But do you know how coffee gets transported from origin to other parts of the world such as North American Europe and Australia?

Once the coffee has been picked and taken to a point of processing (the mucilage, or fruit flesh as we could consider it, has to come off at some point,) it generally ends up in a jute bag. These can hold between 45-69kg of cleaned and prepped, ship ready coffee.

Fun Fact: Jute is not a packaging solution we often see in North America, but its most common use is the potato sack. Jute is great packaging material, because it’s readily available, has high tensile strength, low stretchiness, and high breathability, making it ideal for agricultural products. It’s actually the second most used vegetable fibre, after our dear friend cotton, and grown in such a vast area to support that title!

We then have to import the coffee beans from origin. Air freight is ridiculously expensive, (especially when one considers that a ‘standard container’ of coffee is around 42000 lbs,) so we look to going a little old school– over the water.

Gone are the days when you could throw cargo in the hold and then spend the next few months dodging pirates, and coveting your gold dubloons. Ocean freight of the 20^th and 21^st century uses ocean freighters and standardized shipping containers. The beauty of these little gems is their interoperability. A 20ft shipping container will fit any cargo ship in the world; on any rail car in the world; and there are special chassis’ they lock into, to be pulled by a semi-truck.

Within these containers could be individual bags of green coffee stacked floor to roof, side to side and front to back. But, if you happen to be a huge roaster, why waste time and money with bags? Industrial roasters will line an entire container with a plastic bag designed for containers, and basically just dump 42000 lbs of coffee, right in. Rather than unloading bags and palletizing them at their final destination, these containers will be backed into a special loading bay at their warehouse, and just like a pop can, the container is tilted 90 degrees, and the coffee arrives and dumps into a feeder system, (of which there is an entire other article about warehouse styles, and types, and systems. And that sort of coffee handling we can save for another day!)

Once into a roaster’s facility or warehouse, the coffee is palletized onto oversized pallets, usually able to hold anywhere from sixteen to twenty five bags of coffee, and stacked four or five levels high. From here, individual bags are picked to be dumped or roasted, or if they have more stops on their journey, they are floor loaded into a dry van, or shrink wrapped and strapped to a pallet.

And on they go.

Swiss Water® Decaffeinated coffees are slightly darker in its green form than non-decaffeinated green coffee, so you have to approach it slightly differently in a roaster. I find the decaf green coffee to follow a similar pattern of colour change as the original green coffee, but at each stage in the roast our decaf will be slightly darker. This is along the lines of the difference between Pantone 100 PC and 103PC for an early phase of the roast.

As the decaf coffee is roasting it will expand, show its veins, expand some more, even out on the surface, and expand some more like a normal green coffee, but along the way the colour will be a little bit darker. (The picture below is of a recent decaf production of FTO Peru.) We follow similar roast profiles for the decaf green and original green coffees and don’t find a need to treat one or the other very differently.

Don’t be afraid to roast our decaf as light as your non-decaffeinated coffees. After every decaffeination we roast up the original green and the decaffeinated green and cup them side by side, and we roast them to the same sample roast level and we work hard to make sure there are no negative flavours because of the decaffeination process.

We believe in giving back to the coffee growing community by supporting this cause that is both relevant and valued by our customers and employees. Over and above the donation SWDCC makes every year, we continue to extend our campaign to raise funds for this worthy organization. Our current campaign includes reaching out to our suppliers and friends for their support of our annual employee donation drive. Many of our suppliers have generously donated in the past and continue to do so this year. Our participating partners donate prizes towards a raffle that is used to raise employee donations. Each year we continue to surpass the previous year’s employee donations. Our goal is to raise $8000 in employee donations for 2012 and we have already reached our goal with 2 more weeks to go!!

Throughout the year, our fundraising efforts also include staff BBQ’s and employee coffee sales with all proceeds going to Grounds for Health. We believe that we can make an impact in ensuring the sustainability of this program.

Coffee is no different. The same, single origin coffee can be organic, fair trade, or fair trade organic. What do these different designations mean? What does it mean to be certified? First and foremost, a certification means that a third party organization is certifying the validity of the statement. Without this certification the symbol or logo cannot be used on the product. This is to protect us as consumers. I have selected a few of the certifications that our coffee can carry and will briefly explain them here.

Organic – refers to coffee that has been grown in accordance with organic farming standards which exclude the use of fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals. These strict requirements also apply to storage, processing, packaging, labelling and shipping. In a nutshell, organic standards must be adhered to throughout all production and distribution stages, all the way from the field to the final consumer. Who formulates these organic standards? In many countries they have been established and are maintained by the government but in other parts of the world there is no organic legislation at all. Our organic certification is verified by and provided to us by the Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA).

