Fresh Cup Magazine | April 2017

ANCHORHEAD COFFEE | POP-UP TEA STUDIOS | DIGITAL ESPRESSO | COFFEE BAGS | MILK ON TAP

April 2017 » freshcup.com

COFFEE GENETICS How gene banks are protecting the industry’s future.

P. 72

T H E M AGA Z I N E FO R S P E C I A LT Y C O F F E E & T E A P R O F E S S I O N A L S S I N C E 1 9 9 2

FEATURES APRIL 2017 Fresh Cup Magazine » Vol. 26 » No. 4

52

72

IT’S IN THE BAG

GOOD GENES

Coffee packaging says a lot about the roaster and the beans. What are your coffee bags saying? P. 52

Looking to genetic resource conservation to protect coffee’s future. P. 72

BY ELLIE BRADLEY & RACHEL SANDSTROM MORRISON

BY CHRIS RYAN

DO YOU KNOW ELIZABETH CHAI? Coffee aficionado and photographer extraordinaire. P. 50

BY ELLIE BRADLEY

MILK ON TAP Logistically challenging, yet indisputably cool. Are milk taps worth the hassle? P. 58

BY ELLIE BRADLEY & RACHEL SANDSTROM MORRISON

WELCOME TO MIAMI

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WHO’S BEHIND MYANMAR COFFEE?

Known for sun, fun, and rhythm, one thing Miami was not known for was specialty coffee. Until recently. P. 62

An introduction to the hardworking people behind your favorite “new” origin. P. 82

BY WILLONA M. SLOAN

BY JOEL SHULER & AMY VANNOCKER

April 2017 » Fresh Cup Magazine

DEPARTMENTS APRIL 2017 Fresh Cup Magazine » Vol. 26 » No. 4

18 48

28 32

34

18

32

40

Kruve coffee sifter; Coffee Blossom Honey; Engender International

How to Build a Pop-Up Tea Studio

by Jeffrey McIntosh

The Premature Aging of Coffee

by Josué Morales

34

44

Weights and Measures: Espresso’s Digital Reality

by Rachel Northrop

El Envejecimiento Prematuro del Café por Josué Morales

THE FILTER

THE WHOLE LEAF

40

ORIGIN

24

BEHIND THE BAR Anchorhead Coffee Seattle, Washington

by Ellie Bradley

NINE BAR, PART I

ORIGEN

26

All Things Sparkling

IN HOUSE Tone-Setting Tunes

by Carimé Lane

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April 2017 » Fresh Cup Magazine

FROM THE EDITOR A Global Gathering

16

CONTRIBUTORS 92

COUNTER INTELLIGENCE

CAFÉ OUTFITTER

28

12

People and products

38

48

The New Wave of Tampers

by Michael Butterworth

Commune Manila, Philippines

by Rina Diane Caballar

NINE BAR, PART II

CAFÉ CROSSROADS

94

CALENDAR Trade shows and events

96

ADVERTISER INDEX

FC

FROM THE EDITOR A Global Gathering

AS WE PUT THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON OUR APRIL

CONNECT WITH US

/FreshCupMagazine

@FreshCupMag

@FreshCupMag

ON THE COVER: COFFEE GENETICS A Madagascan coffee farmer ELLIE BRADLEY, EDITOR ellie@freshcup.com

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April 2017 » Fresh Cup Magazine

holds a grafted coffee plant.

Photo courtesy of Crop Trust

EDITO R P HOTO BY CYNTHIA M EAD ORS; TO P R IGHT P HOTO C O URT ESY O F A LL DAY

issue, we’re closing out a great Coffee Fest in Nashville and gearing up for the Global Specialty Coffee Expo—one of our favorite events of the year.

Whether it’s your first SCA Expo or your twentieth, the show brings together people from so many pockets of the industry—people with new products, new visions, and fresh perspectives—there’s an education opportunity with every handshake and at every step along the show floor.

For this issue, we thought a lot about the global community gathered at shows like the SCA Expo. This issue pays tribute to voices from all reaches of the coffee community, celebrating the diligent work of our industry members.

On page 82, Joel Shuler and Amy VanNocker introduce us to some of the faces behind Myanmar’s coffee scene, individuals who have worked for years to elevate the country’s quality of coffee while patiently waiting for a shift in political climate.

Chris Ryan provides an overview of CATIE, a seed bank housed in Costa Rica that may hold the keys to genetic diversity for coffee.

Josué Morales describes how and why climate change has affected harvest season in Guatemala in this month’s Origin column. (Morales’s column has also been translated into Spanish on page 44.)

New products and technology are always hot topics of industry events, so we doubled-down on our Nine Bar column this month to examine how innovation has inspired change in espresso machine technology and tamper design. Rachel Northrop takes on the digital espresso discussion on page 34 and Michael Butterworth talks tampers in Nine Bar Part II on page 38.

On a personal note, I’m eagerly anticipating the SCA Expo because it will be my first opportunity to introduce our new associate editor, Rachel Sandstrom Morrison, to a heap of rad coffee folks.

Rachel brings years of barista experience to the Fresh Cup team, a background in public relations for food and beverage brands, and an amazing attitude.

As we prepare to make the drive north along the I-5 corridor, we’ll be looking forward to meeting many of you in Seattle and gathering ideas to continue celebrating the tremendous global community we’re all part of.

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE ~~~FRESH CUP FOUNDER~~~ WARD BARBEE 1938-2006 ~~~FRESH CUP PUBLISHING~~~ Publisher and President JAN WEIGEL jan@freshcup.com ~~~EDITORIAL~~~ Editor ELLIE BRADLEY ellie@freshcup.com Associate Editor RACHEL SANDSTROM MORRISON rachel@freshcup.com ~~~ART~~~ Art Director CYNTHIA MEADORS cynthia@freshcup.com ~~~ADVERTISING~~~ Sales Manager MICHAEL HARRIS michael@freshcup.com Ad Coordinator DIANE HOWARD adtraffic@freshcup.com Marketing Coordinator ANNA SHELTON anna@freshcup.com ~~~CIRCULATION~~~ Circulation Director ANNA SHELTON anna@freshcup.com ~~~ACCOUNTING~~~ Accounting Manager DIANE HOWARD diane@freshcup.com ~~~EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD~~~ DAVID GRISWOLD

ANUPA MUELLER

Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers

Eco-Prima

CHUCK JONES

BRAD PRICE

Jones Coffee Roasters

Monin Gourmet Flavorings

JULIA LEACH

BRUCE RICHARDSON

Toddy

Elmwood Inn Fine Teas

COSIMO LIBARDO

MANISH SHAH

Toby’s Estate Coffee

Maya Tea Co.

BRUCE MILLETTO

LARRY WINKLER

Bellissimo Coffee Advisors

Torani

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FR ES H C U P.C O M

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CONTRIBUTORS MICHAEL BUTTERWORTH Waves of innovation have introduced tech-savvy tamping tools. In Nine Bar Part II (page 38), Michael Butterworth looks at the PUSH Tamper and Puqpress, two new tools promising a more consistent tamp for barista teams. Butterworth is a barista and trainer at Quills Coffee in Louisville, Kentucky, and founder of the Coffee Compass.

RINA DIANE CABALLAR Specialty coffee continues to gain momentum across the globe, including in the Philippines, where Commune has transformed the way many Filipinos drink their coffee. Rina Diane Caballar takes us behind the scenes at one of Manila’s coolest cafés in this Café Crossroads (page 48). Caballar is a freelance writer based in Wellington, New Zealand.

CARIMÉ LANE Do your musical selections encourage guests to linger, or pressure them to hurry away? In this month’s In House, Carimé Lane explores the impact of musical selections in the café (page 28). Lane is a freelance writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

JEFFREY MCINTOSH Jeffrey McIntosh recently launched a pop-up tea tasting studio out of his home near Seattle, Washington. The studio cost only a few hundred dollars, and brought loose leaf tea to a new part of town. In the Whole Leaf (page 32), he describes how any tea enthusiast can launch a similar experience in just a few simple steps. McIntosh is a regular contributor and owner of Teabook.

CHRIS RYAN Seed banks offer routes to increase genetic diversity of plants, and may be one of the most important keys to coffee’s future. Chris Ryan discusses projects underway to improve coffee’s genetic diversity in “Good Genes” on page 72. Ryan is a former editor of Fresh Cup and most recently served as content director at Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers.

JOEL SHULER AND AMY VANNOCKER Joel Shuler and Amy VanNocker introduce us to the people behind coffee production in Myanmar (“Who’s Behind Myanmar Coffee?” page 82). Shuler is the owner of Austin, Texas–based Casa Brasil Coffees and Little City Coffee Roasters, and a post-harvest consultant with the Coffee Quality Institute; VanNocker is the general manager at Mandalay Coffee Group, based in Pyin Oo Lwin, Myanmar.

JOSUÉ MORALES Josué Morales is master roaster and cupper for Mayaland Coffee in Guatemala City, Guatemala. He shares how changing weather patterns have impacted coffee quality, and how producers can combat these effects (Origin, page 40). Morales’s column also appears in Spanish on page 44, translated by Miriam Araos.

RACHEL NORTHROP As technology takes the world by storm, espresso machine innovations open new opportunities for quality and consistency control.

Rachel Northrop explores the digital espresso world in Nine Bar Part I (page 34), looking at the pros and cons of shifting toward automated equipment. Northrop is a regular contributor and sales rep with Ally Coffee’s speciality importing division.

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April 2017 » Fresh Cup Magazine

WILLONA M. SLOAN The heat is on in Miami’s coffee community. In “Welcome to Miami,” Willona M. Sloan takes us on a coffee crawl through a selection of shops who’ve played a big part in changing the city’s coffee culture (page 62). Sloan is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.

The FILTER A Fine Blend of News and Notes

W

hat if your grinder could produce a uniform particle size—no boulders or fines?

So far that grinder doesn’t exist. But the new Kruve Sifter can help you achieve grind uniformity, every time you brew.

Kruve uses a tiered sifting system to solve the problem of uneven grind size. Two tiers and twelve interchangeable sieves provide up to sixty-six possible grind sizes. The tool is simple to use—just pour in the grinds, then shake to separate out pieces that are too large or too small.

“Many have tried to perfect the grinder, but we perfected the grind,” says Kruve co-founder Mark Vecchiarelli.

The Kruve Sifter also allows users to get much more specific than fine, medium, and coarse when describing particles. Vecchiarelli says some of the most exciting feedback of the Kruve so far has been their role in creating

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April 2017 » Fresh Cup Magazine

a standardized language around grind size. The sieves allow users to specify a micron range, rather than sizing by approximation or comparison. “The size of Kosher salt, what does that really mean?” he says.

Since sifting can slightly affect brew times and ratios, a handy brew guide provides recommended particle sizes for each brewing method, offering a starting point to get recipes dialed.

The coffee sifter is not meant to replace a bad grinder (though it certainly helps), but to enhance even the best grinders on the market. It has also been employed as a calibration tool in kitchens and coffee shops around the world.

The Kruve affords flexibility in brewing, too. Though two sieves are typically used, a barista could choose to only use one (eliminating either the boulders or the fines), or add in some of the particles after sifting.

“We didn’t set the rules. If you want fines, by all means, add them back in,” Vecchiarelli says.

If Kruve has faced any challenges, it’s been explaining the “waste” left over after sifting. Vecchiarelli says users shouldn’t view the sifted grinds as waste, since a whole cup of coffee can be spoiled by uneven extraction caused by boulders and fines. He compares the process of sifting to discarding the inedible parts of produce. “You don’t want to eat the banana peel, you want to get rid of the bad stuff.”

For those concerned about waste, Vecchiarelli says the top layer can be reground; the excess also has practical uses in cooking, gardening, and homemade products like body scrub.

The Kruve team has received a lot of positive response, both from professional baristas and home users.

Whether used to deliver a sweeter cup of coffee or calibrate commercial equipment, this versatile tool has a promising place in the future of coffee.

—Ellie Bradley

PH OTO C OURTESY O F K RUVE

KRUVE COFFEE SIFTER

ENGENDER INTERNATIONAL

R

ecently launched nonprofit Engender International aims to solve global gender inequality through consumer choice. The organization seeks a more peaceful, prosperous, and creative future for all by supporting women’s equal access to economic resources.

Based in Seattle, Washington, the nonprofit will focus on the GETT (Gender Equity Through Trade) Certification program. GETT certification identifies consumer goods companies that properly compensate women working in their supply chain, focusing on companies producing agricultural, food, and textile products. Certified companies can use a seal on products and in marketing material to help consumers know how to support gender equity through their purchases.

Engender International was cofounded by Pete Bjordahl and Erin Williamson. Williamson is a coffee industry veteran and owner of Pier Coffee; her firsthand experience witnessing the disparity between her own earning potential and that of other women along the coffee supply chain helped inspire the launch of Engender International.

Many women work on behalf of their families or don’t have bank accounts, so one of the many challenges in ensuring equality is establishing a more formal system to track women’s earnings.

“I started Pier Coffee in my laundry room. But, as a single mom, the ability to start and grow a business was transformative,” Williamson says. “Not only did Pier Coffee help provide for my family, it provided me with a sense of confidence about the future.”

Williamson says Engender International aims to help women be paid for work they already do. Many women work on behalf of their families or don’t have bank accounts, so one of the many challenges in ensuring equality is establishing a more formal system to track women’s earnings. Other challenges include explicit laws, lack of legal protections, and several customs that impact women’s equal economic access.

“I know that access to economic resources was key to my better future,” Williamson says. “I believe that women’s access to economic resources is the key to a better future for us all.”

—Ellie Bradley

Fresh Cup Magazine « freshcup.com

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COFFEE BLOSSOM HONEY

SWEET NEIGHBORS: Edwin Martinez (left) and his honey-making partner, Jorge Mendez.

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I

PH OTO S C OURTESY O F ONYX C OFFEE

t’s an exciting time for what we’re doing with honey,” Edwin Martinez, CEO of Onyx Coffee says.

Martinez is the founder of Coffee Blossom Honey, the first fully traceable micro-lot, farm-direct, raw coffee flower honey.

Martinez explains that the timing is right for products with a transparent supply chain. As consumers better understand how products are processed and how they affect the ecosystems of where they’re produced, there’s been a shift toward improved education and awareness around consuming behaviors.

The honey sells in twelve-ounce jars, and can be seen adorning the shelves of roaster-retailers around the country.

Though Coffee Blossom Honey has found a fitting home in the specialty coffee community, it was a long road to get the product on roaster’s shelves.

being produced. The response was overwhelmingly positive— roasters were eager to add the product to their lineup.

Now, Martinez and his team have solved exporting logistics; they have a reliable path from the farms where bees are kept to the United States. “We’re working in the context of what we’re already doing,” he says. They’ve intentionally focused attention on their roasting partners, keeping a tight circle within the roasting community and highlighting the honey’s coffee connection. FC coffeeblossomhoney.com —Rachel Sandstrom Morrison

The project started during lunch on a neighboring coffee farm in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Martinez and his neighbors (a farm twenty to thirty kilometers away) were hosting coffee roasters from the United States, and served coffee flower honey as a dessert. The honey’s stellar quality was apparent, and ignited conversation around the logistics of importing the honey to US consumers.

