Discovering the heart of a bean,
the soul of an origin

SCAE members on an experiential journey to Indian coffee country

APARNA DATTA

From sub-zero temperatures to the tropical climes of India is itself a welcome transition. But for the members of the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) on a week-long visit to India, it is the warmth of Indian hospitality that will linger on in their hearts and minds, long after they return to their home countrie.

It takes quite a bit of planning, and more than a little motivation, for roasters and retailers to take off from the daily grind (no pun intended!) to spend time in a coffee producing country, simply to discover the journey of the coffee bean from an estate to their own cupping tables and retail counters. But with 'traceability' currently a keyword in the coffee lexicon, it becomes incumbent on the buyer to know where exactly the bean originate, how it is cultivated and processed, how it is shipped out… In a nutshell, it's about transparency, and a sense of responsibility to the consumer that gets the buyer to undertake a field trip. That the visits are usually to beautiful locations in exotic countries adds spice to the business objective, but in the case of India, it's the gracious hospitality that comes as a bonus, always deeply appreciated.

Individual buyers and small groups of roasters have been visiting India ever since coffee marketing was liberalized in 1996, and a group of Specialty Coffee Association of America members journeyed to India in 1998. But it was the Coffee Safari sponsored by the Coffee Board prior to the India International Coffee Festival 2002 that gave SCAE members their first orientation to India. Evidently, that trip, undertaken by a group of 26, whetted their appetite - they wanted more! More of the green vistas of the Western Ghats, unique in the coffee world, more interaction with aware and enlightened members of the Indian coffee community. And so, an invitation from the Specialty Coffee Association of India (SCAI) to SCAE was accepted with alacrity, and a group of 22 persons visited Chikmagalur and Bangalore during February 1 -8, 2003.

The tour itinerary, thoughtfully planned by SCAI, was distinctly evolutionary. This time around, the visitors were split up into smaller groups and hosted by individual SCAI members at their respective estates. This gave the visitors the opportunity to explore the estates at leisure, and take time to understand the processes. For Synnove Pedersenof Kaffebrenneriet, Norway, the tactile impressions of the coffee cherry she picked will remain forever embedded in her mind. She is a trainer, educating baristi on how to respond to consumer queries as simple (and loaded) as "where is this coffee from?" Having read as much as she could, and listened to her seniors, she wanted to make her own journey, and see things for herself. Now, she says, she can "sell with the heart."

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Early February is the end of the picking season in the coffee lands of India, absolutely the right time for foreign buyers to make an estate visit and be reassured with sight of plump red cherries, without a hint of green, in the collection vats. It's a busy season, with pulping machines operating at regular intervals, drying yards full of the season's harvest in the form of parchment and sun-dried cherries. For Trygve Klingenberg, CEO of Solberg & Hansen and President of SCAE (2002-03), who has been making regular visits to India, it was gratifying to see the efforts made during post harvest at an estate he has kept track of over the last five years: clean pulping machines, tables for drying, and most of all, no stink in the air! His advice to all: keep it clean, as you would with your own kitchen.

When in Chikmagalur, all roads lead to the Central Coffee Research Institute at Balehonnur. On the morning of February 3, 2003 the SCAE group visited the Research Station with Dr R Naidu, Director of Research and his team of scientists taking them on a guided tour of the key laboratories. The section on Post Harvest Technology was particularly interesting for the visitors, providing a graphic depiction of the steps being taken by India on coffee quality. The visitors attended a lunch hosted by Coffee Board, and then returned to their allocated estate for further explorations.

Excitement ran high on the morning of February 4 when after an early start the guests reached Chikmagalur to attend the Cupping Workshop arranged at the Classic Coffee Curing Works. It was yet another opportunity to observe the down stream processing of the coffee bean - for many on the SCAE team it was in fact their first visit to a coffee mill. Then followed an intensive two hours of cupping, organized and moderated by Sunblind N Menno and her team from

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Coffee lab. The visitors tasted coffees sent in by SCAI members, some from the very estates they had stayed over at, making the coffee quality evaluation truly meaningful.

