Café Aficionado: Nestlé instant coffee’s upcoming 75th anniversary

Next year, 2013, marks a milestone for Vevey-based food company Nestlé. It’s the 75th anniversary of its introduction of Nescafé instant.

True coffee aficionados who still brush off at the credibility of ‘instant’ may want to take another look. Nestlé’s painstaking development of the genre since 1938, supported by banking partner Credit Suisse, has created a range of beverages that has won consumer acceptance worldwide.

Nestlé’s long track record of coffee innovation was its 1986 launch of Nespresso, an ingenious system that turns capsules of ground coffee into instant – and very real – espressos. More recently, Nestlé’s Dolce Gusto coffee maker adds delicious mochas, lungos, latte macchiatos and frothy cappuccinos to the repertoire of restoratives you can easily make in your own kitchen or office.

Undoubtedly, Nestlé has reinvigorated the European coffee industry just as effectively as its products have refreshed time-pressed people, both at home and in the workplace.

Here in the Philippines, according to Business World Online, Nestlé is projecting to purchase as much as 204,000 metric tons of coffee beans straight from local growers by the year 2020 through Farmer Connect, a direct buying system that targets small farmers and small-scale intermediaries.

The statement quoted Hans Joehr, Nestlé’s Agriculture corporate head, as saying its Farmer Connect program is designed to make coffee farming "a more profitable livelihood."

"The Farmer Connect program is part of our solution to get high-quality coffee delivered to us long term -- beyond 2020," said Hans Joehr, Nestlé’s Agriculture corporate, citing the need to sustain supply by developing "the next coffee-producing generation."

"As local farmers bring in and sell their coffee directly to us through Farmer Connect, we make sure that they gain access to competitive prices for their locally produced coffee beans," he explained.

"In effect, what we are really trying to achieve through Farmer Connect is to make coffee an attractive crop to grow and make it a sustainable livelihood for our growers."

At the core of the Farmer Connect model are Nestlé Satellite Buying Stations, which are strategically situated at various points across the country.

These buying stations are where coffee farmers are able to sell their produce based on prevailing world market prices.

The same statement quoted Edith de Leon, senior vice-president and head of Corporate Affairs of Nestlé Philippines, Inc., as saying: "Nestlé endeavors to be as close to coffee farmers as possible. Through our direct buying stations strategically located across the country, small farmers can sell their produce directly to Nestlé and they are guaranteed of getting a buying price which is aligned with global market prices."

"It also enables farmers to get the payment within eight banking hours, thus the farmers can immediately benefit from the sale of their produce to Nestlé," she added.

Farmer Connect also trains farmers through Nestlé Better Farming Practices program, on increasing yields, controlling costs, improving crop quality, and mitigating impact of changing climate.

      
                                                                

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Café Aficionado: Todd Carmichael of Dangerous Grounds

Todd Carmichael travels the entire world to find the best coffee as evidenced on his new Travel Channel series, “Dangerous Grounds.”

But still he claims the epicenter of coffee is Manhattan.

He said, “The reason is that it’s a city where people pay attention to things — especially what they put in their mouths.”

Right before jetting off to Colombia to continue filming for his new TV series,  Mr. Carmichael took The New York Post on a tour of Manhattan's hot coffee spots and explained how every bean tells a story.

Zibetto

1385 Sixth Ave.

Don’t blink, or you’ll walk by this tiny Italian espresso bar. Two impeccably dressed barristas serve up what Carmich-ael calls “the espresso your mama used to make.”

This classic taste is created by a base of Brazilian coffee beans (“Brazilian beans are like olive oil for the Italians. They are in all of their coffee.”) and a sprinkle of robusta (the strongest variety of coffee), which adds a peppery kick.

Start with a classic Italian to “form an appreciation for the classic and establish a horizon of what you like,” Carmichael says.

Blue Bottle Coffee

1 Rockefeller Plaza, concourse level

Blue Bottle is for the hardcore.

Most places use 7 grams of coffee beans for a shot of espresso. But Carmichael says that this Oakland-based company prides itself on using 21 grams per shot.

The result of that amped-up serving is a very acidic taste.

“If we’re talking music notes, this is a high-pitched soprano,” Carmichael, never at a loss for coffee metaphors, says.

