After being out for the evening I returned home to find an email from Fazenda Terramater with a couple of photos of a special project they have done for me without asking.

On my visit last year, I saw a whole heap of coffee bushes planted on the edge of the property underneath some huge old pine trees. I asked Luca who was translating for me to ask Adoedato if the pine cones and the trees by these plants made a difference to the final cup. As he asked Adoedato you could see from his face he thought what a stupid question and shrugged.

Now at the time of the visit we were not buying any coffee from Adoedato and I hadn’t even had a chance to cup it. It was only persistently asking for a sample after I got back and got a chance to cup it that we did buy it. So there was no reason for Adoedato to listen to anything the crazy gringo asked.

But Saturday night the photos below were in my inbox and the forest coffee under the tress is going to be kept separate this year to see if the pine cone fertilizer makes any difference to the final cup. I have no idea but the total production will be 1 bag if we are lucky so we are going to find out together

This is why its worth while visiting origin, spending the time expressing what you would like to find out with farmers so they can put it together, no matter how crazy the requests are.

In a few weeks time I’m back to Bahia for some more exploring and some more feedback on what we would like to see, its so cool to have this open channel of communication direct with the producers.

Leaf rust (roya) is a disease that effects the leaves and the yield of as coffee plant and its general health. Firstly found in 1869 in Ceylon (now known as sri lanka). Ceylon was a huge coffee producer at the time, but because of the rust they ripped most of their coffee plant stock, and planted tea. Kind of good for them as they became one of the tea producing giants, but this was not the end of the disease.

From Ceylon the next place for rust to be cited is in the 1870, where it spread to sumatra and Java and the Indonesian isles. This was devastating and saw a change of varietals that were planted as a way of combating the problem.

From Asia the next place this was to Tanzania and Madagascar in the 1880’s. Interestingly not making it to west africa until 1956 which seems very strange to go from this rampant spread to stop spreading (but still having a very strong foothold in the places where its found).

It seemed that South / central America was immune from this spread, but then in 1970 it was reported in Brazil and from there rapidly to all south / central American producing countries.

It is transported by a powder that is attached to the plant (like pollen) and is carried through the air, on clothes by people and by insects, and once it begins to take hold then it really does go rampant.

A lot of effort was put into finding a coffee that was naturally immune from the disease, and it was found that strains like Liberica and robusta have a higher resistance to the roya but arabica is very very susceptible to it is weak against rust. Lots of cross breading has produced some more immune strains, but normally at the cost of cup quality.

It is believed that high shade very wet high humidity conditions also add to the risk of roya.

Talking to a friend who has just returned from Colombia roya seems to be rampant, and there is a real problem they are trying to deal with. You can spray the plants with a copper based fungicides but no one likes spraying things and these fungicides are expensive and in short supply. The other way is to plant varietals that are less susceptible. There are many alternatives but advice given to farmers in an article I was sent was to plant Catimore, which as part of a mixed plant stock is fine (and we have seen some great ones) but on its own rarely produces quality coffee.

I think there will be a real drop in quality of Colombian coffee with this kind of advice, and I do hope that farmers choose a different route, the new Colombian we have just stocked is trying F6 which has more promise of quality.

In Colombia low yields because of weather issue have been a problem for a while, with this problem prices for Colombia are in essence double of that the markets are showing and I only think it will get worse

As I said I talked about this on this weeks in my mug see below

I think that they hadn’t noticed the complete lack activity here, and the lack of inspiration but I thank them very much for the opportunity.

My Inspiration was the previous post about roast styles and you can go and read it here.

Dirty cup Musings

The good news (or bad) is I do have some inspiration for a post over the weekend, if the world cup doesn’t get in the way.

Owned and run by Sam Tawil a good friend and long term customer of ours, Sam has moved from the events business (which he will still be doing) to a bricks and mortar.

Great food, espresso, pour overs filter coffee made by talented baristas in an amazing environment. I expect it to be great with Sam involved but it blew me away. If your in Liverpool you must must visit, tell them we sent you and you will be charged double

I wanted this to be on the best possible equipment with talented baristas who care. Its would be nice if it was an amazing environment and good food to go with it too. With the world barista championships upon us, this became even more important to me and I’ve never been able to say go to ……… to try our espresso.

This has been made harder for many many reasons. Its a strong hold of Monmouth, Union and Square Mile, all of these companies are my friends who do a great job. Being in the area and on the ground, they have a big advantage of being able to offer support training and back up when needed to new start up companies, and can also give them far better coverage than our little operation.

So the shop we supplied needed to be established, not supplied by one of my three friends and all of the above (talk about being picky) and self sufficient in training and in needs that a new shop can demand. This is why it just has never happened, until now.

There was a time that in London you used to go to Monmouth, you would go to Flat white and end up in Fernandez and Wells. This was at a time when these were the only shows in town. I loved (and still do) all three, but while the others kept up evolved, not just my opinion but speaking to lots of people in the coffee industry F & W had fell off that coffee map a little. I’m not sure why because Beak Street remained a great place to grab breakfast or lunch, the wine bar in Lexington Street a great place to grab a glass of wine and plate of meats in the afternoon. Added to these two shops is the there was also the opening of St Annes Court, which is a cool bar set up that’s like the other shops in the coolest part of town. But with the new shops opening in London, they didn’t get mentioned half as much as I felt they deserved.

