Rant of The Day

[Mr.Peaberry]

Despite being a self avowed coffee spaz, I have endeavored to project a non-pretentious air about my passion for coffee so as not to scare off those less passionate than myself. However, at the risk of alienating some of the people on this forum, I have decided to vent about something coffee related that I just read on a Facebook post. I apologize in advance. The post in question was titled, "7 Easy Steps to Brewing Pour Over Coffee with the Kalita Wave".

The article starts by saying:

"The art of manually brewing filter coffee has become an integral part of the recent third wave coffee movement. As the quality of coffee beans increases due to improvements in farm production and roasting, its become important to find a method that truly conveys the subtlety of flavour these beans have to offer. For many, pour over coffee is that method."

There. Did anyone else have a similar reaction to mine? If you didn't catch it, I'll highlight the statement that caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.

"The art of manually brewing filter coffee has become an integral part of the recent third wave coffee movement. As the quality of coffee beans increases due to improvements in farm production and roasting, its become important to find a method that truly conveys the subtlety of flavour these beans have to offer. For many, pour over coffee is that method."

What improvements in farm production? What improvements in roasting? Specialty coffee is not new. Quality coffee has been around longer than any of us have been alive. Has the advent of the 'third wave' resulted in a better quality bean than was formerly available? Has it taught coffee growers anything not previously known or understood? Seems to me that processing coffee is pretty much the same as it has been for many decades if not longer. What changes in roaster technology have resulted in a increase in the quality of the roasted product? Sure, there are different things being done, most noticeably automated process control, that allow roasters with limited knowledge and experience to put out a decent product, but have we seen an improvement in the quality of the roasted bean? Maybe all that has been accomplished is to make quality coffee less scarce than in the past, but isn't this just a natural evolution in the world of supply and demand? Maybe I'm being too anal here, but statements like these really discredit an industry that has provided an outlet for all these new wavers...er, I meant third wavers...to come in and appreciate what a lot of folks have already known. This quality improvement is hog wash in my opinion. It is nothing more that a market adjustment to increased demand for quality coffee. Growers are now being compensated for producing quality coffee, therefore they take the steps necessary to produce the best out of their harvest by removing more defects, being more selective during the harvesting of the ripe cherries, etc. There is not an improvement in the quality of the coffee due to 'improvements in farm production', there is just a larger market for quality coffee, and the law of supply and demand is driving farmers to take those steps necessary to offer a better product, such as employing more $2.00 a day workers to sort out the defects...a change of scale, not a change of quality due to "improvements in farm production"...jeeeeez.

Okay, rant over...

 

[BoldJava]

...

What improvements in farm production? What improvements in roasting? Specialty coffee is not new. Quality coffee has been around longer than any of us have been alive. Has the advent of the 'third wave' resulted in a better quality bean than was formerly available? ...

Just a different point of view: The quote doesn't bother me at all. Drop the "3rd wave" for a second. It is a broad term. Within the industry, it really just means "post Starbucks." These are independents who are truly moving the industry. The entire industry is advancing, regardless of what we name it. What changes have been made? Let me give some examples.
* Importers are going to origin. In the case of one of the importers with whom I work, they have set up regional competitions. Those regional competitions have awarded farmers about 20-80% higher prices for the greens which would have gone into a shared lot for low prices.
* Importers going to origin, seeking the best greens, has resulted in improved quality. There is a hard push to improve farming practices to sell at a higher price given direct trade which adds more cash to the farmers pockets. Improved farming practices have resulted in a better quality of greens as individual farmers and cooperatives compete for the higher price per pound. In other words, there are more buyers than just the ONE buyer, the broker who always hit the hills every year.
* Those profits have gone to better pulpers. There is a ton of crude processing equipment out there that shuck out goat's feet and splits, downgrading the quality and hence the price the farmer can charge.
* Small roasters are being shared with farmers who are roasting and tasting their own coffee for the first time. Cupping their own coffees help those farmers determine the efficacy of inputs, harvest dates, impact of refreshed water in the soaking/washing tubs, etc.

Roasting? Commercial roasters are now employing data recording devices. I am not discussing automated roasts. I am talking about software used to record the profile of a roast. They can then cup and see what changes result in the cup from the different application of heat, air.

This kind of software was not in broad use until about 3 years ago. For me as a roaster, I can cup and see exactly what impact those heat, air, and drum speed have on my roasts. It IS that significant of a change.

Roasters now have advanced roasting courses available to them. Commercial roasting is a very closed community. The kind of education and training available now is moving the art of roasting along. To cite an example, I was at a large roaster 8 years ago. They didn't have any software. They locked up their roasting cards at night. Now? Software and their roasters are taking advanced courses. I had their coffee eight years ago and much more recently. Guess which was better.

Just my opinion but wanted to share it.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

Great reply, Dave. You're voicing exactly what the basis of my rant was about. Because of increased demand for specialty coffee, and more money being paid for specialty coffee, capital investment has increased the availability of quality coffee to meet the demand. There is NOT a quality of coffee that didn't exist until now, there is just more quality coffee available for the reasons you so eloquently point out. My rant was provoked by a statement that suggests there is a quality of coffee that, because of all the improvements you point out, is better than anything that came before. This simply is not true. The improvements in roaster technology, including the use of software, just makes it easier to produce repeatable roast profiles thereby allowing for the increase of the amount of quality product in the marketplace to meet the demand for it. I hope that makes my rant a little more understandable...if not, no worries. I agree with what you said!