March 18, 2008
February 25, 2008
Coffee (and Beans and Rice)
We spent one morning with some of the farmers in the Las
Brumas Co-op (Intelligentsia’s “Flor Azul” comes from there). It was an honor to meet these people and
their families and to learn about all of the challenges that come with being so
involved in producing such quality and select beans. The
co-op members took, what seemed to them, to be a big risk in order to work in partnership with
Intelligentsia and their "Direct Trade" program, investing time and money to receive an
unsubstantiated higher price per pound, when they could have just kept selling their coffee to large exporters. Their
work continues and the reputation of the co-op and the quality of the coffee
it produces continues to grow. It was great to see how even a
seemingly small improvement, like, for one example, the solar dryers, could make things on the
individual farms work more efficiently while giving the farmers more control
over the quality of the beans.
We talked over lunch about the ways all of the different
parts of the farm work together -how the banana trees give potassium to the
soil, how the old cherry pulp is used to fertilize the ground…so many elements
working in synchronization in such a beautiful place (altitude 1200-1350m).
Local-grown is an understatement here as all the food we ate that day was grown
right on the farm. (It was also the first time the growers had met a
direct retail account, and the farmers were filled with pride as we told
them just how popular their coffees were in the bustling streets of
NYC.)
The next day, after a great breakfast of beans and rice, we
visited two of the Mierisch family farms to look at different varietals of
coffee trees. There were both yellow and red Pacamara trees on the Limoncello
farm. The yellow cherries tasted like passion fruit – they were very different
from what we had been used to tasting with the red cherries. We then searched
low and high for the elusive java tree. Steve just told us to look for the ones
that are shaped like Christmas trees! We eventually found them.
My personal favorite farm was Finca San Jose.
It was luscious green and magical with an excellent view. When we got there, the cherry picking had just ended for the day and some of the pickers were waiting for a ride back into town for the evening.
The more we saw, from wet mill to dry mill from farm to
farm, the more we realized how much effort it takes to get such great coffee in
our cups. We were all captivated by the dreamy beauty of the landscape but the
truck bouncing over the rugged roads kept us alert and focused.
The morning of our departure we visited two dry mills. At one large mill, the processing equipment and tables the
“specialty” beans went through were painted one color to differentiate them from the "commercial" equipment. The specialty process
included so many more sorting and selecting steps just at the dry mill alone
(after all of the initial sorting and selecting done from picking onwards).
This large-scale division really highlighted what the word “Specialty” coffee means – a word that
always seemed a bit subjective to me in the past.
We then had the great opportunity to cup coffees from most
of the farms we had visited. Each one on the table was delicious and unique – every
altitude showed different characteristics. We especially enjoyed the earl grey
subtlety of the java beans.
A special thanks to Intelligentsia and Steve and his family
for hosting us on our brief but captivating
visit. Phil's Nica trip report to follow...
February 13, 2008
Denver 911
Sometimes in the coffee industry there are weak links in the chain from seed to cup. The farmers take great care in cultivating the cherries, the green buyers purchase the best beans, the roasters take time to come up with the best roast profile, FedEx takes great care in transporting the coffee from the roaster to the cafe....wait a minute..sometimes FedEx, like humans makes mistakes.
Recently, our weekend espresso shipment from Novo in Denver did not arrive on Friday as it usually does.
I found out about it Friday night, too late to do anything about it so I called Herb to figure out what we should do. Herb was up all night speaking with their FedEx representative only to find out that the New York warehouse was closed until Monday. Yep our coffee was in New York but locked up away from it's beloved home, all alone in the dark. Sniff sniff. The blessing/curse of serving fresh coffee is that sometimes you run out or get the next shipment just as last week's coffee is running out. We had enough to get us through Saturday but Sunday would have been a sad day on the Heartbreaker Espresso front. I got to work Saturday and worked for a bit when I noticed my phone ringing. It was Herb from Novo. "Ed", he said "I have a plane ticket and a hotel booked for tonight in New York. How much coffee do you need?" I was blown away.
