The Coffee Heretic

The Varietal Quest

2011-11-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

The coffee tree comes from a large family of evergreen shrubs; to call it a tree may be somewhat of an exaggeration. For much of coffee’s recent history, the species and variety of the tree was chiefly a concern of coffee farmers’ efforts to combat disease and pests along with increasing crop yields. Recently, coffee roasters have taken an interest in coffee varieties for a very different reason: marketing.

While coffee originated in Ethiopia, it was in neighboring Yemen that Turkish farmers first cultivated it on a commercial scale. Undoubtedly, the Turks could have selected any number of species and varieties to plant, but the one they chose was most likely for its fine flavor since there were other hardier, and greater producing species to be found. The Turks closely guarded their treasure, and how seeds were finally secreted away is a source of legend. This species of coffee took its name from whence it came: Arabia; taking on the nomenclature Coffea Arabica, which today accounts for 80% of the world’s production.

The spread of Arabica coffee around the world was based on a very limited number of trees. Seven berries were taken by Baba Budan to India; a small shipment was taken to the French colony of Reunion; and the tree taken from Java to Amsterdam in 1706, together with its offspring in Paris, which provided all the planting material for South and Central America. Consequently, the whole genetic base of the Arabica coffee industry is very narrow. As demand for coffee grew, large areas - sometimes entire countries – became dedicated to coffee production, revealing weaknesses inherent in propagating a single species. Since the coffee tree is an evergreen shrub having broad leaves, it is a tempting target for pests and disease. This became glaringly clear in Sri Lanka - once one of the world’s largest producers – that ultimately lost its entire crop to disease in the late 1800’s, never to recover. Experience has led farmers to seek alternatives through inbreeding to increase resistance, and to boost crop yield. Since the coffee tree is an inbreeder, natural mutations occasionally occurred. These mutations often displayed characteristics that allowed them to adapt to specific growing conditions. Inbreeding has led to a number of hybrids of the Arabica species that are referred to as varieties or cultivars. These cultivars all derive from the original typica variety from Yemen and the bourbon variety from the Reunion. The two varieties are considered identical from a herbarium perspective.

Hybrid varieties have become so popular that in many countries they greatly outnumber the original typica and bourbons and, in some cases, have completely replaced them. For the most part, coffee connoisseurs were quite unaware of this change until recently. Hybridization began in earnest after the Second World War as part of the “Green Revolution” that occurred throughout the world’s agricultural industry. This movement was characterized with a change in growing practices to increase production and simplify labor practices through mono-cropping and heavy use of fertilizer and pesticides. Since coffee contributes significantly to the GNP of many equatorial nations, government sponsored research institutes and boards were created to assist farmers in the latest methods in what came to be known as technified farming. Technified farming encouraged the removal of traditional multi-story shade canopies in favor of specialized shade or full sun growing techniques.A new form of hybrid propagation was encouraged to combat disease and pest outbreaks due to intense mono-cropping. This new hybrid is referred to as interspecific hybrids. Interspecific hybrids are cross bred from outside the Arabica species, most notably the Robusta species. These hybrids display negative taste characteristics that are quite recognizable to the trained coffee professional. The success of interspecific hybrids may have increased yields and forged a (temporary) bulwark from disease and pests, but many professionals within the coffee industry believe that this success has come at a cost to flavor quality.

The confusion between inbred cultivars and interspecific hybrids has led to a resurgence of interest in specific varieties, and what some may describe as the heirloom varieties of bourbon and typica, and an “Indiana Jones” style quest to find the ultimate cultivar. The recent interest in the Geisha variety best illustrates this phenomena. Some roasters, as a fashionable method to display their commitment to quality, now actively promote particular varieties. What is important to remember however is that the extreme narrow genetic base for the Arabica species makes taste variation quite negligible. It is difficult enough, if not impossible, to distinguish a flavor variance between the typica and bourbon variants, much less variants within cultivars. Any perceived taste variation is more likely resulting from external variables.

Ultimately, flavor quality depends on microclimate variables, ecological stewardship and processing methodology. Flavor profiles are the result of specific locations, the best cultivar is the one that thrives best in its location. Coffees coming from technified plantations are thin, acidy, and flavorless due to the low nutrient quality of their environment. Pumping nitrogen fertilizer into poor soil conditions and highly variable temperature conditions does not make for good flavor quality. Coffees coming from rich, biodiverse environments, that are managed in a systematically caring fashion, whether through science or tradition, display fine flavor characteristics that are a snapshot of their environment. Rather than wasting time promoting varietals, roasters would do better promoting micro-climate. Not only would this better promote flavor characteristics, it would reward farms that are healthy stewards of biodiversity.

The State of Espresso Making

2011-09-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

Imagine you are standing on the top of a ten story building and you have been tasked with dropping a paintball onto a target on the sidewalk below. It is a partly cloudy day, a few slight breezes, but you are a professional paintball dropper and have come prepared. You have your special paintball dropping shoes that provide just the right amount of grip, your special paintball leather gloves for that perfect handling, and your favorite paintball glasses that provide excellent perception abilities.

As you drop your first ball it veers off to the upper left of the target so you make your adjustments and try again. This time the ball is off the upper right side, then upper left side again, then the center bottom and so on. Occasionally the paintball makes it within an acceptable range on the target and you develop a complicated philosophy on how you got it there. Over time, though, this philosophy is not producing results so you do the only obvious thing: you get rid of the target and decree that wherever the ball landed is where you intended.

This, I'm afraid, is the state of espresso making today.

I came to this observation while visiting a number of coffee bars in New York City recently. In the last year I have been making an attempt to get out and see what others are doing; from roasters that I admired, roasters that are talked about, and coffee bars that are recommended to me. While I am happy to see a new generation of passionate coffee people, I could not help but notice that almost without exception, everyone was using semi-automatic espresso machines. One place even offered the option of making your drink from an old Piston Faema. The results were uniformly inconsistent, often disappointing, sometimes undrinkable. How did it come to this?

I first learned to make espresso on an old propane-fired Piston Cafethema. We used pre-ground coffee and didn't really think about whether what we were making was good - the concept of good hadn't really occurred to us. It wasn't until a couple of years later when I first went to Seattle for espresso machine repair training that I was introduced to the idea of making espresso properly. Obsession quickly replaced embarrassment and I threw myself into a quest for quality.

