By Scott Kee, DBC coffee buyer
I was asked in late January to take part in the Ethiopian government’s presentation and rollout of the Direct Specialty Trade (DST) model which would allow coffee farmers to connect directly with coffee buyers, eliminating the need for middlemen and therefore increasing the farmers’ profit. The trip was to consist of 5 days in Addis Ababa learning about the DST, cupping DST coffees, and launching the DST auction model. This was to be followed by a 5-day USAID/Ethiopian Coffee Cupping Caravan. Due to prior arrangements in Kenya-- I could not make the first 5-days in Addis, but asked to be included in the caravan. It would have been very disappointing to travel thousands of miles and then come back without exploring and meeting the people behind the original coffee producing country of Ethiopia.
It was a hot Sunday morning when I met up with the Cupping Caravan organizer, a USAID representative, and 16 other caravan participants for the first ever Coffee Cupping Caravan. We all piled into two Volkswagen vans and began our 7-hour journey to the Yergacheffee and Sidamo coffee regions of Ethiopia.
We stopped in Awassa for a night. It was here that we all learned of the roasting and cupping experiment we were about to undertake. Our itinerary was very basic. Each morning and afternoon we would meet at a Co-op in either Yergacheffee or Sidamo and roast, cup, and score the co-op’s coffee samples. What we all soon realized is that we would be using a portable sample roasting plant that ran off the van’s electrical system to roast the chosen samples. The sample roaster set up had never been tried before, and after dinner we put our headlamps on and started to build the sample roasting system in the dark.
The van produces 12-volt power, so the first step was converting its power from volts to watts. We hooked jumper cables from the battery’s positive terminal and grounded out the negative terminal on the alternator and then attached the cables to a 2300-watt inverter. From the inverter we hooked up a 50-60 Megahertz, 220-volt converter that Starbucks had graciously loaned to the project, and then hooked up two Genie sample roasters. We flipped the switches and everything worked… sort of.
The first issue we had to tackle was the wire gauge in the jumper cables which was too small and began overheating. A quick rummage through the inverter’s packing boxes produced two very stout cables that we permanently hooked up to the van’s battery and chassis.
Making this permanent connection to the van’s electrical system required careful control of the live cables when they were not hooked up to our roasting system. After a few other minor issues like melting plastic pieces on the inverter we had strong power going to the sample roasters. The group had both sample roasters running—preheating—and everything looked good until we filled the roasters with green beans and the power draw of the electrical elements maxed out the inverters. Fully loaded, both roasters pulled 2250 watts, which caused the inverter to automatically trip its safety switch. We tried many different ways of configuring the electrical load and finally realized that one roaster was all we would be able to use in the field.
At the same time the sample roasters were being tested, the cooking stove for cupping water and dishes was being assembled. Easy enough, 3 massive burners, 6 kettles, and we would just need to heat all 6 of the kettles when we arrived at each Co-op and then shuffle the kettles with boiling water for cupping.
After a light breakfast of jam and toast we set off to our first co-op, Belle Kara, in the Yergacheffee region. We arrived and split off into different groups--one group to set up the roasting area, one set up the cupping tables and one was to meet with the farmers to discuss our purpose for the visit.
The leader of our group lead the farmers and roasters in a round table discussion of what we look for in a good coffee and how the farmers’ quality control of all stages of the harvest and processing affect the flavor of the coffee. Finally, we held a skit using 12 empty cups and 6 individuals to show how the consumers, roasters, importers, exporters, coyotes, and co-ops monetary value for the coffee these farmers grew gets marked up throughout each step of the supply chain and why.
Part of the Caravan’s purpose was to promote the new DST (Direct Specialty Trade) process the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange had developed and rolled out during the week of February 14th. The leader of our group made special points to show the farmers that if they cut the coyote and intermediate buyers out of the supply chain and used the DST, the farmers would receive more money for the coffee they produced. The play’s message was visually clear to the participants because the first portion of the play had each farmer holding one empty cup. After they removed the two cast members that signified the unneeded supply chain members the farmers were holding two cups. The skit was always well received with lots of ah-ha’s and laughter.
The cuppers I traveled with all had a high caliber palate—which basically means they are experts when it comes to cupping coffees and picking out the various flavor attributes for different coffees.
After each cupping session all caravan cuppers would raise our hands to vote as the leader of our group tallied the Q scores which would lead to a discussion of the higher scoring coffees’ characteristics--a great lesson for the farmers and cuppers! It was amazing to witness a discussion about minute issues in a particular cup of coffee, then, ask the farmers or Co-op manager if something odd had happened during the processing and hear them confirm that the electricity had gone out for one day or they were short on water for two days. What a palate these cuppers have!
Many times at the end of our cupping we would ask the farmers to taste the coffees. We quickly learned that this request would have to accompany a quick lesson in cupping protocol, more than once I witnessed farmers taking whole spoonfuls of coffee grounds into their mouths or not wash the spoons from one coffee to the next.
Being a part of the world’s first Coffee Cupping Caravan and being in the company with so many optimistic individuals who really think that change can and will happen within the coffee industry was both challenging and inspirational. Lasting relationships were made and farmers in Ethiopia were able to meet the individuals who will hopefully purchase and sell the coffee they grow.
