Cherry poppin Bali

The first trip to a coffee producing country or “origin” for someone in the coffee industry is a thing of wonder.

Recently I was lucky enough to be chosen to go on the five senses coffee annual pilgrimage to visit the farms that we work with in the Kintimani region of Bali. Landing in Denpasar airport can be slightly daunting adventure into the unknown, once you step outside the safety of thoseairport doors your senses immediately go on overdrive! With the humidity and the sweet aroma of clove from the porters kretek cigarettes spicing the air hitting you first and then the visuals kicking in with a wall of drivers from local hotels holding up the names of guests that they are waiting to whisk away to their tropical paradise resorts. After some time sifting through the names I found my hotel host Made waiting patiently for me. After meeting up with Natalie and Jed we entered the buzz of a thousand scooters that is the Indonesian traffic, which is an adventure in itself.

Arriving in Ubud we met up with the rest of our team, headed out for dinner and got some shut eye in preparation of our first day in Bali.

There’s nothing better than natures alarm clock, the rooster to wake you up at 4:00am in themorning it’s great! After some amazing rice flour and banana pancakes we headed down to Seminyak to do some cupping and light barista training with the sea circus team. Jumping behind the bar to do some training with head barista Geday, I was stunned to learn he couldprobably teach me a thing or two when he pulled out multi leaf tulips on the top of his coffees! It was a great experience to see the crowd of Indonesian staff crowding around eager to learn more about the craft of espresso coffee.

The following day we travelled into the volcanic region of Kintimani where five senses and in particular Shaughan Dunne has been working to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with a relatively small subak abiyan or coop of coffee farmers. The day was spent out among the coffee and citrus tree picking ripe coffee cherries. I now have such a great appreciation of the amount of work and concentration that goes into picking only the ripest of cherries.

We picked cherries from three different varieties of coffee plant B1,S795 and USDA the aim was to process each variety in three different ways Natural, pulped natural and washed, once these were readywe would have them sent to our cuppers in Australia to see which one was not only the best variety but which process worked the best for which variety. My contribution was to experiment with drying the coffee cherry skins to produce a tea like drink called cascara…Really keen forthis shipment to land in oz

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The morning bought more rooster crowing and another drive up the mountain to one of our other relationship farms. This time we got to see a wet mill in action and our crew carrying buckets of parchment coffee in the traditional Balinese style…on the head, luckily there was no accidents of parchment going everywhere. Once lunch was finished we got to see Shaughan in action negotiating the price of this years harvest which looked like hard work from where I was. Everyone walked away happy and smiling which great to see.

This trip was a great opportunity for me to see the amount of work it takes to maintain a sustainable relationship with a coffee farm from year to year. If you are in a position to travel to origin and experience not only where coffee comes from but the culture of the people that grow the beverage that you love to drink everyday, don’t hesitate for a second.

The Tims event

With my internet back up and working I thought I would do a wrap up of the Tims event held recently at Market lane coffee.

Tim Wendelboe for those of you who don’t know is one of the most well known and respected names in the specialty coffee industry. One of the most consistent performers at the WBC coming second in 2001 and 2002 he finally took out the crown in 2004. Taking out the world cup tasting championship in 2005 before starting his own café/ wholesale roastery in 2007 aptly named Tim Wendelboe (TW).

One of the first things that Tim mentioned in his seminar was his goals for his business:

· To be the world best roastery

· To be a role model to other roasteries

· To constantly look for new ways to be the best and to never rest on laurels the company has achieved.

Last year TW roasted 23 metric tonnes of coffee. Most, if not all coffees that TW has on their roasting list Tim has personally visited the farm and worked to create an open and sustainable relationship with that farm. Many of the coffees that are used are found through the cup of excellence program. One of Tim’s processes for finding new farms is:

· Start with COE auction lots

· Visit farms he liked the coffee from

· Most of the time farmers know each other, from the first farm he arranges to go to the farms of the COE farmer’s friends

· Constantly taste coffee at each farm

· Pick the best farm that Tim can also work with to improve quality

· Maintain relationship with farm through tough farming cycles*1

· Arrange guaranteed top dollar*2

* Tim will maintain a relationship with a farm that he has worked with, even through the poor quality seasons (when trees are stressed during a season to produce a more intence flavour profile in the cup the tree will more than likely produce a less vibrant crop the following season)

*If Tim likes a coffee enough to want to buy it, he guarantees top dollar will be paid much sooner than COE can organise payment, which can be up to 4 months after the competition has ended.

