Colombia and Cappuccino

First, I've decided that we should push back the showing of the film The Perfect Cappuccino to the evening of Thursday, September 10 at 7p.  It lasts 90 minutes and then we'll (hopefully) have a live video chat with Amy Ferraris, the filmmaker.  Stay tuned for details.  

The coffee experiments are going really good.  I skyped with Cristina a couple days ago and we talked about all that is happening with these developments.  She told me the first sample was with red Maragogipe dried on concrete, and it was really great.  The second sample Ariel used yellow Maragogipe (they ripen yellow instead of red), dried on raised beds and covered with a cloth.  She said it wasn't as good- cooled more astringent and green.  She thinks it's because it's harder to tell if the yellows are ripe or not, so more unripe could've gotten in.  Also the cloth he used to cover the coffee wasn't porous enough and the coffee may have gotten too hot.  So he did another sample with red Maragogipe dried on raised beds and covered with a more porous cloth.  She hadn't tasted it yet when I talked to her.

The first two samples Ariel milled at his mill on the farm.  The sample I got still had silverskin on the outside of the beans and on that was a lot of sugars, so when I roasted it, it suddenly looked like it was burning.  This third sample, Ariel brought to Cristina's father's dry mill in Medellin.  They have better equipment and she's hoping they can polish the silverskin off the coffee, so it looks more like a washed coffee and roasts better.  She was hoping to get that lot of coffee in two days ago, after I talked to her.  Then she was going to roast and cup it hopefully today.  This could be the one.  If it works out, there's a possibility she can get us a few bags.  And THAT would be awesome.  Right now, we're the only people in the world who are even talking about natural coffee from Colombia.  The FNC (Colombian Coffee Federation) is not going to let this coffee out of the country if they find out about it, so the key is to mix the bags in with a container of other coffee and try to sneak it through.

She told me that she had the same experiment done at one of her father's farms in Concordia, and the coffee was a Caturrra variety.  She said it was sweet, a lot brighter (higher acidity) and not as complex as the Maragogipe.  Could be interesting though.

I asked her about having Alfredo do this with his coffee.  She said she asked him to and he had been too busy with the beginning of their harvest.  But she asked him again and she was hoping that he had done it.  This could actually change the face of Colombian coffee forever.  And we're involved.  Exciting.

I can't wait to taste the next samples.

Most Exciting

This is one of the most exciting events of my coffee career.  I've learned so much (yet so little) in my few years on the industry, and the more I learn, the more it enables me to ask questions.  Those questions sometimes have answers and sometimes they don't.  Usually one answer brings more questions than I had before.

So the last time I was in Colombia, we were asking lots of questions as usual.  What makes the coffee taste the way it does?  What if we did things differently?  What if we planted a different varietal of tree?  What if we fermented the coffee instead of running it through a desmucilaginadora?  What happens if we ferment it for 12 hours or 24 hours or 36 hours?  How does it change the flavor?  What if we put it in refrigerated tanks and introduced lager yeast?  Or what if we fermented it with Trappist yeast?  Yum.  How much different does it taste if we dry the parchment in the sun as opposed to using a static dryer?  And what if we process the coffee using pulped natural method or dry processing instead of wet?  Interesting.

Finally, at Ariel's farm, El Boton, we found a place where we could experiment with a couple of these questions.  We asked Ariel a lot of these questions.  I told him what I have learned in my travels to other origins and I described coffee from other countries.  The people in Colombia only get to drink Colombian coffee, so they don't know what it's like to taste coffees from exotic locales around the world.  We are fortunate in this way.  Ariel is a curious guy with the means to play, so he agreed to do these experiments with small lots.  He divided a lot into four batches.  One he fermented 24 hours.  One he fermented 36 hours.  Cristina said these two were not very good, and we didn't get samples of them.  The third part he processed using the pulped natural method.  That means he stripped the skins off the cherries and dried the beans with the parchment and mucilage still intact.  The fourth he dried the cherries whole.  Ariel built raised beds to dry the coffee on for these last two methods.  These are the two samples I received from Cristina last week.  

I roasted them yesterday (along with 20 other samples).  I waited until I really had the sample roaster as dialed in as I was going to get it, and then I roasted these Colombians.  There was only enough for one roast, so one shot and I had to get it right.  I was more than slightly concerned because everything was going fine with all the other coffees, but when I was roasting the Natural it suddenly seemed to be burning.  For no reason.  It hadn't even hit second crack.  But I could see (by drawing samples) that the outsides were beginning to get shiny.  Not good.  So I dropped it.  I thought I had ruined it, for sure.  The Honey (pulped natural) roasted just fine.