Herb flew into La Guardia Saturday night and hand delivered espresso to us Sunday morning! We had about 1/8th of a hopper left when he walked in the door. Unreal! Simeone, Novo's master roaster, came in on a Saturday and roasted a special emergency batch of Heartbreaker for us and Herb brought it to our front door. Herb had to leave that night so we didn't get a chance to hang out very much but it was great to see him. The coffee industry is filled with incredible, dedicated people.
This is the perfect demonstration of commitment to excellence in every step from seed to cup. Thank you thank you thank you Novo. Grumpy hearts Novo!
-Ed
January 22, 2008
Ed's Panama Report
I recently traveled to
Boquete, Panama to visit coffee farms in order to educate myself,
meet farmers and all of the people involved in producing coffee
there. Boquete is in the state of Chiriqui at the foot of Volcan
Baru. David is the capital of Chiriqui.
Friday and Saturday: I landed in Panama the night of the 11th and hung out most of the day of the 12th in the city. I paid a cab driver to drive me around and show me the sights. I saw some great views of the city as well as the canal. He dropped me off at Albrook Airport a couple hours before my flight so I wandered a little. I stumbled upon a small roadside coffee house called Kotowa, Coffee of Boquete. I stopped in for a shot and a cup of coffee. It was all right. They ground the espresso to order and the coffee was pretty rich but had been brewed a couple of hours before. They had preground, flavored coffees for sale in shiny bags. I ended up hanging out at Kotowa in Boquete a bit. I got on a small plane and flew to David. From David, I got my rental car and drove to Boquete. I was planning on staying with the Petersons on Hacienda Esmeralda so I followed the directions that Susan Peterson emailed to me. I got lost…many times. The journey that should have taken me one hour took three. I finally asked three farm workers on the side of the road if they knew where Hacienda Esmeralda was and they didn’t. I asked where Palmira was and they knew. They needed a ride off the mountain so I gave them one. They took me to Palmira road and then into Boquete to drop them off. There was some big drug bust going on so I waited in line on the highway for a while but finally made it to the Petersons. I drove a little 2 wheel drive Toyota up some awful mountain roads in the dark. I mentally prepared myself to sleep in the back of the car on the side of a mountain with a flat tire in a foreign land but everything turned out all right. Yay! Susan and Price fed me sandwiches and beer and showed me to my casita (little house) which was situated in front of the main house. Susan and Price were so accommodating and pleasant to be around.
The next day I woke up to find cows right outside of my window. I hadn’t seen any of the land in daylight so I was blown away by the scenery. It was amazing! The Petersons have several dairies in addition to the coffee farms. One of the milking parlors was right across the road from my casita. I went into the house and Susan had brewed a pot of Esmeralda Geisha through a Technivorm. OMG it was incredible to drink coffee on the farm. Price had to leave early that morning for an SCAA meeting in San Diego so I didn’t get to see him after that. After breakfast, Susan introduced me to Abel at the beneficio (mill). Abel showed me the whole process of how they remove the coffee seeds from the cherries using machines which also separate under-ripe cherries from ripe ones. They then dry some of the coffee in huge rotating cylinders heated by ovens fueled by coffee husks (pergamino). Some of the coffee was dried on the patio until it reached 11% humidity. Workers continually raked the seeds so that they could dry evenly in the sun. Abel chewed on seeds to gauge the humidity level. I tried and guessed that one batch of seeds was at 20% humidity using my mouth. It was 19.9% on the machine. I rule! Abel showed me the cupping lab and what was this?…he started setting up a cupping! We cupped the new Geisha Mario 1 and a Caturra from the Jaramillo farm. It needed a little more “reposo” (rest) but it was amazing to be cupping with the foreman at the beneficio. He didn’t speak any English but he spoke slowly so that I could understand his Spanish. The view from the cupping lab was beautiful! I think Folgers would have tasted good in that setting. Later that night, I went to a small restaurant down the road called Gordon’s. Gordon was a Gringo who moved to Boquete and now runs a bar/ restaurant and gives English lessons. He had coffee, bananas and oranges growing in his front yard. It was karaoke night at the bar and I had a chance to listen to some real Panamanian folk music. Wow! Just wow! Oh yeah, I shared the casita with many very large spiders. We got along.
