This audioboo is about the ECX warehouse in Sidamo we visit and how I actually begin to like the ECX a little.

But only a little mind there still a whole heap wrong with it.

But if you don’t like my voice, and you like words painted, a picture paints a thousand words

So to wrap up day 2 I did this audioboo

Moving on from scary flights, Day three was time to go to Yirgacheffe. Somewhere I have wanted to visit since first got into coffee. But before that another early start (out on the road by 6am) and time for a huge journey to the Yirgacheffe region, one of the most famous I guess for coffee. We set off from Addis on one of the best roads I think I have seen on my travels, very well maintained, lots to see and very sceinc. Instead of boring you with this I decided that I would do a little video clip entitled the road to Yirgacheffe. Nine and a half hours and over 400km on some fairly rough roads

So a mammoth journey but worth every little bit. Yirgacheffe was just a name for me for so long, A name that has been with me since my first ever coffee order, snd a town steeped in mystery. We visited a local wet mill to see the ladies of the area, sorting the drying coffee on raised beds. Not the best sound in the world but I also created a little video clip for this.

WE then retired to the hotel to wait until the sun had gone in for one of the most amazing experiences of my life the mill was in darkeness with small lights dotted around the area. A team of around 15 guys moving coffee through the washing process. I feel the need for aother video here, but this will come when I have better editing opportunities

The washing here in africa and in particular this regioj is quite different to what most do. They submerge under water for 36-48 hours, then take it through another “wash”of 9 – 16 hours. In comparrison in Brazil or El Salvador I’ve seen it done for as little as 6 hours with no second wash.

Some of the photos I got from this trip have been stunning and I’ll be shareing with you here

Click here

For those who don’t like my awful voice I typed it too

Day one begins with the early start of 4:30am, but its fine as I’m meeting up with my friends (there is three of us in total) in the hotel lobby then a short 1 hour flight to Dire Dawa. This all goes scarily well and we are met at the airport by Admasu and he will be our host for our time in Harar, a region that I am most excited about because of its huge amount of funky amazing naturals, but also its one of the two regions that inspired me when I got into coffee in Ethiopia.

Apparently this is an international airport, but I am not so sure, it looks more like a bus station.

First stop is our beautiful hotel while we stop here, and feel super appropriate, in the vision of an African Village. We drop our bags and are taken to the office of Moplaco who we have bought some coffee from in recent times. We tour the offices and factory and are treated to a cupping of three coffees from Harar that are representative. I learn that each region will have a sub region when placed at the ECX (ethiopian coffee exchange more on this to come later) something I was not aware of. They are given letters at the auction

(A)Bold Grain which is from east
(B)Longberry which is from the west
(C)Arusi which is from the south west

The cupping gives us a good representation of the regions and is a useful exercise in keying our tastes into the region.

Harar only does naturally processed coffee, no washed at all. I know from experience these can be some of the coffees that excite you my customers the most so its great to learn more about it all.

We were then taken away on a huge car journey to the aera known as Harar. This starts off on lovely asphalt, but soon turns into dust roads, Its a mammoth journey (thankfully not driven by me but by our driver Solomon) but when we arrive we arrive at a chaps house called Abudula Mome’s

Were told about the four kinds of farmers in Harar, you have your

1. Garden grower (like Abdul) that grows a variety of crops in a small holding, not olny coffee but other crops maybe to eat and sell.

2. Plantation grower, who only grows coffee and is normally on a large scaled 9not so common in ethiopia)

3. Forest grower where the coffee is grown in the forst areas. We have bought some of these coffees in the past like wild bonga forest.

4. Semi forest which I never really got to find out why this was a term used and its full meaning but I’ll let you fill in the blanks

Abdulas garden farm is very cool, he is a great host and spend time answering all of our stupid questions. He walks us around the farm with around 20 children following us everywhere we go. I think three pale and pasty folks are not the normal scene in Ethiopia.

We get to also see the less fun side of Ethiopia here. a local “reprentative” approaches Admasu and says that we shouldnt really be here, and that he wanted money to fix this. It was all arranged with Abdula, and he was very happy for us to be there, but this is the slightly more corrupt side of ethiopia. The representative is sent with a flea in his ear and on his way.

