Source Trips

In the last few weeks, we’ve been all over Central America where the harvest is in full swing. Aleco and Ryan were in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, seeing all our good buddies at this critical time for their farms. We’ve spent these weeks observing peak harvest throughout the region and are impressed with how each of our producers elevated quality, building upon last year’s lots.

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El Injerto, El Puente and Montes De Oro are producing more memorable coffees than ever thanks to collaboration and improvements on the farm level. Since last year, El Puente constructed soaking tanks on site to enhance acidity after the washing stage. El Injerto is producing a ‘special prep’ Bourbon lot just for Stumptown and we are confident all you ‘Bourbon drinkers’ out there will notice the difference. As always, the second leg of the journey toward a phenomenal harvest involves endless cupping – wading through the hundreds of day lot samples to construct the best of the best among every farm we buy from. You may see some other folks offering coffee from these farms. It’s worth mentioning that the lots coming to Stumptown have been hand picked, thanks in no small part to the work of Jim, Javier and our Quality Control team.

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Looking back at the last couple of months, whether spending a month straight in Colombia or a combined month in Ethiopia, we are in a critical moment to ensure our supply chains remain intact. It is easier than ever for farmers to deliver poor cherry in return for a good price. It is, simply put, a nerve-racking time, as world prices effect everything.

We have some amazing new projects in Ethiopia, particularly Western Ethiopia, where we are working with a non-profit funded by the Gates Foundation. They helped finance co-operatives in the west with processing equipment (small scale Penagos style machinery to alleviate the water-deprived areas). By using this type of equipment you save about 40% water. As a result, these folks are washing coffee for the first time ever. This is also the same place where Arabica coffee originated. We’ve spent weeks out there, making this one of Stumptown’s biggest projects at origin. As a result, we are sourcing some of the finest quality we have ever tasted out of Ethiopia (and the world).

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In Kenya, as a result of the market, we are paying the highest prices we have ever seen in order to continue to get the gems from one of the world’s best coffee producing countries. Proudly, a lot of our work in Kenya has continued to pay off and we are “going back to the well” of our Direct Trade relationships. This spring you will see the return of some our long time favorites: Gaturiri, Ngunguru, Tegu, Gatomboya and Kangunu. We’ve spent so much time in Kenya this year, we took our partners Trevor and Autumn (one of our long time employees) to film the experience and work that goes into getting these coffees to you… See it here…

Harvest. It’s what drives the Green Coffee Department here at Stumptown, and in turn, our roasting company. Everything we do is in anticipation of a harvest, when we get to evaluate the success of everyone’s work, pushing ourselves and our producers to new heights in quality and inviting our customers to share in the uniquely delicious coffee that results.

If the waiting was killing us, we were lucky this year, as early rains in Central America last year triggered an early harvest, shifting most harvests a month early. Nervousness that a pumped up market might discourage our producers from delivering exceptional quality did not bear out, and the Green Coffee Department has been exchanging sheepish grins and whisperings that this could be a harvest for the ages. What I’m trying to say is: THE COFFEE WILL BE AMAZING.

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But enough of this generalizing–you want the details, and we got ‘em. The season kicked off in the waning days of November in Kenya, Aleco and I boarding our plane with belts expanded and burping pumpkin pie. We spent a lot of time with Ngunguru and Gaturiri, and also visited with Karindundu, Karatina, Gatomboya, Tegu and Kagumoini. In short time, Aleco had cupped hundreds of samples and found three that immediately stood out–a delicate but gorgeous lot from Tegu, lush with tropical fruit notes and navel orange, a balanced, articulated lot from Kagumoini with flavors of honey and lime, and a juicy Ngunguru laden with blackberry and lemon cake. It was an invigorating way to start the season, and we left optimistic about at least one country on the menu.

I took off for a quick trip to El Salvador in developing a relationship with a group in Metapan, and joined Aleco in Costa Rica to visit with Helsar de Zarcero, Torres Villalobos, Marvin Robles, Montes de Oro, Verde Alto, Brumas del Zurqui, Don Mayo, (I’m sure I’m missing some here). In the early days of harvest, we were pleased with the ripe, red cherry being picked and the clean processing at the mills. While it was too early to cup many of these, we were able to further justify our long relationship with Emilio Gamboa as some of his early pickings cupped fantastically and are almost ready to ship from Costa Rica! Aleco continued on to Guatemala, where he cupped nearly 100 samples from the likes of Bellavista, Santa Clara, and Candelaria, and had a chance to meet up with Arturo Aguirre Sr. and Jr. who say that everything is on track for this coming harvest. We look forward to having the Bourbon, Maragogype and Pacamara Peaberry from Finca El Injerto this year!

