mycuppa May 2014 Newsletter
Why coffee blends change
Over the many years of working with coffee, we have come to identify two very distinct types of coffee drinkers - those who like to try something new and interesting and others who want things to stay the same.
Like life, it takes all types to make up the coffee lover's spectrum.
Well before the emergence of the specialty coffee market, most coffee roasting companies would live and die by a very strict rule - keep it the same, or we will lose customers.
Unfortunately, the whole "keeping it the same" policy did not take into account whether "it" was currently regarded as horrible, average or brilliant.
Alas, in most cases, "it" was pretty crappy - especially by today's standards.
Generally speaking, most of the roasted coffee produced in Australia until 2007 was targeted around basic and simple outcomes - keep the costs low via poorer quality beans and bulk, bland roasting to a dark, homogeneous depth.
Fast forward seven years, and the coffee industry in Australia now has more than 900 brands.
Our domestic market is saturated with a mix of local and imported products to the point where no real dominant players can shape or influence the direction of quality coffee, although Australian brands are winning the fight against imports.
The exception, of course, is portion control (capsules and pods) and instant coffee markets where fewer players currently operate and imports dominate.
Increased competition has resulted in dramatic improvements to coffee quality - both in the sourcing of better raw (green) beans, the use of advanced roasting systems for creating a cleaner and sweeter cup.
We are also pleased to see a greater awareness by end consumers of the need to treat roasted coffee as fresh food - just like your fruits and vegetables.
Freshly roasted coffees have a short shelf life if you wish to enjoy the coffee at it's peak.
Coffee roasting companies use blending for many different purposes.
Some brands blend for cost savings or containment, others blend to add greater cup complexity or to ensure better consistency to mitigate supply challenges.
Of course, some, or even all, of these approaches can apply at various times of the year.
Coffee drinkers may be surprised to learn that sourcing coffee beans is a difficult and time-consuming task.
For example, take this time of year.
There are shortages of almost all origins as new season shipments are either being prepared at port or currently on the water in the eight-week journey from a farm to arrive in an Australian roaster's warehouse.
Raw green shortages are even more acute in the quality segment.
For this reason, many specialty coffee roasters will call their blends "seasonal".
Seasonal is not just a fancy name or marketing gimmick.
In roasted coffees, change occurs two or maybe eight times a year, depending upon how many and what type of beans are used in a roasted coffee blend.
Our Mycuppa blends change often, at times every three months.
Sweet coffee had remained relatively constant for five months up until late April 2014, at which point we made some radical changes.
Almost all of the beans in the blend were changed at the same time, and the current evolution of Suuweet is different compared to the former.
The popular Espresso and Barista Blends have also remained relatively constant for more than 12 months, which is some record in specialty coffee.
Remember that coffee is a six-month crop, so that's almost three seasons.
Roasters will tweak a blend to deal with shortages/new seasons, or if the roaster is not entirely happy with how the coffee is cupping - changes offer the idea for improvements.
Generally, changes in a roasted coffee blend are tapered in and out over many weeks or, in some cases, like with Suuweet in late April, a sudden change.
There are many parallels between the wine and coffee industries.
With wine, change is celebrated and respected as the weather and conditions greatly influence the vintage.
In coffee, change is only sometimes that well received or accepted and as roasters, we often find ourselves drawn into conflict with brokers, farmers and customers who resist change or need help, understanding that it is a fundamental part of the coffee life cycle.
Rwanda Inzovu
African coffees feature in the top group of many coffee drinker's most memorable cups.
Whether it's the complexity of an Ethiopian, the richness and long, sweet intensity of a Kenyan or the mesmerising effect of a well-balanced Tanzanian, there is always something special about how African coffees can deliver that extra punch.
For many years, Rwanda lived in the coffee shadows of Ethiopia and Kenya.
The quality has never been under question, but Rwanda suffered largely, being completely overlooked given the cult status of Ethiopia and Kenya.
Just over 3 years ago, the head of Australia's largest raw coffee brokers whispered into the phone one rainy afternoon.
"Listen, one of my buyers in Africa stumbled upon this sensational coffee from Rwanda with orange, chocolate mocha, a clean cup and a super long finish".
It's quite a difficult coffee to source as the origin is land-locked.
We have some. Do you want to grab a ton?"
I felt at the time I was privileged to be given some secret message.
What else could I do but jump on it?
Having not tried Rwandan coffee beans and searching around the Australian market, seeing zero in the way of specialty coffee roasters offering Rwandan coffees, I thought, why not?
Let's go for it.
When the bags arrived, I noticed a sweet smell of tangerine from the raw coffee.
Raw coffees typically have very little aroma (except some sun-dried fruity Africans), and this washed coffee appeared amazingly clean and consistent - perhaps the best-prepared coffee I have seen all year.
Roasting the coffee and waiting for it to develop over the next ten days, I had completely forgotten about testing it. In a rush one afternoon to make a coffee, I grabbed a sample jar and tipped it into the grinder.
