In this episode we talk about: Coffee production in Kenya The similarities between latin and african coffee production How we consumers perceive coffee producers vs how coffee producers would like to be seen The success paradox, when too much financial success can turn off some buyers Resources: Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPal Sign up for the newsletter for behind the scene...
Nov 10, 2022•45 min•Season 3Ep. 49
Today’s episode is a little different. I am sharing a conversation that I had with Katrien of OR Coffee, A specialty coffee roastery & training center in Belgium. This episode is a little different because I’m not interviewing her, She actually interviewed me for her new podcast, Puur Koffie . Fermentation Training Camp: January 2023 OR Coffee Website OR Coffee Instagram Puur Koffie Podcast Cafesmo Support the show...
Oct 17, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 48
In this episode we talk about: Plastic Grocery bags vs Paper Rwanda's Plastic Bag ban Coffee Processing Glossary Power dynamics in coffee buying Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPal Sign up for the newsletter for behind the scenes pictures. Resources Life Cycle of Bags 128 Page Report NYT Article - New Jersey Bag Ban NYT - Brad Plumer "Paper or Plastic" NYT- The Cotton Tote Cris...
Sep 28, 2022•32 min•Season 3Ep. 47
In this episode we talk about: The months of making EP 44 Gas Station Cuisine $17 cup of Yemeni coffee A winemaker's role and a coffee maker's role Formula 1 Racing, go karts and Tennis What does it mean to love coffee? Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPal Sign up for the newsletter for behind the scenes pictures. Resources: Cover Art by: Nick Hafner Intro song: Elijah Bisbee Su...
Jul 17, 2022•45 min•Season 3Ep. 46
In this episode we talk about: Coffee consulting in Brazil What is a quaker Matching coffee processing with roasting How Eystein roasts high and low density seeds Extraction and Brewing techniques to maximize acidity How Eystein would prepare a coffee to show off orange, chocolaty notes Preparing our bodies and palate to be more sensitive to flavors Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution:...
Jun 23, 2022•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 45
Next time you set about making your morning coffee, take a moment to peruse the info on your bag of beans. What do you notice? The variety of beans? Flavor notes? Technical details on where the coffee was grown? They're not so different from the sort of blurb you might find on the back of a wine bottle in many ways. And that’s intentional. Specialty coffee has taken a lot from the world of wine. But could the increasing overlaps be a problem for coffee farmers — or even dangerous? In this episod...
Jun 03, 2022•1 hr 6 min
In this episode we talk about: The class system in Colombia Specialty coffee shops in coffee producing countries Extended fermentations, 500 hours Germination of dry processed coffees, what is going on? Overview of the role of amino acids How do we measure stress in coffee cherries? Stressed grapes vs stressed coffee cherries Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPal Sign up for the ...
Apr 14, 2022•48 min•Season 3Ep. 43
In this episode we talk about: The long geographical chain of custody for a cup of coffee Why do wet process and dry process coffees taste differently Coffee seeds: orthodox vs. recalcitrant seed The yeast metabolism case for quality vs the plant metabolism case for quality Cacao seed germination vs coffee seed germination Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPal Sign up for the new...
Mar 28, 2022•42 min•Season 3Ep. 42
In this episode we talk about: Crossing borders on foot My recent trip to Guatemala and Honduras w/ 2 new producer clients Brewing coffee as a love poem How instant coffee has a similar problem to instant cake mixes When is effort a virtue and when is it a drawback? Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPal Sign up for the newsletter for behind the scenes pictures. Resources: Ukraine...
Mar 08, 2022•36 min•Season 3Ep. 41
Welcome to the first episode of the new year and season 3. In this episode we talk about: If sugar follows the direct of water flow, does sugar evaporate out as coffee dries? The difference between sugar in mucilage and inside the seed. Can sugar be a preservative? The benefits and drawbacks of adding cascara to the fermentation How to inoculate for free How to control the fermentation in a hot environment vs a cold one. Support the show on Patreon to join our live Discord hangouts. And if you d...
Jan 06, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 40
As many of you know, we've started doing live hang out after the episodes on Discord a week after the podcast comes out. I find this valuable because I get to hear from listeners and we create our own podcast after the podcast together. In the most recent gathering I had Felipe, Jose and Lucas from Ep 38 on the discussion so listeners of the podcast could ask them questions directly. A few things stuck out to me from that conversation that I want to share here because what started as a fun hang ...