We then take a small drive to the town of Harar (the region named after this town) and sit and enjoy the relaxing conversation with Admasu. He goes into the tiny details of the Ethiopian coffee exchange. I have decided that this will be a blog post on its own, as its super complicated, and I am learning more with each day, and what I tel you today is probably going to be re learned in a different way tomorrow. I am going to the exchange on Friday and think this will be super interesting.

I hope to do a mixture of written / audioboo and a little video (although video I don’t have my camera with me so not sure how it will pan out) Anyway if you enjoy great if you don’t catch me when I’m not bragging bout my lovely travels

There were many (almost Lord of the Rings size) cast members; some extras, some leading roles. I am sure I have missed out Gandalf somewhere in this, but if I don’t mention you, I loved everyone. WBC makes me all warm inside every-time I attend one.

John and Jess

John Gordon and Jessica McDonald team UK were (as always) amazing. Two of my best buddies in coffee (and the most amazing couple). John rocked on stage, was proud to be a Brit and when he made semis I let out a the biggest shout. I know how much it meant to him to make semi finals after not getting the breaks he deserved last year. But to go one better and make finals was even better (and raised an even bigger shout). 6th I didn’t think for me mirrored his performance, but I am biased, and being there was vindication for all Jess’s (his trainer and fiancée) and John’s hard work, and not nearly enough reward for the amazing people they are.

James and Anette

This is my next couple that are amazing. From Square Mile Coffee Roasters, no-one knows competition better than these two. Been there bought the T-shirt, printed the T-shirt, bought the T-shirt factory, changed the design of T-shirts into Jumpers and we still claim them as T-shirts.

These guys pop up in a cameo role at the end so keep them peeled for that, but honoured to call them good friends, I owe them both so much, not just in this competition but in life in general.

David Walsh

Otherwise knows as @otherblackstuff on twitter, and R&D for Marco Ireland. We have history. Fun times were had in Atlanta with Team Ireland. Dave is such a clever coffee brain and I owe him lots. We both changed our colours to help our next star of the film, but the plot was the same, emotional roller-coaster fun and no one got the girl.

This year he stepped up for our second film role together, and we rocked, and much much fun was had. Sadly the star of the prequel for this was not in attendance; Mr Harmon was sadly missed http://www.iscolinharmongoingtobogota.com. The star who took his place was far better looking than him so in some ways a casting success.

Dave thank you so much for the hug on stage after the winner was announced. Just for a second I felt that amazing friendship we have always had since the finalist announcement in Atlanta. I still hold that as one of the most amazing feelings I have ever had and that man hug was right up their with it.

Simonelli

Simonelli are the machine sponsors. I normally have no to little time for sponsors of competitions they send along one guy to do the long speech at the end to claim credit, and send a huge cheque. But Simonelli have changed the way that barista competitions should be run. They supply machines but more importantly they supply people. It’s a big team, but special special thanks to Lauro and to Cosimo and to Giani. Big guys who I hope get the machine sponsorship that’s up for review for the next three years. The comp would be a poorer place without them, and I hope the manpower they provide is a big part of the decision making process.

Cindy Chang

Cindy is responsible for putting on the show. Yes it’s her job, but she did a super job at this one and I tip my hat at the organisation. To pull this off in Colombia takes some doing and she did it with bells on. Best film ever? Let’s call her the director Peter Jackson.

Klaus Thomsen

A small cameo, but I spent quite a bit of time talking to Klaus at the barista party. I missed two coaches back to the hotel doing so but it was some of the best time I spent during the week. Insightful, intelligent and most enjoyable. Was a great champ in 2006 – my first competition – and I still have to pinch myself he has time to talk to me. But watch Klaus at any event and he always finds time to talk to everyone. A true gent and thank you.

Stephen Morrissey

Stephen I have known for a while. He was the 2008 champion in Copenhagen. Stephen now works in the US for Inteligensia. Saturday night I was feeling worried and strange about the finals the next day. His role in this film was to help me clear my mind, and help me see what competition is all about. Friends.

I’m honoured to call Stephen a friend, he’s a clever clever man, and his wise words helped me focus my mind for the Sunday. Thank you so much.

