How and When did you first move into this business?

I’ve been involved in Hospitality since I was 15 working in my local hotel in the Scottish Highlands. I started to focus on coffee after moving to NZ and in 2013 became a Barista Trainer for a local chain of specialty cafes. After a few years of competing I was approached by Flight Coffee and joined the team here.

What motivated you to become a competitor as long as you’re so busy in your company?

I’m a big believer in competitions as a force for personal and professional development. I think you learn something valuable every time you compete, so it’s important to make time to grow – even when you’re busy.

Do you had any coffee mentors or you just roll on base on experience and self-learning ? and which one is better in your opinion?

I’ve competed with and without mentors before, but the times when I’ve performed the best have been with coaching. It makes any training more effective, because you have an extra set of eyes on each performance, help with setting up and cleaning up, etc. The process of improvement becomes much faster. It’s also important to have constructive criticism right through your training – When I work by myself, I tend to go so far down one path before showing anyone where I’m at. Then when they suggest improvements, I might have to change quite a lot of what I’ve already spent a lot of time working on. When you have another person or people as a sounding board, you can get yourself to those good ideas with a lot less wasted effort.

Where did you get the idea of competing in coffee ?

I entered my first competition because I had far too high an opinion of my skill set! I signed up a few weeks before the competition and had no idea what I was getting into – I didn’t know the rules, I didn’t know what I was being scored on. I came dead last, but it really opened my eyes to how little I actually knew about the product that I worked with every day.

what did you learn of the competition? why are you competing? It’s works for what? Why you wouldn’t be a judge?

I learned that I had a long way to go before I could call myself a coffee professional, and I’ve continued to compete to prove to myself that I’ve progressed on that path. I’ve avoided judging in the past because I know how much pressure there is on judges to perform well too. I’m still a little wary of considering myself an ‘expert’ after my first time competing – I’d hate for my first time judging to go the same way! But ultimately, I also enjoy the atmosphere backstage at competitions and having the time to connect with the other competitors, which you can’t do so much as a judge.

As a cup taster and roaster, you can make lots of challenges for yourself to keep the consistency stable, is it possible? how the cup taster competition helped you in this business?

As a roaster, consistency is the highest goal for me. It doesn’t matter how good one roast of a coffee is if I’m not able to repeat it. We now have three roasters on our team, so it’s more important than ever that we maintain a high degree of consistency across our roasting – We have strict protocols to ensure that the three of us are operating in the same manner and achieving the same results. Since we started more focused practice around Cup Tasters triangulations, we’ve all become more adept at spotting inconsistency between batches, which makes us work even harder towards eliminating those inconsistencies.

what did you do to find the difference in the those 3 cup at 8 session with a lot of different algorithm? What was your personal method? What did you focus more on it?how you controlling your stress on the stage?

I think the easiest way to control stress is being prepared. You should have practiced so much that you’re almost bored of doing it by the time it comes around. For Cup Tasters we started with very easy triangluations once a week. Once we were confidently getting 7 or 8 right, we made it harder. By the week before the competiton we practiced multiple times every day with incredibly difficult triangulations (tiny variations in the cups, different roasts of the same coffee etc.) When I started tasting the coffees at the national competition, I couldn’t believe how easy it was in comparison and my nerves disappeared! If you’re worried about doing it in front of a crowd, get some friends in to watch you practice.

Whole sensory process and cupping is a bit different in compare to cup taster competition , what do you think and how you can connect them? (For example maybe somebody is really good in cupping and calibration but cannot be good at cup taster competition)

There’s definitely a difference in how you need to process the sensory information that you’re receiving. When I’m cupping, with each slurp, I’m focusing on an individual attribute of the cup such as flavour, or acidity, or body and assigning it a score based on a mental database of every coffee I’ve ever tasted. I’m also trying to accurately describe the qualities of that attribute based on a personal library of sensory experiences. For Cup Tasters, with each slurp I’m taking a mental snapshot of the cup and holding it in my mind then comparing it to the next cup. You’re using the same data but in a different way. I think for some experienced cuppers it can be hard to turn off that part of the brain that’s performing that deeper analysis which makes it difficult to make a quick decision. I think there’s also something about the pressure of being timed that affects people’s peformance.

if somebody tells you that imagine you can do whatever you want like a dream to design a coffee competition, what do you design? Do you have any idea about it? Did you think about it before? What kind of competitions do you like to have?

