Quality Coffee

When we talk about quality coffee what exactly does that mean?  It means care and attention throughout every step of the process until it reaches the consumers hand.  One err in any of the steps will produce a poor quality cup of coffee.  Here’s how we ensure quality at Desert Sun Coffee Roasters:

The first step in great coffee starts all the way back to the plant from which it came.  The Coffee Plant will be ready when it has ripe cherries on it.  All of our coffee is hand picked (as opposed to machine picked) to ensure that only the ripe cherries get selected for use.  If un-ripe cherries get picked, they will impart off-flavors in the coffee.  Imagine eating an un-ripe strawberry.  Yuck.  Since coffee is a large source of income for the farmers that we work with, they take a lot of care in picking only the ripe cherries from the coffee plant, and how they dry and handle the coffee before taking it to the coop.  At the coop, they will test the farmers’ coffee for moisture levels and if it’s too moist, reject their coffee.  The coop then sorts the coffee by size for consistency.  They also sort out green coffee for defects.  The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has a list of standards and protocols which you can find here to learn more.  In order for coffee to be considered specialty grade, it cannot have any primary defects, a maximum of 5 secondary defects, 0 quakers and a cup evaluation of at least 80 points (This rules out mainstream supermarket coffee).  You can see the specifications here or you can click here to read about all the standards and protocols for specialty grade coffee.  After the coffee has been rigorously sorted through, the farmer coop is ready to send samples to our importing coop.

Our importing cooperative, Cooperative Coffees, will receive a pre-ship sample for our evaluation.  This sample is graded, sample roasted, tested for defects and scored by our on staff cupper/evaluator.  They will then determine if the sample is to be accepted or rejected.  If accepted, the coffee is shipped to our warehouse where it will again undergo a random sampling.  From here we will once again decide whether to accept or reject the sample.  Once accepted the coffee will then be available for us to purchase from the coop.  We also manage a website called Fair Trade Proof that contains every document for the coffee from farmer to roaster.

Now that the coffee has been through several quality steps, when Desert Sun orders our green beans we can be assured that we are receiving the highest level quality of green bean.  But that’s not the end of the quality process.  Like I said before, quality must be assured throughout the entire process of the bean.  When Desert Sun receives green coffee, the coffee is put into a humidity controlled room to best preserve the bean.  Since we are a certified organic processing facility, this also means the beans are not exposed to any sort of chemicals.  We begin our quality steps by sample roasting to profile the flavors of the bean.  Sample roasting is our small roaster that we can roast small batches of coffee several different ways to see what flavor profiles each bean is capable of.  After determining the best profile for each bean we will then re-create that roast in our large roaster.  Every bean is roasted and cupped, roasted and cupped, again and again for quality assurance.  Coffee cupping is a professional technique for evaluating the characteristics of coffee.  The best of the best coffees are what we offer for our Single Origin line up; even our best single origins go into our blends.

Smelling the coffee while cupping.

Lastly, quality is also about freshness.  At Desert Sun we roast to order, meaning that your coffee is fresh when you order it.  Once roasted, the coffee is put directly into airtight bags with gas valve.  This is because coffee, once roasted, degrades with exposure to air.  Airtight bags ensure that the bean is not exposed and stays fresh while allowing the gases from the beans to escape.  We wouldn’t want your coffee bag to explode!

Now we have a quality product.  Every step in the chain has carefully been attended to and results in the highest quality specialty coffee.  Now preparation is of the utmost importance.  If coffee is incorrectly prepared, then a poor quality product will still result.  The SCAA has a set of standards for quality preparation.  It offers a Golden Cup Award to those who have proven their ability to brew coffee to defined standards of quality.  Desert Sun has received a Golden Cup Award for our commitment to quality and proven ability to brew coffee according to the standards prescribed by the SCAA.

What is quality coffee?  Quality coffee is care and attention to the product from farmer to cup.  One missed step along the way can result in loss of quality.  At Desert Sun we are passionate about quality and through the networks of small farmers and our importing cooperative we ensure that our coffee gets the attention it deserves, every step of the way.

~ZacharyRay~

Believing in Coffee

As a first generation college graduate I often get asked, “What are you doing for work?”.  When I tell people that I work in coffee, they look puzzled by my choice.  I believe people see coffee just as a popular beverage and a commodity.  They don’t understand the magnitude at which coffee influences the world.  Coffee is the second most valuable traded commodity, behind oil and above steel, and contains a rich story of culture and politics.  The story of coffee can be exploitive or empowering and beautiful.  I work in coffee because I know that its implications are far reaching and it can be a great driver of social and economic change.

USFT

I was introduced to the world of coffee in February of 2006.  I attended the third annual United Students for Fair Trade (USFT) Convergence inDenver,Colorado.  USFT is a national student movement that promotes fair trade principles, products and policies.  At the convergence students, like myself, met Fair Trade farmers, heard their stories, learned about fair trade’s impact and were given the tools and support to go back to their campuses and share with others.  While there, I had a conversation with a farmer who told me that after selling only 25% of his product fair trade he was able to provide enough income for his family so his children could return to school.  He looked into my eyes and said, “You have a unique opportunity to share with others what I have shared with you.  It is so easy for you as a consumer to direct your purchasing power towards socially responsible products which are changing the lives of people like myself.”  I felt empowered by all that was happening.  I was surrounded by hundreds of students across the country and dozens of farmers from around the world all gathered to discuss the magnitude of coffee in the world and how it can be used as a vehicle for social justice.  Hearing story after story about the ways in which fair trade had changed people’s lives, I broke down crying because I knew that I was now part of a movement to do something that was bigger than myself and there was no turning back.  I learned how EASY it can be to shift my economic consumer power, towards goods that make a huge difference in the lives of people who grow the products I use regularly; like coffee.  I knew the importance of voting with your dollars and I wanted to tell the world.

CHANGE initiative (that's me all the way to the left)

I returned to Durango inspired and motivated to do my part.  The first thing I did was get fair trade coffee brought into the campus.  I then became an Oxfam America CHANGE leader and spent the next 3 years traveling the country going to conferences and teaching about Fair Trade and other social justice issues.  After graduation I applied to work at Desert Sun Coffee Roasters.  At the time, I didn’t know anything about roasting coffee, but I knew the ins and outs of Fair Trade.  Upon learning about how Desert Sun does Fair Trade I was again baffled and inspired by the movement I was in.  Once more I found myself feeling lucky to be doing work that I truly believe in; work that has a positive impact on the lives of others.

How Desert Sun does Fair Trade

I don’t consider myself an activist as much as an advocate for the things that I believe in.  I do think that in some small capacity, I have the ability to make a difference in the lives of other people by the actions that I make, however small that may be.  Even if it’s just using coffee as a vehicle for social justice, I remain inspired because I feel like I’ve done something.

~ZacharyRay~

Michael Phillips Talks Coffee in Korea

What is Specialty Coffee? 2010 World Barista Champion, Michael Phillips talks about what specialty coffee means today. This is a very approachable talk about the changes in today’s specialty coffee market.

The Life Cycle of Coffee

As much as we want coffee plants to thrive in our small town of Durango, CO, their chemical structure simply won’t allow them to live through the snowy winter climate. We have a hard enough time keeping the three potted coffee plants inside our shop alive and well.

The coffee plant is a part of the genus Coffea and the Rubiaceae family. There are more than twenty species within the genus Coffea; however, there are only two species, Coffea Arabica and Coffea canephora (Robusta), that produce enough beans to fuel the world. As it stands, the best regions for growing coffee exist in two places, subtropical regions, at high altitudes and equatorial regions at altitudes of 3600-6300 feet.  The Arabica bean is typically grown at heights between 1500ft and 6000ft and requires better soils than the Robusta to germinate. Check out Zach’s post on the Coffee Plant to better undestand the differences between the Arabica and Robusta Plants. The Arabica bean is considered tastier and higher quality than the Robusta, but its elevation requirements and fragility to disease make it more difficult to grow. Farmers who embark upon the journey of growing Arabica beans are rewarded with higher prices for their crops.

It is possible to propagate coffee plants from cuttings, but most commercial farmers choose to start new trees from seeds picked from the hardiest plants. With ideal conditions, it takes 5 to 8 weeks for seedlings to make their way to the surface of the soil. Within 9 to 18 months the plants will be around a foot tall, but it will take another five to six years for the coffee seed to grow to full maturity, producing its first full crop of berries.

                                      photo from Sweetmaria’s.com

Harvest time varies according to geographic zone, but generally, north of the Equator, harvest takes place between September and March, and south of the equator between April and May. What we call a coffee bean is actually the seeds of a cherry-like fruit. Each year coffee is harvested during the dry season when the coffee cherries are bright red, glossy, and firm. The skin of a coffee cherry is called the epicarp and is thick and bitter. However, the fruit beneath it is intensely sweet and has the texture of a grape.

The beans themselves are covered by a parchment-like envelope called the endocarp. This protects the two, bluish-green coffee beans, which are covered by yet another membrane, called the integument or silver skin.

 The next step in the life cycle of a coffee bean is processing, which means converting the raw fruit of the plant into actual coffee. Both the pulp and the parchment need to be removed before the coffee can be roasted. The two methods of processing include wet and dry.

During wet processing the cherries are sorted by immersion in water. Bad or unripe fruit will float and the ripe fruit will sink. Dry processing, also known as unwashed, is the oldest method of processing coffee. The cherry is cleaned and then placed in the sun to dry on tables or in thin layers on patios. It may take up to four weeks before the cherries are dried to the optimum moisture content. On larger plantations, machine-drying is sometimes used to speed up the process after the coffee has been pre-dried in the sun for a few days.

The drying operation is the most important stage of the process, since it affects the final quality of the green coffee. A coffee that has been over dried will become brittle and produce too many broken beans during hulling (broken beans are considered defective beans). Coffee that has not been dried sufficiently will be too moist and prone to rapid deterioration caused by the attack of fungi and bacteria. For more information on processing coffee check out Zach’s post on the Journey of the Coffee Bean.

After all of the processing, drying, and sorting has taken place the coffee beans are finally ready for export. It is this green bean that Desert Sun receives from growing countries and then roasts here at the shop. Depending on the quality of the green bean, we’ll decide how to roast it to get the best flavors. Check out these awesome articles that our head roaster wrote about the art of roasting coffee!

Thanks for reading.

-Ashlee Robison

Experiencing Coffee

The first week I began working at Desert Sun I was introduced to cupping, the process used by professionals to evaluate and compare the characteristics and quality of coffee. I was intimidated by the language and struggled to find the right words to describe what I tasted in each. I decided I might not be the only one who had questions and started to investigate the different ways humans experience coffee. Since that first cupping I’ve delved into the coffee world headfirst so I can understand and evaluate the quality of the coffee we drink and sell. Although I’m no seasoned industry professional, I think this post will help to break down the mystery of good coffee and give you the framework we look for in a great cup.

The five primary characteristics used to evaluate coffee; aroma, acidity, body, flavor, and finish are evaluated independently, but it’s important to understand that all five of these features work in tandem to create a truly great coffee.

Aroma is the Godfather of the senses because it requires more than 1,000 receptors in the brain to function, whereas hearing has two receptors and vision has three. It’s estimated that 80% of the “flavor” of coffee is actually aroma. If you think back to the last time you caught a cold and how hard it was to taste the food put in front of you this makes sense.  Without smell, we’re lost. Aroma is attached directly to the limbic system, part of the brain that controls emotion, mood, and pain, among others. On the SCAA ( Specialty Coffee Association of America) taste chart, aroma is first broken down into three categories: enzymatic (earthy), sugary, and dry. It’s helpful to focus on these three first before moving onto the next set of subcategories.

Acidity refers to the liveliness in the cup. The verve, the energy. Coffees are celebrated within the competition circuit for having vibrant, piquant, bright, or refreshing acidity. There’s something valuable in having acidity in coffee, and it’s commonly associated with higher quality Arabica beans grown between 2,000 and 7,000 feet above sea level. They’re often sweeter and more flavorful than some of the beans grown at lower elevations so they’re a popular choice for gourmet coffee shops and roasters.

Body refers to the way the coffee feels in your mouth, its heaviness. It’s the tactile impression of weight and texture when you drink the coffee. Body can be thin, light, full, syrupy, or rich. A common method to discern the body of a cup is to add an equal amount of milk to two different types of coffee. The one with the heavier body will retain more of its flavor when diluted.

Flavor comprises two definitions in the coffee world, which sometimes leads to confusion. Flavor refers to the specific taste of the coffee itself, caramel, spice, nuts, chocolate, and also refers to the total impression of aroma, acidity and body combined. If the total experience of drinking the cup of coffee you’re evaluating is pleasant and strong the coffee is described as flavorful, rich, complex, or balanced and can be ranked on a scale.

Finally there’s the finish of the coffee. How long does the flavor stay in your mouth? Is it strong? Does it taste different than during the act of drinking? Aftertaste can be described as strong, light, mild, or bold.

Of course, there’s the act of drinking itself. Your mouth has taste buds, and different parts of your mouth have greater sensitivities to salt, sweet, sour, bitter, and savory.

The best way to improve your tasting and sensory experience when drinking coffee is to actually think about what you’re putting in front of you. We’re often running about town, talking on the phone, or writing correspondence along with drinking our daily coffee. The easiest way to improve your skills is to slow down and actually think about the drink in front of you.

Most of all trust your senses. Your first impression of how something tastes is often correct.

-By: Ashlee Robison

References:
Roast Magazine- May/June 2007
Roast Magazine-July/August 2010
Hermitudinous Blog- http://hermitudinous.com/
Coffee Universe- http://coffeeuniverse.com/university_taste.html
“How to Properly Taste Coffee”- Passionforcoffee.com

Roasting Coffee Part 2: Technical Aspects

Roasting coffee!  Is it art or science?  Some say both, but a basic understanding of the science of roasting is critical if one is to make an art of it.  Fundamentally, heat application is at the heart of roasting coffee.  How and when to do this, are the art and science of roasting coffee.

At Desert Sun we have a drum roaster.  The green coffee beans drop into a large rotating metal drum, which has heat applied on the outside.  Desert Sun’s roaster has an on board computer which allows us to control the amount of heat applied and the amount of airflow inside the drum.  The computer also tracks the temperature and time that beans have been in the roaster, creating a temperature vs time “curve” that defines a specific roast.  For more about roast level go back and read Roasting Coffee Part 1: Roast Level.

Roast Milestones

Green beans will get dropped into the roaster at a specific temperature.  For Desert Sun this is usually between 375 and 400 degrees F.  Since the beans are at room temperature, the temperature inside the drum will drop dramatically at first until it reaches a “turn around” point where the temperature begins to rise again.  As the temperature rises, the beans will change in color and smell.  When the internal bean temperature rises to 212 degrees F., water inside the beans starts evaporating.  Around 370 – 380 degrees F. this vapor is released and what is called “first crack” occurs.  First crack is the first audible reaction from the roast process; it sort of sounds like popcorn cracking in the roaster.  From this point the beans start turning from dark yellow to light brown to a darker brown color.  As this happens, the pressure inside the coffee bean will increase, due to the forces of carbon dioxide gases, and the bean expands in size.

From first crack until second crack, coffee beans will develop their specific aromas and flavors.  Once first crack occurs, how and when heat is applied will determine how the flavors develop in the coffee bean.  For example if I were to do two roasts of the same bean with the same finish temperature, I could get two results by changing the time spent in the roaster.  If I let the first batch roast for 3 minutes after first crack and the second roast for 5 minutes after first crack, both ending at the same finish temperature, they would develop different flavors.  Every bean has different tolerances for heat application and flavor development.  Trying multiple ways to roast the same bean will reveal different flavors.  Which one is right?  It’s up to you.  There is no right or wrong answer and that is the art of roasting coffee.

As you try different ways to roast the same bean, keep in mind “How did nature intend this bean to taste?”  This way you’re searching for the maximum potential of the bean.  How much heat can these beans take without losing acidity?  How little heat can these beans take so that they develop fully?  This may take many attempts at roasting the same bean different ways; but that’s the art of roasting.  Finding the sweet spot where not too little nor too much heat was applied.   This process is what we consider the art and passion of creating masterful coffees.

Most importantly though, is taking both roasts and cupping them for quality to determine which exhibits the best taste!  Cupping is a professional technique for evaluating the coffee’s fragrance, aroma, taste, body and aftertaste.  By trying different roast profiles and cupping them for quality, we custom develop the coffee flavor profiles that one experiences when drinking a cup of Desert Sun Coffee.  Once we find that perfect way to roast an individual coffee, we can easily recreate that roast because we keep detailed records of how it was done.  I’ll talk about cupping in the next issue.  As always, thanks for reading and feel free to email with any questions.

~ZacharyRay~

Roasting Coffee Part 1: Roast Level

I’d like to just jump right in to talking about roasting coffee.  If you’d like a primer on what happens before the roast process, what we actually receive as a roastery, or what coffee is, go back and read about The Coffee Plant, and The Journey of the Coffee Bean.

Let’s start with the basics: roast level.  Desert Sun is a roastery, and hence, we roast coffee.  We receive green coffee beans and apply heat to them in our Diedrich coffee roaster.  When enough heat has been applied, the beans will come out, roasted and ready for the drinking.  How much time the beans spend in the roaster, as well as, to what temperature, determines a specific roast level.  Coffee can come as a light roast or a dark roast or anywhere in between.  Light roast and dark roast refer to the temperature which a coffee was roasted to.  For example, at Desert Sun, our light roast coffees finish around 425 degrees and our darkest roast at 455 degrees.  It’s pretty amazing that 30 degrees and a few minutes in the roaster can make such a big difference for the coffee’s taste.

I sometimes hear the question: Which is better?  Well, it really comes down to preference.  Sort of like if you prefer coke over sprite or vice versa.  Do you like a light roast or a dark roast?  Learning about coffee roasts can help you know how to make choices that you will enjoy.  The more appropriate question here is what does each have to offer?

Light roasts tend to maintain more acidity in the cup.  According to The Coffee Cuppers Handbook, acidity “refers to a primary taste sensation related to the presence of sweet-tasting compounds.  Created as acids in the coffee combine with sugars to increase the brew’s overall sweetness.”  They tend to not have as much body.  Light roasts are enjoyed for their ability to allow the flavor of the bean to come through clearly and reveal specific nuances that are distinctive of a country’s origin; such as apricot or berries.

Dark roasts are known for their bold flavor and body.  Their higher roast temperature will mellow out the bright flavors that a light roast offers and can reveal dark chocolate notes and creamy mouthfeel.  I would say that dark roasts offer a taste that people can consider “comfortable”.  The roasty boldness of a dark roast is familiar to many coffee drinkers, whereas, a light roast can be exotically fruity.

I haven’t talked about medium roasts yet but sometimes they are the happy middle ground that someone is looking for.  They can reveal many of the characteristics of origin while still offering a bold and sweet cup with a lot of depth.

My preference is a light to medium roast.  I’ll drink a light roast Ethiopia if I’m in the mood for a sweet cup that offers hints of berries, or a slightly darker, yet still light, Colombia for cheery notes combined with some dark chocolate roastiness.  Maybe even an earthy medium roast in the afternoon from Sumatra.  What can I say?  I’m a fan of the nuances that exist from the soil and weather from where the beans were grown.  But this is just my preference and I encourage you to openly try different types and chose for yourself.  Even if you like your coffee with cream and sugar, I’d encourage you to take a sip of your coffee black, before you add them, and notice why it is that you like the type of roast you have chosen and what flavors and tastes it has to offer.

I’d like to talk more about roasting so there will be another part to this where I’ll get into more technical details of what happens in the roast process.  Thanks for reading.

~ZacharyRay~

Honduras Trip Report

I just got back from an exciting trip in Honduras as a delegate with Cooperative Coffees, Desert Sun’s green coffee importing cooperative.  Coop Coffees is a cooperative of 23 roasteries, and this year we add Honduras to our list of producer partners.

On the trip we visited several cooperatives throughout the country.  We were pleased to see that several coops had their own internal cupping lab for coffee quality.  Honduras also has an exceptionally high productivity rate per acre.  We were fortunate to arrive during the peak harvest season and got to see ripe cherries as well as the coops operating at full capacity.

Dense cluster of coffee cherries

While we visited several farmer coops, the one which will get coffee from is called Coprocael.  This coop is just over 10 years old and is amazingly organized.  The man who would show us around is named Nelson.

Nelson next to drying beds

He is a farmer, organic enthusiast and president of the coop.  Nelson is helping to get all of the farmers in the region organized and teach them how organics work.  The region is called “La Encarnacion” and it is in a beautiful valley near Santa Rosa de Copán.  Spread throughout the region is where each farm/house grows coffee.  Each house has a patio so that when they pick the coffee cherry, they have a place to let it dry after they de-pulp it.  If an individual household does not have a de-pulper, they will take the fresh cherries to the coop for processing.  Because the coop is receiving coffee from many farmers in the region, they also collect the pulp waste and use it for organic compost.

Nelson, being a big advocate for organic farming, took us to where the coop processes its organic matter.  This is the left-over pulp from the cherry which they use for organic soil inputs rather than chemical fertilizers.  The coop uses worms to help the organic matter break down quicker.  As a compost geek, they had an amazing set up.

Organic Compost

After we toured the farms, and got to see how the coop operates, we all went to a farmers house to have a barbeque.  It was really neat to see everyone sitting around laughing and sharing food.  One farmer looked at me and said, “We’re honored to meet you guys.  We’ve never met anyone who sells our coffee before.”  It amazed me to hear that.  These guys have been producing and selling coffee for years and this is the first time they have met a roaster/seller of their coffee.  I’m looking forward to the future development of this relationship as well as the arrival of their coffee.

~ZacharyRay~

The World’s Simplest Idea

Every single organization on the planet knows what they do and some know how they do it. But not every organization knows why they do what they do. We know that what we do is roast coffee. So what?

I stumbled upon a TED video with Simon Sinek who talks about why some organizations continue to innovate, inspire, and challenge the status quo while others do not.  He created a simple model, called the golden circle, that codifies what makes the most inspiring people and organizations successful and influential. It seems like the world’s simplest idea but think about it.

How do you explain how some coffee shops continue to lead and inspire while others do not? Everyone of them has access to the same coffee, the same people and the same espresso machines. Yet there are a handful of small, obscure coffee shops that are more expensive, hard to find, and highly successful. They don’t have the same popular drink menu items found at the other coffee shops yet they continue to innovate, grow and lead the specialty coffee industry.  Just flip through an issue of Barista Magazine to see who I’m talking about.

Very few organizations actually know why they do what they do. As a result most organizations, including coffee shops, operate from the outside of this circle in. From the clearest thing, like “we make coffee”, to the fuzziest thing which is “why we make coffee”. But inspired companies, like Apple for example, stand for a belief or purpose. For Apple Computers it’s a belief in challenging the status quo, thinking differently. How they challenge the status quo is by making computers beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. They just so happen to make computers but it’s not their purpose for existence. Inspired organizations communicate from the inside (golden circle) out. From the “Why” to the “What”. Most organizations, however, operate just the opposite and are uninspiring.

So whether you’re a business owner or a barista- What do you believe in? Is your purpose consistent with that of the organization?

Here is Simon Sinek’s TED talk about inspired organizations.

How Great Leaders Inspire Action

www.desertsuncoffee.com

Keep Fair Trade Real

For more than sixty years, hundreds of organizations allied with conscious consumers across the United States and the world have actively supported a different approach to trade based on dialogue, transparency and respect, in order to create greater equity in the international economic system. We call it Fair Trade.

One organization, TransFair USA, is currently in the process of changing its name to “Fair Trade USA” and applied for the name to be trademarked. Such an umbrella phrase attempts to legally claim, as an exclusive brand, a term that encompasses this broad movement far beyond its specific work.

As consumers and organiziations dedicated to building equitable markets for disadvantaged farmers and artisans through Fair Trade, we believe that the term should be celebrated as a movement, not a brand claimed by any one organization.

Take Action! It is misguided for TransFair USA to attempt to claim jurisdiction over Fair Trade in the United States by changing their name to “Fair Trade USA.” To help celebrate Fair Trade as a movement of many parts, please sign the petition below and urge TransFair to keep the name they have established.

http://organicconsumers.org/transfairusa/

Or find out more info here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/transfairpr1-10-10.pdf
http://organicconsumers.org/bodycare/stop-transfair.cfm

At Desert Sun we believe that fair trade is about relationships.  That’s why only support small scale producers that are democratically organized.  We commit to travel to origin to get to know our farmers and their needs.  This week I will be traveling to Honduras to meet some growers so stayed tuned for info about that trip.

Fair Trade is not a thing we do, it’s ALL we do!  All of our coffee is 100% certified organic and fair trade.

Next time you purchase a fair trade product ask the question “Is the company selling fair trade the brand or are they involved in fair trade and relationship building?”

~ZacharyRay~