1. What is memory?

Memory is the process through which we obtain, store, retain and access information. Human beings are capable of perceiving reality through experiences, which we classify and store. This process allow us to survive, cause if we were not able to access past experiences to decode the new ones, we would be living each day in a constant chaotic state of wonder, terror, happiness or stress. Memory in simple words, simplifies our life and balances our central nervous system.

There are three types of memory, according to professors Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968, Multi Model of Human Memory) these are:

- Sensory Memory
- Short Term Memory
- Long Term Memory

Sensory memory is the very first stage and refers to the process of storage of information that we take with our senses from the environment. Unfortunately, most of it can't be processed by our brains, since it lasts for very short periods of time and just a small portion of it is transferred to the second and third stages of memory, short and long term respectively, the rest is quickly forgotten.

Humans are visual creatures, through evolution, this is the sense that we have developed the most. In fact, 90% of the information that we pass to our brain is visual. Perhaps this is the main reason why developing sensory memory through taste and smell is such a difficult task that requires a lot of training and hard work, and even many people are not physiologically capable of achieving it, since they do not have the appropriate sensory receptors to make use of it.
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2. We are all the same, but different.

Each human being is unique and unmatched. The composition of our bodies is such that there will never be anyone exactly the same. Although we all have a brain, a heart and two lungs, etc; brains have different capacities, there are healthier hearts than others, and lungs have different sizes, among other differences. In addition to our bodies, the composition of our life experiences is also unique, although we all live more or less the same script (we are born, we grow, we age and then we die), it is in the detail where the difference is found and what transforms us into unique beings.

For evolutionary reasons, our senses of taste and smell have been relegated to a second place. The dominance of vision has caused us to lose the ability to perceive and communicate taste and olfactory sensations. Humans in average have 12 million olfactory receptors, which can detect 10,000 different smells. But we don't all have the same number of receptors, nor do they have the same sensitivity. There are people who can perceive more aromas and flavours than others, and therefore, have a greater potential to communicate and memorize (retain, store and later access) this information or sensations.

In addition to our physiological limitations, our experiences are not the same either. We all live unique lives with experiences that are non-transferable. This is another fundamental aspect in the development of sensory memory. The environment where we live and its culture play a determining role in the way we see the world and what we can absorb from it. Then it’s only through language that we are able to share our experiences and express our emotions.

The environment is the stage, culture is the plot, our senses are the actors and language is the script, of this movie called sensory memory.
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3. The Flavour of Coffee

As we have already seen in previous posts, memory is a process that allows us to obtain, process, store and access information collected from our environment. And we also know that the possibility of access and communication of such information will be determined by a physiological factor (the unique composition of our bodies) and a cultural factor (the unique composition of our lives).

When we drink coffee, we have what is known as a multisensory experience. A cup of coffee contains a wide range of flavours and aromas, which are affected by many factors such as: the variety of the bean, process, roast profile, method of preparation, etc. Approximately 850 volatile compounds associated with coffee flavour have been identified. However, a small proportion of these (approximately 40 volatile compounds) are known to be the main contributors to the aroma and flavour of coffee.

Aroma is defined as an odour that is detected through the nose and retronasal, and also through the back of the mouth, where the nasal and oral cavities are interconnected. Taste is the sense experienced by the tongue and describes sensations of salinity, sweetness, acidity, bitterness or umami. Flavour is defined as a combination of aroma and taste.

This multi-sensory experience encompasses all the senses to provide the complete coffee experience and allows you to judge the quality and pleasure of the coffee. Drinking a cup of coffee without one of the sensory signals (for example, without feeling the aroma of coffee) will reduce the impact of the other senses, the overall experience and the pleasure derived from a good cup of coffee.
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1.- Origins of fermentation.
 
Fermentation is older than any ancient civilization that we know of today. Several archaeological excavations have found jars with the remains of wine that are approximately 8,000 years old.
 
After much trial, error and careful observation, almost all civilizations began producing fermented beverages (and foods as well), but mainly wine and beer. It started with the fermentation of water with honey in Asia, then the Egyptians, Babylonians and Romans used grapes to produce wine, the Chinese used rice instead to produce wine and other civilizations produced beer with barley. Chicha was produced in South America, through the fermentation of corn.
 
In those days people started to leave fruits and grains in closed containers, because they knew that after a long time, that would turn into wine or beer. But no one really understood how the recipe worked. The process was called fermentation, which comes from the Latin "Fervere" which means "To Boil". The name was created because after a time of leaving the fruit in the vessels, people saw the mixture bubbling, so they thought it was boiling.
 
Producing fermented beverages at the time was complicated, if the mixture didn't stay long enough in the container, the result would not have alcohol at all; but if you left it too long, it was undrinkable. After much observation, people understood that temperature and air exposure were critical to the fermentation process.

