Has Blog

How to store your coffee beans

Has Bean steve — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:41:50 +0000

I get many e-mails every day. By far the most frequent question is “how should I store my coffee?”

So in a way only Has Bean can, we made a video staring me (Stephen Leighton) and him (Dale Haris).

I have to say Dale was completely bullied into making this, much against his better judgement, and I apologise to him and his family for the disgrace I have brought upon them.

Enjoy

Ethiopian coffee and the ECX

Has Bean steve — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 08:18:25 +0000

So I got asked to write an article by Fresh Cup Magazine (a US coffee publication) on Ethiopian coffee and the ECX. It was in last months edition, so I thought that I would share it with you here now, I hope you enjoy

How Ethiopia is stonewalling specialty buyers by Stephen Leighton

Ethiopia is one of the finest producers of specialty coffee in the world, and it’s the original, natural home of the coffee plant. But while the country is steeped in history, it has lately also become steeped in controversy and red tape.
Coffee continues to be one of Ethiopia’s top exports, but its significance is now at an all-time low. In a contradictory development, coffee exports reached the highest-ever level in monetary terms in 2009 ($528 million), while at the same time falling to the lowest-ever share in Ethiopia’s total exports, at just 26 percent. This shows Ethiopia as the developing nation that it is, weaning itself from the dependency of coffee it has had for most of its recent history. It’s an understandable desire from the country, but the country’s move to better organize itself is having a dangerous repercussion: It’s essentially alienating the very buyers who most appreciate the country’s wondrous selection of beans.

Change for the better?
In recent years, Ethiopia’s government has done many things to try to formalize the way its exports and commodities are handled, and it has done so with items such as wheat, maize and sesame. It was only a matter of time until the country’s coffee industry jumped on board, and regulations came down in 2008.
The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (the ECX) launched around that time to benefit and modernize the way Ethiopia was trading this valuable asset. The claim was that Ethiopia needed a change from the traditional means of trading to better support the needs of all those involved in the trading and production of coffee.
For Ethiopian coffee, 2008 was a very interesting time for a number of reasons. Firstly, there was the emergence of some very special coffees that were getting an awful lot of attention. The much-loved Idido Misty Valley and Beloya coffees, for example, both rose to prominence that year.
There was also a lot of noise made about intellectual property of coffee regions. It looked like Ethiopia and the ECX were trying to position themselves for a fight—but it turned out they had disappointing motives. Soon enough, the country started putting distance between great coffees and the specialty industry, choosing to work mainly with bigger roasters instead.

The ECX model
Here’s the layman’s version of the ECX process: A single farmer or akrabi (someone who buys coffee from small producers) is only allowed to sell his coffee through the exchange. Navigating around this system is impossible unless you are a formalized cooperative union.
Once the coffee is delivered to the ECX warehouse, the coffee is stripped of its provenance, graded by government workers using the Q System, and given a region and a marking grade. This is where things get a bit tough to follow. Washed coffees are classified Grade 1, Grade 2 or Grade 3. Naturally processed coffees (those dried with the fruit still on) are marked Grade 4 and Grade 5. This classification system gets even more complicated thanks to the fact that you can have a Grade 1 or 2 natural from southern parts of Ethiopia.
The grade relates to the cup’s profile, and because coffees are stripped of their provenance, this can lead to misleading categorizations. For example, if a Sidamo has the floral, lemon-like acidity typically found in a Yirgacheffe, it will be graded a Yirgacheffe. In general, the grade relates to quality—a Grade 1 is meant to be the best, but I have found some stunning coffees classified Grade 3.
The officials at the warehouse are the only people allowed to taste the coffee until it is bought and paid for (more about that in a moment). The details about each coffee are entered into a computer system, and shortly thereafter the coffee is offered on a trading floor that is essentially a smaller version of what you might see on Wall Street. The buyer knows if he’s buying a (supposed) Yirgacheffe or a Djimma, and he knows the grade the coffee’s been assigned by Q Grader government officials. Then he has to agree on a price for this coffee with the seller on the trading floor. Buyers can only enter the trading floor if they prove they have an account with enough money in it to buy the coffee. Once they agree on a deal, the money is transferred by the ECX from the buyer’s account to the seller’s within 48 hours.

