Meru Kenya Coffee Research Center

Every year I make a trip to Origin. As a Specialty Coffee Roaster you need to know what's going on in the field, the coffee field.

And it was December 26th of 2012 i was looking at this 'Equator' sign at the outskirts of Meru, a small city above Mount Kenya. Next to it you may spot the sign for the Coffee Research Foundation Mariene Sub-Station.

At this Center they offer 9 different services to the local farmers, and mean while experiment a lot with different varieties.

Most important are the soil, leaf, coffee beans, fertilizer and pesticide analyses.
But besides of that they also sell beans.
KES 4000 for a kilo of Batian and Riuri11.
KES 1000 for SL 28,34 and K7.
(100 KES is appr. €1)

At first I was shocked they priced the Riuri11 so high, but this variety seemed to be the 'specialty of the house'. In Riuri, 20 km north of Nairobi, they have their head quarters, and this maybe inspired them to push it.
The recent Riuri 11 cultivar is a dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant strain  but we are not so fond of this evolution. Most top class Kenyan coffees are from the SL28 and 34, or a cross of both. Also latest Batian harvest seems to show a lot of potential, but not so with the Riuri11, which has a 8% robusta gene inside!
For the moment it has only 3 or 4% of the total harvest.
The Batian even less.

Read this very interesting article about it : click it.

Daniel, who's working at the Lewa Wild Park, helped me and my friend Gerard with translating the guide from the Center.

The guide showed us their activities and we also had a look at the drying beds (with the beans still in parchment and covered because of boxing day), washing station, coffee nursery and offices.

Very impressing were a couple of Uganda Robusta trees they had. 3 very tall trees, almost 8 meters high!

And one acre showed the Riuri11 mother stock.

Small parts of the plants were cut out - with 2 leaves for moisture - and attached to the stam of the other tree, just with tape. A funny looking practice, but apparently very effective.

Enjoy the pictures and don't hesitate to drop by for a visit when you are around the area.

Espresso or Ristretto?

Let's first start with some thoughts i blogged before :

here
and here

Some stuff does come back, but coffee is an un going story isn't it?

Long ago it was all very simple.
You ordered an espresso and they gave you a 3cl (1oz) beverage. Strong, full of flavors, good with milk, no problems.

Then they started to up dose the filter baskets - those bloody aussie's :-) - and the drink became sweeter and more bold.

Bit by bit the espresso volume went down towards 2,5 cl and soon after you saw a lot of Barista's going back to the original 3 cl, but not with a single espresso shot in the cup, but a double; so actually a double ristretto.

Where will it end and how do we deal with it?

It is very clearly not global, but meanwhile wide spread. Although the WBC rules insist on pulling 'regular' doubles, in the field the double ristretto's are taking over.
Go visit the average San Francisco, London or Melbourne Specialty Coffee Bar, order an espresso, and they will serve a double ristretto straight away. The rules (mostly adapted): 20 grams of extra fine ground of espresso roast, approximately 1+ ounce of filtered water that's pressed through it and we have a 20 to 35 seconds dripping naked portafilter, preferably engined by a high tech pressure profiled espresso machine monster. A lot of power and complexity in the cup and great base for fine textured fresh milk.
In The Netherlands, Belgium or France this is mostly not the recipe and also Germany and Scandinavian are in jeopardy.

Normo Antwerp is the first Belgian bar only pulling ristretto's, although still splitting them (for milk drinks) with the double Portafilter. Nice initiative and double as good once this Strada is going to land at the Minderbroedersrui - go check out that monster once its in.

We, at Caffenation, have fantastic results with our double ristretto's, called Dorito (on the menu).
The naked filter technique results with the La Marzocco Linea were very shaky, but our Mistral now does a great job and the ('naked pulled') Dorito and Dorito based Flat White (16cl cup or 22cl glas) are on the rise.

The next logical step for us would be to offer this concentrated shot straight away when someone orders an espresso. Most probably this is something we can't stop happening, but what about the 'classic' espresso we spoke earlier about?
I think this still is a bloody good drink and I don't want to lose it and, as a result, weaken our menu.

