I have just spent a week in Colombia together with Don Elias at Finca Tamana. He is now starting his main harvest, and in a couple of weeks we will be starting to sell the recently arrived November 2012 harvest in our store.

My reason for visiting was to follow up on all the projects we have started at Finca Tamana. You can view a short summary of all the work here, or watch my lecture from the 2102 Nordic barista cup. I have also been blogging a lot from the farm in the past year.

Don Elias has been working really hard in order to improve the farm since November. In fact, he was so determined to finish building new dryers, that he could not afford to fertilize his coffee plants 3 times like he wanted to. Although he got some funds from our 5 year anniversary to build more infrastructure on the farm, he had spent a bit too much on the infrastructure and therefore could only fertilize the coffee fields 2 times for this harvest. Regardless of this,  the shrubs looked really healthy and were producing well, so I am not concerned about this.

When I first came to the farm, I was met by the sight of a new huge cement patio on which Elias had set up sorting tables for the prickers to sort the coffee cherries before it is delivered for processing. In the past, the pickers have been sitting on a dirty ground sorting the cherries, which is  very bad both in terms of ergonomics and also because the cherries gets a bit dirty before processing.

With the new sorting tables, the workers are standing up sorting the cherries, and the tables have a hole in one corner in order to make it easier and more efficient to empty the cherries in to buckets and carry them to the receiving tank.

A new drying patio (bamboo structure covered with a surface of nylon) was also under construction. This will be covered with a plastic roof constructed so that it lets the hot and humid air out and ensures good air circulation. It will also be shaded  with a nylon net, in order to prevent the coffee from over heating. After some experiments the past year, Don Elias and I agreed that for the future he will shift to building tradidional raised beds as they have better air circulation and is more ergonomical for the workers. These will of course be placed under shade.

Elias had finally got hold of a high pressure washer too. (one that worked with his variable water pressure)  This was used to clean the wet mill, de-pulping machine, the sorting tables, buckets, patios and pretty much everything on the farm that could be cleaned with water. The farm now looks cleaner than ever.

The food was also better this time as Don Elias’ wife, Bella (right in picture below), had returned to the farm after being seriously ill for some months. I was very happy to see her in good form again, and Don Elias seemed a little less stressed during my visit. Maybe because not only is Bella cooking great food, she also takes care of the accounting among a lot of other tasks on the farm.

After spending a day at the farm discussing with Don Elias how we could improve the process even further, we sat down and wrote a plan for the rest of the week in order to make sure we got to execute all the ideas we had in mind.

First day we simplified the wet process a bit. Although it is just a detail, we decided to give the de-mucilaged parchment coffee a rinse with clean water before the fermentation.  The reason being to slow down the fermentation process slightly to prevent over fermentation on hot days and to clean off dirt from the actual cherry as they are quite dirty when they are being de-pulped.

The pickers had also implemented a flotation step of the cherries prior to sorting, to make the job a bit easier as a lot of the over ripe cherries float. This was done in a wheelbarrow, but Don Elias will get a better solution for this for the next harvest. This not only makes it easier to sort the cherries, but it also cleans the cherries a bit before de-pulping.

The result of our improved process at Finca Tamana is not only showing results in the cup, but also visually it makes a big difference. Just look at the picture below. The coffee to the left is processed by using the traditional dry fermentation and drying for 6 to 9 days in the sun like most farmers in Huila are doing. The coffee in the middle is produced by our technique, which implements more rinsing and a post fermentation and washing soak. (the parchment is soaked in clean water for 20 hours after washing) Then the coffee is dried carefully in the shade.
The coffee to the right is the pasillas, meaning the overripe and half ripe cherries that are removed from the middle coffee before processing and then being processed separately. This coffee is sold for a low price for local consumption in Colombia and is not suited for export.

