Burundi Road Trip June 2010

Since we first got involved in Rwanda coffee in 2003, we’ve often been asked about sourcing from its southern neighbour Burundi. After the 1994 regional crisis and civil wars, Burundi remained in a state of turmoil with agreements only signed between the last of the rebel groups and the transitional coalition government as late as 2009. Since 2005 however, with increasing political stability, and the support of the international community, fundamental changes have been made to the coffee sector to enable outside investment and remove state ownership and control of the processing and export facilities. It was against this backdrop of liberalisation (thus allowing Union to develop direct contact with growers), our increasing interest in the unique coffees of the Great Lakes region, and their retained heritage Bourbon varietal (same as Rwanda) that I went to find out the breadth and diversity that Burundi coffee has to offer.

On this trip I was travelling with 6 other curious roasters from the USA and Canada and had been invited to tour a number of the producer cooperatives and meet the principal figures in the Burundi coffee scene from the various sectors; government, private enterprise and cooperatives. Whilst Steven and I don’t often go along on group tours, such an organised week of visits and intensive cupping promised to make the most of my time as I was also due to travel on the following week to spend days cupping lots for our 2010 Rwanda Harvest shipments. When you are getting to know a country’s coffee it’s important to cup as many lots as possible from a variety of areas and producers. This way you build up a picture of who is producing good coffee, who might be able to produce VERY good coffee with a bit of partnership and support, and who is talking the talk but not walking!

Our tour began crossing over the border from Rwanda at Kanyaru Haut crossing, accompanied by plus Ben Lentz (director of the US AID funded BAP Burundi Agricultural Project), Anne Ottaway, representing Michigan State University’s programme and various heads of coffee sector taking a ride in a convoy of 4×4’s. My travelling companion during the following days was mostly Adrien Sibomana, CEO of InterCafé , Burundi’s representative organisation for growers and exporters. Adrien is a tall quiet and thoughtful man, keenly aware of the most pressing issues facing Burundi coffee growers and is moving to get a national dialogue going about how to resolve increasing production of quality, value added coffee with the highly compartmentalised approach to family land ownership which inevitably prevents farmers from benefitting from even minor economies of scale. Over this and many other topics that affect coffee production and community development, Adrien told me more about his background and how he came into public office. What he (or anyone else) didn’t tell me, and what I found out two days into the trip, was that I was riding around with a former prime minister, (1988 – 1993).

Over the four following days of cooperative (washing station) visits and cuppings, it was clear that Burundi’s coffee industry is very much in a state of transition, with a well organised government established infrastructure of washing stations and dry mills that were developed with the single rationale of producing quantity, but not necessarily the quality that might be capable of generating added value for the country’s growers or the breakthrough quality that Union look for. In 2009 however the first stages of liberalisation took place with 13 of the country’s 160 washing stations being taken into either public (cooperative) or private enterprises, and we now have the opportunity to work direct with producers and source coffee traceable coffees.

On the first day, we spent the day touring Kayanza Province, a district to the east of the High mountainous forest area and arrived first at Ruhororo washing station. After being welcomed by enthusiastic Burundi ritual drummers we had opportunity to look at the process for receiving cherries and the washing station operation. One immediately apparent difference between Rwanda and Burundi station practices is that when smallholders bring cherry in, before they put the coffee on the sorting tables to screen out any under ripe (partly green) cherries, they have to put their pick into a basket or net which is then dropped into a water tank and the cherries that float (indicating malformed beans inside, insect damaged beans or over-ripe cherries) are skimmed off. The individual farmers then sort for only remaining perfect red (under-ripes sink as well as ripes) on the dry tables before weighing in and taking a chit or getting paid for the amount of coffee delivered. Ruhororo was one of the first of the stations handed back from the state after a group of 20 farmers decided to group together to take on the station and work as a cooperative taking cherries from local growers. BAP has partnered with this group contributing joint venture funding to add waste water processing capabilities to the station and prevent downstream negative impact while also contributing agricultural and organisational capacity building initiatives. This type of collaborative support is vitally important to us at Union Hand Roasted as we recognise that we are not a development agency but depend very closely on these aspects also being supported as well as our commercial support. Local partners can be highly effective and critical in maintaining what often seem like baby-step advances over the years of involvement.

Our second station visit seemed to be more like a visit to Mumbai train station with hundreds of people if not a thousand or so milling around the cooperative offices and warehouse. Even by African standards of hospitality and greeting this seemed to be an inordinate number of people so it was with relief that we found out that the farmers had turned up for the annual fertiliser handout. At Butegana, also in Kayanza, the station had been taken over in the first wave of liberalisation by a commercial operation known as Webcor Group, a private company active in commodity production in a number of countries around the world. With big resources, the company has made a significant commitment to Burundi coffee taking 13 stations in the first government privatisations and putting in human and financial resources to develop quality initiatives at both station and smallholder level. The principal difference here is that the processing facility is privately owned and as such profits remain within the corporation as opposed to being shared out amongst the community. In reality, coffee producing countries need both public and private producers as the latter can often employ capital to develop resources in an organised manner and if the goal remains that of creating added value coffee that the farmers can really see an improvement in earnings per kilo grown or labour hour employed then it should be seen as a benefit and not just the corporate arm of big business. As this is the first year of this relationship we’ll continue to watch and see how things progress. From the visit it was immediately apparent however that the station’s capacity was huge (500-1500MT) and that even with a central elevation of 1650MASL much work will need to be undertaken to really understand the areas from which their coffee comes, the daily lot sizes that comprise the stations operational capacity and how these can remain segregated to protect and retain the no doubt small parcel sizes where real quality coffee can be found and retained.