Being an Alaskan, I excused myself for my Johnny-come-lately arrival to espresso quality. The simple fact was that there existed a great number of people both in the coffee roasting side and the machine manufacturing side of the business who were chasing after quality.

I was fortunate to come across a three group La Marzocco GS2 paddle machine, now considered a modern classic. This machine set a new standard for taste quality over our old piston machines. Unfortunately, though, these early machines did not really have enough steam capacity to keep up with the demands of the growing Latte scene. We replaced this machine with a new La Marzocco Linea, and while the flavor of the espresso seemed to lack the depth of the old GS2, the introduction of volumetric dosing made things far more efficient on the bar.

We weren't the only ones to notice a difference in taste quality in these early volumetric machines, it was widely reported and soon Marzocco addressed this issue in subsequent machines while many of us modified our existing equipment.

The culprit largely was the mechanism that measured the water volume itself. The water would have to travel outside of the boiler to be measured and in the process would cool. Later machines would solve this but some users preferred the old on-off switches that bypassed this mechanism as a solution.

The next innovation would have a severe impact on our (by then) bars, this was the introduction of timers on the keypads. Rather than setting the grind and then assuming that all was fine until it looked wrong, now each shot would be timed as it brewed. Since our number one complaint from customers was drink inconsistency we quickly adopted these machines.

What seemed like an obvious quality tool turned out to be a nightmare.

Our first client to take delivery of the new "Chronos" machine called almost immediately complaining that the machine was inconsistent. After a number of visits out to the client the only solution was for us to replace to Chronos keypads with the standard non-timer variety. Sometime later I returned from a coffee buying trip to find one of our technicians holding a strange device. After inquiring what it was he informed me that it was a water pressure regulator to be installed on our Chronos machine downtown.

This was a new store with a wrap around bar that allowed one to sit and watch drink production. After a while I called the manager over. Watch with me, I said. . . This shot will be fast, this shot will be fast, this shot will be long, this one will be good, this one looks good, this one will be very long, and so on, I was predicting the shots with around 90% accuracy. How are you doing this? the manager asked. I'm watching how much coffee the barista is putting in the portafilter. The barista was operating at about 30% to 40% efficiency overall.

When I asked the barista about her experience of the machine's consistency she iterated a detailed examination of which group pulled more consistently than others. She assured me that she always used the same amount of coffee in the portafilter each time. And so it was, most baristas, when queried, expressed dissatisfaction over their machine's inconsistency, all were convinced that they dosed consistently.

It would be years, and a revamping of our training program, before we would overcome this phenomena. In that time I observed other companies deal with this issue. Most of the chains adopted Super Automatic machines that removed the barista from the process. Perhaps in an effort to differentiate themselves from chains, or from a desire for more barista control in the brewing process, many independents have returned to semi-automatic machines. Indeed, the most talked about machine on the scene now is paddle operated machines. I'm afraid, though, that they have thrown the baby out with the bath water in their efforts to create the third wave of coffee. My trip to New York exposed me to the gulf between what high profile independents intend to offer customers and what is being delivered on their bars.

It seems to me that process now trumps product and that coffee quality now has more to do with showmanship.

Lest this be an isolated experience I took the opportunity to visit Seattle and catch up with the gang at La Marzocco. Now, Marzocco is a tiny company in the world of espresso machine manufacturers, despite their high profile. They are one of a small number of companies that still build the machines by hand and as a result can implement design changes fairly rapidly. As a result, they are on the forefront of paddle control machines, responding to customer demand. Today, 70% of their sales are semi-automatic machines, an almost complete reversal from about ten years ago. Then, most customers who bought semi-automatics did so for the cost savings. The new paddle machines are in response to the recent interest in "pressure profiling."

Now, I don't think a manufacturer should be faulted for responding to customer requests, but I fear that this current trend will have long term detrimental effects for espresso quality. The fact is that we are introducing more variables into the equation, making the ability to produce good quality more difficult. This will become a greater problem as these machines age and pass into increasingly less qualified hands. I related my experiences in New York to them and my reservations about semi-automatic machines but they assured me that this wasn't an issue.

So, an old friend of mine from Marzocco and I set out to see if Seattle was any better than my experiences in New York. The first place we came to had a paddle machine with pressure gauges mounted atop each group head, allowing the user to "surf" pressure while brewing. I asked the barista what pressure they shot for in which she replied: oh, I never look at those. Then, while we were talking behind the bar, she sets up another shot for a drink, busies herself at the sink, realizes the shot was still pulling, races back to the machine, stops the pour, then proceeds to pour the espresso in the cup, adds the steamed milk and out it goes. My friend looks at me at which I could only shrug.

On the other end of the experience we stopped into a shop that offered two espresso choices, the standard blend for drink making and a single origin for straight shots. I ordered a straight shot and noticed that he was using a deep dish basket, originally created in an attempt to produce triple shots. We long ago realized that extraction was a factor of basket diameter and depth, not just depth. Nevertheless, these baskets are still on the market and clearly in use. He prepares me an espresso that was no more than one ounce including crema; just barely enough to cover the bottom of the cup.

The experience was such that it sent shivers down my spine and the look on my face after I tasted it prompted my friend to try it. After sampling it himself he says, I don't think I know what good is anymore. I responded, not only is that not good, that is not even drinkable. As the day wore on it was clear that my experiences in New York were not an isolated event, that this is now the norm. Most telling for me was visiting one store that was maybe a quarter full of seated patrons and nobody lined up at the bar. Directly across the street was a Starbucks that not only was at least three quarters full and a line was at least 20 deep. If I were the proprietor of the independent I think I would be seriously evaluating my business. I think it would be foolish to write off those Starbucks customers as ill-informed. Chances are they have good reason why they choose to stand in line while the independent is nearly empty.

We have three Starbucks within a mile of our store in Denver and we routinely outperform them. In fact we joke to our customers that there is plenty of free parking at the Starbucks when we are full. We don't offer the same drinks as they do, there are no Frappuccinos or Carmel Macchiatos at our store, and yet we continue to pull customers from them. We differentiate ourselves from them not by knee-jerking away from technology, operating blind in response to the fully automated model of corporate chains that replace mediocrity with quality in the search for consistency. Rather, we utilize technology to improve quality and consistency by creating systems of monitoring and control that provides the barista the tools to make the right decisions for creating quality coffee drinks.

The SCAA should be applauded for their efforts in education with the creation of Barista Championships, Brewer's Cup, and Cupping Certification. Unfortunately, an insular culture has developed that seems divorced from reality. Some of this is manifested in the current trend of espresso machines that is directly traced to competitions.

