Everything About Specialty Coffee

Specialty can only occur when all of those involved in the coffee value chain work in harmony.

According to the Specialty Coffee Association, coffee beans should go through a process in which each of them is graded from 0 to 100 points. This stage is known as cupping. So, for them to be considered specialty coffee, a certified grader must evaluate them and give them at least 80 points.

Yes, it seems like a lot, but it is a very demanding job to offer the most delicious flavors of one of the most popular drinks in the world. In that sense, if an expert finds too many defects in a sample of green and unroasted coffee beans, they will be labeled as regular coffee and will be not chosen. In other words, the aim is to guarantee quality through all stages of coffee production, from the seed to the cup. 

Also, specialty coffee producers affirm that by selecting a proper seed with almost no defects, quality improves. They carefully cultivate and harvest coffee plants at a perfect altitude and time of year. And in the best soils, of course. Then they get select them at the right time. With this, the drink’s quality will outweigh other forms of production.

Although many believe that this type of coffee is a new trend, the truth is it has been around since far back as the early 1900s in prestigious hotels in Paris. However, the term was first used in 1970 when the method appeared in the Tea and Coffee Trade Journal. And because coffee is a highly desired beverage, there have been improvements in agricultural, roasting, and brewing technology. Now, everyone is paying attention to the selection of its beans.

This process then continues with roasters and baristas, who also have to use special techniques to make a balanced beverage with natural and rich flavors. So if you want to upgrade the quality of the coffee you are serving to your clients and cope with this trend (that is here to stay), take note of the characteristics surrounding the process:

• Coffee grading: green coffee goes through a visual inspection and cupping to be graded. The evaluator considers shape, size, and smell and chooses a bean only if it receives more than 80 points.

• Type of coffee: specialty coffee is made out of arabica beans because they are considered to be sweeter and have the most delicate flavor.

• The perfect regions: selected countries, like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Colombia are synonymous with specialty coffee. Why? Coffee cultivated in high latitudes, mixed with a tropical climate, along with rainy and dry seasons, produces the best beans.

• Popularity: in the U.S specialty coffee is spreading nationwide because coffee went from a modern convenience to a drinking experience. Its popularity is increasing, and that is why quality is now the primary strategy to compete in this industry.

• Roasting process: roasters know the perfect temperature and techniques to create custom profiles for each coffee they receive. Their mission is to enhance and highlight their natural flavors.

• Baristas: baristas at your coffee business choose carefully grown and roasted coffee to produce quality beverages with precision and specialized equipment. They follow the menu instruction, so quality is always the same in every drink.

Luckily enough, at Coffland Corp, we have our brands of specialty coffee, and they are our clients’ favorites. If you think this type of coffee represents the next step for your coffee business, contact us and let us become your providers!

Speciality coffee has existed for a long time now.

---

Facebook: CofflandCorp

Twitter: CofflandCorp

Instagram: CofflandCorp

Google+: CofflandCorp

Incredible Curiosities in Coffee History

From Ethiopia to Colombia, coffee has touched every heart and soul through history

You probably drink coffee every morning and maybe more than once a day. You are aware that to get to your cup, your favorite beverage comes a long way. Beans, which are coffee seeds, are planted and mature for about five years. The cherries are then processed to obtain the bean that will be roasted.  

But, did you know that coffee has a great historical background as rich as its flavor is? You better keep reading to find more reasons to love it. You won’t believe how grateful you should be for goats! 

The incredible coffee history

And of course, every good story starts with a legend, especially if what came next were scandal, revolutions, slavery, and colonization. Want to know how incredible coffee history is?

Thank you, goat!

Legend has it a 9th-century Ethiopian goat herder discovered coffee by accident. His name was Kaldi. He noticed that some of their goats were jumping wildly and yelling more than usual after eating red berries, know these days as coffee cherries, the actual fruit of its plant. What happened next is that he tried one himself, and felt energized quickly. Soon enough everyone else knew the treasure it was.

