Archive for May, 2009

Sustainable means an on-going commitment to supporting farmers who grow quality coffee and are socially responsible. It begins at the farm, using patio drying, bird friendly, shade-grown organic methods, and a non- reliance on pesticides. It continues with the support of Fairly Traded companies.
Long-term success in coffee is quality. Many Fair Trade companies travel the world each year seeking out family farms and cooperatives that meet their quality standards. Personal relationships with farmers who support investment in the land and local people, insures consistency and reliability in organic products. Long-term fixed prices ensure that growers stay in business and are profitable enough to continue to invest in their farms, future production, and contribute to a stable credit history. Superior coffee can only be created if the land and people who grow it are respected.
The production of premium quality coffees and the education of coffee drinkers lead to stability and a better life for these farmers. There are several organizations that certify organic coffees. However, working with a particular method of certification by trying to decide what is “fair”, narrows the number of growers. Many growers do not qualify under a particular group’s standards or may not be able to obtain certification for a variety of social, economic or geographic reasons.
This problem needs a solution to benefit all involved farmers and Fairly Traded companies.

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…. Fair Trade Organic coffee consists of cleaning, roasting, cooling, grinding, and packaging. Bags of organic green coffee beans are opened, emptied into a hopper and screened to remove any foreign objects. They are then weighed and transferred to storage hoppers. From there, the organic green beans are sent to the roaster. Roasters typically run at temperatures between 370 and 540 °F (188 and 282 °C), and the beans are roasted ranging from a few minutes to around 30 minutes. The machines are normally horizontal, with rotating drums tumbling the organic green coffee beans in a current of hot gases; they come in either batch or continuous mode, indirect or direct-fired.
Indirect-fired roasters have a burner flame that has no contact with the beans, but the gases do. Direct-fired roasters do have contact with the beans from both the burner flame and the gases. At the end of the roasting cycle, the beans are dumped into a cooling table and put through a  ”destoner”. A destoner is an air vacuum that removes stones, metal pieces, and any other waste product not found during the first screening. The roasted organic beans are then either processed in grinders or packaged as whole beans. Un-roasted beans have all of coffee’s acids, protein, and caffeine—everything but taste. It takes heat to start the chemical reaction turning carbs and fats into fragrant oils, burning off moisture and CO2, breaking down and building up acids, all combining to bring forth good coffee flavor.
During roasting, the organic green coffee bean increases to nearly double its size, changing in color and mass. As heat is absorbed, the color alters to yellow, then to light cinnamon brown, and finally to a darker color, sometimes with an oily surface. The roast will continue to darken until removed from the heat. At lighter roasts, the organic coffee bean will exhibit more of its regional qualities created in the bean by the soil and local conditions where it was grown. Organic Fair Trade coffee beans from Java, Kenya, Hawaiian Kona, and Jamaican Blue Mountain are generally roasted lightly so their specific traits can highlight each flavor.
As the beans darken, the original tastes of the organic bean are overcome by the flavors created from the roasting process itself making it difficult to decide which beans were used. These are then sold by degrees, ranging from “Light Cinnamon Roast” through “Vienna Roast” to “French Roast” and beyond. Gaining popularity now are mail order sales, or the use of organic Fair Trade coffee as a fundraiser, knowing it is a “fresh from the roaster” product, easily transported, that virtually sells itself.

This explains why the roasting process is essential to producing a memorable cup of coffee.

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Science has examined the relationship between coffee drinking and many medical conditions. Most studies can’t decide if coffee is beneficial or not in determining the effects of coffee use. It has been suggested that it could reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Cirrhosis of the Liver and Gout. However, this study is only a theory. Most medical opinions about caffeine in coffee have only observed those who drink caffeinated coffee. Coffee’s negative slant is mostly discussed for its high percentage of caffeine. Science also is looking at how drinking regular coffee may cause a temporary stiffening of arteries, or how any excess may lead to a vitamin deficiency, or have mixed effects on short-term memory, but nothing has been proven.

Determined by the type of coffee and preparation, the caffeine content of a single serving can vary. The average for a single cup of coffee of about 7 fluid ounces (207 ml) or a single shot of espresso of about 1oz (30 ml) should contain the following amounts of caffeine:

• Drip Coffee:          115–175 mg
• Espresso:              100 mg
• Brewed/Pressed: 80–135 mg
• Decaf, Brewed:     3–4 mg

General coffee usage, typically, equals about one third of normal drinking water intake in most of North America and Europe. Therefore, if we accept the standard opinion of health experts who say that drinking three 8-ounce cups of coffee per day (believed to be average or moderate) does not have a significant risk for adults, coffee is here to stay!

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Coffee berries start as green berries in early stages of growth, turn yellow, red, then dark crimson, and finally ripen to yield the best coffee. In fact, according to the rule of “FIVE”: An Arabica coffee plant takes about “FIVE” years to mature and produce its first crop. A healthy coffee tree will produce only about “FIVE” pounds of green beans per year, but only about “ONE-FIFTH” of a pound meets the rigid sorting standards to be sold as “Specialty Coffee.”

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Coffee Joe says:  Cowboy coffee? Supposedly, it was made by putting ground coffee into a clean sock, immersing it in cold water, then heating over a campfire. When ready, they would pour the coffee into tin cups and drink it.

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Pistol & BURNES Coffee Roasting Company has been criticized and penalized for our simplistic approach. As the first roasting company in Western Canada to join Trans Fair and the first in Canada to pull out, this action caused four results. 

1. Oxfam Canada cancelled our contract.
2. CAW tried to unionize our roasting company.
3. Grocery Stores would not carry our product.
4. More importantly, we were forced to go solo and develop our own relationships.

 In my opinion, Trans Fair is similar to a union. Its goal is to provide a minimum price for coffee to its farmers (1.24/lbs) plus a small premium for certified organic. This established unnatural price, virtually unchanged over a dozen years, does nothing to make up for the current dynamics that actually influence a farmer’s business i.e. cost of living, interest rates, currency devaluation and the availability to secure an operating line of credit.

We now have a template for success with a proven track record. As our demand increases, we will look for new farmers in different countries.

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Fair Pricing:
A main goal is to keep the inventory moving, taking the time to adjust your pricing, and not affect your margins greatly. Some customers cannot afford the high prices for lattes, flavored, double cream, and just want a good, simple coffee.
 
Busy Store:
The aroma of fresh, roasted coffee, interesting displays, warm colors, clean décor, all attract customers. When they come for their beans, they will buy drinks too. Common knowledge, if there are other people milling around, excited and happy, then they will enter the store too.
 
Complimentary Hard Goods:
This includes cups, equipment and accessories. Regardless of sales, they add a reflection of your overall plan, the aura of the store. Even without logos and your name, unique items remind the customers of your store when they drink or use them. You want them to remember and become a repeat customer.
 
Focus on Great Product:
Nothing but freshness, quality, great smells, is acceptable. Today, consumers are more aware, more health conscious, reading labels, converting ingredients, and have pushed up the demand for organic coffee. These days it is easy to forget about the simple pleasure of coffee with all the hype and commercial additives that seem to be the hustle, in your face, everyday way of doing business.
 
Friendly, knowledgeable staff:
They know the product history from bean to cup, call customers by name. They willingly can explain simply and quickly the differences in coffee origins, how they are harvested, where, and more importantly, which one is the best for the individual buyer.

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