Highs and lows
Because the ECX is often criticized, let’s highlight some of its good points. First, farmers get their money quickly. In other coffee-buying situations, unscrupulous exporters have been known to take their time to pay or sometimes don’t pay at all, giving the beginning of the chain a bum deal. Also, poor-quality coffees are sold as poor quality through the ECX, and those lower quality beans are sold for use inside Ethiopia only. That setup means the international market will not be flooded with cheap coffee that could damage the name of Ethiopia.
Finally, because all transactions go through the exchange, it’s impossible for traders to lie on export documentation about quality and prices paid. That means the government receives the proper amount of money from each transaction, which I think is important for a developing nation trying to improve the life of its people.
But the negative aspects of the ECX are severely weighing down the country’s industry. I understand that removing a coffee’s provenance helps it sell at the ECX (by helping to remove some manipulation of prices), but keeping that information secret once it’s purchased seems nonsensical to me. Separating buyers from cupping lots and forcing them to rely on the government’s Q Graders takes away one of the key elements of buying coffee: actually tasting it.
What’s more, the system adds unnecessary red tape, forms, paper and a whole heap of extra work for exporters, producers and the officials themselves. The insistence that specialty coffee is such a small part of the buying market that its needs don’t matter seems very shortsighted and almost petulant of Ethiopia. I think the road they have begun going down is pushing specialty buyers away from Ethiopia’s amazing coffees. In so doing, the country is in danger of becoming reliant on the huge firms that have controlled the New York commodity-trading market for many years—it’s these companies that have typically kept prices just above the cost of coffee production.
The anti-specialty trend has continued with the recent announcement that the country will stop using jute bags in favor of “bladders” inside containers. The bladders are essentially composed of four large bags inside a box, with the coffee blown into the bags in the container. Traditionally, these have only been used in the playground of bigger commodity buyers, and it’s another signal that Ethiopia doesn’t want exporters to sell to the specialty market. Because of their size (40,000 pounds), bladders are only practical when shipping generic mixed lots. The average micro-roaster likely cannot buy that much coffee and certainly can’t store it.
The no-jute policy was announced the week I was in Ethiopia on a buying trip. When one of the exporters told the news to my colleagues and me, we were shocked. The exporter theorized that it was a move by the government to crush the private exporter and give more power to the cooperative unions. There is a general feeling among exporters I spoke to on that trip that the main strategy of the government and ECX is to cut those private players out of the coffee chain. The government ultimately decided to withdraw the rule because of pressure from exporters, but I won’t be surprised if we see officials try to implement it again.

Survival tips
Despite all the difficulties standing in front of small buyers who want great Ehtiopian coffee, there are some ways for you to get around ECX issues such as loss of provenance and still buy effectively. Here are some tricks:
– It’s vital that you work with an importer/exporter who has people on the ground. While the provenance will still be removed, it will often possible for a savvy exporter to find out more about the coffee based on when was entered into the auction. Buyers and sellers know each other, and most local buyers know when certain washing stations delivered their goods to the ECX—it doesn’t take much sleuthing for them to then deduce some key info such as varietal, process and cup profile.
– Cooperative union coffees maintain lots of the provenance but will still be sold as a Grade 2 Yirgacheffe or a Grade 1 Sidamo. Ask whether there is any more information to be had.
– Grade 1 coffees come with more localized information and sub-region names; the government decided more details could be given out about Grade 1 coffees, even though the washing station info is stripped from them. Either way, this extra dose of info has led to an explosion of previously unheralded names like Guji, Shakiso and Borana.
As always, the cup profile remains the most important part of this process, and we can all agree the potential of Ethiopia in the flavor arena is greater than that of anywhere else. I just hope they find the desire to achieve that potential.

The oscars, the award ceremony

Has Bean steve — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:02:55 +0000

So don your tuxedo, borrow the diamonds, and frock up for the first ever Has Bean Coffee Oscar awards.