Martinez bought one barrel from Finca El Apiario, the farm of neighbor Jorge Mendez, but was unable to export it. At the time, there were fewer than twenty honey exporters in Guatemala and it was difficult to get export approval. He returned the paid-for barrel of honey to Mendez and started laying groundwork to launch Coffee Blossom Honey.

Martinez began sharing the honey with his friends and colleagues in the roasting business (checking suitcases full of honey on trips back to the United States), and inviting them to visit the farms where the honey was

Fresh Cup Magazine « freshcup.com

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Pre-game Pros: Anchorhead offers six to seven singleorigins for pour-overs, so they pre-dose each coffee to shorten total brew time.

Each jar has the name of the origin and a grind size for the EK 43.

Coffee Chameleon: Blending into the sleek black subway tiles is a matte-black Mahlkönig EK 43, used to prep grounds for batch brew and the Poursteady.

Holy Hydra: A three-group Synesso Hydra MVP handles the shop’s espresso needs, aided by two Mythos Clima Pro grinders—one for Anchorhead’s Leviathan espresso blend, the other for a rotating single-origin.

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Fly Like a G4: With controls for adjusting parameters like bloom time and purge, the Curtis G4 batch brewer was a no-brainer for Anchorhead.

“We like to make sure our batch brew is as good as possible,” Anchorhead co-owner Jake Paulson says.

Hold Steady: A Marco undercounter hot water boiler connects to a five-station Poursteady.

The automated pour-over brewer connects to an online app that allows for easy adjustment of brew parameters.

“It’s been super fantastic,” Paulson says.

The Quaffle Irons: A pair of waffle irons cook Anchorhead’s beloved Quaffles: laminated croissant dough, rolled into a cinnamon roll, then pressed in the iron. Holy.

Smokes.

Slow Flow: Anchorhead uses V60s on their Poursteady to better control flow rate (the only variable not adjustable through the connected app).

A line of Hario carafes catches each brew as it drips through to the other side.

BEHIND the BAR

J

Anchorhead Coffee » Seattle, Washington »

ake Paulson and Mike Steiner spent ten years traveling the globe as audio engineers before making an abrupt career transition—one with fewer air miles—and launching Anchorhead Coffee in Seattle, Washington. The duo started small, selling their bottled coldbrew at farmer’s markets, then distributing to local retailers.

Their engineering mindset kept them curious about coffee, and they eventually commandeered half of Steiner’s garage to launch a roastery. They’ve only kept growing since.

Anchorhead opened their first café in October of 2016 in the atrium of Seattle’s Bell Tower. The high-rise building is home to corporate offices of Nordstrom and Century Link, and a renovation of the building’s outdoor patio space provided the perfect opportunity for Paulson and Steiner to establish a brick-and-mortar presence.

With a downtown location and local competitors known for fast service, Paulson says choosing equipment and a layout that facilitated quick turnaround was essential. “Our main goal as a café was to have the highest-quality product we could and still maintain that speed,” he says.

By Ellie Bradley

The shop’s five-station Poursteady is key for efficiency and consistency; the machine’s automation allows baristas to crank out dozens of pour-overs each day. “If we didn’t have it, I don’t know if we’d do pour-overs,” Paulson says.

“People stare at it all day and think it’s incredible.”

Anchorhead intentionally strayed from the paper-white, minimalist aesthetic common in many third-wave cafés. “We want to make sure people walk in and don’t feel intimidated by anything on the menu or by the person behind the counter,” Paulson says.

The shop is full of dark tones, yet an abundance of natural lighting (from a wall of thirty-foot windows) and blue accents keep the shop feeling warm—as do menu items like their tantalizingly sweet and delicious cinnamon-roll waffle, called the “Quaffle.” Twelve-inch subway tiles lining the bar’s back wall are slightly bowed, reflecting daylight and accentuating the space’s overall dazzle.

“We spent a lot of time designing this café and making it a little different,” Paulson says. “We want to make sure we’re keeping it nice at every turn.” FC

PH OTO S BY JAK E PAULSON

Tapped for Greatness: Coldbrew, kombucha, and beer are all available on tap. Customers can also choose from a selection of wine and canned brews.

Montucky Cold Snack, anyone?

Cold-brew Igloo: Anchorhead got their start producing bottled coldbrew. Customers can choose from regular, hopped, and concentrated cold-brews, all stored in a reach-in fridge beneath the register.

Fully Baked: Tempting pastries are proudly on display. Selections including Kouignamann, danishes, and scones are baked fresh each morning, prepped every night in house.

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Café OUTFITTER:

All Things Sparkling

Minimally-processed, lightly sweet, and healthier beverage options are topping consumer trend lists—and brands have taken notice (cue: mocktails, sparkling water, and lower-ABV cocktails).

Spring is a natural time to refresh your single-serve offerings and give your customers fresh, new flavors. We’ve compiled a short list of palate-pleasing bubbles (some alcoholic, some not) we think your customers will love.

1) GO WITH YOUR GUT The OG of national kombucha brands, Kombucha Wonder Drink’s shelf-stable, prebiotic kombucha is the perfect entry-level beverage for skeptics of this fermented delight.

Wonder Drink’s four oolong tea–based flavors offer antioxidants and gut health benefits with a touch of sweetness and no vinegar finish. Available in Traditional (oolong tea), Asian Pear & Ginger, Green Tea & Lemon, and Niagara Grape. wonderdrink.com

1

2) TREE OF LIFE Support Vermont’s working landscape and rural economy, and rehydrate while you do it. Sap! is carbonated, 100 percent pure maple sap, tapped directly from the trees during Vermont’s maple harvest. (No trees are harmed in the making of this product.) Available in seltzer and soda varieties, Sap is full of electrolytes, naturally occurring sweetness, antioxidants, manganese, and over forty other vitamins and minerals. sapmaplewater.com

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3) NO BARTENDER, NO PROBLEM Led by former employees of San Diego’s Ballast Point Brewing, Cutwater Spirits distills whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum, and uses them in their line of canned cocktails.

Cutwater’s cocktails come in four varieties—Bloody Mary, Rum & Ginger, Rum & Cola, and Gin & Tonic—and are a super-simple way to add a craft cocktail menu to your shop. cutwaterspirits.com

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4) BUBBLE, BUBBLE, BUBBLE TEA Sixty calories, non-GMO project verified, fair-trade certified, and organic. Bhakti’s line of sparkling teas has it all, and offers a healthier alternative to traditional soda that everyone can enjoy. Available in Lemon Ginger Black, Mango Lime Matcha, Mint Mate, and Tart Cherry Rooibos, each twelve-ounce bottle is made with fresh ingredients and comes with Bhakti’s classic punch of ginger. drinkbhakti.com 5) SUMMER IN A CAN Hard Frescos’ fruit-forward flavors will make you think you were poolside, beachside, or floating down a river.

These cold-fermented alcoholic aguas frescas are brewed like craft beer and made with only natural ingredients, clocking in at 5.7 percent ABV. Packed in twelve-ounce cans and available in three flavors—Guava Citrico, Juicy Jamaica (Hibiscus), and Tangy Tamarindo—these fruity blends are an excellent way to booze up your brunch menu. hardfrescos.com FC

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In HOUSE

C

offee may be at the heart of your business, but the power of the music played at your café cannot be underestimated. Whether it serenades softly in the background or takes center stage on a live concert night, music plays a large part in forming your cafe’s atmosphere—and can impact your bottom line.

“Music can be fairly influential on a positive or less-than-positive

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customer experience,” says Matt Milletto, co-owner of the American Barista and Coffee School and Water Avenue Coffee Company in Portland, Oregon.

Researchers have dedicated numerous studies to examine music’s effect on the consumer experience. Lars Perner, assistant professor of clinical marketing at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, says the music played at

your café can impact your guests at an unconscious level.

Studies show the pace of played music can affect how long people stay at your shop, so Perner suggests coffee shop owners experiment with the speed of their background music.

“If you have a rush at a certain time of the day, you may want to avoid music that is too slow paced because it may cause people to linger,” says Perner. “On the other hand, during other

P HOTO BY ANDREI BO CA N

Tone-Setting Tunes » By Carimé Lane

times of the day when you hope for people to stay and have a second cup of coffee, you may want to have more slow-paced music.”

Other factors key in creating a pleasant environment at your shop are music volume and appropriate genre, says Milletto, which may change according to the time of day. Customer preferences, branding, licensing, who determines playlists, and special music-related events held at your café are all considerations when managing café music.

At Brew Ha Ha, a boutique chain of ten cafés in northern Delaware, owner Alisa Morkides uses music, along with decor, to create an ambience that blends in with the community.

It’s really important to understand that the music is an element that’s in place for the customers, not necessarily the staff.

For the most part, Morkides puts musical selections in her managers’ hands: they can turn on a satellite station (from the ten to fifteen choices Morkides supplies) they feel blends in with the local community and feel of their store. They may also tweak the music per time of day.

“Morning is often a little more upbeat and afternoons can go a little more chill,” she says.

Morkides also believes employees should play a part in deciding on her cafés’ playlists.

“You definitely want to be happy when you’re working, and music will do it,” explains Morkides. “I want [employees] to feel like they can have some control over what their work environment is like.”

On the other hand, Milletto believes a customercentered focus is the best approach when it comes to music.

“It’s really important to understand that the music is an element that’s in place for the customers, not necessarily the staff,” Milletto says.

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At Subculture Coffee Roasters in Florida, co-owner Sean Scott sometimes involves customers by inviting them to curate playlists, but often selects tunes himself throughout the day and uses conversations with the staff to guide the musical selections.

Subculture emphasizes an inclusive environment—one that caters to the mixed demographics within the surrounding buildings (including a courthouse and college) of their city-center location. The result is an eclectic mix of genres ranging from oldies to dub step.

Scott’s musical special events also set his café apart, including a monthly Taco and Hip-Hop Night, an oldschool block party in Subculture’s alley attracting roughly 1,000 people.

At Brew Ha Ha, tunes are also designed to blend into the feel of the community. Morkides offers live music at one of her cafés on Friday nights, also helping to distinguish the business’s brand. These evenings have

been a hit so far: patrons are excited, and alcohol, drink, and food sales show a boost during these events.

While concerts can draw in new customers, Morkides recommends operators think about the potential costs of live music, amounting to potentially thousands of dollars a year in licensing fees. (Canned music can have costly fees, too.)

When choosing their musical setup, operators either pay a fee included in the digital music package they’ve purchased, or check in with licensing agencies in their area to ensure they’re paying appropriate licensing fees for playing these tunes at their cafés.

Café owners can face penalties ranging from $750 to over $30,000 per unlicensed song, so arranging licensing is important. Various licensing restrictions apply depending on elements like café square footage, how music is played (e.g. through TV, radio,

or iPod), the number of speakers in a room, or if a cover fee is charged. Licensing fees can be paid to performing rights organizations (PROs) including BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC. Each organization provides licensing for different song lists, so businesses may need to pay fees to more than one PRO. For their day-to-day music, both Morkides and Levine use DMX radio systems, while Scott uses subscription services like Apple music and Pandora.

Above all, when considering the types of music to play at their shops, Scott encourages other operators to view music as much more than just background noise.

“Coffee has always been much more than the actual product,” says Scott.

“It’s creating space for people to have meaningful relationships, and music speaks that language.” FC Carimé Lane is a freelance writer in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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The WHOLE LEAF How to Build a Pop-Up Tea Studio » By Jeffrey McIntosh

brought a high-end tea tasting studio to a neighborhood which otherwise wouldn’t have access to quality tea.

Here’s a simple guide to launching a tea tasting studio with quick success and little overhead. Let’s grow the industry together.

1) BECOME THE TEA EXPERT Do your homework. Tea is a lifestyle and a craft; you are responsible for enhancing the experience in a tea tasting and studio atmosphere. In a tasting studio, your knowledge and passion will engage new tea drinkers and keep them coming back for more.

One of your best tools to gain tea knowledge is experience. Drink more tea and tap into the network of resources around you. Reach out to local tea house owners and ask for informational interviews. You’d be surprised how many industry experts are willing

to take a quick call or meeting and dispense fantastic information. Subscribe to industry publications and tea blogs.

Your job is to learn, practice, and hone your skills with customers and friends.

2) TEA SUPPLY Don’t already have access to a massive supply chain with tea gardens in multiple provinces? No problem!

You’re a tea studio, not a supply chain expert with endless capital—yet. Your studio is about providing a quality experience. Pick a tea you’re passionate about and start there, whether it’s Wuyi rock oolong tea, pu-erh, or Japanese sencha. Reach out to small business owners with sourcing experience, pitch your idea, and ask to offer their teas at a discount in exchange for promoting their products for sale or white label (replace their branding with yours). Most companies will be excited to get their tea products into more people’s hands.

* The Tea Association of the US Inc. 2015

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P HOTOS BY QIAN YANG

T

here’s been a growing number of tea tasting studios popping up, specifically focusing on loose leaf tea. As the specialty loose leaf tea industry continues to grow at 12 percent annually,* we need more tea lovers helping to build a market of education to ensure this incredible product reaches its potential.

In this young industry, there are no competitors; it’s a symbiotic process, and we’re all in it together. I’ve received dozens of e-mails and comments asking the same question: “How do I get into the tea industry and start a tea company?” Truthfully, it’s easier than you think.

We recently tested this concept, turning one of my houses into a private tea tasting studio in Lake Forest Park, Washington (about fifteen minutes north of Seattle). With just a couple weeks and few hundred dollars, we

3) ESTABLISH A TASTING MODEL Regardless of whether your goal is to make profit or spread your passion, you’ll need to cover overhead costs. There’s more than one model to choose from when it comes to launching a tasting studio.

Tasting Events: Host weekly tea tasting events and charge per individual, and limit the number of attendees (to enhance value for customers).

Sample a unique, expensive tea from an online tea shop and use the fees to pay for it—this creates an opportunity for guests to taste something they wouldn’t likely order for themselves.

You can also create a tea small tasting menu. A selection of three to five teas lays a foundation for a memorable tasting event.

Tasting Fee/Bulk Tea Purchase: Offer an open-house, “by appointment” model with a low tasting fee (I suggest starting at three to five dollars). A nominal fee prevents guests from taking advantage of your time and resources. The low fee also encourages both return attendance at higherfee tasting events and the purchase of teas sampled during the session.

4) DECOR Experience is an essential element of an open studio. Welcome your visitors with a cold-brew green or oolong tea and very mild tea cakes or snacks.

Have hot water ready when they arrive (more than one kettle, just to be safe). Find pensive and relaxing music, such as classical or Korean flute music.

Sometimes candles are great, but be careful not to overdo it!

Get a large wooden table that can sit five to six people comfortably—solid wood is preferable. Decorate as you like with tea tools; wooden shelves are a great way to display your sampling tea, teaware, and other tea pieces.

A Japanese wood frame and rice paper divider is fantastic for blocking off areas you don’t want your guests to see. We got a cherry wood

six-panel divider for our studio, and it works beautifully.

Ikea, Amazon, Costco, and secondhand or antique stores are all great places to get good-looking, affordable pieces for your studio.