I’ve thought about it occasionally and we’ve designed small things to run as in-house competitions for our customers. I think the ideal format for me is something that tests knowledge, service and ability on a level playing field – I love the Barista Championship format, but it definitely favours those with access to the most exclusive coffees, and who can afford the time to dedicate to training – which is not something that every barista has. I’d probably design something a little more democratic, that really tests the skill that a barista uses every day. Something like Coffee Masters is pretty close to ideal in my mind.

As a finalist explain your opinion about these words:

First competition:

Your first competiton is both the most important and the least important one you’ll ever enter. Most important because without it you’ll never compete, and least important because it’s basically just a tryout for all your future entries.

Team:

The most important thing. No one wins by themselves. You don’t need a huge team, but you need a dedicated team. A person or people you can rely on will push you further than you can go by yourself.

How many times will you read rules and regulation before competition?

as I know most of the competitors lose a lot of points because they don’t read the rules properly.I never stop reading them! I have a printed and highlighted copy of the rules on hand at all times whenever I’m training or coaching – Even for competitions I’m familiar with. They’re they key to everything! It’s like being given the questions you’re going to be asked on a test ahead of time.

I always believe in the competition process you must enjoy the journey like when you practice, chatting with the teams, passing the level to the final and even the announcement moment, how was it for you?

If you’re only competing to win, then you are going to be disappointed with anything other than 1st place. I’ve seen people get very angry with themselves or at judges when they don’t do as well as they expected, and it just seems very at odds with what is supposed to be a celebration of excellent coffee. My advice is to focus on the process more than the result, because it’s the process of preparing for the competition that makes you more knowledgable or more skilled, not a trophy. I was a little disappointed not to make the Finals for the World Cup Tasters Championship this year, but when I consider how much my palate has improved over the course of my training, I’m incredibly proud of what I was able to achieve.

After you advanced, what is your favorite part of competition?

I enjoy the buzz backstage and talking with other competitors more than the competition itself – If I’m not competing, I’ll often MC the event, so that I still get a chance to do that!

which competition is your favorite and why?

I like them all really! I like that the results for Cup Tasters are so cut-and-dried. You either get it right, or you don’t. There’s no subjectivity in the judging. But with that, there’s no room for creative expression so the other competitions have that advantage.

some Technical question:
How do you analyze and describe acidity and sourness?

In terms of analysis, I focus on the physical sensations on my tongue, and how my saliva glands are responding. For descriptions, I try to rate intensity on a high-to-low scale, as well as a qualitative descriptor (sparkling, bright, etc.). Where possible, I’ll try and identify the specific acidity (malic, citric, etc.) or at least assign a real world facsimile (gooseberry-like, , etc.)

Light roast or medium roast, which do you prefer and why?

It’s hard to say. I think often those terms mean different things to different people. What I would say is I prefer the roast that delivers the most sweetness without compromising acidity or promoting ‘roasted’ flavours. That will also depend on whether I’m roasting for espresso or filter.

Are you cup and score coffees separate by origin and process or you mix them and cup blind?

Usually we’ll cup by origin when we receive a lot of pre purchase samples, but we’ll cup blind and in a random order – So all the samples might be from Colombia, but region and process will be mixed up.

