We are glad to announce that the 2013 Coffee Shop of the Year competition is now open and we are taking submissions for entrys!

Last years contest was fierce, with many excellent establishments vying to win the top prize and we expect the quality and competition to be just as tight this year.

To read more about the criteria for entry, last years winning coffee shop and to fill in a nomination form head to the awards page.

We look forward to your entries and wish those participating the best of luck!

The course offers a basis of knowledge and drinks making techniques for working in a busy cafe environment. The course covers practical and theory elements for coffee, tea, hot chocolate and smoothies.

If you would like to book a place on a course for later in 2013 please contact liza.williams@lincolnandyork.com

The donation went to giving 15 year old Mishka a makeover few people could ever dream of having, spending the day with designer Nicky Hambleton-Jones. The letter we received is shown below, giving details of Mishka’s amazing experience.

To learn more about the fantastic work the Make A Wish Foundation UK do or to make a donation please visit the webpage at http://www.make-a-wish.org.uk/

All the candidates learnt the techniques required to advance their drinks making abilities further, a large focus being placed on milk quality and texturing techniques.

Having passed the course will allow the candidates to maintain high standards of drinks in their workplace, whilst imparting the skills they have learnt amongst their colleagues.

Jamie toured the Roastery, meeting the team to see what we do on a daily basis. Jamie told us of his experiences in the world of wheelchair racing and what he hopes to achieve in the future.

With such a strong performance from our Team GB athletes last year and bright young talents such as Jamie, the future of British sport definitely looks good.

You can follow Jamie and all of team GB’s Paralympic Atheletes on the ParalympicGB Twitter account  https://twitter.com/ParalympicsGB

We are looking for an assistant to help in all aspects of green and roasted coffee products. Based at our factory, you will grade and roast green coffee samples, evaluate competitor products and help with coffee buying. You will develop new blends and roasts and advise our clients on quality and product information and helping our sales people when hosting factory visits. The training period concludes with a visit to Brazil or Colombia.
Your skills and attributes

Whilst we will train you to taste and grade coffee, you may have already worked in the industry, perhaps as a barista, or in a coffee shop environment. You may be a recent A level student or graduate with an interest in coffee, a desire to learn and looking for an interesting career. You should be articulate, responsive and have good pc skills. We are looking for a sociable, gregarious team player.
All applications must be submitted by e-mail with a detailed covering letter to liza.williams@lincolnandyork.com.

The closing date for all applications is 6th February 2013.
Visit www.lincolnandyork.com

David took us to the nearby Highlands Coffee Company dry mill in Thika town. Here we saw the equipment that processes the dried parchment and Mbuni natural coffees. The impressive set up could process 6 tonnes of dry coffee an hour. Once processed the coffee is bagged and stored with the relative details (Grade, Farmer number etc). This coffee is ready for sale, however a 14kg sample is drawn off and divided amongst Kenyan traders in anticipation of their bids at the auction. All coffees graded at Highlands Coffee Company produce a report, which is then fed back to the Cooperative or farmer that produced this coffee. This valuable feedback allows for continuous improvement. David bid us farewell and we headed back to Nairobi, witnessing first-hand the joy of Nairobi rush hour!