5) THE EXPERIENCE The serving style is up to you, whether you want a water table, teapots, gaiwans, or small or large teacups.

The importance lies in the experience, the atmosphere, and high-quality tea.

Be prepared to share stories about your passion for tea and how you’ve sourced the day’s offerings. If you’re selling tea, make it clear but not too pushy. No one wants to feel forced to make purchases, and while pressure may temporarily increase sales, you’ll miss valuable opportunities to build relationships with your customers.

6) BOOTSTRAP BUSINESS SETUP AND MARKETING I am a firm believer in testing and failing fast before investing heavily.

Before you purchase a few hundreddollar teapots and an $800 custom tea table to open your own corporation, try a soft launch of the tasting studio for a month or two first. Start by cre-

ating meetups, Facebook groups and events, and offer a couple tea tastings for free or at a discounted price.

Once things pick up and you establish a strong following, you can then get a simple LLC for a small fee and get an EIN number and business license from your city to display in your studio. Then publish your new studio online on Facebook, Yelp, and Google Business. Encourage your first few customers to leave Yelp and Google reviews to build credibility with potential customers.

When you talk to people and ask why they drink tea, they usually will recall a moment in time, their feelings, and the experience. It’s not just the name of tea or its taste, it’s a lifestyle that might just change yours and someone else’s.

We hope to see more studios and make it easier for people to open them, and we hope maybe we or another tea professional will create a franchise tea studio program that can equip tea entrepreneurs with everything they need to make great tea. We are extremely excited to help grow this industry. Please reach out with any questions and we can help get you on your way. FC Jeffrey McIntosh is a regular contributor and owner of Teabook.

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NINE BAR, Part I Weights and Measures: Espresso’s Digital Reality » By Rachel Northrop

RANCILIO XCELSIUS

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out tasting the coffee—and you can’t taste every shot.”

Many cafés opting for digitally programmable espresso equipment do so because it offers repeatability and speed not available with manual ma-

perature and finish with a different one, so you have more flexibility with what the temperature allows us to pull out in terms of acidity or brightness,” says Nick Moers, Devoción’s lead trainer.

This is always the delicate balance—how can coffee be both speedy and replicable, but also a handmade craft product? chines, permitting them to best manage the demands of a high volume bar. Devoción, a busy café-roastery in Brooklyn, New York, meets volume demand with Xcelsius models of the Rancilio Classe 11 and 9. “It allows us to start with one extraction tem-

Consistent delivery of quality is desirable because it builds the reputation of a shop. Jonathan Amos works with La Colombe’s wholesale education and training program, where he also works with Sanremo Coffee Machines’ innovative Opera espresso machine.

P HOTO C OURTESY OF RANC ILIO

R

apid advances in processing chip technology have transformed the task of pulling espresso shots from a job of significant guesswork and best intentions into a science of data-driven, programmable recipe execution. Today’s newest espresso machines come equipped with software that can perform all kinds of functions, from timing changes in pressure to cutting off flow at the desired weight of the final shot.

Stephen James Davidson, quality control manager for Blue Bottle New York, sees several key differences between working with digital and manual espresso equipment. “A fully manual espresso machine takes much more intuition, patience, and acceptance than an automated machine,” Davidson says. “You don’t have all the bells and whistles to check your work fully with-

MAVAM

SANREMO OPERA

The Sanremo Opera includes the capacity to regulate an important dimension not often embedded in espresso equipment: weight. The machine automatically stops pulling a shot after hitting a targeted number of grams, rather than operating by time. Built-in Acaia scales support this functionality.

Kohout, sales manager for Acaia US explains that, “the Opera uses Acaia Links integrated technology. There is one board for each group that connects to custom Lunar scales via Bluetooth.”

Using Sanremo’s Express Yourself technology, the barista can set the desired shot size. “The only physical input onmachine is the start of the shot, and the machine handles the rest,” he says.

For Erica Lee Vonie, director of coffee at Variety Coffee Roasters, the responsiveness of a machine is paramount when juggling variables during the rush of service. “I like how instantly programmable the Opera is. It’s really difficult when you’re on bar and something’s gone wrong and you have to change something quickly. Because there are six different recipes for each group you can easily fix it.”

Variability between groupheads is another advantage offered by digital

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espresso technology, like the digital programmability offered by new equipment manufacturer Mavam. The company offers made-to-order, handbuilt machines out of Seattle, Washington, based on a design concept that combines the minimalism of an “invisible” under-bar boiler with full digital programmability.

Walter’s Coffee uses the Mavam in their new Brooklyn location. “You can do manual or automatic,” notes Michael “Panda” Fernandez, director of Walter’s Brooklyn store. “Pre-infusion is set to two bars, and then you can hit a button and the pressure increases to nine bars.

You can have manual on one group and automatic on the other, actually having two separate machines in one unit.”

Fernandez says the machine is useful for speed of service—with the touch of a button, the machine executes both the pre-infusion and the full nine bars.

“The barista can make multiple drinks at once, which saves time,” he says.

This is always the delicate balance— how can coffee be both speedy and replicable, but also a handmade craft product? Even in the age of digital espresso, that balance is possible.

“Both automated and manual machines have their places in a café, and both are simply based on preference,” says Davidson of Blue Bottle. He explains that a successful café is a combination of the barista manning the bar and the design of the café. “Part of the usability of any machine is not necessarily the equipment itself, but how it fits into the overall bar flow. For openconcept cafés that choose to make the theater of espresso-crafting a focal part of the café experience, screens with digital read outs and blinking numbers might be a detraction.”

Showmanship aside, Moers notes that for Devoción, there are certain

flavor attributes of an espresso shot only achievable using the shop’s manual option, a Kees van der Westen Mirage. The Mirage uses spring activation instead of a motor for pressure, pulling only four to six bars of pressure instead of the standard nine.

“With the lever machine, everything is built on the particle size of the coffee and how much pressure is being pushed through it. You’ll often get a thicker body or a better crema,” Moers says. “For the body of a shot, any lever or fully manual machine performs noticeably better than digital.”

While Davidson has experienced the joy of dialing in vintage machines, he likes being able to focus on customers. “My preference at the end of the day is the La Marzocco Linea,” he says.

“I tend to lean into hospitality when I am on bar, and I prefer a machine where I can dial in and simply monitor as I make coffee, and be of service to my guests.”

LA MARZOCCO LINEA

All espresso equipment involves a learning curve, and as more and more baristas come of age in our current screen-centric culture, digital machines might become the more intuitive option, therefore making manual equipment an exciting alternative in the risk of imperfection they permit. FC Rachel Northrop is a sales rep with Ally Coffee’s specialty importing division.

O PERA P HOTO C OURTESY OF SANREM O ; MAVAM PHOTO BY C ODY HAM ILTO N; LINEA PHOTO C O URTESY OF L A MARZOCCO

“The Sanremo Opera is one of my favorite machines. It’s ultra-customizable with six different options for brewing parameters. We use this for our natural Ethiopia Ardi,” Amos says.

“If you pull it on a regular machine with nine straight bars of pressure, no matter how well you adjust the grind, you’re going to get some sort of funk on the back. But when you drop the pressure towards the end, you get a really nice sweetness.”

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NINE BAR, Part II The New Wave of Tampers Changing How Baristas Make Espresso » By Michael Butterworth

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sary to have an evenly extracted espresso, but executing a perfectly level tamp with a conventional tamper is easier said than done. Throw in the pressure of a busy café environment, and even the best cafés will experience inconsistent extractions from shot to shot.

result is a remarkably consistent tamp that has won over competitive baristas and café owners alike.

The idea for the PUSH tamper came after Southern tried to teach his coworkers how to use the office espresso machine. Despite the les-

Much like some motorists prefer a manual transmission, Southern and Schravendeel recognize that many baristas will prefer a traditional tamper, but that doesn’t stop them from believing their products are the way of the future.

Southern’s PUSH tamper is perhaps most profound for its simplicity: rather than the handle found on a conventional tamper, the PUSH tamper is flat on top, allowing the barista to apply pressure with the palm of their hand.

An outer ring adjusts to the portafilter’s circumference, ensuring a perfectly level tamp with every use. The

son, his coworkers still preferred the coffees he made them. “It came down to the tamping,” says Southern.

“They couldn’t get the hang of it. They weren’t going to spend hours trying to perfect their tamp.”

After a few failed attempts at making a better tamper, Southern realized an adjustable guard would ensure a

PUSH P HOTOS C O URT ESY C LO C KWOR K E SPRESSO

P

ete Southern realized his invention had potential when his website crashed.

The United Kingdom’s barista champion Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood was using a prototype of his PUSH tamper at the 2015 World Barista Championship in Seattle, Washington, and Southern had flown from England to watch.

“I was just sitting there really nervous that something might go wrong,” Southern says. “There was a noise in the audience when he picked it up. Everybody was whispering ‘what is that?’”

The oddly shaped tamper did not escape the notice of Livestream viewers either. When Southern posted a link to his website in the chat bar, the flood of traffic crashed his website. Two years later Southern’s company, Clockwork Espresso, is still struggling to meet demand for their PUSH Tamper.

“I didn’t decide ‘I’m going to invent an awesome tamper’,” Southern says.

On the contrary, he was merely trying to solve a problem.

As any self-aware barista already knows, tamping properly is hard. All coffee experts agree, a level tamp is neces-

PUQ PR ESS P HOTO S C OURTESY OF P UQ P RESS

level tamp and remove the need for a handle. He used his office’s 3-D printer to make the first prototype.

“I was playing with this 3-D-printed tamper and I thought ‘This is pretty cool. I would buy this.’ If I would buy this, surely someone else would,” Southern says. The wide array of similar products that have been released by other tamper manufacturers would certainly suggest Southern is not the only one who feels that way.

But the demand for a more userfriendly tamper prompts another question: should baristas be trusted to tamp the espresso in the first place?

Dutch start-up Puqpress takes tamping out of the barista’s hands and automates it with their M1 and Q1 automatic tampers. These devices can be programed to tamp to exact specifications in one-pound increments.

“We do not claim that Puqpress will tamp better than a skilled barista, if you compare them one on one,” says Tjeerd Schravendeel, Puqpress’s director of business development. “Our position though, is that no barista is able to deliver the exact same tamp repeatedly, say a hundred times.”

According to Schravendeel, the Puqpress helps not only with consistency from shot to shot, but barista to barista as well.

“As long as there are multiple baristas covering shifts, tamping will always be a variable,” he says. “Puqpress has a maximum tamping force variation of 1 percent, meaning that every tamp will be the same, regardless of the barista behind the machine.”

Much like the renewed popularity of volumetric espresso machines and batch brewers, the rise of more userfriendly and automated tampers reflects a specialty coffee industry that is embracing the consistency of automation over the singularity of handcrafted processes. But will some find this new wave of tampers to be a bridge too far? Tamping is one of several highly tuned skills the best baristas spend years developing. Does automating tamping devalue the role of barista?

Although Southern disagrees his tamper makes the barista any less important, he understands the sentiment.

“Tamping is not an easy thing to learn.

Baristas feel quite proud when they get good at it,” he says. “We’re humans, we

make mistakes. We’re more likely to make mistakes the busier we are.”

Besides, unlike a skill like latte art, tamping is not a way for baristas to express their personality. “Tamping is either right or wrong,” says Southern. “When you start it’s almost always wrong.”

Schravendeel agrees. “In our opinion, it’s beneficial for everyone if a barista is able to put more time and energy into his or her customer and in controlling the variables of their espresso shots,” he says.

Much like some motorists prefer a manual transmission, Southern and Schravendeel recognize that many baristas will prefer a traditional tamper, but that doesn’t stop them from believing their products are the way of the future.

Southern says baristas will identify tools that facilitate the best product. “When training new baristas, if you give them a traditional one and a PUSH tamper and teach them how to use both, almost all of the new baristas will choose the one that gives them more control.” FC Michael Butterworth is a barista and trainer at Louisville’s Quills Coffee.

ORIGIN

F

our years ago, we experienced a puzzling challenge at our farms in Guatemala, a challenge faced industry-wide, yet without remedy. Our beautiful, highscoring, high-grown coffees started fading drastically and tasting stale, old, baggy, and tired—after only a matter of months. We couldn’t understand what was going on or why. If only the most perfect cherries were picked at the height of ripeness and processed with all the care and time in the world, what went wrong? Seeking an answer to this question led me to exhaustive research over the following years to better understand a phenomenon I define as the premature aging of coffee.

THE CASE A) The bean presents a very short life cycle in green, between six and eight months before undergoing dras-

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tic changes: the bean’s appearance becomes pale and white, and presents flavors which are not associated with old coffee, but rather with a cardboard taste (baggy, ashy, peanut) in which acidity and complexity have faded almost completely.

B) The beans show a significant loss in density, reflected in density and moisture readings, but also in the way the bean is roasted (requiring significant temperature adjustments).

INITIAL THEORIES FROM 2013 1) The plant cell walls of the green beans are rupturing, resulting in premature aging of the coffee, density loss, and pale color. These are the consequence of other factors, such as the coffee being dried too fast and too far below the required humidity percentage, not allowing for the

water activity to settle at a more appropriate rate and to more efficiently distribute within the bean.

2) Climate changes (drought and an extremely variable rainy season), abusive use of fertilization, and irregular temperature cycles in the atmosphere and in farm conditions related to shade have created variables in which the cherry is maturing too soon but the bean is not developing.

3) Lack of proper nutrition and excess fertilization, particularly fertilization of the leaves (foliar), which results in plant intoxication.

The cases I’ve seen are mostly in high-grown coffee, particularly those harvested in March and April (these were higher lots from farms not used to dealing with pests, and who were changing their fertilization programs in response). I’ve seen cases both in conventional and organic-certified coffees.

P HOTO C OURTESY OF JO HN LETOTO

The Premature Aging of Coffee » By Josué Morales

CURRENT VIEWS IN 2017 After the phenomena became widespread, I remained in Guatemala as much as possible, and during the following four harvests I traveled to the farthest corners of the country’s producing regions to understand the reasons for the behavior in our coffee. I also consulted and visited with producers in other countries facing the exact same problem.

In one way or another, all the aspects outlined in my initial theories are correct, to some extent. All of the aforementioned factors play an important, simultaneous role in the premature aging of coffee.

There has been a significant shift in rainfall patterns in producing areas. Rainfall on the macro level has remained constant in quantity, yet not in its expected timing. First rains usually come in May, and the rainy season settles between the end of July and the beginning of October.

With initial rains now falling in January and February, there is an out-of-season flowering that, as a rule, will result in coffee harvest eight to nine months later.

Yet, out-of-season rains are determining the flowering patterns of coffee. With initial rains now falling in January and February, there is an out-of-season flowering that, as a rule, will result in coffee harvest eight to nine months later. An additional shower at the end of April and mid-May will trigger a new flowering—no longer the historical main flowering, but a diminished version of the same. The traditional formal flowering of spring that would often result in the famous best coffees of the “third picking” is no longer a reality.