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The beans we roast, grind, and brew to make coffee are the seeds of a fruit. The coffee plant produces coffee cherries, and the beans are the seeds inside. Coffee trees can naturally grow to over 30 ft/9 m. But producers prune and stump plants short to conserve the plants’ energy and to help harvesting. Smaller trees have better yield and quality in a limited space. Each tree is covered with green, waxy leaves that grow in pairs and coffee cherries grow along its branches. Depending on the variety, it takes three to four years for a coffee plant to produce fruit. The National Coffee Association USA states that the average coffee tree produces 10 lbs. of coffee cherry per year, which results in around 2 lbs of green beans. But there are different varieties of coffee and their beans have many different characteristics. Size, flavor, and disease resistance vary, among other factors. beans, which are the unroasted seeds from inside the ripe coffee cherry. Beneath the cherry skin is a thin layer called the mesocarp, more commonly known as the pulp. Mucilage is the inner layer of the pulp. There’s also a layer of pectin underneath the mucilage. These layers are full of sugars, which are important during the fermentation process. Then we reach the coffee seeds, which are technically called the endosperm but that we know better as beans. There are usually two beans in a coffee cherry, each of which is covered by a thin epidermis known as the silver skin and a papery hull that we call parchment (technically the endocarp). The parchment is usually removed in hulling, which is the first step in the dry milling process. Machines or millstones are used to remove any remaining fruit and the dried parchment from the beans. But sometimes green beans are sold with this layer intact as parchment coffee. The silver skin is a group of sclerenchyma cells that are strongly attached to the beans. These cells form to support and protect the seed. They come off during roasting, when they are known as chaff.

A coffee cherry’s skin is called the exocarp. It is green until it ripens to a bright red, yellow, orange, or even pink, depending on variety. Green coffee cherries shouldn’t be confused with green coffee.

Sometimes there is just one seed inside a coffee cherry and it is rounder and larger that usual. This happens in about 5% of coffee cherries and the beans are known as peaberries. Peaberries can be an anatomical variation of the plant or they can form when there is insufficient pollination and one ovule isn’t fertilized. Sometimes the seed simply fails to grow, whether due to genetic causes or environmental conditions. Peaberries usually occur in the parts of the coffee plant that are exposed to severe weather conditions. There is some debate over whether peaberries have a sweeter and more desirable flavor and they are sometimes sold at a premium. Regardless of whether you think they taste different, their rounded shape allows for better rolling in the roasting drum. So it’s best to keep them apart from other beans to avoid an inconsistent roast. Coffee cherry skin and fruit is usually discarded, but sometimes they are dried to make cascara for tea and other products. It is difficult to remove skin and mucilage from coffee beans and different processing methods have developed to do so. Each method has an effect on the flavor and profile of the final coffee. For example, washed coffee has all of the fruit flesh removed before drying. But in natural coffee the fruit flesh is removed after drying. In honey and pulped natural processing, the skin and sometimes part of the mucilage is removed before drying but the remaining mucilage and other layers are removed after. Leaving the mucilage on results in sweeter coffee with more body. It’s easier to understand why if we compare both dry and wet post-harvest processes. When coffee cherries are taken from the branch, they start to germinate. This uses the sugar in the seed. Germination stops when drying begins. Natural processed coffees go to the drying terrace earlier than pulped naturals or washed coffees. Because of this, more sugars remain in the naturals and you end up with a sweeter bean. Washed coffees have clean, more consistent flavors that can show off a lot of acidity. Natural coffees have a lot more fruitiness, sweetness, and body. The sugars of the mucilage also ferment during both dry and wet processing, and this has an impact on the final flavor. Without careful monitoring and consistent drying, the unpredictable process of fermentation can undesirable qualities. Understanding the basics of the coffee cherry can help you better understand production, processing, and roasting. Next time you are choosing between a natural processed and washed coffee, you can have more confidence in knowing what that means and its impact on your cup.

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Finding the good green coffee in any field (specialty or non) is always my concern and also I had problem always for finding what I need but the answer is so simple , I didn’t know what I need , first decided about price, cup profile and target market, then start sending email to all the coffee importers and take their price list and find what you like.

Purchasing coffee is no easy task – although it’s certainly an exciting one. From selecting your origins to managing inventory, there are endless considerations. But your green coffee importer doesn’t just have to be your supplier. They could also be an important resource as you brand yourself and grow as a business. How do you build your partnership with a green coffee importer? What questions should you be asking them? And what do they need to know about you? This is other point of view.