Monday: This was one
of the most significant days on my trip. Susan took me to the
Jaramillo farm to work and hang out with my new buddy and foreman of
the Jaramillo farm, Poldo. Poldo and I hiked all over the farm. He
showed me all of the different sections of the farm including Mario’s
valley where the Best of Panama Geisha is grown. According to Poldo,
very few outsiders had ever seen this valley in person. I was a
lucky boy. It was gorgeous. The Geisha plants carpeted the whole
valley with hundreds of native trees poking through. He also showed
me another section of the farm that had Geisha and Catuai growing in
the same section. He had me taste the difference between the two in
cherry form. The difference was amazing! The Catuai left a sweet,
round, refreshing aftertaste while the Geisha left a slight sting
down the back of my mouth and throat. Later, we rode around on his
tractor and ran errands for the farm before lunch. The tractor only
sat one so I sat on the fender and held on for dear life. The
tractor was Poldo’s car. We even drove down the highway on it.
I had lunch at the nursery with all of the Ngobe kids. They workers
lived in tiny cement shacks and the kids wore tattered clothing.
They were dirty and had little supervision but they were happy and it
was easy to tell that they were loved. They took care of each other.
We had rice and half of a sardine for lunch. I was a guest so they
chopped up a little cabbage for me. The kids loved my camera so I
let them take a bunch of pictures. After a short after-lunch soccer
game and photo shoot with the kids, it was time for me to do some
cosechando (harvesting). I strapped on my bucket and went to work on
a section of a field near the nursery. It was awful. It was
important to pick only the ripe cherries and to twist them off to
avoid injuring the plant. No stripping of the branch was allowed.
So much work and care go into harvesting on Esmeralda. Since coffee
cherries don’t all ripen at the same rate, the pickers have to
circulate between different sections of the farm for months on end
and keep picking the same trees. I picked 4.5 lbs. I only worked
for a little bit and a couple of the kids from the soccer game came
over and made fun of me so I didn’t pick a lot. I was busy
beating up little Ngobe kids. Not really. I met back up with Poldo
to pick up all of the coffee from the day at a couple of receiving
stations (recibideros). Everyone else picked way more than I did.
They laughed when we weighed my bag. After that, I helped load all
of the bags into an old army truck to be taken to the Palmira
beneficio. Some of the bags weighed 165 lbs. These weren’t
the only bags the pickers brought. They would drop off a bag then go
back down the road to grab the rest. Families picked together and
the man would carry the sacks to the recibidero. The women were very
good at picking because of their nimble, small fingers. We probably
loaded 50 bags (give or take a couple). By the time we got back to
Palmira, I was so beat and sunburned I couldn’t work anymore.
I was also covered in a layer of coffee juice mixed with mud. I
found a whole new “mud” reference to coffee. What a
mess. I got cleaned up and had dinner with some neighbors of the
Petersons.
Tuesday: I got up
early to drive to Volcan, on the other side of Volcan Baru, to visit
Finca Hartmann. This journey should have taken 2 hours but took me 3
because I get lost in Panama a lot. I finally made it. I was
greeted by Alice Hartmann who spoke English very well. She gave me a
tour of their beneficio and explained how everything worked and how
they take special care to be good to the forests around them. They
were situated on steeper terrain than Esmeralda so it seemed like
they used more machines and had less room for drying patios. Panama
can get pretty humid so they have to use the large cylindrical ovens
instead of depending on patios. Their farm was heavily forested. It
was beautiful. Everything was clean and colorful. They had some sun
drying racks out in the yard they were using for experiments for some
of their customers. Times are tough because they could probably make
way more money using their land for dairy or beef but she said that
they wanted to grow coffee so they get by and make it work. I saw
Senor Hartmann and waved. I didn’t have a chance to talk to
him but he looked great for his age. He started the farm about half
a century ago. I told Alice that I would do my best to sell as much
of their coffee as I could in the US. We exchanged email addresses
and I drove to Cerro Punta, a very fertile, mountainous area opposite
of Boquete on the Volcan Baru. They grew everything there!
