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

The lot now has a unique ON, but many different grades that can range from:
​
E (Screen 20)
AA (Screen 18/19),
AB (Screen 16/17),
PB (peaberries),
C (screen 14-15),
HE, MH, ML, T, TT, UG1, UG2 (Undergrades)

The system assumes that the bigger the bean, the better the cup. However, that is not always correct.

Considering the great number of samples and the limited time we have, we focus only in the AA, AB, and PB grades. Through that focused research, the centralized system of the Nairobi Coffee Exchange allows 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.

1.- The birth of a new reality.
 
With this article, we begin a new series of educational content, this time focusing on one of the biggest and probably most controversial topic in the coffee industry: PRICE.
 
All of us who work here know that our industry is in an unprecedented crisis in various fields; Ethical, Environmental, Genetics and Socioeconomic. We know that the prices we pay to coffee growers (with only few exceptions) is well below their production costs. And when we pay excellent prices for quality, for example in Kenya; we know that most of this revenue does not reach farmers, because there are so many hands, so much corruption and so much bureaucracy in the industry, that most of the benefit is lost in the darkness of a network of connections that we do not fully understand.
 
Other countries such as Burundi, have a system absolutely regulated by the central government. There is a standard price established for one kg of "quality A" cherry (500 BFR = 0.19USD) and for a kg of "quality B" cherry (250 BFR = $ 0.09). Any surcharge in the payment to coffee growers depends exclusively on the charity and generosity of multinationals that are extracting the most important natural resource of Burundi (Coffee represents 80% of the country's foreign currency income).
 
At the time of writing, the future price of Arabica Coffee contracted to September 2020 is 0.98 USD per pound.
 
Our proposal, is that at least, within the specialty coffee industry, importers pay 1USD per Kg of high quality cherry, in all the countries where we are currently working.
 
In the following posts, we will develop more this idea.

2.- THE GOLDEN RULE
 
To produce 1 kg of green coffee we need 6 kg of cherry. Of these initial 6 kg, 5 are "lost in translation" during the production process, mainly due to pulping and drying (evaporation of moisture, which in washed parchment amounts up to 45-50%, and in the case of the ripe cherry to 67%).
 
To increase the farmers profitability, studies suggest that, it is highly recommended to generate incentives at origin for the use of these by-products (husk, pulp, pectin, water) as raw material for the production of: beverages, fertilizers, biogas, livestock feed, fuel, etc. These by-products when not treated, are highly polluting and generate serious environmental problems in the surrounding communities.
 
In our real coffee world, competition is imperfect. Meaning that there is a wide range of inequities between the actors of the industry. First of all, we have few buyers (5 or 6 big corporations) that control the world market price. And second, we have many small sellers with little or no power of negotiation. The latter living in less diversified weak exporting markets that depend on the exporting of one or few natural resources to obtain foreign exchange.
 
Therefore, there is an imbalance in the profitability that the coffee business is generating in the West, compared with how the business impact farmers in producing countries. Today the prices paid for a Kg of Cherry are way below 1 USD in most producing countries and we all must do something about it.
 
The Golden Rule: "treat others as you want to be treated".

3.- TRANSPARENCY NOT CHARITY
 
The problem with charity is that it generally attends symptoms rather than causes. Charitable donations are not the best proposal to solve the problem of poverty or extreme poverty of the world's coffee growers. Rather, they are a temporary solution to a problem that requires more effort and better organization of economic relations between countries.
 
Why do we establish a price hierarchy for green coffee and not for the price of cherry? Because there are many factors that influence the final result of the processing of that cherry. But we could also put the argument that there are also many influential factors in the transport of green coffee from origin to our respective warehouses.
 
So why not coordinate with the cooperatives or producers a pre-established price per kilogram of cherry according to it quality levels? How it is done in Burundi for example, where for 1 Kg of cherry "quality A" 500 BUF (0.19 USD) are paid; and for 1 Kg of cherry "quality B" 250 BUF (0.096 USD) are paid. Prices in Burundi are set by the government, but they are too low. Our proposal is to establish four cherry qualities and thus encourage coffee growers to make a more selective and higher quality harvest to obtain a better price.
 
For example, for a kilogram of cherry of the best quality "A", we should demand that at least 1 USD will be paid, for qualities B, C and D, this value will be decreased by a percentage that is financially sustainable for all. But we must demand transparency from cooperatives/producers, otherwise we will never solve the problem of the extreme poverty of coffee growers, and will be using charity as a relief for the constant abuse of neo-colonialism in Africa and the World.
 
It is not charity, it is payment for a job well done.

4.- THE UNFAIRNESS OF FAIR TRADE
 
With this article, we end this series of educational content, this time focusing on one of the most important and probably most controversial topics of the coffee industry: THE TRUE COST OF COFFEE.
 
The main problem with certifications is that they are for-profit organizations and have failed to condemn and stop the unethical and abusive behaviour of multinationals. Instead, they shield their operations, leaving small farmers from around the world unprotected.
 
In a recently published report called: "Not Fit For Purpose", it is pointed out that these certification companies have been captured and dominated by multinationals, and therefore, their intrinsic purpose for existence is destined to fail.
 