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In January, I returned to Kenya and cupped hundreds of samples, finding a few more that stood out: two Gatomboyas, one a Peaberry and the other a flat bean, both creamy and heavy with currants, and another Tegu, this one floral and bright with pomegranate flavors. Aleco returned to Costa Rica to cup and to see more harvest. He spent a day with the Calderon family at Los Angeles micro-mill, their farms extending above and beyond 2000 meters, as well as time with Helsar de Zarcero, and Don Mayo. The superstar of the week in Costa Rica was a lot of Caturra from Marvin Robles, a coffee that Aleco described as being like a glass of strawberry-pomegranate juice. A harvest for the ages, indeed.

Which brings us nearly up to date. Last week I left for a four-country tour in Central America: Starting in Honduras with a new relationship in Pena Blanca, Santa Barbara, continuing on to El Salvador where I was able to cup the very first samples from Metapan, and writing to you from Nicaragua.

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Arriving in Nicaragua Sunday morning, I traveled to Jinotega, hometown of Stumptown roaster and Green Coffee Department QC cupper Francisco Javier Valle. Javier’s wife and brother-in-law hosted me, and the latter motorcycled me to Javier’s farm in Las Cuchillas. It was a fantastic trip, and all the more emotional and exciting because I’ve worked closely with Javier for the last six months, and because Javier will be returning to his wife and family at the end of February. His farm was finished with harvest, but I had the pleasure of drinking coffee (and a bit of rum) with FJ’s father, Leonardo Valle, and teasing his siblings and nieces and nephews. I transported to Esteli and spent today with the Canales family in Pueblo Nuevo, home of the famous Los Delirios farm and mill. It’s far from Stumptown’s first visit, we have worked with the Canales family for years, but I was nonetheless thrilled to see the terroir and trees that have produced all those amazing coffees.

Tomorrow I leave for Guatemala. Meanwhile, after a quick jaunt through Costa Rica to check in on peak harvest season and diagnose the first day lots on the cupping table Aleco was off to Kenya and Ethiopia.  Both he and I have cupped and purchased the very finest lots that they can remember buying in the past few years from Kenya.  Notorious washing stations like Gaturiri, Ngunguru and Kangunu are tasting as good as ever with succulent blackberry and strawberry notes headlining flavor profiles laden with buttery caramel and viscous, raw honey.  The past few days have seen Aleco heading deep into the wild, literally, west of Ethiopian coffee land.  We’ve begun a new project with producing groups in the Jimma and Ilubabor regions of the country and are tasting some exquisite new flavor profiles along the with elegant, floral profiles we’ve come to expect from the birthplace of coffee.  More to come on all of this in the spring.  In the meantime Aleco and I will regroup for a week in Portland before heading south to catch more harvest action in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

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It’s been a busy couple of months, but we’re just getting started: next month we’ll be returning to Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala for extended visits with Finca El Puente, Finca Kilimanjaro and Finca El Injerto, and we’re keeping our ear to the ground for March. You can count on us to let you know every titillating detail of the continuing harvest and future cupping tables.

Also, if you’d like to read about–as well as see photos of–our visits as they’re happening, you should follow us on Twitter!

–Ryan Brown

We like Bourbon.   Actually, we like the Bourbon varietal a lot. Sweet, clean, balanced and complex–it offers no more or less than it promises, and it rarely disappoints. Not loud or quiet, but firm and to the point, with lingering florals and nuance. It’s no secret that Bourbon is the favorite of the Stumptown Green Coffee Department, and it’s no secret that El Salvador is growing a lot of it. As the country commenced their annual harvest, I flew down to meet with a potential new producer.

Beneficio San Miguel Ingenio is a wet mill outside of Metapan, a small town in the northwestern corner of El Salvador, close to both the Guatemalan and Honduran borders. Roughly 70 producing neighbors bring their coffee to the mill, and each owns about 1-10 hectares–small by Salvadoran standards, where it’s not uncommon for producers to own 100-hectare estates. The mill is owned and operated by the Valiente family, and I had the pleasure of making my first visit to the mill and many of the surrounding farms, and meeting mill manager Alejandro Valiente, who also manages a supplying farm himself: Finca Buenos Aires.

The farms begin at 1500 meters and climb to above 1600 meters, where a fortuitous plateau provides ease of production and harvest, not to mention unspeakably gorgeous views that extend into Guatemala to the west, Honduras to the north, as well as much of western El Salvador to the south and east. The trees looked healthy, the layout intelligent, including some terracing, a practice that Aleco loves to see as it helps to protect from soil erosion. Alejandro has divided the producers into four groups based on their micro-climate and region within Metapan, though he was receptive to keeping day-lots separate so that we can cup individual harvests from individual producers to find and reward the exceptional coffees.