Fair Trade – this certification is about the farmer. The fair trade movement was created to help producers in developing countries obtain better prices in the marketplace. Even though its main goal is economic, its long term effect is social, environmental and economic sustainability. Our fair trade certification is provided by Fair Trade Canada.

Rainforest Alliance –this certification was born out of concern for the environment. The Rainforest Alliance organization is an NGO devoted to protecting biodiversity on our planet and committed to conserving resources for future generations through sustainable practices. Products carrying the Rainforest Alliance seal come from farms that meet the strict RA standards and criteria. Our offering of Rainforest Alliance products is usually limited to coffee from one origin at a time.

Halal - is an Arabic word for lawful. Anything that is permitted under the Shariah law is considered “Halal” and so is our coffee! The Halal status of our products is verified every year by the Halal Monitoring Authority of the Canadian Council of Muslim Theologians.

Kosher – refers to food items conforming to Jewish dietary laws. Our entire product offering is Kosher which is verified on an annual basis by the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of British Columbia.

Natural – there is no certification mark or 3rd party organization or logo to indicate natural and that is why it is not put on our coffee. Natural is not mandated or managed by government departments or agencies either, so when you see the word natural on the package it is being used by the manufacturer to indicate or imply that the product was produced naturally. There is a lot of confusion about natural for this very reason.

These are just a few of the certifications that you can see on products with our logo – SWISS WATER® Process. They all focus on different aspects, be it health, religion, ethics or concern for the environment. And when we choose to purchase a product or brand we are drawn to what resonates with our passions and interests. It’s all about choices after all. Just like choosing decaf!

Let’s start with moisture content analysis – after all, Water is our middle name. Like many of you, we used to rely on the Sinar for on-the-fly moisture analysis; when we needed something more accurate we used the time-consuming oven method. Nothing more accurate (no Easy-Bake for us) but that pinpoint ISO precision takes a solid 16 hours. About a year and a half ago we decided to invest the kids’ college fund in something more serious – a pair of Perten moisture analyzers. Not only do they give fast and ridiculously accurate moisture readings, we get bean density as a bonus! The Sinar still comes out of its drawer once in a while when we have very small samples and can’t wait for I-could-have-flown-to-Australia-it-took-so-long oven results. And the oven gets fired up regularly, as we like muffins to keep everything calibrated.

Next on the list are the water activity meters. While moisture meters tell you the percentage of the bean that is H2O, the water activity meter reveals how much moisture is readily available, as opposed to being cellularly bonded. Available water (aW) measurement indicates lots of fun stuff, such as how readily a particular green coffee will release caffeine. With decaf, it tells us how stable the finished product is. Our work on water activity has led to some interesting findings, most of them top secret, and has led to improvements that, among other things, have slowed the rate at which our decaf stales.

Our big bad water activity meter is the AquaLab. This delight gently warms a green coffee sample (decaf or not) up to a specific preset temperature (for example, 20C or 68F) so readings are consistent (changes in environmental temperature yield variable aW measurements). Then, after the longest 5 minutes you ever sat through, the AquaLab reveals the available water in the sample. We also have a pile of portable water activity meters. These still take an eternal 5 minutes to analyze green coffee, but they don’t bring the sample up to a specific temperature, so we use them in controlled environments such as our lab and cupping room (the portable meters do give the temperature of the sample being analyzed, so we can be assured of consistent readings).

The latest toy is our humidity chamber. This isn’t just for keeping our Cohibas fresh (this is Canada – we can buy the real Cubans). We use the humidity chamber to take a detailed look at decaf after it leaves our facility. Given that our decaf ships all over the world, we want to be prepared for a wide variety of environmental conditions. Sometimes we want to look at extreme situations and don’t feel like waiting for the next hurricane. With our humidity chamber we can test the effect of variable temperature & humidity without having to put on a raincoat!

The last word around here isn’t even a word: HPLC. That stands for high-performance liquid chromatography, the judge and jury of decaffeination target around these parts. Shimadzu produces a tremendous range of analytical equipment, and their HPLC system keeps us in line.

We’ve been saying it for a while: SWISS WATER® Decaf leads the science of decaffeination. By continually increasing the knowledge database for green coffee (decaffeinated or not), we are able to keep improving our decaf process and bring you decaffeinated coffee that is truer to the original green. SWISS WATER® Decaf is great coffee, period!