“It screams for attention.”

Saturdays Surf NYC

31 Crosby St.

This surf/coffee shop feels thousands of miles away from Midtown. Carmichael, an avid surfer, says he loves to go to Saturdays to “pretend I’m near a wave and have a coffee.”

The laid-back shop sells surfboards, wax and wet suits but has a coffee bar that serves a blend that is “smoky with some minerality and cocoa” from Carmichael’s own La Colombe coffee company. Customers park their bikes on the huge back patio (right) and bundle up with their coffees.

“A coffee shop can be more than a fueling station,” he says. “It’s the personality of the neighborhood. And Saturdays has that ‘Yo, dude’ thing going on.”

La Colombe

400 Lafayette St.

Carmichael started La Colombe in Philadelphia 15 years ago and has shops around the world. But he calls his NoHo shop his “crown jewel.” The barrista working behind the counter of the packed shop greets him with a big hug.

“I don’t like written words in my shops,” he says, “no merchandising, no menu, no bulls - - t.”  Carmichael describes his own coffee as “elegant-tasting, smooth, round, balanced.

“It’s like how some guitarists like to show off with a bunch of crazy riffs, and others like to work with the band. I’m the echo guy. I want to make beautiful music, and the beauty is in how you hold back.”

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Brew the World’s BestCoffee—Guaranteed!

by J. Rentilly 

Men's Health Magazine

Todd Carmichael drank his first cup of coffee at the age of 15. Today, the 49-year-old is known as “the Indiana Jones of the coffee world,” traveling through dangerous regions of the world to search for the very best coffee beans on Earth.

Travel Channel begins airing Dangerous Grounds, which finds Carmichael globetrotting, zip-lining, and dodging machine gun-toting adversaries in third world countries, all in the name of finding the perfect cuppa Joe.

The following is an interview with this modern-day Indiana Jones conducted by Men’s Health Magazine:

Men’s Health: Talk about that first cup of coffee.

Todd Carmichael: I was a crazy kid who fell in love with distance running. I love endurance. I was obsessed by it. At that time, Runner’s World magazine had just come out. I read it cover to cover, like The Bible. My hero, Bill Rogers, wrote a piece about coffee and how he was using it to improve his times in the Boston Marathon. So I said, “Dude, if he’s doing it, I’m doing it.” Next day, I drank my first pot. I’ve been doing that ever since. (Carmichael was on to something—learn why caffeine is The Supplement That Boosts Your Bench.)

Men’s Health: Now you’re the Indiana Jones of the coffee bean.

Todd Carmichael: I recently had a look at Indiana Jones, and he’s really old looking, so I think that’s what they’re talking about. [Laughs] There are 80 coffee countries across the world, and each one is very, very different from the other, and they’re all very, very different from where I live. Whether adventure unfolds or not, and often it does, I just feel that intrinsic drive to find great coffee, no matter where it takes me, no matter what it takes. I guess that’s the Indiana Jones thing. I think I’m more like Forrest Gump, but with slightly better SAT scores: I’m a very lucky guy who gets to keep on running around the world.

Men’s Health: What are the origins of coffee hunting for you?

Todd Carmichael: I started a company, La Colombe, in 1993. Back then, the kind of bean we were looking for just wasn’t available from brokers. The only way to get what you wanted—certain grade qualities, certain high-altitude coffees, different regions, different varieties— was to go get it yourself. Coffee back then was just all pooled together; for example, everything from Kenya—the best beans and the worst—all ended up in the same bag, so there was really no difference between your coffee and mine and that other guy’s. But what if you were able to go there and separate the best stuff and take coffee to this whole other level? So I put on my boots and my backpack and set out to get the good stuff. (You want a challenge? We’re here to help. Click here to Find Your Next Outdoor Adventure!)

Men’s Health: As we see on Dangerous Grounds, it can be a harrowing process.