Monika

Our replacement for the Harmon who was away working on another film. Monika won the Slovakian Barista Championship two weeks before the WBC. Not an excuse, just a fact. Time was not her friend to book accommodation, flights and most importantly build a routine. We were changing the routine 20 minutes before the presentation. Not because we wanted to, because we had to, to make it solid.

Monika works for me and Colin at 3FE so when the Slovakian SCAE did not pay for a barista buddy to come with her, I stepped up as her boss and offered to polish glasses and build trolley and look after what she needed. Any one who has been a barista coach knows it’s a tough job and puts lots of pressure on your shoulders. Colin will tell you that this is not where my skill set is. I had lots to do at the WBC, lots of people wanted to talk, a piece of my time, and four other baristas’ shots to taste too. It all meant that Monika ran the risk of being let down by me. I hope she feels I stepped up, it was amazing to learn what the “coach” has to do. I was fetching milk, I was polishing glasses, I went to buy trays the day before comp, I was motivator, shoulder to cry on, bad news breaker, harsh critic, taster, problem solver and I hope the most important one: friend. I will be Monika’s friend forever, and I hope she thinks I filled the roles (and had fun trying).

I just wish I could have gotten the broken grinder repaired that arrived in Bogota. Would it have made any difference? I don’t know, but it could only have helped.

Unfortunately she ran over time and didn’t make the semis after disqualification. I hope the Slovakian SCAE brings the competition back a little for next year to give the champ a fighting chance.

Baristas

Turkey

The guy from Turkey bought off the website and competed with Inglaterra and with Colombia COE Los Cochas. He didn’t speak English, but he did a good job, and we have told him if he wins next year we’ll train him and make sure he gets the coffee he wants. Lovely guy who I was so proud to watch.

Netherlands

The guys from the Netherlands emailed me two weeks before the comp to ask for coffee for their milk drinks. We love competition so of course yes was the answer. Yakub made semi finals and the caps getting a few 5.5’s on his way. Lovely team of guys but they do still owe me dinner

Vicky Fitz Henry Ireland

Another barista that used our coffee, Vicky had her partner for support, so I stepped back pretty much. While I did this she stepped up and did a solid performance. Was great to see Vicky get her chance on the WBC stage and I really hope she follows up on her promise to judge competitions from now on, as she will be a HUGE asset to the Irish competition as a judge and can help baristas in the future.

Erensto

Ernesto owns La Ilusion, Finca Alaska, and Los Andes. Two of these coffees are huge to this, and play a huge part in the plot line. Ernesto I found out is a “gas man”. He made me laugh so so much, he is hilarious, I think my next El Salvador trip will be amazing, and I so look forward to it. The legend got bigger, he is even funnier when he is drunk

Team and El Salvador

Frederico and Lily husband and wife partnership (and Lilly the 2006 – 2007 champion) and Frederico the coach of the last 5 champions and coach of the top three from El Salvador this year. I love this man (and of course Lilly) who are another amazing coffee couple, their dedication and drive is inspiring and amazing. Our star of the show who is next deserved his victory, but Frederico I felt deserved it just as much.

During the results for the finals I had to tell him to breathe it meant that much. They deserved this win just as much as Alejandro and I was just as pleased for them.

Extras

Reg and Julie Barber for the party; The Canadian Fernwood team, you rocked; mahlkonig in particular Kristian Klatt, and many many more too many to mention, you know who you are.

So the plot …

The plot of this movie starts back in late 2005 when one of our co stars approached me in my little roastery. In steps James Hoffmann; handsome, eloquent but green to competition, and after building a team. I became part of that team that went to the UK finals in 2006 and the WBC in Bern in 2006. We finished 5th and it was the first step of the UK being well represented in WBC finals. In 2007 I also worked with James exclusively and we bagged another UKBC for the second time. James set up Square Mile and went on to win the WBC and dominate the competition for many years.

2009 and 2010 our missing star from this blockbuster stepped into the frame, and we finished 4th in the WBC two years on the trot. No mean feat, I can tell you Colin is an amazing barista who is super talented. WBC finals don’t just come along – three in five years is fairly impressive for most. I’m privileged to work with some of the most amazing baristas, it’s their work that does it, but I became quite obsessed with barista competitions.

But after 2010 and London I was in a dark place with competition. If you want a small insight into this take a look at http://www.hasblog.co.uk/world-barista-championships-2010-wrap-up for how dark the place was.