​2.- What is fermentation.
 
First of all, we must say that the general definitions of fermentation do not apply directly to coffee. This is because coffee is not a fermented beverage like wine or beer, but coffee production processes USE FERMENTATION AS A TOOL, either to break the mucilage structure and facilitate the execution of a certain processing method (Washed, Giling Basah, etc) and/or directly influence the quality and flavor of the bean (Natural, Honey, Washed, Giling Basah, Experimental, etc). Almost all the different coffee processing methods in the world use fermentation in one way or another, with the sole exception of mechanical washing.
 
So now that we've made this exception regarding to coffee, let's go back to the more general concepts of fermentation. In very simple words, fermentation is a TRANSFORMATION of a complex element into another much simpler one. OK, that's perhaps too simplistic! :)
 
Now more in depth: fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugars into acids, gases or alcohol.
 
Louis Pasteur, the father of microbiology, who is responsible for all our understanding of fermentation today, pointed out in 1856 that there are two types of fermentation: Alcoholic and Lactic Acid. Alcoholic fermentation occurs through the action of yeast, lactic fermentation occurs through the action of bacteria.

3.- Coffee Fermentation.
 
As we already know, fermentation is a metabolic process of transformation of simple sugars into acids or alcohol. This can be divided into two main groups: alcoholic fermentation (produced by the effect of yeast) and lactic acid (produced by the effect of bacteria). But the variety of microbiota (that is, yeast + bacteria) that are involved in the fermentation process of coffee, is still poorly understood from a scientific point of view.
 
A study that we could find on "Mucilage Fermentation" from 2004 in Nicaragua (SC Jackels. Dept. of Chemistry, Seattle Univ.), Took samples from 7 different lots that were fermented in concrete tanks for periods between 10 to 24 hrs at a temperature of between 21 - 23 ºC; and concluded that: (1) in all samples the glucose level decreased constantly throughout the entire process; (2) that the levels of lactic acid and / or ethanol increased exponentially only in the last 3 hours of the fermentation process; (3) and perhaps the most important discovery, the PH level is a fundamental factor in determining when the fermentation would be complete, without developing unpleasant over fermented flavours (produced by acetic acid and ethanol), and this value on average was PH = 4,6.
 
The coffee microbiota has spread throughout the world along with its plants through human activity (Current Biology 26, 965–971, April 4, 2016). But also, the more "artisan" styles of coffee fermentation have generated several microbiota strains with independent origins. In other words, the bacteria and yeast found in Africa are different from those in South America, and these are different from those in Asia. These could play a much more important role in the development of unique cup profiles for different origins of the world, or what would be known as the "MICROBIOTIC TERROIR".

​4.- Types of Fermentation.
 
With this post we end this series of four articles where we have tried to understand fermentation in depth. First through its history, then understanding what exactly is fermentation, following on how it is used in coffee production; and finally we will see in detail the types of fermentation that are currently used around the world of specialty coffee.
 
We must say that the following types of fermentation, in the industry are called "experimental processes", and refer EXCLUSIVELY TO THE ENVIRONMENT where the coffee is fermented, and not to the metabolic process of fermentation, which by definition is anaerobic, meaning, free of oxygen.
 
AEROBIC FERMENTATION: Implies that the fermentation stage is carried out in an environment high in oxygen. It is the most widely form of fermentation used in coffee; and it occurs during the FW process when we dry-ferment (without water) coffee in a tank, or when we dry natural or honey processed coffee on African beds or concrete patios.
 
ANAEROBIC FERMENTATION: Implies that the fermentation stage is carried out in a low or no oxygen environment. An example, take place during the FW process when we wet ferment (soak) coffee in a tank with water.
 
LACTIC FERMENTATION: Generally is carried out in a steel tank in an anaerobic environment. After pulping, it's assumed that only the especies of bacteria which transform  glucose into lactic acid are alive. There is little scientific support to this, since there are other microorganisms (like yeast) that can also survive in low oxygen environments and could also influence the final result of this type of fermentation.
 
CARBONIC MACERATION: Process borrowed from the French wine industry, and made popular by Sasa Sestic WBC 2015. The process is similar to that described above, but fermentation is done with the whole cherry without pulping. Fermentation here may take days or even weeks since the cherries are left intact.
 
YEAST FERMENTATION: As we have said, yeast and bacteria are microorganisms present in the soil, water, air, tank, pulp, etc. But this process refers exclusively to the adhesion of commercial yeast strains (generally the one used in the wine industry) to the tank, where a wet anaerobic fermentation is being carried out.
 
To wrapped out, we just want to say that all these experiments are great, because this industry has been built and grow on experimentation; but not because a process has a "funky" or "trendy" name it will be better than another which is simply called "washed" or "natural". Let's select our coffees by their cup profile and not by their names.
 