After a short lunch we made the final visit of the day to a station at Buziraguhindwa (CPC), a much smaller station (capacity 300-500MT) also private but this time owned and operated by a local private organisation. With an exciting altitude location of 1996MASL this station is well located in the higher reaches of Kyanza’s Muruta district and should be capable of producing some good coffee lots although sadly we didn’t see any samples from here on the cupping tables.

Looking at Burundi coffee there are unsurprisingly many similarities in the methods of operation when compared to Rwanda – after all both countries share so many aspects of terrain, population dispersal and density and of course the presence of old Bourbon coffee varietals. Just because of this however, one should not assume that the coffee itself will be the same as Rwanda’s. Now that the quality of Rwanda coffee has been allowed to shine through better agronomy and processing, real regional differences are becoming apparent characterising coffees that may be full bodied with deep brown sugar sweetness to those fleeting cups with floral, citrus and soft honeyed tones. I fully expect that with such a diversity of microclimates and a soil character that is similar but with enough differences to mark it out from other regions, Burundi coffee could provide us with yet more nuances of the region.

On day 2 of the trip, our cupping was due to take place at a regional cupping lab in Ngozi and here for the first time the roaster anoraks came out! When preparing cupping lots, we routinely use very small batch roasting machines known unsurprisingly as sample roasters. These bits of kit are, like any specialist equipment inordinately expensive and are manufactured in different sizes (number of barrels that can simultaneously roast). At Union we have a two barrel machine that covers the majority of our needs, but out here in Ngozi, the full evidence of government commitment (spending) became apparent. It seemed as though whichever door or hallway we looked in, there was yet another SIX Barrel roaster – in brand new pristine condition. In one lab we noted 5, six barrel machines – and by the end of the week our count had climbed up to a total of fifty something barrels!!!! I hope that these machines find their way out into the regions and are well used, its just that when one sees things like this – I hope that the machines do get implemented and don’t just disappear into the system!

Over the following two days we visited another four stations, both private and cooperatively owned and witnessed similar operations trying to tease out the differences between people and their approach to the coffee, subtle things that give you a feel for the people’s relationship to what they produce and how the community is established – their aspirations and willingness to partner with external organisations to improve quality and of course their return. No matter how much people get under your skin, its important as a buyer to remain focussed on the coffee. I’ve thought back over the years about how many people we’ve met each with great stories and how we’ve come away with a desire or a hope that their coffee meets our own requirements but the acid test is of course the cupping room and blind tasting. This trip promised to be a crash course in Burundi coffee and after day 4 we had hit over 240 sample lots and to keep the schedule on track had to resort to some pretty nifty speed cupping – yeah it’s the same as dating just that your partner doesn’t slap you in the face when you say something inappropriate!

On the final day of the trip, we had a long morning cupping session at Arfic – the Burundi National Coffee Regulation Authority with the US Ambassador in attendance and who also participated in the cupping under tutelage of Wendy DeJong, current chair of the US Roasters Guild. The Ambassador had only recently taken up the posting but it was encouraging to see how much time she gave us and the Burundian teams in seeking to understand the opportunity for both sides in this partnering for quality. I know our own government does do some good work in supporting developing countries –mainly in areas of governance and society, but as a coffee guy its frustrating not to be able to hook up with our own nationals in developing these sources of great coffee…..come on DFID?

Overall I have to say that this has been a great trip and I do feel much more aware of the range of possibilities in Burundi coffee. From my cupping notes I have already got my eye on some lots we’d like to try out and get to know Burundi a little better this year. Over the coming months we are going to look at some of the communities where we can, as with Rwanda, form a close relationship and work together to develop sustainable direct trading that yields more exciting coffee from the Great Lakes of Africa.

We had a bad time in Guatemala because of the Tropical Storm Agatha and the erupting activity of the Pacaya volcano last week. Many people died and some others lost their houses and their plantations. The most damage occurred was in the places very close to the coast area (pacific) near the volcano and Guatemala city. Many coffee plantations were lost.
Some people in Huehuetenango also faced some problems like those, specially the people who live in vulnerable places. Fortunately, where we are we didn´t have many problems with the coffee plantations, probably because of the many trees (roots) that protect the soil and prevent this problems. Now, everything is better. The coffee is growing and I think we will have a good harvest. I hope so.

Back in 2000 when Jeremy & I first starting giving thoughts to creating Union, it was partly as a reaction to the stories we were hearing following the drop in world coffee prices and how this was causing hardships to producers. In 2002, our first year of roasting, Jeremy participated in the first Cup of Excellence judging in Guatemala. During that trip he visited farms and saw the effect low coffee prices were having on producers. He took photos of the coffee plantations that had been abandoned because farmers couldn’t afford to keep them productive. We heard stories about how these abandoned farms would affect the local communities and cause disruption of rural economies. It compelled us to seek another way to trade, developing the relationship model & buying coffee according to its intrinsic value and quality, & not the vagaries of commodity traders working the markets.

Our approach to direct trade was a simple message but we’ve had to work hard to convince producers that it’s in their interest to plan for the future and agree prices that are sustainable for them. It may take the thrill of the roulette table out of their lives, but it removes the risk.

