Recent Cupping session

I had a few coffee's to cup for http://www.greencoffeebuyingclub.com/ . Phil had heard of the planned session and decided to make a visit. We sampled some Brazilian coffees, a Yemen, a Bolivian, and one from Papua New Guinea. Phil was kind enough to bring some Panamanian boquete coffee. The Panama boquete was simply amazing and I am in the process of trying to acquire some for Sandpiper coffee in the near future. Here is a picture of Phil jotting sown some scores after he sampled one of the many coffees.

If you are in the San Diego area and would like to learn more about cupping coffee or if you would like to experience cupping coffee, feel free to contact me at my email: info@sandpipercoffee.net

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coming soon

I have reserved some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from the Oromia coop. This is a wonderful bean I should be recieving cupping samples soon, I will post my scores and results and if it is acceptable we will have some long awaited Yirgacheffe back in stock. The Decaf coming in the next couple weeks will be a Panama Decaf from the Carmen Estate, I have had this same coffee in its non decaf form and I can't wait to see the translation.

Joe

Dacaf is coming

I have been getting periodic requests for decaf coffee. The problem with decaffeinated coffee is that the processing shortens the shelf life considerably. This problem is regardless of the type of processing. Since I am just a micro roaster at the moment, I don't have the volume of Decaf customers to justify purchasing bags of it and potentially risk having quality issues. So a solution has presented itself that I can get smaller quantities of Decaf coffee soon. Stay tuned!

Joe

Oromia coop Ethiopian Harar November's Hot Bean

This month I will focus on one of my all time favorite coffee's Oromia coop Ethiopia Harar. Traditionally Harar has wonderful Blueberry notes along with some earthiness and in the case of Oromia its very common to get Licorice root flavors along with some raw honey/Maple. This years crop upon initial cupping disappointed me in that my favorite flavor trait is the blueberry and this seemed to be significantly less than in previous years. Upon accidentally allowing this coffee to "rest" a few more days than I usually allow for, I was able to find the elusive blueberry flavors that make Harar one of the best coffee's for the absolute best value. Of course, I try and focus on Fair Trade organic and other socially conscious certified coffee's so that does eat away at some of the cheaper value's that most roasters enjoy. Fortunately the extra money that I pay for Oromia Coop coffee is well worth it, I truly feel they provide a superior coffee consistently year to year. I have said this before and I'll repeat it here if I had to choose only one coffee region to drink for the rest of my life it would be Ethiopian coffee hands down.

Here is the Bean Bio from Elan Organic:

Ethiopia
Harrar, Yirgacheffe &
Lekempti
Historically, Ethiopia is the oldest recognized country of origin
and Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. In 1960, Ethiopia became
a member of the Inter-African Coffee Organization. Elan’s Organic Ethiopian coffees come from
a farmer group called Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU), which was
founded in June 1999. OCFCU is a union of 34 small cooperatives benefiting 22,734 smallholder
farmer members.
Three major farming systems are recognized and practiced; Forest Coffee which grows under a
forest canopy with very little human interface, Small Farm/Cottage Coffee, the most prevalent,
comes from small farms and is shade grown and often intercropped, and Plantation Coffee,
which is the system that utilized modern coffee planting and processing practices.
Coffee in this southwest region is known, as the Highland Coffee with average altitude of 1,750
meters.
Coffee Specifications:
Variety: Arabica
Grade: Strictly Hard Bean
Altitude: Yigacheffe: 1770-2200meters
Harrar: 1510-2120 meters
Lekempti: 1700-2200 meters
Shade: Traditional Polyculture
Harvest: Yirgacheffe: September-February
Harrar: October-February
Lekempti: February-August
Certifications: USDA/NOP/TransFair USA
Coffee Characteristics:
Quality:
Harrar: Medium to light acidity, full body, genuine mocha flavor with blueberry notes
Lekempti: Good acidity, medium body, fruity finishes
Yirgacheffe: Bright acidity, citrus flavor, medium body, floral and spicy notes