The cuping way is so important.  Cupping: it’s how you decide if a coffee is worth adding to your profile and it’s how the importer determines its cupping score, flavor notes, and ultimately, price. However, not everyone cups in the same way. “It is important to rule out any variable that makes the experience of tasting coffee different from importer versus customers. So, it’s a good idea to understand how your importer is cupping in order to replicate that yourself and to get an idea of what they are tasting under the same conditions,” says Caitlin. Additionally, you should ask about the kind of cupping feedback the importer provides. Will you just get a number or do you receive more information about the coffee? “Not every coffee is going to be a 90+ Geisha, but that doesn’t mean that the coffee is not a really good representative of a certain region or a certain profile. So, what we try to do when we communicate with our clients is go a little past the number score and more about what may be the use for this coffee. Is it going to be a pour over or is it going to be a piece of a blend?”

Servicing Provide is really important for keeping the quality, Don’t make assumptions: a lot of importers will do more than just sell you their coffee. Find out about the scope of services that they offer. Do they provide logistical support? Are freight costs included? Do they have a warehouse facility where you can store your coffees and, if so, for how long? Do they offer financing options? “It’s an absolutely important question, For Royal, for example, if customers pay up front for their coffee, we offer five months of free storage in the warehouse. Some of these options may be included in the pricing while some might be extra. Make sure you understand exactly what everything costs – and how that might vary as your purchases change in the future. you can also offer financing options that will depend on the pricing of coffee and the nature of the account. These services can potentially save you money and help you have better cash flow, so it’s good to understand exactly what you get”. Other issue is about asking the right questions (and at the right time).

As a roaster, your business identity – and your customer’s loyalty – will often revolve around which kinds of coffee you provide. You don’t want to lose customers who love your coffee’s flavor, only because can’t provide them with a suitable replacement when it goes out of season. So, ask your importer about seasonality and coffee substitutions. What are some origins that you can purchase all year round, and what are their unique characteristics? How should you organize your purchases from your favorite origin, depending on the seasonality? When you start to run out of a particular component coffee for a blend, can they offer you a suitable substitute? I recommend  asking these questions in the planning stage of your roastery, even before your roastery is open. If you tell an importer that you’re “looking to open a roaster in six months or eight months,” he tells me, they can recommend origins that are going to be in season in that period. They can also walk you through the timeline of how and when to start purchasing coffee. Another thing that you can ask your importer is how they source. Do they buy from single farms, cooperatives, or both? What kind of impact will your purchasing decision have in the coffee-farming communities? You can ask these questions is vital for building your brand identity and mission, especially if ethically sourced coffees and sustainability feature in that. Yet it’s not always as simple as single origins are better. He says that while a single farm may offer traceability, buying from cooperatives could help hundreds of community members. He recommends having a conversation with your importer to gain a bigger picture of the effect of your purchasing decision.your Purchasing Options & The Receiving Process is about If you know the kind of coffee you want to buy and the origin, how should you move forward? Is spot purchasing an option? What about forward contracts? Is it possible to benefit through your importer trading in futures contracts?

This is an important question,particularly for roasters that are starting out.while various importers offer different buying options, the one you should pick will depend on your roastery and its size. if you’re just starting out, he explains,you can start spot purchases from a warehouse at that time and, as you grow, you might say, ‘I want to do forward contracts.’… That can be beneficial to having a more long-term sense of what your cost may be for a coffee, but keeping in mind that your cash flow and working capital are very important as you grow then nnce you have decided on the coffee and the contract, you should ask your importer about the receiving process. Check the available freight options, as well as how long it will take from the moment you place an order until you receive it. Knowing this will make inventory management easier. Now you can ask importers for the realistic time from the date of order to delivery to your door, and then “backtrack when you need to place the order, and add a few more days to that, just to be sure. additionally, roasters can treat importers as a source of knowledge. Think about us as a resource not just for the green bean itself, but sometimes to give you a picture of any other aspect of the market that may affect the transit time for origins and may affect pricing for certain origins, whether it’s port strikes, currency movements, or unexpected weather, importers keep close tabs on anything that could affect the coffee trade. As a result, they can be a valuable aid when you’re trying to plan ahead. No-one knows more about these coffees than the importer themselves.Finally find out what services they offer. Ask them about these basics and figure out what you need. And make sure they also know a bit about you.