The event was an emotional experience particularly for Jose Manuel Urena of Coffee Brokers, New York presently based in Romania. A Costa Rican, from an "old growth" coffee country where people believe they produce the best coffees in the world, he declared that he was humbled by his visit to India. It was a moment of truth for him, on cupping high quality Indian coffees, to experience at first-hand the dharma of the bean, the quality contours of "serious" coffees. He said he'd received a "gift" of a lifetime in the coffee trade.

In the feedback session that followed the cup-tasting, Andrea Ciravegna from Italy highlighted the important role that India plays in the world of espresso. He remarked on the levels of "organization' in the entire coffee industry in India, an aspect that could be seen as a brand discriminator for Indian coffee.

In the SCAE group was Marcelo W B Vieira, President of the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA). Himself a grower from the Minas Gerais region, he said that it was a great experience to understand the processes in another producing country. Particularly heartening for him were the positive attitudes amongst the community of specialty coffee producers in India, that augers well for the mission of coffee quality the world over.

Back in Bangalore on February 6, the SCAE group members visited the Coffee Board, observed the ICTA auctions, and were duly impressed with the Coffee Quality Evaluation Center and the Analytical Laboratory. After a lunch hosted by Coffee Board, the visitors spent time at Coffee lab. The visitors cupped some coffees, and were once again astounded by the distinctive coffees that were available in India.

On February 7, the action shifted to the Taj West End, Bangalore where the semi-finals of the 2nd India Barista Championship(IBC) organized by SCAI were being held, with an expert panel with judges drawn from the SCAE group and the Indian coffee industry, short-listing the candidates. Observing the baristi, Vieira said, "What I'm seeing here is world class."

The finals of the IBC took place on February 8 with six contestants in the fray. Once again the visitors participated in the event, some as judges, others as part of wildly enthusiastic audience. By the time the awards ceremony took place later that evening at the Leela Palace Hotel in Bangalore, the visitors had witnessed the entire lifecycle of a coffee bean - from farm to espresso. The bonding between the younger members of the SCAE group and the Indian baristi was evident - another occasion for relationship building, with coffee people from the first and third worlds finding kinship and common vocational interests. "The potential here is great, and the drive and energy is remarkable." Said Steiner Paulsrud of Kaffebrenneriet, Norway, who serves Monsooned Malabar, an Indian specialty coffee, under the name of Royal Malabar at his chain of coffee bars.

Summing up the sentiments of the visitors, group-leader John L Sherwood of J.L.Shrwood & Co. of UK, a coffee broker and consultant who has been in the business for 40 years and who had also attended IICF 2002, said, "We really got an insight into what goes on at an estate… the complexity in growing and processing is a revelation. Seeing is believing, and helps us to promote an origin with greater conviction."

India as a reliable source for quality washed robusta was reinforced during this visit, with the SCAE team unanimously endorsing the outstanding quality of our robusta parchment. Italians, who require quantities of special varieties for their espresso blends, had been the first to latch on to this fact, and now it's an open secret in the coffee world that India is the first among equals in this category. Benchmarking comes naturally to Marcelo Vieira, who as a grower and as the President of BSCA wore two hats on this trip, so his comment that here in India he had tasted some of "the best robustas anywhere in the world" should give growers something to cheer about.

For coffee buyers from consuming countries traveling to an "origin" is like searching for the Holy Grail. It 's a pilgrimage, an act of faith. The SCAE group took away bags full of experiences, and a taste of India through the coffees that they had cupped, filed away forever in their organoleptic memory bank. With the holistic approach, allowing for a total sensory evaluation of an origin as well as networking between growers and buyers, this SCAE visit to India is a vivid exemplar of relationship coffee

Courtesy:Indian Coffee