Del Grano a La Taza: ¿Cómo Cultivan Café los Productores?

Un espresso: 20-30 ml de delicioso café. Beberlo solo toma algunos minutos. Pero lleva años producirlo. Desde seleccionar cuidadosamente y plantar el árbol de café hasta cosechar, procesar y secar los granos, el trabajo de un productor nunca se detiene.

Pero, ¿cómo deciden los productores qué café cultivar? ¿Cómo lo cosechan? ¿Qué implica el procesamiento y secado?

Read this in English From Seed to Cup: How Do Producers Grow Coffee?

Plantas de café en el vivero de Fazenda Bella Época en Brasil. Crédito: Ana Valencia

Eligiendo el Café Adecuado Para Cultivar

Hay más de un tipo de café. Algunas variedades producen granos de alta calidad, pero son susceptibles a enfermedades. Otras son más resistentes. Algunas tienen mayor rendimiento que otras, algunas son más dulces y otras se adaptan a ciertos tipos de suelo.

Entonces, ¿cómo elige un productor el café que va a cultivar?

Valentina Pedrotti, bióloga del ICFC Panamá y analista de la cadena de valor del café, me dijo que esto varía de país a país. El clima y la cultura local a menudo determinan la elección del productor. Muchos simplemente cultivan lo que es común en un área determinada o lo que siempre se ha cultivado en su tierra.

Pero el suelo, la altitud, la humedad y otras características climáticas tienen un impacto en el sabor del café final, por lo que es importante elegir sabiamente. Otros temas a considerar incluyen el costo y el valor esperado en el mercado para los granos, y si las enfermedades y las plagas son un problema.

En algunos países, existen asociaciones cafeteras nacionales, como la Federación Nacional de Cafeteros (FNC) en Colombia o Anacafé en Guatemala. Es posible que los productores elijan cultivar una variedad de café recomendada por estas asociaciones. La FNC, por ejemplo, invierte en la investigación y el desarrollo de variedades resistentes a enfermedades como Colombia y Castillo.

Y la disponibilidad de algunas semillas es una limitación constante. Tomemos como ejemplo los híbridos F1, como Starmaya. Es de alta calidad, alto rendimiento y altamente resistente a las enfermedades, en otras palabras, la planta de café ideal. Sin embargo, es una variedad nueva y solo pocos productores tiene acceso a ella actualmente.

Con todos estos aspectos para considerar, puede ser difícil elegir la mejor variedad. Arturo Aguirre de la premiada Finca El Injerto en Guatemala, me dijo que es importante que los productores conozcan su tierra. “Debes saber dónde está realmente tu finca”. La ubicación y el suelo son factores decisivos para determinar si ciertas variedades pueden desarrollarse.

Aguirre también dijo que se debe tener en cuenta que toma alrededor de tres años saber si una nueva variedad prosperará en la finca o no. Después de todo, ese es el tiempo que tarda un árbol en madurar.

Descubre algunas de las variedades más comunes Geisha vs Bourbon: Un Curso Intensivo de Variedades de Café

Plántulas de café en su período de crecimiento controlado; más tarde, serán plantadas en la finca.

Plantar La Semilla

Hemos elegido la variedad, ¿y ahora qué?

Ricardo Álvarez, agrónomo de la Finca Los Tres Potros en El Salvador, me dijo que, para las dos primeras etapas del proceso de cultivo de café, la temperatura es mucho más importante que la elevación. Por ejemplo, el rango de temperatura ideal para el Arábica es de 18 ° C – 21 ° C (64 ° -70 ° F). Si la temperatura es superior, la planta se puede estresar.

Álvarez me explicó que comienza con un semillero lleno de arena tratada para estimular la germinación y el crecimiento inicial, y también prevenir enfermedades. Estas semillas de café permanecen en el semillero por 70 días.

Luego, trasplanta las plántulas a bolsas individuales que contienen de una mezcla de tierra fértil. Las plantas jóvenes permanecen en el vivero durante un tiempo de entre 7 meses un año. También las cubre con envoltura de plástico para controlar la cantidad de luz. En esta fase, es esencial que las raíces principales crezcan verticalmente para dar estabilidad y permitir que la planta viva por más tiempo.

También te puede gustar Variedades de Café: No Todos Los Gesha Tienen El Mismo Sabor

Productor de Nicaragua poda la planta antes de cosechar las cerezas. Crédito: Maren Marbee via Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Cuidar La Planta de Café

Álvarez enfatizó en que antes de sembrar plántulas en la finca, es importante decidir con qué densidad se deberían plantar los árboles. El productor lo decide basándose en cómo podará y realizará su sistema de zoca para las plantas más adelante. También debe considerar cómo se llevará a cabo la cosecha y las características de cada variedad.   

¡Aprende más! Lee  ¿Por qué Sembrar Café en Filas?

El mantenimiento es necesario para que las plantas de café duren y para que la producción sea consistente. Es importante podar o recortar las ramas productoras y los troncos verticales principales después de cada cosecha.

Además, la planta debe pasar por zoca regularmente para asegurar un buen rendimiento. Esto significa que cada planta se corta a 30-40 cm desde abajo para permitir un nuevo crecimiento. La frecuencia con la que se debe hacer esto depende de muchos factores, incluida la densidad de siembra y la cantidad de sombra. Las plantas pasadas por zoca no darán fruto hasta que vuelvan a crecer, por lo que es importante dividir la finca en lotes e intercalar el zoqueo.

Los productores también pueden necesitar volver a plantar por completo determinados lotes en su finca después de que los árboles alcancen cierta edad.