This will help you to select the right green bean supplier and then build a strong relationship with them, one that will support you in making the best purchasing decisions, managing your cash flow, and reinforcing your brand. For traders, it’s their job to sell coffee, But at the same time, I want to have anyone that I work with and their business to succeed.

Saeed abdinasab

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Agronomy is the science of plant production for food, fuel, and fiber. The work of an agronomist encompasses plant genetics and physiology as well as meteorology and soil science. This very simple video from USAID agency working in Uganda will give you an impression of some of the areas that an agronomist oversees. In coffee-producing countries, agronomists operate in the field, working directly with coffee farmers and cooperatives.

They are trained to monitor the terroir of a farming area. Through careful measurements, agronomists can advise farms on practical farm management, helping them achieve the correct levels of soil drainage and teaching them how to implement preventative measures against soil erosion. They can help farmers achieve a sustainable planting density and choose the right fertilizers, and they can offer advice on how to prune and manipulate their trees. Agronomists are the interface between the body of scientific research and the local terroir. To better understand this important practice, we talk about it from other point of view :

hoping to understand more about the science of agronomy. When you are making decisions as to what to plant on your farm or you are advising others on what to plant, what measurements do it need to help more is experiment with varieties that have not been planted at the farm. They are in a kind of Coffee Garden, where we have many varieties expressing their phenotype (meaning, how the plant adapts to the environmental conditions, and how it expresses itself in the cup profile). By now, it really like the behavior and taste of Red Bourbon, Yellow Catuai, Pacamara, Geishas, Rume Sudan, and SL28. All of them are yummy, per se, and we like how cup profile is expressed As a result, it takes years before we set it. For example, you should know know Pacamara and Yellow Catuai will not need too much shade, [which is required] by Bourbon, SL28, and … the Geisha varieties we plant at the farm. the elevation, as our cupping trials have shown, has an impact on the level of acidity. also, we have seen that some of the additional flavor attributes will be more pronounced if the coffee flavor is modulated at the wet-mill. For example, Pacamara and Yellow Catuai will score 84 to 85 points if I do a traditional full-washing process.

But if I do an Orange Honey (semi washed) for Yellow Catuai, or a Natural for a Pacamara, the flavor will explode in my mouth. The Bourbons and Geishas have more versatile cherries; their expression will be great as Natural, or semi-washed or a Double Soak process that is a Full Wash variant, on which prefer is the cherries before depulping, and then give its normal dry fermentation. choosing varieties is something that comes down to microclimate, or the right variety perform well across a range of different conditions in the same terroir, but don’t forget Climate and Edaphic Factors absolutely contribute to the final flavor quality of the bean. Bourbon and Geisha will always express better in a forest environment; Its architecture is full, meaning that their leaves will dress completely the plants. Plants with no stress will always express their happiness in the cup profile J Coffee plants, any variety, will express more crispy flavor when a source of water is close to them. I think mist will help the coffee plants to maintain more fresh temperatures, together with good shade, their system is more stable and with more equilibrium; remembering that this system is found at the forests from Ethiopia where the coffee genetics comes from. Also, coffees grown at higher elevations have a higher chance to score high at the cupping table than coffees grown at lower elevations. 70 percent shade determine normal level of shade , It is very important to handle the architecture of the tree and avoid this kind of parasite.

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But what actually is this drink? What is it made of?