Fernandez and Wells have some of the best equipment available with Synesso’s and mazzers everywhere, and (and I truly mean this) some of the best baristas in the country, understanding coffee, and doing a fantastic job of getting the very best out of their coffee for a long time. There was a time that because of the taste they wanted to achieve they were using 32 g doses (massive up dose) just so they could get what they wanted. Very demanding but thats what happens with truly great shops.

We have been talking to them for a while with it speeding up over the past few months. It had to be the right move for all of us, but I am pleased to say that as of Friday this week we will be the official coffee supplier. We have built them a blend (not sure if they are happy for me to share with you but will ask). They key part being from Friday while the blend rests, and they use there current stocks.

So I’m super pleased, I hope your able to pop in and try the new blend, let me just say, close friends who I have told whats in the blend have gone “WOW thats an expensive blend”

A special thank you to James at Square Mile who without their help I would never have been able to do this.

A map below, there website is here and please tell them when you visit next weekend why your there, and feedback here, to me on email and most importantly to the baristas what you think of the coffee. Everyone who has tried it so far has loved it.
View Fernandez & Wells in a larger map

Click here to take a look at a written summary from someone who is not so involved as me

Its going to be in Stafford, its going to be at the roastery, and its going to be a 11pm till 4 pm learning and mix up fest.

There will be three courses. This will be on making espresso, steaming milk and putting it all together. Now I am no barista that we can be sure of that, so I’ve roped in the 2009 Irish Barista Champion and 2009 4th placed finalist from the World Barista Championships, and the newly crowned UK Barista 2010 Champion and 2009 UK Latte Art champion and 6th placed from the 2009 world latte art championships. Not one but two national champions. There will also be a cupping session.

Now we only have two espresso machines to do this on, so we need to keep numbers to a minimum. So when its full it full, there is a waiting list once it fills up. You need to go to this site here and RSVP as soon as possible. The price is £10 for the day, but you will leave with £10 worth of coffee at least, and also drink oodles worth of espresso, the price is more to make sure people turn up, again because of the limited space, a financial commitment always helps sort the people who may come, and will come. I’m afraid we cant allow guests with attendees because of space we just can’t accommodate them.

Sign up here

Its going to be in Stafford, its going to be at the roastery, and its going to be a 11pm till 4 pm learning and mix up fest.

There will be two courses (two maybe three). This will be on making espresso, steaming milk and putting it all together. Now I am no barista that we can be sure of that, so I’ve roped in the 2009 Irish Barista Champion and 2009 4th placed finalist from the World Barista Championships, and the newly crowned UK Barista 2010 Champion and 2009 UK Latte Art champion and 6th placed from the 2009 world latte art championships. Not one but two national champions. The programme will be firmed up closer to the date. But it will be an espresso fest.

Now we only have two espresso machines to do this on, so we need to keep numbers to a minimum. So when its full it full, there is a waiting list once it fills up. You need to go to this site here and RSVP as soon as possible. The price is £10 for the day, but you will leave with £10 worth of coffee at least, and also drink oodles worth of espresso, the price is more to make sure people turn up, again because of the limited space, a financial commitment always helps sort the people who may come, and will come. I’m afraid we cant allow guests with attendees because of space we just can’t accommodate them.

So should be fun, an experience like this would normally cost many many times and you wouldn’t get the coffee goodie bag at the end.

We look forwards to seeing you.

I got a little excited about the whole thing (as I do with barista competition), but I think Monday now seems like a world away and enough time has past.

We are pleased to announce to those not embroiled in the coffee world and who may not have heard that Mr John Gordon of Gorilla Tampers and Square Mile Roasters won this years United Kingdom Barista Championship with the most amazing of scores using Has Bean Coffee for his competition blend.

We are proud to have worked with john for the last two years developing and roasting competition coffee blends. John and Jess have become amazing friends, and we love working together.

We are particularly proud as John, as he has often not gone for the easy safe options, he has pushed the boundary’s of what is thought should be done and at the same time pushed my boundary’s as a roaster to try things I would have normally written off. I’m sure something that will improve me as a roaster so improve your experience as a customer.

In the finals John scored 687 which is HUGE, he also won best espresso, best cappuccino and best signature drink. Again for the uninitiated he swept everything, but the standard was so high that it was no run away. Well done to every one who competed, but of course to John.

A special well done to Jess, Johns partner trainer, sounding board and rock, Jess has been amazing getting John to be the UK barista champion (that still sounds weird) and deserves all the plaudits she has received since.

An interesting stat that I didn’t really think about until some one said, was we have roasted the coffee for three of the past five UK champions and for a tiny company like ours that’s very pleasing and bewildering. But the main reason for it is that we work with some amazingly talented baristas who are at the top of there craft. We just brown the beans they do the magic, and I’m grateful they let us along for the ride.

So what next? Well, I’m are pleased that the UK’s are out the way, time to let that dust settle and chat with John about our next steps. But we hope we will be kicking on for the WBC.

It also is time for me to start thinking about the Irish championships as we are working with Colin Harmon of Third floor espresso (3fe) again this year, competition season is always hard work but always fun.

But for now look at the video where we found and made John Gordon

Tamper Tantrum Special with John Gordon from Stephen Leighton on Vimeo.

Crazy Irish man Colin Harmon left me this on my answer phone last night I thought I would share.

His Irish accent is worse than mine, and he is from there