Voted by you the public, here are the categories:

Best In My Mug
Best “the other category”
Best Brew Guide
Best Wholesale Video

Best In My Mug category: strongly contested, with In My Mug now in its 175th guise, so more to choose from and more bloopers to endear to the heart. But the runaway winner with over 44% of the vote – it’s episode 167, filmed on Finca Alaska in El Salvador.

http://www.inmymug.com/?p=677

Best “the other category”: videos that don’t fit into any other category; the one offs, the fun videos. The uncontested outright winner with a whopping 69% of the votes is the roastery tour!!!

http://www.hasblog.co.uk/the-roastery-tour-video

Best Wholesale Video: this was conclusive again. The three other contenders all had the same numbers of votes in, but with 51% of the vote the award goes to Fairer Than That. A shock result for me, but a very happy one.

http://fairerthanthat.com/

Best Brew Guide: some tough competition here, with the Chemex and the cupping guides both doing well. But again, the result’s clear and decisive, and with 52% of the votes it’s the first guide we did: the Aeropress video.

http://www.hasblog.co.uk/a-brewing-guide-episode-1-aeropress

So there we have it – the Has Bean Oscars.

Washed Coffee

Has Bean steve — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:33:27 +0000

I get asked the question a lot of the time what is washed coffee.

The problem is its as broad as it is wide as a term, and means many things to many people. But with our incredibly talented techie people we have put together a basic washed coffee guide.

Now for those in the know, yes there are many variations, and yes it changes from country to country, but this is an introduction into the whole process

I’m very very happy with it. I hope you enjoy

The Oscars

Has Bean steve — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:26:04 +0000

So its oscars night, and today we have the Has Bean coffee Oscars night. Awards given for the amazingness of Has Bean Videos

There is a serious side to this, its good to get feedback on what you like and what from our videos, but also a bit of fun too

So the categories are

Best Blend Ad

Best In My Mug

Best Wholesale Video

Best Brew Guide

There is a vote button at the bottom so please leave your mark. Results will be next week (the 5th of March 2012)

Best Blend Ad

Jailbreak

Kicker

Jabberwocky

Blake

Breakfast Bomb

Philter

Best in my mug

So I chose 4 of my favourite in my mugs for you to choose from

In My Mug Episode 167

In My mug Episode 161

In My mug episode 150

In My mug episode 142

In My Mug Episode 119

Best Wholesale video

What we do

how we do

the result

Fairer than that

Best Brew Guide

Aeropress

Cascara

chemex

cupping guide

eva solo

french press

Others

Christmas Card

In My roastery Number 1

the Road to Yirgacheffe

Roastery Tour

Wholesale Outtakes

To Vote Click here (you will need to let a pop up happen)

The Roastery Tour Video

Has Bean steve — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:26:54 +0000

Lots of people ask us how were settling into the new roastery, and they would like to know more about where we roast and the people here.

The ideal would be to show people around (and in the spring / summer we will have an open day) but its impractical, its a working environment, food prep area and not somewhere you can have people walking through.

So my love of video, has lead me to this, our new video The Has Bean Coffee Roastery Tour. This will give you an insight to the team, where we work and what we do. Also that we have some fun while we do it too.

We also bought a fancy domainname roasterytour.com

7 days 7 coffees mk 2 day 7

Has Bean steve — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:44:32 +0000

So we reach the summit again. I promised you 7 coffees in 7 days (after the previous 7 coffees in 7 days) and you have them all. I thought I would finish with a stormer !!

From the same farm as two of the others added, this is like its brothers amazing, but also uniquely different too. Any way read on.

Introducing a coffee we have seen before, but this time it joins us as a UK exclusive and direct trade offering, and one I am very happy to have in that stable.

The story starts back in 2009 when it seemed like we had been searching for a great Colombian coffee forever. This had been much harder than it should have been, with Colombian yields massively down and lots of the coffee being hoovered up by people with big pockets who just need to have a Colombian, regardless of the quality.