A trend, I dare say, that is a step backwards in quality.

What makes good espresso

2011-05-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

Recently I visited a new coffee bar just opened by a local up-and-coming roaster. It was everything one would expect from a third wave coffee bar: a pour over bar in lieu of a coffee brewer, a paddle operated espresso machine, and your choice of a couple of different espresso offerings. Both espresso offerings were single origin, one being described as their "princess" espresso, the other was touted as a bigger espresso. I opted for the bigger one and was presented with a perfectly prepared, thin, biting, one-dimensional espresso.

This reminded me of a quote from Antony Wild's Coffee, a Dark History. He said, "espresso is a wonderful way to make good coffee, but not a good way to make wonderful coffee." This statement may seem like a slam on espresso but Antony is pointing out a fact that seems to have been lost of late, espresso machines make espresso coffee. What makes for a good coffee, or even a wonderful coffee, does not make for a good or wonderful espresso. I love Ethiopia Yirgacheffe coffee, it is one of those iconic great coffees. It has this incredible Jasmine like perfuming and an almost tea-like aftertaste. Put it in an espresso machine and you will get a thin bodied, acidic, almost flavorless shot. It's very delicate nature makes it completely unsuitable as an espresso coffee, especially on its own.

Many years ago, just after we had opened our second store in Alaska, I was working behind the espresso machine when a little old Italian lady came up and ordered a double espresso. I made the espresso and she disappeared around the corner. A short time later she returned the demitasse and saucer and said, "Your blender, he is a genius." It was, and still is, the highest praise from the best authority I could ever have.

Notice that she praised the blender of the espresso; not the Roaster, the Coffee Buyer, or even the Barista. The Blender, to her, was the craftsman.

In the early days of the espresso revolution here in America, there was a concept brought over from Italy known as the 4 M's. The 4 M's were Italian words that corresponded to the 4 necessary ingredients of a properly prepared espresso. They are, the Mano: the person making the espresso; Macinazione, the correct grind; Macchina, the espresso machine; and finally, Miscela, the coffee. Literally, the blend.

When we first began roasting we could only afford a few different varietal coffees. As the business grew, we were able to expand our offering. Armed with a simple sample coffee roaster, I began feverishly searching for unique coffees. I was excited at the time to try my hand at new blends, and since we were principally an espresso roasting company, these were espresso blends. But a funny thing happened with the espresso blend. The "better" the coffee used in the blend, the worse the espresso tasted. Now, better here means more uniquely tasting coffee beans. I found these unique flavors did not translate well in the blend, assuming they translated at all.

The thing about espresso machines is that they amplify certain flavors and mute others. Moreover, each brand of espresso machine has its own particular taste. The breakthrough for me was when I finally figured out that what I was trying to do was wrongheaded in its approach. Instead of trying to blend in new coffees what I needed to do was work backwards from what was, to me at least, an ideal espresso flavor. I needed to have an end in mind and utilize the components to reach that end.

For many, I think,the assumption was that espresso is just strong coffee, and so they went about a creating a strong espresso blend. Sort of like saying if brewed coffee is like wine, then espresso coffee is the liquor. In this case the end was more like a strong whiskey resulting in something akin to a distilled spirit, not entirely enjoyable, but gets the job done. For me, what I had in mind was more of a liqueur, a top shelf Cognac, something that was complete in and of itself. Paying as much attention to the mouthfeel as to the aromatics and taste. It should be a complete package, a complete experience in one serving. The espresso should affect everypart of the mouth.

Over the years I have spent the majority of my time working on just this one blend. I find it best to break the blend down to component parts, in a way that each component has a part to play. In time I realized that there were only so many parts one could feasably work in the blend. Its important to remember that it is only about 18 grams of coffee that can fit into a typical Marzocco basket. Too many components not only means the blend becomes muddled, but also creates variations from shot to shot. For me this meant a blend of 3 or 4 components max. Some have argued for more, Dr. Illy famously stated that 11 was too many, 9 was about right, but I find too many makes the blend unwieldy.

The challenge, of course, is not so much creating that ideal flavor, but maintaining it consistently. Developing a reliable supply chain is the first step. More important, though, is this idea of component parts. How does one keep the same mouthfeel? What about the body? What is the overall impression the espresso should have? How do I adjust through the year? I now keep samples of past blends going back some ten years just for when I get so lost I can go back and get my bearings again. I have tried on a few occasions to create a second blend without much success, admittedly. Seems as if I have only one good espresso blend in me.

Now, I love a great cup of coffee . . . right after I have had my espresso. When I visit other coffee roaster's clients or their own coffee bar, I tend to judge the roaster by their ability to get their espresso right. If the blend is lackluster, I become suspect of their other coffee offerings. I have known coffee bars that offer more than one espresso at a time, sometimes it is simply a variety of blends, other times it is a "seasonal" offering. I don't have any beef with that, other than espresso machines need to be temperature calibrated to the blend profile and it is difficult to do it for more than one blend. But that is different from a roaster saying that their espresso blend itself is seasonal, that it is going to change from year to year, or season to season, or simply a combination of whatever is on hand. Seems a bit of a cop out to me. Its one thing to pull off a great tasting blend, but it takes a professional to keep it consistent.

More wrongheaded, I believe, is simply taking a varietal coffee and making that the espresso offering. While I was out of town, a friend and I visited a local coffee bar. It was a great little store with a just-installed three group La Marzocco Paddle machine. I ordered an espresso and the Barista asked if I would like the Guatemala or the Brazil, Which one is better? I asked. He said to get the Guatemala. I did, and it was just as disappointing as I expected a single origin espresso to be. I decided to try again and asked about the Brazil. Get the Guatemala, he said, strongly indicating that the Brazil was not so good.

Pretty bad for the Barista to lack confidence in what he/she is serving, but I fear a more long term negative effect on customer's appreciation for espresso. Single origin espressos cement old stereotypes on espresso that took a long time to overcome here in the States.

While in Houston at the Specialty Coffee Conference I had dinner with some Italian friends who complained they couldn't find a decent espresso at the show. "Nobody knows how to blend, here," they lamented.

Miscela.