info provided by: Elan Organic coffee

An interesting visit- cupping related

I had a visit from one of our members on the www.greencoffeebuyingclub.com forum, Phil who goes by comptrguru at GCBC. He was picking up some Brazil Poco Fundo coffee from me and we began discussing various things. At some point in our conversations he mentioned that he has a background in Chemestry and in wine tasting. He proposed creating a kit that has flavors isolated for cuppers trying to identify certain traits. I mentioned that there is an aroma kit that is available, but this is something that has much better potential in my eyes. He explained that he had created this already for the wine tasting community he was involved with and that it would be easy. So anyways I thought this is a great idea, something that I see could be a great tool for anyone who would like to dabble or become proficient in coffee cupping. I will update on progress of Phils cupping kit. Who knows? maybe some really intersting descriptors on my cupping notes will start appearing.

Joe

Galapagos Coffee- This month's Hot Bean

In an effort to bring some enlightenment on a few coffee's that don't get a lot of press or notariety I will start going a little more in depth on a few of my offerings that you may have never heard of.

The Best Coffee you have never tried, that's what I am calling Galapagos Coffee. This coffee is amazing, I wanted to try this the first time I had heard about it while visiting with my coffee broker. It wasn't too long after that I had the opportunity. Upon cupping this coffee I was immediately floored with the amount of Caramel flavors that came through in this cup. I remember having quite a bit of sticker shock when I found out the price of this coffee and what roasters were selling it for, it wasn't uncommon to hear $25+/lb. Surely the unique flavors were worth it in my opinion but the cost of this coffee green didn't justify the steep mark-up I saw at the retail roaster's. The most amazing quality to me about this coffee is it's ability to work extremely well as a single orgin espresso, I think personally this is probably my second favorite offering I have for espresso. I will say this, this coffee enjoys a much longer than normal rest period and can give you a few different flavors depending on the roast level. I have found that it needs at least 5 full days of rest or 2 extra days after you have recieved it from me, to calm down some the acidity and bloom. Once the coffee has rested it produces trully a beautifully sweet cup of coffee, and an amazingly deep espresso. Back to the subject of price, after talking with a few roasters in the area that I know carry this coffee, I asked;"Why did you choose $25 as your price point?" The common response I got was that they priced according to other rare island coffee's example: Jamaica Blue Mountain, and more appropriately Kona. I sample quite a bit of "Rare" coffee's in hopes of finding something trully worth it's price, I always have a few Kona's, and other Hawaiian coffee- Maui Moka, Kauai estate, plus I have have even sampled some Nepal coffee which showed promise but failed after a few days. So far the clear cut winner in this category for me is the Galapagos, and at the discounted rate I charge over my competetors you might want to take a chance on it on your next order. Galapagos Link

Here is the Bean Bio:
This coffee comes from San Cristobal Island in Galapagos. The coffee is grown in an ecological sanctuary and UNESCO “Patrimony of Humanity” site as a sustainable resource of the islands residents. On the Galapagos islands law strictly prohibits the importation or use of fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides or any other chemicals. It is cultivated within the volcanic mountains of San Cristobal Island, where the trees receive a perfect balance of sunlight, rain and altitude. The coffee still grows from the same trees that were planted there 130 years earlier and are still in production. This coffee is handpicked and wet-processed in an ecological wet-processing station, the left over remains of the cherries are reused as fertilizer.

Cupping notes from the importer:

"This exceptional coffee from Ecuador produces an intense aroma, an excellent body, good
acidity and a very fine flavor."