A trick of the Devil

Ethiopian monks try to burn those cherries as soon as they found out their effects. They believed that Kaldi’s discovery was a trick of the Devil, but once they started feeling its aroma while roasting, they changed their mind. The monks recovered the beans and ground them to make tea.

Religions around the world were generally against coffee consumption. Some of the local clergies condemned coffee, calling it a “bitter invention of Satan”. In the 1600s there was a controversy over whether or not Catholics could drink coffee, luckily Pope Clement VIII said it was okay. Thanks, Pope!

First coffee houses

First coffee houses were in Egypt, Syria, and Ethiopia. The beverage became highly popular after Ottoman Sultan’s blessing. He drunk it, and it's a universal belief that he is responsible for its general enjoyment of conversations and gatherings when brewing some coffee to share. Ottoman Sultan executed the governor of Mecca for closing down coffee houses and restored all those businesses. 

Irreconcilable differences

Coffee was also a reason to divorce. Rumor has it that in the ancient Arab culture the only way a woman could legally divorce was if her husband did not provide enough coffee. If the argument was justified, she was free from that marriage.

It's expansion

When coffee found its way to Europe it was known as Arabian wine, this is because coffee comes from the Arabic “wine of the bean.” Eventually, the word became “koffie” in Dutch and “caffe” in Italy. This delicious drink was pass to the hands of the world’s soon-to-be colonizing nations: Brazil became the world’s first producer in the 1800s, at one point producing 80% of the world’s beans, followed by Colombia and Venezuela.

Isn’t this amazing? At Coffland Corp, we share with our clients and readers our love for coffee. Follow us on social media for unique information about the world’s favorite drink and contact us if you are interested in our services especially our private label products!  

These facts demonstrate that coffee is a treasure for humankind

---

Facebook: CofflandCorp

Twitter: CofflandCorp

Instagram: CofflandCorp

Google+: CofflandCorp

Know the Stages of Coffee Production

How coffee travels all the way into your mug.

From the land to your cup, coffee comes a long way to please your cravings. Many think it’s an art because it is about technique, instinct and love for the land and the product itself. The selection of the best beans and the way they are processed is almost universal knowledge in the world of fair trade coffee.

The stages of coffee production depend on climate, weather conditions and soil. Plants grow perfectly in the mountainsides, especially those from tropical environments. At Coffland Corp, we are more than proud to say that our private label coffee and carefully selected beans come from Colombian farms.

How coffee is produced

Keep reading to learn about their long journey in order to appreciate the effort from everyone involved in this process.

Plantation of the seeds

The green beans are seeds. They are located in little planters during an activity that often takes place on the wet season in order to make them grow strong roots. They will turn into a tree in about five months, but depending on the variety, it can take between 3 to 4 years for the newly planted coffee trees to bear fruit. Then, it is time for the farmer to recollect the cherries.

Picking the cherries

Yes, coffee beans come from cherries. Coffee starts out as a blossom and develops a fruit gradually. When the trees are filled with the ripest of fruits which are bright and deep red, farmers collect them and harvest them with their own hands or by using machinery. Instinctively, they will pick the right ones in two flowerings annually; there is a main and secondary crop. Bags of fruit being weighed because the pickers are paid by weight.

Processing methods

The cherry must be removed from the seed and it has to be done as quickly as possible to prevent fruit spoilage. For this matter, manufacturers can use two different methods to obtain the bean. If water resources are limited, the dry method is the best, specially because this is how it has been done for centuries.

The freshly picked cherries are spread out in plain surfaces to dry in the sun, but if it is dried too quickly or at too high temperatures, it will lose much of its sweetness, aromatics, and tanginess. During several weeks, the fruits are covered at night or when it rains to prevent them from getting wet. At this point, the moisture content of the cherries has already dropped. 