Todd Carmichael: A lot of the best coffee countries are countries that are newly formed or in some sort of governmental tumult, so you’re very often going in right after an armed conflict. It just seems coffee countries are constantly rising and then imploding. That has a whole set of challenges for a guy like me. Every time I go to Colombia, it’s just factions within factions, people being driven from the farms, people being killed. It’s a very liquid situation. You just try to avoid the guy with the AK. I can tell you what they look like when they fire at night, and it’s very unsettling. Without a sane government, the shit starts hitting the fan really fast in a lot of these countries. The funny thing is, I never really noticed a lot of the dangers until I started traveling with a cameraman. He’ll turn to me sometimes and go, “So, uh, are we gonna be okay?” And I’ll actually take notice of the situation, and sometimes the answer is, “Uh, well, we might be f**ked.” I exploded my appendix in a third-world country, and I’ve now got a scar running from my sternum to my groin. Little things like that.

Men’s Health: What’s the gold standard coffee bean right now?

Todd Carmichael: It’s kind of like asking me what my favorite kid is. There is some extraordinary Yirgecheffe out of Ethiopia, but that’s really on the radar. People who really love coffee already know about that. For me, some of the lesser-known coffees that are right on par with that are some of the coffees from way down, down in Bolivia. Around the big body of a coffee’s flavor, you get these fruit and acidic nuances, these halos, and they can be crazy. Some of these coffees from Bolivia have this caramelized apple nuance, and you have that in your double espresso and it’s, like, “My God, I’ve just had something that’s important.” (Meanwhile, here are our favorite coffee picks from Guy Gourmet.)

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How to Brew Better Java

When asked how the average guy can craft a better cup of coffee, Carmichael says there’s a big caveat: “You don’t drink coffee with my mouth; you drink it with your mouth,” he says. “Ultimately, it’s about what you like. Respect your palette. A lot of coffee snobs will take you what you should like. What they should be doing is finding what you love.”

Here are Carmichael’s 3 go-to tips:

1. Own your coffee. “If you like cream and sugar, then you should put that in there. Sugar is a luxury. Sugar is beautiful. I don’t use it in my coffee, but if you do, continue to do that. Most coffee guys will stand up and walk out of a room when I say that, but you need to own your coffee.”

2. French Press. “It’s super easy. It’s super fast. If you’re looking to move away from your Mr. Coffee, French Press is the way to go. It’s what I use. There are two types: a thermal type, which I recommend if you’re a New York Times reader and you want your coffee to stay hot from page one through the funnies, and there’s a glass kind, which is good for one great cup of hot coffee at a time.

3. Experiment. “Always keep the water volume the same, then experiment with the dose. Your first cup is going to be like some dark, gritty, sludgy space shuttle fuel fluid, so work down from there. Eventually, you’ll find exactly what you love, and that’s what’s most important in coffee. That’s all you need to know.” 

Todd Carmichael  at La Colombe (photo by The New York Post)

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Café Aficionado: Trudging through the coffee trail

Future coffee supplies are in uncertainty. Production has leveled off even as demand has increased, causing coffee-bean prices to quadruple since 2001.

Almost 17.6 billion pounds of coffee beans were consumed worldwide last year, up from 2.6 billion in 1982, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But production in Colombia, which provides 10% of the world's Arabica beans, has dropped 36% since 2005. Output in Brazil, the world's leading Arabica producer, recently hit a four-year low.

According to coffee industry experts, there are other factors causing coffee's problems, such as climate changes in some coffee-growing areas and population growth in Central America leading to pressure to convert coffee farmlands into housing and shopping malls.

Coffee historians believe most of the world's Arabica coffee crop shares genetic ancestry with two 18th century plants: one brought to Europe from Indonesia, and another taken from Yemen and cultivated in Brazil.

And this is the reason why some experts favor expanding the varieties of coffee being cultivated and crossbreeding plants to strengthen them. "The holy grail is a heat-resistant varietal that provides quality coffee," says Patrick Criteser, chief executive of Coffee Bean International, which supplies the private-label coffees to such retailers as Target and Kroger and is part of World Coffee Research. "If we could develop that, it would solve a lot of our problems."

But efforts like World Coffee Research, which aim to persuade competitors to tackle common problems, face obstacles. Some of the world's largest coffee companies are pursuing proprietary research projects to expand coffee's genetics. Nestlé SA has a project it calls the Nescafé plan, which involves robusta, the other major type of coffee bean, a spokeswoman says. And Starbucks Corp. is conducting research through support centers staffed by agronomists who help local farmers, a spokeswoman says.