Now over the years we’ve developed the long term relationships with many producers so it’s been a while since I last talked about the coffee crises of the early 2000’s. This visit to Guatemala brought it right back to me as I was visiting farms that were now in the early days of re-establishing their coffee production again after having been discarded for so long.

Famers like Jose Lopez, who is the legal representative of a co-operative of smallholder farmers in La Libertad, Huehuetenango. His smallholding is 1.5 ha. The first trees we looked at were 2 years old, (farm section called La Fortuna). This farm was abandoned from 2002-5, because of low prices, but 3 years ago he started to reinstate it. It’s taken a long time to get back into condition and won’t be fully productive till 2011. At 1800mASL (5800 ft) it’s very high altitude and within this first section all the shade trees in the farm are indigenous which is unusual as most farmers tend not to use indigenous trees now.

The next section of his farm, also abandoned, is still being worked on to get it back into shape. The trees, a mix of caturra, bourbon, pache, tipica, and Jose explains they are 9 years old, which means they were new when they were abandoned.

The high altitude is a double edge sword; positive impact is no insects and no requirement to use any insecticide spray whatsoever. The negative is the effect of frost burn at this height that causes death to part or complete trees.

I found it disturbing to be continuously reminded about the coffee crises that in my mind was so many years ago. Yet, in the remoter regions of La Liberdad near the Mexico Chiapas border, farmers were talking about an even more complex legacy from that period. Here, abandonment had a more profound impact. Many of the farmers in this region are women, fending for themselves because the men left for the USA. The mounting debts their farms incurred after the crash, forced the men to seek work abroad, and try to send cash home to their families who had nothing. But some of the women hadn’t heard from their husbands in years; the women were abandoned with young families with no option but to learn agronomy and take over the responsibility of coffee farming. I asked the women what help they received, “very little, we employ a hand full of pickers, indigenous mayan, in the season, but we also pick and process our own coffee. Pruning shade trees to ensure the correct amount of sun reaches the coffee is the only task we struggle with and need to get assistance”. Again and again I heard this story, unveiling the legacy of the coffee crises from 2001-2203.

In Todos Santos, Huehuetenango, I was privileged to spend a few days with a small co-operative of 50 Mayan farmers. They only wear traditional hand made clothing and most only spoke their local language, “Mam” so working through 2 translators was tricky but we made good progress explaining the Union code of conduct, and how we seek to improve the working conditions and labour standards of all participants in coffee farming. It seemed to be well appreciated as these farmers are very progressive and work according to the Slow Food philosophy of producing high quality coffee, care for the environment and social development for the farmers. This region of Northern Guatemala was closed to visitors until the end of the1996 civil war, and even after this period travellers did not venture here. The culture of these Maya was not respected by western visitors and this caused tension and problems in the region. The Guatemala government commenced a programme to sensitize the people of this region towards visitors and the outcome is that the Mam are now happy to receive outsiders and enthusiastic to explain their way of life. These farmers told me they were not seeking a buyer, they want a partner, a long term committed relationship. This meeting was like an arranged marriage. The last few years they’d been receiving intensive agronomy training and in 2009 they received funding to construct a new pulping station. Now they produce beautiful coffee so am hopeful this will be a union made in heaven.

Its striking to hear their stories – the oldest member of the co-operative remembers when they first started to grow coffee – nearly 70 years ago. And he stands in front of the coffee tree that he remembers his father planting when he was a 7 year old boy. Back in those days the ground was so fertile, they could just stick seeds into the soil and the trees would grow without any inputs. Nowadays they have to apply organic fertilizer to achieve good production.
We’re looking forward to their coffee arriving at our roastery- during June.

Last month we completed a short internship here in London, with Zacharie from Café de Maraba, Rwanda.

Our relationship with the Rwanda farmers at Maraba & Gashonga, is through Direct Trade in its truest sense and we’re assisted by Rwashoscco (Rwanda Small Holder Specialty Coffee Company) which exports and markets the superb specialty Rwanda coffee grown by the 11 Co-operatives on behalf of the farmers.

Rwashoscco is owned by the Co-operatives and is a for-profit business. It also operates “Cafe de Maraba”, a small coffee roasting company, now in Kigali but previously in Butare, nearby Maraba.

Cafe de Maraba sells to the local restaurants, hotels and grocery in Rwanda. It is the best known coffee in Rwanda, and when I’m in Rwanda and ask a waiter in a restaurant “what coffee am I drinking?” they always tell me “Café de Maraba”. But ask to see the package, and it can be another story. Sometimes its one of the competitors, and you can tell because they don’t taste as good.  So Zacharie, the Manager of Café de Maraba, was with us in London to pick up some ideas on how he can grow and develop Café de Maraba and market it successfully.

The coffee which Café de Maraba roasts and sells creates additional revenue stream for the co-operatives.  So, the strategy is for the farmers to participate in a business which provides value added “roasted coffee” as well as earn income from their crops through selling to the co-operative.

The team at Café de Maraba is very small; they are very good and committed to what they do, but the barriers which they face – high taxes, low internal coffee consumption, constant power failures and delivery issues make managing a business incredibly difficult.  Despite the challenges, they are selling roasted coffee in a market which is leading the continent in business growth. With the interest in tourism, there are many new hotels, and restaurants are busy and new openings too.

Zacharie had the opportunity to observe how we navigate Union on a daily basis. We visited clients (thank you to Giraffe, Canteen, Taylor Street Baristas and Royal Festival Hall).  He has to wear many hats; managing the Roasting Facility, Sales & Marketing, Administration, Distribution. We know exactly how that feels when you only have a couple or three people in the team so hopefully he picked up a few tips.  I think the more people Rwashoscco is able to have with the passion and enthusiasm that Zacharie expressed, the greater the chances are for them to be successful as a company and of course that will bring success for the individuals too.
So if you are fortunate enough to visit Rwanda, perhaps drinking coffee in a restaurant, check that it’s Café de Maraba, & pick up a pack at Kigali Airport before you leave.

In early February 2010 I visited a new producer group in south of Costa Rica that we’re working with this year for the first time. But more about that in a place. So whilst down near the Panama border I took the opportunity to travel to one of the remotest areas of Costa Rica called, Bioally, to visit Gonzalo Hernandez Solis at his Finca Coffea diversa. The concept of his farm is a coffee varietal botanical garden (Jardín de Variedades) which is in the midst of creation.

Generally coffee farms are limited-varietal plantations, where just one or two of the most common botanical cultivars, Caturra, Catuai, Catimor, Typica, or Bourbon are planted.
Almost all of the planted arabica coffee varieties grown in the world today are derived from the C. arabica Typica and C. arabica Bourbon. So, for that reason the genetic composition of almost all of the arabica coffee grown all over the world has low level of heterogeneity.
Therefore, Gonzalo suggests the main differences in cup profiles are generated by the microclimates and geographic conditions where the coffee is grown, with less influence from genetic heterogeneity of the coffee plant. The homogeneity within these populations is further enhanced by the predominantly self-pollinating nature of Coffea arabica.
Gonzalo at Coffea diversa has acquired the largest private collection in the world of rare cultivars from seed banks throughout the world, and has a project to test the source of diverse cup profiles offered through genetic heterogeneity. These rare and exotic varietals have not been commercially available, mostly because of extremely low yield and susceptibility to disease.
So, the question he is asking is what is the effect of genetics on cup quality? It’s answered through working with an extensive range of different cultivars, giving genetic heterogeneity, under controlled planting conditions and with the potential to create an enormous source of different taste profiles. Gonzalo has created an astonishing and beautiful coffee farm laboratory to examine possibly the most overlooked and under-researched factor influencing taste profile.

Garden Setting:
As I approached within reach of the farm gate entrance, I could see why Gonzalo describes this as a botanical garden. It was delightfully planted, with a large range of flowering shrub and tree species bordering the rows of young coffee trees. This first section of the farm is separated into different plots for each species, each plot contains up to 25 different identical coffee trees; many are rare botanical varietals. When these trees have matured to produce sufficient beans to sample roast and determine cup quality, then if the coffee is deemed worthy, a micro-lot sized plantation is created in a different section of the farm.

Gonzalo first bought the land more than 20 years ago; geographically it is difficult to reach so just a few have tried to grow coffee there. Although only 1200-1350 mASL, Gonzalo is enthusiastic about the extremely good micro-climate and soils which he believes have the capacity to grow excellent coffee. The farm is close to La Amistad International Park, the largest forest reserve in Central America with about 500,000 hectares of protected primary tropical rainforests. The farm extends to around 150h; nearly 30% remains as forestland and the natural streams are protected by 50m boundary of wooded area.

It is hugely impressive and the results of an obsessive and visionary Gonzalo Hernandez Solis. Through the next few years as his results emerge, it will be interesting to discover which of the many varietals produced under the growing conditions at Finca Diversa, has the potential to reveal excellence in the cup. Coffea diversa will make these rare coffee species and cultivars available, maybe even for the first time, so coffee devotees can discover these cup profiles.

The Mother of Arabica
Genetic studies suggest that Coffea arabica originated about one million years ago, somewhere in the vicinity of southwest Ethiopia, southern Sudan or northern Kenya as a result of a spontaneous cross between Coffea eugenioides (maternal) and Coffea canephora (robusta) that gave birth to Coffea arabica. There is still some debate about which was the paternal progenitor as some scientists say that it was not Robusta but Coffea congensis. There is unanimous consensus as to the maternal progenitor, Coffea eugenioides. This is supported by means of molecular markers, gene sequencing and genomic in situ hybridization.

Interestingly, Coffea eugenioides has a low caffeine content; Coffea arabica has an average caffeine content of 1.2%, Coffea canephora has a caffeine content range of 1.5-3.3%, Coffea eugenioides has only 0.3.-0.6% caffeine content.

Coffea eugenioides is now native to the highlands of East Africa, where it occurs in the eastern part of the DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and western Tanzania.

We had the delightful Sheila Dillon visit last week along with food broadcaster Dan Saladino to record a special for BBC Radio 4’s the Food Programme on coffee. We had an intense morning session: Jeremy cupped Konga Yirgacheffe, Lambari pulped natural and Los Crestones with Sheila. They were charming and we talked at length about everything from sourcing & certification schemes to origin flavour attributes, appellation & cultivars. Our very modish Matt demonstrated performance art whilst roasting 8kg batch Lambari. Unfortunately, as the beans cooled in the tray, the closing arm of the cooling tray got knocked causing about 1Kg to hit the deck. A tad mortified but fortunately not broadcasted!

So it’s a shame there was no hope of including more detail on the programme. They had an ambitious brief to cover everything that’s going on in the coffee scene. It was great to hear Daniel Young (young&foodish.com) giving a compressed overview of the skilful craft of the barista, and Stephen Hurst (Mercanta), eloquent on what continues to attract and drive upward interest in the joy of coffee. Maybe its just me but I don’t get the point of including how instant is made, & POD’s ?? surely not.

One twitter follower, Zach Beauvais, summed it up:

“Why the HELL are they talking about pod-coffee? bleurgh, bleurgh, sputter, tin-aluminium flavours coming forward. I’m getting burnt-erasers and charcoal mixed with rusty tins and… hmm? Fish? My take on coffee suppositories “

Hear Jeremy slurp & Matt roast http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rzmhb

My Micromill Revelation

As a roaster, we look in one direction and speak with farmers, face the other we speak with consumers. Because I visited so many farmers during this visit to Costa Rica it really brought this home to me and what a privileged position we have to tell the stories of what’s going on in the fields.

In Costa Rica what I’ve seen over the years as the main issue, has been the system of coffee production with big mills creating their own brands to major exporters and roasters inevitably at the compromise of achieving high quality. So for small roasters like Union actively seeking high quality, this has never had our attention or met our needs.

Against that tide, in more recent years, enlightened farmers have been moving away from selling into the big multinational mills and massive powerful co-operatives farms, towards empowering small, independent smallholder farmers with their own wet mills (beneficio) and drying patios.

This form of production, where small individual farms pick and process coffee cherries from start to finish, controlling quality right through, although still a small niche, has become more widespread and available in Costa Rica in recent years. We’d been fortunate to participate in this movement since its early days, having worked with Cafetelera Zamorana for several years now, when they first built their own mill. Over the years Zamora family have gradually built up a small Estate farm. But I’ve now got in deeper and explored into this “Micro-mill revolution”and visited more than 10 different nano- & micro-mills which are an even tinier scale indeed. The opportunity to cup their coffee became my revelation.

This quality-driven micro-mill enterprise is emerging from tiny volume and defined-farm, coffee producers who have taken total control of the process and now separate their daily lots, mill it themselves and produce the best possible flavours and get the best price. This revolution is possible due to new, small mill equipment and the awareness by small producers who were previously selling coffee into the multinational mills at market price, where it became anonymous by blending with average, poorly harvested lots. Now, with an independent micro-mill, a small farmer can become a true artisan and maximize the cup quality of their coffee, dividing lots by elevation or cultivar and receiving the highest prices for their micro-lot coffees. In return, we get exceptional small-lots and a transparent relationship with this small farmer. As a small roaster this gives us an opportunity to bring these boutique lots in a way that is not economical for a larger coffee company and in these cases the farmer receives 200%+ more than the Fairtrade price.

I’ve heard this micro-mill phenomenon described is part of the bigger food movement shifting from industrialised agriculture that’s failed to feed the world and the return towards the small scale farmer as artisan producer. It’s bringing Costa Rica away from the agribusiness approach that it’s followed for years that focussed on high yield, disease resistance and driven by (false) economics and scale.

Costa Rica is now experiencing innovation and creativity; we’re enjoying pure cultivar micro-lots and honey coffee. The varietals now produced, Typica and Bourbon, and the natural mutations Villa Sarchi and Caturra can be productive and sustainable for many decades, and offer exquisite nuances of aroma and flavour. Compare them to the commercial grown Catimor-based varietals grown to produce a commodity with phenomenal yields but collapses with fatigue in a decade. That’s what you’ll find in your “big brand” pack of “Cost Rica single Origin”. The small scale artisan farmer cannot take this route.

With 150 + micro-mills in different microclimates, the revolution is happening and many small-scale roaster buyers like Union are joining because as more, small artisan farmers work to increase cup quality, rather than increase yield, they need like-minded buyers prepared to pay a fair price for their coffee.

Honey preparation is a pulp natural lot, where the fruity mucilage from the coffee cherry is left on the parchment during drying. The yellow coloured honey is about 50% removed, Red coloured has about 80% mucilage left on. As the coffee dries it gets gummy, coated in “honey”, feels (& looks) like sugar puffs. The result is parchment that dries to a rich yellow or red colour depending upon how much mucilage is removed. In the cup it is milder acidic and plenty of body. A stimulating richness sensation to espresso shots.

You can click below to watcha slideshow of images from the trip (hint: click on any image for a description)

This week we officially launch our new espresso blend “Rogue”. Gestation started back in June 09 when Andrew Tolly at Taylor St Baristas came to us with his desire to create an espresso that would continuously challenge his baristas so they could hone their skills discovering new and different flavours in the espresso blend they use in their shops every day.

With Andrew, Jeremy and Vic, we started with our palette of single origin coffees. We needed to understand the flavours each produces in espresso shots and then with the influence of steamed milk and make adaptations in the roasts to define and refine the nuances. Over the coming months, stealing time where we could, we began putting the coffees together.

In some sessions, after extensive espresso tastings our brains were scrambled and couldn’t speak in complete sentences from the effects of caffeine—it’s a wonderful feeling.

Then through the week, texting and emailing our tasting notes … “I’m getting lots of cocoa, big body, a hint of wineyness…..- works very well in milk: is smooth, rich and chocolatey.”

By November we felt we we’re getting close so we sent out “No Name” to get feedback from friends.

“I was dialled in on the grinder from the word go, and every single shot has been coming through beautifully rich. I’ve only tried it as a flat white so far (my staple diet), and it pushes all the right buttons -lots of body and sweetness, pleasing fruity high notes……. So I think my machine must be well-matched temperature-wise
My tasting headline – ‘Apricot and cinnamon crumble’.

After a few more tweaks—”can there be too much blueberry?” We introduced “No Name” into Taylor Street Baristas shops for a soft outing. We got some great comments and we’ve worked to get more familiar with the roast style over the last few weeks. As roasters, our philosophy is to introduce some of our personality into the coffee; those roast notes of caramel, chocolate & cocoa: it’s what defines us and contributes more to the intrinsic and complex fruited & floral notes from the bean.

So now we can introduce Rogue: by name and by nature.

An espresso blend designed to change. We believe that Rogue takes an original approach as it is not a traditional ‘seasonal’ espresso, nor do we intend it to be conventional in concept either.

It is a little bit roguish.  It doesn’t aim to mute flavours so that we can maintain a consistent flavour profile.  It is designed to change in order to highlight and promote coffees that are in their prime and to showcase the diversity of coffee.   

The coffees we use to create Rogue will centre on those exclusive to Union.  These coffees are special, unique, and exceptional and a direct result of a trading model that is focussed on quality, but benefits everyone in the supply chain.

Experienced Baristas like the ideas of seasonality, new flavours, knowing about the farmers and about the coffee processing techniques. It has to be real and it’s a natural evolution for anyone who is becoming more interested in coffee.

This is part of the concept behind Rogue espresso. It is a little unconventional in that it is not just a blend focused around 3-4 flavours and designed to be constant throughout the year. It is a blend that has a distinctive character now, layered and complex but perhaps dominated by the new crop Gashonga that is really outstanding at the moment.  This is going to change in a month or so as new-crop Lambari from Brazil and tge latest organic Sumatra Gajah arrive. If they work well in the blend or are particularly exciting we’ll adjust the blend, if not, we’ll add something new and explore a different flavor route.  The blend will change as the new crop coffee harvests move from the northern to southern hemispheres, and not according to our Autumn Winter Spring & Summer.

Rogue is currently composed of four origin coffees, two different processes from Lambari farm, Brazil, our Harar, Gashonga from Rwanda and Gajah Organic Mountain from Sumatra. These have been selected, not just for their flawless quality, but also to reflect quite different and individual flavour notes that also harmonise. We have spent the last 8 years working directly with small farmers and this work is showing dividends in the form of outstanding and vibrant coffees. 

But, even the best coffees in the world—on a journey from origin to the cup—can be ruined at the hands of a poorly trained barista.  Extracting the best flavours by manipulating coffee and water volumes, pressure, temperature and time is a treacherous craft that only skilled and knowledgeable hands can consistently do well.  A skilled barista needs to identify the desired flavours and manipulate all these variables to bring these out. This metaphorical ‘graphic equalizer’ of flavour will not be set to the accepted equilibrium—muting the flavour notes as they change over time. In the shops, it will be enhanced by the Taylor St Baristas,  who can create different flavours by adjusting shots to allow each of the coffee origins to sing its arrival. The collaboration with Taylor St developing this blend has benefited from their passion and dedication to getting the most from our coffees. 

Does coffee have a gender? We want Rogue to change ‘her voice’ over time, yet still keep her soul; it will take a skillful barista to get to know her personality and then the delight as her character changes. I hope you like her.

Flavour notes: Intense almond and fruited aroma, fragrant with winey floral notes, the espresso shot gives an overlaying of marzipan, plum with a cocoa finish and lingering creamy body

Rogue is roasted every Friday, sleeps through the weekend gaining vigour, and dance into the new week.

…a new coffee is born.

We have been beavering away here in the Roastery with our coffee roasters Steven, Matt and Ben over the last few weeks at what we do best – crafting great tasting coffees roasted in small batches to develop their natural flavours to the full.

We decided to set them a challenge: create a tantalising, rich, great tasting coffee for winter.

We said it has to be deep and dark in style, be able to keep the frost at bay, and evoke dreams of roaring log fires, and the taste of traditional Christmas fare.

And definitely no nasty artificial flavours – it’s just not what we do!

This Winter Blend is all the rich colours and spiced scents of winter in a cup. Dark, seductive and very full bodied.

Indeed it’s many layers of flavours nod to Christmas cake and figgy pudding.

The taste leads with sweetness resembling candied fruit peel, followed by gentle notes of all spice and nutmeg.
Creamy butterscotch and dried fig follow up to finish with a wonderful aroma of marzipan.
Visit the shop today to purchase wholebean or freshly ground Winter Blend or a limited edition seasonal Gift Box.

Enjoy the festivities,

Jeremy Torz, Steven Macatonia. Union Hand-Roasted Coffee, UK.

The story of Rwanda’s coffee

Locked away at the heart of East Africa, Rwanda is a tiny country about the size of Wales with a rural, subsistence-agricultural economy. With a population of 9.3 million people, land is divided into small family plots with no or very little large-scale commercial agriculture. In recent years, the country’s coffee sector has undergone a remarkable transformation unlike any other coffee producer. It has seen the establishment of a now-vibrant grower and export community dedicated to working with the speciality sector.

Although Rwanda had been producing commercial coffee since the early 1900’s, the majority production was purchased by the state-owned RWANDEX and exported as Rwanda Ordinaire. This product was usually below C market due to the general perceived lack of fine cup quality and consistency. This situation was exacerbated after the 1994 civil war, when the entire country’s social and economic infrastructure broke down, displacing the population and condemning even greater numbers of people to poverty and subsistence. Our own journey through this country, its coffee and in reality its reformation to producer of premium speciality really began just a few years later. In 2001, a fledgling development programme brought us together with the first newly constituted Co-operative, Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa to form a relationship that has lasted to this day.

The Co-operative started life as an association of small farmers in 1999 in the Maraba district (now called Huye). It’s purpose was to present a single voice to RWANDEX and sell coffee at a collectively agreed price in excess of the low prices often paid by rural collectors. Around this time, the USAID funded development programme, Project to Enhance Agriculture through Linkages (PEARL) was also active in this area. PEARL—directed by Dr Tim Schilling—was putting a remit into action to produce smallholder, fully-washed coffee optimised for quality, not volume. With this support from USAID as well as OCIRCafé (the coffee department of the government industrial development agency), a new model was created for coffee farming and specifically the centralised post-harvest processing into exportable beans under an economically sustainable model.

To bring the project to life, Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa (based near the small town of Butare and close to the National University of Rwanda campus) was selected for the pilot project which could be developed as a model cooperative to mentor other communities. Agronomy Extension workers focused on creating, training and developing farmers’ understanding of better crop care to improve quality. In 2001, the critical turning point in developing cup quality was the construction of the first coffee washing station (CWS) in recent years.

Previously, all coffee cherries were processed to parchment by hand —pounding with stones, using home made wooden pulpers in front of the home or through the use of manual pulpers provided by OCIR Café located around the countryside.

Because washing water had to be collected from streams up to an hour or more walk away, washing and cleaning was a haphazard activity. The crop further suffered from an inherent regional potato taste defect: a starchy, astringent and pungent flavour that seemed to appear randomly throughout the crop.

The centralised CWS thus took the task of processing the cherries out of the hands of the individual farmers, who previously sold parchment coffee at low prices to intermediaries. Instead, farmers would now sell perfect, ripe cherries to the CWS at a premium with the lesser quality crop sold through traditional commodity channel.

Quality was further increased as the project agronomists trained workers to understand the post-harvest production techniques. Through this training and implementation of controlled separation and grading, a notably and dramatic reduction in potato taste became apparent.

During the time the first CWS was constructed, we become aware of the PEARL Project in Rwanda. We also heard that the country had retained cultivation of the traditional Red Bourbon varietal, and that it might be interesting to look at the coffee from this previously non-speciality producer. After making contact with Dr Schilling we received carefully-graded and prepared samples from smallholder households. Our cupping determined that although variable, there was a flavour profile that was exciting and distinct from the other East African origins in the better lots. The coffee was outstandingly sweet, with an underlying milk chocolate component, and vibrant, but controlled citric acidity, possibly softer and more rounded than other coffees of the region.

In 2002 we visited Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa to meet the leaders to understand how we could work to support their efforts. We began to receive crop samples direct from the new CWS and cupped daily lots to select grades achieving speciality status. A contract was agreed for the resulting green coffee from the first managed production of Fully Washed Rwanda Arabica, the world’s first to market as Rwanda Bourbon single origin, under it’s new, speciality philosophy.

Between 2002-2004, we began to change the focus from volume production to a strategy of developing capacity to produce quality coffee. We launched a marketing programme to attract buyers to this fledgling specialty origin. Those bold enough to take up the challenge worked closely with their chosen washing stations to select lots of a consistently high standard. If Rwanda coffee exports were to be a commercial success, this lot selection needed to be undertaken in-country. In November 2003, Coffee Corps (USA) sent the first cupping trainers to construct and deliver a formal Cupper Training Programme to develop this expertise. Previously, all technical training had been solely concerned with raising “overall quality”; but a successful future for Rwanda coffee depended upon its being able to exploit its regional microclimates.

Over the following 3 years, significant progress was made in coffee quality and technical skills. With over 100 CWS in operation, the strategy was to bring the Cup of Excellence to Rwanda and to use this spotlight to facilitate additional buyer relationships.

Before this could be agreed, a pre-cursor competition—the 2007 Golden Cup—facilitated by the SPREAD programme and Rwandan coffee industry, was held to trial the logistics of selecting traceable lots and working to an international protocol. Coffee farmers worked to produce exemplary coffees for this internal competition. 24 diverse and exceptional coffees were selected to represent Rwanda’s top coffee production zones.

The head judge for CoE Rwanda, Paul Songer of Songer Associates, said: “The primary idea of the Golden Cup (and CoE) was not to sell coffee but to develop the market—and the way to do this is through a more thorough evaluation of what the flavours are in a particular coffee (and where they are coming from) then extend this idea further to determine what conditions were responsible for creating these unique flavours.”

Access to the competition samples provided Paul Songer and Tim Schilling with a research opportunity to take an original approach asking two key questions:

1. Do these exemplary coffees from different regions within Rwanda offer a sufficiently diverse spectrum of flavours to offer points of difference?
2. Can these flavours be correlated to particular geographic variables and be further used to direct farmer activities?

The coffee selected from Golden Cup and CoE were used as the analytical samples in an extensive sensory analysis conducted by Songer Associates and volunteers from CoE jury panels. Samples from each of 8 different geographical regions were repeatedly cupped for consistently identifiable flavour characteristics. If these were not present in multiple samples from the region, the attribute was discounted. Through this protocol a list of attributes and identifiers was compiled that would ultimately represent three consistent “appellations”.