Coffee Acidity

2011-05-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

One thing was painfully clear at the SCAA show in Houston, acidy coffee is in! Really! I even heard one coffee described as having "aggressive acidity." Dark Roasts are out, Light Roasts are in. Light Roasts are complex, refined, have good acidity. Dark Roasts, well, Dark Roasts just aren't cool anymore. I mean, Starbucks over roasts their coffee. And we all know that Starbucks is not cool. Light Roasts are Third Wave and Third Wave is in.

Along with the trend towards Light Roast is this new found appreciation for Acidity. Acidity is what gives a coffee its brightness, its liveliness. Good Acidity can be likened to carbonation in a soda, without it the beverage is flat. Something I heard repeated time and again was the necessity of educating the customer about coffee acidity. But not all acidity is good, and a lot of what I tasted was acids due to defects in the coffee.

Of the plus 1000 different chemical compounds identified in coffee about 50 or so are acids. Many of these are volatile compounds and diminish in roasting. Light Roasts tend to emphasize these acidic compounds and bring them to the fore. This is why coffee tasters in the import/export trade roast their samples very light to expose these particular defects. Trade Cupping or Defect Cupping is a necessary skill for any coffee professional but one would be remiss into assuming that this is some higher form of taste.

Coffee's acidity comes from a combination of its inherent acidity along with the coffee bean's production cycle: growing, processing, and roasting. Coffee's inherent acidity is chlorogenic acid, which, along with caffeine, is part of the plant's defense against insects. Chlorogenic acid breaks down in roasting into quinic and caffetic acids depending on the amount of time the coffee is exposed to heat. Roasting machines with poor heat transference produce more of these acids resulting in a tinny, bitter taste. I have written more extensively on this acid in "Bitterness and Acidity in Coffee."

One of the more oft quoted acids is Citric Acid. This acid is usually associated with fresh crop coffee and indicates new harvest. Experienced cuppers will tend to opt away from these lots and wait for later deliveries, giving the coffee a chance to mature. If the flavor persists it is an indication that too many immature green coffee cherries are making their way through. I have notice in my own travels that first time cuppers often take a liking to this taste largely due to the fact that it is the first taste that they learn to identify. This acid is less volatile than other acids and so cannot be "roasted" out. Its easy to identify, since most of us are familiar with citric acid from citrus fruits.

Another common acid is malic. I have noticed an increase in this acid over the years as sun grown coffee has become more commonplace. It is due to excessive day/night time temperature deviations. Shaded coffee farms have more stable temperatures which benefits the plants night time expiration. This acid has a distinct tart apple peel taste that lingers on the palette.

Acetic acids come about from the just pulped coffee beans sitting in the fermentation tank. The time in the fermentation tank is critical since the enzymes break down the silver skin on the coffee beans. Too much time, or if the temperature is too high, however, results in a vinegar like taste. Sometimes this is confused with wineyness.

Most of these acids will decrease in roasting, aside from the Quinic, but as more roasters opt for a Light Roast these acids come to define the coffee's flavor. I hear a lot of pontificating about this coffee's blueberry taste, or apricot, plum, or jammy, as if they are talking about their favorite wine. The one thing that these acids have in common is that they invariably lead to a soury cup. You can mask some of these flavors by increasing the brew temperature, but as the cup cools so returns the sour. What's more, these acids tend affect a person's body, resulting in an edgy, uncomfortable feeling. Some assume it is caffeine, but it is these acids.

In my years of roasting I have never had a customer come in and ask for an acidic coffee: you know, something that tastes like fresh squeezed lemons? Something that will sour my stomach and make me feel all jittery?

Maybe its time the customer educated us.

SCAA 2011 Houston

2011-05-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

For the first time in a number of years I decided to attend the Specialty Coffee Association of America's Annual Conference and Exhibition, billed as "The Event" in Houston, Texas. Last year I had attended the World Conference on Coffee put on by the International Coffee Association in Guatemala and since so much has changed in the intervening year of the coffee market I was curious as to how the SCAA would be dealing with the new market reality. The SCAA presented a Symposium for coffee professionals two days prior to the Conference proper, and it was that offering that attracted me most.
Well, okay, if I were really honest, the Symposium was a waste of time and money on my part, with the exception of being able to spend a lot of time with some old industry friends that I haven't seen in some time. The content of the Symposium, though, was lacking, especially when compared to what was presented in Guatemala. Perhaps I was expecting too much from this trade association, and I doubt that any trade association is capable of real dialogue on global matters.

What trade associations do well, however, is show new equipment and there was new equipment a plenty on display in the exhibition hall.

First up for me was the La Marzocco booth. Marzocco is enjoying a sort of renaissance of late after an abysmal year due to the economic crash. They had just moved into a new factory in Florence and it was a real struggle. Despite the perception in the SCAA as being a manufacturer heavy weight, Marzocco is a tiny company. This year, even with sales rebounded, they produce 10% of what a mainstream espresso manufacturers like La Cimbali and CMA produce.

They have been clearly busy in the development department as they were displaying a number of very cool machines, most notably the new Strada. The Strada represents their top of the line, displacing the GB5. So now there are currently four lines on offer, the venerable Linea, the FB80, the GB5 and the Strada.

The Linea gets the addition of the mechanic paddles to have three variations: the MP, mechanical paddle; the EE a semi-automatic rocker switch; and the AV, our favorite, with volumetric dosing. All of the machines will now be PID controlled for brew temperature, replacing the old mechanical thermostat.

The poor GB5 and FB80's are sort of the forgotten middle children in the line, and to be honest I barely looked at them. The principal difference, that I can see, between these and the Linea are the addition of preheaters for the brew boiler. Customers can choose the same variations as the Linea.

The Strada was the star of the show. This machine comes in two variations, the MP and the new EP. The MP being the same mechanical paddle arrangement as on the Linea, the EP being an electronic version. Instead of the mechanical rotary pump, the EP uses an internal gear driven pump that allows for infinite pressure profiling while brewing. What's more, one can program a brew pressure map and the machine will reproduce this profile on the fly. Very cool!

Aside from geeking out over the new stuff, what really made my heart happy was seeing the Linea respected again. For a long time we have loved these machines. Many of our clients use rescued ex-Starbucks 3 and 4 groupers in their bars and to see these machines recognized as classics is long overdue. They are rock solid reliable and make great espresso.

Also at the Marzocco booth was a lot of new stuff from Marco. This is equipment made for the growing Pour-over Bar market. On hand was the new Uberboiler with electronic scale, and special grinders. A lot of activity around this stuff as Pour-over Bars are the new rage.

