Wanneer je groene koffie te kopen? (Dutch)

Het is vrij moeilijk om te zeggen welke koffie wanneer op zijn best is.

Een oogst kan wat vroeger of later uitvallen.

De koffie kan minder goed bewerkt of verpakt of bewaard zijn. 

Bijvoorbeeld in de winter blijven onze 'groene' bonen (dus ongebrand) langer op smaak dan in de zomer. 

Maar het belangrijkste is toch de origine.

Wanneer je start met een boon waar meer smaken in zitten is het logisch dat er ook meer over blijft. 

En sommige origines houden gewoon langer hun smaken - meestal komt dit door betere processing.

Ons grootste nadeel is dat we starten met heel clean cups die we ook licht branden en dan subtiel zetten. Dit betekent een koffie die een pak zuiverdere smaak heeft dan we in de markt gewoon zijn, maar waar je ook de fouten snel in terug vindt, en dat kan bv de veroudering zijn. 

Wanneer dit gebeurd spreken we van 'woody' flavors. 

Kenya en Ethiopia kan je meestal tot 1 jaar bewaren nadat ze verpakt zijn. 

In Latijns of Zuid Amerika blijven Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala en soms Mexico lang goed.

Brazilië - veruit de grootste producent ter wereld met 40% aandeel - is middelmatig. 

Colombia en Indonesië bewaart, uit mijn eigen ervaring, het slechtste. De te snelle en slordige processing ter plaatse lijkt de voornaamste oorzaak voor dit fenomeen....

Hier een overzicht wanneer we welke origine kopen, over een jaar gezien :

Eerste kwartaal vh jaar (dus januari, februari, maart) : 

Ethiopia en Kenya van hun Late Harvest/Fly crop van het vorige seizoen.

Rwanda en Burundi zijn dan heel vers.

Brazilië Late Harvest. 

Panama lukt ook nog en meestal krijgen we ook een prima Indonesische koffie binnen. 

Colombia piekt nu. 

Tanzania kan ook werken als ze ginder weer niet te traag zijn. Deze origine wordt ook snel woody.

Tweede kwartaal :

Feest met de komst van verse oogsten uit Ethiopië en Kenya!!

Vanaf mei komt ook Costa Rica en Guatemala binnen.

Colombia blijft interessant omdat ze het hele jaar door oogsten. En nu nog grote volumes. 

In juni komt nieuwe topoogst Indonesië toe, maar specialty volgt later pas. 

Derde kwartaal : 

Ethiopia en Kenya op volle kracht.

De rest uit Latijns Amerika komt toe : El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, ....

Makkelijkste kwart vh jaar.

Vierde kwartaal : 

Nieuwe oogsten Peru en Brazilië landen. Maar niet makkelijk om daar tasty koffie's te kopen. Om verschillende redenen.

Panama blijft heel interessant.

Nieuwe oogsten Burundi en Rwanda komen mogelijk al toe tegen einde jaar. 

Mexico wordt het laatste geoogst en kan prima in vierde kwart.

Heel cleane en goed verpakte Latijns Amerikaanse koffie's kunnen nog zeker.

Ethiopië blijft scoren en de laatste jaren kochten we onze beste Kenya's het laatste kwart. 

Ook alternatieven uit Zuidelijker gelegen Afrikaanse landen kan nu : Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia.

Brand New Roaster : Giesen W30A

When Jeff and I first moved to Wilfred to test this new machine of him, and that was exactly 1 year ago, we were really impressed.

The W30A is not just a step up from the 15 kg roaster we first had, no it's a totally different ball game all together.
Where the 6 and 15 are shop roasters, this one is an industrial roaster.

With much heaver elements, but also a much stronger engine, a double exhaust and a turbo cooler that sounds like it's going to give the machine some wings and fly up.
More information on the machine here.

We had some issues with the gas the first 2 weeks, but besides of that we get an improved result in flavor already.
The basic materials are much heavier of course, but relatively the same as it always was. More advanced it gets when you take a look at the Control Tower. You can adjust almost everything into the smallest detail. The electronic boards inside look more like it needs to steer an electrical plant than a coffee roaster.

Luckily the roasting itself it not that complicated, although we are still in research how to handle it exactly and how many kilo's we can roast at a time.

Soon more photo's of the roaster and for those who want to see the machine can always let us know and drop by for a visit.

Roastery Practises

Starting up a coffee roastery is easy when you buy a home roasting device, put it in the corner of your espresso bar and start roasting small batches.

