of it.  He sort of summed up the whole experience when he replied, “I don’t remember.”  Not a strong endorsement, but considering you tend to remember bad coffee, not a strong condemnation, either. 2.25 motmots.

Coffee news and miscellany / Retail and specialty roasters / Starbucks

Green Mountain and Starbucks make top 100 list

The CRO (Corporate Responsibility Officer, formerly Business Ethics magazine) has just published its eighth annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens, considered the third most influential corporate ranking.  Companies are rated on their performance in eight categories:  shareholders, community, governance, diversity, employees, environment, human rights, and product.

Coming in at #1, for the second year in a row, is Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.  The Mermaid also made the top 10, placing ninth; Starbucks has made this list all eight years. Whole Foods Market (owner of Allegro Coffee) was at #54. Missing from the list were any of the big four corporate coffee pushers.

Corporate coffee / Nestlé/Nespresso / Retail and specialty roasters / Starbucks

Nestlé and Starbucks respond to illegal coffee report

In an article in an Indonesian newspaper, Nestlé and Starbucks both responded to the report that they had been purchasing robusta coffee beans illegally grown in a Sumatran national park in Lampung province.

Nestlé
A spokesman for Nestlé Indonesia made this statement:

“Nestlé never willingly purchases coffee from dubious sources. However, the company admits the difficulty of determining the precise origin of a coffee bag which has passed through different hands before it reaches the Nestlé buyer.”

The emphasis is mine, which precisely sums up why I continuously recommend not buying supermarket coffees.  If the companies themselves don’t know where their coffee comes from or how it is farmed, how can we know it is farmed sustainably?  Or believe them?

Nestlé also said that the coffee they purchase from Lampung (around 12,000 tons a year) goes to make instant coffee. So brands to avoid = Nescafé and Taster’s Choice.

 


Starbucks
A spokesperson for Starbucks’ Indonesian partner denied that the company purchased coffee from Lampung (the southern province in question), or any robusta beans from Sumatra at all.

Starbucks is listed in the report on page 50, in an appendix on recipients of tainted coffee.  The list was compiled from records of the Cooperative Industry and Trade Service of Lampung province. It’s possible these records could be forged or falsified, I suppose. There is nothing as yet on the Starbucks web site concerning this issue.

By the way, buyers of Lampung beans should know better.  It was in 2003 that published reports [1,2] revealed that 70% of Lampung’s beans came from inside or adjacent to Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park and that endangered animals were threatened from the illegal cultivation.

[1] O’Brien, T. G. and M. F. Kinnaird.  2003.  Caffeine and conservation.  Science 300:587.

[2] Kinnaird, M.F., E.W. Sanderson, T. G. O’Brien, H.T. Wibisono, and G. Woolmer. 2003. Deforestation trends in a tropical landscape and implications for endangered large mammals. Conservation Biology 17:245-257.

Hat tip to bccy.

Blends/Multiple / Coffee reviews / Retail and specialty roasters

Coffee review: Audubon coffee

[For reference only…Audubon Coffee Club is now defunct]

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #13.  Audubon Premium Shade Grown Coffees. A review in our conservation organization coffee series.

The National Audubon Society promotes a small line of “habitat-friendly certified organic premium shade grown” coffees*, which are available at some supermarkets, and via their Audubon Coffee Club web site. All the coffees are Rainforest Alliance certified. They are distributed by Rogers Family Company, whose other brands include San Francisco Bay Gourmet Coffee, The Organic Coffee Co., Fairwinds Coffee, Cunningham’s Coffee, Pleasant Hill Farms Quality Coffee, and East India Coffee and Tea.  Rogers Family Company only buys beans from “farms that have demonstrated an interest in environmental responsibility” and in fact, owns at least two plantations.

Several kinds of Audubon coffee are offered: a Breakfast Blend, Rainforest Blend, French Roast and Decaf, and can be purchased ground or whole bean at the web site. Nowhere on the web site or package can you determine the country of origin of these coffees, much less a region or farm (although they may be sourced at least in part from the Rogers Family Panamanian farms). Nor do you get a choice of roast.  A roast level is not indicated on the package, but on the web site, away from the individual product pages, it notes that beans are “roasted to their fullest flavor point – a little darker than most coffees.” (Update: the web site is now much more thorough, and the coffees are now certified organic and 100% Rainforest Alliance certified.)