Then we have the massive problem of drought during the off season, the period in which fertilizers are applied and critical nutrition is absorbed by the growing beans. We are counting on rainfall to activate the components on these fertilizers to reach the plant, yet these remain on the hot ground, often lost due to evaporation. The opportunity to feed the plant and give density to the beans is lost during the entire critical part of the bean’s growth cycle.

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P HOTO C OURTESY OF TG- LAB

Rain that triggers the bean’s final nutrition is falling out of season as well, during October and November, months in which we don’t historically experience rain.

When the rains do come, what is found on the ground is often the fertilizer that didn’t evaporate with the sun, formulas that contain higher doses of elements needed at the final stage of bean formation for cherry maturation (rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). The result is an accelerated final ripening of the cherry and not necessarily the final bean growth.

The cumulative result of these factors is an out-ofseason harvest in which the peak of production (at altitude) is experienced in December, rather than March. Yet the plant is still bearing at that point, the production triggered by April and May flowerings that won’t ripen until February or March when the plant is already exhausted, often bearing new fruit because another cycle of out-of-season rains. The final picking—if not sacrificed and picked green to prevent additional stress on the plant—often lacks all necessary elements of nutrition.

All said, this is unique to regions with specific micro-climates in the central area of Guatemala. Yet other producing regions are experiencing similar challenges but at different times, with out-of-season harvests in April, May, even up to June.

Four harvests later I revisit my original theories and the first documents I wrote on the matter; fortunately my observations are more optimistic now, but might be even more difficult for the producing community to accept. The most complicated variables facing the future of coffee quality are culture, neglect, and the resistance to change.

The plants are full on with the program of adapting to new climate conditions, yet we as an industry are the ones who have been slow to accept that our preconceived ideas on when and how quality is happening is not a constant anymore. Not in the way and time coffee is being produced, or in the way and time these coffees are being placed on rotation to roast.

More to come. FC Josué Morales is master roaster and cupper at Mayaland Coffee and TG-LAB based in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

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ORIGEN

H

ace cuatro años enfrentamos un reto enigmático en nuestras fincas en Guatemala. Un reto que sin remedio alguno tuvo que ser enfrentado por toda la industria. Nuestros bellos cafés, cuidadosamente cultivados y de muy alto grado comenzaron en sólo unos meses a palidecer y a presentar un sabor añejo, envejecido, flojo y cansado. No podíamos comprender el motivo por el cual esto ocurría. Si se estaba cultivando la cereza más perfecta con su exacta madurez y se estaba procesando con todo el cuidado y tiempo del mundo, ¿qué estaba mal? En los próximos años como respuesta a mi pregunta realicé una investigación exhaustiva para poder comprender mejor este fenómeno que ahora defino como: “el envejecimiento prematuro del café”.

EL CASO A) El grano en verde presenta un ciclo corto de vida, entre seis y ocho

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meses, antes de observarse cambios drásticos cuando el mismo aparece pálido, blanco y presenta sabores que no están asociados con el café envejecido sino que tiene un sabor a cartón (flojo, cenizo, pobre) en el cual la acidez y su complejidad han desaparecido casi en su totalidad.

B) Las lecturas de densidad y humedad del grano muestran una pérdida significativa que también se reflejan en la forma en que se tuesta (requiriendo importantes ajustes de temperatura).

PRIMERAS TEORÍAS DEL 2013 1) Las paredes del grano en verde se están rompiendo dando como resultado un envejecimiento prematuro del café, pérdida de densidad y un color pálido. Esto es a consecuencia de que el café se está secando con rapidez y con bajos requerimientos en porcentajes de humedad sin permitir que la actividad

de agua dentro del grano se acomode y se distribuya adecuadamente.

2) Los cambios climáticos (la sequía y los ciclos lluviosos que son extremadamente variables), el uso sin escrúpulos de los fertilizantes, los ciclos irregulares de temperaturas en la atmósfera, al igual que las condiciones variables de sombra en las fincas permiten que las cerezas maduren muy pronto pero que el grano no se desarrolle.

3) La falta de nutrición apropiada y el exceso a la fertilización particularmente de las hojas (foliares) que dan como resultado una intoxicación de la planta.

Los casos que he visto han sido mayormente en plantas de café de cultivos de altura especialmente los que se cosechan en marzo y abril en fincas donde no se acostumbra a enfrentar plagas o que se encuentran en constantes cambios en sus programas de fertilización como una respuesta al problema. He visto casos tanto en cafés convencionales como en orgánicos certificados.

PH OTO C OURTESY O F TG- LA B

El Envejecimiento Prematuro del Café » Por Josué Morales

PUNTOS DE VISTA ACTUALES EN EL 2017 Al expandirse este fenómeno permanecí en el país tanto como me fue posible y durante las próximas cuatro cosechas estuve viajando a las regiones cafetaleras más lejanas de Guatemala para comprender las razones del comportamiento de nuestro café. También consulté y visité a productores de otros países que enfrentaban el mismo problema.

De una o de otra manera, todos los aspectos mencionados en mis teorías iniciales están correctos, hasta cierto punto. Todos los factores mencionados con anterioridad juegan un papel simultáneo e importante en el envejecimiento prematuro del café.

Ha ocurrido un cambio significativo en los patrones de lluvia dentro de las regiones de café. La lluvia en general ha mantenido niveles constantes pero fuera de época. Históricamente, las primeras lluvias aparecen en mayo y la temporada lluviosa se establece a finales de julio para terminar a principios de octubre.

Ahora son las lluvias fuera de estación las que determinan los patrones de floración del cafetal. Con la caída de las primeras lluvias en enero y febrero ocurre una floración fuera de estación, la cual como regla general producirá cosecha del café dentro de los próximos ocho a nueve meses. Una llovizna adicional a finales de abril o a mediados de mayo provocará una nueva floración, ya no la floración histórica, sino que una versión menor de la misma. La famosa floración tradicional de la primavera que regularmente resultaría en el famoso café del “último corte” ya no se hace realidad.

Además, se cuenta con el problema masivo de la sequía entre cosechas, en el período crítico en el que se aplican los fertilizantes y los granos en crecimiento absorben la nutrición. Contamos con que la lluvia active los componentes de los fertilizantes para que estos lleguen a la planta pero los mismos se quedan en el suelo caliente y muchas veces se pierden debido a su evaporación. La oportunidad de alimentar a la planta y de darle densidad al grano se pierde por completo durante este ciclo de sequía.

Las últimas lluvias que detonan la maduración final del grano también caen fuera de la estación lluviosa, durante los meses de octubre y de noviembre. Cuando por fin aparece la lluvia lo que se encuentra en el suelo son los componentes de la última fertilización. Estas son fórmulas que contienen dosis elevadas de elementos necesarios y específicos para la maduración, y no para aspectos nutricionales. El resultado final es una cereza muy dulce y con la pigmentación correcta, pero un grano poco denso.

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PH OTO C OURTESY O F TG- LA B

Los resultados cumulativos de estos factores son una cosecha fuera de estación en la cual la mayor producción de altura se experimenta en diciembre en lugar de marzo. La planta en este punto aún continúa gestando una cosecha adicional, producto de las floraciones de abril y mayo. Una cosecha que no madurará hasta febrero o marzo cuando la planta ya se encuentre debilitada y muchas veces con nueva fruta debido a nuevas lluvias fuera de época. La cosecha final, si no ha sido sacrificada o cosechada en verde para prevenir estrés adicional en la planta, carece de todos los elementos necesarios de nutrición.

Todo lo dicho se observa particularmente en las regiones con microclimas específicos propios de la región central de Guatemala. Aun así todas las Regiones de Café están experimentando cambios similares pero en tiempos distintos, existiendo en muchas de éstas regiones épocas de cosecha incluso en los meses de abril, mayo y en ciertos casos hasta Junio.

Después de cuatro cosechas vuelvo a revisar mis teorías originales y los primeros documentos que escribí sobre el tema. Afortunadamente, mis observaciones son más optimistas ahora, pero más difíciles de aceptar por la comunidad de productores. La calidad y el futuro del café enfrentan variables complicadas tales como: la cultura, la negligencia y la resistencia al cambio.

Las plantas se acomodan y se adaptan al programa y a las nuevas condiciones climáticas, pero nosotros como industria hemos sido lentos para aceptar que nuestras ideas preconcebidas no son constantes en el cuándo y cómo se produce la calidad, ni en la forma y tiempo que estos cafés han sido colocados en rotación para su tueste.

Por continuar. FC Josué Morales es maestro tostador y catador en Mayaland Coffee y TG-LAB con sede en Cuidad de Guatemala.

Traducción hecha por Miriam Araos.

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Café CROSSROADS Commune » Manila, Philippines

Story and photos by Rina Diane Caballar

R

osario Juan’s original concept for Commune café and bar was a cross between Friends’ Central Perk and the Cheers bar. Situated in the edgy neighborhood of Poblacion—a downtown area in Manila’s central business district, Makati—Juan wanted to provide a respite from the bustling city and a place to encourage friends and strangers to come together.

Industrial light fixtures and exposed ceiling beams emphasize the urban location, while large glass windows breathe light and life into the corner café. Antique wrought iron chairs rest on the white tiled floor, hugging a curved coffee bar at the space’s center, where customers can take a frontrow seat to watch their coffee being brewed—on either the shop’s vintage Italian espresso machine, or one of the many manual brewing devices. But Commune’s real star is the rectangular communal table, a wooden desk that seats up to twenty people.

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“Culturally, Filipinos are cliquish,” Juan says. “They don’t come alone and just meet people. We wanted to challenge that habit by putting in a communal table.” She says the table has been instrumental to introducing people and engaging strangers in conversation.

Juan’s love affair with coffee began when she interned with a coffee company. The company later hired her as a communications officer and trained her as a barista. She managed coffee companies in Shanghai for four years before returning to the Philippines in 2009.

Juan first opened Commune in Makati’s Salcedo Village in 2013, inspired by a desire to provide a place to gather with friends.

Plans to tear down the Salcedo Village building to make way for a highrise prompted the move to Commune’s current location in the Poblacion space.

While Juan repurposed items from the old café both for cost and consciousness, she says the new edition is more grown up. “The old café’s design was a bit cutesy. Now we’re more minimalist,”

COMMUNITY AT COMMUNE: Downstairs (below and opposite top left) features a communal table to encourage interaction between customers. The Upstairs space (opposite bottom left) hosts a variety events.

she explains. “We’re still friendly and approachable, but we’ve matured a bit.”

The second floor, aptly called Upstairs, is where Commune stages events such as plays, open mic nights, workshops, and talks.

Serving as a venue for these events is part of Commune’s commitment to community building. “We like collaborating with artists, students, and other groups. We like supporting all these small endeavors,” she says.

Supporting local community also means promoting the growth of locally grown coffee. The menu features coffees from different regions of the Philippines, sourced from farms around the country and roasted through a third-party partnership. Available yearround, the Commune blend is primarily arabica, with a touch of robusta. Other popular menu items include single-origin selections, such as those from Benguet, a northern region, and Davao, a region in the south.

Strong community ties are also built among Commune’s baristas, who re-

ceive training on coffee appreciation, standards, and best practices. “It’s all very collaborative,” Juan shares. “I get their input on preparation methods and such. When I travel and experience new ways of doing things in cafés abroad, I share my experiences with them as well.”

Filipinos are big coffee drinkers, but much of the coffee they consume is from instant mixes—sachets of locally grown robusta coffee blended with creamer and sugar. “We’re a three-in-one country,” Juan says.

“Everyone’s used to milky and sweet.”

Coffee shops like Commune provide an opportunity for Filipinos to broaden their taste buds and embrace the specialty coffee movement.

Juan works closely with the Philippine Coffee Board in sourcing and growing coffee in the Philippines.

“The goal is to put the country back on the coffee map,” she says. “We’re largely a coffee-drinking nation. But we don’t grow enough coffee even for

our local consumption, which is one of the reasons we’re overlooked as a coffee growing country.”

Juan notes that consistency of quality is essential in highlighting the Philippines for its coffee. To address this, she works with the coffee board on projects involving technology and knowledge transfer, as well as training farmers on post-harvest practices. “The potential is there,” she emphasizes. “We just have to work on establishing it.”

Commune also supports local businesses. “We have all these creative collaborations,” Juan says. “We like working with a lot of local people, businesses, and start-ups.” The café sells pastries from home bakers, while food items on the menu are made from local and seasonal ingredients. Their best sellers include apple pie, cookie shots served with milk or a scoop of ice cream, and a grilled cheese sandwich with four homemade cheeses.

When I ask what’s next for Commune, Juan says they’re looking to expand in more creative ways. With a recently acquired one-kilogram Probat roaster and another one on the way, they’re going to start roasting their own coffee, in addition to sourcing coffees from new origins, to diversify their offerings. Juan is also looking forward to hosting more events in the coming year, including coffee education classes and workshops.

“There was one day when I knew someone from each table then I would go to all the different tables and say, ‘You guys should talk. Maybe you can collaborate,’” Juan says excitedly. “I like that, being able to connect people.” FC

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Do You KNOW?

Elizabeth Chai » By Ellie Bradley

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ou may not know Elizabeth Chai by name, but there’s a good chance you’ve seen her work. In addition to shooting photos that have appeared on the cover of Fresh Cup and in numerous other publications, Chai has been commissioned to put together stage designs for the World Aeropress Championships, develop logos and branding for roasters, illustrate posters for barista competitions, and catalogue many of the coffee industry’s biggest events.

Chai grew up in Iowa City, Iowa, where she first made a connection to coffee as a giggling teenager with a barista crush. She’s learned a thing or two about coffee since, and has built wonderful relationships with industry members across the globe.

We asked Chai about her journey into coffee, some of her favorite projects, and what’s on the horizon for her multitude of talents.

This interview has been edited for clarity and space.

WHEN DID YOUR CONNECTION WITH THE COFFEE COMMUNITY BEGIN?

I would say my first real introduction to the coffee experience was as a teen. I grew up in Iowa City, and our first coffee shop, The Java House, opened in 1994. My best friend Noelle and I would go to The Java House all the time and fawn over “Justin the Java House Boy,” my first barista crush. At some point we weren’t going there any more to see Justin—we were going because it had become a place we enjoyed hanging out and having deep convo time. After I graduated college, I returned to Iowa City and found myself at The Java House almost daily. That was when the coffee shop culture had seeped into me.

WHAT WAS YOUR “AHA” COFFEE EXPERIENCE THAT GOT YOU INTERESTED IN SPECIALTY COFFEE?

P HOTO BY KA RLA J EAN DAV IS/ @M INTK AR LA

I’d have to say it was when I was living in Atlanta. Octane Coffee started brewing with V60s at their Grant Park location, and another café in Atlanta, Steady Hand Pour House, introduced the city to Chemex brewing. That’s also when I started learning what “single-origin” meant, and that different coffees tasted different. I began attending Counter Culture’s weekly Friday morning cuppings and learned so much there, including experiencing that classic “first time you cup a natural Ethiopia next to a washed Ethiopia and your head explodes and nothing is ever the same” moment.

WHEN DID ART START BECOMING YOUR PROFESSION?