Strawberries, onions, potatoes, beans, orchids, hummingbirds and
oranges where just a few of the crops that thrived in this area.
After that, I drove back to Boquete to hang out at Kotowa and wander
around town.
Wednesday: I got up early and went down to one of the few coffee houses in Boquete, Café Ruiz. I was having a pretty good cappuccino when I looked into the back door of the warehouse and noticed that they were roasting coffee. I asked if I could have a tour. It was cool. They are one of the top producers in the area and I got to tour the facilities. I also got to meet Senor Plinio Ruiz, 86 years old, who still works and drives his car around. Between his broken English and my broken Spanish, we had a great conversation. I also met Maria and Plinio Jr, Plinio’s kids. It was great! They sell 10% of their coffee locally and the rest all over the world. Sr Ruiz wanted my opinion of his coffee. They asked me to cup coffee with them but I had an appointment to cup some more Geisha samples back at Esmeralda with Rachel and Abel. What an honor! I drove back out to Esmeralda where we cupped three Geishas and a Catuai. One of the Geishas needed two or three more months of reposo in the warehouse. It lacked the floral qualities that Geisha usually has but it had nice acidity. It was a little out of balance though. The others were getting pretty close. They were more round, had great acidity and great floral aromas. The Catuai was good but very obviously not Geisha. It was a very balanced cup with chocolate and nutty tones. I had the opportunity to practice cupping with numbers. I haven’t really had very much experience scoring coffees. I decided to stick to descriptors on the flavor wheel but I looked over and it was all in Spanish so I just slurped and nodded.
Thursday: Today Rachel
took me up an insane road to Canas Verdes (green canes) in the Isuzu
Patrol. This is the highest point on Esmeralda. Back in a remote
canyon lays their highest grown Geisha. We hiked up to where we
thought the Geisha was. I tasted a cherry off of a tree and said
that it didn’t taste like Geisha cherries. Rachel called
Daniel and he said that the Geisha was further down the hill. Poldo
had taught me how to taste and tell the difference. Thanks Poldo!
We found the Geisha section of Canas Verdes. There was little to no
fruit on the trees. It will produce fruit in a year or two. We were
at around 1800 meters above sea level. Coffee doesn’t really
grow much higher than that, or so I thought. We went to dinner with
the rest of the family and they invited me to the SCAP (Specialty
Coffee Association of Panama) meeting/cupping the next day. I said
“Yes, I would love to come to a meeting/cupping that may
influence the entire coffee world with you tomorrow”.