Strike the new year and our end of year review, I look back at the cast of this and past movies of WBC and realise how many very special friends I have made. The cast have become my good friends, and I get a chance to play a bit part every year in this amazing movie. I get to mingle and rub shoulders with them and without competition I would be, and so would Has Bean be, a poorer place. So I decided this year we would be all in.

But I have chased that win, looking for some kind of vindication, some kind of pat on the back for having coffee good enough to work with the best barista in the world. No matter how much praise I get and no matter how Has Bean goes from strength to strength, this kind of mattered to me. It began to feel like chasing a shadow that could not be caught, to quote David Walsh from his blog post.

“We likened Steve’s efforts in the WBC to a scene in the golf movie Tin Cup where Kevin Costner keeps trying an impossibly long shot, repeatedly landing in the water. Even though Steve says he only manufactures golf balls ”

It felt like we couldn’t supply the golf balls to make it across the water. It’s crazy, I know we have some of the best coffees in the world. We have some great golf clubs and some awesome golf pros.

(are you keeping up)
So step up our star…

Alejandro

So I met this young man last year in London. Straight away I liked him. A bubbly character who I clicked with and who knew Ernesto, my favourite farmer. His boss who I had known for a couple of years longer was just as inspirational, a great guy who bleeds coffee.

Alejandro finished in the semis and did VERY well, he looked like one to watch, he finished 11th which was amazing, but not earth shattering.

This year I travelled to El Salvador on a buying trip. Remembering this guy who stood out in my mind I emailed Frederico, the owner of Viva Espresso and Alejandro’s boss, and asked if I could do anything to help with their national championships. He replied back: only if you bring some coffee. So I sent some samples to try, and in my luggage I took Alejandro’s national competition coffee, and watched the whole team’s run throughs. I came away inspired, and confident they would all do well, but struggling to split them. I hoped the guy I was involved with would do well.

Sat in a hotel in Costa Rica watching the ropiest stream on the worst internet connection known to man I let out an audible yelp (not for the first time I was to find out) when he won. I was so proud, a guy at origin using coffee I brought to the UK and roasted then took back to El Salvador.

So not sure they wanted to try the same thing at Colombia I emailed Frederico and asked if he wanted to try again, to which I received an emphatic yes.

Coffee backwards and forwards to El Salvador, import permits much work by Frederico, but he was convinced it was worth it. Me not so much: the roast master at Viva Espresso rocks, but I think they wanted an extra cheerleader in Colombia

So I’ll cut to the final scene. Picture this, the crowd wait, the six gladiators step forward. Just back stage there is the entire Team El Salvador (of which I was a member) huddled together, the tensions builds. Sixth to third get mentioned, no Alejandro. Top two USA (last year’s winner) and little old El Salvador. The winner is ….

Well you know the rest. I cried for the first time since I was about 16, I blame Hoffmann, he came over to congratulate me and that was it, tears, dribble and runny nose – the whole thing.

So pleased to be a small part of it, a monkey shaken and now I can get on with the fact that I want to spend every year meeting this cast of actors and actresses who make it the special event that it is. We were always good enough, and we can be in the future, but it comes down to the amazing talent of the barista, not the roaster. We make the golf balls, but it doesn’t make you a golfer. It’s a team approach, and everyone plays their part, I’m pleased I make golf balls good enough to go across the pond.

In conclusion it’s the Best WBC I’ve ever been to. But looking forward to the sequel as I’m sure it will be better.

I think there are three real threats to specialty coffee in the world at this time, let me go through them.

1. Commodity speculators

Coffee is something that’s traded in many different ways. The commodity market is the one place where the vast majority of coffee gets bought. Normally this has little to nothing to do with the way we buy coffee, but because of the recent financial issues (economic downturn, stocks and shares being less secure, banks in trouble / low interest rates) this has seen the “commodity price” wander into our playground. I think this issue will be resolved with a little bit of time and the whole world economy improving, we have seen the price drop from its high of $3.05per lb down to $2.60 per lb in the space of a few weeks – a price that I think is far more sustainable for the longer term.