In recent years, coffee drinkers have enhanced their knowledge and understanding of coffee including its origins, characteristics, and methods of brewing to ensure the best cup. Many coffee drinkers are quickly rivaling wine tasters in their understanding of coffee’s unique characteristics.

The language of coffee includes:

Aroma: a sensation that is difficult to separate from flavour. The aroma contributes to the flavours we discern on our palates. Subtle nuances, such as “floral” or “winy” characteristics, are derived from the aroma of the brewed coffee.

Body: the feeling that the coffee has in your mouth, the so-called weight and texture of a coffee. It is the viscosity, heaviness, thickness, or richness that is perceived on the tongue and the back of the palate. Typically, Indonesian coffees will possess greater body than South and Central American coffees.

Acidity: actually, a desirable characteristic in coffee. The role acidity plays in coffee is not unlike its role as related to the flavour of wine. It provides a sharp, bright, vibrant quality. Without sufficient acidity, the coffee will tend to taste flat. Acidity should not be confused with sour, which is an unpleasant, negative flavour characteristic

Flavour: the overall perception of the coffee in your mouth, the taste and aroma combined. Acidity and aroma are components of flavor. It is the balance and homogenization of these senses that create your overall perception of flavor. Typical flavour characteristics include:

Richness - refers to fullness of the coffee
Complexity – the perception of multiple flavours
Balance – the satisfying presence of all the basic taste characteristics where no single one over-powers another

Desirable characteristics include chocolaty, delicate, earthy, fruity, nutty and spicy. Less desirable characteristics include bland, flat, musty, sour, thin and bitter.

Enjoy learning about coffee, and the many different origins and blends available, each with distinctive and unique characteristics such that the next time you are socializing with friends over a cup of coffee you can delight them with your coffee expertise.

When I think of less developed coffee cultures, Asia comes to mind. However, there are examples of markets with rapid coffee culture development and in my opinion Japan is the best example. It is very fascinating that a predominant and very conservative tea culture has become so devoted to coffee consumption…and in less than 60 years. Many aspects have played a crucial role. The fact that coffee was considered a luxury beverage from the beginning and then the symbol of Westernization boosted its rapid penetration.

Other aspects also helped promote adoption and growth. Post WWII, returning Japanese brought coffee as part of their new drinking habits, particularly those who had spent considerable time in Brazil. In the late 1960’s a visionary entrepreneur, Tadao Ueshima, combined technology and a brilliant idea to create the first canned ready to drink coffee. (缶コーヒー kan kōhī?). An innovation that appealed to the Japanese consumer and fuelled consumption growth. In the 1980’s, the Kissaten concept (coffeehouse) was established; a special place to drink a fresh brewed cup of black coffee. It wasn’t just ordinary coffee, it was premium coffee such as Kenya AAA, Blue Mountain among others. These coffeehouses gained popularity and created a generation that appreciates high quality coffee.

In the 1990’s drip-coffee, which was a single serve pour-over coffee made by passing boiling water through a perforated filter packed with finely ground coffee directly to the cup, different from the conventional North American 10 cup coffee-maker, drove in-home coffee consumption. Let me say that the entrepreneurial spirit of local development along with sociocultural lines, which I am calling the “Japanization” of coffee, has never stopped. The industry continues to innovate and promote coffee consumption and the most important learning is that quality, customization, and sophistication of the beverage creates remarkable expansion.

Other markets have a completely different coffee evolution. Consider Brazil, which is a world leader in coffee production, however there remains opportunities for consumption growth. Lately, the government is investing to build awareness and preference for drinking coffee. Why did this not happen before? Essentially, the industry was primarily focused on the export market and overlooked the opportunity domestically. By the way, this is a common theme in most coffee producing countries.

To get back to Brazil, a group of coffee connoisseurs supported by the government developed the basis of a “revolutionary campaign” to increase coffee consumption domestically. A key component of this campaign is to include coffee with milk in the school meals which increases children’s preference for coffee. Another strategy is education to traditional consumers about better coffee quality as well as the health benefits of coffee. Results to date are conclusive. Brazilians consumed 12.6 million bags (60 kg) in 2000, and in 2010 the volume reached 18.1 million bags which represents an astounding 44% increase.

In conclusion, while coffee is one of the most traded commodities in the world, its development is quite different and unique by market. What started in 800 AD continues to grow globally. Continuing to reinforce the positive health-related aspects on coffee; the promotion of products and drinking occasions to both traditional and new targets, plus the improvement in product quality all has helped contribute to this expansion phenomenon. Amazing opportunities and challenges lie ahead for all that participate in the coffee industry.