Sep 15, 2021•58 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Today's episode features Lucas, a Patron and exporter with Unblended who sold a Kombucha coffee. I invited him and the producers he works with, Felipe and Jose to talk about their experience reverse engineering a $5 castillo. They started with the end goal in mind, the picked the price, the flavor profile they wanted and then created a process to hit their target. In this episode you'll hear from 3 passionate coffee professionals about: What a successful relationship looks like between producers...
Aug 17, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 38
Today I am joined by Jamie Isetts, Sourcing Consultant. In this episode we cover: What a green buyer does How Jamie became a green buyer How to organize a coffee contract Communication red flags between producers and green buyers Strategies for long lasting relationships Get in touch with Jamie Isetts Support the show on Patreon And if you don't want to commit, show your support here with a one time contribution: PayPal Sign up for the newsletter for behind the scenes pictures. Cover Art by: Nic...
Jul 27, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Season 2Ep. 37
In this episode I will cover: the yeast inoculation history of wine to better understand why the natural wine and sour beer movements are rejecting inoculation. the difference between rot, wild fermentations and controlled fermentations. the role of salt in a coffee fermentation. are lactoferments better for low or high elevation farms? to pulp or not to pulp coffee cherries? how lactoferments differ from "anaerobic" fermentations and carbonic maceration. Lastly, I will give you my advice for a ...
Jul 04, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Do you drink kombucha? Coming from California, kombucha is about as normal as orange juice. But I imagine it might not be as popular in other parts of the world. Kombucha is probably more popular in North America and Europe (coffee importing countries) and probably very rare in coffee producing countries. I can imagine a near future where buyers are drawn to or supportive of kombucha process without understanding what they may be asking producers to do. Or similarly, producers wanting to be ahea...
May 27, 2021•56 min
Today's episode is another in a series hearing from coffee producers from all parts of the world. I think one of the common traps we can get into is thinking and talking about "The" coffee farmer. Or "The Average Coffee Farmer." As if coffee farmers are a monolith. The average doesn’t exist. The people who grow and produce coffee are a very diverse group who do it for different reasons in very different conditions. It’s our nature, that when we learn something new, to compare it to what we alrea...
May 06, 2021•56 min•Season 2Ep. 34
Today’s questions all come from Dr. Mack in Bangkok, Thailand. Even though he is asking the question on behalf of coffee producers in Thailand, I wanted to answer them on the podcast because they are relevant to all of the newer coffee producing regions. Thailand didn’t export coffee until 1976! This is very recent and not a lot of time for coffee growers and producers to develop their craft and catch up with older coffee growing regions like Colombia, where I am living. Colombia was already exp...
Mar 23, 2021•36 min
Our sugar journey is almost complete as we round out the third installment in the Brix series. I hope the previous podcast episodes helped open your mind to some of the challenges we face in talking about sugar in the coffee industry. Today's episode focuses on ripeness and how counterintuitively sometimes measuring Brix can lead to lower quality coffee. And to help illustrate this point I'm sharing a lesson from one of my favorite industries: the cork industry. Specifically cork wine stoppers. ...
Feb 16, 2021•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 32
I hope the previous podcast episode helped open your mind to some of the challenges we face in talking about sugar in the coffee industry. In today's episode we are adding another element, another piece of the puzzle—the refractometer and the other instruments used to measure sugar. In today's episode we will see how a refractometer can give a high Brix reading even when there is zero sugar in the sample. Or, how it is possible to get negative Brix readings. I think understanding more about the ...
Jan 19, 2021•39 min
Where does sweetness come from? Can something taste sweet that has no sugar? How can we measure sugar in coffee? This will be a more technical episode where we will talk about the sugar compounds like carbohydrates, sucrose, glucose and fructose and sweetness as a concept. We will also look at how sugar content differs based on processing style: washed, honey or natural. Support the show on Patreon and get access to research papers. Sign up for the newsletter to stay informed. Cover Art by: Nick...
