The Josuma Coffee Blog

Note that we’ve also compiled TWO sets of rankings- one reflecting industry preferences and the other reflecting consumer preferences. We find this helps his given the disconnect between what the Specialty Coffee industry wants to serve and what Specialty Coffee customers want to drink. Some roasters tend to look for profiles that appeal to roasters and baristas; other roasters seek out consumer-friendly profiles.

Links for More Info:

First Look: Josuma’s Washed Arabica Offerings (Fall 2020)

Quiz: How Well Do You Know the Major Indian Coffee Varieties?

NEXT STEPS:

We encourage Commercial Roasters to start with a half pound sample. Visit our Green Coffee Samples page for more details. Please also review our Purchasing Green Coffee FAQs.

Harvest:

The pandemic had a small impact on India’s coffee harvest which was largely wrapped up by the time India instituted a national lockdown in April. For reference, most farms start picking in November/December and wrap up in February/March with Arabica ripening before Robusta.  

While the farms that we partner with report little/no drop in yields due to COVID, third-party production estimates suggest a 10% hit to India’s Robusta crop (and little/no impact on the Arabica crop).  

Dry-Milling/Exporting:

The pandemic has had more of an impact on dry-milling and container shipping as most Indian coffees ship out between January and June. While some containers were fortunate to sail before the strict national lockdown in April, the rest have been subject to delays. 

Temporary local lockdowns since the national re-opening, along with labor force size restrictions, have also stretched out the time required to prep coffee for transport and to get ships out of port. We’re seeing many containers reaching the US and Europe one or two months later than the equivalent 2019 lots.  

Monsooning:

The monsooning of coffee, a process unique to India, runs from June through September. And while exposure to the moist winds is what transforms the coffee, monsooning is still a labor intensive process. 

Although monsooning is a 12-16 week process, the beans don’t spend all that time laid out, exposed to the moist monsoon winds.  Instead, they’re laid out for perhaps a week, then put back into storage for a few more weeks. This process is repeated 3-4 times throughout the summer.   

Labor therefore plays an important role in the process as workers are need to unbag and bag coffee several times during the season as well as to rake and turn the beans frequently when they’re laid out in the open-sided monsooning warehouses. 

The same labor force size restrictions that impacted dry milling and exporting have necessitate adjustments to monsooning procedures. Throughput therefore both a little slower and little lower compared to prior years.  

Going Foward

Being Intentional: 

The best way to taste is to be focused on what you’re tasting when you’re tasting it, rather than relying on your memory after the fact. The easiest way to develop this skill is to focus on the first one or two sips/bites of almost everything you drink or eat. The goal isn’t to make eating and drinking feel like work but, rather, to make tasting second nature for you.  

Being Systematic: 

The best way to taste, particularly when evaluating food and drink in your store, is to have a routine for tasting. For example, when we taste espresso, we always take a small sip first to let the oils coat our tongues. Then we take a larger second sip which we use to evaluate the sweetness, bitterness, and sourness in the shot. Similarly, when it comes to tasting for buying decisions or for quality control (i.e. tasting for consistency), we have a set time and process to do those evaluations. That way we know that our conclusions are based on the flavor of the product, not some flaw in how or when we chose to taste it.  

Being Mindful: 

Since it’s hard to be systematic with everything you taste, you should be aware of what else might affect your sense of taste at the time. For instance, some people find that their palates are fresher in the morning compared to the afternoon. If that describes you, be sure to take that into account for things you taste in the afternoon. Similarly, what you ate or drank prior to a tasting can impact your ability to perceive certain flavors. At the Coffee Fest trade shows, for instance, attendees who visit a vendor with a sugary product (i.e. syrups, frappe mixes, et al) often find that they can’t perceive nuance or sweetness in any coffee, tea, or espresso tasted soon afterwards. That’s why, in our classes, we also suggest that attendees delay sampling the sweeter products until they’re finished tasting coffee, tea, and other products with more subtle flavors.

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NEXT STEPS: 

We encourage Commercial Roasters to start with a half pound sample. Visit our Green Coffee Samples page for more details. Please also review our Purchasing Green Coffee FAQs to learn how we handle green coffee transactions.