Friday: I got up and went with Daniel and Rachel to the SCAP office in Boquete. I was supposed to meet up with Graciano Cruz (Ninety Plus developer and producer of Honey Bean, Aurora and Nectar) that day so we decided to meet at the SCAP meeting. He showed up and decided that we should go do fun stuff until the cupping. We ended up missing the cupping but he showed me some amazing things. First he took me to see his drying beds at Garrido coffee beneficio. They smelled amazing. They were pulped and dried by the sun on bamboo drying racks about 4 feet off the ground. Some of the newer beans were still sticky. I see why they call them “Honeys”. We did lunch and headed up to his house to have an after-lunch coffee. His house is right in front of a coffee farm with an amazing view of the mountains. He started adding the water to the press pot and said, “Ed, do you know what this is?” “It’s Nectar and Aurora mixed, that’s the way to drink it man!” as he laughed maniacally. It was delicious! I was sitting on the porch in front of a field of coffee plants drinking Aurora and Nectar. Unreal!!! After that, Graciano and I drove to Los Lajones and a couple of other farms. He was growing Geisha in completely forested land at 2300 meters above sea level! It looked nothing like a coffee farm. He had planted bamboo between each row of coffee. As the coffee and bamboo grew together, the bamboo could be used as wind protection for the coffee. You couldn’t even tell there was coffee growing there. The views were breathtaking! We drove down to Dona Berta where we checked sugar levels of beans near the drying racks. This place had broken-down old cement boxes for pickers and their families to live in. Graciano had only owned the farm for a short time and he was redoing the plumbing and paint the week after I left. Graciano’s theory on when to pick a coffee cherry is to let the bean ripen to a deep purple. They have the most sugar and as long as no water is used during the processing, fermentation will not occur and it will produce a sweeter cup. I think he is on to something. I know I have consumed gallons of Los Lajones Honey Bean. Many other farms in the area use a lot of water and electricity to dry their coffees but Graciano uses man-powered pulpers, bamboo and the sun. He learned about this method in Africa and is applying it in Panama. He initially started because he wanted the Ngobe Bugle people (the indigenous people of the mountains of Boquete) to be able to grow and process coffee on their reservation without having to use power or water. He found that it worked for some of his farms too. That night we joined Graciano’s kids and their friends for some singing and hanging out before heading back to the house to sleep. This was another of the most significant days of my trip.
Saturday: I woke up before Graciano, and made another pot of Geisha and sat on the porch with Gabriel, Graciano’s youngest son. I can’t even type the words to describe the incredible sense of appreciation I had for the setting I was in. We were just waking up to another sunny day on the porch in a coffee field, drinking Geisha. Later, we met up with Jose David Garrido of Garrido Coffee and Ninety Plus. Graciano had things to do so Jose David and I drove all over the place. He showed me many different farms including Mama Cata. He told the story of the naturally processed Geisha. Based on a dream, he decided to take an inventory of everything in his beneficio, including garbage. A day or two after that, Graciano Cruz and Joseph Brodsky (Ninety Plus and Novo Coffee Roasters) showed up and asked Jose David if he had any Geisha that was still in the cherry. He did and he knew it. They roasted and cupped it. It blew their minds. Jose David had more to show me but my stay in Boquete was over. I had to leave for David to fly back to Panama City and back to New York the next day.
This was one of the
most amazing times of my life. I thought I would learn mostly about
the growing methods and science of coffee farming when I was there,
but I feel like I learned a lot more about the people behind the
coffee. I wanted to thank each and every cosechero (picker) for
carrying those 150 lb bags of cherries up the mountains every day. I
wanted to thank that driver who picks up all of the cherries 3 times
a day to take them to the mill. I wanted to thank all of the mill
workers and office workers. I wanted to thank of all the farmers and
producers for taking such great care to make sure every detail is
covered and that they make the best cup possible. Thank you Susan,
Rachel, Daniel, Price, Poldo, Abel, Graciano and Jose David. I’ll
be back to visit soon.
January 16, 2008
Panama Report - part II (from Hacienda La Esmeralda)
Things are awesome here. There is a
slight possibility that all flights from Panama to USA might be
canceled forever so I might be stuck here for a couple years if that's
okay. I will keep you posted. Daniel is here and Rachel is coming
today. We are going to be cupping some samples that were harvested 2
or 3 days ago. Daniel has some office stuff to do until later so I
might go into town and have 9 cappuccinos at Cafe Ruiz.
Take Care,
Eduardo
January 14, 2008
Panama Report - Part I (very brief)
As some of you know, Ed is spending a week in Panama visiting Hacienda La Esmeralda and will also pay a visit to Los Lajones Estate. We had been anxiously awaiting updates on how his Spanish is holding up.
His first brief field report arrived in the inbox this weekend. Looks like it was quite an adventure getting to his destination. During his first day at Hacienda La Esmeralda, he has been chatting alot and drinking coffee...and we can all be jealous of this: "I am enjoying a cup of Esmeralda in the farm house of Esmeralda brewed using a Technivorm."
Anyway, we will keep you updated on Ed's adventures.