So for the moment we ask our clients - certainly the international and progressive by nature ones - to specify what they want when ordering their espresso.
And the same for the cappuccino; "1 shot of espresso or a double (ristretto) based one"? "In a cup or in a glass"?

The Future of Coffee

This probably is going to be a long one, because its my imagined future of both slow and express.
And this in bars, not at home.

The future of coffee is black. Our slogan on the espresso of the week bags is for real.
But of course its not only black coffee that's changing.
All over the world the Flat White is on the rise. There are a lot of different recipes and stories about this drink, but all around i see the double ristretto based cappuccino, size approximately 18cl-6oz, becoming the favourite drink of the new generation.
The 1 oz espressoshot became a double ristretto, very strong, high on acidity and very siropy. The milk is fresh and steamed at +/-60 degrees. The mugs mostly brown or white and from Italian origin. The equipment is somewhat more flexible. For grinders its mostly Mazzer, by preference the Robur, and left or right an Anfim Super Caimano. For machines La Marzocco is king, but Synesso, Slayer, KVDW and the upcoming Nueva Simonelli do have a bright future.

No special espresso stuff at the horizon?
Not really. The flavored lattes are mainstream but not supported very well in the 3rd wave bars.
The nice sig drink ingredients from championships are left behind on stages or in training rooms.
And the cold coffees are no longer espresso but slow & cold brew based.
And as someone who commented on the 'lungo post', why not promoting Americanos/ Long Blacks? Even when you tune them in perfectly and promote them all the time, they hardly become very popular. They lack the mouthfeel of the espressos and aren't as aromatic as the filters. I stopped putting my energy in this beverage.

This brings us to the other side of black; filter/press coffee or the slow menu.

The history in bars is very short, so it's hard to tell how the future is gonna look like.
Just as Marco rep David Walsh cited before; the quality of manual pour over is very shaky. This knowing; the most popular drippers in the espresso bar, the Hario V60 and the Chemex, are the most shaky of all.
Besides of this they are very time consuming and time is money, certainly in Belgium.
These 2 problems is the reason i advice most starting espresso bars to go with the Abid Clever dripper. It's faster and more stable. And cheap.
The Aeropress is another possibilty. The main advantage : it's hard to screw up. The main disadvantage : it's hard to excell. If you compare our 2 (winning) recipes, one with a Yirg and the other with a Kenya, on 2 consecutive World championships and you see they are night and day.

What about the good old French Press?
Bit by bit we notice in slow coffee a change in flavors. Where in espresso we notice much more stronger&explicit tastes, the filter coffees turn more subtle and cleaner. And it's on the last part the French press is failing. And that's because of sediment we find back in the brews.
Of course you can, as we did with the Trifeca, filter the 'pressed' coffee again after the brew, but then again time and cost are not on our side. Temperature stability neither.
Trifecta is very expensive as well and the machine seems to be not as sturdy as an espressomachine or big filter machine.

What's the future now?
World wide i don't have a clue, but right now and here, I have a couple of interesting slow bar projects in the pipe line though.

One is a large pour over bar with the Grindripper drippers. Weird enough these dripper demand less skilled pouring. I pour in to bloom and then i fill up the dripper, with a rinsed Hario size 1 bleached filter, 2 or 3 times, depending on the volume. I use in between 10 to 15 grams.
The result is stunning and i'll show you all once it is installed.

Another project i want to install in a couple of bars is with the help of the Bunn ICB brewer. This programmable flat bed brewer is the best machine i know for quick top class coffee. With more top class containers you can give all who are interested samples. Probably soon at your favourite bar.
I keep you guys informed.

News for 2012, first quarter

Our Website is almost ready. Take already a peep now.

We're running the last mile of our coffee envelope membership. This project was a full marathon, so the leggs do hurt a little bit right now. Soon more.

Aeropresses are back in stock. As well as the filters, €4.

Still planning to organise the next Aeropress Championships on Easter Monday.

And at the same time an open Roastery door for all interested...

6th of Feb we have the Belgian Barista Championships with both Roeland and Emiel in the finals.

