Holding a coffee leaf infected with rust fungus - from Bloomberg News
Just as we are slowly climbing out of last year’s extreme pinch in coffee prices, some potentially unhappy news comes out of Colombia. Apparently, a rust is infecting many coffee plants and causing some supply worries. Will this keep commodity prices, and the price for a cup of our favorite morning drink high, or will this just be a blip in the global ebb and flow of coffee production? We shall find out as new crops come in and we see how Brazilian and Vietnamese production affects the market. Here is a bit of news from Dow and the WSJ.
NARIÑO, Colombia—On the steep and verdant slopes here, an orange-colored fungus is laying waste to hundreds of thousands of acres of coffee. The infestation, and efforts to eradicate it, raises the specter of higher coffee futures—and more expensive cups of espresso—for months to come.
The fungus is known as roya, the Spanish word for “coffee rust.” It grows on the leaves of a coffee plant and chokes off nutrients to the beans. Encouraged by years of torrential rains, roya has spread throughout Colombia, forcing farmers to pull out their plants and replace them with fungus-resistant seedlings. Continue reading Colombia news on rust brings concerns to coffee supplies (and prices)
We’re tasting some chocolate today at the Roastery (the staff do not know it yet). These notes are from Tifa Chocolate and give us a good guide to our day. We’re exploring some different brands of chocolate to carry in the cafe, influenced by the Fair Trade movement and images in the Dark Side of Chocolate, and historical context of chocolate, as depicted in the book the Emperors of Chocolate. All in all, it’s fun to expand our palates, and take lessons herein back to the exploration of coffee. From Tifa Chocolate…
Protocol for Tasting Chocolate
To Begin With
Chocolate tasting should be about the experience and not solely about the consumption of chocolate. It should engage all the senses (sight, sound, smell, feel and finally taste) and can be appreciated by almost any person regardless of age, social standing or gender. It does not take extensive knowledge to develop an appreciation for the many fine and varied chocolates available today but for those who are curious, there is a never-ending spring of information available to better enable you to appreciate the history, science and art that is chocolate. Continue reading Delving into Chocolate Tasting at the Roastery in Buena Vista
After a long hiatus on our blog site, I can announce that we have opened our new cafe space, and revamped roasting facility. We have been working since June 1 to build onto the corner of Colorado and East Main in downtown Buena Vista, the first building on Main since 1979. Three weeks into the opening, I can visit the computer and post a couple photos and a link to South Main’s article from opening day, and start blogging once again. Thank you to everyone who visited this summer and endured construction noise, lack of cookies from our baking space, and general periodic uproar. How grateful we are to be open and fully operational once again.
A woman came into the Buena Vista Roastery yesterday asking for a donation for an event in town. I started to explain to her our difficulty this year in giving straight donations, given the green coffee market. One of our mechanisms for sustaining through this period of uncertainty is by re-designing our method of contributing back to the community. Once I began to explain the green coffee market she exclaimed her dislike for the current President and how he has ruined the country and now she cannot sell her house, etc. For this politically motivated and uncouth solicitor, I present an interesting run down of the increase in commodity prices and resulting increases in coffee prices.
The old corner of E Main, including the original roastery building
Day1: Excavation work for the Roastery, including bakery space
We at the Buena Vista Roastery and Bongo Billy’s have long awaited the day when we can house all of our beans, cocoas, equipment, baking, et cetera in one spot. Spread out in 5 spaces through the town of Buena Vista, we have maximized our efficiencies, but only within the context we have had. Now, at long last, we have broken ground on an expanded space, which will bring us into one building. This is right on East Main Street in downtown Buena Vista.
Coffee cupping is a technique used for tasting coffee and identifying the nuances and profiles of each coffee. If you’ve hung around the Buena Vista Roastery long enough, you’ve probably seen us standing in a group at the work table, sniffing and slurping coffees and describing them.
Cupping is most effective when several coffees are tasted side by side. Doing this allows you to taste the differences between coffees and between regions of coffees. Cupping coffee is said to be the best way to taste coffee because it draws out all of the flavors of the coffee.