At the event we cupped coffees from farms that Tim W and Varney have been working with the table line up was:

Bourbon from Los Pinineros/ Los Palmas El Salvador

Picked 2010

Picked 2011

Pacas from Naciementas Honduras

Picked January

Picked April

Bourbon/Catuai from Sitio Canaa Sao Paulo Brazil

Semi washed

Natural

Geisha from the caballero family Honduras 2011

Geisha from hacienda la Esmeralda Panama 2011

I have to say this was the best cupping table I have tasted this year

Having two geisha’s on the table was one thing but for the other coffees on the table to stand out in their own right against the geisha’s was amazing.

The only coffee I didn’t like on the table was the past crop bourbon from El Sal. Tim is adamant about not using past crop coffees in his roastery to quote Tim here “ I am fucking sick of the woody taste of a past crop coffee” and having tasted the past crop and current crop El Sal’s next to each other this really hit this home.

I think most people have tasted the Esmeralda geisha grown by the Peterson family in Panama but for those who haven’t it is one of the best tasting coffee’s in the world when done right. However this coffee was out shone by the geisha from the caballero family grown in Honduras it was BANGIN!! Unfortunately TW’s is one of two roasters in the world that will receive a shipment of this coffee due to the work that TW has done with the farm over the last few years. (proof that hard work and building a solid relationship with farms can reap extremely good dividends for both parties)

TW holds charity events to raise funds to buy new equipment for the farms that he is working with check out his latest one here http://timwendelboe.no/category/kenya/tekangu-drying-table-project/

Tim when working to improve the quality of a farms crop, will only work with the farmers to try some new ways of producing coffee. Tim stated that many times when he finds a good coffee he does not want to change the flavour of the coffee that he is tasting only to ensure it remains that way, many farms do not record the processes of farming instead it is more educated guess work Tim works with the farms he buys from to:

· Document everything that happens on the farm (rainfall, fertilizing times, etc)

· PH levels in fermentation tanks

· Water temperatures in fermentation tanks

· Drying times

I could go on and on and cover Tim’s whole seminar, but it will never be as eloquently expressed through blog form as it was on the day.

Tim is one of the barista’s that inspired me to get into coffee eight years ago. It is an absolute testament to Tim’s skills and knowledge base that he can still inspire me to keep learning more about the specialty coffee industry even after all these years.

A big thanks to Market lane coffee for holding the event

Coffee of the week

The past couple of weeks have been hectic, to say the least.


The Victorian barista championships have been and gone, and were a huge success. Work colleague and all round top bloke, Caleb Podchazky taking home the gold in the main event.

Many mornings have been spent tasting, and retasting Caleb's comp blend, with great results in the cup.

Keep watching this space for Caleb's and others results from the Australian barista competition.

On to the coffee of the week!

Caleb's coffee has been the best coffee I have tasted for the last couple of weeks, however his routine is built on the judges not knowing the coffee's he has selected....sorry no big reveals here... yet!

All that aside, I did get the chance to taste something amazing with the crew from Market lane this weekend..

The coffee of the week is :



Roaster: Tim Wendelboe

Served by: Matt Perger (market lane)

Brew method: Espresso, (synesso)

But I'll leave it to those crazy Scandinavian's (and 1 Aussie) to tell you about this amazing coffee.

Here

A big thanks to Tim Wendelboe and to Market lane for sharing this amazing coffee

Design post Monk Bodhi Dharma

My second design post is from probably one of the best designed cafes I have personally set eyes on. Monk Bodhi Dharma in the bustling Jewish quarter of Balaclava is a Mecca for not only the Melbourne coffee geek but also the secret vegetarian hiding in all of us.