Recolectores de café cosechan cerezas maduras en Laos. Crédito: Thomas Schosch via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

La nutrición de las plantas de café ocurre en la hoja y la raíz, y ninguna de ellas debe descuidarse. Álvarez me dijo que es extremadamente importante cuidar el suelo y mantenerse al día con el calendario de fertilización para proporcionar a las plantas la nutrición que necesitan.

Durante la temporada de lluvias, la limpieza de maleza ayudará a prevenir el desarrollo de enfermedades. En otras épocas del año, los productores deben estar atentos a la roya. Esta infección por hongos es extremadamente común y puede devastar los cultivos al dañar las hojas, que son necesarias para convertir la luz solar en energía. En otras palabras, sin las hojas, la planta no puede sobrevivir.

Para las fincas que cultivan bajo sombra, Álvarez también resaltó la importancia del mantenimiento de la misma. La cantidad de sombra necesaria para producir una buena cosecha dependerá de la elevación de la finca y de la especie de café, pero el mantenimiento adecuado de la sombra permitirá que las plantas maduren a la velocidad ideal.

¡Conoce más! Lee Guía Para Cultivar Árboles de Café Saludables

De la Finca a La Taza

Cada año, los árboles florecen después de la temporada de lluvias. Pero, estas flores blancas delicadas, con sus dulces aromas, son más que bellas. Son importantes para el crecimiento de la cereza de café.

Con el café Arábica, hay un período de espera de nueve meses entre la floración y la cosecha de café. Pero este no es un período de descanso. El productor debe inspeccionar regularmente las cerezas en desarrollo para asegurarse de que estén madurando en el momento correcto, y también detectar plagas.

Y no subestimes la dificultad de la cosecha. La recolección de cerezas es una tarea larga y difícil, especialmente cuando los productores orientados hacia la calidad buscan cerezas perfectamente maduras. Clasificar la cosecha también es importante, y toma mucho tiempo. Incluso unos pocos granos de baja calidad o defectuosos pueden reducir la calidad de un lote, que de otro modo sería excelente.

Después de que las cerezas se hayan cosechado se deben procesar. Esto significa que se deben remover las semillas de café de las cerezas para luego pasarlas a la fase de secado.

Los principales factores a considerar durante el procesamiento son el clima, la luz solar y la infraestructura. Mientras se seca, también es importante mover los granos periódicamente para evitar la fermentación y el moho.

El procesamiento se puede hacer de muchas maneras, pero existen tres métodos principales:

• Natural: los granos se secan con la piel de la cereza, esto agrega dulzura y notas afrutadas. Puede ser más difícil lograr consistencia.
• Lavado: los granos se remueven de las cerezas y se fermentan en agua antes de secarse, esto genera un perfil limpio y consistente. Requiere más equipamiento que el procesamiento natural.
• Honey / despulpado natural: Parte de la fruta se elimina, dejando una cierta cantidad de mucílago en los granos durante el secado. Entre más mucílago se deje, el café será más dulce y tendrá más cuerpo. Este proceso implica un esfuerzo y riesgo mayores.

¡Lee más! Proceso 101: Lavado, Natural Y Honey Producción de Café

Granos de café después del procesamiento. Crédito: Adam Jones via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

Aguirre dijo: “Es muy difícil cultivar café. No solo el productor está luchando contra las adversidades de la naturaleza, sino que una taza de café requiere mucho trabajo, muchísima gente … Ese es el verdadero valor del café”.

Porque para muchas personas, una taza de café es una bebida diaria importante. Pero para los productores, representa días, meses y años de cuidado intensivo de sus cultivos. Son madrugadas y largas tardes bajo temperaturas frías. Es el trabajo de su vida.

¿Disfrutaste este artículo? Lee Conoce la Planta de Café

Escrito por Miguel Regalado.

Traducido por Alejandra M Hernández. Traducción editada por María José Parra.

¿Quieres seguir leyendo artículos como este? ¡Suscríbete Aquí!

The post Del Grano a La Taza: ¿Cómo Cultivan Café los Productores? appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8200593 https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2018/10/del-grano-a-la-taza-como-cultivan-cafe-los-productores/

A Specialty Coffee Shop Tour of Glasgow, Scotland

Glasgow has one of the most exciting and innovative creative communities in the UK. And as a natural extension, it has a burgeoning specialty coffee scene.

Scotland’s largest city has beautiful Art Nouveau and Victorian architecture, acclaimed museums, and a thriving music scene. Glasgow once had the reputation as a tough, industrial city, but it is quickly becoming a hub for artisanal industries including both specialty coffee and craft beer.

Take a look at the pick of Glasgow’s specialty coffee shops.

You may also like A Specialty Coffee Shop Tour of London: An Itinerary

Entry of Papercup Coffee Company.Credit: Papercup Coffee Company

Why These Five?

Cafés are everywhere in Glasgow and many in the city centre will cater to your specialty coffee needs. As a visitor, I am hesitant to list the city’s best. But these are the ones that made me welcome and stood out for their atmosphere, service, and variety of coffee.

Coffee cupping at Thomson’s Coffee Roasters. Credit: Thomson’s Coffee Roasters

1. Primal Roast

Tucked away across the road from a beautiful church, it would be easy to miss this café. But the quirky spot is well worth a visit. There is a small patio and an intimate wood-panelled space where the chairs are lined with coffee sacks.

The café has a Palaeolithic theme – hence the name – but the coffee is anything but primitive. Enthusiastic baristas prepare drinks with a V60, Chemex, and AeroPress. The menu includes vegan items and some paleo-themed items. All of the baked goods are made without dairy products.