7th of Feb there's some cuptasting to be done. Roast Master and AP champ Jeff is going to defend our colors at the Belgian heats.

These CC's are being held at the Venuez Fair, Waagnatie. On this fair our National La Marzocco dealer Limarc will have a big LM (I suppose a Strada) fired up, teamed by Anfim grinders and tamed by Grandmaster Bert, the Birdyman. Come on over and taste some delicious Caffenation spro's.

Besides Kolonel Koffie, King Kong Coffee and Kornel, we also have Korsakov opening up, tonight at the former Bato Batu café. Caffenation House Blend coffees from tomorrow on (i believe).

Why is the K-K combo so popular these days?

We sell also sell Baratza Grinders now. The Maestro plus, Virtuoso and Virtuoso Precisio. Great gear for grand prices ; this means 'cheap'.

After reigning as number 1 Caffenation client (volume wise), Inspire came in 2nd last year, after rookie sensation The Village music & coffee. Lennaert & Angelo started off like rockets. This deserves a price; more coffee.

Much more classes soon at Caffenation Hopland, beginning with blitzing Home Brewing Classes. Jeff and Bird welcome you Sunday Feb 5th at 19h. €10 a person, still people needed to complete the class. Let's brew!

Cocariva Brazil Visit in Photos

Preparation for the cupping session.


Bean sorting at the warehouse.


Bagging machine at the warehouse.


Me and Wellington Pereira (and translator Diana).


Warehouse in Carmo de Minas.


Bean sample check at the lab.


Sample storage. A whole lot of beans.

Panama on the Rise

Who thinks it's all over this year after the Panama Bambito and the astonishing Geisha from La Esmeralda is wrong.

We still have two batches of the Dona Antonia to roast. This coffee was comparable to the Esmeralda and more a filter coffee then an espresso one. (Expect it as one of our filters of the week in November).

The upcoming Carmen estate is totally different though.

After competing very well all over the world, with a 4th place at the WBC as highlight, we were very curious to taste the new crop.
It's still a bit early to tell, but it looks like a winner, once again.
And a perfect base for the new Little Green Bag.

For those who want to know more about Panama as a coffee country may click this link from Sweet Maria's.

Soon more about the Carmen and Little Green Bag.

Also report from Jeff competing (again) for worlds best aeropress recipe in Milan, the 23rd.

And we follow the Dutch and Belgian Barista Championships. With a little bit of luck we have 4 Caffenation powered Barista's on stage. That would be an all time high.

oh yes, the photo was just 'for fun'.

El Roble Farm in Antwerp

Bird and I have been picking a small bag of Cherries when visiting the El Roble Farm in Colombia.

Once back home I washed the beans and started up a my own micro plantation.
It took a couple of months but finally one plant after the other is popping up.

It brings back nice memories about this unforgettable Cupping Extravaganza at El Roble Santander.

Caffenation Start up Help

Last year and a half I helped 20 or more people starting up their bar. Most were espresso bars and also asked us for equipment supply.

I've seen it as a big honour to help all those people. For many this start up was a life changer, so I felt it sometimes stressful to advice them.
But bit by bit we became experts on all the facets involved in the opening and daily management of a coffee specialised entreprise.

There are a lot of different chapters in between the willing and the final completion of a start up.
It mostly starts with a meeting. Lots of interested 'partners' are already known to Caffenation and the way I think or act, but some of them need a bit more info to start with.

Then we start talking about their ambitions and marketing plan. What are the main products, prices, place to act and people to attract? We learn this in school of course, but in real life it's not always that easy.
I'm doing this kind of thing - and I love it - for half of my life I also like to help the starters to judge locations or sometimes even find a spot.
An profitable espresso bar needs a lot of coffee drinkers a day, so a busy street, square or center is necessairy.

Later on we start working on budgets, break even point calculation and targets.
Then the menu.
Then we decide what equipment to use.
Eventually we help searching staff.
And of course, the training.

Roeland has become our first Barista trainer, but actually everyone working for Caffenation help to train all rookie or experienced Barista's.

As important as the quality is the atmosphere in which we're drinking our black gold. Without the right music, furniture, light, decoration and staff there's not enough reason to attract a lot of people every day of the week.