With my love of coffee, comes my passion for food and cooking, and the many food pairings and recipes that call for the inclusion of coffee. What kind of coffee goes with berries, chocolate, baked goods, savoury dishes? My quest is to incorporate more coffee in my cooking. How about coffee in chilli, lamb/pork and of course all the baked goodies and desserts? I have used many recipes with coffee and have been amazed at the unique qualities it brings out in the dishes. That said, I will leave you with Affogato – one of my favourite desserts that I first tried in Europe.

My recipe:
Affogato…(Italian, meaning “drowned”)

1 scoop of premium ice cream in a glass
1 oz. of my favourite hot espresso poured over the ice cream

Enjoy!

ACCESS TO SALES SUPPORT AND TRAINING MATERIALS

Access to a stash of premium sales and education materials including window clings, logo stickers, consumer information cards and more.

Recently revised with updated information, the NEW Decaf Education Guide is full of handy information about decaf coffee, the coffee drinker, and the Swiss Water® Process. This pocket-sized guide is a great tool for training staff and is one of our most popular items.

All materials are listed on our website and available for order online. Everything ships to your doorstep FREE of charge: http://www.swisswater.com/trade. (If you have forgotten your username and password to login contact me.)

If you are currently not a licensee, but would like to register, click here: http://www.swisswater.com/vendors/industry_partners/register

If there are other marketing materials that will help your decaf sales and they are not in our current arsenal, contact me with your ideas. I would love to hear from you!

USAGE OF THE SWISS WATER® PROCESS LOGO

Use the Swiss Water® Process logo and word mark on packages, website, and signage to let your customers know how your coffee has been decaffeinated and reinforce your commitment to providing nothing but the best coffees.

INCLUSION IN THE WHERE-TO-BUY LOCATOR

We launched a fabulous new website earlier this year and have recently improved the functionality of our locator making it more user friendly.

All licensees are included in our where-to-buy search tool, which enables consumers to discover retailers as well as brands where Swiss Water® Decaf can be purchased in-store and on-line. We list your establishment and include a link to your website: http://www.swisswater.com/find/

Brokers and roasters are also listed in our trade database: http://www.swisswater.com/trade

Check out our locators and if your contact information needs updating, please let me know.

Have a decafelicious day!

Coffee can be Special.

While we have grown up with coffee, we have also grown in knowing more about this popular drink. We understand the difference between Arabica and Robusta coffee beans. We seek out single origins that intrigue us, or once we have tasted come to see as our own special choice. Single origins, like Colombia, or Ethiopia, or Papa New Guinea. We have learned about Fair Trade, and Rainforest Alliance and shade-grown coffee to name but a few of the certifications available.

And while brewed coffee is the standard for many this is no one trick pony! Espresso and espresso based coffees – like lattes or cappuccinos. Or iced coffees, particularly now that summer has finally arrived! Coffee is part of who we are, and what we do. Simple as that!

Now some argue that it is the caffeine that we seek and coffee is the delivery system. Maybe so. Who cares? Well, that gets me to decaf. Sometimes things just happen. We find out that caffeine can affect us in a negative way. Due to amount, an allergic reaction, or a health condition that is aggravated when our central nervous system is pumped up with caffeine. Too much of a good thing can be bad? Like, yes, after five coffees I run faster, talk faster, and shake along the way.

And then, there are people and I am one of them – that drink regular to start their day, but need to avoid caffeine later in the day in order to get a good night’s sleep. And that’s where decaf comes along. When you truly love the taste of coffee; however must cut back on the caffeine intake. The alternative – decaf – which can and should be great tasting.

Now, not all decaf coffees are the same. Just like not all coffees are the same. No one that loves coffee would argue that! That would be as frivolous as saying all wines, or beer, or pop tastes the same. It just doesn’t. Thank heavens. And true, sometimes the decaf is a weak imitation. This however, shouldn’t give all decaf a bad name.

One needs to be selective. One needs to search out those coffee shops, or brands, that care enough about coffee – all coffee – to serve great quality. And that includes the method used to remove the caffeine from the coffee.

SWISS WATER® Process decaffeinates coffee in an environmentally responsible way, ensuring the taste of the original beans are maintained. That’s just good for everyone. Of course, you wouldn’t be reading this blog post if you weren’t aware of that. So…check out our Locator to find those brands, and retail outlets that choose to give you very special coffee!

And tell your friends too. Decaf is a personal choice!