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The energy was good with the producers I met, not least of them Alejandro. I have spent a fair amount of time in El Salvador, and a large majority of the producers that I have met hire managers to run their farms while they live in San Salvador, a city two hours drive away. Alejandro, on the other hand, lives in Metapan and runs his own farm, a strong indication that he is closely linked with the quality of his farm and mill. He seems more familiar with the farms, more aware of the trees and more focused in general than other producers I have met. All of this makes me quite excited about the possibilities going forward.

And did I mention they’re growing a bunch of Bourbon? The beautiful trees are easy to pick out by their internodal spacing–the distance between the clusters of coffee cherries–and the 45 degree upward angle of the branches. There was so much Bourbon, in fact, that I found myself picking out the Pacas trees instead. Pacas is a dwarf mutation of Bourbon that was discovered in El Salvador and is probably most famous for its role in the Pacamara hybrid. All of the trees were well-taken care of, fertile and productive, well-shaded and pruned to promote new growth. All signs point to high quality.

I’ll be returning to cup some of the first samples in January, and I don’t even need to cross my fingers for this one–it’s going to be good.

Ryan

It’s cold, dark and wet outside again and time to warm ourselves with the bright and sweet arrivals recently added to the menu.  Among the new additions is the Colombia El Jordan from central Colombia’s Andes Mountains.  This coffee comes from one of the most verdant and fecund micro-climates in all of Colombia.  The presence of an active volcano, Nevado de Huila, great elevation and ideal daytime illumination are all clearly evident in a profile that is heavy, syrupy sweet and juicy.  The previous lot of this coffee that we had on the menu was clearly dominated by a mouth-watering acidity akin to satsuma orange.  This lot has gained notice in the cupping room not only for that characteristic, but a berry aspect as well.  Memories of our late summer and fall berry-picking excursions are re-animated each time we encounter the ripe blackberry or boysenberry accents in this coffee. We are also offering it as a single origin espresso to our wholesale clients.  In the lab, we have been astonished again and again at how intensely sweet this coffee is when extracted as espresso. This coffee is made even more precious because of decades of conflict between the government, leftist guerillas and narco-traffickers that has made it impossible to visit this area until recently.  At this writing, Aleco, one of our Green Coffee Buyers, has managed to visit our producer partners on their own farms twice.  In the past, the producers, the exporter and Stumptown had to meet at a town safely distanced from any danger.  These face-to-face visits are keys to maintaining and strengthening our Direct Trade relationships with producers at origin.

There is also a single origin Colombia decaf new to the menu.  The Decaf Colombia La Piramide comes to us through our work with Virmax and their Las Mingas project.  This lot was built through the same method employed to construct the Colombia El Jordan.  That is, Virmax solicits samples from small producers (typically with less than 3 acres of land and coffee trees) and forwards the best of these to our cupping table for blind assessment.  Those scoring 86 or above (according to the Cup of Excellence scoring system) are approved and bulked into the final lot.  This incentive system, where producers are paid higher prices for higher coffee scores, has allowed us to experience what might be the best decaffeinated coffee most of us in the cupping room have ever tasted.  It has been fun to give someone a cup of this coffee without telling them what it is and then to witness the astonishment when the name of the coffee is revealed.  We like it best as single-cup cone pour-over or through an AeroPress.  The pour-over balances caramel and orange candies whereas the AeroPress heightens the body and yields a cup filled with even more caramel, Hershey’s chocolate syrup and graham cracker pie crust.

The Indonesia Sulawesi Toarco is another returning coffee that is an ideal candidate to counter these short, dark days.  We’ve found its long, honeyed finish balanced against its bright, crisp and pear-like acidity is the ideal counter-weight to the rain.  For decades, the Japanese-owned Toarco mill made this coffee available only within Japan.  In the past few years, however, they have begun to sell more and more to the West.  Because of our exclusive rights to the highest grown coffee that the mill processes (and their focus on strict cherry selection) we are once again able to release a lot that is of the highest caliber.  The quality of this year’s profile is especially extraordinary when you consider the rudimentary means that the thousands of small producers must employ in order to process their cherry.  Although final drying occurs at the mill on patios or in large rice dryers, each producer uses wooden de-pulping tools to remove the cherry skin and small plastic buckets or wicker baskets for fermentation and washing.  Each time we taste this coffee and consider its origins, we are humbled.