We stocked the 2009 Typica crop from the Mirador region of this farm and it was only a small lot, but it was so popular and so enjoyed that it was gone in two and a half weeks. We had expected it would last until the new crop was due to arrive, many weeks later. So we stocked a good amount of it last year (and it still flew out the door). So I am very pleased to get some of the Typica al be it from a different section Galpon.

The farm has become a favourite farm and producer. But this year we found out from Camilo that the importer would not be bringing in the coffee and all the hard work, searching, and cupping would be wasted. So cue the music and a flight to Colombia (tagged on to the start of my trip to the World Barista Championships); I flew out to see Camilo and to try to fix this.

A few days with Camilo and you realise that he is the future of the Colombian coffee industry. I’ll try and quantify that statement; for years Colombia has had a great reputation, and has achieved great prices (even when markets were low the Colombian differential was always high). But changes in climate and issues with plant diseases (leaf rust is a huge problem in Colombia) have put pressure on yields, and so put pressure on farms to change traditional plant stock for that of more disease resistant strains such as Castillo, Catimore, and Colombia. The problem with this is that these varietals don’t take into account what’s important to me: how it tastes.

Camilo is working with varietals purely for their intrinsic taste values and to make the best farm; not just in the region or in Colombia, but the world. He is constantly asking questions, working with interesting irrigation ideas to work against the change in climate, even building a giant greenhouse for an experimental lot of growing coffee under cover.

This crazy approach to growing coffee is nothing new to Camilo; he bought land that Santuario now sits on, before it had any coffee on it at all. The land had previously been grazing ground for cattle. It was barren and in a rather bad way, but it seemed there was potential for great Colombian coffee to be grown. With an altitude of 1800-2100 metres, low temperatures at night (but not too low), and high temperatures during the day (again not too high), the land had possibilities. With active agronomy, soil management, and careful varietal selection, this farm is now one of the most amazing coffee experiments I have seen. If I were to build a farm (and one day I hope this will happen), this would be the model I would follow. Camilo has selected Typica and Bourbon as the main crop (80%) and experimental lots of Geisha, Maragogype, and Mocha (20%). You can see by the map below that this farm has been meticulously planned and every piece designed to fit in with each other. With further plans to extend the varietal stock and build a wet mill, this farm will continue to become a benchmark for farm design, and to show that quality coffee can achieve the premiums that are needed to maintain this style of farm.

So, in the cup this Typica has a far bigger sweetness compared to that the Bourbon. This is sweet milk chocolate, with a more subdued acidity which is still present but just the volume of turned down. Stoned fruit but this time apricot and there is also a hint of a vanilla pod in the aftertaste that’s a real delight. I said this last year but both of these varietals, the Typica and Bourbon, are amongst some of the most complex tasting coffees I have ever cupped.

Coffee:    Finca Santuario Galpon Typica Bourbon
Farm:        Finca Santuario Heliconias
Varietal(s):     100% Typica
Processing:     Washed
Altitude: This lot 2050 metres above sea level rest of farm (1890 – 2010)
Farm Size: 135.4 hectares
Coffee growing size: 62.9 Hectares
Owner:     Camilo Merizald
City:        Cali
Region:     Cauca
Country:    Colombia

You can buy it here

7 days 7 coffees mk 2 day 6

Has Bean steve — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:18:19 +0000

Time to shake it up with a blend rebuild. Gutted that mark one ran out so quickly. But we are running super low on one of the components, so its a matter of having to. The journey starts trying out some things, and this I think this is an improvement.

This one will be around for a while.

This has gotten replaced way too quick this time, and I am sorry but I think you will think its worth it.

Has Bean Premium Blend became so important to Has Bean, but we didn’t like the name. It infers that everything else is not premium, and of course it all is. I decided it was time for a revamp to make all the blends a little more fun. So now we have ‘Jailbreak’ (a replacement for the Premium and Has Bean Espresso Blends). This is our house blend that we think is perfect for everyone from the home user right through to the best commercial espresso machines. There is a reason for the name, and I am sure lots of people will get it. It has lots to do with how I got into coffee.

For me a roaster’s espresso blend for home users should be:

1. Good with other brew methods as well as with espresso. This saves customers from needing to have two different blends to hand, which is particularly useful for those who do not get through them very quickly.