Jan 07, 2021•36 min
Today you get to be a fly on the wall of a consulting session between myself and a coffee producer in Uganda. The Coffee Gardens is a newer project of coffee producers who have partnered with select coffee farmers in Eastern Uganda. They currently work directly with 300 small holder farmers. They have a micro-processing station in the foothills of Mount Elgon. This episode might be most relevant to a coffee producer, so if you know any, please pass this episode along to them. Especially if they ...
Dec 08, 2020•45 min
If you started the season with me in October you’ll remember that I started exploring the topic of what we lose when we take a plant from its native environment. Episode #25: A California Coffee Farm & Native vs. Local Yeasts looked at the relationship between coffee trees and the fermentation. Dr. Aimee Dudley’s research showed that the native microbes do not travel with the plant material and therefore all coffee fermentations outside of Ethiopia are non-native fermentations. Episode #26: ...
Nov 24, 2020•41 min•Season 2Ep. 28
We usually hear about coffee from roasters or even people like me, who work with coffee producers but we are not producers ourselves. One of my podcast goals is to bring you directly to the source. Whether it's scientific research or hearing directly from coffee producers. Often we leave it to coffee professionals and educators to speak about coffee producers but it’s rare to hear directly from coffee producers about their motivations and challenges. And even when we do hear from them on their s...
Nov 03, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 27
What is left behind when coffee moves to new locations. What is the trade off for innovation? This episode looks at what else we potentially leave behind when we introduce new plant material to non-native locations. The inspiration for this episode was a beautiful book by Peter Wohlleben called The Hidden Life of Trees. In it, Peter talks about native forests vs planted forests and the differences we (humans) are able to perceive. One of the example trees in Peter's book are oak trees. This was ...
Oct 20, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 26
This week I want to talk to you about where native coffee yeast come from. If you are concerned about coffee flavor manipulation by yeast, I hope by the end of the episode you have a broader understanding of where "native" yeast originally came from. To help illustrate the point, we start with non traditional coffee growing regions like Southern California. In the episode I will also be sharing research from Dr. Amiee Dudley. I met Dr. Aimee Dudley in 2017 during SCA EXPO in Seattle when we were...
Oct 06, 2020•50 min•Season 2Ep. 25
Aurora is back for another tea chat. Unfortunately I think coffee and tea are often lumped together in similar categories but they have very different histories and I think it’s worth trying to de-couple these beverages. Join us as we discuss how: -tea is largely consumed in it's botanical origins and coffee is not. -the different flavors of stress (positive and negative) -over extraction and the role of color -my thoughts on Cascara tea Mentioned in the Podcast: Support the show on Patreon and ...
Aug 10, 2020•1 hr 4 min
What happens when the best in the world can't tell if a wine comes from the Willamette Valley in Oregon or Burgundy, France? What happens when the experts can't tell if the bubbles are from Champagne or California. Does a place really have a taste? Can we find it in the glass? That is the premise of terroir, tasting the land, localizing the product. But often, when put "terroir" to the test it cannot be found. Today's episode starts with the story of the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting, a famous...
Jul 28, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Welcome to the next installment of terroir in coffee. This one little word contains a whole world of history and has an important role in the economic viability of certain agricultural products. After the last episode I heard from some of you who wished I had talked about soil minerals and plant nutrition from soil. Others also asked about the wine making regions like Bordeaux where Terroir is regulated by french law. I cover both of these concerns in todays episode before we get to discuss what...
Jul 14, 2020•57 min•Season 1Ep. 22
I'm so excited for you to join me in this discussion about terroir. Terroir comes from latin, for terra - soil. Also translated as land, or “taste of the land”. Terroir is predominantly a wine concept, so why are we even talking about it in reference to coffee? If you’ve listened to other episodes, you’ll know that there are certain concepts that the coffee industry likes to borrow from the wine industry. We’ve talked about some of the really bad ones, like using wine or beer tanks to ferment co...
Jun 30, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you introduced foreign yeast and bacteria into a coffee farm? Or maybe you're curious if we can speed up a long fermentation by warming it up. How does post harvest processing affect the density of the seed? In today's podcast episode I’m answering listener questions like these and also sharing how I approach designing a fermentation. When I was planning this podcast I knew that I wanted it to be a community supported project and that I did not want to...
Jun 16, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 20