Where	278 St Vincent St, Glasgow G2 5RL
Atmosphere	Friendly and laid-back
Espresso Machine	La Marzocco
Grinder	Mazzer Kold
Coffee Offerings	V60, AeroPress, espresso-based drinks
Must-Try Drink	V60
Food & Other Drinks	Exceptional paleo and vegan menu, variety of vegan baked goods
Nearby Sights	Glasgow City Free Church, city centre

 

Primal Roast from the outside. Credit: Ciaran Lee

2. Laboratorio Espresso

Modern and sophisticated, Laboratorio Espresso appears to have a strong reputation among Glasgow’s coffee enthusiasts. I was blown away by the complexity of flavours in a filter coffee. With its cosmopolitan character and high-quality coffee, it’s easy to imagine spending an afternoon working from here. Highly recommended for those seeking no-nonsense, excellent coffee.

Where	93 W Nile St, Glasgow G1 2SH
Atmosphere	Professional and sophisticated
Espresso Machine	La Marzocco
Grinder	Nuova Simonelli
Coffee Offerings	V60, AeroPress, espresso-based drinks
Must-Try Drink	Espresso
Food & Other Drinks	Good selection of baked goods
Nearby Sights	George Square, city centre

 

Front view of Laboratorio Espresso. Credit: Little Book of Coffee

3. Papercup Coffee Company

Hidden in a back street in Glasgow’s fashionable West End, this is a roastery with a coffee shop tagged on. It seems to be doing well on both fronts. Come here for delicious coffee and an authentic specialty coffee experience. You can watch beans being roasted in a hypnotic spiral while sipping your drink.

Where	603 Great Western Rd, Glasgow G12 8HX
Atmosphere	Friendly, relaxed
Espresso Machine	La Marzocco
Grinder	Nuova Simonelli Mythos One
Coffee Offerings	V60, AeroPress, espresso-based drinks
Must-Try Drink	Espresso
Retail Offerings	Barista courses, house-roasted beans
Food & Other Drinks	Good selection of baked goods
Nearby Sights	Botanic Gardens, Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow University

 

Papercup Coffee Company. Credit: Ciaran Lee

4. All That Is Coffee

Sleek, spacious, and minimal. All That Is Coffee is highly recommended for coffee-lovers. It is one-part café and two-parts gathering place for the creative community. Just south of the city centre, this bright white space is frequently used for specialty coffee events including cuppings and conventions.

A wide array of coffee methods is available and the quality does not disappoint. Just a few minutes’ walk away from Dear Green roastery, which supplies their beans, the freshness of each cup is palpable.

Where	South Block, 60 Osborne Street, Glasgow G1 5QH
Atmosphere	Clean, creative, and inviting
Espresso Machine	La Marzocco
Grinder	Mazzer for house espresso, Mahlkonig for guest espresso and decaf
Coffee Offerings	V60, AeroPress, espresso-based drinks
Must-Try Drink	Espresso
Food & Other Drinks	Good selection of baked goods
Nearby Sights	Glasgow Green, People’s Palace and Winter Gardens

 

Barista pouring milk into a cup. Credit: Tyler Nix

5. Glasgow’s Coffee Roasters

Okay, so they’re not coffee shops, but these selected roasters are worth a mention.

Dear Green Coffee Roasters

If you drink coffee from independent cafés in Glasgow, chances are you’ve tasted Dear Green roasted beans. A well-established roastery just outside the city centre, it provides coffee for many of the city’s premier café’s, as well as to bars, cultural establishments, and artisanal beer powerhouse BrewDog. With two enormous roasters, Dear Green is the beating heart of specialty coffee in Glasgow.

Visits to the roastery are by appointment only, but it’s worth getting in touch. We had a great tour and learned about the local coffee scene from Lucy, who runs the place with expertise.

Dear Green Coffee Roasters. Credit: Ciaran Lee

Thomson’s Coffee Roasters

Established in 1841, this is a Glasgow institution and Scotland’s oldest roastery. It offers direct trade coffee from producers in Nicaragua and Peru, as well as its original 1841 blend and single origin beans. Roasters here still prepare beans the traditional way: over the naked flames of an antique Whitmee machine.

Ovenbird Coffee Roasters

Ovenbird opened much more recently, in 2013, but has quickly established itself as a quality coffee roaster. Products include a collection of coffees aged in Scottish whisky barrels and beans bought from International Women’s Coffee Alliance Rwanda.

The Steamie Coffee Roasters

This is both a roastery and a café in separate locations. Stop by the cosy café in Glasgow’s West End to sample the roasts or have lunch. The Steamie emphasises an ethical supply chain and offers coffee subscriptions and barista training.

While Glasgow’s coffee scene may have some way to go in my opinion, it deserves a spot at the forefront of the UK’s progressive cultural scene. Forget Shoreditch – if you want to experience great coffee without pretence and snobbery, head to Glasgow.

Coffee menu and baked goods  at The Steamie. Credit: The Steamie Coffee Roasters

Enjoyed this? Check out A Specialty Coffee Shop Tour of Valencia, Spain

Written by Ciaran Lee

All views within this opinion piece belong to the guest writer and do not reflect Perfect Daily Grind’s stance.

Want to read more articles like this? Sign up for our newsletter!

The post A Specialty Coffee Shop Tour of Glasgow, Scotland appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8200593 https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2018/10/a-specialty-coffee-shop-tour-of-glasgow-scotland/

How Can We Help Consumers Understand Coffee Flavour Notes?

We’ve all seen the confused customer in the coffee shop: they frown at the menu, head tilted to one side. They slowly pick up retail bag after bag, looking even more unsure as they put them down. Perhaps they look for a barista to help them; perhaps they’re too intimidated to even do that.

Café owners, the thing that’s confusing these customers is your coffee descriptions – and, in many cases, this comes down to those flavour notes on the bag.

Helping your customers understand these flavour notes is crucial for customer satisfaction and retention. So why do some customers find it so confusing? How can you describe a coffee’s flavour in a way that they will understand? And how can you also help them to appreciate the full spectrum of notes in a coffee?