With the SPREAD Project’s links to the National University of Rwanda, a collaboration was established with research by Dr. Michele Schilling (Director of Geographic Information Systems Research Centre) on soil types and geographical profiling to create a link between appellation territory and the observed flavour attributes.

Rwanda in the Cup

Since the first Fully Washed coffees were developed in Rwanda, there has been consensus amongst specialty buyers that there is indeed a distinct flavour profile present within Rwanda coffee. This has most often been noted as the presence of soft citrus, slightly floral, with pleasant milk chocolate mid palette notes. It’s balanced and sweet, making it extremely versatile for filter (drip) and espresso with the appropriate roast.

Paul Songer further notes one distinctive finding, that there were often unique “mouth-feel” aspects to Rwanda coffee which some described as “soft” or “silky”. This is important to note as an especially original attribute, when compared to the other fine quality East African coffees.

Varietals

Much of this taste profile may be attributed to the Red Bourbon varietal which exclusively dominated cultivation until 1999 with the first releases of Catuai and Caturra varietal by OCIR Café and ISAR (Institute for Science in Agricultural Research). Of the two, Caturra was found to be more popular but is estimated to be less than 2% of Rwanda production. Unverified anecdotal evidence is that the Rwanda Caturra originated from Kenya, with similar characteristics to a population derived from a Jamaica Blue Mountain varietal that produces a Bourbon-like plant type.

It is believed that some Bourbon derivatives such as Jackson from the 1940’s or 50’s may have been present but these have low productivity and are very rust susceptible. They have since been replaced over time with newer Bourbon strains, with higher productivity and improved disease resistance. According to Tim Schilling, “before the PEARL project, Rwanda producers were unaware of the specialness and desire of roasters to seek the Bourbon varietal they were producing, it was just coffee. We have been able to put Bourbon’s name on a pedestal and relate it to Rwanda, it’s a very positive thing for the country to hold onto”.

Between 2003-2005, Rwanda started to release Pop & Harrar as two new varieties with seeds supplied through OCIR Café. It is up to the farmer to select which variety they choose to grow, and are not currently selecting specific varieties according to region. The cupping analysis that follows was performed to identify attributes by region and not varietal.

Exploring Appellation

The analytical cupping work is refining the flavour map of Rwanda coffee and has identified candidate samples that displayed consistent and unique flavour profiles for appellation designation; Northern Region, Central Kivu and North Huye Region.

The North region sample was the winner of the Golden Cup Competition and was one of the most complex samples analysed, with 33 flavour attributes found. Beside aromatics that included nuts, spices, fruits and flowers, the sweetness and phosphoric acid components were amongst the highest intensities of any in the set of samples. It also had several descriptors applied to the mouthfeel and the cleanest, sweetest and longest finishes of the set of samples.

The Central Kivu sample was also noted for its floral and fruit characteristics, including lime and a small amount of violet fragrance. The mouthfeel of the sample produced several descriptors, indicating that it was an important aspect of the sample. The finish was clean, fruit-like and of medium length.

North Huye samples have some unique flavour and aromatic qualities, most notably including black fruit (blackcurrant fragrance and flavour, blackberry flavour, black cherry flavour) a unique mouthfeel described as “mouth-coating” and “syrupy”, and a medium long sweet finish.

At this current stage of work, the other regions studied did not provide the panellists with a strong consensus of around 5 or 6 attributes, usually required to define a coffee’s character.

“With Rwanda we’ve been hard pushed to keep it to that level, usually its 12 or so”, commented Paul Songer. The attributes were not sufficiently consistent or unique in their cup profiles when compared region to region to apply appellation designation.

North Region cup profile was characterized by floral aromatics, heavy black fruit (blackcurrant, prunes) and phosphoric acid.

Central Kivu cup profile demonstrated more red fruit (red apple, cherry) and dominated by malic acid (apple-type acidity). The coffees also consistently showed attributes of lemon/lime flavour and apricot.

North Huye Region has floral aromatics, with flavour attributes of red cherry, with less heavy black fruit notes, black cherry, blackcurrant and citric notes of grapefruit and orange.

Conclusion

Rwanda’s coffee industry has made a spectacular journey since 2001 possibly more than any other producing country in developing and understanding what added-value (speciality) buyers are seeking.

The project is at the early stages of developing an appellation designation which is the capacity to reproduce defined flavour profiles, unique to a region, with reasonable consistency. Once this has been achieved the next stage will be to uphold and safeguard the standards of the appellation.

To achieve this requires good process control (picking, fermentation, drying, and milling) provided by good technical assistance and extension services to farmers. Variation at this level can amount to such capriciousness that could overwhelm regional differences in many cases. So the first stage has to be solid post-harvest control and then with appellation development achieving a basic level of consistency and it is encouraging to note that the level of achievement to date is significant with a professional national cuppers employed by most CWS and co-operatives.

Out of this work, the impact will be in the development, marketing and eventually consumer awareness of regional flavour characteristics – leading to the creation and protection of geographic appellations. This can make a huge difference in the economic development of a coffee producing country as well as bring more excitement and curiosity to the marketplace.

Acknowledgements

With grateful thanks to Paul V. Songer (Songer Associates Inc, Boulder Colorado. USA.) and Dr Timothy Schilling, Director for Enterprise Development and Partnerships, The Borlaug Institute, Texas, USA, for interviews and published materials.