STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 19 NEWS STiR: You also do a lot of work with rare coffees that most consumers have had little exposure to. What's the draw there? Meza: I like to travel, I like to explore, and I like to offer things interesting and different from others. You can find great Ethiopias, Colombias, El Salvadors, etc., from hundreds of roasters. But how many places are you going to find unusual varieties from places like Jamaica's Blue Mountains or Thailand? Or historically famous origins such as St. Helena and Reunion Island, and specialty coffee of other coffea species: eugenioides, canephora, liberica, and others? I don't see the point in doing the same thing many others already do well. I prefer to spend my time focusing on the things that, if I don't do, then no one else is likely to, at least for a quite a while. There are companies that focus on rare coffees, but not necessarily with any attention to those also being good or distinctive specialty-grade coffees. So, I think there is an opportunity here to be a source for that intersection of rare and specialty. I also like doing it for educational purposes. I firmly believe that specialty coffee is a process and excellent coffees can be developed anywhere coffee can be grown. I like to highlight this fact by showing that some origins people have never even heard of can produce coffees that may be as good or better than some more renowned origins. STiR: In your travels to various coffee origins all over the world, what are you learning about efforts to fight climate change? What countries or farmers have the most creative approaches? For whom might the climate crisis prove too great to overcome? Meza: A couple things I have noticed: In many areas, the harvest season was traditionally dry, and coffee is dried on patios or screens without covers. But in recent years, weather patterns have been very unreliable, and I've seen a number of farmers create greenhouse drying buildings or build plastic covers for their drying racks. Another thing some growers are noticing is that coffee planted under shade is faring much better than coffee in the sun during extreme weather events that have become more frequent, whether that be heat, frost, or heavy rain. STiR: Your roasting company, Paradise, is one of the most highly regarded in the US. What is the secret to your longstanding success? Meza: A combination of consistency and constant evolution. Our blends still maintain similar cup profiles that they've had for years, and we continue to offer a diversity of roast styles from light to dark, although we never have done anything at the extreme ends of the spectrum either way. We have also tried to stay at the forefront of quality innovations with single-origin coffees at the same time. We were among the first roasters in the US roasting mostly in a lighter style and featuring single-origin coffees for espresso 15-plus years ago, purchasing in early auctions from COE and Best of Panama, and among the first to feature the then-new ripe cherry naturals starting to come out of Ethiopia at that time. We still try to offer what represents the current and future innova- tions: processing, new varieties, new origins. I think that keeps things exciting for customers. STiR: Who are your customers, and what are their primary interests and values where coffee is concerned? Meza: Our core business is online retail and has been since we started. Many of our customers are home espresso enthusiasts. Most are very concerned about freshness of the coffee. Likely as a result of the coffees we offer, we have cultivated a customer base for single-origin coffees that is quite adventurous in its tastes. Our customers like trying new coffees not only from us but from many roasters. So, we try to keep our offerings rotating frequently. STiR: What is the most compelling origin for you, currently? Meza: Thailand. I've been traveling there and working with growers for several years now. There have been massive increases in the quality and diversity of coffees there. The combination of a Yeast-fermented natural and honey- processed coffees Miguel Meza

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