However, on the other side of the exhibition hall at the Baratza booth there was a prototype machine on display that pretty much makes Pour-over Bars obsolete. A fully programmable hot water delivery machine for use in pour over brewers such as the Chemex. The water sprayer rotates around the top of the brew funnel and can be programmed for any determined pulse brew. The designer has yet to decide whether to target the commercial or home market yet but the device easily out performs any manual operator. So much for the Brewers Cup!

Speaking of pour over brewers, an old friend, Kevin Knox, was attending and strongly suggested I check out a just introduced brewer called the Sowden Softbrew. This device essentially renders the Press Pot and the Chemex obsolete in every respect. Easier to use than a Press Pot and the Chemex, but with the best attributes of both. Outstanding flavor clarity and no sediment. I didn't take any pictures but I bought three cases!

The Rise in Coffee Prices.

2011-01-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

Many of you by now have already heard reports of rising coffee prices in conjunction with rising commodity prices as a whole. Over the last four months, coffee prices on the New York exchange have risen some 75%. Many roasters have already started raising prices, and for the rest of us it is only a matter of time. I have to admit a certain amount of denial in these rising prices, hoping against the market that prices will begin to fall, but it seems the longer I wait, the higher the prices go. The last couple of days have seen a leveling off of sorts but few in the industry expect prices to come down soon, if ever.

What's up with that?

Lemme esplain:

For the better part of the period from just after the Second World War coffee prices were held stable by a program called the International Coffee Agreement, administered by the International Coffee Organization. The ICO was a member organization of coffee producing countries and coffee consuming countries. These member countries agreed to quotas set by the ICO of how much coffee producing countries could export and how much consuming countries could import. The program was initiated after WWII in an effort to boost and stabilize coffee prices in an effort to curb terrorism. It was observed that there was a direct link between countries with high rates of poverty and militant movements ( I know, crazy huh?), Since many of these same impoverished countries were coffee exporting countries the agreement sought to raise and stabilize these same countries via raising and stabilizing coffee prices paid by consuming countries.

The program worked well by any measure, the only hiccups occurring when Brazil would have a particularly devastating frost and threaten overall supplies. Even still, prices tended to correct rather quickly and remain consistent year to year. This was good for traditional coffee farmers since they could reasonably expect coffee prices to remain the same year to year so investing into future harvests could be done with relative security.

During the 1980's there was increasing pressure on the ICO to disband the agreement. This effort was largely driven by the largest consumer country, the USA, where a rising tide of market ideology abhorred any efforts to control markets; and Brazil, where increasing technified farming practices resulted in large surpluses of coffee held in warehouses.

In 1988, the agreement collapsed and nearly overnight the prices of coffee lost more than half their value. It would take some ten years for Brazil to get rid of their excess coffee stocks, and adding to the oversupply, some ten million bags of coffee debris that formerly would not be considered suitable for export was now counted as part of the total supply of coffee.

Free Marketers heralded the change as good for everyone since it would get rid of those producers that were unable to produce efficiently in a competitive, open market. Such proclamations are parroted frequently in any discussion of world trade, ignoring the realities of production and unequal subsidization of industrial production over traditional farming practices.

Think of it this way, imagine if we decided that automobiles were a commodity. Now, for simplicity purposes, we would have to have only a few classes of autos to trade, based on generalities (the market hates specifics). So, lets say autos were divided into three classes: two door sedans, four door sedans, and trucks. Simple enough. Now, you decide you want to buy a two door sedan so you go down to your local Kia dealer and see that a two door there sells for $10,000, which is what you expect because you have been following the two door market for some time now, watching production and sales numbers. No problem. If you want to sell or buy a two door, $10k is the price. Then you wander on over to the Ferrari dealer to check out what they have in the two door department. Hey cool! The market says that if Ferrari wants to sell two door cars, then they have to sell them for $10k! Awesome!

So, how many Ferrari's do you suppose will be made next year?

Just as Brazil's effect on the market began to wane, another country came to the fore as a leading producer of low priced coffee. Vietnam, in a project largely subsidized by USAID, became the second largest exporter of coffee in the world in just a few short years. The coffee is the cheap, Robusta variety favored for commercial producers, especially instant coffees.

The net effect has been chronic undervaluing of coffee for over twenty years, leading to the Fair Trade movement and other efforts to boost prices for desirable coffees, for it was the good tasting, high quality coffees that we have seen steady erosion in availability. Moreover, countries where the IMF have imposed strict policy adjustments, especially in Africa, have seen their coffee production nearly collapse.

With coffee production reaching peak limits in Brazil and Vietnam, and climate change, increasing aridification and desertification , these pressures are placing concerns on the global capacity of coffee production.

There is another factor at work here: computerized trading. The reality is that most of coffee traded on the exchange is done by non-coffee agents. Over the last ten years, computerized trading has played a larger role in volume trades and now these programs are taking into account fundamentals along with market movements. Okay, let me unpack that.

Close to 90% of the buying and selling of coffee on the commodities exchange is done by speculators. They are essentially gambling with the price of coffee, up or down. Increasingly more of the trades are being done by computer programs that watch the market prices. When prices are lower they are programed to buy and when they are higher they sell, an oversimplification, but you get the general idea. Now, these programs are taking into account actual production forecasts and other hard information coming from producer countries. Seems they have discovered that the production of better coffees (known as the "C" market) is in a decline.

This is happening at a time when investors are increasingly looking for "real" things to invest money in, rather than imaginary "financial instruments" that were the rage right up until the whole financial collapse. So, some of this is technical, as they say in the trade, some of this is fundamental. In other words, some of it is the players and some of it is the supply.

Will coffee prices come down? Not likely. At least not to levels they have been. But let's face it, we have been buying Ferraris for Kia prices for probably too long.

Sulawesi Saga Continues!

2010-12-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

Perhaps I am to blame.

I jumped the gun and stated that we received shipment confirmation for the White Eagle. Our importing partner had relayed to me that he expected shipment confirmation that day.

Just before the coffee was to be loaded onto the ship the exporter did a final quality check since the coffee had sat at the warehouse while they waited for an available ship. You may remember me posting the delay due to heavy weather a few posts ago. As they feared, the high humidity caused the coffee to have a strong musty flavor so they rejected the shipment. They are processing another batch now so all is not lost. But, I jinxed it!

Dang it!

