Day 1. Depart Burlington International and arrive at LaGuardia. Hike between terminals to change airlines. Send a prayer winging to the airline gods that my luggage makes the same trek. It does, but at a cost… as I pick up my luggage in Minneapolis my back makes a *twoing* sound. [Oh, crap.]

Arrive at hotel and am shuffled immediately into a lovely cocktail reception with many familiar faces — and some soon to become familiar — from Green Mountain Coffee, Transfair USA, Sustainable Harvest, Grounds for Health, and Root Capital, as well as friends from origin: Peru, Colombia, and Kenya. Have exceptionally productive conversations about content sharing, and the like. Eventually I have to make my apologies, take a muscle relaxer, order coffee from room service and fall asleep before I can drink it.

Day 2. Do the registration shuffle. Am impressed that SCAA is *really* taking the “green conference” thing to heart… it’s the first time in a long time I’m not saddled with a worthless bag of swag and paper I don’t need.

Begin the day with a press conference featuring Green Mountain’s Lindsey Bolger and Dr. Jane Goodall. Save the day (or at least make the presser go more smoothly) by solving a potentially devastating A/V issue. Why yes, that is a spiffy way for a geek to start his day… I nearly forget that my back is out. By the way, Dr. Jane is just about the sweetest, most present person that I think I’ve ever met. [I've mentioned before that I'm a fan.]

Briefly visit the ongoing competition at the U.S. Barista Chamionship. Wow… the USBC has become quite the hot number: stadium seating, cheering crowds and a video crew catching every moment, and webcasting it live. Chat with Doug Zell who is hyper excited about the chances of Intelligentia’s barista team. [As well he should be... eventually Intelly's Kyle Glanville will take home the top spot in the USBC.]

I ponder Kenneth Davids‘ questioning the practice of using a coffee’s origin as a primary key in the tangled taxonomy that is coffee’s sensory vocabulary. Determine that I disagree with him on many points. [There's a blog entry in my future, here.]  Fail to see Don Holly‘s well-reviewed A Brief History of Coffee because I’m stretched out on my bed in my hotel room with an aching back, shaking my fist at vindictive airline gods.

Dinner with Lindsey Bolger, Don Holly and Carl Staub got cancelled. Bummer. Briefly do the evening cocktail reception, sans cocktail… I’ve taken another little pill for my back. Sample a little Ethiopian food and a lot of Ethiopian coffee, while visiting with fellow [former] altie Marshall Fuss. Spend some time with Bill Fishbein, congratulate him on his “retirement.” I pass on Intelly’s shindig at the Mill City Museum to make an early night of it. Brew a cup of hotel coffee in my room. By the smell — somewhere between wet cardboard and wet dog — the hotel coffee is crap; fortunately I fall asleep before I have to actually drink any of it.

To be continued…

Sure, while most every other coffee roaster in the land releases new roasts seasonally — you know, to align with new coffee crops and all that — Starbucks’ latest blend is different, apparently. Word is, it’s not… you know, burnt. More, Howie would have us believe this is a pivotal event in Starbucks’ history, even suggesting that it’s a peek into a future that isn’t steeped in an espresso + milk monoculture:

“We’ve been so focused on espresso … that we haven’t done anything to reinvent brewed coffee,” Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said in an interview.

Profoundly true. Not only has Starbucks done virtually nothing to reinvent brewed coffee — or even support it — their general disregard for drip coffee, press coffee and the like spilled over into the marketplace, where thousands upon thousands of competing independents likewise ignored the possibilities of unique origin coffees. Unless, of course, they could chuck it in a portafilter with decent results. It’s fair to say that only very recently, I’d say the last five or six years — or a time line roughly consistent with the rise of the Cup of Excellence auction program — that the indie retailers have promoted non-espresso coffee with particular enthusiasm. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

And then Howie slips in this dubious bit…

Mr. Schultz says he believes Starbucks has underplayed its expertise in selecting and roasting coffees, something its main competitors don’t specialize in.

It’s left as an exercise for the reader whether Schultz is suggesting Starbucks’ ground-game at origin is better than that of Peet’s, Green Mountain, Stumptown, CounterCulture, Intelligentsia, The Roasterie, Terroir, Thanksgiving, and a few hundred assorted smaller roasters, or whether he doesn’t view them, individually or collectively, as his competitors. Either way, it’s a low blow. And one that may well come back to haunt him.