We also tried to improve the drying process. In November, Don Elias was drying his coffee for up to 60 days as the climate in the area is humid and shifting between rain and sun every day. In order to try to speed it up, we moved the african beds he made last year, out from the shade and in in to the sun. The idea is to replicate the skin drying step they use in Kenya. The parchment is dried for the first day on these beds in the sun in order to get rid of the excess water and moisture from the washing process. This makes the risk of mould and fungus formation on the coffee a lot lower. The coffee needs to be stirred every 15 to 30 minutes the whole day. This seemed to work well on sunny days, but I am more worried about the rainy days. Therefore Don Elias will build some plastic cover in order to protect the coffee from rain yet still ensure good airflow.

After the first day of drying, the coffee is moved in to the shade where it is dried slowly for up to 30 to 40 days until the moisture content reaches 10-12%. In order to prevent the coffee from gaining moisture during the humid nights we are now piling up the coffee and covering it before it gets dark.

The coffee also needs to be stirred continuously throughout the whole drying process in order to ensure even drying. Don Elias hired one of the workers to do this all day, and this will of course add an extra cost to the production.

In addition, Don Elias is paying the pickers a much better salary than the average in the area. Also since the coffee is dried for more than 20 to 30 days longer than what is normal, he is struggling with his cash flow in order to finance the workers.
I therefore offered to pre-finance the coffee for him so that he does not have to worry about how to get money to pay his workers. We also discussed the price for the coffee and I promised that I will make sure the extra costs are covered in the final price of the coffee. Although our USD 4 per lb (453g) FOB price seems like a great price for coffee in Colombia, it is not necessarily a fantastic price for Don Elias, as the way he produces his coffee now is a lot more expensive than what is normal in Colombia. I have therefore decided we need to review the price with him and make sure we pay a price that is more sustainable. In other words, since we demand better quality, we better pay for it as well.

The last thing we did before I left the farm was to plant 4 new varieties. Hopefully some of them will taste great and be more resistant to leaf rust than the traditional Caturra variety he is growing. Since leaf rust is a huge problem in Colombia and Central-America, Don Elias planted some Castillo variety on the farm, 3 years ago. The Castillo will have it’s first production this harvest and I can’t wait to taste it as I have had a lot of good experience cupping this new variety in the past. The Castillo is an improved development of Variedad de Colombia which Don Elias is already growing with great results at Finca Tamana.

On the last afternoon, Don Elias threw a surprise birthday party for me. He had hired some mariachis from La Plata which were truly awesome. In the late afternoon we had organized a game of football (soccer) with the pickers and a team from another farm. Although team Real TW-ER Tamana lost 0-4, we had a good celebration in the evening with all the workers on the farm. I can’t wait to get back in July and November to see the further developments of this project.

I am excited to announce that the “Svart Presisjon”,  the new automatic filter coffee brewer from Wilfa, has finally been launched for sale.

Wilfa Svart Presisjon

I have spent a lot of time over the past 2 years together with Wilfa giving them feedback and teaching them about coffee. The first result was the manual brewer “Svart Manuell”, but that was meant as a teaser and a tool for the coffee geek to play with while we waited for the automatic version. There is a lot of technology and work put in to this pretty coffee brewer, and I think it looks awesome. It also brews really good filter coffee, but still you need to get your basics right like any other brewing techniques:

• Use traceable and freshly roasted and ground coffee of high quality
• Use clean fresh water with low mineral content (Tap water in Norway is perfect in most cases)
• Use precise measurements. I recommend 60-70g per litre of water depending on how strong you want it. Use a scale to measure.
• Make sure you grind the coffee to the right particle size. Too coarse will give you a watery and sour taste. Too fine will lead to bitter tastes.

I realize that it is just a filter brewer, but there are some really nice details that makes it a great brewer:

• Flow control to be able to control the flow from the filter holder
• Precise brew water temperature from the first seconds to the end of the brew cycle
• No residue water left in the brewer after brewing
• Detachable water reservoir for filling clean brewing water

Here is a little video that Wilfa has made to show you how it works.