Honorable mention to many people from whom we borrow info (all references on our blog), and especially to Lucia Solis from the "Making Coffee" podcast.
 
THE END

​What is moisture? Moisture content is the amount of water (in the form of vapour) in a sample, given as a percentage of the sample's original weight. In coffee, there is no exact standard for an ideal moisture content, but a generally accepted range goes between 10-12%, with some important exceptions like Sumatra being closer to 12.5%; And Ethiopia and Kenya being closer to 9,5%.
 
What is density? Density describes how much space a coffee bean takes up (its volume), in relation to the amount of matter in that same coffee bean (its mass). Denser beans are more flavourful, because its cellular development slows down the higher in altitude it's grown (because it’s colder), which means the coffee retains more sugars and nutrients. The farther from the Equator, the lower you need to go to grow high density coffees.
 
What is Water Activity? The water activity describes the energy state of water in a specific coffee sample, and hence its potential to participate in biochemical reactions and growth of microorganisms (mold, bacteria, etc.). It is used to predict the stability and safety of coffee and food in general, with respect to microbial growth and rates of deteriorative reactions.

​Flavour is the main and most important criterion for evaluating quality in coffee, so our goal here, is to understand how these three factors will affect your roasting, flavour development and its correlation.
 
Why are these parameters important when roasting? Basically, because the beans will react in a certain way according to different levels of moisture and density (water activity is directly related to moisture, so for the sake of the roasting part of the article, we’ll just focus on moisture and density) when heat is applied. Let see it more in detail:

​There are two laws of physics that are worth understanding:
 
1.- Heat transfer more quickly through denser objects.
2.- Moisture is a great conductor of heat, as it transfers faster in water than in air, for example.
 
Let’s imagine that we have two 100 ml cylinders, filled up to the top with coffees that have the same moisture content, 10%. Now let’s say that one of these coffees is a low altitude washed Arabica from Brazil, and the other a high altitude washed Arabica from Ethiopia. These two coffees have exactly the same moisture content, but the densities are very different, the Ethiopian being denser, will have more water in it than the Brazil.
 
It is important to understands that the correlation of these two parameters (moisture and density) will tell us how to better approach roasting a coffee. Moisture content alone is useful for understanding and predicting a series of events throughout the coffee production chain, but for roasting alone, density is the first and main information you should get.
 
This is a complex topic that deserved a longer article, more discussions and more research no doubt.

​There is a simple rule in the world of environmental sustainability, and this is: "If any waste or pollution of any kind is generated, someone further down the production chain will be affected and will have to pay for it."

In an industry such as Coffee, which generates revenues of more than USD100 billion a year, curiously, it is not the big corporations the ones called to lead the changes in the area of environmental sustainability; but is us! The small companies focusing on high quality coffee on the specialty niche. Although we do not contribute significantly in terms of pollution or waste and we take a very small percentage of the revenue mentioned above, we cannot wait for Nestle or Starbucks for example, to take the measures that will make a real difference in this regard. We could wait a lifetime and more for this to happen.

​Specialty coffee is not only about serving a quality cup, it also tells the story about how the lot was sourced, if an ethical price was paid to the producer, if the given traceability is relevant and honest, if the logistics are green and efficient, if the production of that lot did not include any forced or child labour, or if it generated abuse or poverty of any kind.

Undoubtedly, the cornerstone of this whole idea is quality, without it, all the subsequent philosophy falls apart. But when we get the quality coffee we want, it is essential to work on the conceptual aspects of specialty coffee and make them prevail.

In environmental matters, we have committed with two emblematic projects to which we contribute in a humble but consistent manner. We donate 2% of our annual sales to two foundations that work on the protection of Elephants in Kenya and Gorillas in Rwanda and their habitat.

We will never ask you to support us financially to give for these projects, but we want you to know that when you buy a Kilimanjaro Specialty Coffees bag, 2% of the price you pay goes directly to the protection of Elephants in various regions of Kenya and Gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.

Enjoy your African coffee and protect the planet, because it is the only one we have.

​Suppose we are going to process the lot A, which will be separated according to a series of characteristics that in the industry we call traceability (origin, altitude, process, cultivation, fermentation, etc.); The quality of lot A will be defined by the way in which its cherries are harvested. After the harvest, there will be no possibility of increasing the quality of this lot, we can only maintain it and try very hard not to reduce it.

​Today, we often hear about processes with different types of experimental fermentations, which tend to confuse the expectations of our customers, and we may forget that coffee is the result of the sum of many factors and circumstances, which go beyond one or another specific fermentation.