You may recall that I was pretty chuffed with Green Mountain’s 2006 eCafe Gold Competition auction lot — Ethiopian Shanta Golba Natural Process Sidamo. If you don’t recall (or don’t wanna click) here’s the particulars:

Extremely fruited, with peach and blueberry aromas, and a little whiff of cocoa and cinnamon when wetted. Fruit plays large in the flavor, too… blueberry, strawberry, spiced peach and cardamom, with a dark chocolate understory. The finish, while not everything it was a year ago, it still sweet and resonant, and fades to a pleasant, dusky leather. Yeah, this is one of those coffees you think about dabbing behind your ears, too.

You may also recall that Barry Jarret of Riley’s Coffee got some of the green, too, and I was keen to get my hands on his roast to compare them side by side. Well, I did. And I did. And to sum up, I could simply say, Barry Jarrett is a coffee roasting genius.

Barry’s roast of the Shanta Golba is everything that Green Mountain’s offers, and more. The fruit tones in the aroma are more distinct, more pure, more alive. The acidity — while mild overall, as is the Green Mountain roast — is crisper in Barry’s roast. The flavors in the cup are rich, and exceptionally fruit-forward. Strawberry is a predominant note, backed up by peach and blueberry. And where the finish of the Green Mountain cup takes on dusky notes, Barry’s roast remains purely fruited. It’s as if Green Mountain’s jammy cup were made of dried fruit, and Barry’s, fresh: in the finish there’s nothing lost, nothing diminished at all.

Highly recommended.

If you’re lucky it’s still available at Riley’s Coffee. Go get some.

The first is an updated Keurig ‘Elite’ B40… the entry-level single cup model. The new model adds a second, larger-volume brew button to its control panel. It’s a feature probably most welcome to tea-drinkers — and it’s especially welcome for iced tea fans — as a 9.25 ounce setting isn’t one I’d recommend for getting the most flavor out of a coffee K-Cup — even an Extra Bold selection.

And then there’s the update to Keurig’s ‘Platinum’ B70… It’s a tiny change — one that you wouldn’t notice to look at it — but you can’t help but notice in the cup. Keurig has tweaked the brewing system itself — specifically, the brewing needle that pierces the K-Cup. The change creates more turbulence within the K-Cup during brewing, which, in turn, extracts more flavor from the coffee. (Turbulence — along with dwell-time and temperature – is one of the critical factors for brewing coffee.)

The results? Pretty remarkable, really. I’ve been brewing coffee with one of the first production B70s daily for several weeks now, and it makes a decidedly bolder cup at all brew volumes. More, it makes a cup with more distinctive flavors, too. Green Mountain’s Extra Bold Espresso Blend now finally reveals its dry berry top note, the Extra Bold Kenyan AA offers distinctive wine and blackberry flavors, and the Extra Bold Fair Trade Organic Sumatran Reserve is at once rich, and earthy and ever so slightly mossy.

That’s not to say that you have to brew an Extra Bold K-Cup to appreciate the upgrade. Whether your K-Cup of choice is a Signature Blend or a Partner Blend (PBS Blend is especially tasty with the brewing system upgrade) or even coffee from another roaster (I’m okay with that… really!) I think you can appreciate the results. And, if you’ve found yourself on the fence between brew sizes, the new brewing system may make that larger brew volume just the ticket for your tastes.

So how can you get one? Well… at the moment that’s a bit tricky. Green Mountain has the new B40 in stock now, and should have the B70 near the end of this month, though you can place an advance order today. Amazon is taking orders for the new B70 now, for delivery in October.

Update: Erin at Keurig tells me that the Keurig web site is stocked up and ready to sell you a second-generation B70 today. Thanks for the note, Erin.

Psst… wanna know a secret?
So what if you should you see one in the wild, on a retailer’s shelf? How will you know if it’s a first or second-generation brewer? Chances are that you won’t find a first-generation brewer right now… I think the B70 is out of stock pretty much everywhere as it’s proved rather popular. If you do, however, here’s how you can identify the new B70… Take a look at the stainless steel cover for the drip tray. If its center cutout is a circle, then it’s the first generation B70. If it’s a star, it’s a second-generation model.

A Follow-up: This may or may not prove useful, as apparently some number of first-generation brewers got the new “star” drip tray, too. On the other hand the retail box for the new brewer now clearly reads that it’s got “new brewing technology”.