Ventures like World Coffee Research must also overcome friction with national research institutions that often aim to protect local interests, notably in Ethiopia, believed to be the fatherland of Arabica. There, hundreds of wild varieties exist, but government officials have sometimes had a contentious relationship with foreign coffee sellers.

Starbucks and Ethiopia reached a legal settlement in 2007 after the country sought to trademark its best known coffee beans. Ethiopia wanted U.S. patents on the names of its three best coffee regions, Yirgacheffe, Harrar and Sidamo, while Starbucks sought to patent a coffee with Sidamo in the name.

Ventures like World Coffee Research must also overcome friction with national research institutions that often aim to protect local interests, notably in Ethiopia, believed to be the fatherland of Arabica. There, hundreds of wild varieties exist, but government officials have sometimes had a contentious relationship with foreign coffee sellers.

Starbucks and Ethiopia reached a legal settlement in 2007 after the country sought to trademark its best known coffee beans. Ethiopia wanted U.S. patents on the names of its three best coffee regions, Yirgacheffe, Harrar and Sidamo, while Starbucks sought to patent a coffee with Sidamo in the name.

Regarded as Indiana Jones of coffee, Tim Schilling, 59 years old, was recently trudging through the African wilderness in South Sudan, trailing a barefoot tribeswoman guide named Nyameron. He was seeking wild strains of Coffee Arabica, the fragrant beans used to make most of the world's lattes and cappuccinos. The Texas A&M University agronomist heads World Coffee Research, a nonprofit financed by Folgers coffee maker J.M. Smucker Co., Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. and others.

The expedition group's goal is to expand the global coffee crop's tiny gene pool. But after four days of hiking on this plateau west of Ethiopia, Mr. Schilling's 15-member expedition—which included a coffee taxonomist, a Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. executive, agriculture students and hired porters—still hadn't found any specimens that seemed new. They were hoping that Nyameron, a wild-coffee connoisseur they had met through a Murle tribal chief, could help.

A former expert on peanut breeding, he became a coffee-growing guru after the U.S. Agency for International Development challenged him to help revive agriculture in Rwanda after its civil war. He soon realized the answer wasn't nuts but coffee, and he set out to use scientific methods to help the country's small growers.

Mr. Schilling's recent destination—the Boma plateau—seemed an unlikely place to find wild coffee. But he was armed with a treasure map of sorts: an account by botanist A.S. Thomas, who wrote of encountering coffee in 1942 "growing wild and reproducing itself without human aid."

The coffee experts camped at a Christian missionary compound and trekked about six miles a day along narrow footpaths. "We're looking for genes that could improve taste or color" and plants with good drought resistance, said botanist Sarada Krishnan, Denver Botanic Gardens director of horticulture.

Read more here.

Tom Schilling (photo courtesy of Specialty Coffee Association of America)

Meanwhile, on the Australian front, here’s a fascinating Wall Street Journal article by Gillian Tan, which spotlights Mr. Di Bella, 37 years old, founder of Di Bella Coffee in Australia’s Queensland state, which now sells 124.8 million cups a year nationwide.

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Phillip Di Bella recently launched Kick, a line of canned espresso drinks, in Australia and Malaysia, and he plans to supply cafes and restaurants in China, India and Vietnam, as well as the rest of Asia-Pacific.

He credits Starbucks for the increasing demand. “The emerging middle class in Asia are beginning to enjoy the boutique coffee culture, and a lot of that is due to Starbucks and other chains acting as a pioneer,” he says.

Mr. Di Bella’s travels have taught him, however, that tastes vary. “Italy drinks 90% of its coffee black, and in the morning, but Australia drinks 85% of their coffee with milk throughout the day,” he says, noting that he’s a three-a-day man but goes up to a heart-jolting 10 when he’s doing tastings.

“Coffee is a plant which changes yearly, as do the innovations around its extraction and processing so I’m constantly in search for elusive perfection,” says Mr. Di Bella, who believes the best cup hasn’t been grown yet.

Not that some regions aren’t getting close. He shared his five favorites.

Cuba: “The region produces coffees with elegant and complex notes of masculinity, which have a very unique infusion of tobacco, cocoa and espresso,” Mr. Di Bella says. “Farmers use no pesticides and achieve richness in flavor due to their ability to use diverse varieties of plants in each farm.”