It IS a totally different ball game if you upscale.
From 15kg on, the home roaster becomes an industrial machine. It need to be placed in a separate space and you have all sorts of safety, health and environment rules and regulations.
Summing them up would get me way to far, but briefly you need to have a good trace and track system, separate spaces for the greens or roasted coffee, Rento kill help, staff regulations, clean workspace, and so on, and so on.
On the photo you see our green storage space.

Roasting Degrees

This (Sweet Maria's) photo shows very well the different degrees in roasting.
Almost all over the world we see coffee that's roasted too dark.

We always curse on those companies that roast very dark. In Belgium we see most of the artisanal roasters roast 12 for filter and 13 for espresso. Italian coffee is in between 13 and 15.
We roast 9 or 10 -full city - for filter and 11 - city+ - for espresso and an occasional 12 depending on bean/equiment/purpose (for example at the Belgian Barista Championship, on a Dalla Corte, we go for a 12).

A roast thats too dark looses of course a lot of flavors. When you roast espresso on, for example, 14 you may be sure more than half of your flavors are already gone through the chimney.
This saying; I don't think it's because of not knowing that lots of coffee in our country is roasted that way; it's because this masks the old, woody, cheap - very often robusta - coffee.

Maastricht Coffee Brewing (by Jeff)

First this photo from the yearly Sausage Board of Management Meeting (Bert, Thomas and Rob were excused; myself behind the cam). Welcome new member and Secretary of State Charlene.


Last week was intense for the caffenation roasting crew.
Bert, Roeland, Jeff and special guest roaster Kees Kraakman to spend special attention for the filter roasts in preperation for Maastricht. On the menu: Kenia Mwiria Estate, Indonesia Sumatra Mena Gold, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Bagersh, Ethiopia Sidamo and a Tanzania Ngila Estate. After a head to head roast and blind cupping Kees was tied with the Caffenation team. By comparing the different profiles used there was much to be learned. For example the Mwiria was entered at totally different temperatures, thus 1st crack occured at a minute difference! What we tasted was more freshness and brighter acidity in Kees' roast resulting in overall better mouthfeel. The Kenia peaberry, grown at high altitude 1800+ was to our amazement a very soft bean! Needless to say we selected the best of the roasts to brew with in maastricht.



We were designated a small stand in "the village" a new concept from the scae to give a chance for small roasters or companies to exibit themselves. A boatload of brewing material and knowledge was shipped to Maastricht.
Our weapons on the brewing table:
-Hario v60 manned by brewguru Roeland
-Hario woodneck flanel sock
-Hario syphon
-Aerobie Aeropress
-Temp hacked hario bueno kettles
-Compak R80
-Bodum boiler
-De ranke bitter xx and saison dottignes, in the fridge.
-Sharp-777 disco light edition boombox.

The aeropress was a big hit instantly, with lots of curious stares, strange that a great device like that is still not known that well...almost all brews were excellent.
Next ... I was never a great fan of the flanel sock and syphon, I quickly found out I was wrong. The Kenia Mwiria was excellent on bolth, armed with a sharp reliable grinder and a course grind, a bit courser than paper filter, bolth came out super clean, juicy, and bright. While the cloth sock gave more balance and deeper citrus flavours: pomelo and orange, the syphon brewed lime and white flowers. The Indonesia was successful on v60, it brought out cedar , some dewdrop, thyme and damp soil.
A great deal of experimenting was done the whole of the 3 days, we like to thank everybody for their input and enthousiasm!

Jeff, Caffenation Head Roaster.

Espresso Cupping and Brew Temp Check

We've been (blind) espresso cupping Monday with Friso and today with the Roasting team, Toon and me.

Heavy but unevitable if you want to learn more about your beans and espresso roasting profiles.

Also we wanted to see how Kees (our trainer) his profiles from the roasting last Wednesday were holding up against ours. Or the other way around of course.

Monday we were enchanted by Bert and Jeff their profiles. More taste (fruitiness, acidity, aftertaste) and less bitter.
Today at Broer Bretel we had a way more difficult task in finding our prefered roasting profiles. It was very tough cupping overall with even difficulties recognizing the origins.

I was on a hurry to my meeting with Brian 'legend' Birdy in Brussels for finding the right spot for a Caffenation bar in Brussels. Opportunities yes, but still a whole lot of work. Hopefully more news soon.
But driving my station car packed with coffee towards Crusio I realised what a big influence temperature and pressure have on your espresso.
Theoretically we know this since ages, but the results today were a remarkable.