I was pretty much born with a gift in art, but didn’t know how to practice it or use it. I was an art major my freshman year of college, but didn’t click with my professor so I switched majors to electronic media communications with a strong focus on multimedia and radio. I became the music director of our college radio station, and

started booking and promoting concerts and small music festivals for the station. I would design zines and punk flyers to promote the shows. I realized designing the posters and flyers for these shows was equally important to me as the show itself.

TELL ME ABOUT SOME OF THE COLLABORATIONS YOU’VE BEEN A PART OF THAT JOIN COFFEE AND DESIGN.

One of my favorites was the first project I did for Octane—this was before they hired me, it was just a freelance project. They wanted a poster printed as a gift to the staff for a Christmas/holiday party, and I had full creative freedom to surprise them. I decided to letterpress the posters as a limited-edition run of fifty, which was just barely enough for the staff. At the time, there were two main cafés on opposite sides of town: Westside and Grant Park. Each store served coffee differently—french press at Westside, and V60 at Grant Park—but they also had elements that were consistent throughout the stores.

I took this idea and made a 180-degree flippable poster so the Westside baristas who received the gift could turn it upright to the Westside side, and the Grant Park baristas could turn it to the Grant Park side.

YOU TOOK ON A MAJOR PROJECT WITH LA MARZOCCO, DRIVING CROSS COUNTRY WITH A LINEA MINI IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR MINI. TELL ME MORE ABOUT HOW THAT PROJECT CAME TO BE?

It was for kicks. It came about because I had decided to move across the country in a mini camper, being pulled by a Mini Cooper, with my miniature greyhound. I woke up one morning, and said, “There should be a Linea Mini in the camper.” So I called up some friends at La Marzocco Home and they made it happen. David LaMont installed the Linea Mini in the camper just a few days before my departure, and I drove it cross country posting photos on Instagram with the hashtag #CrossCountryCamperCoffeeCrawl. Overall I made stops at thirty-four coffee shops, and brought the machine back to the La Marzocco USA headquarters in Seattle. It was tremendous fun. I’d do it again if I could.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR LIZ CHAI AS SHE TACKLES THE WORLD OF SPECIALTY COFFEE DESIGN?

I’ve been talking about it for years, but this is the year I will finally launch my Coffee Traveler’s Journal. It’s a handheld mini book, guiding travelers to the best coffee in the city they are visiting. I don’t want to build an app—I want something made of paper that I can hold in my hands and write in, something that will become a part of the archives of the life I lived. A memento of the coffee experiences I had. The first issues will focus on the Pacific Northwest, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York or the Northeast, and Chicago or the upper Midwest. FC

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et’s be honest: looks matter. While a coffee bag’s visual elements have no effect on the roasted beans inside, design can certainly influence consumers when they make a purchase. Bags have a big job; they’re responsible for conveying information about a coffee’s origin and producer, how the coffee was processed, as well as information about the roaster, roast date, tasting notes, company values . . . the list goes on. Pack too much information on a bag and you’ll overwhelm people. Leave out important details and you might lose a purchase—or even a customer.

Thanksgiving Coffee, based in Fort Bragg, California, recently redesigned its bags, cognizant of the impact branding has on customer perception. “The first big thing that I took on was changing the perception of our name,” says Marchelo Bresciani, the company’s in-house brand manager. He says Thanksgiving has always fought confusion from customers who associate the brand with the holiday rather than the act of giving thanks, so communicating “thanksgiving” as a verb was top priority in the redesign. Bresciani opted to break up the name on the bags, putting “Thanks” and “Giving” on separate lines to help make the distinction. “People are getting it; they see that it’s about giving thanks with coffee” he says.

Thanksgiving Coffee worked with Pack Plus (out of Chino, California) to produce their new blockbottom bags. The bags are custom printed for the company’s two most popular coffees: Noyo Harbor French (fair trade and organic) and French Roast. Bresciani designed labels for Thanksgiving’s other coffee selections, which are attached to one of the pre-printed bags.

While roasters like Thanksgiving have been around for decades and have the budget to launch a custom bag, many roasters are limited in their design choices. Putting together a custom-printed, fully compostable, zipper-seal bag isn’t cheap, and is often unrealistic for new roasters—especially with a standard minimum of 10,000 bags.

Josh Bonner, owner of Foxy Coffee in Portland, Oregon, says an order that large was out of the question with its $5,000 price tag. “My budget was fifty dollars,” he says.

While Foxy graduated from brown kraft bags, their stand-up pouches still feature a paper finish with printed sticker labels. Bonner says this makes it difficult to partner with some multi-roasters, who will only supply coffee from roasters that use fully printed bags— purely for the aesthetics.

How do you go about designing packaging that says enough, but not too much? How do you convey your values in a succinct, attractive way? We talked with bag manufacturers and roasters—many who have recently launched a new design—to get insight into the process of making the perfect bag.

Let’s unroll that tin tie.

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NORTH ATLANTIC SPECIALTY BAG Best Seller North Atlantic Specialty Bag’s best seller is the side-gusset bag. This is the product that comes to mind when you think of “coffee bags.”

• Gusset bags stand upright with contents inside.

• A wide array of color choices are available in a variety of materials: fully compostable, foil, and polyester.

• Order minimum: fifty pieces.

This bag “has been on the market for 100 years [not literally]. People are used to it. They identify with it, and it has a sleek look to it,” Jeffrey Teich, president of ActivPak Inc., says.

1000 FACES COFFEE Athens, Georgia 1000 Faces’ mission has always been the same: to bridge the gap between producer and consumer. Transparency is integral to this mission, so educating consumers on coffee origins was a priority for their recent bag redesign. “We want to be the type of coffee business that’s centered around quality, but in a really accessible way,” says CEO Jan Kozak.

• Block-bottom, Biotrade bags from Pacific Bag feature a zippered opening—a change from the tin-tie bags 1000 Faces used previously.

• Bags are custom printed, and textured labels use a color-coded system to indicate origin. Reds represent coffees from the Americas, blues indicate African origins, and southeast Asian coffees get purple labels. “People connect with visual elements,” Kozak says.

• Sustainability is a priority for 1000 Faces. These bags are fully compostable, even in a home composting environment.

1000 Faces worked with their in-house design team to come up with a package that would inform customers and help the company keep a contemporary look. Concise messaging tells customers what’s in the bag and a little about the company without being overwhelming.

SAVOR BRANDS Best Seller Savor Brands doesn’t have any singular best-selling bag, rather they have two top-selling styles, and a top-selling feature.

• Quad-seal, box-bottom bags are a best seller because of how they sit on shelves.

This style is all about beautiful presentation.

• Savor introduced V-cut-bottom bags because they sit stably without contents inside, and can be printed with one set of plates rather than two.

• Savor’s best-selling feature is the pocket zipper. This feature is available with quad-seal V-cut bags and quad-seal box-bottom bags.

These combos are best sellers because of how customer friendly they are. The pocket zipper is great for coffee drinkers because it keeps coffee fresh and looks great on kitchen counters.

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SAVOR BRANDS Most High Tech Savor Brands is debuting their most high-tech bag at this year’s SCA Expo. The Pono bag “beautifully demonstrates the latest innovation in design and functionality—and how companies can use augmented reality to bring their package to life” says Noelani Kumura, Savor Brand’s director of marketing.

• Pono is made of a substrate with a buttery soft texture that’s appealing to the touch.

• Customers can scan the bag to open a video telling coffee’s story from farm to cup for each varietal.

• Order minimum: 10,000 bags.

CITY OF SAINTS COFFEE ROASTERS Brooklyn, New York City of Saints is located in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The colorful industrial neighborhood is covered in murals, many by local artists who belong to the Bushwick Collective. City of Saints has murals by some of these artists—including Mr. Nerds and Dasic Fernandez—inside their roastery, and used them as inspiration for their packaging, a vacuum-sealed bag housed in a sturdy cardboard box.

• Joe Palozzi, City of Saints’ VP of operations, says they wanted a distinctive, solid, reusable package that looked great sitting on the kitchen counter. Quality four-color printing was also a priority to showcase the artwork.

• The boxes feature minimal information, since each box gets an information card with additional notes about the coffee.

• City of Saints partnered with Grey Packaging to produce the boxes, and Pack Plus for the bags inside.

Palozzi says they’ve always used boxes, but will soon launch a block-bottom version of their twelve-ounce packaging to offer a better price point to customers.

SAVOR BRANDS Services Savor Brand’s suite of services focuses on customization. They call themselves a “specialty printer offering customized packaging.”

• Savor uses a rotogravure printing system that delivers a polished, highly functional, fully customized bag at a cost-effective price point.

• Clients can customize every detail, including size and substrate, design and printing effects, and zipper and valve placement.

Customization is key—and using Savor’s suite of services, your bag will be beautiful, potentially buttery-smooth, and customer friendly.

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PERC COFFEE ROASTERS Savannah, Georgia For roasters who sell coffee in cafés and other retail outlets—like Whole Foods—considering how bags will be perceived on the shelf is a major driver for design. Perc owner Philip Brown describes the ideal bag as one that “sits proud on the shelf.” The company looked to bring the brand together in their recent redesign, using the same colors and design elements across their bags, website, and merchandise.

• Brown wanted the bags to be playful and serious to match the vibe of the company.

“I liked the idea of keeping things super simple and clean,” Brown says.

• The bag from Savor Brands features Perc’s new logo (which emphasizes they’re a coffee company), along with an asymmetrical color-block pattern.

• This bag is slightly wider than Perc’s old bags, making it easier to fit a grinder nozzle into the top. The flat bottom and zipper seal are also part of Perc’s focus on usability. Brown says the zipper seal is huge for keeping coffee fresh.

Brand voice was a major consideration in the bag design. Brown is keenly aware of how easily people lose interest with too much information, so he wanted a succinct message to convey their personality and values. The side panel of the bag reads, “We source insanely awesome coffees, roast them with all the love in our bones, and we’re super excited to share them with you.”

PACIFIC BAG High Tech Bags have a slow evolution, but every ten years or so, a new package format comes on the market. The most recent development for Pacific has been the development of the block-bottom bag (BBB).

• Four distinct panels give it a strong, crisp presence.

• The block bottom is display friendly and showcases bag art.

• “Side panels can be made out of an entirely different substrate from the front, back, and bottom of the bag, giving you an edgy look over the traditional square or oval window on the front or back of the bag,” says Kelle Vandenberg, Pacific’s vice president of marketing and communications.

This bag combines the best features of two packaging formats—the side-gusset bag, and the stand-up pouch.

RHETORIC COFFEE Oakland, California Rhetoric is a subscription coffee service offering something unique to their customers—bag art that rotates every two weeks.

• Jonathan La Mantia was the first artist to be featured on the bags, which established the “look” of Rhetoric’s bag art. The art submission process has become more streamlined over time, so the company now has a regular schedule of accepting and commissioning art.

• Rhetoric values sustainability, offering smaller bag sizes to discourage customer waste. Bags are fully compostable (without the tin tie).

• A screen printer burns the screens for the bags (supplied by Knoxville Wraps), which are then printed by Rhetoric in house.

Rhetoric treats every roast as a new release; a new piece of art is just one element. The company also compiles a newsletter for each release, discussing the art and artist, as well as the beans, their origin, and the playlist they listened to while roasting.

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JUNIOR’S ROASTED COFFEE Portland, Oregon Caryn and Mike Nelson are the founders of recently launched Junior’s Roasted Coffee. The brand itself is a concept based around the idea “Junior” is the Nelson’s offspring, so designer Elizabeth Chai ran with the concept in her bag design, using a child’s limitless imagination as inspiration.

• The bags were ordered through Pacific Bag; while the minimum order is 10,000, Junior’s was able to split the order into multiple designs, which gave Chai even more room to be creative. “I really pushed for the stand-up pouches because they offer more visual real estate,” Chai says.

• Junior’s is built on relationships with specific farms, so Chai made plans for each farm to have its own design and color to help customers draw the connections to origin.

• A strong focus on education and science-minded research helped seal the bag’s atomic retro styling. Chai used a vintage biology textbook illustrated

by Charley Harper as inspiration.

Environmentally responsible packaging was another priority area for the Nelson’s, but one they had to compromise on due to cost. Their first print run will use lined paper stand-up pouches; as the company builds a stronger foundation they’ll pursue more sustainable packaging options and water-based inks.

PACIFIC BAG Best Seller For the last thirty years, Pacific’s best-selling bag has been the same—the five-pound, silver sidegusset bag. According to Vandenberg, most of the coffee tonnage moving in the US market is in five-pound bags.

• Vandenberg calls the side gusset bag the“granddaddy of coffee packaging.”

• This package is the standard format for coffee bags—it stands up with contents inside.

• Fully customizable, including tin tie application, special valve placement, and a slew of printing methods.

Unprinted, off-the-shelf products (of which Pacific has 400), have a one-case minimum. Pacific also sells their products through Amazon, making them the most easily accessible bag manufacturers we’ve encountered.

SWEET BLOOM COFFEE ROASTERS Lakewood, Colorado “When we opened, the first bags we created were tall and narrow and fell over easily on a shelf, which drove me crazy,” says Sweet Bloom owner Andy Sprenger.

• Sweet Bloom now uses custom-printed, block-bottom bags from Pacific Bag; labels are chosen from a palette of fifteen colors and are customizable in house.

• The company partnered with designers from Denver’s The Made Shop. “Their work is highly regarded and creativity oozes from their pores,” Sprenger says.

“Our goal was to create a beautiful bag that really stood out on a shelf, and one which our wholesale customers would be proud to display.”

JUNIOR’ S P HOTO BY ELIZ ABETH CHA I

• The Made Shop extended the botanical theme of Sweet Bloom’s original bag design so it was more apparent the company name refers to a coffee flower. Sprenger’s wife, Laurel, created an etching of a single coffee branch with berries and flowers that was turned into a wallpaper-like pattern by the design team.

Sprenger says they opted for minimal verbiage on the label, knowing customers could get additional information from their website (also designed by The Made Shop). Labels include the coffee name, region and country, main taste descriptors, and process. “Our next step will be looking into packaging that can be recycled,” Sprenger says. FC

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T

hink back to the last time you saw milk on tap in a coffee shop. Chances are you’ve only seen it once, if ever at all. Why are sightings in the wild so rare? Strict health codes can make these systems difficult to get past inspections, especially in the United States. Installing a system can also be dauntingly complex, from finding the right dairy partner, to allocating refrigeration space, to determining a proper cleaning regimen. Challenges aside, there are plenty of reasons to explore a tap system for your café—starting with the fact they’re just plain cool.

Milk tap systems come ready-made from companies like Juggler and Crathco. Juggler uses an under-counter refrigeration unit that feeds into countertop taps. Crathco calls on a more traditional dispensing system, utilizing an array of countertop tanks for liquid storage. A few café owners have taken a more engineered approach for streamlining the milk dispensing process, like Ipsento 606 in Chicago, Illinois. Ipsento uses beer tap lines and kegs (housed in the basement) to deliver four types of milk and milk alternatives to lines of taps next to their two Slayer espresso machines (pictured).

Is a milk tap right for your business? Great question. We’ve put together some considerations for why milk on tap might be the perfect fit for your café—or the biggest logistical nightmare you’ve ever faced. As you read, consider your shop’s daily traffic flow, the square-footage you’ve got to work with, and your staff roster.

Go For It! Seven Reasons Milk Taps Are the S@#% 1. Efficiency on bar. With milk easily accessible from a tap on bar, baristas can multitask more easily, cutting down on the time it takes to put drinks in the hands of customers.

2. Ergonomics. While every café is different, it’s pretty common to store milk in fridges under the bar, which means lots of bending down for baristas. Tap systems eliminate this need.

3. Reduced waste. For cafés able to order milk in bulk, dispensers cut way down on plastic waste. Ipsento owner Tim Taylor says the taps also allow more precise measurements, which significantly reduces milk waste.

4. Aesthetics. Shiny tap heads look a heck of a lot prettier than plastic milk cartons, providing an added “crowd-pleaser” factor. Dispensing systems are visually streamlined, which appeals to the minimalist design aesthetic popular in many cafés.

5. Customer service. All that time spent fumbling over milk jugs can be channeled into customer interactions (and explaining all the cool features of your milk system).

6. Innovation. Integrating milk taps requires creativity and ingenuity. While many customers won’t notice their milk streaming from tap heads, the novelty of these systems creates an attraction for coffee enthusiasts drawn to cool café features.

7. Collaboration. You’re going to need some help getting your system in place, which opens the door for new relationships. Ipsento partnered with Micromatic to wire their system; Taylor says the experience was a valuable learning opportunity for both parties.

P HOTO C OURTESY OF IPSENTO

Where to See a Milk Tap in Action BEER TAP SYSTEM

MOO BAR

THE JUGGLER

Ipsento 606—Chicago, Illinois (US)

Danes Specialty Coffee—Queensland,

Phil & Sebastian—Calgary, Alberta (CAN)

CHILL BRIGHT SYSTEM Gossip Coffee—Astoria, New York (US)

South Australia, and New South Wales, Australia (AU)

Toby’s Estate—Barangaroo, New South Wales (AU)

Patricia—Melbourne, Victoria (AU) Skittle Lane—Sydney, New South Wales (AU)

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Oh, Heck No! Seven Reasons Milk Taps are the Worst 1. Availability. The Juggler is still nearly exclusive to Australia; they’re working on electrical compliance and food safety standards for the United States. Beer tap systems likely require custom work from beer experts—like the glycol system Ipsento uses to chill their lines—or at least some serious consulting hours (see reason 3).

2. Footprint. More conventional systems (like the old-school Crathco) are designed for countertop positioning, hogging valuable real estate without enhancing your overall aesthetic. Out-of-sight systems still require storage space for kegs and refrigeration units.

3. Cost. Purchasing a tap system, expanding your back-ofhouse refrigeration, and ensuring FDA compliance isn’t cheap. Neither is continued work with technicians or consultants for systems that require troubleshooting or routine upkeep.

4. Milk packaging. Without high order volumes and a good relationship with your dairy partner, acquiring milk in the proper volume and packaging is difficult. The Juggler works with ten-liter bladders of milk, while Ipsento’s system uses five-gallon kegs. Ipsento’s original dairy partnership fell through, so they’re still hand-transferring single gallons to fill each keg.

5. Lifespan. Milk is perishable, so it’s risky to have a high volume of product unless you have the foot traffic to support fast turnover. Taylor says they’ve gotten a rhythm down with their kegs of skim and whole milk, but still have trouble with their almond and coconut milks, which have a short shelf life once opened.

6. Cleaning. Keeping milk taps clean is hard work. A system like Ipsento’s requires tubing to be regularly flushed, in addition to bi-weekly cleanings from equipment technicians.

7. Health code compliance. It’s fairly common for portions of tap lines to be unrefrigerated, which doesn’t fly well when milk is the liquid passing through (especially when trying to comply with US health codes). After doing extra work to bring your system to code (again, see number 3), there’s no guarantee of passing inspections.

We’re by no means milk tap naysayers (we happen to think they’re awesome), but we do want to bring pragmatism to the discussion table. For smaller cafés, it may not make any sense to undergo the expense of installing a tap system— grabbing milk from the reach-in fridge isn’t the most taxing part of a barista’s day, nor does it mandate a costly fix. But for high-volume cafés with square-footage to spare, a tap system may be a perfectly sensible solution to usher your business to new levels of efficiency and visual appeal. FC

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P HOTO BY LANC E ASP ER

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PANTHER COFFEE Jump-starting Miami’s specialty scene wasn’t the idea when Joel and Leticia Pollock dreamed of creating their own coffee company. Joel had worked in coffee in Portland, Oregon; Leticia had worked in Portland and her native Brazil. Together, they wanted to do coffee their way—they just didn’t know where. While vacationing in Miami, they saw their opportunity.

“The first thing we noticed when we came to Miami on vacation was that we wanted to go to a coffee shop and read the newspaper and there was no local coffee shop.

None,” Leticia says. “There was no local, specialty roaster.”

The Pollocks were further motivated by coffee’s widespread popularity in the city: even without a specialty scene, coffee was king in Miami.

Cuban-style espresso drinks were most popular. Customer favorites include the Café Cubano, made from a shot of espresso whipped with a lot of sugar, the cortado (steamed milk and espresso), and the cortadito (espresso, sugar, and steamed or evaporated milk). Often made from pre-ground industrially roasted coffee, these drinks are also cheap.

“There was a lot of Cuban coffee,” Leticia says. “We noticed that people

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love coffee and that people drink coffee all of the time, but no one was doing coffee the way we were planning on doing it.”

In 2010, Joel and Leticia started Panther Coffee, the city’s first smallbatch specialty coffee roaster, retailer, and wholesaler. The flagship café opened in the then-transitional and now artsy Wynwood neighborhood, and has become a meeting place for the creative community.

Stepping up the local game meant introducing a higher-quality product that was locally roasted and manually brewed. They tapped the producer relationships they had forged over the years and came up with a selection of single-origins, as well as two signature espresso blends. The East Coast blend is chocolate-forward and fullbodied, while the West Coast blend uses African coffees for more acidity and a sparkling, floral flavor.

Panther roasts on a vintage ten-kilo Probat Perfekt from the twenties.

Their menu includes a variety of brew methods, including Chemex, french press, Kalita Wave, and BKON— even their own take on Cuban-style espresso drinks. “We stay true to what we came to the table with, but we added a cortado and a cortadito to the menu. It’s our version of what

that would be. We don’t put sugar in the espresso,” Joel says.

Educating their customers about what they were doing differently was part of getting off the ground. “That’s true of any market. It’s not necessarily unique to Miami but we definitely had a little bit of education work to do. We do that on a daily basis. We make it about our coffee program, where we’re buying coffee, how we roast it, and how we prepare it. We do a lot of training in house,” Joel says.

Staying faithful to their core ideas but remaining flexible enough to understand their customers’ preferences have been the keys to Panther’s success. “It’s very important to respect your consumer,” Leticia says. “At first, we didn’t think we were going to have too many food items. We added empanadas and quiche and a few things that would cater to the palette of our customers. We created the East Coast and the West Coast blends for different palettes. It’s important not to be a snob about it.”

A three-time Good Food Award winner, Panther has locations in Miami Beach at Sunset Harbour and Coconut Grove. This year, they’ll open a new café and roastery headquarters in Little Haiti, and a café in the MiMo district.

P HOTO BY CH RIS TIA N M EJIA

PANTHER’S FLAGSHIP CAFÉ in the Wynwood neighborhood.

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ETERNITY COFFEE ROASTERS

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CHRIS JOHNSON working on the San Franciscan at Eternity Coffee Roasters.

during the grinding process. We smell the fragrance and evaluate the fragrance at that moment versus the cupping notes that we have on the blackboard,” Johnson says. “We’re explaining the whole process over and over again.”

Eternity keeps things fresh by experimenting with new flavors, such as the nitro cold-brew infused with pomegranate. “We also do a

Toxic Tonic, which is tonic water and espresso. We’re in a tropical climate so the market is looking for some cold drinks,” Johnson says.

The city’s palate continues to evolve. “Miami is in a renaissance right now,” Johnson says. “For everything from specialty coffee, to restaurants that are doing elevated cuisine, to craft beer, to art. It’s going to continue to grow.”

PH OTO S BY GIOVANNI ZELKO

About a month after Panther opened, Eternity Coffee Roasters debuted a downtown café, fueled only by a pour-over bar.

Co-owner Chris Johnson was planning to open his coffee company back home in the Bay Area when he had a revelation. “While I was living in Miami and working on the business plan, I kept going to Starbucks.

I thought, ‘This is so ironic.’ I pieced together then that Miami was really devoid of some of the things that we’ve had in every other city that I’ve lived in. It just hadn’t been so blatant to me.”

Johnson had gained years of experience working with a coffee importer.

For Eternity, he teamed up with coowner Cristina Garces, whose family owns Finca La Eternidad in Antioquia and supplies the company’s Colombian beans. Eternity also sources from other producers across Latin America and Africa.

Johnson roasts in-store on a twenty-five-pound San Franciscan for clients that include the local French café MIAM and thirty Whole Foods stores across Florida. In the Eternity café, drinks are made on the custom steel pour-over bar Johnson designed to accommodate up to seven simultaneous Hario V60s.

Starting out, educating customers about how slow brewing works was critical. “I think there was a chance if we hadn’t done it well that people wouldn’t have come back,” Johnson says. “We had to execute with a high level of quality for the product, high level of quality for the service, and education for people who are like, ‘Whatever, just give me a cup of coffee.’”

In addition to doing regular public cuppings, Johnson says baristas engage customers in daily teaching opportunities. “It’s an ongoing process of educating customers. We explain while we’re preparing their drink; we’ll explain what happens

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ALL DAY Camila Ramos’s All Day opened in May 2016. Located in the Park West neighborhood, it’s a coffee bar and restaurant with a menu showcasing farm-fresh eggs.

All Day’s drink-ordering system helps customers hone in on exactly what they want. Baristas walk customers through a series of questions to determine whether they prefer espresso, manual brew, drip coffee, a milk pairing, or another offering. Additional questions help select the size of the drink and preferred texture— microfoam isn’t a mandate.

“We see it as a flowchart. It’s not like we say, here’s every single option you can order. That would be overwhelming. We guide customers,” Ramos says.

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Being in an international city, Ramos finds that customers have varying ideas about how drinks such as a cappuccino or a latte should be prepared based on their own experiences. She wants to get it right.

For the ordering system to work baristas have to be highly trained, explains Ramos, who formerly worked as a barista, educator, and manager with Panther Coffee. “[Our] system allows us to really find out what somebody is looking for and what their preferences are in flavor and texture, and also it allows us to have a conversation with the customer,” Ramos says. “We’re asking, ‘what are you really looking for and how can we make this special for you?’”

Drinks are prepared on the custom five-group La Marzocco Strada (a twogroup EP and three-group EE), which gets plenty of use. “Miami is a city that is very espresso heavy. In most other specialty coffee shops in the US your main concern is how are we going to make this many pour-overs.

We’re able to make our pour-overs because we don’t really get orders for them that often,” Ramos says.

Seasonal features include cold-brew mixed with rosemary limeade, and the Royal Tea, a cascara-based milk tea.

Customers can also order a cupping flight, consisting of three samples from the multi-roaster program, which includes Ruby Coffee Roasters, Toby’s Estate, Kuma Coffee, and local roaster Per’La.

PH OTO S C OURTESY O F ALL DAY

ALL DAY offers many specialty drinks including a rosemary limeade cold-brew (far left, center), and the Winter Solstice (top right) which includes a double shot of espresso, black tea, winter spices, and orange.

PER’LA SPECIALTY ROASTERS

Per’La roasts on a fifteen-kilo Loring Falcon in South Miami’s Bird Road Art District. They create custom blends and offer highly ranked single-origin coffees to clients that include boutique hotels, restaurants, and coffee shops that prioritize creative cuisine.

“Helping the city grow from a culinary aspect is something that we place the focus on,” Nolte says.

Per’La’s owners want to be exemplars for customer service, which they say the city lacks. “Our customers are often surprised about how present we are on accounts, but it’s really important to us to have a coffee partnership,” Nolte says.

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ROASTING BEA NS P HOTO C O UR TESY OF THE SETAI HOTE L; A LL OTHER PHOTO S C OUR TE SY OF P ER’L A SPE CI ALTY ROASTE RS

In a city without a strong culture of customer service, Per’La seeks to be the exception. Paul Massard, a certified Q grader, and Chris Nolte are the managing partners of Per’La Specialty Roasters. Massard gained experience as a green coffee buyer and as the director of operations for two coffee farms in Hawaii. Nolte’s background is in business development and branding.

Friends since attending the University of Miami, Massard and Nolte used their diverse skills to form the roastery in 2015.

PARTNERSHIPS: Paul Massard (left) and Chris Nolte pride themselves on customer service.

They also offer training to their wholesale clients. They provide barista training sessions for all interested staff, as often as necessary, and encourage clients to come to the roastery to check out the operation and learn about their process.

Education is critical for both growing their business and moving the specialty scene forward. “As we continue the education and teach companies what great coffee is, they’re going to go out and share that with their friends. If that spreads like a web we hopefully will have our pool of specialty coffee drinkers growing, which will then elevate the coffee level in general in Miami,” Massard says.

Over the past seven years, specialty coffee has taken root in Miami. Small specialty roasters continue to open; Alaska Coffee has been in Miami for several years, and Blue Bottle announced plans to open two shops this year.

Panther’s Joel Pollock says he’s not surprised by the continued growth. “It’s almost cliché to say, but I think that what we’ll have is a coffee market of more and more specialty coffee drinkers because once you start drinking higher-quality coffee it’s really hard to go back to anything else. It becomes a very basic part of people’s daily routines.” FC

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ush countryside, rolling rivers and an active, majestic volcano are among the indelible sights adorning Turrialba, a small city in Costa Rica’s Central Valley. Nestled in this charming origin landscape is a white-and-red, Mission-style building that may be one of the most important institutions to the future of coffee. This sprawling entity is the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (better known as CATIE)—an institute devoted to agricultural development and biological conservation—and among its prized holdings is a gene bank of seeds of nearly 2,000 varieties of coffee.

Gene banks like the one at CATIE are the recipient of increased attention in recent years, as rising temperatures and other symptoms of our changing planet have raised questions about coffee producers’ ability to grow a sustainable supply

Coffee gene banks have had a direct effect on the diversity and vibrancy of the coffee we drink—the revered gesha variety wouldn’t have been discovered without CATIE’s role in preservation. of coffee. Gene banks preserve coffee’s genetic resources, providing source material researchers can draw on to potentially breed the coffee varieties of the future.

Maintaining these gene banks is the focus of the Global Conservation Strategy for Coffee, a recent partnership between World Coffee Research and Global Crop Diversity Trust (better known as Crop Trust) to ensure coffee’s diversity. With coffee’s genetic resources being lost at a rapid pace, the strategy aims to unite the industry to preserve this precious material. As World Coffee Research Executive Director Tim Schilling puts it, “We have to step up and take control of the genetic resources that dictate the limits and open the possibilities for the future of our industry.”