Then we have a look at the right suppliers. Bit by bit we see more and more professional company's in the coffee world to help us achieve our goals.

Final round is the installation and tuning of the machines and training on the premises.

Of course there's always a lot of follow up to do and we continue to give coffee classes and cupping sessions and give every pro a lot to read and follow.

For new starters in Belgium, Holland or surrounding country's, don't hesitate to contact me if you have the ambition to start an espresso bar with us, or if you want to improve your cup quality and atmosphere around it.

"A large Latte please"

More and more we have people over who order a large Cappuccino or large latte or small latte or stuff like that.

And then they see me as an 'unfriendly man' when explaining there are no sizes in these drinks.

Mostly Dutch clients have been brainwashed by big chain coffee company's as Star**** and Coffee Company and do not know anymore that a cappuccino is a cappuccino.
I agree you can make 15cl or 20cl cappuccino's, but I'm against a menu full of small, medium and large sized milk drinks. I'm not even talking about caramel machiato's, 'venti's' and other insane American monster drinks.

I remember Coffee Company arguing a couple years ago that they increased 10% after introducing different sizes in their milk drinks.
Well, mister CC, we increased last year 25% by keep on serving 'traditional' cappuccino's.

Our 'Company Credo' = not more, but better coffee's. The rest will follow.

Tamp Control

This item comes back once a year.

Last week I read a great article about it.
I don't think I have a better explanation so I'll just link it.

One more top tip to add : buy a naked portafilter to master your tamping technique. This is the easiest way to see where you're at.

Dorito

Dorito stands for DOuble RIstretTO.

These days in specialised bars in all English speaking country's they mostly serve you this kind of drink when you order an espresso.
It's a very concentrated double shot, barely larger then a one ounce 'classic' espresso.

We at Caffenation use a naked portafilter to pull these kind of shots. It enables you to master your dosing and tamping technique. And believe me ; here it is where you can seperate the boys from the men, if you know what I'm saying.

Of course you need the right coffee and a sturdy machine.
And a grinder well adjusted.
We mostly use our House Blend, an Anfim Barista grinder and La Marzocco Linea machine. The shot is undoubtedly very syrupy with lots of dark brown crema, so you have to stir it well before drinking.

The problem with most double ristretto's is that the coffee gets too bitter and harsh, so you're desperately looking for a glass of water to rinse your mouth. And here, I think, we're delivering a good job. I've tasted 2 Dorito's yesterday and twice it was very strong, but not harsh, but velvety and with a very smooth aftertaste.

So, a happy Antwerp Barista is greeting you.
(and by the way : this ristretto photo is not mine, but one from Gimme).

Planning

It's not my habit to post only once a week.

The upcoming roastery, moving, very busy bar and other stuff are asking a bit too much from me.

Now at home resting for a couple of days. And meanwhile thinking about our future.

It's sure Caffenation is a company in transition.
A year ago we had two bars and a low income from equipment & coffee beans. Today we only have one bar and lots of installations, coffee bean sales and a daily sell of Hario, Aeropress and other home brewing gear.
For me this is a normal movement. Because of age, changing interests and sky high staff costs it feels like we have no other options.

Also the Dutch market and the e-business are laying ahead of us. With so many good coffee beans and experience in the third wave espresso world we think this is were we have to go.

So a bit more patience and we're drinking the 'real' stuff. I've been having lots of positive reactions on the specialty coffees we've been serving this year, but I promise you this is just a glimpse of what's awaiting for you. The warehouse is getting packed with exotic coffee bags. And that smell every time I walk in! Can't wait to start roasting.
With a little bit of luck this friday our first batch. Exciting.

Finally Fresh Milk

It took a while.
7 years to be correct.

When we opened up the bar 7 years ago we didn't have the ambition to work with fresh milk.
Belgium is not a fanatic 'milk country' like The Netherlands f.e.. And the rare times we worked with organic and/or fresh milk the reactions we not so positive.

But our ambition to serve the best possible coffee forced us into fresh.

Price, availibility, taste and storage were 4 difficult mountains to climb, but we finally did it.