The Process:
It is important when you are cupping coffee that the process is exact and the same for each tasting. At the Roastery, we usually cup several coffees at a time by grinding 11 grams of coffee and brewing it in a cup with six ounces of water. There are three stages during the cupping that we give a description of the coffee: when the coffee is dry and wet, and when we taste the coffee.
Photo by Matt Biddulph
First, we grind the coffee into the glass, smell the dry grounds of each coffee, and describe them using words like: sweet, earthy, nutty, bright, acidic, citrus, or chocolate.
The next step is to fill up the glass with six ounces of hot water and let it brew for about four minutes. After four minutes, we “break the crust” (or stop the brewing) by taking a spoon and pushing the grounds away to get the wet aroma. We each smell the coffee in the “wet” stage. The differences from dry to wet are sometimes drastic. Oftentimes, a coffee will smell citrusy when dry, but will smell more sweet when wet.
The final step is to scoop the coffee grounds out with a spoon. Then, using your spoon, take a loud slurp of the coffee, spreading it to the back of your tongue for the true taste.
Organic Uganda, my new favorite coffee, has a rich, dark chocolate, sweet taste, with a full body, and a dark, smooth finish. Yum! When we smelled the coffee in the dry and wet stages, it smelled more nutty than it tasted when brewed.
A very different coffee is the Organic Java that has a chocolate and earthy smell when dry, but has a bright and earthy taste with a little sweetness.
So next time you see us behind the counter at the BV Roastery sniffing and slurping coffees, you’ll know what we’re up to. And feel free to stop by and join us for a coffee cupping!
Mate. Do you hear this word and still wonder what exactly it is?
Courtesy of juanpol
Yerba mate is a naturally caffeinated leaf of the South American holly tree found in Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. The first people to discover yerba mate were the Guarani (pronounced wa-ra-nee). Drinking yerba mate has long been a cultural experience in these South American countries, and also has become popular in the Middle East. More recently it has made its way to the United States, where you will find yerba mate on the menu at many coffee shops, like the Buena Vista Roastery.
Though it appears to be a cup full of green leaves, Mate is a unique tea-like beverage with many health benefits that attract its avid drinkers. Mate is made when you steep dry yerba mate leaves in hot water, creating an infusion with a flavor that is strongly herby and grassy. Traditional mate is brewed with hot water in a dried gourd and sipped through a bombilla (a straw that filters the leaves). But it is possible to brew mate like any other tea or coffee. Here at the Roastery, we use our espresso machine to brew the mate, and we also offer mate lattes (mate with steamed milk) and orange-flavored mate. You can pick up some yerba mate for your personal home brews here at the Roastery.
Yerba mate is the national drink of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Southern Brazil where it is consumed 6 to 1 over coffee. As part of the culture of yerba mate, the mate gourd is offered as a symbol of hospitality and is peacefully passed around a circle of friends while ideas are shared, stories are told, and a sense of community is created, according to http://guayaki.com.
Many believers of the beverage love the long-lasting physical and mental stimulant effects of the caffeine that are very different from coffee. Yerba mate provides 25 mg of caffeine per 2g tea bag in 8 oz of water. For comparison, the average cup of coffee has 135 mg of caffeine. The average cup of black tea contains 50 mg and green tea has 30 mg. But part of the tradition and draw to mate is the natural health benefits. Yerba mate provides minerals to support nervous system function, and B-vitamins to relax muscles. For these reasons, it produces a balanced, long-lasting physical and mental stimulation. In a serving of mate, you will find Niacin, Riboflavin, Zinc, Iron, Magnesium, and Potassium, and no calories according to http://yerbamate.com. Additionally, unlike coffee, yerba mate is not oily and acid forming, so it is less likely to cause stomach acid and jitters.