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PRESERVATION IN THE BANK An estimated 125 million people in over seventy countries depend on the coffee value chain for their livelihoods, and those on the production side have seen higher temperatures, droughts, diseases, and a host of other climate-related factors contribute to decreased yields and quality. In 2016, the Climate Institute released the report A Brewing Storm, presenting a stark forecast for coffee’s future: “Climate change is projected to cut the global area suitable for coffee production by as much as 50 percent by 2050,” it read.

Further challenging coffee’s future is the fact that arabica—the species behind specialty coffee production—has become extremely “genetically constricted.” This constriction is largely due to arabica’s history, as most of the varieties grown today descend from a handful of plants that left Yemen on colonial trade routes. Also contributing to the loss of genetic diversity is the centuries-long tendency of coffee producers to gravitate toward cultivating arabica that performs well in cup quality and yield. “What that means is that arabica has become very susceptible to the same issues,” says Brian Lainoff, lead partnerships coordinator of Crop Trust.

With more genetic diversity comes more options for surviving these issues; World Coffee Research’s Hanna Neuschwander offers the analogy of a toolbox. “You can do a little with a hammer, but you can do a lot more with a hammer, a wrench, and a screwdriver,” she says. “The more genetic diversity, the bigger the toolbox for solving problems that come along.” The gene bank might just be the ultimate toolbox for building coffee’s durability.

So how do gene banks work? For the world’s crops, gene banks house seeds from an extensive assortment of varieties, including both active varieties and those no longer found. Gene banks conserve and catalogue these varieties, and share them with: • Plant breeders, who cross-breed varieties with other species to attempt to develop new varieties that can survive in increasingly harsh climate conditions or other future challenges (e.g., the emergence of a new disease).

• Farmers, who can request samples of crops to see how they fare under conditions on their farms.

A 2016 article in Yale Environment 360 called these facilities “the lifeblood of the international agricultural community,” and this work is indeed vitally important to ensuring the world’s food

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supply. “Take rice, for example,” says Lainoff of Crop Trust. “There are 200,000 varieties of rice, so it’s actually quite a large genetic base. But a plus-one degree temperature increase equals a minus-2 percent yield per decade. That could mean global famine, or it could mean problems for farmers around the world.”

While coffee may be considered more of a luxury product than a subsistence crop, it does account for the livelihood of hundreds of millions, not to mention a total world market estimated at over $173 billion by the International Coffee Organization.

And coffee gene banks have had a direct effect on the diversity and vibrancy of the coffee we drink—the revered gesha variety wouldn’t have been discovered without CATIE’s role in preservation. (See sidebar on page 80 for the full story.)

A STRATEGY FOR PRESERVATION Seeing the vital role of gene banks to coffee’s future, World Coffee Research partnered with Crop Trust and launched the Global Conserva-

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tion Strategy for Coffee. Leading the strategy is Sarada Krishnan, director of horticulture and the Center for Global Initiatives at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The strategy’s goal is to: • Shore up funding and resources for key coffee gene banks.

• Ensure accessibility of bank resources.

To the first point: maintaining gene banks is incredibly expensive.

While most grain crops are stored through freezing—a measure taken so crops can last hundreds of years and still be planted again to yield new crops—this is not the case with coffee. Because it’s a tropical crop, coffee is preserved in expensiveto-maintain “field” gene banks that house row after row of coffee trees— called accessions.

Unfortunately, many of coffee’s most important gene banks are struggling, and as a result, some of the genetic resources they contain are being lost as trees die for lack of upkeep. While CATIE and other gene banks in Latin America are relatively sophisticated, they still lack the funds needed to fully maintain their

facilities, losing trees every year in consequence.

Other gene banks are in more dire need—take the Kianjavato Coffee Research Station in Madagascar, which has a skeleton crew, insufficient tools, and antiquated recordkeeping methods. “They have not had resources to maintain it and so it has gone into disrepair,” Krishnan says. “A lot of the countries that hold these gene banks are resource-poor countries, and when the government doesn’t see immediate results coming out then they don’t see the need to support them.”

To the second point, the Global Conservation Strategy for Coffee aims to develop a global database— not dissimilar to a library system— to make both information and the plants themselves accessible between gene banks and to researchers and breeders. At present, most of these facilities keep records of their holdings on paper, and those that are digitized—CATIE in Costa Rica, for example—aren’t accessible online.

“Even though some of these gene banks are keeping these materials, nobody is really sharing or knows

PH OTO S C OURTESY O F WO RLD C OFFEE R ESE ARC H

MADAGASCAR’S gene bank

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PH OTO S C OURTESY O F WO RLD C OFFEE R ESE ARC H

BABIES AT THE BANK: A container filled with coffee starts at the CATIE facility in Turrialba, Costa Rica.

what the other gene banks have,” Krishnan says. “There’s limited value in conserving these genetic resources if they’re not going to be used.” CATIE is the only gene bank in coffee that participates in the International Plant Treaty, meaning its collection is available for researchers around to world to use. Says William Solano, a genetic resources researcher at CATIE in Costa Rica: “We made this decision considering the importance to humanity of protecting and conserving plant genetic resources for future generations.”

Through the Global Conservation Strategy for Coffee, the partners hope to bring other gene banks into the practice of sharing information and plant material. In embarking on this process, the first step was for the partners to reach out to the thirty coffee gene banks in producing countries around the world. They sent out surveys to discover the facilities’ holdings, maintenance routines, accession methodologies, data storage techniques, and much more. What they found confirmed significant potential for increased sharing: according to the survey, only 1 percent of coffee germplasm resources are being used by researchers outside their host country each year.

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How a coffee gene bank led to the rediscovery of gesha erhaps no story illustrates the importance of gene banks to coffee more than the tale of gesha, the beloved variety renowned for its complex floral aromatics and stunning brightness. Gesha burst onto the specialty coffee scene in 2004 when Hacienda La Esmeralda, an estate based in Boquete, Panama, took the top prize in the Best of Panama competition. Its amazing gesha has since become an institution in specialty coffee, fetching high prices year after year for its coveted cup, while coffee producers around the world have planted gesha and reaped the delicious rewards.

But gesha wouldn’t have taken root at Hacienda La Esmeralda without the presence of a coffee gene bank—specifically, the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Costa Rica. Native to Ethiopia, gesha was originally collected on an expedition in the 1930s by British Consul Richard Whalley. The variety made its way to CATIE in the 1950s; in the 1960s, a Panamanian government employee named Pachi Serasin was sent to CATIE to find new coffee varieties. He returned to Panama with three or four varieties—one of which was gesha—and distributed it to farms in Boquete. One of the lucky recipients was Hacienda La Esmeralda, though it would take a while for anyone to realize the power of the variety.

Price Peterson and his family bought Hacienda La Esmeralda in 1997, and Price says that at the time, the farm produced a “generally good coffee” rather than an extraordinary one. In the early 2000s, the farm’s trees faced an outbreak of a fungal infection, and Price’s son Daniel noticed that one variety appeared to be less affected by the outbreak. This variety was gesha, and though the trees at Esmeralda were low-yielding and not outstanding in the cup, Daniel had the idea to plant gesha at a spot on the farm with much higher altitude (around 1,600 meters), suspecting this new placement could extend the coffee’s ripening time to create additional sweetness and acidity.

The rest, as they say, is history, as the Petersons uncovered the outstanding quality potential of the amazing variety.

CATIE’s role as conserver of resources directly contributed to gesha’s eventual discovery and worldwide celebration. Since finding gesha through CATIE, the Petersons have returned many times to the gene bank to attempt to unearth other hidden treasures, trying as many as 400 different varieties. “Once gesha came out, my idea was there has to be something better than that,” says Price Peterson. “But we haven’t found anything that tastes better than gesha.” Still, the Petersons view CATIE as an invaluable resource to specialty coffee. “The gene bank at CATIE has been incredibly important to us,” Price says. “We need to depend on these gene banks to keep our genetic diversity going.”

PH OTO C OURTESY O F WO RLD CO FFEE RESEARC H

After sixteen gene banks responded, Krishnan and the team determined seven facilities that would provide a well-rounded representation of the world’s gene banks.

They then hit the road, visiting coffee gene banks in Madagascar, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Brazil for an on-the-ground assessment of each gene bank. The team used these visits to pen a strategy document, of which Krishnan is lead author, along with Dr. Paula Bramel of the Crop Trust. “The document identifies the threats of all these gene banks, and then it talks about some of the high-priority action items that need to happen to protect these coffee genetic resources for the future,” Krishnan says.

The document is scheduled to be finished in April and released at the Specialty Coffee Association’s Global Specialty Coffee Expo in Seattle.

(Krishnan and Crop Trust Executive Director Marie Haga will present about the project and the document’s findings at the Re:co Symposium in advance of the event.) World Coffee Research and Crop Trust will then lead fundraising efforts to create the means necessary to enact the preservation work. “Our hope is that the entire industry will get on board to support the strategy,” says Krishnan.

“It’s not just the producing countries—the entire coffee community needs to be part of this. It impacts all of us who depend on coffee.”

Amid doom and gloom prognostications of coffee’s future, the industry has the opportunity to collaborate to take concrete actions to preserve coffee’s genetic diversity and potentially create the varieties that provide the sustainability answers the industry sorely needs.

“Coffee could very well depend on this diversity,” says Lainoff of Crop Trust. “The plant is the foundation of the coffee trade. We can’t forget that, and we must do everything we can to preserve it.” FC

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P HOTO BY JOEL SHULER

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ithin the specialty coffee industry, the emergence of Myanmar as a coffee origin is currently a popular subject, and rightfully so. The situation is unique: after generations of relative isolation, the country is reconnecting with the rest of the world.

Coffee, as it has done many times throughout history, is once again creating opportunities for those connections, and providing one lens through which the world can get to know this complicated nation in a time of transition.

Much of what the rest of the world knows of the Myanmar coffee industry relates to work funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). As part of a five-year rural development project focused on improving agricultural value chains in Myanmar, USAID awarded funds to the implementing non-profit organization, Winrock International, which has partnered with the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) to support Myanmar’s coffee professionals as they make a name for themselves in the global specialty coffee scene.

From agronomy workshops with smallholder farmers, to barista trainings in growing cities, to national strategizing meetings with industry leaders, this initiative aims to encourage inclusive growth and has brought international attention to the coffees of Myanmar.

While the financial support, know-how, and access to markets provided by these organizations is vital, they support an industry that has long existed in Myanmar. Here is an introduction to some of the local people who make up the coffee industry in Myanmar, and their thoughts on what role specialty coffee might have in their future.

These interviews have been edited for clarity and space.

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MYA MYA AYE and MYO THET HTUN Mya Mya Aye and Myo Thet Htun are key employees of the Mandalay Coffee Group (MCG), the largest coffee mill and specialty coffee–focused exporter in Myanmar. Mya Mya Aye handles many administrative duties, works with the warehouse supervisor to make sure every MCG lot is properly sampled, and green grades, roasts, and cups on a daily basis. Myo Thet Htun, better known by his nickname Moe Set, oversees the pulping, drying, and dry milling of the coffee. Together they manage nearly fifty workers during harvest season, and they have been with MCG since the processing plant opened in mid-2015.

THE POWER COUPLE: Myo Thet Htun (left) and Mya Mya Aye work for the Mandalay Coffee Group.

Mya Mya Aye and Moe Set are from Meiktila and Myingyan respectively, both in Myanmar’s central dry zone. They met while working for the same company in June of 2013, and married in November of 2014. The couple lives on the MCG premises, and much of the specialty coffee produced in Myanmar passes under their eyes, be it on a spreadsheet and in the cup with Mya Mya Aye, or in the process of transforming the cherries into the highest possible quality green coffee beans with Moe Set. This year MCG took first prize in the “dry naturals” category of the annual Myanmar Coffee Association (MCA) competition for cup quality, with international judges giving a record-breaking score of 89.58 points.

MS: My wife’s sister works at the small factory of a local coffee roaster here in Pyin Oo Lwin, and when the MCG board of directors was looking for people to operate this new processing center, she recommended us through that roaster. Before we joined MCG, I was teaching math, physics, and chemistry to students in grade eight to ten, and

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PH OTO S BY J OEL SHULER

How did you start to work with MCG?

Mya Mya Aye was an accountant. We didn’t have any coffee knowledge at first, but we have learned a lot from MCG’s directors, and the experts we’ve met through CQI. Now we believe that coffee is really interesting and we are working hard to make a good product.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of working in coffee as compared to other jobs available? Why is specialty coffee unique or interesting to you?

MMA: One disadvantage to our work is that during harvest season we have very little or no holiday, and if one of us is resting the other needs to be available to supervise the workers. But as MCG is becoming more established and systematic in the way we do things, it is more possible for us to set things in motion and take a couple days for visiting family together without worrying too much.

MS: Specialty coffee is so great in quality that everyone is pleased when they drink it or learn about the background story of the dedicated work involved in producing it. If the mill is not too busy I sometimes take a moment to participate in cuppings, and I’m learning how green [unripe] cherries feel dry in the cup, or how inconsistent drying on the patio can lead to a moldy flavor. This motivates me to make sure our processing work is careful because I don’t want anyone to taste Myanmar coffee and have a bad flavor.

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GREEN LAND ESTATE owner Sai Wan Maing.

SAI WAN MAING Sai Wan Maing is the owner of Green Land Estate, one of the largest and most respected coffee farms in Myanmar. Sai Wan started Green Land in 1999, planting thirty acres of coffee outside of Pyin Oo Lwin. Four years later, he was named Outstanding Coffee Grower by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Over the years, coffee production has expanded at Green Land, and today over 430 acres are under production. Last year, one of Green Land’s coffees won the second annual MCA competition for cup quality, and Sai Wan also became one of the first Q arabica graders in Myanmar.

Many people in Myanmar prefer tea or three-inone instant coffee, but I grew up with pure coffee— I always enjoyed drinking coffee. When I was young, my family would travel from Yangon to visit relatives in Northern Shan, and I remember enjoying the peaceful nature of the coffee farms we passed along the way. When the government started leasing land around Pyin Oo Lwin at low rates, we decided to expand from other businesses and try coffee.

Everything has grown since then.

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How did you become interested in coffee?

What are some of the challenges ahead, both for Green Land and for the emerging specialty coffee industry in Myanmar?

Low yields are one of the biggest challenges both for Green Land and for other smaller estate farms in Myanmar. Most of the small farms in Myanmar produce very low yields, which makes it difficult for them to cover the cost of production. Another challenge for Myanmar will be the growth of the specialty coffee industry in neighboring China.

Myanmar is undergoing a period of substantial political change.

How has this change impacted coffee growing?

Even as recently as four to five years ago, there was not much demand for coffee, and very little differentiation for higher quality coffee. The fact is that there were just not that many buyers—mostly local buyers, as well as some from China and Thailand. Together with

the support of USAID, Winrock International, the CQI, and local partners like Sithar Coffee, we are bringing coffee education to the local market here in Myanmar, and access to foreign markets in the United States, Switzerland, France, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and others.

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AGRONOMIST and senior program officer with Winrock International, Ko Ko Win (above in center, below at right) wants to help growers improve their yields and product quality.