You might also like Do Coffee Flavour & Aroma Descriptors Need to Be More Precise?

An Ethiopian Yirgacheffe with floral and sweet lemon notes. Credit: Jmcronald via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Speaking to The Flavour Experts

To find out ways to better communicate flavour notes to consumers, I decided to speak to two experts: Dale Harris, 2017 World Barista Champion and Director of Wholesale at Has Bean Coffee in Stafford, U.K., and Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, owner of Colonna Coffee and three-time U.K. Barista Champion and World Barista Championship finalist.

This year, Dale is running Flavour Pathways at Caffè Culture 2018, a London, UK-based trade show in its 12th year. It will run from the 16th–17th October and attendance is free for trade professionals (you can register here).

Flavour Pathways will be an interactive sensory installation that develops concepts inspired by his championship-winning routine at the World Barista Championships 2017. One “pathway” examines how flavour is impacted by terroir, variety, roasting and processing; another explores how different factors impact our understanding of flavour, from how our taste buds work to cup shapes and more.

Who better than Dale to tell me how we can help customers understand flavour?

Maxwell, on the other hand, is spearheading the La Marzocco’s Roasters’ Village and Cupping Zone at the event. He’s also responsible for launching Coffee Studies, a TED-talk-esque series of presentations as part of Caffè Culture’s three-streamed Talks Programme, which focuses on exploring innovations and insights through real business stories. In other words, he’s a cupping and business expert (as well as an incredible barista).

Dale and Maxwell shared with me their best advice for helping consumers understand and appreciate flavour notes. Here’s what I learned.

A natural processed coffee from Guerrero, México; with notes of tangerine, berries and honey. Credit: The Fitzroy Espresso Co

Flavour vs Flavour Notes: A Critical Difference

First of all, to minimise confusion, it’s crucial that we separate the terms “flavour notes” and “flavours”.

In other words, we need to highlight to customers the importance of distinguishing between “the notes that we write on the bag, versus the flavours that someone might taste,” says Dale. “Flavour is a range of different sensations, [whereas flavour notes are] how we verbalise the sensations that we experience.”

Flavour is the overall perception of a coffee’s qualities. It covers everything from its aroma to its mouthfeel.

And flavour notes? These are “common flavour experiences that we relate to certain things we consume,” explains Maxwell. “This helps us describe the unique character of a given coffee.”

Why is this distinction important? Flavour notes tend to be highly subjective depending on the taster. “The flavours an individual gives are their interpretations of the sensations they get,” Dale says.

This often creates an unexpected tension, especially when it comes down to the difference between consumers’ taste buds and that of trained industry individuals. It can be an uphill battle for both parties when, no matter how hard they try, customers are simply unable to perceive the flavours that baristas assure them exist in a coffee. And in turn, this can make it much harder to demonstrate the value of that coffee.

Coffee being poured into a cup. Credit: Fernando Pocasangre

Why Are Flavour Notes So Challenging?

When a customer walks into a café, they can be inundated with information. This most often comes in the form of a comprehensive coffee menu – one that was designed to be helpful but, actually, might end up intimidating potential specialty drinkers.

Remember, when someone is new to specialty coffee, they aren’t used to tasting all these notes. “A lot of them struggle to define what they’re tasting and they have a smaller body of reference points,” Dale says.

On the other hand, sometimes there’s too little information. It’s not uncommon nowadays to see a cafe with a minimalist coffee menu (possibly in response to the stereotype that specialty coffee is needlessly overcomplicated).

While it’s definitely simpler, there’s no further information about the coffees offered – unless the customer plucks up the courage to approach a barista, of course! This may make flavour notes even more inaccessible for those customers curious about what they’re drinking.

What’s more, coffee menus don’t always match the coffee being served. This can be due to inexperienced baristas dialling in the equipment or simply a lack of flavour calibration within the shop. If coffee menus are managed day-to-day by different baristas, there is a higher possibility that a coffee’s flavour will vary over time.

In some ways, this is exciting. Depending on their preferences, there is a multitude of different attributes a barista can highlight in a coffee – and for some consumers, tasting these differences is fascinating. However, it’s easy to confuse a customer who doesn’t understand why they tasted different notes in the same coffee yesterday. Or, worse, why what they’re tasting now doesn’t match the flavour notes that were written on the coffee board yesterday!

Doing sensory exercises to help improve your palate and flavour note vocabulary. Credit: Kars Alfrink via Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Flavour Notes Are Still an Essential Tool

Even though flavour notes can be hard to understand, Maxwell argues that they do help customers. In fact, he tells me, they’re a much better option than some of the other ways we describe a coffee.

“It’s not necessarily more accessible for someone to understand [a coffee’s taste] through things like a farm name, a variety, and a process than [through] flavour notes…” he says. “That’s very exclusive. You have to spend years learning about different varieties, different altitudes, to even begin engaging in that kind of menu. Flavour notes are not perfect, but they are the easiest starting point for someone.”

Discussing origin and processing can be even more overwhelming for consumers than simply the flavour notes. After all, so many factors affect how a coffee tastes: terroir, origin, coffee variety, processing methods, roast profiles, brew method and recipe… Even the water used for brewing can impact the taste of the final cup! A sensory experience is therefore often difficult to fully explain in a short coffee-shop interaction between barista and customer.

So, flavour notes might not be perfect but they are one of our best tools. And the more familiar consumers are with specialty coffee, the more helpful they become.

“The more decent coffee someone drinks, the more experience they have or the larger vocabulary they have,” says Dale. “And the better insight they get into what kind of coffee they want to drink, the more focused they get on the nuances [between different coffees]. That is better for describing it to other coffee people who share the same experience.”