Hollebeekhoeve milk is fresh, tasty and local. Not totally organic unfortunately, but for all (milk) coffee amateurs around, this should be a big step forward.

So, I expect you guys in soon for a creamy and sweet cap or mac.
Cheers.

Efico Seabridge Coffee Terminal

Drove my Volvo to the new Efico Warehouse last Friday.


It's not totaly finished yet, but since a while Efico is shipping their coffees to this new building in Zeebrugge. The site is called Seabridge and located on this new street, koffiestraat.

One of the biggest green coffee traders in the world is an Antwerp company. Efico's offices and cupping room is one kilometer away from our bar. The former warehouse was in the Antwerp harbour, but now they decided to move all this liquid gold to this North Sea harbour.
I don't really mind. It's a 1 hour drive for me and I only go like once a year to pick up a couple of sample bags. Maybe the word 'sample bag' is not best world for 50 to 70 kilo bags of greens. Every week, 5 weeks long, we roast a full 35K drum to see what the beans are saying. If they are really pleasing, we order more and have them delivered.


Here you see the inside of the delivery house. At this platform they sort the bags ready for shipping.
Everything spic and span here. And spacious and light. What a difference with the old storage building.


A car full of coffee's. Now I know why I bought this break.
Enough Indonesia, Guatemala, Cameroon, India and Tanzania in the house for next 5 roasts of the week I guess.

Unstoppable Stumptown

I'm a big Stumptown fan since the first time I tasted one of their coffee's.

I like their beans, looks, attitude, ambitions, packaging and Duane as a leader.

In 'God in a cup' I read that he was willing to start up a bar in Amsterdam. I didn't believe him, but see : he's delivering.
Also about his West Coast ambitions ; the roastery in Brooklyn and bar at the Ace Hotel Manhattan.
Want to know more about this Portland originated company? Read this article from The Time.

Sure thing is I'll be on the first row when the shop is opening in Amsterdam, and I invite all journalists who think coffee is hip and meanwhile visiting Starbucks and drinking Nespresso. Experience this guys! Third wave is coming!

The Fourth Wave is Coming

*

As you can read in my header. Caffenation is a 3rd wave espresso bar. For what it's worth; I can't find another term for it.

For those not knowing what I'm babbling about : 1st wave is the start of the commercial espresso machine. People go drink espresso based coffee drinks outside of their home.
2nd wave is Starbucks, or company like SB. Peet's for example in CA, Coffee Company in Holland or Jacqmotte in Belgium.
Then we have the 3rd wave were it's all about taste. The coffee bean gets a holy 'status'. We treat it with the highest care and start going single origin and single estate. Latte Art plays an important part in this movement.

Now the 4th wave...
I was wondering for years what the next wave would be like. And I think it's a bit early to yell it out to loud, but it seems that 4th wave is in the making.
This article from 'salon.com' handles about this 4th wave. Reads very well and hitting the link 'Serious Eats' makes you start to dream of a new wave rolling on the beach softly.

But that's not enough folks. 4th wave is not only about espresso; It's also about 'slow food' and the rise of the slow bar on which Barista's start brewing coffee's with the help of 'improved house hold coffee brewers' like the Chemex, the Hario filters, the Vac Pot, Aeropress and other manual and non electronic equipment.


For me that's the future of coffee and if you give me a couple of months, you're going to witness this at Hopland as well.
The biggest step forward in this movement for me is that we close the gap with the customer seriously. It asks again some craftsmanship and experience, but is way less expensive and difficult then pulling decent espresso's at home.

This is stuff I'm working on very hard at the moment.
Soon more, a whole lot more. And it doesn't matter if it's the fourth or not. It doesn't even matter if it is a wave or not ; it's the quality in the cup that matters. And the fun drinking it. And believe me ; we're drinking smashing coffee's for the moment!

Very exciting period we're in, if you ask me. Lot's of new techniques, equipment and beans. It feels a bit like we're rewriting the future of coffee right now. Very exciting indeed.