As with the Bitter Espresso Problem, customer complaints about sour espresso also tell you something about your shop’s espresso beans. In this case, complaints about sour espresso tell you that the beans you’re using for espresso are too bright and too acidic.

This often happens with shops serving single origin espresso. Most beans that roasters offer for single origin espresso will be from Africa or Central America. These are regions best known for highly acidic beans and used heavily for drip coffee (where brightness and acidity are typically positive attributes).

But even shops serving an espresso blend can have a Sour Espresso Problem, particularly if the beans in the blend are the same bright, acidic African and Central American beans used for drip coffee.  

Avoiding the Sour Espresso Trap requires a blend that relies on milder, less-acidic beans. If coffee from, say, Brazil, India, or some parts of Indonesia represents half or more of the espresso blend, this will keep acidity and bright, sour notes from overwhelming the natural sweetness of your espresso. 

Even more helpful if these milder beans are natural (i.e. dry-processed) Brazils, monsooned Indians, or wet-hulled (i.e. semi-washed) Sumatrans as many roasters emphasize acidity in selecting washed (i.e. wet-processed) beans from these regions.  

A bean from one of these origins may even work well as a single origin espresso.

When a shop gets its espresso beans right, customers will go from complaining about bitter espresso or sour espresso to raving about… SWEET ESPRESSO that doesn’t need any sugar to make lattes and cappuccinos taste delicious!

When customers complain about bitter espresso, what they’re telling you is that your espresso beans are roasted too dark. As we teach in our Coffee Fest class “Espresso and Coffee: More Different than You Think,” the espresso process allows for a drink that is inherently sweeter than a cup of brewed coffee made with the same bean. That said, if beans are roasted black and/or oily, it then becomes extremely hard to produce a naturally sweet espresso- even if your baristas are getting every other step correct. The sugars in the beans will have gone from caramelized (i.e. sweet) to burnt (i.e. bitter). Moreover, the coffee oils, which we want to use to create the emulsion that is espresso, will not longer be inside the beans. Instead, they’ll be everywhere else. They’ll also be exposed to air and will, over time, become rancid.

The first step to addressing this problem is to see if your roaster offers an espresso bean that’s not roasted so dark. Beans can be a dark brown in color but should show little or no oil on the outside (particularly during the first week or so following the roast).

If a lighter roasted bean isn’t an option, the moving to a “multi-roaster” set up might be the next best solution. Much like restaurants that have different vendors for meats, seafood, and produce, your coffee house could look for a second roaster to supply you with lighter roasted espresso beans. 

Best to stick with your legacy roaster for your drip coffee beans rather than changing your entire bean line-up.

While using a lighter roasted bean for espresso may solve the bitter espresso problem, it can sometimes lead to a different complaint: “sour espresso.”  We’ll explore this issue in a future post.

If you’ve only tried Monsooned Malabar once, odds are it was the standard AA grade bean.This is the grade that Josuma initially brought 20+ years ago and is still available through many other importers. While the AA Malabar supplies heavy body and abundant crema in espresso, the flavor can sometimes be inconsistent- particularly since the espresso extraction process magnifies everything that’s good AND bad about a bean. With consistency being the sine qua non of quality, that can be frustrating for a roaster wanting to offer the highest quality espresso.

Roasters that swear by Monsooned Malabar are typically working with a different bean: A higher grade of Malabar, usually called Super Grade. This bean, in contrast to the lower grade AA bean, is specifically formulated with espresso in mind. The rare monsooner in India that produces this higher quality version takes additional steps designed expressly to enhance the consistency and uniformity of this bean. These steps preserve the good elements found in all Malabars (i.e. sweetness, body, crema) while eliminating any bad attributes of the lower grade AA bean.

THE END RESULT: WHAT MAY ARGUABLY BE THE IDEAL BEAN FOR ESPRESSO.

THREE steps are instrumental to creating Super Grade Malabar:

1. Starting with Better Quality Beans.  

At the typical Indian coffee farm, ripe cherries end up as premium washed coffee and the rest (unripes, over-ripes, and floats) end up as dry processed coffee which is usually labelled “Arabica Cherry.” By paying a higher price, Super Grade monsooners can get farms to dry process Arabica cherries that would normally end up as premium washed coffee. This gets the ripe cherries into the mix.