KO KO WIN Ko Ko Win is an agronomist and a senior program officer with Winrock International, working with smallholder growers to improve both coffee yields and quality. He graduated from Yezin Agricultural University in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science, and after graduation began working for the Ministry of Agriculture as an agronomist. In 2004 he was selected to study in Israel, focusing on high technology fresh vegetable production using greenhouses and fertigation. In 2010 Win was awarded a scholarship by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to pursue a master’s degree in agriculture and rural development in South Korea.

How did you get involved in coffee?

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As an agronomist with experience in specialty coffee production, what areas of Myanmar do you think have potential for producing high quality specialty coffees?

Coffee production areas that are currently moving towards specialty level include Ywar Ngan and Pin Laung (Southern Shan), Pyin Oo Lwin and Mogok (Mandalay Division), and parts of Chin State. There are also lots of areas with potential that have not been explored very much yet, such as Kyaing Tong (Eastern Shan), Kyauk Ta Lone Gyi (Southern Shan), and De Maw So (Kayah State). This is not a comprehensive list since specialty coffee production is new to Myanmar and there are so many areas to explore.

P HOTOS C O UR TESY OF KO KO WIN

Although Myanmar might seem like a “new origin” to foreign coffee markets, we have been growing coffee here for many years, since the British colonial period. I personally started working in coffee when I returned from Israel in 2005. I worked with coffee growers in the agriculture extension office for five years, between my studies in Israel and South Korea. When I returned from Korea, I worked for the coffee research department of the Ministry of Agriculture. In 2013 I left the ministry to work with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) on their Alternative Development/Sustainable Livelihood project in Myanmar. The goal of that project was to replace opium production with coffee production. In 2015, I began my work with Winrock International.

FARMER AND ROASTER Su Nandar Linn’s family owns Shwe Ywar Ngan Coffee.

Su Nandar Linn’s family owns Shwe Ywar Ngan Coffee, a farm, processor, and roaster in Ywar Ngan, Shan State. Her father, Win Aung Kyaw, has been in the coffee business since 1975, and has played an important role in disseminating both improved coffee cultivars and new coffee production technologies. The oldest of four children, Su Nandar Linn has embraced the new specialty coffee movement in Myanmar. One of Shwe Ywar Ngan’s washed coffees placed fourth in this year’s annual MCA competition for cup quality, scoring 85.33 points. Su Nandar Linn is determined to keep improving over time.

How did your family get into the coffee business? What all does Shwe Ywar Ngan do?

My father started roasting coffee when he was only seventeen, and from there the business grew over the years to incorporate coffee at many levels, from growing to processing to exporting. My family moved to Ywar Ngan township in 1998 to grow and process coffee here, and some of my earliest memories are of playing on the drying patios when I was around four years old. My family has always preferred coffee over tea. In addition to growing, we process coffee using washed, natural, and honeyed methods. We produce green coffee beans but also roast and package for the national market.

Myanmar coffee has recently gained increased international attention. How are these new connections influencing you?

It’s been great since Winrock and the CQI have come to Ywar Ngan and helped us with processing and pro-

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ducing. We have learned so many things from Marcelo about producing and processing specialty coffee [Marcelo Pereira, a former CQI consultant who was subsequently hired by Winrock International as a smallholder specialist to lead their coffee team]. I have attended many of the workshops that he has put on, about farm maintenance, pruning, and using bokashi [a method of composting]. I also learned how to roast better with Scott [Scott Conary, owner of Carrboro Coffee Roasters and a consultant with the CQI], how to do different processing with Mario [Mario Fernandez, technical director of the CQI], and I did the Q Arabica Training Course with Luz Stella Artajo-Medina [a CQI instructor]. These workshops have been valuable for me, giving me the opportunity to learn new methods which I didn’t know in the past. There’s been quite a change in the quality of the coffee after the interactions with CQI and Winrock International. These workshops and courses have influenced me in such a way that now I feel like I’m tasting and processing like a professional, and that I now have the skills to produce and process better and better every year, taking Myanmar coffee to a new level.

What are your plans for your career?

My plan is to become a specialist in terms of quality.

I recently finished university in Mandalay, and I have no plans to work in any other field other than coffee.

It has been a long road, with years of hard work and learning from our mistakes. I think I can learn from this and take the legacy of Shwe Ywar Ngan coffee even further. I’m very much fond of coffee, and this is where I want to be. FC

P HOTO C OURTESY OF SU NA NDAR LINN

SU NANDAR LINN

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shakers, strainers, pitchers, and other drink-making

extracts a cleaner, sweeter, more full-bodied, and

tools. Omnirinse.com

balanced cup than any manual or automated brewing method. vogacoffee.com

92

recently

April 2017 » Fresh Cup Magazine

batch

brewers,

» People & Products «

NOT QUITE COFFEE, NOT QUITE TEA Aussies are getting serious in the cascara game, and they’ve got the research to prove it. Australia-based Campos Coffee recently launched Campos Cascara, a coffee-cherry tisane. Campos is the first Australian coffee roaster to conduct formal product testing, and they’ve found that cascara is full of antioxidants and lower levels of caffeine than coffee or tea. Sold in a sixty-five gram jar or a 400-gram bag. camposcoffee.com

KEG PARTY

NEXT LEVEL FROZEN FRUIT Made entirely of 304 brew-

Step up your sauce game,

er’s grade stainless steel

easily, with Dole’s new

(the filter too!), Cold Brew

Chef-Ready Fresh Frozen

Avenue has developed

Fruit Purées. Dole’s new

the first completely re-

purees deliver the flavor

usable large-batch cold

and color of just-picked fruit without artificial ingre-

brew system. The system

dients, preservatives, or high fructose corn syrup.

increases production volume up to fifty gallons

Available in a thirty-ounce resealable tub, Dole Chef-

per batch, and makes it easy for cafés to transfer

Ready Fresh Frozen Fruit Purées are an easy way

brews to kegs for serving cold-brew coffee on draft.

to add fruit-forward sweetness to desserts, baked

coldbrewavenue.com

goods, sauces, and beverages. dolefoodservice.com

TURQUOISE FOR THE PEOPLE

FORM & FUNCTION

Planetary Design has

Hydrive Energy Water’s

given their Airscape cof-

newly redesigned and re-

fee container a facelift,

formulated Energy Water

a new label, a simplified

has

thirty-five

percent

logo, and a new color

of average daily recom-

option for both the sev-

mended vitamins and 160 milligrams of caffeine,

en- and four-inch models—turquoise. The Airscape

offering nutritious, energizing hydration without any

container keeps food and coffee fresh with their pat-

calories. Available in Black Cherry, Blue Raspberry,

ented inner plunger lid, which pushes most of the

Triple Berry, and Citrus Burst, Hydrive Energy Wa-

oxygen out of the storage container and keeps it

ter promises to hydrate and caffeinate without the

locked out. planetarydesign.com

dreaded sugar crash. hydriveenergy.com

Fresh Cup Magazine « freshcup.com

93

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Trade Show & Events CALENDAR APRIL

JUNE JUNE 9-11 COFFEE FEST Chicago, Illinois coffeefest.com

APRIL 6-9 LONDON COFFEE FESTIVAL London, United Kingdom londoncoffeefestival.com

JUNE 11 COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL NYC ICED New York, New York coffeeandteafestival.com

APRIL 6-9 COFFEE EXPO SEOUL Seoul, Korea coffeeexposeoul.com

JUNE 12-15 WORLD TEA EXPO Las Vegas, Nevada worldteaexpo.com

APRIL 19-20 RE:CO/SPECIALTY COFFEE SYMPOSIUM Seattle, Washington recosymposium.org

JUNE 13-15 WORLD OF COFFEE Budapest, Hungary worldofcoffee-budapest.com

APRIL 20-23 GLOBAL SPECIALTY COFFEE EXPO Seattle, Washington coffeeexpo.org

J U LY APRIL 21-23 US COFFEE CHAMPIONSHIPS Seattle, Washington uscoffeechampionships.org

APRIL 23-24 NORTHWEST FOODSERVICE SHOW Portland, Oregon nwfoodserviceshow.com

M AY MAY 4-5 CAFE CAMBODIA Phnom Penh, Cambodia cafe-cambodia.com

MAY 20-23 NRA SHOW 2017 Chicago, Illinois show.restaurant.org

MAY 23-34 CAFFE CULTURE London, United Kingdom caffecultureshow.com

94

April 2017 » Fresh Cup Magazine

JULY 6-9 CAFE SHOW CHINA Beijing, China cafeshow.com.cn/huagang/hgcoffceen/ index.htm

AUGUST AUGUST 27-29 WESTERN FOODSERVICE & HOSPITALITY EXPO Los Angeles, California westernfoodexpo.com

SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 10-12 FLORIDA RESTAURANT & LODGING SHOW Orlando, Florida flrestaurantandlodgingshow.com

SEPTEMBER 13-16 GOLDEN BEAN Portland, Oregon goldenbean.com

» 2017 Coffee & Tea Trade Shows, Classes & Competitions «

SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 23-24 COFFEE & CHOCOLATE EXPO San Juan, Puerto Rico coffeeandchocolateexpo.com

SEPTEMBER 24-25 CANADIAN COFFEE & TEA SHOW Toronto, Canada coffeeteashow.ca

N OV E M B E R NOVEMBER 9-12 CAFE SHOW SEOUL Seoul, Korea cafeshow.com

NOVEMBER 9-12 SINTERCAFÉ Herradura, Costa Rica www.sintercafe.com

OCTOBER OCTOBER 12 ALLEGRA WORLD COFFEE PORTAL CEO FORUM New York, New York allegraceoforum.com

OCTOBER 13-15 NEW YORK COFFEE FESTIVAL New York, New York newyorkcoffeefestival.com

OCTOBER 13-15 COFFEE FEST Portland, Oregon coffeefest.com

NOVEMBER 12-13 HX: THE HOTEL EXPERIENCE ROOMS TO RESTAURANTS New York, New York thehotelexperience.us

DECEMBER DECEMBER 3-6 INTERNATIONAL COFFEE & CHOCOLATE EXHIBITION Riyadh, Saudia Arabia coffeechoco-expo.com

OCTOBER 20-24 HOST Milan, Italy host.fieramilano.it

N OV E M B E R NOVEMBER 1-3 INTERNATIONAL COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL Dubai, United Arab Emirates coffeeteafest.com

NOVEMBER 4-5 COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL PHILLY Philadelphia, Pennsylvania coffeeandteafestival.com/philly

Fresh Cup Magazine « freshcup.com

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96

ADVERTISER Index Go to freshcup.com/resources/fresh-cup-advertisers to view the Advertiser Index and the websites listed below.

ADVERTISER

CONTACT

ONLINE

PAGE

Academy of Coffee Excellence

757.565.1400

academyofcoffee.com

42

Aerobie

650.493.3050

aerobie.com

70

American Barista & Coffee School

800.655.3955

coffeebusiness.com

91

Art of Tea

213.493.6518

wholesale.artoftea.com

Astoria

336.393.0224

astoria.com

75

Barista Pro Shop

866.776.5288

baristaproshop.com/ad/fresh

43

Bodum

800.232.6386

bodum.com

Brewista

888.538.8683

mybrewista.com

60

Cafe Femenino Foundation

360.901.8322

coffeecan.org

97

Caffe D’Vita

800.200.5005

caffedvita.com

The Canadian Coffee & Tea Show

877.687.7321

coffeeteashow.ca

Cappuccine

800.511.3127

cappuccine.net

Caravan Coffee

503.538.7365

caravancoffee.com

The Chai Co.

888.922.2424

chaico.com

Coffee Fest

425.295.3300

coffeefest.com

61, 77

Coffee Kids

info@coffeekids.org

coffeekids.org

74

Coffee Planet

310.880.5337

coffeeplanet.com

81

Curtis

800.421.6150

wilburcurtis.com

19

Custom Cup Sleeves

888-672-4096

customcupsleeves.com

91

Descamex

844.472.8429

descamex.com

15

Ditting

810.367.7125

ditting.com

47

Espresso Parts

800.459.5594

espressoparts.com

87, 95

13, 35, 69

5 89 7 46 45

6

Flair Flexible Packaging

920.574.3121

flairpackaging.com

Fresh Cup Magazine

503.236.2587

freshcup.com

Gaviña Gourmet Coffee

800.428.4627

gavina.com

Ghirardelli Chocolate

800.877.9338

ghirardelli.com/professional

Golden Bean

310.266.2827

goldenbean.com

78

Gosh That’s Good! Brand

888.848.GOSH (4674)

goshthatsgood.com

17

Grandstand Glassware + Apparel

800.767.8951

egrandstand.com/coffee

Grounds For Health

802.876.7835

groundsforhealth.org

60

Haelssen & Lyon

212.488.1674

haelssen-lyon.com

85

Healthy Kids Concepts

916.730.5275

healthykidsconcepts.org

84

Holy Kakow

503.484.8316

holykakow.com

27

Host—Fiera Milano

39.02.49971

host.fieramilano.it/en

86

Java House

317.566.9750

heartlandfpg.com

11

Java Jacket

800.208.4128

javajacket.com

65

Malabar Gold Espresso

650.366.5453

malabargoldespresso.com

23

Mambo Coffee Company

255.782.379.055

mambocoffeeafrica.com

91

Milkadamia

630.861.2102

milkadamia.com

4

Monin Gourmet Flavorings

855.FLAVOR1 (352.8671)

monin.com

3

Mr. Espresso

510.287.5200

mrespresso.com

29

Organic Products Trading Co.

888.881.4433

optco.com

77

April 2017 » Fresh Cup Magazine

74 67, 70 37 100

2

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98

ADVERTISER Index (cont.)

Go to freshcup.com/resources/fresh-cup-advertisers to view the Advertiser Index and the websites listed below.

ADVERTISER

CONTACT

ONLINE

Pacific Foods

503.692.9666

pacificfoods.com/foodservice

Promac

844.776.6221

promac-usa.com

79

PumpSkins

877.994.4600

pumpskins.com

42

RetailMugs.com

970.222.9559

retailmugs.com

91

Routin 1883

800.467.7142

1883.com

99

SelbySoft

800.454.4434

selbysoft.com

31

SerendipiTea

888.TEA.LIFE (832.5433)

serendipitea.com

91

Service Ideas

800.328.4493

serviceideas.com

75

Smartfruit

800.801.7330

drinksmartfruit.com

30

Sonofresco

360.757.2800

sonofresco.com

65

StixToGo

800.666.6655

royalpaper.com

81

Sustainable Harvest

503.235.1119

sustainableharvest.com

67

Theta Ridge Coffee

800.745.8738

thetaridgecoffee.com

91

Toddy

888.863.3974

toddycafe.com

43

Torani

800.775.1925

torani.com/foodservice

Vessel Drinkware

855.883.7735

vesseldrinkware.com

37

World of Coffee, Budapest 2017

353(0)1.846.0020

worldofcoffee-budapest.com

71

World Tea Expo

866.458.4935

worldteaexpo.com

98

Your Brand Café

866.566.0390

yourbrandcafe.com

14

Zojirushi America

800.264.6270

zojirushi.com

April 2017 » Fresh Cup Magazine

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41, 84