2. Good in a cheaper home machine as well as a top of the range commercial machine.

3. Good across a range of temperatures and extraction times; it should be forgiving.

4. Just totally tasty.

This blend does all that and more.

We are very proud of what we do here at Has Bean Coffee. Some roasters will pretend that there is a dark art in blending. We think that good ingredients make a good blend when you think about what you want to achieve. We also don’t keep secrets; our blend contains 100% great quality coffee from some of the best single estates in the world and we are happy to tell you all about them. Jailbreak consists of:

(50%) Bolivia Loayza

(30%) Colombia Oporapa

(20%) Peru Café Verde Cusco Organic 2012

These are premium coffees that on their own are amazing single origin coffees, but as a blend bring sweetness, acidity, body and all around deliciousness.

You can buy it here

7 days 7 coffees mk 2 day 5

Has Bean steve — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:57:28 +0000

These weeks fly by, but some killer coffees coming through. So This may sound a little familiar and yes the write up is the same as yesterdays wonderful (but expensive yellow bourbon). Good news this is its more reasonably priced brother and is equally as special.

This is the second year of this coffee, and well I say enough in the write up so enjoy.

Introducing a coffee we have seen before, but this time as a UK exclusive and direct trade offering, and one I am very happy to have in that stable.

The story starts back in 2009 when it seemed like we had been searching for great Colombian for ever. This had been much harder than it should have been, with Colombian yields massively down and lots of the coffee being hoovered up by people with big pockets who just need to have a Colombian, regardless of the quality.

We stocked the 2009 Tipica crop from this farm and it was only a small lot, but so popular and so enjoyed that it was gone in two and a half weeks. We had expected it would last until the new crop would arrive many weeks later. So we stocked a good amount of it last year (and still flew out the door), its become a favourite farm and producer.

But this year we found out from Camilo that the importer would not be bringing in the coffee, and all the hard work, searching and cupping would be wasted. So cue the music and a flight to Colombia, (tagged on to the start of my trip to the World Barista Championships) I flew out to see Camilo and to try to fix this.

A few days will Camilo you realise that he is the future of the colombian coffee industry. I’ll try and quantify that staement, for years colombia has had a great reputation, and has achieved great prices (even when markets were low the colombian differential was always high). But changes in climate and issues with plant diseases (leaf rust is a huge problem in colombia) have put pressure on yields and pressure to change traditional plant stock for that of more disease resistant strains such as castillo, catimore and colombia. The problem with this is that these varietals don’t take into account whats important to me, how it tastes. Camilo is working with varietals purely for their intrinsic taste values, and to make the best farm, not just in region or colombia but the world.He is constantly asking questions, working with interesting irrigation ideas to work against the change in climate, even building a giant greenhouse for an experimental lot of growing coffee under cover.

This crazy approach to growing coffee is nothing new to Camilo, he bought land that Santuario now sits on, without any coffee on it at all. The land had previously been grazing, for cattle. It was barren and in a rather bad way, but it seemed there was potential for great Colombian coffee to be grown. With an altitude of 1800-2100 metres, low temperatures at night (but not too low), and high temperatures during the day (again not too high), the land had possibilities.

With active agronomy, soil management and careful varietal selection, this farm is now one of the most amazing coffee experiments I have seen. If I were to build a farm ( and one day I hope this will happen), this would be the model I would follow. Camilo has selected Tipica and Bourbon as the main crop (80%) and experimental lots of Geisha, Maragogype and Mocha (20%). You can see by the map below that this farm has been meticulously planned and every piece designed to fit in with each other.

With further plans to extend the varietal stock and build a wet mill, this farm will continue to become a benchmark for farm design, and to show that quality coffee can achieve the premiums that are needed to maintain this style of farm.

In the cup you can expect very clean and very elegant sweetness with bakers chocolate and a brown sugar, which develops into a lovely plum like acidity. The complex aftertaste and smooth body are what makes this coffee so special and unique carrying on and on.