2. Starting with Large Lots from Just One Estate.  

A common problem with lower grade AA Malabar is that the monsooner will create a single 250-300 bag container lot by cobbling together small lots from multiple growers. Because beans vary so much from farm to farm, this makes a truly uniform bean that much harder to achieve. To create a Super Grade lot, however, those monsooners will source beans from a single estate. This makes consistency and uniformity that much easier to achieve.

3. Removing the Partially Monsooned Beans: 

With monsooned coffee, any undesirable flavor note is typically due to the presence of partially-monsooned beans. Super Grade monsooners can create a cleaner Malabar by using color sorters and extensive hand garbling to identify and toss out any partially-monsooned beans. The price differential between the Super Grade and the lower grade AA bean occurs because partially monsooned beans are often 25-40% of the typical AA grade lot. 

In other words, it often takes 400-500 bags of AA Malabar to create 300 bags of Super Grade Malabar (along with 100-200 bags of partially-monsooned beans that fetch a very low price).  

While several importers offer the lower grade AA bean, Josuma may still be the only US importer offering Super Grade Malabar.  

THREE TAKEAWAYS (Longer Discussion)

Takeaway #1:  The Summer Monsoon (Again!)

Although most roasters assume the summer monsoons are important only for monsooned coffees (i.e. Monsooned Malabar and Monsooned Robusta), they play a HUGE role in the cultivation of coffee and other crops. Called “The Most Important Forecast in the World,” the summer monsoon rains provide 70%+ of the rainfall needed to feed a country with more than a billion people.

Below-average level of monsoon rains in 2017 were followed by super heavy levels of rain in 2018. Not only was total rainfall 50% above typical levels in 2018, but many areas also experienced 60+ consecutive days of rain during the summer.  The irony of the light 2017 monsoon and the heavy 2018 monsoon: the average of the two monsoons was in-line with historical averages.

While the farms we know didn’t experience major permanent damage, all are seeing 2019 harvest volumes impacted by the heavy monsoon. Best case has volumes flat with last year. More common, though, are harvests that will down 20%+ compared to last year.

It’s not easy being a coffee farmer...

Takeaway #2:  Specialty Grade Naturals

In India, Specialty Grade coffee is nearly 100% washed coffee with the occasional honey coffee lot as the one exception to the rule. Whatever dry-processed coffees other importers and exporters offer (i.e. “Arabica Cherry” and “Robusta Cherry”) start with the unripes and floats that get rejected in the washing process. 

We have yet to encounter a true Specialty Grade Naturals (i.e. ones that start with ripe cherries)... until this year.

Helped by a growing number of local micro-roasters, many of the farms we visited have begun experimenting with what they call “Whole Crop Cherry”- in other words, dry-processed coffee that starts with RIPE cherries. While still a work in progress, we cupped a few lots that can hold their own with counterparts from other origins currently offered by American and Canadian roasters.

Consistency isn’t quite at the point where we’re inclined to bring natural coffees to the US in 2019 but there’s a good chance that you’ll see one or two lots included in next year’s Microlot Program.

Takeaway #3:  Drying Experiments

Last year, we mentioned that one of the most encouraging aspects of these trips is seeing farms that already produce fabulous coffee looking for even more ways to improve the quality and consistency of their beans.

The Answers:

Cauvery:  This variety traces its lineage back to the Bourbon branch, specifically the Caturra bean.

Chandragiri:  This variety traces its lineage back to the Bourbon branch, specifically the Villa Sarchi bean.

Kent:  This cultivar traces its lineage back to the Typica branch.

S-795:  This cultivar traces its lineage back to both the Typica branch (specifically the Kent variety discussed above) and the C. Liberica species. The S-795 also grows in Indonesia where it is called Jember. We spotlighted this bean last year in our “Better Know a Coffee Cultivar” email series (archive link).

Selection 9:  This cultivar traces its lineage to the Ethiopian branch, specifically the Tafarikela variety.  We spotlighted this bean last year in our “Better Know a Coffee Cultivar” email series (archive link).

Step #2: Select ONE Flavor Note that Would Improve the Espresso.

Some roasters suggested adding a Berry note. Others offered Nut or Chocolate. A few thought that the espresso could benefit from the inclusion of Citrus notes. In each case, we asked the roaster to identify the origin whose bean would likely provide the suggested flavor note. The answer, which in most cases, was easy to name would be the obvious companion to Monsooned Malabar Super Grade in a two-bean espresso blend.