Today I cupped them on a table with 6 other coffees, including Ariel's regular coffee (which is run through a desmucilaginadora).  By the way, all of the coffees from El Boton are maragogipe, which means they are larger beans.  Usually these coffees are a bit flatter than other types, but I had cupped Ariel's maragogipe a couple weeks ago and found it to be very interesting.  It had a nice acidity, chocolate and nut flavors, and some dark fruits or grape in the nose.  

As soon as I ground the Boton Natural, my nose lit up.  The fruits were jumping off that coffee like crazy.  I started to get excited.  When I took my first sip... well, it was an amazing experience.  It was like a great natural Harrar or a really complex natural Sidamo.  Just freaking amazing coffee.  The pulped natural was pretty good, but nothing like the natural.

Now I have more questions.  The processing method dramatically changed the taste of that ONE LOT of coffee.  Is it repeatable?  We'll see.  Cristina is cupping another batch tomorrow in her office in Medellin and is going to call me on skype afterward.  Would coffee of a different varietal (besides maragogipe) taste the same, just as good, not as good?  How much does terroir actually affect the taste of coffee?  The soil, climate, elevation, and agricultural methods affect the taste, but compared to processing, how much?  

This thing has big, juicy fruit fragrances and a bit of vanilla in the aroma.  Very fruity taste that was a lot like artificial, intense cherry you find in flavored gum or soda.  Lots of other tastes muddied the waters and added insane amounts of complexity, but I haven't even gotten that far yet.  I'm still reeling from the sweetness on my palate.

I know Cristina is amazed and excited.  Ariel is very excited as well.  We have no idea how we could get these coffees exported to the US because the Federation has such a tight grip on exports, there's no way they would let this go through if they sampled it.  

My thoughts run much deeper.  What if...

What if this is the thing that makes Concordia famous?  Could it be that we've discovered something about Colombian coffee that could make it a highly sought-after coffee destination?  Could this replace Ethiopian coffees on the market, since that origin is so wrought with problems?  I'm sure Cristina is thinking the same thing.  This could be huge.  I'm wondering what Alfredo's coffee (San Rafael) would taste like if we processed it exactly the same way.  What if, somehow, Cristina were to find a way to change the rules of the Federation, so that they would let her export this coffee?  Or maybe she could find a different way to send it to the US.  I'm telling you, this is the beginning of something REALLY BIG.

When you taste it, you'll understand.

Baby Coffee Tree

Greetings from Wichita, KS!
I'm visiting home for a couple weeks--which means, among other things, over-indulgence in the area of baked goods (i'm convinced my father could open a hugely successful bakery in any city he chose, including NYC) and under-indulgence in good coffee. But it's getting better! When i left five years ago for Tulsa, there were basically No coffee shops here (starbucks-excepting)--since then, several have opened, all with a gelato component, which is interesting. At my dad's neighborhood coffeeshop, cafe posto, they offer a "turkish roast" flavored gelato. I don't know exactly what that means, but am intrigued. Coffee...cardammon...cinnamon?
Anyway: the prospect of two whole weeks devoid of doubleshot coffee was not the most difficult thing about making this particular journey home. It was leaving behind my baby coffee tree! It sprouted 4 days before i left--a tiny, spindly green stem with a bean on the top (the bean will turn into the first leaves). I bought a packet of coffee seeds in Italy (they were in a seed packet, just like you'd buy tomato or squash seeds...how bizarre!), and planted them on returning to tulsa. The thing about growing coffee is that it takes 2 to 3 months for anything to happen above the surface, so you have to be patient! you have to keep the soil moist but not soaking--but after months of watering a pot of dirt, up came this adorable plant! if all goes well, in approximately 2 to 3 years, there will be flowers and cherries! Here are two web pages that give some more info on growing your own coffee. The sweetmaria's one is especially fascinating because there are some beautiful pictures towards the bottom of trees growing in their greenhouse--several different varietals. i'm still trying to get a grasp on coffee varietals, so will hopefully be able to blog more about that in the future. the plant i have is coffea arabica var. typica which, according to coffeeresearch.org, is considered to be one of the two original varietals, along with bourbon. http://www.sweetmarias.com/growingcoffee/Growing_Coffee_at_Home.html
http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/homegrowing.htm

oh, and if you want to see a coffee tree "in the flesh" there is one growing in the greenhouse at woodward park! no flowers or fruit last time i checked (a couple weeks ago), but it's still fun to see the leaf/tree shape, and just to know it's there...well, here are the pictures--drink a great cup of coffee for me :)