​In Kilimanjaro Specialty Coffees we find it very positive that producers and importers continue experimenting with processes and fermentations that allow the development of the industry; but we also hope that these flashy names are not used to influence a purchase decision, or as a tool to charge more for a lot that perhaps was not harvested the right way, and it is assumed that just by having a "funky" fermentation the lot will develop a certain flavor, sweetness or quality. This is important, since otherwise we would be replicating the model followed in Indonesia with the Kopi Luwak, where due to the wonders of nature and the well developed nose of the civet, when in freedom, it was able to select the cherries with the greater amount of sugars (selective picking), and the quality of the coffee was given in the first place for this reason and not only by "intraintestinal" fermentation. Then we all know what happened to the sadly famous Kopi Luwak.

​For this reason, it is essential for us to travel every year to origin in harvest time, and observe first hand the standards that will dictate the quality of the lots that we will bring to Barcelona.

Enjoy your coffee and remember that quality is the result of the sum of many factors and not just one of them.

​The taste of people has been built with the course of history, and some events have strongly contributed to shape it. Like for example, the arrival in Europe of sugar or spices during the medieval era. Throughout history some flavors appears and others, like bitterness, go out of fashion.

​Taste today, is strongly influenced by current times. In a connected, interdependent and frenetic world, we depend on our socio-historical condition to appreciate the flavor. 

Aroma, taste and flavor are closely related concepts, however, they have different definitions. Taste and aroma are closely associated with each other, and both are perceived by processes within the areas of the limbic system, which deal with emotions, memories and stimulation.

The aroma is defined as an odor, perceived through the nose and retronasally, and also through the back of the mouth, where the nasal and buccal cavities are interconnected. Taste is the sense experienced by the tongue and describes sensations of saltiness, sweetness, acidity, bitterness or umami. Flavor is defined as a combination of aroma and flavor.

​In Kenya, after a certain lot has been processed, it will be delivered to the Marketing Agent (MA) in parchment by the farmer or cooperative. The MA will then mill and grade the lot by shape and size, and give this particular lot an unique "Outturn Number" (ON), before delivering it to the Nairobi Coffee Exchange. This ON system will be crucial to provide transparency and traceability to the system.

​The once full lot will have now a unique ON but many different grades, that can go from:

AA (7,2 mm), 
AB (6,6 mm), 
PB (peaberries), 
C (screen 14-15), 
E, TT, T, UG, MH, ML; these are just some of the full range of different grades.

According to our experience cupping at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange, the best coffees are found always between the grades AA, AB, PB and C. But the system assumes that the bigger the bean the better the cup, but that is not always correct. We have had many times the best cup in the C grade and not in the AA for the same ON.

​Anyway, to make our search more efficient, considering the great number of samples and the limited time we have, we focus only in the AA, AB, and PB grades. Through that selective research, the centralized system of the Nairobi Coffee Exchange has allowed us, to discover some hidden jewels from very remote areas of the country, that it would have been impossible to find just travelling around.

In simple words the Nairobi Coffee Exchange works as a weekly Cup of Excellence, stimulating competition and prices for the best lots; and the different grades generate the synergy that provides the best formula for maximizing the benefits of small farmers.

This formula becomes particularly important, in times like this week, when the Coffee Futures in New York plummet to minimums of more than 12 years to 100.4 cts / lb.

Enjoy your Kenya coffee in Barcelona and Santiago!

​Certainly, the specialty coffee industry has grown exponentially in the last five years. The progress we have seen and experienced in farming, processing, logistics, roasting and brewing are undeniable and certainly admirable. But is this level of growth sustainable in the long term? Are we neglecting quality to privilege the quantity?

​We must never forget, that the fundamental pillar of our industry is quality. From farm to cup, what sets us apart from other sectors of the coffee business, is simply quality. But not only the quality of the bean, also the quality of our commercial relationships (ETHICS), the kind of information we deliver (TRACEABILITY), our production processes (CUPPING), the way we relate to the environment (SUSTAINABILITY).

In times of massive festivals, where the offer is overwhelming, the visual stimulation excessive and the time limited, we must ask ourselves: How can one be able to consume and digest so much information and coffee in such a short period of time? Ask also, what is the purpose of this massive festivals? And with this, where do we want to go from here, and if this is the right path?

It is always a good time to make the necessary adjustments and amend the route.

Question everything and enjoy your coffee!

​A microlot is a term that designates not only a small volume of coffee production, but also designates a selectively hand-picked coffee, from a particular cultivar, in a specific farm or micro-region, within a certain altitude range and processed separately; or at least a combination of some of the above. In summary, it's the result of some concerted effort to separate and carefully prepare a quantity of coffee that will have special characteristics.

​It also implies some experimenting or research contribution by the producer, importer/roaster or all of them working together. In addition, it requires the control, the cupping and the qualitative selection of the best lots, in a proactive relationship between the producer and the buyer.

Many coffees today are promoted as "Microlots" and they do not meet any of the standards mentioned above; and end up being abused just as cheap marketing words, or as an easy way to sell more expensive.