* and if the slow bar fails, you can still use your chemex for flowers.....:-)

(thanks Bradley Allen and pourdover for the inspiring flickr pics)

Portland Coffee Crazy City

Reading this article I became, once again, aware that I DO have to go to Portland Oregon sooner or later. To my idea this must me the most coffee crazy city in the world.
I'm a coffee lover - Duh! - and ... beer lover. This Espresso Stout sounds wonderful. You can send me a bottle.

I'm a bit afraid the general coffee culture in Portland is a bit one dimensional, but if it's good, it's good you know.

Have a look at this new company, Heart.

The guy/owner comes from Scandinavia and bring this new roastery and bar in style (refurbished Probat, Mistral, Scan designed bar, ....). Very inspirational. Great job, and keep on going till I'm over to taste some of this Heart Coffee.
Or send me a bag :-)

Hacienda San Pedro Jayuya Puerto Rico

Been in contact with Rebecca and Roberto Attienza since a couple of years.

In Atlanta I had the privilige to meet up a first time and last week I finally was able to visit their farm, death center Puerto Rico mountains.

Roberto is 3rd generation coffee farm holder and under his wings the Hacienda San Pedro became world wide known for 1st class coffee.
We had the Yauco Selecto a couple of times on the grinder at Caffenation. This coffee came from a farm not far away from Maricao and was also run by Roberto.

But they no longer do the Yauco Selecto anymore and focus now entirely on the San Pedro farm in this small town called Jayuya. Jayuya is an Indian name and the city is half an hour away from Ponce, Puerto Rico's second biggest city at the south of the isle.
It was a fantastic to experience the last part of the harvesting and processing.

The beans rolling in were the last ones picked, mostly unripe left overs and only for local consumption.

The crop was not a big one this year. They only expect 1000 fifty K bags of their premium quality.

Hopefully we will be able to take in a couple dozen ones.

Thank you Rebecca and Roberto for having us over at the farm. It was a very warm welcome and we learned a lot.

Hacienda Juanito Maricao Puerto Rico

The first Hacienda we visited was the Hacienda Juanita in Maricao. In this village I took the photo's I showed you in my last post.

This is a nice Hacienda and village to experience a real Puerto Rican vibe. American products and habits are still present left and right, but once between the people or coffee trees you get a good feeling.
The coffee fields are small and the coffee is only distributed locally.
But the nice thing about this plantation is you can stay over for the night. Pick room # 9 and you have a lovely view over the valley and coffee plants.


In between most coffee trees in Puerto Rico you will find plantain trees. This is a kind of banana that doesn't taste as a banana. When eating raw it tastes a bit like raw potato, but it looks like banana. Very weird experience the first time, cause we were expecting fruit.
It's very healthy though and in their local dish Mofongo they cook it and mash it up with herbs and sometimes meat. Yummy! I had some tropical backed bananas before, but this variety and way of preparing is kinda special and less boring.

Puerto Rico Coffee Drinking

I'm just back from the Caribes, Puerto Rico.
Very nice trip to origin we had.

I was a little bit chocked by how many people live on this relatively small island. 3 to 3,5 million! And all together they possess 1,5 million cars!! That's even more chocking.

Official this is US soil and this you could see. The Burger King-Casino-CBS-Hamburgers-Fast living-Airport red tape, etc... were all over the place.

Luckily Puerto Rico got enough unspoiled hide outs to please us. Plus, most of the people enhance their Spanish background more than their American citizenship and this makes these inhabitants very special.
And very friendly and open and happy to see us. At least; that's how it felt.

Of course, this blog is about coffee, and there's plenty of coffee on this island.

Lots of coffee producing country's don't have the habit of drinking their own coffee; Puerto Ricans do.
Mostly they drink drip coffee and the general coffee quality was ok.
Having wonderful coffee beans helps of course.

Funny was their habit (as you can see on the photo above) to stick small red straws in their 'cups'.

The beans are all over the mountains. If you cross the island you can go up to 1300 meters above sea level. From on 800 meters you can spot the trees along most of the roads, as you can see on this picture.

Harvest just came to an end.
The most beans we saw were the green ones from the young trees.

And black ones, from diseases.


We were lucky to visit two Coffee Hacienda's, but that's for a later post.