Freshly brewed coffee in carafe. Credit: Fernando Pocasangre

How Can You Help Consumers Understand Flavour Notes?

The good news is that there are many ways we can help consumers approach flavour notes. Hosting public cuppings, for example, can get customers talking about what makes an excellent coffee. It will help them to recognise and describe certain flavours, strengthen their palate through practice, and place them within a community that’s also using the same vocabulary.

That last one is an important point. Since flavour notes are all about reference points, it’s helpful to use the same reference points every time. Make sure your staff all use the same terminology to minimise confusion.

Keep your retail shelf varied and the coffee menu simplistic, but with a few guiding flavour notes. This is key to providing customers with an exciting range of coffees, but not giving them so much information that you overwhelm them.

Holding a public cupping to help consumers understand flavour and flavour notes. Credit: Has Bean Coffee

Your baristas can also help guide consumers through improving their palate. Dale says it’s fairly simple for people to improve their palate.

“Taste as many new things as you can,” he says, chuckling. “Try it once. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like it. You’ll learn something about the experience and something new about flavour. It will open up your vocabulary and your body or reference points of ways to describe different things.

“Also, when you are tasting things, really think about what you’re tasting. Try and understand what led to that difference in taste. [An experienced taster] tends to use more complex, descriptive language, and is more used to picking things apart beyond the basic taste sensations. This will help you become more experienced in thinking deeply about food and drink, have a heightened awareness of taste, and develop the way you communicate about flavour.”

You can also base tasting events on this. Lay out a table full of fruit, encourage attendees to try all the fruit and make notes about the flavour, and then bring out some fruity, sparkling coffees. You could also add spices, nuts, chocolate, and floral infusions to the table if you wanted to present a wider range of coffees.

You might also like Coffee Tasting Exercises That Will Improve Your Palate

Coffee Cupping. Credit: Fernando Pocasangre

Café owners, we owe it to our customers and to ourselves to help make flavour notes more accessible. It will improve consumers’ coffee-drinking experiences, and in turn, hopefully convert them into satisfied repeat customers.

So, remember what Dale and Maxwell have emphasised: keep it simple. Give some information but don’t overwhelm consumers. Distinguish between flavour and flavour notes. Monitor your baristas’ vocabulary. And hold events that will guide consumers into appreciating all the wonderful flavours in your coffee.

You might still get the occasional confused customer – but they’ll find that all the help they need is to hand.

Written by Sierra Burgess-Yeo.

Please note: This article has been sponsored by Caffè Culture.

Want to read more articles like this? Sign up for our newsletter!

The post How Can We Help Consumers Understand Coffee Flavour Notes? appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8200593 https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2018/09/how-can-we-help-consumers-understand-coffee-flavour-notes/

Cápsulas de Café: ¿Tienen Lugar en el Café de Especialidad?

Casi nunca viene a la mente la palabra “conveniencia” cuando piensas en el café de la tercera ola. El “origen”, el “perfil de tueste”, la “extracción” y la “sostenibilidad” son las cosas que probablemente se te ocurrirán.

Por lo tanto, la tercera ola muestra a menudo desdén por la cápsula de café, que, por lo general, también tiene un impacto ambiental elevado.

Sin embargo, a medida que cada vez más consumidores pasan a los pods, que son fáciles de usar, el café de especialidad y la tecnología de las cápsulas quizás necesiten encontrar una manera para superar esta diferencia. Si se niegan a hacerlo, se podrían perder las oportunidades que ofrece el mercado.

Read this in English Why Specialty Coffee Needs to Befriend The Capsule Consumer

Cápsulas de café usadas.

Entendiendo Al Consumidor De Café En Cápsulas

En 2017, la Asociación Nacional del Café de los EE. UU. (NCA por sus siglas en inglés) anunció que poco menos del 30 % de los adultos bebedores de café lo prepararon con un dispositivo monodosis en las últimas 24 horas. Pero no comiences a celebrar aún: aunque quizás piensas que esto incluye a los V60, Kalita Waves y demás métodos pour over que preparan una sola taza, en realidad, la NCA considera a los métodos de preparación por goteo como una categoría aparte.

Los “dispositivos monodosis”, en este contexto, comprenden típicamente las cápsulas y los pods. Hablamos de Keurig, Nespresso, etc.

También te puede gustar ¿Qué es el Café de la “Tercera Ola”? ¿Cómo se Diferencia del de Especialidad?

El mismo estudio demuestra que éstos se han vuelto populares en los hogares, los lugares de trabajo e incluso en las habitaciones de los hoteles.

Entonces, ¿qué hay detrás del ascenso de las cápsulas de café? Bueno, según una encuesta de Statista de 2017 en los adultos en EE. UU., Reino Unido y Alemania:

• “La facilidad para preparar el café” es el motivo principal en el Reino Unido y los EE. UU. y el segundo más importante en Alemania.
• “El sabor del café” ocupa el primer lugar en Alemania y el segundo en los otros países.
• “La calidad” y “la relación calidad-precio” comparten el tercer y cuarto lugar.

Es decir, este es un consumidor que quiere un café delicioso, y que considera que pagar un precio más alto representa una buena relación calidad-precio. ¿Realmente te parece que difiere mucho de un amante del café de especialidad?

Normalmente, los entusiastas del café de especialidad buscan un café delicioso de calidad elevada. Los verás saborear un espresso o beber a sorbos cafés filtrados, mientras prestan atención a cómo el origen y el método de preparación influyen en el aroma y el sabor. Estos clientes están dispuestos a pagar más por granos de calidad superior.

La única diferencia es que uno de estos dos grupos también valora la conveniencia. Mientras la preparación por goteo sigue siendo la forma más popular (NCA, 2017), la monodosis no se queda atrás.

