Finally we are working closely with Natalie and Kevin. Kevin is probably the most passionate person I have ever met. He jumps up and down everytime he drinks a shot. I LOVE IT! We are lucky enough to work with them and I am so happy that they took in some advice I gave them with regards to the layout and setup of their really cool coffee shop. I suggested to have a hole in the wall behind the espresso machine so you can fill up the machine with cups from the back where the kitchen is. This saves a lot of time and makes things a lot easier. It works a treat and it is just fantastic to be part of people’s businesses like this. It makes me enjoy my job even more! There will also be freshly ground filter coffee which will change with regurarly and each coffee is of course carefully produces and ground fresh to order. Natalie is already pouring bears on top of the coffees They also have a hole in the wall (with shutters) to off load dirty cups directly into the washing up area. The idea is that you never have to go behind the counter with cups. On another note. We are just using up the last of the Blend & Roast of Ethiopia and Brazil and tomorrow Ruth and I will roast the new batch. It is going to be of Brazil, Colombia and Java and will be very tasty.

A few people were asking on twitter about my iced coffee method (technique seems a little too much promise for something so simple). I’m still trying to work out cold brewing (i.e. brewing using cold water), and since I read Peter Giuliano talking about the Japanese iced coffee method that has been a method of choice. The idea with this is to brew double strength coffee straight onto ice. As the ice melts it chills and dilutes the coffee back to more normal strengths. Often this is done with pourover or filter brewers. The problem I had with this is that as you double the amount of coffee to your amount of water then it is going to be harder to properly extract it as you have less brewing liquid. You can certainly grind finer but I found the window of tasty a bit too narrow. So recently I’ve been starting with a french press brew. I like the french press for this because it isn’t as sensitive to dose because it is an infusion rather than a percolation. You have a better chance of hitting a 19% extraction (in my very limited experience) with less brew water available, when working at very high ratios (120g/l). However, I don’t really like sludge in my iced coffee. So I’ve chosen to filter it before it hits the ice. So for now here is the recipe I used today to make coffee for all of us in a very hot roastery: - 80g of coffee ground coarsely. (But not too coarsely) - Add 660g of hot water (around 92-93C is good) I’d recommend preheating the brewer as normal. - A quick stir then a 4 minute steep. You could steep for longer if your grind is coarser but the heat loss starts to bother me. - At 4 minutes stir the crust on top, then scoop off the remaining foam. It may seem pointless to go through this if the brew is going to be filtered anyway – but you want the least possible fines to block the cloth and let that part be as quick as possible. - Plunge and leave for a moment. Again – fines settle and are less likely to clog up the cloth. - Find a large vessel, and add 660g of ice. - Find a clean cloth, like those used in woodneck drip pots. - Pour the press pot through the cloth directly onto the ice. - Clean the cloth. Clean the press pot. Enjoy the coffee. You could use a paper filter to clean up the brew – a V60 or Chemex filter maybe. I love cloth though – I love a cloth pourover already. I love the enhanced mouthfeel and intensity – had a lovely, juicy sweet cup today that I really enjoyed. I quite fancy playing with the aeropress next, which I haven’t really done with cold/iced coffee. Thoughts?

Just one sample bag (…for now!), which lasted for just the first hour and a half of the day today. Spent the brief time with this Kenyan single estate espresso dancing back and forth with the grind a little to try to get it at its best, and tasting some really exciting shots! One customer who I made a double shot latte for whilst it was in the grinder came back later in the day for more, describing it as ‘orgasmic’, and was most disappointed at its disappearance!! I guess there can be no greater endorsement of a coffee than that! Maybe it will return for a day or so …SOON!

If you aren’t already reading/subscribing to David Walsh’s blog then this post should be incentive enough. The Other Black Stuff – At odds with unevenness We should (as suggested on twitter) try to convince David to join the coffee world, because if someone outside of coffee can teach us this much and share this much then think what would be possible if this were his day job!

In this weeks in my mug I talked about Leaf rust (roya) and the problems its causing on Colombia at the moment. 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

OK sorry for the slight delay in finishing off this blog diary, its a few weeks now since I left Bolivia but still in my mind its incredibly fresh. Day 5 was leaving the farm and going back to La Paz to see the milling / warehousing and to enjoy a cupping. How To Write A Screenplay The exporters anditradecoffee who were my hosts on the trip, were amazing, they put together an awesome program for me and I am incredibly grateful to them. This day was all about seeing what they do and visiting there facility. It was also a chance to cup some new crop coffees that was very exciting. The offices are in the main down town part of the city very close to the hotel that I was stopping at. The warehouse / mill is in El Alto which is very close to the airport. This is at 4000 meters above sea level and here you can really feel it, the air is very thin. So thin that when you are coming in to land you just do not slow down when you hit the runway and when taking off its the longest run, because the air is so thin. Now all of this altitude talk is going somewhere, cupping at this altitude effect the extraction of the coffee and perceptions of the coffee. Also as silly as it sounds by slurping the coffee it effects breathing (although not in a big way) all these things come together and you have to keep in mind. But before the cupping a tour of the mill and a chance to see the new crop Machacarmarca thats waiting to be packed and loaded (at least 6-8 weeks till this will happen at the soonest). Everything here is hand sorted to make sure only the best coffee goes through to our cups. The facility is amazingly clean and tidy and really smart. This is equally important as the farm doing a good job in the chain. Dallas Auto Insurance The cupping was great fun, a bling table, and hidden on the table of eight I knew the new crop Machacarmarca was there, the rest were new coffees for me to take a look at. From the table number one, two and three were all very solid good coffees but very simular in profile and taste, were all from the same farm, just different sections, very pleased they scored 85 86 and 85. Number 4 was very solid 87 and again from the same region as the first three. Number 5 and 6 were amazing, like 92 and 94 amazing, really good but similar, from the same farm just two lots that I liked a lot and we are hoping to secure for this year. The last two posed a problem I knew by this point one of them had to be the Machacarmarca but I couldn’t decide so I said both in the end. It turned out they tried to play a trick on me and placed it on twice. Feeling very smug with my self we all really agreed on our cupping scores. But another example of how good Bolivian coffee can be. Lounges So the end of the trip, and a great one at that, good people good coffee, and for me the best coffee trip I have ever had, by a long stick, I love this place.