In my local grocery store, Audubon coffee was only available ground, at about $9.50 for 12 oz.  I purchased the Breakfast Blend, featuring the John James Audubon portrait of a Red-shouldered Hawk on the label.  An interesting (odd?) choice of bird, as many populations are not migratory, and those that do winter in the northern tropics are found in lowlands and avoid higher elevations, where most coffee would be grown.

The bottom of my package indicated it was distributed by JBR Gourmet Foods, Inc.  JBR changed its name to Rogers Family Company in late 2005.  I hoped this coffee wasn’t that old!

As luck would have it, there were many people hanging around the day we tried this coffee, so we had a lot of opinions. Most of us were unenthusiastic.  The most frequent comment was that it tasted over-roasted, burnt, and bitter.  Even fresh, it kind of tasted like coffee that had been left cooking in the pot too long.  It was quite acidic, but left a “hairy” feeling on the tongue. For the tasting panel regulars, it was not much beyond diner coffee.

Ergo, regular reviewers gave this coffee a very low score, averaging 1.25 motmots.  Two reviewers who frequently drink grocery store coffee liked it more, and their average score was 2.5 motmots. This was an interesting result, and indicates that this coffee might be a “step up” for ordinary coffee drinkers and convince them to switch to sustainable coffee.  However, I expect that many people would need to be farm more impressed to spend the extra money.  It is probably better fresher, or whole bean, but alas, I picked this up the way many people might — off the shelf of a busy grocery store.

I’d like to try this fresher, and whole bean, via the coffee club, or hear from folks who have tried it this way.

*There is some interesting history to this coffee. According to “Sustainable Coffee at the Crossroads” (Rice and McLean, Consumers Choice Council, 1999), Audubon originally sold the very first coffee using Smithsonian’s Bird-Friendly certification criteria, around 1997. It was originally roasted by Boyd’s Coffee and called Cafe Audubon. Audubon dumped it because they were not happy with the sales and marketing revenue.

Housekeeping / Retail and specialty roasters

Interactive roaster map!

One of my main goals here at C&C is not only to provide background information so that consumers can choose coffee that does not harm biodiversity, but to do some of the heavy lifting myself. I’ve been as conscientious as possible in researching roasters that carry sustainable coffees.  There is a drawback to mail ordering coffee, and that is shipping costs and, something that personally bothers me a lot, the environmental costs of the fossil fuel use required for the shipping.  This is especially onerous with coffee, because unless you buy green beans, you can’t buy much more coffee than you can drink in two weeks or so.  It just defeats the purpose to buy freshly roasted coffee and not drink it at peak freshness.

So, I’ve tried to research and try out roasters from far and wide.  Below is an interactive map to the roasters I’ve examined so far that meet the criteria described in a previous post; not every coffee from each roaster is sustainable, but all have at least a few offerings that come from biodiversity-friendly sources.  If there are multiple qualified roasters in the same city, I’ve only listed the ones I’ve tried, or that have the highest-rated coffee.

Hover over the markers for the name of the roaster, click on the markers for name, location, web site, and notes. If it’s an orange marker, a street address is given, and it’s a location you can visit (retail store or cafe), mail order only places are green.  If there are multiple locations, that’s noted, too (the note will say "retail" if the coffees are available at grocers, coops, etc.). You can zoom and pan.  You can also visit the map at Zee Maps, and click on "List" in the upper right corner for a color-coded list of names.

Explore and choose a roaster near you!  (I know I have quite a few readers in Europe and Australia…I’ll try to add some more roasters in those regions in the future.)

Coffee awards and competitions / Coffee news and miscellany / Retail and specialty roasters

Roast Magazine Roaster of the Year 2006

Roast Magazine has just announced the winners of their 3rd annual Roaster of the Year Award.

Macro Category
Winner: Intelligentsia (Chicago).  It’s hard to say too many good things about Intelly’s commitment to great coffee, from the farm to the cup.  Read this super article about green coffee buyer Geoff Watts, and this note from Geoff regarding Fair Trade and Direct Trade.
Runners-Up: Coffee Bean International and Portand Roasting (both Portland, OR)

Micro Category
Winner: Metropolis Coffee (Chicago)
Runners-Up: Cinnamon Bay Coffee (Clearwater, FL), Sacred Grounds (Aracta, CA)

All these roasters offer at least some environmentally-friendly coffees, a great testament that sustainability does not sacrifice quality. Congrats to these roasters.

Retail and specialty roasters / Starbucks

Starbucks Ethiopia Gemadro Estate: Corporate greenwashing?