Así que ahora mi pregunta es: ¿es posible que el café de especialidad interactúe con los consumidores de monodosis a quienes les gusta comprar los pods de café? ¿Y cómo todos nos beneficiaríamos de esto?

Una variedad de cápsulas de café diferentes.

La Revolución Del Pod De Café

¿Cómo se vería un café de especialidad en cápsula? En realidad, ya lo sabemos.

El pod monodosis tuvo una espinosa introducción a la tercera ola. Los precios altos, la imposibilidad de poderlo reciclar y el estar relacionado con un café comercial rancio provocaron muchos ojos en blanco y peticiones enfadadas.

Sin embargo, los pods han madurado, al igual que el café instantáneo e incluso los granos de café enteros. En la actualidad, puedes encontrar cápsulas de café reciclables (aunque vale la pena considerar que su fabricación todavía tiene un impacto ambiental). Estas cápsulas hasta pueden contener café Geisha de Panamá o Taza de la Excelencia.

El café de especialidad encontró su lugar en la revolución del pod. Y de esta manera, ha creado un café de calidad superior y de abastecimiento sostenible al alcance de un porcentaje más elevado de la población.

Sólo queda una pregunta: ¿Podría el café especial interactuar con aquellos consumidores que les gusta comprar café en cápsulas? ¿Y cómo nos beneficiaríamos todos de esto?

Los pods de café de especialidad de Redemption Roasters. Estos incluyen blends y cafés de origen único. Crédito: Redemption Roasters

¿Deberías Fabricar & Vender Pods?

Sin duda, las cápsulas de café son parte del panorama cafetero moderno. ¿Pero son el negocio correcto para ti?

Para responder a esta pregunta, primero tienes que conocer a tus clientes. ¿Utilizan dispositivos de preparación monodosis? ¿Los usarían si estuvieran disponibles las cápsulas de especialidad? ¿Cómo encajaría esto en sus rutinas diarias de café?

Pero ten cuidado de no generalizar excesivamente. No podemos suponer que todos los consumidores de café de especialidad tienen en casa un dispositivo pour over. De la misma manera, no podemos dar por sentado que los consumidores de monodosis solo beben café monodosis. ¿Lo beberían o, en el caso de la venta al por mayor, lo comprarían y revenderían con suficiente frecuencia para que valga la pena que inviertas en ello?

La tercera ola y las cápsulas monodosis no tienen que ser enemigas; de hecho, hay lugar en el mundo del café para los amantes de las cápsulas de especialidad. Sin embargo, es nuestra labor investigar las oportunidades y decidir si queremos hacer lugar para este segmento del mercado.

¿Disfrutaste este artículo? También te puede gustar ¿Qué es el Café de la “Tercera Ola”? ¿Cómo se Diferencia del de Especialidad?

Escrito por Monica Contreras.

Traducido por Laura Fornero. Traducción editada por María José Parra.

Todas las opiniones presentes en este artículo pertenecen exclusivamente al escritor invitado y no reflejan la postura de Perfect Daily Grind. Sin embargo, Perfect Daily Grind considera importante debatir los temas actuales de la industria, por lo que busca representar todos los puntos de vista.

¿Quieres Seguir Leyendo Artículos Como Este? ¡Suscríbete Aquí!

The post Cápsulas de Café: ¿Tienen Lugar en el Café de Especialidad? appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8200593 https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2018/09/capsulas-de-cafe-tienen-lugar-en-el-cafe-de-especialidad/

More Is More: LA’s Dayglow Coffee Maxes Out The Multi-Roaster Cafe

Dayglow Coffee could only exist in Los Angeles. Opened in Silverlake on Sunset Boulevard in late 2017, the cafe from Tohm Ifergan, formerly of Portola Coffee Roasters in nearby Costa Mesa, is a neon-bright beacon not so unlike the city itself. A multi-roaster that sources coffees from some of the world’s most notable roasteries, Dayglow is, like LA, at once itself and a component of its parts.  

Ifergan founded the shop to not only provide customers with unique coffees but a side of information as well. Its interior has a clean aesthetic, with the seating and bar arranged in such a way as to encourage customers to interact with baristas as much as with each other, facilitating conversations about individual coffees, their roasteries, and means to prepare them at home.

Tohm Ifergan of Dayglow Coffee

Dayglow’s menu is intended to be simple and approachable, whether you’re familiar with specialty coffee or not. It’s divided into 10 different categories, written in relative plain-speak: espresso, milk, sweetened, signature, tea, filter, handbrew, tonic, funk, and cold coffee. 

Ifergan’s experience crafting coffee cocktails is on full display here. One recent run of Signature Series menu items were all named after Wes Anderson movies, and included the Hotel Chevalier, which combined distilled coffee, fresh lime, and coconut cream, all garnished with mint and grated nutmeg. Another option, the Darjeeling Limited, was a mixture of distilled juniper berries, Tanzanian coffee from King State Coffee Roasters, Darjeeling tea, tonic, thyme, and sweet lime. Having a director’s cut menu is quintessentially Ifergan.

The Hotel Chevalier

In addition to the Signature Series, at any given time Dayglow carries coffees from between 10 and 20 roasters, half international and half domestic. Ifergan and his staff blind-cup samples to determine their specific offerings for the week, and stock their shelves and online marketplace with a dizzying variety of options as well. 

They have a robust coffee subscription program that allows customers to sample from the Dayglow stable of roasters, and offers varying tiers depending on how much coffee you go through each month. And these are the coffees you want. They’ve already featured the likes of Koppi Coffee Roasters, The Barn Coffee Roasters, Little Wolf Coffee, Color Coffee Roasters,  The Coffee Collective, Drop Coffee Roasters, Hex Coffee, and Madcap Coffee Roasters, to name only a few. 