Next day I headed out with Charles Nzioka to visit Ritho Farmers Cooperative in Larger Kiambu district around 50km North of Nairobi. Charles explained more about the field work SMS did and how within the next 2 years they would like to expand from serving 85,000 farmers to 140,000. He explained of the 225 mills SMS services 95 of these receive constant technical support and financial help. We discussed the plight of Kenya’s coffee estates being lost to Nairobi’s population expansion, varietals, certification and before we knew it we had arrived at the Ritho mill. The average harvest sees Ritho processing 300,00kg of fresh cherry. The farmers receive an advance for the cherry delivered and the parchment milled at the dry mill before receiving 80% of the proceeds from the final auction, with 20% going to running the Cooperative effectively. The Cooperative secretary Lucy explained that most farmers had taken to the SMS programme well  and attended the training sessions most weeks. We set out to visit farmers at various stages in the programme. Our first farmer, Daniel Karanja, showed us how he farmed under the SMS system. Well pruned trees with fruit along all major branches, grass planted in rows between coffee trees to prevent soil erosion and all trees with a good layer of natural mulch showed me that this farmer was a convert. His yields had doubled in the past 2 years and he was even installing a biogas unit for cooking gas soon from the proceeds. The next two farmers were not as far along in the programme, however they were also very organised and both expected to up their production from 300kg cherry this year to 6000-7000kg in two years. Daniel showed us his method of grafting the disease resistant Ruiru-11 variety to the superb rooting SL28 varietal, showing the education was really paying off. Ritho has big plans to get production to double the current volume in two years, these farmers are obviously a key part of this.
 The next day I visited the auction, witnessing how the the coffee is sold. A large LED screen at the front of the auction lists what lot, quality and quantity of coffee is to be auctioned next. These coffees will have been cupped by licensed buyers and if they wish to buy they simply have to press a buzzer on their auction desk. The highest bidder wins. This system is incredibly transparent and the best coffees garner their deserved high prices. Later I visited the Ibero Trading company facility in Ruiru. This visit saw me witnessing their dry milling facilities. With capacity to store 20,000 bags in one warehouse it was obviously a very impressive site. The mill comprises of 2 dry milling facilities that can handle four metric tonnes of coffee per hour each, with screen sorters and gravity sorting tables. There is a Mbuni milling machine and also a much smaller 200kg per hour milling function, for those groups that deliver smaller quantities. Again the coffee is processed and stored with all the relevant documentation ready for export. This facility also used a colour sorting system, where beans are sorted electronically by colour as a further grading system. The coffees are cupped in an expansive laboratory with approximately 20 people being responsible for the quality control process. We cupped early new crop coffees and old crop Kenyans, seeing the quality still lasts with very minimal signs of aging. We also cupped Tanzanian coffees against the Kenyans as a point of interest, the results were surprising and some flavour profiles were competing with great Kenyan coffees.

Later in the day we visited Kigutha estate, an estate managed by Ibero’s subsidiary Tropical Farm management. Established in 1919 Kigutha has 99.08 hectares of land under coffee, with 43 cooperative members having a share in the enterprise. The estate primarily grows French Mission Bourbon varietal coffees and some Ruiru-11 and SL28 plant stock. 30% of the coffee comes in the fly crop harvested in May, June and July. The remainder comes in the main crop harvested in October, November and December. 185 tonnes of fresh cherry are harvested each year and we arrived as the pickers were sorting the coffee near the pulper. Sylvester Mwau Waita the estate manager explained the pickers are paid per Debe of cherry they deliver, a small plastic bucket. The milling facilities were impressive, with brand new discs on the pulper and good clean fermentation tanks. The coffees is fermented just for 12 hours and then sent to the drying beds, which need to be rebuilt every year due to termites eating them! We discussed the pricing that coffee gets and how it translates to farmers/pickers. Sylvester said the worlds coffee price obviously had an effects, however the prices at Kigutha were staying relatively constant. We watched the pickers depositing their cherry and being paid by the clerk and the mill being fired before heading back through Nairobi’s disappearing coffee estates.
 

My final day was spent with Sangana commodities, a whole day of cupping and learning the gradin systems in Kenya for green coffee. It was a truly fascinating day, with my understanding of the grading being hugely increased. Cupping AA grade and AB grade against T coffees (the light beans separated in the pulping process of these grades) was enlightening. With the AA and AB grades you get all the ripe juicy Kenyan intensity. The T grades you get some but it is fainter, showing how denser coffees are truly the finest quality. I spent the day in the laboratory with Simon Mahinda, the chief quality control manager at Sangana in terms of tasting and buying at auction. He cupped with me, expanding my knowledge of cupping even further. To cup 5 beautiful AA grade coffees next to each other and analyse how they are all great but one just slightly tips the balance is intriguing. He explained the importance of quality and showed me the rigorous process each coffee undergoes. By the end of the day it was clear that every coffee is checked at least 4 times before ever leaving the control of Sangana. Sadly I had to leave and catch my flight back but I had gained a huge amount of knowledge on Kenyan coffee. The main challenges to the industry appear to be the rapid loss of the estates to population pressure. Being responsible for 40% of the countries volume the estates are key and I can’t help but think without them that the industry will see big increases in price as people try to capture that irreplaceable Kenyan flavour.
Many thanks to Justin Archer, TM Mugai, Regina, David and Sebastian from Sangana (ECOM). Also many thanks to Marc Rode and Matthias Koehler from Ibero. Once again thanks to Phil Schluter for making the visit possible.
Sean Fowler
29/11/12