2. World Demand, new world supply

World demand for coffee has been steadily growing for a number of years, while coffee availablity has been fairly consistent. This was because of an over supply of coffee into the market, but this has now been rebalanced. New consuming nations (places like Brazil, India and China all drinking more coffee than they ever have done in the past) means that demand has been growing, but because of the low coffee price the land owner has been less likely to invest in coffee as a product to grow because of lower margins.

This will change with the commodity price of coffee much higher (and I do believe higher prices than the awful sub $1.00 a lb prices of the late 90’s early 00’s will mean that lots more people will plant coffee than they have in the past. The optimist in me thinks that this new chance to plant new coffee may mean that the plant varietal stock they choose may mean that coffee in general improves, but the realist in me thinks it will be yield-led.

I also think that sustained higher prices will quell some of this growing demand, as the cost of a cup of coffee will rise – this is something you can be very sure of.

Either way more coffee will mean that demand can be met for these new consuming nations or higher prices will control the demand and that price will be more balanced in the long term. Another issue fixed and addressed (I reckon).

3. Climate Change

This is a problem that’s a lot harder to sort than the above. It matters not if you agree or disagree with why the world is getting warmer, we live on a planet that is changing and the climate is not the same as it was 10 -20 -30 years ago. Harvest times and yields of farms we have bought from for only a few years have gone through huge changes; we see some places getting hotter, some places having more rain. But one thing that’s consistent is inconsistent weather patterns.

Colombia has suffered more than most. The weather here has become so unpredictable, along with a lot of pest / disease in plants, it’s meant that growing great coffee has become harder.

Carmilo from Santurio is working on a new project just outside Cali that is firmly trying to address this. It’s working with irrigation systems to water and to feed nutrients to coffee plants directly through irrigation pipes. Using feed and nutrients through the spraying method means that coffee plants receive around 10% of the feed you put down. Feeding coffee plants through the tube means that 90% of it makes it into the plants. So less nutrients are needed so money is saved. Also by doing it this way it means that the coffee will be ready to produce its first harvest in 2 years rather than the traditional 4 years, so money is again saved. Of course there is an investment in the irrigation technology, but an investment now means it should be repaid fairly quickly.

Irrigation

All this is nothing new; irrigation has been used in many farms successfully, but the killer app is that all this will be done in a greenhouse type building. OK not all: they have three sections to the farm, one part un-irrigated, a test sample of doing nothing if you like, one part un greenhoused but irrigated on a program to suit, as and when needed. And the third is irrigated and in the green house. It’s going to be around 0.3 hector with approximately 1800 plants that produce 3000lb of coffee.

Green House

The reason to put it in a greenhouse is to control the environment. If it gets too hot then you water and open up the sides, if it gets too cold you drop the sides and use the solar energy to heat the greenhouse. Not enough rain – turn on the water. Need to add feed – turn on the nutrients.

I think it’s an exciting and interesting experiment to see if the environment has an impact on the final cup, having the test sample and the irrigated sample makes it twice as interesting.

Carmilo

As you can see by the photos, there are no coffee plants in yet, but this is happening in the next 20 days, so in two years’ time we will see if this works or not.

I’ve seen the future and it’s made of rubber tube.

Rubber Tube

The training room was that of viva Espresso, an independent group of shops in San Salvador doing amazing work. I first found their shop on my trip in 2007 and their wonderful owner Frederico Bolaños, and was blown away with the shop. I also got to meet Lili Pacas, who was the champion who would go to Copenhagen for the World Barista Championships in 2008.

Since then I have had fond memories of the shop and the team there. I have since kept a close eye on their exploits and they have held the national title ever since.

In London last year I got to meet Frederico and the 2010 champion Alejandro Mendez who I really liked. He was super charming and super talented, and one of the true highlights of the competition for me was meeting these two.

Because of the wonderful internet, I’ve exchanged tweets and emails with Frederico and it’s great to have friends over the ocean.

So on the Tuesday I was invited to a run through of the three competitors from the shop, for feedback advice and to help them run through the performance.

So the three were Daniel Méndez, Flor de María Góchez (2009 el Salvador Champ and finished 9th in the world championships in Atlanta) and Alejandro Méndez (2010 El Salvador Champion and has made the semis of the world championships finishing 11th overall).

The performances were amazing, like truly amazing. I didn’t have to say this, but I felt all three could have competed on a very high stage, with the sig drinks being amazing.