At Broer Bretel we have the same coffee, grinder, tamper, cups, machine, you name it. The only difference is the temperature of the water and the pressure. The machine still needs to be adjusted a little bit by Jens.
After today I think it's an urgent matter, cause these 3-4 degrees extra and a little extra pressure gave us a lot of difficulties finding the right flow. All coffee came out stronger and more bitter.

Fanny was telling me last week that the Crema on our LGB espresso was rather thin.
Today it was crema up to rim, as a matter of speaking. And it didn't do the coffee any good if you ask me.

So, dear Caffenation clients, control this temp - we say between 90 and 92°c. And tame that pressure. And with these profiles; push the extraction towards 30". Your clients will love it.

Roasting Techniques by Jazzy Jeff

Tonloads of Barista information online, but not so many for coffee roasters.
Our main coffee roaster Jeff thought it was a good idea bringing out some of his roasting experiences.
This following article is his :

Roasting experiments:

Folowing the lack of information there is about roasting and profiles I decided to put my findings
online to usher in some discussion. Why not be more transparent about this? As an experiment I
took one main component of the house blend: Peru Altomayo. We roasted these full batches on 3
profiles, tasted 6 days after roast on espresso, all on the same grind (ditting 2-) same machine (linea),
same temp, same dose (22 grams, 2 shots) all roasted on our Giesen roaster:

Fast cat:

-a fast ramp up with high fan speed (45pct) with a pause in heating the drum on 10.30 minutes @
166c

-1st crack at approx 11.30 @171c

-Shortly after the middle of the 1st crack, heat back on and developing time for 3.3minutes

-Drop a few seconds after 2nd crack at 15.30 min @ 193c

Result: fresh and lively acidity (apples), butterscotch, clean finish, maybe thinner body

Normal cat:

-slower ramp up with lower fan speed (40pct) with a pause in heating the drum for 2 minutes going
in to 1st crack on 11.10 @ 166c

-1st crack at approx. 12 @172c

-Shortly after the middle of the 1st crack heat back on and developing time for 3.5 minutes

-Drop after a few seconds after 2nd crack at about 16.10 min @ 193c

Result: Dull but sweet, remarkably less acidity but bigger body, a bit of dried fruits (figs).

Slow cat:

-Even slower ramp up with back valve full open, fan speed at 35pct, same pause in the flame on
11.50 @ the same temp of 166c

-1st crack at apporx. 12.40 @ 172c

-Shortly after the middle of the 1st crack heat back on and developing time for 4 minutes

-Drop after a few seconds (low sound 2nd crack) at about 16.50 min @ 194c

Result: Creamy, almost no acidity, sweeter, but bitter ashy notes, maybe some tobacco, classical

We tested these shots with the people in the bar that Sunday, Roeland included, and 4/5 liked the
fast cat. 1/5 liked the slow cat, a classical tongue.

I noticed also that a faster roasted coffee will be lighter and will benefit from a few more days resting

to control the acidity a bit, a longer darker roast will be drinkable sooner but drop also faster in
quality due to oils being more exposed to oxidation.

Jazzy Jeff

Caffenation Cup of Excellence

A huge step forward this first roast of Cup Of Excellence.

We roasted this Nicaragua Pradera for filter and notice caramel, fruit, very well balanced, smoky and smooth cup. And .... great on espresso as well!!

We ask € 6,50 for a 250 grams bag. That's a bit more then for the other coffee's, but probably the cheapest fresh COE coffee ever. So, don't hesitate and drop by.

Property Characteristics: Coffee Characteristics:
Farm: La Pradera
Farmer: David Ariel Lovo Gutérrez
Rank: 14
City: Dipilto
Region: Nueva Segovia
Country: Nicaragua
Farm Size: 43.33 Hectares
Coffee growing area: 32.85 Hectares
Altitude: 1450 masl
Certification: None

Variety: Caturra
Processing System: Washed y Sun
Lot Size: 52 boxes
Pounds: 3,446.23 (1,563.18 kgs)
International Jury Score: 87.19
Cupping Number #: 295
Price: 5.30 USD
Winning Bidder: InterAmerican Coffee GmbH
Top Jury Descriptions: aroma/flavor: black tea,
raspberry, floral, vanilla, butter, chocolate, acidity: citric,
orange, lime, fruity, strawberry other: grapefruit, cooled
well, even, sweetness and acidity well-balanced

Budget Sample Roasting

I don't like hot air (sample) roasters.
I don't like the price of professional sample roasters.
Here we maybe found a solution. Cupping still needs to be done. Curious....