I would like to follow up on the previous post where I wrote that coffee is too cheap. As stated, I think the reason why people still think coffee is too expensive is because of a lack of knowledge. Therefore I will try to give a small insight to how the trade works for us in Colombia.

The coffee trade is extremely complex, and it is traded in very different models not only from roaster to roaster, but also in the different origin countries. I truly believe that a transparent model is the best solution to making the consumers more aware and conscious of what they are buying and paying for. Lazy solutions like certifications and labeling as a trade model for roasters, is not something we do at Tim Wendelboe. The reason is that I think as long as the product is good, the price is fair and the trade model is transparent, there is no need for selling the product as a “fair trade” or as a “direct trade” product. We are in the coffee business, coffee is something we drink, hence we sell coffee for it’s taste.

Some have commented from the last post that the problem is not the coffee price itself, but the lack of transparency and the “greedy” middle men. To that I have to say that without middle men, we would not be able to sell coffee in Norway or any other non-coffee producing countries.

The coffee price to the farmer is too low; there is absolutely no doubt about that. Yes, there are a lot of companies that pay a very good price for coffee, but not all farmers have regular customers who are willing to pay top dollar for the coffee. The reality is that the majority of farmers don’t.

To get coffee to Norway we need to pay for a lot of services. These services are in many cases described as the “middle men” but are all a crucial part of getting the coffee to Norway. Let’s take a look at the price we payed for the coffee at Finca Tamana in June:

We payed USD 3.76 per lb of green coffee F.O.B. (Free on board, which means the coffee is delivered to the ship in Colombia for USD 3.76 per lb)

Out of this price, Elias (the farmer) ended up with a total of USD 2.73 per lb.

The $1,03 difference covered the following costs:

• 45 cents went to the exporter, in this case Mr. Alejandro Renjifo and Fairfield Trading. In Colombia, due to certain problems with other produce in Colombia, the exporter of the coffee needs to have an export license. Farmers do not have this, so they can use any exporter they prefer, but normally it is chosen by the buyer.  Out of the 45 cents, Alejandro has to pay for shipping of samples, export documentation, transport of coffee to the dry mill, transport from the mill to the ship, interest on the pre-financing of the coffee, etc. In addition, Alejandro needs to make a living, pay employees, pay rent on his offices, etc.
• Coocentral (the cooperative Elias has chosen to work with in Huila) charged 7 cents for pre-financing his coffee (paying Elias the market price for the coffee upon delivery) storage, and quality control. They also provide agronomic assistance, sample preparation, and help Elias with issues he might have.
• The dry-milling costs 40 cents per lb. The parchment, sticks and stones need to be removed from the coffee. Then, the coffee is sorted on screen size, density and all physical defects are removed by electronic sorting machines. The coffee is then packed in Grain-pro and jute bags to be ready for export.
• We also had to pay an additional 11 cents for grain-pro bags as this is not standard. Grain-pro bags are an inner plastic bag layer, which further protects the coffee in shipment and storage.

I am not claiming that this is a fantastic price for the coffee. I would like to pay more, but we also need to be able to sell the coffee, and we are already pushing the boundaries of what our customers are willing to pay for coffee. Especially our whole sale clients. Still, it is a much better price compared to the market price which today is about USD 1.70 per. lb. F.O.B. for Colombian coffee. The milling cost and export costs are about the same, so Elias ends up with a lot more money, even if he has to pay more to the pickers, etc.

At our end, we need to pay for the shipping of the container, insurance, transport on land to our warehouse, off-loading of the container, rent of warehousing, roasting, testing, rent for our space, salaries for the employees, electricity, gas, packaging, equipment, travel to origin, etc, etc.

I believe everyone in the trade is entitled to a decent pay and, at the very least, covering the costs and making a fair profit. Historically, and also today, most of the companies that handle the coffee after it leaves the hands of the farmer are making money, and I don’t think that there is anything wrong with that. After all that is what business is about.