The new Black Apron edition coffee from Starbucks, Ethiopia Gemadro Estate, showed up in our local stores within the last few weeks. Despite our generally low opinion of the taste of many Starbucks coffees, C&C is happy to review them if they can be determined to be sustainable and environmentally friendly.  From the description on the web site, the Gemadro Estate selection seemed like a good candidate.  But as always, we research each source carefully, and in this case we found that the reality of this coffee is not exactly what Starbucks has indicated.

From the Starbucks description:

“In this nation of more than more than 300,000 small, family-run coffee farms, the expansive Gemadro Estate stands as an exception. With its pure water supply, near pristine growing environment and dedication to conservation-based farming methods, this 2,300-hectare farm on the banks of the Gemadro River is setting new standards for progressive, sustainable coffee farming.

At the Gemadro estate, high altitude coffee plants flourish in the protective shade of towering 50-foot ferns. With just 1,100 hectares under cultivation, the remaining estate is devoted to a natural, primary forest that supports the local ecosystem.”

According to my research, this is not exactly the case.

  • The plantation was started in 1998, and the Estate web site confirms the Starbucks information: “Between 1998-2001, a total of 1010 ha of the 2295 ha of its holding was planted with coffee. The remaining land is left for preserving the existing natural vegetation.”  Information indicates the site was written in late 2001 or early 2002. Last month an article in the Ethiopian Herald reported a spokesman said the Gemadro project “had developed coffee on 1,000 hectares of land, adding, the project has began activities to develop additional coffee on 1,500 hectares of land.” (Emphasis added.)
  • This results in damage to the ecosystem. A report on coffee growing in the region of the Gemadro farm (1) described how the expansion of coffee and tea plantations requires opening up of forests, thinning of large trees, and clearing of the understory vegetation.  This in turn exacerbates soil erosion and reduces habitat for wildlife. There is an Important Bird Area in this zone, the Bonga Forest, and the central Ethiopian Highlands are considered a biodiversity hotspot.Additionally, these forests are genetic repositories of wild strains of coffee. Another report (2) states that wild coffee strains are being endangered because montane forests are being cleared or thinned for coffee farms (with the Gemadro Estate parent company being specifically mentioned) and this type of intensively managed “forest” coffee replaces wild coffee with nursery-raised plants.  Nursery-raised coffee is what is planted at Gemadro.
  • Gemadro Estate is owned by the Ethio-Coffee and Tea Plantation and Marketing, PLC, a division of MIDROC Ethiopia, a MIDROC International Group company. MIDROC is a conglomerate that owns gold mines, hotels, construction and real estate companies, multiple oil companies, cement factories, and other interests that are not generally recognized as being environmentally friendly.
  • MIDROC is owned by Ethiopian-born Saudi Sheik Mohammed Hussien Al-Amoudi. I’ve seen some unflattering profiles of him, but even if he’s the cleanest-living guy in the world, his net worth of $6.9 billion doesn’t inspire me to line his pockets with his latest venture.

Gemadro Estate employs 250 regular and 650 seasonal workers, according to an article in African Business. Al-Amoudi’s companies are Ethiopia’s largest employers, and he is well known for his philanthropy.  Aside from the fact that good deeds don’t always come from wholesome organizations, you can benefit more Ethiopian small-holders and the environment by purchasing coffees that are organic, forest grown, and Fair Trade.

Consider the well-known and widely available Oromia Co-op, with over 23,000 members.  A number of other co-ops are listed at the  Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union site, which indicates which are organic and Fair Trade.  Novo Coffee has a great selection of Ethiopian coffees, including wild Kaffa forest coffee, and we will be reviewing some of their great alternatives soon.

I don’t hate Starbucks.  They have introduced the public to something akin to specialty coffee, and raised awareness to regular consumers that there is something beyond grocery store slop.  But whereas they have offered some Fair Trade or organic products, this Black Apron selection sounds like a corporate conglomerate sell-out, and calling it sustainable, or saying that it is preserving habitat, is misleading.

UPDATE: See this post for a follow up investigative report.

1. Vlek, P.L.G., ed. 2005. Forest conversion – soil degradation – farmers’ perception nexus: Implications for sustainable land use in the southwest of Ethiopia. Ecology and Development Series No. 26, Cuvillier Verlag GÁttingen, 169 pp.