Coffee Specifications:
Variety: Arabica & Bourbon
Grade: Strictly Hard Bean
Altitude: 1350-2700 feet
Harvest: November to January (main crop), mid crop May to early July
Certifications: OCIA, IMO and Naturland 100% Organic
Coffee Characteristics:
Quality: Aroma- Intense, excellent body, good acidity, well balanced, very fine flavor

Welcome to the Sandpiper Coffee Blog

My Elektra
also discussed at www.greencoffeebuyingclub.com


What's new at Sandpiper coffee? My Elektra. I ended up purchasing a used Elektra 1 group espresso machine. I wasn't particularly looking for an espresso machine since my Bezzera BZ99 had been doing it's job just fine. But when I saw a post on craigslist for a restaurant closing that was selling an espresso machine for $200, I couldn't resist. I was a little skeptical at first, so I called the number on the ad and asked what brand name it was, the lady said she didn't know but that she would check and get back with me. 5 minutes later I found out it was an Elektra, one of the machines I have always wanted, maybe a Synesso or La Marzocco would've been the only other's that would've made me more happy. The only catch was this was located in Ramona which is about 45minutes from my house. So off I went with cash in hand wondering what could possibly be waiting for me that only costs $200. When I arrived the machine wasn't in the best shape but it was cleaner than I had feared, more importantly this was no cheap Elektra, this is a T-1 which cost about $3000.00 when new, complete with electronic shot dosing. The unit was missing a leg and when I peered into its guts I did see some evidence of possible water seepage at various locations, I told her I would give her $180 since its missing a leg and she agreed.
Well I knew of a local commercial espresso machine repair shop so I took the Elektra to them, what I didn't know was that they were the authorized Elektra dealer for my area. I requested a cleaning/descaling and a general test of the components. So they ended up taking a lot longer than the day they quoted me. The picture to the right is the Elektra on the shop table at the repair shop. It was soon discovered that the pump was bad and that a few lines needed descaling and/or replacement, the hot water valve wasn't working properly, plus a few other minor repairs.
By the time I brought it home, I had a naked porta-filter, a working machine, and a water filter for my plumbed in line. I had saved all my parts that were replaced: Hot water tap valve, fluid-o-tech pump. When I got everything home I just couldn't stand the look of the non-stock water valve so I decided to try and fix the old one. I found some phosphoric acid and quickly started descaling the old valve and while I was at it I just started descaling everything. The more I took apart the more I realized I needed to descale more than I thought, at the service shop they just descaled what was completely scaled shut or seized. The phosphoric acid made short work of every scaled line and part including the boiler, group, etc. It wouldn't be too much longer before I made a costly mistake. Already working on this much longer than I had planned or anticipated, I started rejoicing on an early victory of clearing out the pump to where it wasn't seized, cleaning all the scale from every line, and the most important thing which was restoring my original steam wand valve and hot water tap valve. This alone was going to save me $140 since I would be able to return the newer valve they replaced. Unfortunately my rejoicing would prove to be too early. Relying on the confidence that I posses in years of Aircraft maintenance that the US Air force trained me in, plus my many years of working on my own cars just for the fun of it, I quickly started putting all the last descaled pieces together to wrap it up at around 11:30 pm. In my rush I had forgot to mark down how the coil that opens the valve to let the water flow through the group was wired before I unplugged it. Upon a quick inspection I looked at the wires one was red one was what appeared to be green. There are three plugs on the coil, two for power one for ground, I didn't give it a second thought and I placed the "green" on the ground and the red on one of the power tabs. Plugged it in and prepared to taste the perfection that is Elektra! Well I plugged it in turned it on, pushed the brew switch and....POP! Sizzle...and electronic burn smell. That sinking feeling when you know that you have worked on something way too long and you know you made a bonehead mistake hit me. I started recalling all the warnings the espresso techs had warned me about how the Gicar shot dose controller can be burned out with any short in the system, so much so that they removed an LED that is common to short. Not only is this controller quick to break but it isn't cheap either- $300. It was amazing to tell you the truth that I was able to diagnose my problem so quickly, I peered at the Green wire and I soon realized that it was a faded blue wire, not good. I did have to replace the controller but I saved some money from fixing and returning parts I didn't need anymore and so it ended up net costing me around $150. But now a month or so later everything is very repeatable and she works great, the extra down time allowed me to really clean out every nook and cranny and there was some really small holes in the group that benefited from the extra cleaning. She works great and after the sale of my other two Bezzera espresso machines I made some money from the purchase.