What I do have a problem with is that the most important part of the chain, the farmer, has the highest risk (no control over coffee prices, exchange rates and the weather) and is the only one who is not making a healthy profit.

We need to change that!

We believe the best way to do so, is to demand transparency and pay more for quality coffee!

We Now have 3 new 2012 crop coffees for sale:

1. A pacas variety from Finca Nacimiento, and Mr. Jobneel Caceres Dios  in Santa Barbara, Honduras

2. A Catuai variety from  Finca Los Cipreses and the The Caballero family in Marcala, Honduras.

3.  A new TW espresso from Finca Los Pirineos. A Pacamara variety produced by  Mr. Gilberto Baraona in  El Salvador

You can buy these coffees in our store, or from our webshop.

We now have the 20g VST Filter Baskets for sale in the webshop as well as in our store.
We are using the 18g baskets ourselves. The 20g and 22g baskets yields longer shots but the taste is more or less the same  as from the 18g baskets.

We strongly recommend to use the new VST filterbaskets.
The VST filters makes it a lot easier to extract the espresso properly which gives a lot more sweetness in the cup. They are also more or less identical to eachother which makes it easy to be more consistent when brewing on several groups at the same time.

Make sure they fit your machine. (Fits all La Marzocco, Faema, Rancilio, Nuova Simonelli and Synesso machines)

Go here to download the brocure from VST

We are very happy to announce that FUGLEN,  one of our best customers and also old colleagues, have opened a second store. This time they have opened in Tokyo, Japan.

Fuglen specializes in Norwegian roasted coffee, Scandinavian vintage design and awesome cocktails.

If you ever go to either Oslo or Tokyo, make sure you pay them a visit.

Fuglen, Tokyo will be selling coffee from Solberg & Hansen, Kaffa, Supreme Roastworks as well as from our roastery. 

For more information go here.

We are very happy to announce that our dear full time barista Ida Kristine Stephansen placed 3rd in this years Norwegian Barista Championships. She also placed 2nd in the Norwegian Cup Tasters Championship. Underneeth is a video of Ida’s final performance as well as a short interview after her performance.

We would also like to congratulate Rasmus Helgebostad for taking 1st place and all the other finalists for a job well done.

And here is a little bonus. The award ceremony:

We will be closed from the 5th to the 9th of April due to Easter holidays.

Our store is open as normal from the 10th of April.

Don’t forget to get some fresh coffee for easter..

It’s winter in Norway and therefore we have adjusted our opening hours a little bit.
From Monday 31st of October our opening hours will be the following:

Monday – Friday: 8.30 to 17.00
Saturday & Sunday: 11.00 – 17.00

A lot of people were fired up after Anders Selmer’s talk during the Nordic Barista Cup this year. The audience almost cornered Anders about how restaurants so poorly executes coffee service after dinner.
To Anders defense, he is actually taking coffee seriously in his restaurant “Fiskebaren”, and I think he defended him self well by saying that if it is so important for coffee people to get great coffee in restaurants, then why don’t we do something about it?

Later that day we witnessed a great lecture by Pontus Dahlström from restaurant Maaemo in Norway. He literally showed everyone that not all restaurants take coffee for granted. The guys at Maaemo have been working on their coffee service from their start in 2010 and to be honest they are one of our most serious customers. Not only do they cup coffees a lot, they have great knowledge about coffee production, extraction, and taste.

Early this year they approached me to see if they could improve their coffee service even more in their restaurant. Since the focus of Maaemo is Nordic food they were dreaming of serving traditional steeped coffee in their restaurant, just like they make coffee when hiking in the forest, etc, but did not know how to implement this technique in the restaurant.

After a brief meeting and some demonstration they came up with what I think is the most exciting coffee service I have experienced in a very long time. It is not very often you come across such a well thought out coffee concept and it is even more enjoyable that it is in a restaurant.

So, baristas, stop complaining. Watch and learn..

PS. I have sourced some very special organic coffee for Maaemo while in Brazil, but I will write about that in a later post.