But subscribers have access to more than just amazing coffees. Instead, subscribing to Dayglow gives access to in-house training videos, brewing blogs, and a community on Dayglow’s website who share educational materials on topics ranging from coffee-specific brewing methods to theories on extraction and much more. Dayglow’s online presence feels more like a publication than a marketplace and acts as both a library for home-brewers as well as a feedback medium for Ifergan and Dayglow’s use. By sourcing the opinions of their community, Dayglow can alter their menu, brewing techniques, and coffee selection to suit customer taste.

This kind of customer feedback loop is second nature for Ifergan, who built his success at Portola’s Theorem bar on direct interactions between himself and the people he served. Tasting his coffee there was to have an experience in your taste in coffee, but Theorem itself was intimate and dark and comprised of a handful of seats, a black bar, and a sliding glass door.

Dayglow is an evolution of that experience. One that embraces the city it calls home, holds its doors wide open, and lets the light rush in.

Dayglow is located at 3206 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

David Palazuelos is a freelance contributor. This is David Palazuelos’ first article for Sprudge.

The post More Is More: LA’s Dayglow Coffee Maxes Out The Multi-Roaster Cafe appeared first on Sprudge.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8200593 http://sprudge.com/more-is-more-las-dayglow-coffee-maxes-out-the-multi-roaster-cafe-134481.html

Disease & Deforestation: The Cost of Coffee in Madagascar

In Madagascar, coffee is the fuel that powers everyone through their day – but it comes at a cost.

This island, which lies off the Mozambique coast, is one of the poorest countries in the world, despite being rich in biodiversity. The majority of people here live in poverty and their lifestyle is interwoven with the country’s coffee culture. So, too, is their health.

Among the lush greenery and exotic animals, I discovered a disturbing backstory to Madagascar’s coffee industry. Read on to discover the true cost of this nation’s love of coffee.

You may also like The Daily Life of Madagascar’s Coffee Vendors

For young and old, rich and poor, coffee is a national pastime. Credit: Nicole Motteux

The Dangerous Life of a Coffee Vendor

Coffee is a major agricultural crop and source of income for thousands of people in Madagascar. From bean to bag, the coffee industry is an important employer each step of the way. This is because coffee is an ever-present part of life in Madagascar. About 80% of the total production of coffee is consumed within the country. Robusta accounts for the vast bulk of current output.

Every stage of coffee production and sale in Madagascar is arduous and poorly paid. But it is the small-scale coffee vendors who face the most difficulties and dangers.

During my travels, I met numerous coffee vendors who spend their days crouching over small fires to roast and prepare coffee. The constant exposure to smoke leads to the deep penetration of small particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and other harmful carcinogens into their lungs.

In their homes and workplaces down narrow alleys, and in improvised street cafés, I learned about traditional Malagasy coffee.

Mrs Moratsara roasts beans in a cloud of smoke. Credit: Nicole Motteux

Coffee roasters like Mrs Nirina Moratsara spend most of their day beside a wood fire or charcoal stove. “From sunrise to sunset, I roast coffee, heat coffee, and I cook,” she says.

Her eyes are red and teary as she roasts a pot of green beans over an open wood fire. As one of thousands of street coffee vendors in a competitive marketplace, she knows that getting the perfect roast is vital to making enough money to survive.

“The fire’s heat affects the flavour,” Nirina explains. She prevents the outside of the bean roasting more quickly than the inside by carefully stirring and lifting the pan from the coals. She blinks and waves aside the thick smoke.

Beside Nirina is her six-year-old daughter, Nora, who rubs her eyes constantly. Only two of Nirina’s six children are in school. The others help with the coffee business.

Learn more in Zimbabwean Coffee: Rising from the Ashes

Many young Malagasy girls are withdrawn from school to work in family businesses. Credit: Nicole Motteux

One of The Poorest Countries in The World

Madagascar has long struggled with poor governance, most recently resulting from a violent uprising in 2009. Since then, successive failed governments have contributed to economic decline and destruction of natural resources.

The United Nations’ Human Development Index rated Madagascar an extremely low 161 out of 189 countries in 2017. This puts the nation among the poorest countries in the world. Almost 80% of the population lives on less than US $1.90 per day, including hundreds of thousands of street coffee vendors.

Half of Madagascar’s children under five suffer from stunted growth from poor nutrition. Like Nirina’s children, many are unschooled.

There’s no shortage of hot coffee in Madagascar. Credit: Nicole Motteux

It is this poverty that forces people to live off the land. According to the World Bank, the majority of Madagascar’s 24.8 million people gather wood from forests for their cooking and heating fuel. Most of the rest use charcoal or buy wood.

Only 2% of the population has access to clean fuel and stoves and ovens for cooking. Only 16% of households have access to electricity. This dependence on wood and charcoal seriously impacts quality of life and degrades the environment.

You may also like This Is How Much It Costs to Produce Coffee Across Latin America

Collecting and preparing firewood is an everyday task. Credit: Nicole Motteux

The impact of 99% of households using charcoal and wood is huge. More than 60% of rural households in Madagascar cook indoors. This means that the majority of kitchens have unhealthy concentrations of air pollution.

Small particulate matter in the smoke penetrates deep into the body, triggering chronic diseases such as asthma, heart attacks, bronchitis, and other respiratory problems. Household air pollution is considered the third-biggest cause of ill health in Madagascar, behind malnutrition and poor sanitation.

Coffee roasters like Nirina spend most of their day beside a wood fire or charcoal stove. Credit: Nicole Motteux

A Coffee Vendor’s Daily Risks

Each time Nirina makes coffee, she tends to a fire for an hour to boil the water. On Sundays and public holidays, she does this three times, making up to 8 litres of coffee.