Step #3: Roast and Create Two Espresso Test Blends.

Roasters left our booth with the following take-home project.  First, roast both Monsooned Malabar and the second bean. Then try them in a few two-bean espresso test blends. 

We suggested that Test Blend #1 be two-thirds Monsooned Malabar (and one-third the other bean) and that Test Blend #2 be the opposite (i.e. one-third Monsooned Malabar and two thirds the other bean).

Step 4:  Taste Each Blend. Iterate Further.

The final step is to taste each blend and decide which of the two blends tastes best. If you prefer something that’s lighter than Test Blend #1 but heavier than Test Blend #2, try again with a 50/50 blend. 

By repeating this part of the exercise, a roaster should be able to settle on an espresso blend recipe.

Does the distinction between the MNEB (Mysore Nuggets Extra Bold) and Mysore Plantation-A, the two major grades of washed Arabica, turn on:

Cup Score

Minor Defect Count

Region Where Grown

Screen Size

Selective Picking vs Stripping

Does the distinction between Kaapi Royale and Parchment-AB, the two major two grades of premium washed Robusta, turn on:

Altitude Where Grown

Cup Score

Minor Defect Count

Screen Size

Selective Picking vs Stripping

The Answer:  

In both cases, the difference in grades turns on bean size. In fact, each coffee typically comes from the same processing lot with the separation into MNEB and Plantation-A (or Kaapi Royale and Parchment-AB) not occuring until the dry mill stage. That’s when beans get sorted by screen size with larger beans labeled as MNEB (or Kaapi Royale) and the next largest beans as Plantation-A (or Parchment-AB).  

For washed Arabica, 19+ screen beans (and some 17/18 screen beans) end up labeled as MNEB with 16/17 screen beans being sold as Mysore Plantation-A. Since each coffee started from the same blocks and harvest/processing lots, cup scores, tasting notes, and defect percentages will typically vary little. 

A similar sorting occurs with the premium washed Robusta. The 17+ screen beans end up as Kaapi Royale, and 15/16 screen beans get labeled as Parchment-AB. As with their Arabica counterparts, cup scores, tasting notes, and defect percentages are typically comparable since both coffees started from the same blocks and harvest/processing lots. 

LIST OF CULTIVARS:

Avanthi

Catuai Hybrid

Caturra Hybrid (”Station Selection”)

Cauvery

Chandragiri

S-795

Selection 9

LIST OF PLANTATIONS:

Badnekhan Estate (Chikmagalur district)

Bettadakhan Estate (Baba Budangiri district)

Harley Estate (Manjarabad district)

Kalledevarapura Estate (Baba Budangiri district)

Kerkeicoondah Estate (Chikmagalur district)

Merthi Subbangudigy (”M.S.”) Estate (Chikmagalur district)

Expected NEW OFFERINGS include a Chandragiri lot from Kalledevarapura, a Cauvery Special Prep lot from M.S. Estate, an organically farmed S-795 from Kalledevarapura, and a Station Selection lot from Bettadakhan.  

Takeaway #1. Continuous Improvement

One of the most encouraging aspects of the trip was seeing estates that already produce fabulous coffee looking for even more ways to improve the quality and consistency of their beans.

Among the estates we visited, we saw numerous efforts to improve the harvesting and processing of beans. Notable initiatives include:

Changes to the bags used during picking

More efficient use of water during de-pulping

Experiments and adjustments to the fermentation time and process

Upgrading of the machine used to wash coffee (post-fermentation)

Drying honey sun dried beans differently than wet processed beans

More scrupulous “raking” of beans in raised drying beds

Re-tiling of the drying yard surface to get more even heat

Takeaway #2. Chandragiri

While replanting is a regular part of coffee cultivation, it’s unusual for an estate to replant an entire block. When they do, the question we ask: What cultivar are you planting? Is it the same one as before- or something new?  

Estates that planted a new cultivar most often mentioned this one: Chandragiri.

We first encountered the Chandragiri bean, a strain of the Villa Sarchi bean, a few years ago. We’ve brought one small lot as part of Josuma’s 2016 Microlot Program and another as part of the 2017 Program. Given the enthusiasm our partners have shown for this bean, look for additional lots as part of Josuma’s 2018 Microlot Program.