  Later in the day we visited Fero Cooperative, visiting one of their 3 wet mill facilities. The Coop has 3674 members to date and including all household members the group services some 33,000 people. They are regular winners of quality prizes amongst the Sidamo Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union of which they are part of. Across all three wet mill sites the Fero Coop managed to process 1.5million kg of fresh coffee cherry. This equated to around 278,000kg of ready to roast green coffee. We discussed with the Coop members what typically their money, but also the premiums they receive from certification schemes, is spent. The cashier listed numerous projects that premiums from certification; school building, improvements to Coop property and electricity supply improvements were amongst the many projects the Coop had invested in. We made our way outside to see the mill and drying beds first hand, with the beds beginning to get very full with drying parchment coffee. The disc pulper had been hard at work processing fresh cherry and we had a go first hand at shifting the piles of coffee cherry skins onto large mesh covered frames and carrying them down a steep hill to the compost heaps. We did two runs and that was enough, the fierce Ethiopian sun beating down on us. We said our goodbyes and made our way to our accommodation in nearby Awassa town.

The second day saw us visiting Aleta Wondo town, around 1 hour drive South of Awassa, to visit Wottona Bultuma Cooperative. This Coop offers superb quality washed Arabica coffees from one of four wet mills all bearing Fair trade, Organic and Rainforest Alliance certification. The Coop began life back in 1975, originally working with textiles as well as coffee. 1977 saw them cease production of textiles and focus entirely on coffee. The change in production clearly paid off as they now produce 110 tonnes of green coffee. All decisions regarding the Coop’s future and how funds are spent are made by a committee, comprising of members from the three growing regions the Coop covers. The premiums from certification were again used to improve the lives of Coop members. However we discussed more in depth how individual farmers spend their own cash. Food and medicines were common factors but most notably important was schooling for the families’ children. This region had recently seen children starting school at the earlier age of 5 rather than 7, a vital improvement. Unfortunately we could not see the mills in action, this area had seen bad weather hold back coffee processing for around a month. We said our goodbyes and headed off to our next destination, the infamous Yirgacheffe town.
En route we made a stop at Homacho Waeno Coop, watching the farmers bringing in their freshly picked cherry. The farmers here were receiving 6.5 birr (approx 26 pence) per kg of fresh cherry.  We saw the farmers picking through the cherry to ensure they picked out anything below the quality requirements of the mill. This mill last season produced approximately 90 tonnes of green coffee, a large volume mill. The drying and sorting of the parchment coffee was in full flow here, with hand ensuring that any lower quality parchment was separated from the best qualities. We bid our farewells and set off for Yirgacheffe town, arriving late before checking into the hotel. Hopping into a rather small Tuk-Tuk we visited a local mill managed by Surafeal Birhanu. We could tell the set up was very impressive, with a huge number of drying table stretching way out into the darkness of the night. After watching the farmers delivering cherry, the disc pulper churning  away and the workers guiding the parchment coffee into the fermentation tank we decided we had to come back to see the place during the day. We jumped back into our Tuk-Tuk and began our journey to the hotel, realising once all the other traffic had deserted us our Tuk Tuk was the only one without headlights.
We rose early to head back to the mill, meeting Surafeal again. He told me the name of the company was Aelemayou Birhanu Washed Coffee Processing Industry. The mill is located in Dumerso, Yirgacheffe and is the largest within the Yirgacheffe region, processing 2.4million kg of cherry a season. This production is split half and half between fully washed coffees and sundried natural processed coffees. The washed coffee undergoes fermentation in clean water for 36 hours before the parchment is dried on the drying beds for roughly 10 days. The natural sundried coffees are again dried on the drying beds, obviously taking longer due to the fruit drying around the beans. The Dumerso mill is the largest of the 3 within the group. The other two mills Konga and Haricha (which we also visited) produce around 22 and 15 tonnes of green coffee respectively. The beautiful morning was made all the more so by the sound of the workers singing as they picked through the parchment coffee. Having a go myself I was amazed at the dexterity and speed with which the workers could pick out defective coffee, completing a section of the bed and moving on before I even had truly started! The quality at this mill was second to none, offering some of the finest Yirgacheffe and Sidamo coffee we could hope to see. We faced the long drive back to Addis Ababa, ready to see one of the final points before export for the coffees of Ethiopia.
Our last visits saw us visiting the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) and the offices of BNT exporters in Addis Ababa. The ECX auction handles all of Ethiopian commodity exports and is regulated by the Central Government. Asides from coffee the ECX handles the selling of beans, peas and sesame seed. Once the auction begins sellers raise their right hand and offer their commodity and the price they wish to receive. Buyers raise their right hand also and counter offer. This can become very frantic, with several buyers crowding sellers sometimes. If a deal is agreed the buyer and seller high five and then record their trades on dockets, checking up after the session has finished. These dockets are then handed to ECX officials and the financial work begins! The ECX leave this process alone, only stepping in occasionally to regulate market volatility where necessary.
Our last stop we visited BNT exporters in downtown Addis for cupping. We cupped natural and washed coffees from the same mills in Sidamo and Yirgacheffe. The difference between essentially the same coffee was all down to processing method and it was a huge difference. We also cupped various coffees from other regions of Ethiopia, including Djimmah and Bale. The quality of Sidamo and Yirgacheffe grown coffees was evident, with the classic floral notes and refined flavour profile being much more pronounced in these coffees.
Sadly it was time to leave Ethiopia, having learnt so much at the ground level of the industry we were all eager to know more. The overriding message we found was that there is a lot of progression and good work being done through the Cooperatives. The dispersion of knowledge amongst farmers regarding their yield of coffee per tree and how they could improve it seems a key issue in the country. With heavy planting taking place and some knowledge who knows how much coffee could be produced in Ethiopia.
Many thanks to Phil Schluter, Edward and Joanna Peck for making the trip possible. Thank you to Awgichesu for his translation and guide skills and finally thanks to Chris, Rachel and Nicki for being superb travelling companions.