Roastery Diary

Three weeks on the run with our own roasts and time for a first evaluation.

Reason for starting up our own roastery was triple.

First we wanted to upgrade our coffee's. We thought that a new Giesen roaster with computer on the side, better roasters tasting buds and new roasting techniques should do the trick. And yes, this is already going really well. Still things to improve of course, but a general good level.
Mostly we have been roasting our coffee's a tad lighter than before. More taste is our reward.

2, we wanted control over the greens. In the past we bought some bags and made recommandations to our roasters, but now we have full control over this part we notice considerable improvements. If you compare for example a low budget Brazil Santos Fancy 17/18 with a Brazil Daterra Montecristo Fairtrade...... So no more.

3, the fun. It's a whole lotta fun to do. And anti-stress compared to the hectic Barista life behind the Caffenation bar.

Most disapointing beans so far : Papua New Guinea. Sometimes you see a good bean go to the devil in no time. This Papua is one like that. At once it was all over. Plus it's PSC A/X grade and as a non-roaster - at the time of cupping/buying - I underestimated the importance of a stable screening.
Also the Harar Star performed not to our liking, although a different roasting profile can maybe help us here.

Most liked beans were the Daterra, Ethiopia Sidamo, Mexican Decaf, Kenya Gethumbwini on filter roast (hell of a F press this morning), Honduras San José and the new crop Peru Altomayo.

This week we hope to improve our air control and start roasting larges batches.

Soon we'll open doors for all people interested to have a peep at our pride. Let u know soon.

First Peep at the Roastery

We're a Specialty Coffee Roasting Company

Finally.

First batches of House Blend (with date stamp).
Hope this stamp will motivate others to do the same.

Blend for the first week :
50% Brazil Daterra Montecristo
30% Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Washed Conventional (by Bagersh)
10% Peru Altomayo New 2010/2011 crop
10% Indonesia Sumatra Organic

Soon more story's and photo's of our own Roastery. Very happy.

Giesen Installed

Look at this man!

I mean; don't look at this man standing besides the roaster. Look at the roaster man!

(Euh yes, Roeland is a 'Roaster Man' as well)

Coffee Roasting Basics - Color Changes

As new born roasters (or almost); it's time to start informing you a bit on roasting profiles and stuff.
This excellent video comes from Sweet Maria's.

House Blend(ing) God Shot

WIP- House tape measures
Originally uploaded by PatchworkPottery

This post is about Coffee Blending.

And my Caffenation House Blend God Shot this morning.

We were really struggling last 2 months to keep our main (House) blend top class level.
It's our workhorse, the blend that we propose to all our wholesale clients. Off course there are exceptions, but 90% of our pro's use the House Blend.

The beans do change once or a couple of times per season. There are different reasons for this. Mostly because a certain bean is not tasting fresh enough anymore, but also because we don't have enough stock of a certain origin. It can be due to price changes, ever changing personal taste, etc....

The current House Blend consists of 5 different beans. The main ones are a conventional Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (25%) and a neutral Brazil Santos (25%). Then the Latin American part with Dominican Santo Domingo Organico (15%) and the Bolivia La Paz Organico (15%). To finish there's 20% Papua New Guinea Sigri for the spicy bit.

The House Blend espresso this morning was a God Shot. It's a couple of times a year you taste a shot that so incredible you can't believe your taste buds. This one was like that.
Semi strong, medium body, controlled acidity and massive fruit with great chocolate.
The roast is a medium one and 6 days old.
The beans were roasted seperately.

I can't promise you it's going to taste every shot like that, but we'll try to.
To achieve this high level we added - again - an extra grinder; our 7th! But that's a post for tomorrow or the weekend.

The Need for Fresh Greens

How would a well roasted blend with
Costa Rica Finca Tonomiel
Costa Rica Herbazu
Ethiopia Limu Organic
Brazil Coromandel Fazenda Sao Joao
and Rwanda Gikongoro Nyamagabe
taste like?

Not good at all.
...
When the green (unroasted) beans are not fresh.

We're talking a lot about freshness and how we should drink the coffee the first weeks after roasting. But very often it's forgotten we may not store the green beans too long before roasting (and drinking) them.
The above noted beans were all top class the first year (some less, some a bit longer maybe) after harvest. The day we threw then into the roaster they had an average age of 2 and a half years and it showed in the taste.

Of course a lot has to do with the way we store the greens beans, but also for greens freshness is key. Freshness tastes. And freshness sells.