In the case there is enough water, it is used the wet method in which the pulps of the coffee are removed, and then sat under water for a period to degrade the sticky substance surrounding the seed. The beans are separated by weight as they pass through water channels inside a big machine to rest in various water-filled fermentation tanks where the layers finally dissolve.

Drying
If the wet method was applied, the beans must now be dried by exposing them to the sun or they can be machine-dried in large tumblers. But the ones that were processed with the dry methods are warehoused in jute or sisal bags. In both cases, the beans are parchment coffee because they have a very clear color, and then bagged to be brought to the dry mill.

How they are milled

In this stage, parchment coffee goes through a milling process. This will depend on the level of development within the country and the traditions that their citizens are willing to preserve. While there are ones that use machinery during the whole activity, others carry out with the help of individual farmers to do grading and sorting, in which beans are evaluated by size and weight, and are also reviewed for color flaws or other imperfections. Once milled, the beans are categorized as green coffee that is more than ready to export.

Its taste

The taster will have a word on the quality of the green coffee. Also known as cupper, this person is in charge to roast a small portion and brew it. He or she must smell its aroma, taste it, and then express how well and uniformly the beans get roasted.

Roasting process

At this point, the beans had come a long way and are ready to turn from pale color to a bright brown tone. Most roasting machines maintain a temperature of about 550 degrees Fahrenheit. They need to be moved constantly to avoid them to burn. When the oils begin to emerge, it’s a process known as pyrolysis because it produces the flavor and aroma that is served to us at cafés. Once it is done, the brown beans are cooled either by air or water. Then, it’s stored in packages and is sent to business around the world.

To each grind their brew

Depending on the brewing method, the coffee should be ground coarsely or finely. Most commercial grinders are usually roller mills that minimize the contact between metal and coffee beans, in order to preserve the flavor and aroma. Consider this a guide: The finer the grind, the faster the coffee should be prepared. Sometimes the result of commercial (industrial or semi-industrial) grinds is packaged and sold to all the coffee lovers out there, but most connoisseurs prefer to grind the beans at home.

After learning about its journey, brewing coffee every morning is surely more meaningful and pleasant. In Coffland Corp, we appreciate the human effort that is put into this ancestral process with modern techniques and fair trade policies. Contact us to find out how we can give you the best products for your coffee business!

Know the beautiful process of how the delicious coffee beans are marketed.

---

Facebook: CofflandCorp

Twitter: CofflandCorp

Instagram: CofflandCorp

Google+: CofflandCorp

What Is Shade-Grown Coffee and How Impacts Your Drink?

Taste a complex flavor due to Mother Nature.

Coffee harvests have evolved. Every day, farmers and producers come up with new techniques to strengthen the beans and improve the flavors of the final product. However, although the quality of coffee is increasing, environmental safety is not. The use of pesticides and genetically altered grains affect the environment.

Because of that, a new generation of farmers has adopted an old but efficient rural system. Here at Coffland Corp, we will teach you how shade-grown crop works, an alternative against genetic modifications which seeks to reach to a more organic and healthy drink.

Shade-grown coffee: what does it mean?

Coffee culture has its up and downs. Due to the substantial increase in coffee consumers in the last century, producers needed to accelerate the growth and harvest of coffee plants. Thus, they used the latest advances in genetics to modify seeds and fortify the properties of coffee. This also involved cutting down trees in rainforests as long as the coffee plants received more sun and more nutrients from the soil.

Although this system worked for a long time, organizations concerned about the environment realized that coffee production had reduced biodiversity in the area surrounding crops. There was no more trees, no more birds and other animals that lived around!

Due to the lack of animal population, farmers had to use chemicals that scared away insects, as there were no natural enemies to defend coffee plantations. After trying various formulas for not sacrificing coffee quality, many opted to use the technique of their ancestors.

The Shade-grown method involves the absence of stimulant chemicals for plants and insecticides. The trees serve as natural filters that regulate the sun and rain for coffee plantations. In this way, plants can grow naturally, without being affected by other external factors.  

