Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491371
STiR tea & coffee industry international 41 "Distinctiveness (whether a coffee is in any way arresting or different in character) is a major influencer of scoring," writes Ken Davids, editor of www.CoffeeReview.com. But he cautions that higher retail prices do not consistently reflect the price paid for green coffee. "If the clarity of the cup were improved through your sorting procedure, and if the roast were executed well, then one might expect an improvement of a couple of (one to two maximum) points in a Coffee Review rating, given a similar improvement in average Q-cupper scores for the same coffee," said Davids. "However, roast is a factor, often a major factor, in adding or subtracting (cupping) points on Coffee Review. Furthermore, processes like hue-sorting may improve quality, but they may not create distinctiveness (whether or not a coffee is arresting or dif- ferent in character), which is a major influencer of scoring. In my experience one cannot inject powerful and engaging character into a green coffee through improving its cleanliness and trans- parency, though you can let it be itself more clearly," he said. During the past three months STiR Tea & Coffee, in an experi- ment underwritten by Satake USA, Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters, Nossa Familia Coffee, and Loring Smart Roast, has explored the potential benefits of starting with defect-free coffee followed by additional sorts based on hue. The experiment began on June 27 with a 60-kilo bag of a specialty grade Nicaraguan Arabica. The Nicaraguan Strictly High Grown Estate coffee was from Placeres Farms in Matagalpa [pronounced mata yalpa] located in west central Nicaragua. The region is known as the "Land of Eternal Spring." The coffee was grown by Erwin Mierisch at 3,600 feet elevation (1,100 meters) and is primarily of the Ca- turra variety. The sample was a fully washed coffee with quite a bit of silverskin attached. Because it was not harvested in a single day there is likely a small quantity of catuai in the mix. The bag is also likely to contain coffee from different patio lots. The unsorted coffee received an SCAA cupping score of 81.4 (average of eight cuppers). The Coffee The coffee, which was previously graded by size and shape, was sorted at a rate of 3,900 lbs. per hour on a Satake Evolution RGB optical sorter to remove defects. The defect sort yielded 1.56 kilos of rejects amounting to 2.29% of the 68.24 kilo bag. A control sample was then re- moved and the green coffee was again loaded into the Evolu- tion at 3,100 lbs. per hour rate that yielded 29% by weight of lightly colored beans and 26% by weight of dark green beans. The medium hue beans accounted for 45% by weight. The 27 kilos of medium hue, along with 17 kilos of light hue and 16 kilos of dark hued beans were then sent to roasters. The experiment Once graded for size and defect-free, a close examination showed some of the green beans in the bag were dark green in color, others were light green with the majority midway between. A control sample of the mixed beans was removed. Satake's technicians then performed a second sort that isolated the dark beans and a final sort to separate the pale beans. The sorts were weighed and divided for shipment to Batdorf & Bronson and Nossa Familia in Portland for roasting and an evaluation by cuppers using the standard SCAA scale. On receiving the coffee roast masters identically roasted these beans grouped by hue. The three samples were cupped and compared to the pre-sort control sample. Scores from two independent panels of cuppers were com- pared to see if bean color makes a difference in the cup. It did. The results raised a number of questions: Was the darker green color an indicator of quality? Did one color consistently receive higher scores? Are faded, lightly col- ored beans inferior? Is the cupping differential significant enought for buyers to ask for a sort by hue? How much extra time and money would the additional sorts cost? Would roasting uniformly colored beans raise cupping scores enough to justify the cost? Dark Medium Light Photo courtesy Batdorf & Bronson Photo courtesy Satake USA