Who is Matt, you say, that he should know from Fair Trade? (Apparently today you are a mensch… I don’t know why.) Matt and his crew at Just Coffee make up one of those small, really admirable coffee roasters that’s trying to raise the bar in terms of of transparency. For them, Fair Trade is a movement, not just a market. (Says so, right in their logo.)

I like the work that Matt’s doing, despite his tendency to talk crap about roasters — like Green Mountain — who offer a number of Fair Trade coffees (currently about 30% of coffee sales) but don’t offer Fair Trade coffees exclusively. This isn’t uncommon. In fact, it’s becoming something of a tradition among “self-certified” Fair Trade roasters… those who’ve who’ve cast aside third-party certification for their own flavor of a Fair Trade label. What tends to get lost in kerfuffles like this is that — despite the noise — the essential principles of companies like Just Coffee and Green Mountain are the same: a fair price for farmers, long-term relationships with growers, and support for sustainable and ecologically sound practices all around.

“Fair traders have been way too reluctant to take a critical look at what we are trying to build and this book accomplishes that objective and does it well. Dan makes the point that FT needs to re-connect with other organizations and movements for social and economic justice instead of selling out to the corporations that they oppose. We could not agree more.”
– Matt Earley, Just Coffee

I’m looking forward to some interesting reading.

You make your picks, you takes your chances… that’s how it goes when you bid on coffee at auction. Will the coffee be everything that you found in the auction sample? Will it be shipped carefully and travel well? Will it arrive — and clear customs — sometime in the next… Idunno, twelve months, maybe?

Such is the story of the coffee Green Mountain won in the 2006 eCafe Gold Competition — an auction program that highlights some of the best and brightest cups in all Ethiopia. The program includes both washed and natural process coffees, and — while washed Ethiopians (typified by over-the-top, face full of flowers aromas of Yirgacheffe) still rule the Ethiopian market — it’s the unwashed, natural coffees that stole the show in the 2006 auction. We placed our bets on a brilliant and fruit-forward cup from the Shanta Golba cooperative, a garden coffee grown in the far reaches of Sidamo. And then we waited.

And waited…

Until finally, just a scant few weeks ago, our coffee arrived. Nearly a year after the auction closed.

Now you well know that the clock is ticking when coffee’s been roasted… you have only a matter of weeks (just how many is still argued) to enjoy that bean. The clock ticks for green, unroasted coffee, too. You may not watch the second-hand sweep so intently, maybe, but there’s an undeniable tick-tick-tick playing in your head just the same.

Green coffee tends to lose its intensity over time and its flavors can become brittle, its finish can fall off, and there’s the very real danger that it will take on “off” flavors… those that have nothing to do with the coffee itself, and everything to do with how it’s been stored, or what it’s been stored in. (Nobody likes coffee that tastes like a jute bag. Nobody.) So you might imagine the anticipation in the air, and the white knuckles of that first test roast of the now-landed coffee, and the anxiety around the tasting table to discover… that this was an excellent cup of coffee, still. Maybe not so bright as it was eleven months ago, but maybe a little more rounded, too.

Extremely fruited, with peach and blueberry aromas, and a little whiff of cocoa and cinnamon when wetted. Fruit plays large in the flavor, too… blueberry, strawberry, spiced peach and cardamom, with a dark chocolate understory. The finish, while not everything it was a year ago, it still sweet and resonant, and fades to a pleasant, dusky leather. Yeah, this is one of those coffees you think about dabbing behind your ears, too.

Want some? Better hurry. The very last batch that Green Mountain has available was roasted on Monday, and there are probably fewer than 50 pounds remaining. Or, our good friend Barry Jarrett got some, too, and I know he roasted a batch just last week. I’m really, really hoping he gets around to shipping some of his this way ’cause I’d love to compare them side-by-side, ’cause how often do you get to do that?¹

The final word? Recommended.

Notes and Links

1. Not very often. Seriously.

The first review comes by way of Coffee & Conservation, a blog with a point of view that is all about the relationship between coffee and the environment in which it’s grown. By those standards alone I’d expect the Gombe Reserve to fare pretty well in their review…

With its proximity to Kenya, I think we all expected this Tanzanian coffee to have the wine-like tones so characteristic of Kenyans. Instead, we were surprised by the little citrus kick when piping hot and the undertone of fruit that followed that was so reminiscent of an Ethiopian coffee. Finally, when cooler, came the tart wine finish.

I’m in accord… the Gombe presents itself as something of an enigma in terms of origin, being neither of Kenya or of Ethiopia but with characteristics of each.