January 09, 2008
Cracking the Heartbreaker
As many of you have noticed, we have been changing espressos from time to time always in search of the perfect shot. After many pounds of different beans, we realized that it was time to create our own blend or "Espresso Integration."
After speaking with one of our favorite roasters, Novo Coffee in Denver, Colorado, we decided that we wanted to develop our espresso with them...so off to Denver I went.
My espresso adventure in the Rocky Mountains was great! Jake Brodsky (a coffee rockstar) picked me up from the airport at night. The next day proved to be fruitful but we still needed to further develop the blend. Herb took me to the Novo Cafe at the Denver Art Museum. They had 2 Clovers and a Rancilio lever espresso machine. Great shop! After that, Jake, Johnny, Tal and I conducted all of the research and tasting at an espresso machine sales/repair shop called Espresso Smith. Tal Fisheman, the owner and espresso machine genius, welcomed us to make a beautiful mess in his showroom on a custom lever/pump hybrid Rancilio machine. We showed up with our bin of 12 different single origin coffees and began our search for the base. After a couple of Panamas and Colombians, we found our beloved Colombia Alandra. It covered a very wide array of desired flavors and was perfect for the middle of the flavor profile we were after. It was difficult to get an accurate representation of how the shots would taste at home being that we were using a completely different machine as well as being a mile above sea level and all I had with me was our portafilter baskets.
After hours of searching, tasting and establishing the Alandra, we decided to head back to Novo Headquarters to plan for dinner. I went to dinner with Herb Brodsky (another amazing coffee rockstar) and his wife Mary (Mary runs the Novo Cafe in Arvada and is a coffee rockstar as well. Just to let you all know, everyone I have mentioned in this blog are coffee rockstars. Okay I said it) to a Novo account called Duo. Great food! Herb, Mary and I talked about the day and coffee and staying well in life. What a wonderful bunch.
That night I had a dream of Colombia, Beloya and Harrar.
The next day was when all of the magic happened. We had Simeone, Novo's Roaster Master cook us up some Beloya to try with our Alandra base as well as a Harrar called Golocha for depth. Pat Campbell, Steve Holt, Jake, Herb and I tried a couple different ratios and came up with the Heartbreaker. I took 2 different recipes home with me to try on our equipment and we found a winner.
Heartbreaker turned out to be a smooth, fruity shot with a great creamy finish and silky mouthfeel. It stands out perfectly in milk as well. We are sure you will enjoy it. Thanks Novo, you are amazing!
Oh yeah, thank you to Liam for naming our beloved espresso integration"Heartbreaker" and congratulations on winning the espresso naming contest!
-Ed
December 08, 2007
Hot 72 strikes again!
As a proud New York Post reader, I was overjoyed when I opened the paper today and saw our name in an article on cozy cafes in the city. Even more exciting was the fact that Cheryl's signature drink (the spicy cappuccino aka Hot 72) was mentioned.
Little did we know that summer night in July at our first ever Signature Drink Night that the evening's winning creation would catch on as such a popular drink. Thanks to Liz for documenting that night and for the above photo.
If you haven't had a chance to try Cheryl's drink, you have time...it will be on the menu through January.
Check out the full New York Post article here.
December 05, 2007
Composte or Animate?
...What do you do with left-over beans? Well, here is what Karl did:
We have been anxiously awaiting its debut and we weren't disappointed - Enjoy!
December 02, 2007
Hearts & Crafts Affair (take five)
The snowy morning set the perfect stage for the winter Hearts & Crafts Affair. Today was the fifth craft fair held in Greenpoint and it was the busiest yet. Chris, Phil & Brian prepared some delicious warm beverages for the crowds that filled the cafe from open to close.
It was a very tiring but fun day and all of us came away with some great purchases. Laptops were off (mostly) and people were chatting and drinking coffee which is what we love to see.
Congratulations to Kira for organizing such a great event. I don't think there have been so many people "this side of McGuinness Boulevard" before!
Stay tuned for the next one...it will be spring before we know it.