2. Richerzhagen, C. and D. Virchow.  2002. Sustainable Utilization of Crop Genetic Diversity through Property Rights Mechanisms? The Case of Coffee Genetic Resources in Ethiopia. BioEcon Workshop, 24 pp. (PDF)

Retail and specialty roasters

New Cafe Femenino origin

I’ve previously written about Cafe Femenino, sourced from a Peruvian project run entirely by women.  These beans are available from a variety of roasters, although I’ve always purchased from Grounds for Change, which makes an additional donation to the project.

I received a notice from Grounds for Change that they are offering Cafe Femenino from Mexico…

“…grown, processed and traded exclusively by a group of women in southern Chiapas state. The women control the proceeds from the sale of their crop and are fully involved in planning for the next year.

This women’s cooperative cultivates their Fair Trade, organic, shade grown coffee within the buffer zone for the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, a Conservation International project that includes nearly 300,000 acres of ten distinct forest types, from perennial tropical forest to high altitude cloud forest.”

Bravo, Grounds for Change.

Blends/Multiple / Coffee reviews / Latin America / Retail and specialty roasters

Counter Culture Sanctuary Coffees

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #6.

Counter Culture’s Sanctuary Shade Grown Coffees.

Fred Houk, an avid birder and a former member of SCAA’s Environment (Sustainability) Committee, was one of the co-founders of Counter Culture Coffee.  Through his efforts, Counter Culture began marketing their Sanctuary coffees in 1997, making them one of the first shade-grown coffee lines.  Sanctuary coffees are not sold on the Counter Culture web site, but are available at many Whole Foods Markets in the eastern U.S., and in regional southeastern U.S. natural food chains such as Earth Fare, Green Life Grocery, and Weaver Street Market, as well as some independent co-ops and organic shops.  Counter Culture has plans for a future stand-alone Sanctuary web site.

Packages feature a Wood Thrush, currently still common in eastern North America but of high conservation concern because of steady, long-term population declines — down 43% since 1966 — throughout most of its range. Wood Thrushes winter in tropical forests throughout Central America, including shade coffee plantations.

CC’s Mark Overbay sent three Sanctuary coffees to try; all are certified organic.  Links are to CC’s offerings from the same origins.

  • Guatemala Huehuetenango Finca Nueva Armenia — The Huehuetenango coffee region in western Guatemala is rugged and high elevation. Finca Nueva Armenia has at least 50 species of native shade trees, and I understand they are going to apply for SMBC certification soon.This was my favorite, and the first “Huehue” that I’ve tried…I understand why it’s a favorite of experts. We found it had more character than other Central Americans, including a little citrusy zing, at least in the french press, that reminded us of an Ethiopian.  We also detected a fruity flavor, perhaps apricot, as the cup cooled.
  • Mexico Pluma La Trinidad — From the region around Pluma Hidalgo in Oaxaca.  La Trinidad is the coop with over 350 members, and it is Rainforest Alliance certified.A slightly deeper roast than the other two, with some hints of oil on the beans.  This was the most rich and chocolately of the bunch, and held up best as a drip.  Using the Aeropress or Eva Cafe Solo, it also made an excellent Americano. AND, it was great iced!
  • Nicaragua Matagalpa Cafe San Ramon — In my post about Nicaragua and its coffees, I mentioned Counter Culture has a strong relationship with growers in this region through the Sister Communities of San Ramon. The farm, Finca Esperanza Verde, has an ecolodge and a butterfly farm, and like the rest of the area, is a great birdwatching destination.  The Counter Culture involvement is a perfect model of relationship coffee.  This is what we’re looking for in sustainable coffees and righteous roasters, people!A clean and classic cup.  Using press or other immersion method brings out more character in this subtle coffee, especially hints of cocoa.

Any of these coffees would make excellent daily breakfast brews. We give these Sanctuary coffees overall 3.5 motmots.

Counter Culture was Roast Magazine’s 2004 Roaster of the Year, when CCC was wholesale-only.  We’re happy CCC went retail, especially with sustainable coffees such as the Sanctuary line.

Certifications / Retail and specialty roasters

Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign update

Update: As of 2013, the NSCC is no longer functioning. This post is informational only.

In March 2006, I posted about the Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign, a Seattle Audubon Society project whose mission is “to protect habitat for wintering neo-tropical migratory birds in Latin America and the Caribbean by increasing consumer demand for shade-grown coffee,”  pretty much the same thing C&C is here to do (although the C&C scope is broader, birds, biodiversity, and coffee worldwide). In addition to their own educational activities, member roasters display the NSCC seal on their coffee.