How to drink: Espresso

Mexico: Coffee from the Veracruz region can be “high grown,” resulting in a mix of full flavors where no single one dominates, or “prime washed,” which are strong with a rich, thick taste. “Mexico also provides excellent peaberries, adding intensity to the cup, and maragogype beans, a variety known for its greater size,” Mr. Di Bella says.

How to drink: Piccolo, a small latte

Costa Rica: Washed Arabica beans from Costa Rica acquire their premium standard through their high levels of acidity, which translates to zesty, citrus-like flavors, Mr. Di Bella says.

How to drink: Costa Rican beans are ideal in milky coffee drinks like lattes, he says.

Peru: Peru’s coffees come from the Amazon rainforest areas or the country’s higher-elevation northern region, “resulting in rich cups always maintaining their sugars, due to the ability of those varieties to retain the minerals emanating from the fruit of the coffee,” he says. They tend to have a berry-like flavor, he adds.

How to drink: Macchiato

Brazil: Brazil is seen by many as the “must-have coffee” when it comes to espresso, he says. Farmers there have worked hard to provide consistency in their beans, one of the reasons it is the world’s biggest grower.

How to drink: Perfect for a cappuccino, and a light dusting of chocolate brings it to life, Mr. Di Bella says.

Unquote

President Richard Nixon enjoying some coffee (Photo provenance unknown)

   

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Related link:

Café Aficionado: The coffee growers

Café Aficionado: Coffee, its pros andcons

Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

Café Aficionado : The coffee growers

Early this year, I had posted an article on coffee that outlines some pros and cons regarding consumption. I love coffee.  It has been my morning drink since young adulthood.  

However, with all the recent emerging studies, like most folks, I’ve become ambivalent, and nowadays would often reach for a tall glass of water or coconut water in the mornings.

Surprisingly, my love for a cup of steaming coffee in the mornings has not completely diminished, I’ve just curtailed it.  On the other hand, on afternoon snacks, I’d still prefer it – hot or cold – over soda. 

What’s even more intriguing is that lately, I find myself fascinated by the stories behind coffee – from growing to distribution to various studies on its consumption.  Perhaps, it is because coffee is the second most traded product in the world after petroleum with a global production that tips the scales at about 6 million metric tonnes. In addition, the Quiño Farm here in Bohol, yields 3.2 metric tons of coffee green beans per hectare, which is about ten times higher than the 0.3 to 0.4 metric tons local average.

Be that as it may, here’s another article based on a study I had recently come across online.  Incidentally, I plan to post articles about coffee on a regular basis from now.  I am entitling this series: “Café Aficionado.” 

According to myscienceacademy.org article by April McCarthy, as much as we savor our morning brew and many health benefits are being discovered regarding drinking it, in the last hundred years, its growing methods have been evolving in less desirable ways.

For one thing, it is said that the conventional farming methods utilized by coffee growers have become very polluted. Coffee is now one of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world; coating the beans with chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides. Moreover, these chemicals seep through the ground water and eventually make people sick in the regions where coffee is grown. Over 1,000 chemicals have been reported in roasted coffee, and 19 are known rodent carcinogens.   

It takes five years for a coffee tree to reach maturity, and its average yield is usually the equivalent of one roasted pound of coffee.  And to ensure maximum yield from their crops, coffee growers resort to toxic methods, including the use of harmful chemicals to rid the crops of insects and pathogens.

As a precautionary measure, health advocates recommend that consumers brew their coffee within 4-6 weeks after roasting. The industry standard shelf life is 1 year. Regrettably, over 70% of coffee importers do not follow these protocols, which far exceeds the time range for sales and stock.

It is further recommended that coffee lovers think twice before having another cup of that “satisfying” coffee from  Starbucks, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, or any other establishment that offers coffee produced by conventional methods.  If at all possible buy your coffee only from those produced by using organic sources with certified credentials. Check your labels and ensure you are purchasing organic certified products.

In the States, there are supposedly renowned coffee beans and brands for organic java which are trusted by coffee aficionados worldwide, such as Green Mountain, Fair Trade Organic, Sprouts Farmers Market and Tom Thumb (Safeway), to name a few.

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Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!