Sean Fowler
30/11/12

I had never been to Honduras so when a group of discerning clients wanted to visit a coffee growing country, I jumped at the chance to go. After all we buy a lot of good coffee from here and so it was high time.
The coffee picking season doesn’t really start in anger until the end of November (at least on the high ground) but we would see full cherry development on the trees and some initial picking of low grown coffees.
Honduras is in Central America, bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador to the North and Nicaragua to the South. It has both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines and naturally has areas of flat terrain along these but quite mountainous terrain in the centre; perfect for growing coffee. Coffee is extremely important to the Hondurans, accounting for 36% of agricultural GNP, and a huge contribution to export earnings.
We arrived in San Pedro Sula via Miami and after a night’s respite set out the next day to visit growers co-operatives on what proved to be 12 hours of driving!
Honduras has over 120,000 small coffee producers of  1-3 hectares each. 90% of all growers are described as this. Total coffee production is around 4.6 million bags, nearly all of which is exported. Production has increased significantly in recent years and was at 3.4 million bags as recently as 2009. A local exporter told me that he expects production to top 8 million bags within 5 years!
The first growers co-operative we visited was CAFUL in San Juan. 600 farmers produce 15,000 bags a year under Fairtrade and Organic certification. The Fairtrade premiums were well received here by the growers we spoke to. The villages are so remote here that coffee is the only proper cash crop. This is despite the farmers also having Fairtrade certified bananas under cultivation. They told us they were having difficulty marketing them to Europe and so had to sell locally and get a much reduced price.

Next stop was LEADERS co-op in San Juan and at the dry mill we witnessed the first of a series of impressive investments in warehouse, plant and machinery. For the whole of the first day we could see new guardiola (drum) type driers waiting to be installed at various places. In discussion several people told us that in previous years green coffee quality has suffered to poor drying of it. The new dryers would obviously alleviate the problem.
At the Becamo dry mill in Santa Rosa we cupped some excellent strictly high grown coffees (SHG) from the 2011/12 crop year, lovingly prepared by a fellow Q grader. Becamo has invested $10 million in a new mill in San Pedro Sula, again underlining the strong investment in coffee.

