STiR coffee and tea magazine

The healthy solution for your needs. www.acma.it ACMA is part of Coesia, a group of innovation-based industrial and packaging solutions companies operating globally, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. www.coesia.com Innovative solutions Maximum quality Ecological efficiency Organoleptic properties TEA PACKAGING NEEDS? LET'S TRY ACMA INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS! ACMA machines are highly flexible, handling a wide range of materials and products, such as black tea, herbal and full leaf. Single or double chamber tea bags packaged in various end-of-line solutions: multi & single row carton box, sleeve carton, bags-in-bag, bags in a pouch. All solutions are focused on green & safety. took their first sips. "It was amazing that it tasted so great, brewed exactly the way we intended it," Ruskey recalls. "We were pleased that the people's first experience with the coffee was done that way." The roots of that cup of coffee started in 2002 when Dr. Mark Gaskell, then a farm advisor with the University of Cali- fornia's Cooperative Extension, came to Ruskey with an unusu- al suggestion. Try growing coffee. "Why? What?" Ruskey now says, recalling his reaction. "It wasn't obvious to me that coffee would be something that had a chance here in California. But I was still young and trying a lot of different things, so I just planted them within my avocados in a block that had shared irrigation and management." Gaskell's idea was founded in research and personal ob- servation. Now retired and an honored farm advisor emeritus, Gaskell recalls how he studied coffee cultivation in Central America and the Caribbean Islands. "I had worked with a lot of coffee farmers over the years and I was familiar with coffee production," Gaskell says. "It wasn't surprising to me that coffee plants could survive [in Cali- fornia] but I put it out of my mind because I didn't think it could be a viable alternative for small farms in California," he says. Gaskell was concerned that production costs, specifically la- bor, land, and water, would be too high. But a visit to Hawaii changed his mind. "I went to a coffee co-op on the big island and I realized how similar the farm was to Jay's farm," Gaskell remembers. "It struck me. If Hawaii can make a business out of growing coffee [with its high production costs], we could do it in California." As a cooperative extension farm advisor, it was Gaskell's job to help small growers improve efficiency and remain viable. The two men already had a strong working relationship because Gas- kell focused on specialty crops and Ruskey's Good Land Organ- ics farm near Goleta, Calif., grew avocados and sub-tropical fruits. "I depend on growers like Jay who are open, innovative, and willing to take chances," Gaskell says. Ruskey accepted the challenge and planted three varieties collected by Gaskell. Three years later, it was evident that they could produce a consistent crop. "For the first couple years, I had no critical eye because I didn't know what I was looking at," Ruskey admits. "Eventually we had a harvest, so I sat down and de-pulped all these cherries and shipped it to some kind of cupper in Los Angeles. I didn't know what a cupper even was, and he says, 'it's decent coffee but you need to work on your post-harvest'. What is post-harvest?" Processes improved with the learning curve and soon Good Land Organics was selling roasted coffee in glass jars at South- ern California farmers markets. He developed a word-of-mouth following with customers who wanted more beans yet weren't very concerned about price.

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