STiR coffee and tea magazine

48 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 1, 2018 (February / March) By Kelly Stein A Brazil Bets on Specialty Conilon romatic and flavor notes of pineapple, bergamot, coconut, macadamia, spice, gooseberry, vanilla, honey, and notes of "yellow flower" are praise commonly used by professional cuppers describing arabica. This evaluation, however, was made by a group of Cup of Excellence (CoE) judges in a special event that followed the 2017 CoE competition in Espirito Santo. The exercise was simple: Analyze 11 samples of specialty conilon. The group of 25 consisted of local robusta producers, researchers, journalists, spe- cialty arabica coffee shop owners, several students attending the Federal Institute of Es- pirito Santo (IFES), and five CoE judges. The project "Specialty Conilon/Robusta to the World" is a bold quest toward quality with a mission to prove that it is possible to make great tasting robusta. According to coffee specialist and Agricafé director, Silvio Leite, the main challenge in this initial phase is to better understand robusta's diverse attributes. "There are no rules for this kind of cupping because no protocol is established yet. So, I asked that skilled professionals focus on describing sensorial attributes," explains Silvio. "Full body" and "wood" notes are commonly used when describing Coffea canephora (robusta) and were present at the cupping table, but judges also found these coffee "very well-balanced," with a "dry finish," and displayed notes of apricot. "I would definitely buy this coffee to enrich my shop's portfolio," said Jordan Dabov, who owns a roastery and two coffees shops in the Czech Republic, one in So- fia, and another in Madrid. Dabov was one of the judges who awarded these robustas an average score of 92 points on the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) 100-point scale. Arabicas scoring in this range are routinely auctioned for $25 or more dollars a pound. In contrast, commercial grades of robusta sell for less than $1 per pound. The coffee he favored was fermented, an experiment promoted by the IFES team. For the Brazilian barista and coffee shop owner, Isabela Raposeiras, this sensorial ex- perience was remarkable. She described two exceptional samples: "I wasn't impressed because it was similar to arabica. It was quite the opposite! It was different, but with great taste. If one day I decide to buy a conilon lot, I will search for a high quality clean cup with complexity in its sensorial attributes to sell as a single. I wouldn't use it in a blend for sure," said Raposeiras. Coffee researchers are generally focused on productivity and resilience nowadays. It will be some time before the global coffee community develops a market for Bra- zilian single-origin conilon. According to Lucas Henrique Caser Venturim, the com- mercial director at Venturim Farm, the immediate goal is to show the market that it is possible enjoy a single-origin conilon on its own, not in a blend. New clonals, post-harvest fermentation techniques, and better processing methods are some of the tools now used to produce high quality conilon coffees in Brazil. Photo by Kelly Stein Photo Credit: Harley Kalk da Silva (courtesy of Venturim Farm) To improve plant nutrition branches are severely pruned.Conilon producer Lucas Venturim explains the technique to QGrader and journalist Eleanor Wu. A blind tasting of 11 coffee samples was organized to introduce "Specialty Conilon/Robusta to the World" Photos by Kelly Stein

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