The name “coffee bean” is a lie: coffee is a seed. You’ll find two (normally) of these seeds inside each cherry-like fruit of the coffee plant. The coffee plant could also be categorized as a tree since it has the ability to grow up to about 9 meters. But on coffee farms, it tends to be cut short to make it easier to harvest. As a result, it often looks more like a bush. From the main trunk of the coffee plant, you’ll see primary, secondary, and tertiary horizontal branches. From these, dark green, waxy leaves grow in pairs. “The leaf is fundamental for the plant since that is where photosynthesis happens.” In other words, no leaves would mean no energy. And without energy, the plants would never be able to grow the delicious cherries that contain our coffee beans. Once the coffee plant is about three or four years old, it will flower for the first time. Small, delicate, white flowers will grow where the leaves and branches join, releasing a sweet aroma. “The flowers are where the sexual organs are located.” In other words, the leaves and flowers help the coffee plant reproduce and sustain itself. Six to eight weeks after pollination, a cherry-like fruit will appear where the flowers were located. The unripe cherries are green; over time, they turn red, yellow, orange, or even pink, depending on the variety. And as they ripen, they will grow increasingly sweeter and the caffeine content in the cherries? That actually works as a deterrent against – most – predators. Within the cherry, you’ll find multiple layers. Alvarez says that it has “an exocarp, which is the actual cherry, then we have a mesocarp which is where the mucilage is.” And within the mucilage lies the seeds we can’t face Monday morning without – coffee beans!  Inside every cherry, you’ll find two small seeds – unless it’s a pea berry or otherwise defective, of course. A pea berry is when the seeds are joined: instead of two almost peanut-like ones, you’ll have a larger, rounder, pea-shaped one. This happens to around 5% of seeds. These seeds are the coffee beans. They go through extensive processing to remove the fruit and mucilage, before being dried, roasted, ground, and finally turned into our favorite beverage.

But not all coffee plants are the same…

The Different Kinds of Coffee Plants is about Coffee has over a hundred different species, and each species can be further divided into varieties. And all of these have an impact on how the coffee tastes, how much caffeine it has, and how it grows. The 2 Main Coffee Species: Arabica & Robusta which Arabica is the most commonly consumed coffee in the world, accounting for about 70% of the industry. It’s known for its quality flavors and aromas; “In the specialty market, you go with Arabica.” Compared to Robusta, it:

• Is more sensitive to the weather 
• Is more susceptible to pests
• Thrives at lower temperatures (which often correlate with higher elevations or being grown in the shade)
• Usually produces fewer cherries
• Has less caffeine content
• Tends to be sweeter, more complex, and more aromatic

Robusta, or Canephora, is a more durable, robust tree. It accounts for about 30% of the coffee industry. Compared to Arabica, it:

• Is more resistant to diseases and pests
• Has a higher caffeine content
• Thrives at slightly warmer temperatures
• Has a higher yield, with more cherries and therefore more seeds; however, this means the individual cherries don’t get as many nutrients and so the coffee is often of a lower quality
• Tends to be bitter 

The Great Big World of Coffee Varieties is Unlike species, we consume numerous coffee varieties. Next time you buy a bag of specialty coffee, look at the label: it may tell you which one you’re drinking. Some of the most common ones include Typica, Bourbon, and Caturra. And then there’s Gesha/Geisha, which is probably the most famous variety of all. This exquisite coffee is known for its delicate floral flavors and aromas, along with a tea-like body. The coffee industry also sometimes creates hybrid varieties. these are created when the industry “sees the necessity, or the market, for fusing coffees together.” And the aim? Disease resistance, higher productivity, and better flavor. Pedrotti tells me that a coffee plant could live for up to 80 years. But on a commercial farm? that you might expect them to last for 20 to 30 years, depending on how they’re cared for.  For the first few years of a tree’s life, you shouldn’t expect great productivity. Remember, it won’t flower until it’s three or four years old. All coffee trees started life as those very same seeds that we roast and brew every day. As it grows, you’ll see its distinctive shoots and bright green leaves. Most producers keep young coffee trees in nurseries until the seedlings are ready to be planted on the farm. Once a coffee plant is mature, it will produce flowers; this normally happens shortly after heavy rainfall. And then, after the flowers, comes the cherries. In some countries, such as Colombia, the climate means that the trees flower twice a year – something that, in turn, leads to two harvests a year. that the producer and farm staff must learn to identify when coffee is ready for harvesting. For Arabica coffee, the time from flowering to harvesting is approximately nine months  , Robusta coffee can be harvested two to three times each year, depending on climate and soil. The coffee plant, with its bright cherries and delicate white flowers, is a beautiful sight. Perhaps it’s a strong low-altitude variety or a delicate but flavorsome high-altitude one, a young seedling or an old giant, full of ripe fruit or simply dark green leaves. Either way, it’s thanks to this tree that we can enjoy our daily brew and millions of people around the world have a living.

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