Coffee:    Finca Santuario Heliconias Bourbon
Farm:        Finca Santuario Heliconias
Varietal(s):     100% Bourbon
Processing:     Washed
Altitude: This lot 2050 metres above sea level rest of farm (1890 – 2010)
Farm Size: 135.4 hectares
Coffee growing size: 62.9 Hectares
Owner:     Camilo Merizald
City:        Cali
Region:     Cauca
Country:    Colombia

You can buy it here

7 days 7 coffees mk 2 day 4

Has Bean steve — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:05:58 +0000

So spluttering into day 4 (over half way) a special coffee for special occasions. Maybe not one for drinking every day (but tomorrows will help with that) but one that you just have to try (preferably with tomorrows). Exceptional coffee that I am proud to have here.

Introducing a coffee we have seen before, but this time as a UK exclusive and direct trade offering, and one I am very happy to have in that stable.

The story starts back in 2009 when it seemed like we had been searching for great Colombian for ever. This had been much harder than it should have been, with Colombian yields massively down and lots of the coffee being hoovered up by people with big pockets who just need to have a Colombian, regardless of the quality.

We stocked the 2009 Tipica crop from this farm and it was only a small lot, but so popular and so enjoyed that it was gone in two and a half weeks. We had expected it would last until the new crop would arrive many weeks later. So we stocked a good amount of it last year (and still flew out the door), its become a favourite farm and producer.

But this year we found out from Camilo that the importer would not be bringing in the coffee, and all the hard work, searching and cupping would be wasted. So cue the music and a flight to Colombia, (tagged on to the start of my trip to the World Barista Championships) I flew out to see Camilo and to try to fix this.

A few days will Camilo you realise that he is the future of the colombian coffee industry. I’ll try and quantify that staement, for years colombia has had a great reputation, and has achieved great prices (even when markets were low the colombian differential was always high). But changes in climate and issues with plant diseases (leaf rust is a huge problem in colombia) have put pressure on yields and pressure to change traditional plant stock for that of more disease resistant strains such as castillo, catimore and colombia. The problem with this is that these varietals don’t take into account whats important to me, how it tastes. Camilo is working with varietals purely for their intrinsic taste values, and to make the best farm, not just in region or colombia but the world.He is constantly asking questions, working with interesting irrigation ideas to work against the change in climate, even building a giant greenhouse for an experimental lot of growing coffee under cover.

This crazy approach to growing coffee is nothing new to Camilo, he bought land that Santuario now sits on, without any coffee on it at all. The land had previously been grazing, for cattle. It was barren and in a rather bad way, but it seemed there was potential for great Colombian coffee to be grown. With an altitude of 1800-2100 metres, low temperatures at night (but not too low), and high temperatures during the day (again not too high), the land had possibilities.

With active agronomy, soil management and careful varietal selection, this farm is now one of the most amazing coffee experiments I have seen. If I were to build a farm ( and one day I hope this will happen), this would be the model I would follow. Camilo has selected Tipica and Bourbon as the main crop (80%) and experimental lots of Geisha, Maragogype and Mocha (20%). You can see by the map below that this farm has been meticulously planned and every piece designed to fit in with each other.

With further plans to extend the varietal stock and build a wet mill, this farm will continue to become a benchmark for farm design, and to show that quality coffee can achieve the premiums that are needed to maintain this style of farm.

In the cup its hard to talk about this one, without talking about its larger lot sized (and cheaper) red brother. Like the red you can expect very clean and very elegant sweetness with bakers chocolate and a brown sugar, which develops into a lovely plum like acidity. Where it changes and grows is in its magnification. Everything gets a little big bigger a little more defined, but what is different is the mouthfeel, creamy, liquid velvet wraps it up quite nicely.

Coffee:    Finca Santuario Heliconias Bourbon
Farm:        Finca Santuario Heliconias
Varietal(s):     100% Bourbon
Processing:     Washed
Altitude: This lot 2050 metres above sea level rest of farm (1890 – 2010)
Farm Size: 135.4 hectares
Coffee growing size: 62.9 Hectares
Owner:     Camilo Merizald
City:        Cali
Region:     Cauca
Country:    Colombia

You can buy it here