The report also notes that, during the "shady" yearly monitoring visits, auditors are subcontracted and paid by multinationals for evaluation, which creates a clear conflict of interest. Eventually, we cannot trust the claims made by these certifications, because abuses continue to occur and words such as "fair" and "sustainable" are misleading.
 
Often people ask us how we (consumers) can help to stop these abuses from happening? And we truly believe that we have a great power in our hands, the power of decision-making. To generate an impact with our decisions, we must inform and educate ourselves, read the labels and question everything; because only by spending our money in the businesses that are being truly ethical, fair and sustainable, we will generate a positive feedback loop that sooner or later will reach coffee growers.
 
Question everything and enjoy your coffee.
 
THE END

From a botanical point of view, the definition of an heirloom variety establishes that this must be open-pollinated. Arabica coffee is a self-pollinated crop, so from the very beginning the definition of heirloom doesn’t apply to Arabica coffee.

For many years in the coffee industry, the word Heirloom has been used as a generic term to describe one or a group of unknown cultivated varieties in a particular lot, farm or region, that over a long period of time has been planted and passed from a coffee farmer to the next.

​Since the Specialty Coffee movement started to rise in western countries, there was an obvious necessity for traceability and more information. Although the Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC), has been working since the 70’s in researching and developing new varieties, at the time, importers had very little information to describe the varieties of the coffees they were buying from Ethiopia.

Today, thanks to scientists such as Getu Bekele, who have been studying Ethiopian wild and cultivated varieties for decades, we can learn, recognize and differentiate, two big groups of Ethiopian Coffee Varieties: the Regional Landraces and the JARC improved.

​There are between 6.000 to 10.000 Regional Landraces and the JARC has developed around 40 improved varieties, which has been distributed among farmers all over the country. These improved varieties address issues of CBD, leaf rust, cup quality and yielding, and today, are widely used all over the coffee growing regions in Ethiopia.

For example, if we analyzed the Jimma Region, we can learn that the improved varieties of the area belong to the Metu Bishari Selection of 1974/75 including: 74110, 74112, 74140, 74148 & 74165 varieties. The Regional Landraces found in this area will include: Kuburi, Bedessa, Yawan and Dalacha among others.

Also, there will be a specific and different set of improved varieties and Regional Landraces found in Yirgachefe/Sidamo, Harar, Gera and Walaga.

If you want to know more about this very interesting topic, check Getu’s book, “A Reference Guide to Ethiopian Coffee Varieties”.

And last but not least, enjoy your Ethiopian Coffee with full traceability 😊

​Only two centuries ago, we began to understand this important process, when in 1854 the French chemist Louis Pasteur determined that fermentation is caused by yeast. In very simple terms, yeast is an unicellular microorganism classified as a fungus, which perform the decomposition of sugars by alcoholic fermentation.

Today, the importance of fermentation and yeast in the production of beverages and food is absolute. Various studies, for example, show that the yeast associated with wine or chocolate fermentation, significantly influences its properties, including its flavour and aroma.

​Fortunately, and despite the fact that the microbiota of coffee fermentation is still mysterious and poorly understood, more studies are being conducted to understand the impact of fermentation and yeast on our cup result.

A very interesting study was conducted in 2016 by Dr. Aimee Dudley and her team. They were trying to determine if the specific yeast of coffee was transported through their plants and human activity, or if particular regions of the world harbor these specific populations of yeast?

​The results were striking, since it was discovered that unlike wine, the more natural styles of coffee fermentation, have generated several yeast strains with independent origins. It was also found that the strains associated to coffee from specific places, are the result of a mixture of yeast strains from different parts of the world.

Considering that the varieties of yeast found in coffee fermentations are genetically more diverse than those of wine, they could play a much more important role in the development of coffee properties in different parts of the world, or what would be known as the "MICROBIAL TERROIR".

​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!

​After crossing three oceans, the Suez and Panama Canal and also the Red and Mediterranean Sea, we finally have totally available in Barcelona and Santiago our new Tanzanian lots and microlots.

It took us three trips in the span of three years, to be able to find these extraordinary lots and microlots, with complete traceability to the farm or the washing station (as the case may be). Although, Tanzania has similar conditions and the potential of Kenya or Burundi to produce excellent coffees; for various historical, political, economic, cultural and environmental reasons, the local coffee industry has not managed to develop like its neighbors, and therefore, until very recently it was very difficult to find high quality coffees throughout the country.

​Fortunately, since five years ago, several private companies have begun to invest in infrastructure and support cooperatives and small coffee farmers to encourage them to produce more and better coffees. Although, at the beginning of this year the government of Tanzania put the quota of uncertainty, announcing a series of changes in the regulations of the local coffee industry.

Basically, as of July 2018, all coffee will be sold through auctions administered by the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB). As of the same date, there will be no issuance of licenses to buy parchment or cherry. The TCB will develop a certified coffee catalog where exporters will compete to buy certified coffee through the auction system.

​At first glance, these and other changes point to the establishment of the same centralized auction system with which 90% of coffee is commercialized in Kenya. But it will also be necessary to see how this new system is introduced and adopted by the various actors in the local coffee industry, and whether these changes will have an impact on the quality and traceability of the future lots that we buy in Tanzania.

Everything remains to be seen, but as always, we will be alert to inform you of any news.

For now enjoy the moment, the trip and your cup of Tanzania!

​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.