At Hacienda Monte Cristo we saw an example of a large estate, having RAINFOREST ALLIANCE certification on 400 hectares of coffee. All the plants are shade grown under very fine old tropical hardwoods. A head of cattle provide fertilizer for the farm as well as meat and there is a community school. A national company has sponsored the computer department at the school, providing an excellent facility where without it there would be little chance for the children to have access to such technology.
The next day took us to Beneficio Santa Rosa, a dry milling operation processing 200,000 bags of exportable coffee from 30 co-ops and 6000 farmers. 80% of this is certified, the biggest part of which is organic and Fairtrade organic. 3% is high end speciality coffee or from micro-lots.  The company is investing heavily in a new warehouse and drying facility. Here we cupped some coffees from the current crop, noting that overall the quality was still good.
COCAFELOL COOPERATIVE in Labor, Ocatepeque was next. For the first time we saw a strong female involvement in all aspects of the business (gratefully acknowledged by all the team!). Supporting about 125 growers across 1000 hectares of cultivation close to the Guatemalan and El Salvadorean borders, Cocafelol processes around 50 containers of exportable quality per year. Certifications include FTO, RFA and UTZ.  Again we saw investments being made in wet processing but also in renewable energy creation. It is fascinating to see how by harnessing the fermentation process of cherry pulp, Cocafelol has implemented bio-ethanol, bio-gas and bio-fertiliser production on a semi commercial level.
Later in the day we trekked to CAPUCAS COOPERATIVE in what was possibly the most beautiful scenery we saw in the whole week. A familiar sight greeted us in substantial capital investment being implemented. The co-op is putting in an entire wet process system (actually a cross between dry pulping despulpadors and full washing and fermentation depending on demand, as well as the (by now) obligatory new dryers. Our group also saw that Fairtrade premiums had paid for a womens group building on the site and also a computer drop in zone for co-op members. On the way home we rode in the back of the pick-ups, experiencing the sights and smells of this enchanting mountainous environment. A memorable experience was had.
On the final day of the tour we visited the ancient Mayan ruins of Copan before visiting one last coffee co-operative. This area, close to the Guatemala border was first populated by Mayan Kings in 700BC and the site abandoned in the 15th century AD.  Now one of only two World Heritage Sites in Honduras and part of a network of such settlements across Central America, Copan is a fascinating insight into the Mayan culture. Some incredible building structures have been left behind, such as temples, arenas and burial ground and there is much more to be discovered.
To be fair, our hosts may have saved the best co-op till last. Certainly it was in terms of investment in new infrastructure. BEO is a joint venture between CAFEL, COAGRICSAL and COPROCAEL and is in the middle of installing a huge new dry process plant (designed and built by Cimbria of Denmark). This plant and accompanying huge new warehouse adjoining it will grade, mill, hull and polish over 100,000 bags of coffee a year at a rate of 5 tonnes per hour. Whilst there we also saw a large nursery area for coffee and cocoa seedlings, representing a further investment in stock replenishment and future output.

An overnight stay back in San Pedro Sula, followed by a flight to Miami and then onto Blighty (narrowly missing Hurricane Sandy) meant that the trip was over. So what did we learn?
 I have visited coffee growing countries in 3 continents over a 20 year period and I have never seen a level of investment in the coffee growing and processing sector such as I have seen in the last week. To their credit the Hondurans are planting huge new areas of coffee, are taking advantage of easy credit conditions, and are investing huge amounts of money in sophisticated and modern wet and dry milling techniques. They have seen the future of coffee and are betting on being a big part of it. Barring potential problems (such as widespread leaf rust, which exists in the country and perhaps the onset of lower prices) Honduras is set to become a global, washed arabica coffee powerhouse in terms of production volume and quality.  

Thanks to Chris, Rachel and Nikki for the company. Most of all thanks to Lionboy and his colleagues at Interamerican/Becamo and to Matt at Falcon Commodities and his colleagues for arranging the details of our visit.
James Sweeting
29th October 2012