But there was another reason to be there. Because of meeting Alejandro in London, he asked if I could roast the coffee for him for his national competition. Not because of anything we can do better than them (the quality of roast from both the other guys was amazing) but to show the international reach of great El Salvador, and how coffee has brought new friends to know of what they are doing in San Salvador.

Honoured to be asked to help, I took the coffee in my luggage (we sent some out earlier to make sure he was happy with fedex) and with a blend of Coffees from La Iluison, Alejandro only went and won! So off to Bogata in the World Barista Championships in June.

So proud of the guys asking us to be involved and so pleased that I decided to roast for competition again this year, I would have been gutted to miss out on the feeling I got when I heard that Alejandro had won, that’s very special. Also because of competition I’ve got to make great friends like Frederico.

This one was in Chapada Diamantina, in the city of Piatã, Bahia, Mr. Antônio Rigno was kind enough to meet us and show us around even though it was a last minute thing. This was not part of the planned trip, but as I found out driving into the middle of Piata you can just find people, Antônio’s house is just around the corner from the shop João Florentino Barbosa from Cerca de Pedra owns, the coffee world is a very small world in Piata.

The farm it self was a model farm, with amazing amenities, beautifully laid out, well looked after and maintained machinery, it was a model farm. Antônio told us this harvest had been even better this year and that they were hopeful that quality would be even higher.

A super coffee we hope to see back next year for a third year, we cross our fingers

OK some some numbers

Farm: Chacara São Judas Tadeu
Farmer: Antonio Rigno De Oliveira
City: Piata
Region: Bahia
Country: Brazil
Farm Size: 35.00 Hectares
Coffee growing area: 15.00 Hectares
Altitude: 1150
Certification: None
Variety: Catuaí
Processing System: Pulped Natural

So I spent last week in Oslo participating in the Nordic Roasters cup and the Nordic Barista cup. I’ve been back a few days now, had time to compose my thoughts and thought I would share them here.

To help me to do this I’ve broken it down into the important sections I see this event brings, its such a big topic it will help me focus my mind

1.The people.

This is the biggest and best thing about NBC and NRC. You get a chance to spend time with the great and the good or Scandinavia. Now this is a very broad brush I wave about but there seems to be very little ego from these guys. Small and large roasters brush shoulders, the top baristas share and spend time with the newbies. So many friends but team Norway of Uda and Rasmus and the team gave me the wonderful warm welcome I recvied in Iceland last year. Two people who are amazing baristas and amazing friends (and the team were cool too but these two need special praise)

Tim Wendleboe and Tim Varney were legends, nothing too much and time a plenty, much love to Tim and Tim. The roasting team of solburg and Hansen were too cool for school. Had an amazing moment where one of the guys at Solburg came up to me and told me they got into coffee watching in my mug, and now they are working in coffee. All the team were amazing, nothing too much trouble.

Was great to catch up with Thompson Owen a legend and my hero, the highlight (sorry everyone else but its a special love) he really is one of the nicest guys in coffee, and one of the most knowledgeable. If I understand half he does by the end of my career then I think I will have done ok. Never sure it Tom is pleased to see me or petrified of my craziness. Either way I enjoy chating to him so much.

Everyone is your friend for four days and everyone has time for you, the anti coffee conference an antidote for all the horrors that Cafe Culture can throw at you.

2.The presentations

The presentations I kind of knew what would be interesting from the program, and I knew that some of them were not for me. To listen to George Howell the godfather of the Cup of Excellence is always privilege and someone I would pay good money to listen to.

Tim Wendleboes talk I was not so confident of, but proved to be one of the best, super interesting and put across very very well.

Stephen Vick from the US brought some great experience to the proceedings and again one I was not sure I would enjoy but really did.

But the real highlight was Mr Vince Fedele was stunning, I could have listened for hours but we had just an hour to take in so much information it hurt. My head had more questions that I started with but a sign of a great presentation I think.

So much knowledge shared by such greats, what a week of learning.

3.the social scene

WOW do nords know how to party, I have never seen such desire to party drink. I am known for my desire to party but they beat me every night. The hospitality was second to non. Some great beers great food and great company, this is where the knowledge is shared, and discussions happen.

A great week, great times good friends, good educations sessions and great beers. If only every week was like this