So this means that it will be at least another month before we can expect to have more information about availability since we are essentially starting over but we have had a good track record with this group so confidence remains high despite the setbacks this year. Sometimes it is simply matters out of the control of producers and exporters. And, we have to respect exporters practicing due diligence and not letting product out that would damage the reputation of the farmers. I would have been severely disappointed (although maybe not surprised given the weather) had the arrival sample come to me with this defect flavor and I had to reject the shipment.

Disappointing news for all.

Indonesia Coffee Update 11-29-10

2010-11-29T09:50:00.000-08:00

So, here it is, the end of November and still no Sulawesi White Eagle!

The last update I stated that the coffee would be shipped in about 10 days and would likely be here in six weeks. I figured six weeks would give me plenty of time to look good. But alas, the universe did not cooperate!

There seems to be an inverse relationship to receiving orders to the level of demand for those orders. The more we need a coffee order to arrive, the longer it takes. So it is with the White Eagle. Not only did I underbuy the coffee last year, causing us to run out before new crop was available, but weather in Indonesia has effectively stopped most transport, delaying our shipment for weeks. Still, it could be worse than just us inconvenienced by not having a favorite coffee. The intense rains in Indonesia have hampered rescue efforts in Sumatra for the victims of the volcano eruption.

Our producing partners have confirmed a new shipping date and the coffee should be on its way presently. But this will mean that we most likely will not see the coffee until sometime in January.

On a similar note. The rains have also affected the harvest in Sumatra. So far, the quality of the cherries coming into the mill have been such that our partners have yet to do a wet run for us. They expect that the harvest will improve later in the pickings but for now we will have to wait. This is actually better news than what was offered earlier when we were in doubt of even having in wet processed Sumatra coffee. Here's keeping our fingers crossed.

Judging Style

2010-09-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

Each year at about this time an old friend of mine who works for the major liquor distributor in Alaska comes down for the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). If I am lucky enough our schedules coincide and I get to tag along. I am always intrigued to step out of the coffee biz and take a look at how another similar industry operates. And there are plenty of parallels to the specialty coffee and craft beer trades. Both operate at about the same percentage to their conventional counterparts, both have issues with perishability, and both are still enjoying growth even in economic downturns.

This year I was able to tour a couple of breweries before going to the festival itself, the first being the Great Divide Brewery in downtown Denver and the other being the New Belgium Brewery in Ft. Collins. Both breweries are well respected but are quite different, principally in size and automation. Whereas Great Divide is a much smaller brewery that is very hands on, New Belgium is something of the Starbucks of the craft beer world.

The Festival itself is an impressive event. About 10,000 people will pass through the convention center sampling 1 oz portions from a huge variety of breweries from all over the country. The floor is arranged by region, making it somewhat easier to find favorites. There were a couple of things that really struck me while participating that I think the specialty coffee trade could learn from.

The first is the sheer amount of camaraderie that brewers share with one another. This is now more apparent with the advent of "Collaboration" brews where two breweries will join together to create a beer and sell it in their own respective markets. Perhaps part of this camaraderie is due to the fact that distribution is largely a factor of production output, and most breweries have limited production abilities. Quite different to the specialty coffee trade where most imagine themselves as the next Starbucks if they could simply land the distribution arrangements. I would argue that the specialty coffee trade has over capacity in contrast to the craft beer industry. This creates an environment of competitiveness that hinders cooperative arrangements, but there may be some of us who are happy with selling in their own region and don't have an eye on being a national brand where collaboration may occur - an idea.

Another thing that struck me was the respect, and indeed, the understanding of styles. The GABF is ultimately a judged event, the principal reason the brewers participate in the first place. Brewers are invited to submit any number of entries into a set of defined styles, pilsners, ales, lagers and so on. Even large brewers like Budweiser and Miller compete along side small craft brewers based on style. This is sorely lacking in the coffee industry. While there was historically recognized a set of roast styles this has fallen away in the last decade or so. And even when it was generally acknowledged, it was very loosely interpreted. If you pick up a book on coffee from say, the 70's or 80's you may read about the different roast styles of Continental, City, Full City, Viennese, French and sometimes, Italian. Trouble was, while there was some continuity in the books about these styles, in practice there was little agreement. Continental and City Roasts were typically the traditional light roasts favored by large, commercial roasters that prepackaged coffee in cans for supermarket and institutional uses. Full City and darker were the preferred styles of the specialty trade.

The first champion of darker roasts was Peet's Coffee out of California. Alfred Peet was disappointed with the coffee offerings he found here in the states and wanted to introduce coffee drinkers to the darker roast styles that were typical in Europe. When Starbucks came along, they too, championed darker roasts, referring to them as Full City Roasts. However, what they were calling Full City was much more in line with what would be understood as French Roast. And as things got caught up in the marketing world, if dark roast is good, then darker roasts must be better. There seemed to be a constant push to go darker and darker. I recall when I first began roasting over twenty years ago the principal complaint I would here is that we didn't roast dark enough.

The reason I think I got to thinking about all this really stems from another experience that struck me while touring the breweries. Towards the end of our tour at New Belgium we ended up in an area that contained a number of large wooden casks. This is where they were brewing a style of beer that has become something of a phenomena of late. They are called Barrel-Aged Sours. As the guide was describing the flavors (very excitedly I might add) I found myself imagining how good this was going to be. Flavors of ripe banana, apricot and so on. However, once I tasted it, I could not get over the excessive souriness. I was told that was the style and it was best paired with food, such as Alfredo Pasta, as a way of cleansing the palate. I'm sorry, if I'm going to drink beer, I want to enjoy the taste for its own sake. Now, I'm told that this is a beer for connoisseurs. That may be. But, it is a style and should be judged according to the framework of that style, which, for myself, clearly I am no judge.

There is a similar phenomena going on in the coffee trade with very light roasted coffees. We are now told that over-roasting ruins the acidity and masks the complexity of flavors in coffee. A new breed of roasters are promoting these light roasts with much fanfare. Now, this is a style of roasting. It is a style of roasting that I am not particularly fond of and so make a poor judge. The problem is that there are those who want to make the case that this style is better than another style. That style is tied to quality. And I think it is here where the specialty coffee trade could benefit from a recognition of roast styles again. Just as at the GABF no one would enter a lager in a Stout competition arguing that lagers best represent what beer is suppose to taste like, so too should roast styles be judged within their own parameters. As I mentioned earlier, when I first began I received critiques that I didn't roast dark enough, now the critiques is that I over-roast. There is a style of roast I prefer, and I have stuck to that style over the years. I am not suggesting it to be the only style, but it is what I like.