Our “Better Know a Cultivar” series has previously reviewed the S-795 and Selection 9 bean. Look for a new segment on the Chandragiri later this year.

Takeaway #3. Ongoing Challenges

Growing coffee is not without its challenges. In Central America, for instance, disease (particularly Coffee Leaf Rust) seems to be the current challenge. Growers in India, in contrast, face very different struggles. In their case, the two big ongoing challenges are (a) labor costs and (b) reliable supply of water.

Labor cost comes into play because selective picking (i.e. picking only ripe cherries) remains the norm in India. The estates with which we work do a minimum of two rounds of picking and will often add a third (and sometimes a fourth) round. This year, for instance, the slower ripening of Arabica plants meant that most of our partner estates expected to do three rounds.  This makes an already labor-intensive harvest even more so.  

While some origins have been able to implement mechanized harvesting, that seems difficult to implement in India. First, there are far too many shade trees. Second, planting is often on very steep slopes and not always in neat rows.

The pressure on labor costs, moreover, comes from two sources. First, the price of labor, generally, continues to increase each year. That is nothing new for most growers, but it does become more problematic when coffee prices don’t grow in-line with input costs. Second, as India industrializes and becomes wealthier, finding labor becomes more of a struggle. Many farms are seeing the local labor pool (or at least those willing to work as seasonal pickers) shrink. Many estates find themselves needing to import at least some of their seasonal workers from other parts of India. We’re also aware of farms in other growing regions needing to import ALL of their seasonal pickers.    

Insufficient Barista Training- Part 1

Consistency invariably requires heavy investment in barista training. The first goal of training is for an individual barista’s first espresso shot of the shift to be just as good as the ones in the middle of the shift and also the ones at the end of the shift. Achieving this type of consistency requires a lot of practice- roughly 250-500 shots by our estimate- so that every step in the espresso making process becomes second nature and can be performed regardless of whether the store is slow or busy.     

Insufficient Barista Training- Part 2

The second goal of barista training is to ensure that every drink produced by the team of baristas taste the same. It shouldn’t matter who is on bar. Achieving this type of consistency requires running every new hire- even those with previous coffee experience- through the full training program. Given the challenge “untraining” experienced baristas, we know of some shops will only hire candidates with no coffee experience.

Choice of Espresso Machine Configuration

Having invested heavily in training their baristas, many quality-focused cafes opt to showcase the “craft” of espresso by using manual (i.e. semi-automatic) or lever espresso machines. Unfortunately, few of us- not even our highly trained baristas- are as good at multitasking as we think, particularly in the middle of the morning rush.

The challenge with manual machines is that keeping the espresso within desired extraction parameters requires juggling multiple espresso variables- not just the grind setting but also input water volume, output espresso volume, and/or shot extraction time.  And cafes that opt for machines with pressure profiling capability are putting even more variables into play.  With most baristas charged not just with pulling espresso but also with steaming and texturing milk, having them monitor multiple espresso extraction (rather than just one) becomes challenging and helps produce inconsistency.

Our recommendation is that shops use auto-volumetric (i.e. fully-automatic) machines. Not to be confused with the super-automatics deployed at the chains, these machines require the barista to grind the beans, prep the portafilter, and start the espresso shot. The auto-volumetric machine, however, automatically end the shot once they’ve dispensed a pre-programmed amount of water (hence the name “auto-volumetric”). This leaves the barista with only one variable to adjust (grind setting) with all other extraction variables be locked down. That leaves extraction time as the one dependent variable to monitor. Shorter (or longer) than targeted extraction times will indicate when a barista should adjust the grind setting.

Constantly Changing Espresso Bean

Although coffee is a seasonal crop, this doesn’t mean that the taste of your espresso (and espresso drinks) should change over the course of the year. Having a seasonally changing espresso blend (or a rotating single-origin espresso) violates a Cardinal Rule of Business: Letting your problem become your customer’s problem. Achieving consistency in an espresso profile requires you (or your roaster) to create an espresso blend in such a way that components can easily be switched out as beans change (or are no longer available).  [To learn more about espresso blending: Start with this article we published in Roast Magazine.]