This coffee was marvelously complex, but not jarringly so, as some Africans can be. It harmoniously went from one flavor to the next, each nicely balanced. The bird song it evoked for us was that of the Yellow-breasted Chat: full of interesting and sometimes unusual notes, all coming from an enigmatic source. There was only one shortcoming in the Gombe Reserve — we felt it failed brewed in drip coffee maker, even using a gold filter. The loss of character was nearly complete. Please prepare this special coffee in a French press, Chemex , Eva Cafe Solo, or vacuum pot. This is seriously good coffee — 4 motmots.

I’ll echo C&C’s recommendation to brew this bean using most any method other than drip.

Next in our review circle, Kenneth Davids at Coffee Review. Ken scores the Gombe Reserve with a solid 90 points, and describes it thusly:

Dominated throughout the profile by crisp, complex dry berry notes (think blackberries and cedar) with deep, sweet undercurrents of honey and chocolate that emerge with particular clarity as the cup cools. The tart berry notes also carry suggestions of dry, light-bodied red table wines.

More than fair. Quite respectable, even.

If the best Kenyas are cabernets, this is a very nice merlot. Any way your palate construes it, the farmers and the chimpanzees get a good deal.

A quite nice review. (Ken, your check is in the mail.) ;)

And most recently, long-time blogging pal Fortune (of Bread, Coffee, Chocolate, Yoga) takes a swing…

i’m calling the gombe’s roast level a vienna+: ragged looking beans with patches of oil, and a few “elephant ears” or shells. by which i don’t mean peaberries or caracols, but the defect called shells.

I feel compelled to add: a shell, or elephant ear, is considered a secondary defect; 5 secondary defects equal one primary defect, and SCAA standards dictate that Specialty Grade coffee should have no more than 5 defects in a 300 gram sample, none of which should be a primary defect. Finding shells in your coffee doesn’t mean that you’ve bought junk coffee, but finding too many might indicate something less than the best grade.

Fortune continues:

anyway, i chemexed this coffee at the usual oren proportion. even as i ground the beans, their floral fragrance seeped across the kitchen.

done brewing at 4 minutes, i took a sip: whoosh! like a fencing foil across the tongue. this baby is bright, bright, a classic razor-bright coffee.

really, it was a mark of zorro moment.

i’d have said it was a kenya aa at this point. once the coffee cooled a bit, a passion fruit tartness also sprung to the fore, balanced out by a honeyed character.

i’d say there’s a light milk-chocolate aftertaste, not that you notice with your clothes in tatters. douglas fairbanks? he went thattaway…

If you’re not familiar with Fortune’s writing, yes, she does write like she hasn’t a shift key in the house, which makes for fairly breathless reading, as though every word were urgently IM’d (er… im’d) in your direction. That’s how I read her writing, anyway. ;)

Fortune, I think, shoots straightest of all. Clearly, from where she sits, this is not a perfect coffee. And frankly, I find it a bit challenging, myself.

I’m really not concerned whether or not this bean matches any preconceived notions of a taste of place; Gombe is not Kenya, nor is it Ethiopia, or even one of the many traditional (read, highly marketed) regions of Tanzania. That it has characteristics that might be ascribed to each or all bothers me not one bit; I’m fully prepared to meet the coffee on its own terms. Its terms, however, strike me as somewhat varied cup-to-cup. While I enjoy such variability in, say, a Yemen coffee, or most any bean that’s a natural process, it’s not something I expect in a wet-process coffee, and consequently for me it’s not ideal.

The Gombe’s brightness is now legendary. ;) Even at a darker roast (a darker roast than was originally planned for this coffee, I might add, and one that was arrived at in an effort to tame this bean’s acidity) this remains an intensely zingy bean. While acidity is not a defect (quite the opposite!) too much can unbalance a coffee that doesn’t also offer sweetness and flavor and body to compensate. And Gombe Reserve does dangle on the precipice, still… wheeling on the edge of too bright, and only just saved from the brink of disaster by its tropical fruit notes and an underlying raw honey sweetness.

That’s probably as good a summary as any: Gombe Reserve is a coffee on the edge. And it’s appropriate, too, as it is so representative of a species on the edge, and a habitat that is, itself, on the brink and in a most delicate and fragile balance.

P.S. Me, I find this coffee brews pretty well in a press pot, better still in the Eva Cafe Solo… either will brew up a more balanced perspective on this unique bean.