On occasion I have had a customer ask why I don't do a light roast. I usually tell them its because I prefer darker roasts (it is the Viennese style that I prefer) and sometimes they may press the issue: that they prefer a light roast and would buy it if it were offered. But the fact is, I don't prefer that style and just as I am not qualified to judge a Barrel-Aged Sour beer, nor do I think I am going to do something well if I don't like the taste. Better to support a roaster who knows that style and does it well than me trying to do something that doesn't suit my tastes in the hopes that someone else may like it.

Coffee Update 8-30-10

2010-08-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

On the cupping table this week we tasted the shipment sample for the Sulawesi Toraja White Eagle and approved it for shipping. Now our 50 bags will be loaded onto the next available container and shipped out of Indonesia to Hayward, California, home of The Annex, one of the West Coast's many coffee warehouses. Once it arrives it will have to go through Customs Inspection and so long as everything goes well we will be able to start trucking bags into Denver. We might be a little later than our original hope of having the coffee in during the month of September, I would guess that it is more like six weeks out before we see the coffee here.

We still have had no word about the Sumatra Washed Gayo coffee and quite frankly have little hope of seeing the coffee this year. Over the years we have become rather spoiled with this coffee and the fact that it is the only wet processed Sumatra coffee leaves us few options, none that we are aware of in Sumatra, anyway. Last month we brought in a few bags of a semi-wet processed Papua New Guinea. It was well received so it will most likely take the place of the Gayo Mountain coffee this year. While not a full wet-processed coffee like what we could get from the Gayo Mountain mill, but it is not the dirty tasting dry-processed that is de rigueur for Sumatra.

Perhaps here would be a good place to speak about the differing types of processing for coffee cherries. Generally when one reads about how coffee is grown and processed two types of processing are described: the wet method, sometimes called washed; and the dry method, sometimes called natural. In the specialty trade the former is more prized than the latter. With the dry method the just picked cherries are laid out to dry in the sun. The surface the cherries are on vary, sometimes concrete, sometimes rattan mats, sometimes on bare earth. Once the cherry fruit has dried the cherries are milled, either in a hand operated husker or, if available, larger motorized ones. Typically these coffees are coming from rudimentary areas and as a result the quality varies significantly. So much so that in most cases this coffee is not seen fit for the specialty coffee trade. With a couple of exceptions, principally Ethiopia, Yemen, and Sumatra. Since each of these countries are some of the earliest areas where coffee was propagated they have obtained a certain status.

On the other end of the scale is the wet processed coffees. These coffees come from areas where water is abundant and there have been infrastructure developments within the area. In some places the wet-mill is owned by the farm or cooperative themselves, in other places it may be a separate operation buying coffee from around the area. Cherries arrive shortly after picking, ideally the same day, and are placed into large vats of water. Once the cherries have soaked they are then sent via water through a pulping device that separates the fruit and seeds. From there the depulped seeds sit in a tank for a period of time that allows naturally occurring enzymes to break down a layer of skin around the seeds. From there the seeds are then sent through a series of troughs to separate under and over ripened seeds and then to the drying beds. Almost always these beds will be made of concrete. The whole process can take place in as little as 24 hours. The net result is a clean, uniform product.

Some in the trade argue that the coffee coming from wet mills robs coffee of its natural flavor. We disagree (more or less respectively).

There is, however, a third process that sits in-between these two. It is called semi-wet. This coffee comes from areas that are water abundant but infrastructure deficient. The cherries will be pulped with water but then immediately set out to dry on varying surfaces (earth, mats, concrete). This method can be seen as something of the best of both worlds. While it lacks the sorting ability of a full wet method, most often the cherries are coming from small family run farms where better care in picking is employed. This gives us access to a lot of old heirloom coffees grown in very bio-diverse areas.

The majority of our organic cooperative coffee is processed this way, including our best selling varietals from Peru, Bolivia and Rwanda. It is this method that the Papua New Guinea coffee we have brought in is processed. To me, this is a better alternative than trying to find a not so dirty dry-processed coffee from Sumatra. Even when we find one that seems not so offending, it always seems to have a unpleasant rough aftertaste. One of the hallmarks of our coffee has always been the attribute of it tasting just as good cold as it did hot. Dry-processed coffees lack this characteristic and so really don't belong here.

Intro to the Sivetz Roaster

2010-07-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

Coffee Update 7-22-10

2010-07-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

I think I will start with the good news. Our new crop Ethiopia Yirgacheffe should arrive sometime next week and hopefully I have bought enough to last us through the year this time around. In my defense, I think it only fair to point out that last year I had forecasted the amount before one of our clients in Boulder who had previously been only using our espresso began using the Ethiopia as one of their brew offerings, thus absorbing the lion's share of the roasts. This year I have factored them in the mix, so there should be enough to go around! New crop Mexico Chiapas El Triumfo is arriving this month as well. This has been one of our Cafe Femenino projects and a real favorite here at the store.

We have received confirmation for our Sulawesi Toraja White Eagle but do not yet have shipping info. That is mostly good news - it means it's in the pipeline at least. For reasons we have yet to find out, the cooperative lost their Fair Trade status but still have their Organic certification. I decided to go ahead and follow through the purchase despite the Fair Trade situation. We have experienced such situations in the past where a cooperative loses their Fair Trade status for reasons that are out of their control and in the end have their status restored. Part of being a Fair Trade roaster is a commitment to buying from a cooperative over the long haul and not leave them hanging year to year. So, we will continue to support this cooperative and trust that the situation is resolved in the near future. Without a confirmed shipping date it is difficult to speculate when the coffee will arrive but I wouldn't expect to see it until the first part of September.

Probably the most disappointing news is that we have yet to see a sample of our Washed Gayo Mountain coffee from Sumatra. There have been some managerial issues with the mill and the parent company that appear not to have been sorted out yet. Consequently, I am fearful that we may not see any Washed coffee from Sumatra this year. As far as I know, this is the only wet mill existing in Sumatra and I have become so spoiled on the clean flavor that I have trouble even cupping dry processed coffees anymore. We only have a limited amount of current crop Gayo's left in stock which I'm sure will be running out soon.

As a peace offering I have bought a small amount of a very nice Fair Trade coffee from Papua New Guinea. It cupped out very nicely on the sample roaster so I have good expectations for it once we get it into the production roaster. Papua's have always been a hit and miss kind of coffee for me so I am not promising that we will have it for the long haul but it might be a nice stop gap until we know more on the Sumatra's.