A few adjustments later, I was pulling some incredible red tiger-stripped shots.
I picked up the empty sample jar to read the batch code 12RI3. Rwanda Inzovu roasted on 12th March.
Adding milk to the espresso shot and taking the first sip, I almost fell over.
What an amazing coffee.
I pulled another, then another, and ran around handing out cups to everyone present, like a child showing off an award.
Quickly, taste this, taste it; what do you think?
That coffee had the most sensational orange chocolate finish.
It was as if we had Jaffas melted into a cup.
I bought the remaining bags and thus began our long association with Rwanda coffees.
Over the periods since, we have had four different crops of Inzovu and a couple of different types - in 2012 and 2013, we ran the Muraha alongside Inzovu, and just recently, we picked up a very small amount of the Gihombo that was offered to our Subscription members.
Two weeks ago, I received the first ton of a 6-ton shipment of a select-grade Rwanda Inzovu.
In 10 days, we ripped through 500 kilos as news spread around some of the specialty cafes.
This new Inzovu is an 86-point coffee, ranking it in the top handful of coffees available within Australia.
Caramel, lime and soft floral in aroma, black tea-like, plum, lemon, thick body with tart green apple acid, candied grape-like sweetness, long finish
What makes Rwanda Inzovu coffee so special is that over 25,000 smallholder coffee farmers produce it.
Where the majority of the farmers only have around 200 trees each to look after.
The coffee production in Rwanda has seen exponential growth, benefiting the country's economic well-being.
Due to the popularity and quality of this coffee, over the last several years, the price paid directly to the farmers has significantly increased.
The Inzovu is a special project where only specially selected lots are combined to supply rosters with consistent specialty quality coffee available in larger volumes.
The coffee itself is grown in fertile volcanic soil.
The altitude ranges from 1200 to 1800 meters above sea level across all farms.
Harvest takes place from March through to July.
After the cherry has been harvested, it is then brought into a washing station for processing.
The coffee is graded, milled, hand-sorted and sun-dried on tables.
Inzovu comes from several different wet mills, including Coffee Villages, Gasange, Gitesi, Izere, Karama, Kigembe, Kirezi, Mahembe, Mayogi, Mukindo, Mutovu, Mwasa and Nasho.
The Great Leveler
One of our very good private label clients, we have been roasting their coffee for over 3.5 years now, developed a fantastic tamper for use with espresso machines - The Great Leveller.
A high-precision piece of engineering.
Tamping is one of the most misunderstood methods in preparing espresso coffee.
I remain utterly surprised at the majority of people who believe using a tamper involves applying eye-watering, heavy-duty high pressure to pack the ground coffee so tight into the portafilter you would think they were trying to create an instant diamond.
Unfortunately, that style of tamping is not the best practice.
You do not need to apply much pressure, except, of course, if you are still using those ridiculous plastic tampers that are still shipped with many espresso machines.
The purpose of a tamper is to create an even and level distribution of coffee across the portafilter surface areas.
Extracting a great shot on an espresso machine takes plenty of skill and years of experience.
When it comes to pulling good shots, there is no such thing as "natural" talent - it's practice, practice and more practice.
What happens with grind and dose will directly influence how the resulting espresso extraction performs, and tamping is just an ancillary task.
Each model of coffee machine has a matching set of tolerances based on the design of heights between the group head shower screen and the portafilter.
When you dose the coffee, it is important to ensure there is sufficient coffee so as to create enough resistance to the flow of water to enable the pressure to release the oils from the coffee, which are, in fact, the flavour of the coffee.
Grinding coffee generally creates a light and fluffy heap, and you typically have to over-fill the portafilter, tap to settle and then lightly tamp.
If you dose too low, the water will flow very fast, and there will be little coffee oil released from the ground coffee particles - just a very thin, watery, bitter fluid lacking flavour and sweetness.
That is called under-extraction.
If you do it too high, you may choke the machine or burn the coffee as the hot water remains in contact with the ground coffee particles for too long.
That is called over-extraction.
The Great Leveller has an adjustable depth setting so that you can use a consistent technique when dialling in your grind and dose settings.
The most efficient way to arrive at the best espresso extraction is to remove as many variables as possible.
The Great Leveller helps remove tamping defects from the equation.
Tamping that is not level will cause chanelling - where the water under pressure finds the path of least resistance. Channeling is the #1 cause of tamping error and perhaps 50% of the problem for most baristas.
Channelling results in some of the coffee being under-extracted (or not extracted) and some over-extracted.
The tamping depth is also very important due to the design of espresso groups.
It is very difficult to apply the same pressure each time when tamping manually.
For those of you with espresso machines at home, the Great Leveller will rapidly elevate your skill levels almost instantly and help you focus solely on the grind and dose settings.
This product is the best investment you can make in achieving improved barista skills and will directly lead to a better cup of coffee for those with espresso machines.
The Great Leveller is only available in Black and is designed for the most common size of 58mm.
Please ensure you check your machine uses a 58mm portafilter before ordering.