She is fortunate to be able to roast her green coffee beans on a fire outside of her home. Other vendors use poorly ventilated kitchens thick with smoke. Some hunt for spots behind buildings or in narrow corridors – anywhere out of the wind.

Coffee vending provides a small income but it comes at a real cost. Nirina tells me of her headaches and chest pain. She wishes she could make enough money to send all her children to school.

Women spend hours each day cooking over open flames, exposing them to a higher risk of life-threatening health concerns. Credit: Nicole Motteux

Every afternoon, Nirina and her children collect firewood. They are lucky to have a reliable supply nearby. Others have to walk very long distances to access free firewood and the task is often dangerous. Harassment is common, and rape is not unheard of.

Women tend to be disproportionately affected by health concerns here. Cooking is usually the responsibility of women or children, and vendors are more likely to be women. As a result, they are exposed to more chronic and life-threatening diseases.

Before dawn the next day, Nirina packs up her supplies and travels to her usual roadside corner in the business district. She uses a charcoal stove to brew her coffee. “I like charcoal more than wood. The smoke is less. I can carry it, don’t have to chop charcoal, and it’s dry,” she tells me.

“My charcoal cooker broke. I now use my neighbour’s one. It is very heavy and fragile. Every day I have to collect the cooker and give it back. I cannot afford to buy a new one. It is 16,000 Ariary [about US $5]. I make 20,000 Ariary gross income each day and from that I have to buy green bean coffee and ingredients for sale tomorrow as well as food for my family.”

Charcoal stoves don’t generally emit as many particles as wood-fuelled stoves, but they still produce a lot of carbon monoxide.

Brewed coffee is safer than water contaminated with raw sewage and other organic wastes. Credit: Nicole Motteux

A Life-Saving Service

Malagasies start their day with a cup of coffee and a fried rice cake. It’s a daily tradition that’s affordable even for the most disadvantaged people. For some, it may be the only meal of the day.

Basic comforts are a challenge in Madagascar, thanks to limited electricity and running water. It is the fourth worst country in Africa for access to safe drinking water. For many, buying a coffee from a street vendor is the safest option.

Coffee and street food warm and fill the body and saves on fuel for cooking breakfast at home. Credit: Nicole Motteux

Other Environmental Hazards

Poverty has caused other environmental hazards in Madagascar. Traffic jams of old and poorly maintained vehicles create further air pollution. Standing at their roadside stalls, thousands of coffee vendors are exposed to toxic fumes each day.

Madagascar’s old cars are a serious contributor to poor air quality, especially in the city. Credit: Nicole Motteux

Huge amounts of the country’s original forest have been lost in recent years. Global Forest Watch reports that from 2001 to 2017, Madagascar lost 3.27 Mha of tree cover, equivalent to a 19% decrease since 2000.

Deforestation is due, in part, to replacing forests with coffee fields. The country has lost about 80% of its original forests and the primary forest now covers only about 12% of the country. The consequent erosion and soil degradation have further impacted the ecosystem.

 Lavaka of Ankarokaroka’s moon-like landscape is the result of massive erosion. Credit: Nicole Motteux

In the central highlands, the evidence of soil erosion and run-off is devastating. When grassland is burned for agriculture and trees are cut for fuel, the sandy earth collapses. The result is dramatic canyons. Sediment is then washed downhill during the rainy season. The red sand carried by water blocks drinking water and irrigation canals.

Madagascar’s rivers run red due to deforestation, desertification, habitat loss, and soil erosion. Credit: Nicole Motteux

The once densely forested mountains are now bare, thanks to firewood, slash-and-burn agriculture, and overgrazing by zebu cattle. The humped cattle are central to rural life, but short-sighted farming techniques have destroyed the landscape.

Overgrazing by Zebu cattle is just one cause of serious land degradation in Madagascar. Credit: Nicole Motteux

A Cleaner, Healthier Future?

Madagascar needs clean and sustainable sources of energy to reduce the country’s long-term health and environmental concerns. Energy-efficient cookstoves are one small innovation that can make a big difference.

A woman cooks on an energy efficient cookstove. Credit: Association pour le Développement de l’Energie Solaire Suisse – Madagascar (ADES)

ADES is a Swiss energy development organisation that has been working in Madagascar for 18 years. It builds market-based partnerships with local companies to produce energy-efficient cookstoves.

The organisation works closely with governments and businesses to educate the Malagasy people about energy-efficient cooking methods, ventilation, and sustainable livelihoods. It has an ambitious goal of 60% less energy use in Madagascar by 2050. ADES has sold over 170,000 cookstoves and has a sustainable, local production line in place.

Other organisations and initiatives are encouraging energy efficiency. The government has launched a rural electrification plan that includes implementation of solar panels. It aims to double the rate of Madagascar’s rural electrification by 2020.

Clean energy is slowly arriving in rural Madagascar. Credit: Nicole Motteux

The future health of Madagascar’s small-scale coffee industry and its wider population is uncertain. Indoor and outdoor pollution inhibit economic growth and exacerbate poverty. Yet, I left Madagascar feeling some hope for a cleaner coffee future. I left Nirina with a clean cookstove of her own, knowing that this small gesture would have a huge benefit to her financial and physical health.

Enjoyed this? Check out Could Zimbabwean Coffee Once Again Be On Specialty Menus?

Written by Nicole Motteux with input by Lilani Goonesena and image editing by Angie Lázaro. With thanks to interpreter and guide Mr Harry Rakotosalam. Feature image: Nicole Motteux

Perfect Daily Grind

Want to read more articles like this? Sign up for our newsletter!

The post Disease & Deforestation: The Cost of Coffee in Madagascar appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8200593 https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2018/09/disease-deforestation-the-cost-of-coffee-in-madagascar/