Indonesian Coffee Update

2010-06-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

Since so many of you have become big fans of our Indonesian coffee offerings from Sumatra and Sulawesi I wanted to give everyone an update to this year's supply. It's sort of a good news, bad news, good news, maybe not so good news kind of thing.

First, a little background. The coffee's we are buying are the result of some serious pulling of strings by long term relationships with our producing partners. It started with our importing partner developing a relationship with an old exporting partner friend of ours. Our importing partner had been bringing in some organic, fair trade certified coffee from the Aceh region of Sumatra. There are two principal suppliers of coffee from this area, one called Gayoland Coffee and the other called Gayo Mountain Coffee. When the importer began working with the folks at Gayo Mountain I remembered that they (Gayo Mountain) had one of the only wet processing mills in Sumatra. It was a project from a number of years ago in an attempt to add quality to the coffee in Sumatra by adopting methods from neighboring Java. For the first time, clean quality coffee could be produced from Sumatra. Trouble was, most coffee roasters here in the States preferred the old, dirty dry processed coffees so they stopped offering the wet processed coffees here. Well, we asked if we could have a run of wet processed coffee and they agreed. This has proven to be a customer favorite: a medium to full bodied coffee with a soft mouthfeel and delicious clove-like aroma notes.

The success of this coffee prompted me to ask about another old favorite of mine, Toraja coffee from Sulawesi. This coffee could fairly be called my first love in coffee. It was rare, it was exotic, it was rare and exotic! It was also confusing. Sometimes I would see it labeled Sulawesi Toraja, other times Celebes Kalossi, and sometimes a combination of both, i.e, Toraja/Kalossi. Another confusing thing about it was the sheer inconsistency of any given lot, sometimes even within a bag the coffee could be wildly different. My first visit there cleared all this up. Celebes is the old Dutch name for the island that has since been changed (back) to Sulawesi with Indonesia's independence. The Celebes name had still had some cachet in the market so many roaster's continued using that name. As for Toraja and Kalossi, these were the two early production areas that had developed a reputation for fine coffees. But the two areas are dramatically different. Toraja, or Torajaland as the locals know it, was an area that the Dutch had introduced coffee to but later abandoned and left the coffee to grow wild in the jungles. The Toraja people began picking and drying this coffee to sell in small quantities. Kalossi, on the other hand, is characterized by small to medium sized coffee farms. While often more consistent than that of the Toraja coffee, there was something quite amazing about Toraja coffee when it was right.

As the fame of Toraja coffee grew the area that could identify itself as Toraja expanded to include many traditional style coffee farms and consequently the coffee lost it's wild character. That is, until our exporting partner decided to do something about it. Having a deep historical knowledge of the area he ventured out and sourced some of the original coffee trees. There are no roads in this region, the coffee must make a four day journey on muleback along twisting, mountain trails. The trees themselves are 150 years old or older, some dating back to the original trees the Dutch brought over nearly 400 years ago. The coffee was branded "White Eagle" after the sacred symbol of the Toraja people. This coffee was offered a few years ago to the American market but unfortunately since there was many cheaper coffees designated Toraja few were willing to step up and pay the price for this exclusive coffee. So, like the Wet Processed coffee we get from Sumatra, the exporter sets up a special shipment for us each year.

Okay, with that behind us, here is the mixed news: The good news first, we have received and approved the pre-shipment sample for this years supply of the Sulawesi Toraja White Eagle. Now it is in the proverbial liminal state of "on the water." This is where the coffee awaits a container to be shipped to the US. Once it arrives and clears customs we will receive an arrival sample and as long as everything is fine we will begin taking delivery. This process may take sixty days or more so we will be out of this coffee for the better part of the summer.

Now the Sumatra. As of this writing we have about a thousand pounds left. That's the sort of good news. But . . . the first sample was rejected and we are awaiting a sample from the second run. So this one's a bit up in the air. I feel fairly confident that the next sample will be fine but who can say what the future holds. When this thousand pounds runs out, and with Sulawesi already out putting more pressure on Sumatra sales, we will be out for easily ninety days. At this point it is a big unknown with a lot of variables out of our control.

Many may ask, why don't you just get another Sumatra/Sulawesi? Well, for the Sumatra's, there is no other Wet Processed, and we really dislike the taste of Dry Processed coffees. As for the Sulawesi, there are other Toraja's available but none with the flavor we have come to expect. So, in either case it would be selling something we don't feel good about and we didn't get into this business to sell stuff we don't like. I would like to say just be patient and all will be fine, but in this case, not only is the fat lady not singing, she isn't even on stage yet.

Jack@$$ Attempts Van Theft!

2009-05-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

So, at 2am Jess arrived back at the shop from roasting at the warehouse with a load of beans. She parks it in the alley, opens the side door and goes into the shop. At that moment, a friendly jack@!$ from the Stadium Inn runs across the street, jumps into the van, fires it up and peels away, catching the dumpster with the side door, dragging it several feet, takes out the neighbors fence and promptly runs into a telephone poll. Total length of trip: 50 feet!

2008-11-15T10:21:00.000-08:00

So, after years of faithful service, our cash register (that we rescued out of the dumpster behind Regis University)died. Of course, this occurred late Friday afternoon, and by the time it was declared d.o.a. all the good register companies had closed. Unwilling to buy a crappy one we have been saved, for the weekend, by our neighbor Pam who brought in little Meg's Playschool cash register!

Staff Jam

2008-09-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here's a shot from a couple of weeks ago when Joe Zerber came out and did a little jam session with us. Lots of fun, especially knocking out those double rosettas. Thanks so much to Joe for his time and passion - we love you, man!

Little roaster clean out.

2008-09-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

After a grueling weekend scraping and scrubbing, the little roaster is back on line at the main store. It has been 6 months since we last cleaned out this roaster, we use to clean it every 3 months but with the new half bagger taking on the bulk of production we scaled back with the little one. As it turns out, 6 months is far too long - or it could have been the last time we cleaned the conversion fitting going into the chaff cyclone was really not cleaned out enough and consequently created faster build up. Whatever the case, we plan to break into it again in about 4 months just to see how its doing.
Big kudos once again to Adam Schley for putting in the brunt of the work, kudos also to Adam Moore, who out of curiosity got roped into a dirty project!