Another factoid (that is very important to the avid mate drinker) is that yerba mate comes either with or without stems. The leaf (with no stem) contains more nutrition, antioxidants, and stimulation than any other part. Pure leaf yerba mate is also known as “sin palo.” Many North Americans prefer the strong, clean cup of tea that pure leaf yerba mate provides, according to http://yerbamate.com. The stems add a light, woody taste. Yerba mate with stem is known as ‘con palo’. At the Roastery, we offer Taragui with stems and Taragui without stems, as well as an Organic La Esquina de las Flores with stems and Organic La Esquina de las Flores without stems.
So next time you stop by the Buena Vista Roastery and you’re in the mood to try something new, ask us about our mate!
Many organizations and individuals are using coffee as a means to help others.
At the Buena Vista Roastery, we have a “Coffees for a Cause” program that helps support non-profits, both locally and globally. Whenever one of our 12 ounce Coffees for a Cause is purchased, 10 percent of the price is donated to the corresponding organization. The current non-profits and organizations include:
But the Roastery is not the only place interested in helping other organizations through coffee. I was reading online today about one individual getting a little more press – Chicago singer-songwriter Michael McDermott. In an effort to help feed America’s hungry, McDermott partnered with Feeding America. So every bag sold of McDermott-branded coffee will feed seven children.
This “coffee movement” is not just limited to these two examples. When you search online “coffee for a cause”, there are many organizations that come up, like Coffee With a Cause where you can support existing causes just by purchasing a bag of coffee. It is like donating money to an organization by simply buying coffee. And with more and more people drinking coffee these days, this idea is a great, simple way to reach out to your local and broader community just by purchasing a product that’s part of your weekly shopping list.
Be sure to check out our Coffees For a Cause page, and drink up, knowing that your purchase is going toward a worthy cause.
The short answer is this: knowing the origin of your coffee. Today I was reading on Grounds For Change about this topic. The Fair Trade Certification ensures that hard-working coffee farmers are being paid fairly. Many coffee farmers are making less for their coffee than the cost of production. But farmers who grow Fair Trade Certified coffee receive a fair price for their work, and they are able to support their families, their communities, and the environment.
But there are, in fact, many qualifications and criteria that must be met in order for a coffee to be classified as Certified Fair Trade. When you buy a Fair Trade coffee, this is what it actually means:
FT coffee is purchased directly from the growers at a higher price than other coffee.
FT coffee farmers must be part of a democratically-run cooperative working with other local growers, not a single estate. Growers are guaranteed a minimum price for the coffee. If market prices exceed the minimum, coffee growers receive a per pound premium. The co-ops then determine how the premium will be spent.
Importers buy FT coffee directly from the farmers, cutting out the middle man and allowing the FT farmers to compete in the marketplace and develop skills to escape poverty.
Freedom of association, safe working conditions, and fair wages for those working on FT farms.
FT also helps develop the local community because the co-ops invest their FT premiums in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, healthcare services and quality improvement training.
Many coffee consumers are realizing the importance of Fair Trade. I saw this article posted last week about a group of students at WVU working with a coffee cooperative in Nicaragua to make sure that farmers receive fair prices for the coffee they grow. Check out the article here.
Some of the soaring coffee prices is a result of warming temperatures. Warmer temperatures result in more moisture, more humidity, more pests, more damage to the coffee fruit and an overall reduced supply, especially in coffea arabica, specialty coffee. Some people are talking about carbon offset programs and trading carbon credits, which brings a whole set of problems of its own and rearranges deck chairs on the Titanic. I won’t get into the carbon credit program or my thoughts on other ways to address climate change here. The Savory Institute and its related videos and articles is a great source. But, this blog post, A new financial model for growing coffee in a warming world in SUNfiltered is an interesting introduction to one perspective.
A quote from the blog post:
The global Fair Trade movement has done a stellar job of highlighting the economic plight of coffee farmers in the developing world, many who barely eke out a living growing one of the world’s most heavily traded commodities. And while Fair Trade has always had an environmental element to it, that may become more pronounced as these farmers become some of the first victims of global climate change.
And the video on Colombia and approaches to dealing with a changing climate:
