A lot of you have probably allready noted that the coffee prices have been rising a lot during the last year. Only a week ago the C-market (based on future contracts on coffee where prices are set by speculation on supply and demand) went over USD 3 per lb (453 g) of green unexported coffee. This is a record high price and compared to last year where the price was more or less around USD 1,30 per lb, a great price for farmers around the world. But with high prices the farmers meet new challenges.

A lot of coffee was being stolen while I was in El Salvador and Honduras this year. Local pickers would raid farms at night and pick all the coffee on the trees and sell the coffee to middlemen. There were also an armed robbery at a cooperative in Santa Ana where 4 persons carrying guns stole a truck full of ready to export coffee. We are talking values at about USD 100.000,- being lost and for a farmer where his / her only income during the year is the one harvest of coffee, it can be devastating.
The solution to the problem is to hire security which will tare on the extra profit the farmers are making on the higher prices.

So as we can see, high prices can also be a headache for a farmer. But this is not what I initially wanted to write about.
One of the reasons for rising prices is not only a growing demand for coffee in countries like India and China (which traditionally are more tea drinkers) We are also seeing coffee producing countries like Brazil where there is a rapidly rising middle class who are consuming more coffee than before.
Add this to climatic changes that has lead to extremely poor growing conditions in Colombia three years in a row and also in several other producing countries such as Kenya where they have had a severe decrease in production for the last 2 years.

In fact during the 2009 /10 crop there was a terrible drought making a lot of the coffee mediocre in quality and the total volume of the crop in Kenya was low. You might have noticed that even though our Tekangu last year was good it was not the same quality as the 2008 / 09 crop.

In the recent crop in Kenya there was little rain during the flowering, which lead to an extremely low yield. However there was a lot of rain during the expansion / maturation stage of the coffee cherries producing extremely high quality.
The results of this was that during our visit in kenya in January there was not a lot of coffee to choose from but the quality was very high. Because of this the prices at the Kenyan Coffee Auction went sky high as there is a huge demand for what is considered some of the worlds best coffees.

To give you some numbers, in 2010 we payed USD 4,5 to 5 per lb. of unexported coffee, which was then a very high price compared to the Fair trade standard which was about USD 2,20 per lb.
This year we had to pay USD 7,50 per lb. This means the new crop coffees from Kenya that we will start selling this week will be a bit more pricey than last year. Regardless of this we have bought more Kenyan coffee this year as the quality was extremely high and it is our favourite coffees. We feel that if there is any coffee that is worth some extra money, it is the Kenyan coffees as they are extremely intense and characteristic in flavour. Besides, the price per cup is still not very high compared to the price of a beer or a bottle of water.

We have bought 3 lots this year. Two of the lots are from the Karogoto factory at the Tekangu Cooperative in Nyeri where we donated 8 steel drying beds in November.
The 2 lots we bought were actualy dried on the new tables and while visiting the cooperative again in January they expressed their gratitude once again and explained that it had made their production a lot easier this year.
The coffee is delicate and floral with a lot of rose hip flavour and crisp acidity.

The other lot is from the Ngaita facory at the Ndumberi cooperative in Kiambu. This is a big juicy coffee with a winey acidity and a lot of black currant and blackberry flavours.

Both the Tekangu and the Ndumberi coffees will be available from Friday the 20th of may and in addition we will soon start roasting one of them as espresso. We just need to do some trials first.

We hope you enjoy the coffees and also hope you will continue to support the Kenyan coffee farmers by continuing to purchase their coffees although the prices are higher this year.

We will start selling the Natural processed coffee from Sitio Canaa on Wednesday the 30th of March.
The coffee will only be available in April, so make sure you try it before it is too late.

We have already presented this coffee to some of the most respected cuppers we know and their reaction when we tell them it is a natural processed coffee has been the same every time: “But it’s so clean!”

Hopefully you will like it too.

To read more about the coffee go here.

We have change our espresso blend once again.

Here is the taste profile of the new blend:
Flavours of cherries, caramel and milk chocolate.
Low acidity. Creamy mouthfeel with intense sweetness.
Clean sweet finish.

The blend consists of:
73 % Sitio Nossa Senhora Aparecida, Sao Paulo, Brasil (Natural)
27 % Sumidouro, Bahia, Brasil (Washed)

Go here for more info on how to brew and enjoy the coffee.

Yesterday I spent a whole day with Jobneel at him and his father’s farms Nacimiento and Cielito Lindo in Santa Barbara in Honduras.

As I had already been to the farm last year, I asked Jobneel if he could show me how they pick and process their coffee at the farm.

Normally they would be in full harvest by now, but due to climatic changes, they had only done the first picking and were still waiting for the main harvest to happen in March / April.

(My exporter, Angel showing me Jobneels diferent lots)

Fortunately, Jobneel had already finished the first picking and separated his lots into different varietals, like I had suggested for him after last years visit. Early in the morning I had the chance to cup two different Bourbon lots next to a lot of Pacas and Catuai and Extreberto’s Catimor varietal (IHCAFE 90) and some of the coffees from the neighbouring farms. I insisted cupping the coffes blind as always and for the fourth year in a row I selected Extrebertos coffee to be the best. I actually thought his coffee was Catuai due to a misprint on the Cup of Excellence web page about his coffee, and therefore was very surprised to learn that the coffee was in fact a Catimor varietal. (Catimor is often regarded as a low quality varietal due to its genes from Robusta plants.)

After the cupping I went straight up 700 meters in an old Toyota pickup, to visit Jobneel and Extreberto at their farms. At he end of the road on top of the mountain at 1500 meters above the sea is the farmhouse of Nacimiento where Jobneel and his family stays during the harvest.

Upon arrival I could clearly see some changes from last year. Jobneel had spent a lot of the money he earned last year on a new wet mill with 2 fermentation tanks and a washing channel, water reservoir, etc. Compared to the old wooden tanks and tiny depulping machine it was a huge improvement. The mill was just finished and Jobneel had only used it twice before I came, so I had to teach him a few tricks I learned in Kenya in November on how to properly wash coffee to remove floaters, etc. (I will post a video of his processing technique later)

I also got a 2 hour tour of the farm where we looked at all the different varietals he is growing (40 year old Bourbon and old and new Catuai, Pacas and Catimor ) I convinced him not to remove the old trees, but rather prune them so that they get more healthy. Old trees have proved a few times to produce better quality due to stronger roots and less fruit on the tree.

Walking, or should I say climbing around the farm is breathtaking, both because of the high altitude and extremely steep hills but also in terms of the scenery. The day was very cool and  misty and I could only in brief moments catch the beautiful view of the lake and surrounding mountains.

In one of the steepest hills (probably 55 degrees) I met Extreberto, Jobneels father. Extreberto is 73 years old but still working every day. As a matter of fact he was picking coffee so that I could see how they process the cherries later in the afternoon.

One of the things I noticed when they were picking was that a lot of the cherries had cracked due to a lot of rain and sun. I had earlier on my trip learned that this may be a reason for phenolic defect in the coffee (Phenol tastes medicinal and mould and is a huge problem as one bean will affect the taste of a whole pot of coffee.)

I also noticed that a lot of the pickers were picking a lot of these cherries and green unripe cherries among the ripe cherries. I explained to Jobneel that in Kenya all the farmers remove the green and bad cherries from  the ripe cherries before they are processed, so I suggested for Jobneel to start doing the same. Fortunately he is very commited to growing quality so he decided to start immediately. That meant we had to get on our knees and remove all the bad fruit from the good coffee before processing.

Angel (my exporter and partner of Jobneel) decided to make an experiment to see if the cracked fruit would taste like phenol, so we separated that from all the other cherries to process and taste to see if we are right.

After a long day with many discussions, we concluded that Jobneel is going to do the following this harvest:

• Separating all varietals in to separate lots so we can taste the difference and choose the best ones and pay according to quality.
• Remove all unripe, black and cracked coffee cherries from the ripe ones before processing.
• Pay the pickers a premium for being more selective and thourough during picking.
• Test the Kenyan washing technique to remove floaters and pulp from the parchment.
• Plan to build a solar dryer for the wet parchment coffee for next years harvest.

After a lovely home made dinner before the end of my visit, Jobneel politely took me aside to ask me if we were willing to pay a bit more for his coffee this year as he had made a lot of investments and I had also suggested a lot of new techniques for him to implement that would add more costs to his production. He also wanted to know if we will buy his coffee in the future and how much coffee we need from him this year. He even asked if it was ok with me if he participated in the Cup of Excellence.

My reply was of course, Yes! Please participate in the COE. Yes, we will continue to buy his coffee as long as he is producing high quality and Yes we will pay according to our agreement from last year which was between USD 4 to 6 per lb of coffee depending on the quality.

All in all I am just extremely happy, Inspired and greatful to see that Jobneel and Extreberto are still committed to do the extra work to produce quality, that they invest in their farm for the future and that they are willing to improve and experiment to develop the quality of their coffee. This is not normal to see this year when the farmers are getting payed USD 3 – 4 per lb even for the worst qualities due to the record high New York C -market prices.

I am really looking forward to taste the coffees they are about to pick, and most likely they will be in Norway in August.

Thumbs up!

After the fantastic success of the last event we’ve decided to once again help host an evening of totally awesome espresso blends and totally awesome baristas together with the crew at Solberg & Hansen!
Only seconds after announcing the event on twitter the first Australian roastery signed up to send some of their awesome coffee, and within minutes one by one other roasters eagerly offered their coffees for us to taste!

A truly amazing sign of generosity and twitter presence!

Now we need our totally awesome Norwegian baristas (5) and judges.

The idea explained breifly:
1 barista makes shots of 1 espresso blend from 1 Australian roastery
x 5

50 or so “judges” taste the shots and pick their favorite barista/roastery (blend) combo. We then count the scores and pick a winner. All in a good spirit. Unpretentious, good fun and inspiring!

Please send a mail to one of the e-mail adresses on the picture above or comment on this post to sign up.

Date: Thursday 10th of March
Time: 6pm
Place: Solberg & Hansen @ Enebakkveien 125

The roasters:
http://www.axilcoffee.com.au/

http://www.marketlane.com.au/

http://www.cupcoffee.com.au/

http://www.airoasters.com/

http://www.sevenseeds.com.au/

No site for Proud Mary… but this is good…
http://espressomelbourne.com/cafes-that-matter/collingwood/proud-mary/

We are proud to announce that for the 2nd year in a row we are selling the wonderful coffee from Fazenda Santa Barbara in Brazil produced by Mr. Eulino José De Novais, pictured below.

Go here for more info and you can buy from the webshop here.

We have started roasting the freshly arrived Brazilian coffee from Sitio Canaa, and changed our espresso blend.

The new blend consists of:
40 % Las Palmas, El Salvador COE (Washed)
60 % Sitio Nossa Senhora Aparecida, Brazil (Natural)

Here is the taste profile of our new blend:
Aromas of red berry, marzipan and caramel.
Balanced berrry-like acidity.
Creamy mouthfeel and intense sweetness.
Flavours of berries and milk chocolate.
A long sweet aftertaste with notes of toasted almonds and dried fruit

We have decided to move our public cuppings from Friday afternoons to Saturdays at 12 midday.

Hopefully, those of you who missed out on being able to cup with us on the Friday, due to work, will be able to join on Saturdays and taste a selection of coffees.

If you would like to join, please email us or use the sign up list on the bar. There is a limit of 6 spaces and it is free!

A Crafty Christmas from Brendan Inkognito on Vimeo.

This christmas we will be offering some rarities on sale.

1. TW KeepCup with a coffee of choice for Kr. 95,-
The KeepCup is made of plastic and is reuseable. Very handy for the thirsty traveller in the car or on a tram ride. It is also available on the Webshop.

2. Cascara. Kr. 59,- per 150g
We have 25 bags of dried coffee pulp, produced by our friend Ms. Aida Battle at her farm Kilimanjaro in El Salvador.
The Cascara is brewed and drunk like a fruit tea and it contains a bit more caffeine than normal coffee. It tastes a lot like rose hips, tobacco and raisins and is a delicious drink in the cold Norwegian winter day. Cascara will only be for sale in our store.

3. The Norwegian version of the book “Kaffe med Tim Wendelboe” will be on sale for Kr. 199,- in our store and on our web-shop.

4. Hacienda La Esmeralda. Kr. 215,- per 250g
Many of you remember this fantastic coffee from Panama. Well we saved 6 kilos for christmas, so we will roast the last batch on tuesday the 21st of December. This coffee will only be for sale in our store.

5. TW Christmas Espresso
Like last year we have decided to make a limited edition Christmas Espresso Blend.
We will only be selling 500 kg of the blend starting from Tuesday the 30th of November, it is also now available on our Webshop for Norwegian customers.

The blend consists of:
75% Tekangu, Kenya
25% Primavera, Brazil

Flavour profile:
Intense aromas of berry and marzipan.
Lively acidity, intense flavours of black currants and rose hips.
Short finish with hints of milk chocolate and marzipan.