Maybe all of the “blather” going on both behind the counter and at barista competitions represents the fact that the majority of people still see coffee as a useful drug and a commodity and not as a (dare I say it) gourmet quality product. Maybe all of the talk reflects a certain insecurity or anxiousness on the part of the specialty coffee industry or maybe a bit of impatience: “when the hell are people going to start seeing coffee en masse the way it deserves to be seen and how much effort am I going to need to expend to make that happen?”

Wine has a certain amount of respect built in to it. It has long history of association with the types of cuisines – and the areas that they come from – that have been associated with fine living. People tour these areas. They go on vacation there. On the other hand, much of the coffee we drink comes from countries and/or areas of countries known more for their poverty (I know the specialty coffee industry is trying to change that). As of yet it is a more widely held romantic notion for a rich retiree to move to Napa or the South of France to grow grapes and produce wine than it is for that same person to move to the mountains of Guatemala to grow coffee.

There are many perceptions as well as realities of the coffee industry that need to change before we are able to put as little effort as the wine industry puts into its product convincing the consumer of its quality.

Being able to tie it into a cup characteristic makes it more palatable for the judges and audience but saying something like “this green grape acidity and sweetness come from the slow development at 1900 metres” (while sounding nice) does a massive disservice to the complexity of growing great coffee and is (for now) very difficult to prove.

Is there not enough correlation at this point to say, with some authority, that altitude has a heightening affect on acidity? I have been led to believe that there was. “Proof” is hard to come by, after all. Strong correlation can tell you much of what you need to know as long as, as I said, the relationship is strong and able to be consistently reproduced. Is this something that The Global Coffee Research Project is going to look into?

Speaking of The Global Coffee Research Project and in reference to …

To quote Dr Tim Schilling “There’s actually been more global research into making better kiwifruit than into making better coffee!”

… I am all for research but I hope that the very research one would hope might lead to increased knowledge of the hows and whys of great coffee, doesn’t lead, as well, to a splintering of the specialty coffee industry. We may know how to grow more kiwi fruit than we did before just as we now know how to grow more tomatoes than we did before but it seems that discerning people are not looking for the products of increased production anymore – the typical, under-ripe tomato, for instance – but are after those products that represent quality over quantity, i.e. the heirloom tomato, etc. We learned how to increase agricultural production long ago but it seems we have not yet learned how to do that without sacrificing real quality or, for that matter, sacrificing our environment. Let’s hope that when it comes to coffee, we can change the story of our past production advances with other forms of agriculture from one of a single-minded focus on quantity to one that reflects some sort of balance between quantity and quality.

Hydroponics has definitely helped more than a few cash crops to improve over the years… Just wondering why this isn’t being talked about in coffee circles.

As we struggle to determine the why in a very complex issue, I submit that the wine industry has provided research that varietals have a sense of place. I believe that it is important to take a page from our brethren and acknowledge that indeed the beautiful fruit that is cultivated for our gain is in fact affected by altitude, soil, macro-climates and cultivating methods used to develop its distinctive character(s).

Competition provides the opportunity to introduce an audience to the intrinsic value and the capacity of our craft.

Perhaps the trade winds of the pacific waters have not imparted any varietal character on the slopes of Kona. But I am certain Peter has turned many a non believer to experiencing better coffee.

As for your routine – what I think made it so interesting and enjoyable, and above the kind of criticism I made in the post – is that it was not speculation masquerading as knowledge about a single idea (elevation x = flavour y) but it was the presentation of three coffees that were defined and distinguished by their processing. This is a rare opportunity for most people (lucky judges!), interesting and worthy of discussion. Plus it had Dire Straits.

PS for the record I would love to see brewing competitions get off the ground but I think the first challenge to this however is to have more shops actually brewing to order.

If you want a new competition then my advice is to start one. That isn’t to be facetious – if you start a brewing competition I will absolutely support and promote it (assuming it is good, which I am sure it would be!)

Competitions need volunteers – people to put time in, and there are no barriers to creating competitions other than effort and time. The World Aeropress Competition is a great example of that – it has grown and become more popular, has participants from across the world, is fun and engaging and costs very little to do. We were happy to support and sponsor it, and many other companies would love to see a brewing competition take hold.

Your point about Mike taking the competition as far as it can go are interesting – I certainly look forward to seeing how people push and explore what’s possible next year, because there is always more….

I remember looking for all the info I could on the Ge(i)sha variety – all I could find was a yield study done in the 60′s in Costa Rica in which it didn’t do particularly well. Nothing on taste, on soil quality etc.

Hence the need for the research project!

I was talking to a lot of people while in London. I was (and still are) looking for information about how coffee varietals are processing the soil and anything of a specific terroir and to what outcome this leads. You could think of a plant being some kind of machine, processing several inputs and producing a certain output.

I would love to find anything that describes how certain varietals would produce different results for a certain terroir. The only thing one can find today is according to pest resistance.

I think this topic is pretty much related to yours. Would be nice to be part oftheresearch or at least be able to support it.

Wolfram