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By now you’re familiar with what we do at Stumptown–spend heaps of time visiting and connecting with our producers in the remote (and beautiful!) areas that specialty coffee thrives. Because of our constantly growing menu of Direct Trade coffees, this consumes much of our time, but we’re constantly on the lookout to develop new relationships. While we often spare you the details of what it takes to begin a new relationship, the reality is, it takes a lot of research and A LOT of cupping.

I’m new here at Stumptown, and excited to be helping Aleco and the Green Coffee Department continue to source the best coffee in the world. I’ve been doing my best to hide it, but it’s actually been a bit intimidating joining this team, as their success in sourcing the best coffee has become the envy of the specialty coffee industry. How can I possibly make an impression on the most impressive roaster? I set off for Colombia at the end of September with one goal–find a producer group that can offer a fresh perspective on what Colombian coffee is.
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Colombia’s topography is a lot like the rest of Latin America’s with stark mountains and steep valleys interrupted by the occasional stream, but on steroids. It is not uncommon to be on a peak with a nice vista of another peak very near, and see one or two more beyond it, and a huge river gushing past in between. Three separate ranges (Cordilleras) of the Andes run from the North to the South, and provide Colombia with a spectrum of micro-climates offering–what I strongly believe to be–the most diverse range of flavors from any one coffee-producing country. I have tasted Colombian coffees that tasted separately of cherry, molasses, apricot, jamaica juice, limeade, black currant, and grapefruit.

I spent my first week in Bogota tasting coffees from as many parts of Colombia as are currently harvesting–almost all of them. It was through this cupping that I began to zero-in on the famed Huila department. Huila is south and east of Tolima, where we work with El Jordan, and east of Cauca, where we work with La Piramide and Las Vegas. The municipal of Sauza, Huila is where Isaias Cantillo’s La Esperanza is, but apart from him Huila was new territory for us. I decided that Southern Huila was perfect since the harvest was in full-swing and took off for Neiva, the capitol and only commercial flight destination of the department. From Neiva, a three-hour drive south to Pitalito was in store for me, and provided ample opportunity to see the Cordilleras on either side of me, as well as the north-flowing Rio Magdelena to the west. For now, that would be the end of my sightseeing.

Pitalito is a big city, second to Neiva, but only by Huila standards. The city-slicker in me still says it’s a small, quiet town with barely 100,000 people. Nothing is going to distract my two weeks of extensive cupping and analysis! Still, I’m quite pleased with the location of this lab–Pitalito is strategically perfect for my mission: San Agustin and Isnos to the west, Oparapa, Timana, and Elias to the North, Suaza to the East and Palestina to the South with the lab serving all of them. There are two cuppers at the lab–William Ortiz and Luis Samboni. “Cuppers” is really an understatement, as these two are responsible for receiving coffee, doing physical and moisture analysis, facilitating logistics (which can get tricky) and communicating with the office in Bogota to ensure that Stumptown has the coffee and information it needs to present the best coffee possible. And cupping. The better part of my week was consumed with grading and cupping alongside them, so that in the coming weeks, they’ll be able to assist me in finding that awesome coffee for Stumptown.

It is difficult to be in Pitalito cupping coffee for two weeks without stirring some curiosity, and consequently, I’ve met with several producer groups from all over South Huila: Andino from Bruselas, El Desarrollo from Gigante, Los Cauchos from San Agustin, Palmar de Criollo from Pitalito, and we had conversations about what it would take to make a meaningful relationship. This invariably leads to the importance of the coffee performing on its own in the cup. There is, however, one group that catches my attention–Alto del Obispo, from San Agustin, about 45 minutes drive south and west from Pitalito. In a casual meeting with the president of Obispo, Hugo Arbey Melo, I learn a bit more about the group: roughly 25 active members own an average of 3-4 hectares of coffee-producing land. They are growing almost exclusively Caturra, the natural dwarf mutation from Bourbon that we’re quite fond of, and a small amount of Typica, one of the oldest heirloom varietal that is in any sort of regular production worldwide. No sign of the high-yielding Colombia, or rust-resistant Castillo, both created in labs for the sole purpose of producing more fruit, even at the cost of cup quality. What’s more, the elevation of the farms is an impressive 1600-1800 meters, an altitude that is sure to produce some great, sweet coffees. I’ve only been able to try a few coffees from Obispo, but what I have tried has been promising–mandarin and brown sugar, with a cornucopia of yellow tropical fruits like maracuya and granadilla. I can’t wait to taste more of those!

Aleco arrives in a few days, and I’ll be joining him for a week to some of our staple relationships–El Jordan, Piramide, Las Vegas and La Esperanza–before returning here to Pitalito to complete my goal. It takes a lot of work to find coffee good enough for Stumptown, but the rewards of a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship are always worth it.

Ryan
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