This guy Peter is VERY serious about his coffee. The story goes like this. George Howell is the Boston area coffee merchant who invented Frappachno. He had a chain of stores that was bought out by Starbucks, in part because Starbucks wanted to own “Frappachino”. I guess George did well for himself. Some years after the sale to Starbucks, he’s back at the coffee business. Peter works for George and he came to school to deliver a coffee seminar. We were bouncing off the walls by the time the session was over, having tasted 16 coffees (I think, who can remember?).
Coffee started in West Africa. It spread east. There are two species of coffee.
> Arabica: 75% of world production, started in Ethiopia.
> Robusta: 25% of world production, a cheaper coffee, often used in instant coffee.
Arabica - could be lousy or great. It depends on the craftsmanship of how it is grown, harvested, roasted and prepared.
Around 500-1500, coffee was just used for its flower, not the bean.
1500 is when man began cooking the beans.
Wine and tea are very, very old.
Coffee just began really 200-300 years ago (as we know it today).
Artisanal coffee is not economically sound. Fine coffee needs to be $20/lb for true sustainability.
Quality is affected by climate, soil, location. Trees need to be spaced out. Must only harvest ripe fruit, which poses labor challenges.
Coarse grind uses more coffee.
Fine grind uses less coffee.
100 to 110 degrees is the ideal temp to drink coffee and realize its full flavor.
Coffee trees yield red fruit. The seed of the fruit is the coffee bean.
When grown in mountains, coffee is picked manually. Coffee is also grown on flats in Brazil and Viet Nam for example. When grown on flats, the quality is fair to average. Lower labor is involved and this coffee is what ends up at places like Dunkin Donuts.
The ideal growing temp is 68-75 degrees, with moderate rainfall.
Trees produce fruit after 3 years and then produce for about 20 years.
Fruit is harvested over a 3 month flowering period. Then there is 9 months of growth until the next harvest starts. This production time is twice what it takes to produce grapes for wine. Plenty of rain is needed during the non-harvest period.
1 tree yields about 1 pound of coffee per year.
Coffee trees grow to 15-20 feet, but are pruned down to facilitate picking fruit by reaching up (and using ladders in some cases).
You can get 1200+ trees per acre.
Every tree is pruned 1x a year.
Trees are stumped 1x every 5 years.
Every 15 years, the tree needs to be replanted.
Various diseases attack coffee trees and up to 50% of a farmer’s costs can go to fight disease.
Crops are harvested either via hand picking or mechanical harvesting.
Pickers pick only ripe fruit and must make 3-6 passings of each tree.
The coffee fruit is ripe when red and there isn’t much fruit. The seed takes up most of the room. 2 seeds side by side in each fruit.
Maximum yield is 2 pounds of coffee for tree per year. Most yield 1 pound or less.
All high quality is exported and not drunk in the country where it is grown.
Fine grind should be brewed at 195-202 degrees.
Coarse grind should be brewed at 205-210 degrees.
After flesh is removed from the fruit, 14-48 hours of fermentation. Less time in hotter climate and more time in colder climates.
Then, beans are washed. The densest beans are the highest quality.
The beans much be washed of the fruit. Otherwise, the beans will rot and spoil given the long transport.
Then beans are dried. At this point, the bean still has a layer of parchment.
Beans must be dried to a moisture level of 10-12%.
Parchment is removed right before roasting.
Alternative to washing process is to dry with the fruit on around the bean. Takes a long time to dry and the fruit can overferment.
Drying machines are at 105 degrees.
“Cup of Excellence” is the award for the cream of the crop beans.
Milling is the removal of the parchment or cherry husk.
In Costa Rica, women inspect every bean by hand.
Storage and transport affects coffee. Coffee ages and there is a loss of aromatics and sweetness.
Jute bags are bad. There is a push for airtight or vacuum sealed bags, but this adds 50c/pound to cost.
Superhigh quality coffee should be frozen raw.
Roasted coffee is more delicate and is best stored airtight.
After just 5 days post-roasting, quality drops if not airtight.
The best brewers are $175 and more.
Coffee wholesales in bulk for less than $3/lb and rarely sells for > $10/pound. Tea and wine command much higher prices.
$10/lb means a 12oz cup costs just 39c, compared with Coke at 42c for the same amount.
Vast majority of farmers are paid less than their cost of production regardless of quality.
Traditionally, great coffees are blended with others to produce a similar blended quality.
Mr. Howell’s push is to bring coffee into the genre of wine. Indicate country, region, farm, grade and variety of plant.
Quite a coffee education!