Melbourne is full of cafe's using the exposed brick and industrial warehouse lighting theme, however Monk seems to add that little extra something to the theme. Don't ask me what that something is though.


Design comes before functionality at monk, with the use of "whale tooth" seats, that give all but the muscle bound gym junkie crowd a hard time to maneuver.


The subtle use of tile in Monk breaks up the feel of being in a carpenters shed perfectly, this is personally one of my favorite design elements in the cafe.



It's the little differences that turn a good cafe in a great cafe.


Monk Bodhi Dharma
202 Carlisle Street
Balaclava VIC 3183
(03) 9534 7250

www.monkbodhidharma.com.au

Christmas coffee (of the week)

Christmas can be a scary time for the coffee lover, with most, if not all decent cafes and roasteries closing for those cheery couple of days in December. Heading back to Adelaide, I made sure to visit some of my favorite roast masters before they closed, to make sure it was a merry time for all.

So the selection of coffee's from some of my favorite roasteries are:

Monk Bodhi Dharma:

Nicaraguan COE lot # 4

Kenyan Gethumbwini

Omar and the marvellous coffee bird

Yemen Harazi

Omar black blend

Market lane

Costa Rica Las Lajas

Market lane seasonal blend

As you can see I selected a wide range of coffee's, some single origins, some blends, all from different roasteries. So to find the coffee that I enjoyed the most was pretty tough, for this weeks favorite coffee I took inspiration from the true meaning of Christmas, family, friends and sharing good times.

The coffee I enjoyed the most this week:

Market lane

Las Lajas "black pearl" microlot

Method: Espresso (synesso)

Made by: Ben (the coffee barun)

Origin: Costa Rica

masl: 1,300-1,500

Varietal: Caturra & Catuai

Processing: Natural

I loved this coffee for two reasons, one, I got to share it with some of my old barista buddies from Adelaide Ben & Jeff, both currently working at the Coffee Barun. The second reason I loved this coffee was the amount of information available. Market lane are so informative with all of the coffees that they have on offer. Somehow the traceability makes the coffee taste just that little bit better (maybe just to coffee nerds like myself).


Happy holidays everyone!!

Coffee of the week 29/11 - 3/12

Over the last eight years of being a barista, roaster, and now trainer I have tried a ship load of different coffees. Some have been from the same farm but different harvests and some I have never tried before.

This is my attempt to document the coffees that I have tried in the past week, and loved!
This again is more for myself, to see the changes, in personal taste over the years.

15/11/2010 - 21/11/2010

So the first coffee on my list of favorites is:




Nicaraguan COE lot #19 La Esperanza

Served by: Jamie (3 bags full)

Brew method: Clover

Varietal: Caturra, Catuai rojo

Farmer: Esperanza del Carmen Tercero Monca

Masl: 1,600

This coffee is a good starting coffee as I know a poop load about it due to it being bought by the company I work for (don't worry their not all going to be from my employers)

The La Esperanza farm is located in the Nueva Segovia region at the very top of Nicaragua. The varietals are caturra and catuai rojo which are grown at 1600 masl. It is wet processed and then sun dried.

I will be leaving out tasting notes from these posts, as I would rather people try the coffee for themselves without any preconceived notions on what to look for in the coffees.


Would love to hear what your drinking and loving.

The Bell Jar

I'm going to start taking more pics at some of my favorite Melbourne coffee haunts. These are mostly for my own interest to look back on the changing style of cafes over the years and as a comparison to cafes that I come across in my travels across the globe.

To start we have The Bell Jar in Clifton Hill, Melbourne.

(photos courtesy of Tom Beaumont)



The out door seating area has a naturally distressed rustic look, all melding with natural highlight plants.


The communal table area flows from the garden area using a minimalistic approach.
The communal table being made from an old door then framed in a lighter timber.




The main eating space connects the barista and chef with the customers using an open plan work area. Everything is essential to service and quality with nothing "gimmicky" taking up valuable space.



Finishing touches can make for a great customer experience in this case the minimalistic look of the cafe has been lifted with small clusters of nature adding to the rustic theme.