My only reservation at the time was that the membership criteria were a little unclear (basically “carry at least one offering that is documented as shade-grown, educate its customers about shade coffee, and contribute yearly dues…”) and the seal did not mean any of the coffee sold by the member is certified shade grown, or that all coffees by the members are shade grown.  I felt this could lead to consumer confusion.

NSCC has revamped their whole web site, and clarified these points. Members have to agree to the Conservation Principles for Coffee Production, which are now provided on the site. The member application(PDF) is also on the site, and criteria are now clearly outlined.

As of late 2007, NSCC has discontinued its membership program.

The last newsletter was produced in mid-2009, although the site doesn’t say they have stopped publishing them.

As of early 2010, NSCC no longer updates its news room (but refers people here to Coffee & Conservation).

As of 2013, the NSCC is no longer functioning. This post is informational only.

Coffee awards and competitions / Coffee news and miscellany / Retail and specialty roasters

Roast Magazine Roaster of the Year 2005/06

The July/August 2006 issue of Roast Magazine announced it’s winner of Roaster of the Year: Oren’s Daily Roast.  Members of the Roaster’s Guild submitted coffees for tasting by their executive council, who picked their top 10.  These were voted on by attendees of the Specialty Coffee Association of America show in April.  Congrats to the winners. Here are the top ten with the coffee submitted, and notes on sustainable offerings.

  1. Oren’s Daily Roast (NY), Ethiopian.
  2. Vermont Artisan Coffee & Tea (VT), Kenyan. Carries FT and organic coffees.
  3. Gridge’s Coffee & Roasting (TN), Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. No online retail.
  4. (tie) Batdorf & Bronson (WA), Colombian. Carries FT, organic, and relationship coffees.
  5. (tie) Lexington Coffee Roasting (VA), Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. Carries FT, organic, and certified shade coffees.
  6. Ecco Caffe (CA), Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. Carries FT and organic coffees.
  7. Cafe Imports (MN), Tanzania Songea. Wholesale.
  8. Cuvee Coffee Roasting (TX), Kenya AA Top. Carries FT, organic, and certified shade coffees.
  9. Caffe Pronto (MD), Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. Carries organic, and certified shade coffees.

Look at all those African coffees!  I’ll have to roll out a review of an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe later today!

Blends/Multiple / Caribou Coffee / Coffee reviews / Retail and specialty roasters

Coffee review: Caribou Rainforest Blend

Plainspoken Coffee. A Coffee Review for Ordinary People by Ordinary People, #3.

Today, a more pedestrian coffee, the organic and Fair Trade Rainforest Blend from Caribou Coffee, a Starbucks rival in many northern states.  Caribou not only has better coffee, in my opinion, but clearly has a stronger commitment to sustainability.  As I wrote about before, Caribou is on its way to having half of its beans Rainforest Alliance certified.  It also supports Coffee Kids, Grounds for Health (women’s health in coffee producing counties), the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and helped build a medical clinic in Guatemala.


The coffee: This blend is certified Fair Trade and organic, and is labeled as shade grown.  The web site states the beans are from Papua New Guinea, Guatemala, Mexico, and Brazil.

The beans: It is given a roast darkness of “6” on a 10-point scale.

Brewed: The first sip brought us all a surprising “zing” that Coal Tit accurately described as “juicy.”  Contrary to logic, this effect was hard to detect when a gold filter was used, but seemed to show up better with an unbleached paper filter after several trials. I find complex coffees really intriguing, but for the most part, on a daily basis I do not want to be mindful of my coffee.  I want it to taste good, but I don’t want to pay attention to it every time I sip it.  The Rainforest blend fit the bill.  Star[bucks]ling found it to be sweet, bright, and crisp.  Really, you can’t say a lot more than that.  But after our previous more flavorful coffee tastings, he went on to try to come up with more subtle tastes. “You don’t get any kind of wood?” he asked.  Uh, no.  But good for you!

Bottom line: We expected this to be a pretty ho-hum, good but without any distinguishing characteristics.  We were wrong and pleasantly surprised.  Pleasant is a good word, not complex or fascinating, but just distinct enough to be interesting, very balanced, clean and mild, a nice everyday coffee.

When to drink this coffee (field oriented): All day long, doing spring migration counts or breeding bird census work, even on warm days.

We’re rating this 3.5 motmots. This average came about from lower scores from people who like more forthright flavors, and high scores from those who reward friendly coffees they can drink all day.