Benefits of shade-grown coffee

In addition to the obvious environmental benefits, this coffee has a more intense and natural flavor than other crops. Although its price is a little higher, it's worth the cost. The coffee market recognizes that organic coffee is the best way to drink coffee. The properties of the beverage in your cup are not mistreated, because you take something directly brought from the ground, from Mother Nature!

Here at Coffland Corp, we support this type of methods that take care of nature but also doesn't change the flavor of our favorite drink. Would you give it a try? Tell us below!

An ecologic alternative to coffee cropping process without sacrificing the tastiness.

---

Facebook: CofflandCorp

Twitter: CofflandCorp

Instagram: CofflandCorp

Google+: CofflandCorp

Learn How to Avoid Main Defects in Coffee

An imperfect coffee can spoil the experience of a relaxing time with coffee.

Making coffee is not as simple as it looks. Every little change can influence the final result, that's why farmers and producers pay attention to the whole process, taking care of every detail. Although the expert hands make sure that coffee is well-treated, sometimes the product is not as efficient as they want.

Most of these defects are directly from the harvest, but if you add a bad roaster and brewing practice, your palates will be the only victims! That's why today on Coffland Corp, we prepare to you a practical guide that will help you to identify these details in your coffee cup.  

Rough flavor

Due to the presence of immature green coffee beans, the roughness of the coffee drink can lead to an unpleasant taste. Taking care of the selection process when farmers extract the green beans from the flowering plant will reduce the roughness. Farmers should make sure beans have the proper size or that it doesn't have a silver layer on its surface.

Earthy flavor

When the brewing process is not well-made, your coffee cup tastes a little moldy. The humidity of the coffee is because of a bad storage which develops some fungus. An earthy flavor is always a bad sign of contamination, so don't consume this kind of drink.

To avoid the moldy sensation, reduce the humidity of the bean by regulating the temperatures and airiness of your warehouse. Make sure that the barrels or bags have no contact with the floor or potential contaminating agents like water drops or plagues.

Iodine flavor

This defect is very dangerous to the human body, sentenced by the quality controls of coffee. It can be only detected while you are preparing your drink.

The iodine flavor is common in bad-harvested Arabica. It happens when coffee beans fall to the floor, contaminating by natural fungi of the soil. Farmers should be careful by never mixing these beans with the healthy ones.

Vinegary body

When acidity of coffee exceeds the limit, your cup has a texture that is harmful to your system. The sour of a coffee cup must be regulated by the roaster and brewing process. If not, natural properties of the drink are very distasteful.

Here at Coffland Corp, we are always worried to bring you only the best for your favorite drink. Taking care of the coffee making process will save you this kind of imperfections that can cost you some customers.

Most of the defects in the coffee can be prevented by taking care of the harvest and the production.

---

Facebook: CofflandCorp

Twitter: CofflandCorp

Instagram: CofflandCorp

Google+: CofflandCorp

Swiss Water Process: Making a Decaffeinated Drink

An ancient way to make decaffeinated coffee.

Decaffeinated coffee has a notorious reputation in the coffee industry. Many baristas don't like working with it because the flavor is subpar. Coffee roasters believe that making decaffeinated coffee includes an unnecessary use of chemicals, and it can be harmful to consumers health.

The truth is that caffeine has good and bad properties for your body. Yes, it boosts you up with energy, but also can be an addictive substance for your brain. If you think decaf coffee is an alternative to these results but you're afraid of the bad trait it has in the market, Coffland Corp may have a fair solution to your dilemma!

Years ago, in the late 70's (back when the bell-bottomed pants were a trend), a coffee roaster company named Coffex developed a great process to decaf your coffee. It was called Swiss Water process.

Coffex soaked coffee green beans in water to an extreme cleaning. Then, the coffee beans were drowned in a chemical called Green Coffee Extract that leaks the caffeine. This liquid is passed through a charcoal carbon filters to remove any surplus and then reintroduced to the beans. The final result: a 99.9% caffeine-free coffee beans!

Nowadays, Swiss Water Process has evolved. In those years, this process was the only one in the market that used fewer chemicals to remove the caffeine. At this moment, it’s possible to condense this substance and sold it separated from coffee. Meanwhile, the green coffee beans are roasted, brewed and grounded as any other type of coffee.

Making decaffeinated coffee is not simple. It requires time, effort and a big amount of capital. That's why the final product is a little bit more expensive than standard roasted coffee. That apart, here at Coffland Corp, we support any coffee because we love this beverage as much as its consumers. Be free to try the decaffeinated coffee and tell us how was your experience!

Your favorite beverage comes from the purity of the Swiss Alps.

---

Facebook: CofflandCorp

Twitter: CofflandCorp

Instagram: CofflandCorp

Google+: CofflandCorp

Find the Best Job in the Coffee Industry

There are many jobs related to your favorite drink. Find the one you dream of!

It is not a coincidence that coffee is the second most consumed beverage in the world after water. Because of its versatility, it has won a significant impact in the actual market. This doesn't mean that having a coffee-related profession is as simple as it looks.

The coffee industry is always growing, due on the big demand of worldwide coffee drinkers. Coffee professionals need to reach high levels of preparation if they want to achieve success.

That's why today Coffland Corp brings you a list of the most demanded coffee jobs around the world. Although the complexity of the coffee business, there is more than one job-related to coffee beside being a barista.

Coffee production

Just as many other merchandises in the market, coffee industry begins with the production phase. This includes the coffee beans' harvest and roasting process, the ones that are responsible for the making of a good coffee cup.

• Coffee farmers need to know the variety of weather conditions, fertility and plague control. Their office depends on most of the natural settings, but their job is decisive when it comes to coffee's quality. The way coffee seeds grow and are harvested, influence the final product for brewers and roasters.
• Coffee roasters remove moisture from coffee beans and evaluate them right after the roasting process. Being a roaster means that you have to regulate temperature, density, and the color of the coffee bean while it's on the roast. Roasters are like the alchemists from the Middle Ages in the coffee business. Combining coffee beans with other spices will change the product entirely, that's why it's important to know about the coffee wheel and its elements.
• Once the roasted coffee is all done, the production managers are the ones who supervise the coffee orders before shipping. At this point of production, managers are responsible for the correct packing, selling, and distribution of the coffee product. The maintenance of all production is also in their hands.

Coffee merchandising

Although high quality is a big thing to consider while you're buying something, marketing is the last boost for customers decisions. In the coffee world, that's not an exception.

• Coffee buyers know all about the different coffee brands, how do they work and what they promote. Buyers are the capital mines of coffee merchandising. Their experience in marketing, makes them specialist coordinating sales. Having the confidence of coffee consumers is vital for the success in the market. Coffee buyers work with the general professional in sales, advertising strategist, and sociologist in the market.
• The office of a coffee taster is grading the quality of a coffee product. That's right: you're paid to drink coffee all day. But that's not as easy as you may think. Being a coffee taster requires an extra delicacy paladar training and the ability to describe with the correct terminology all features of the coffee product.

Barista

The final link in coffee business is the one who interacts with customers. A barista’s work is preparing coffee cups to the public. To be a barista, you’ll need a specialized training where you learn how to grind your roasted coffee managing every tool, how to prepare coffee drinks and, of course, how to be polite as a public server.

Don't give up on coffee! It’s not impossible to start from the beginning. Here at Coffland Corp, we manage a lot of tips that will help you to join the coffee business. The first thing you need is a passion for what you’re doing. Keep learning and practicing!

Explore the coffee world in a whole new way by becoming a coffee professional.

---

Facebook: CofflandCorp

Twitter: CofflandCorp

Instagram: CofflandCorp

Google+: CofflandCorp