With the World Barista Championship spanning the last 12 years, Square Mile Coffee Roasters, and the last 12 World Barista Champions have come together to lend their hands and faces to a worthy cause – The Coffee Kids World Barista Champions 2012 Calendar.

Coffee Kids is a non-profit organisation which helps the poverty-stricken coffee-farming families improve their lives and livelihoods. Coffee Kids work with these families in 5 countries – Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Honduras, and Nicaragua and their projects affect more than 81,000 people in more than 130 communities. Their projects fall into 5 categories:

• microcredit and economic diversification,
• health awareness,
• education and training,
• food security and
• capacity building

All proceeds from the sale of these calendars go towards Coffee Kids. For any additional donations, please proceed to the Coffee Kids website.

So, have a different handsome World Barista Champion in all his glory grace your wall above your espresso machine this year, for the next 12 months, and give yourself a pat on the back for championing this worthy cause. Coffee’s going to taste especially good with May’s Barista of the Month spread!

Drying the semi-washed coffee at Fazenda Machado

It is once again time to introduce the latest changes to our flagship Yellowbird Seasonal Espresso Blend. We are proud to introduce the new bean that goes into our beloved blend that most of you have enjoyed over the last two years.

Recently, our Chief Geek Officer, Mr Keith Loh, made a trip to Brazil, the leading producer & exporter of Arabica coffee. He travelled with our esteemed coffee partners from Mercanta to the region of Bahia, located in the north-eastern part of Brazil. The main objective of this trip was to establish contact with some of the farms located in the Chapada Diamantina region as well as to evaluate the quality of the coffees coming out from this region, as compared to the much acclaimed Minas Gerais, Mogiana, Cerrado, Sul de Minas. The list goes on. (Keith will complete the blog about his trip.)

So today, I will be introducing one of the coffees that Keith has tasted and fallen in love with during his trip to Brazil. Fazenda Machado, located 1,240 metres above sea level, the farm extends over 100 hectares in the mountainous Chapada Diamantina region. Some 18 hectares are filled with a selection of Catuai, Acaua, Catucai, Topazio and Bourbon varieties.

Fazenda Machado is owned and managed by Sr. Agnon Aruajo of the Bahia region. As a young man, Aruajo decided to move to Sao Paulo to find work and earn a better living. However, after a few years he missed life on the farm so much that he moved back to Bahia and used all of his savings to buy Fazenda Machado, where he planted coffee and fruit trees.

This thoughtfully selected pulped-natural, mixed varietal coffee from Fazenda Machado is blended with our current selection of Ethiopia, Sidama. Our current Yellowbird Seasonal Blend exhibits notes of piped tobacco in the aroma, rich & intense mouthfeel, flavours of bright sweet prunes, with hints of umami in the mid palate, completed with lingering notes of pomelo in the finish.

Oriole Coffee Roasters (OCR) is a specialty coffee roasting facility in Singapore and we are relocating to a brand new three-storey roastworks in the heart of town which includes a coffee boutique, coffee lab & training lab. OCR is the wholesale roasting arm of Oriole Cafe & Bar, Oriole Espresso & Brew Bar and several other restaurants under The Food Chain Group. OCR is steadily growing its wholesale client list and is looking for multiple positions to service this increasing client list. All our coffees currently cup at scores of 80+ or higher and we currently run espresso blends, single origins, single estates and Cup Of Excellence offerings. Oriole Coffee Roasters works as a team and have very clear strategic growth plans. We are looking to build a core team of experienced coffee professionals who are prepared to build their careers with us.

Please visit

www.oriole.com.sg
www.facebook.com/oriolecafe
oriolecafe.wordpress.com

for some background on our company / companies.

OCR is looking for experienced hospitality professionals with a minimum of 3 to 5 years working experience and predominant coffee related industry experience. The candidates must have worked and have extensive experience in specialty grade coffee either in retail, wholesale or in coffee consulting. A fluent command of English is preferred.

Available postions are:

Senior Barista

Coffee Boutique Manager

Account Manager

Trainer

Accommodation, travel and work visas will be included in remuneration package for international applicants.

Termed by some as being “one of the best coffee universities around,” Oriole Coffee is no stranger to technology. Oriole Coffee never ceases to be on the forefront when it comes to leading the pack with high tech toys. Just recently, Oriole Coffee became the proud owner of the first La Marzocco Strada EP in Asia. This blog post marks the first of a series devoted to examining how Oriole Coffee integrates technology to help bring more bang to the consumer’s buck.

2010. Enter Vince Fedele and the ExtractMojo.

Waiting for the espresso to cool before piping it into the ExtractMojo

The ExtractMojo is a small hand-held refractometer which measures the coffee’s refractive index and determines its concentration, which can then be compared against an Universal Coffee Brewing Control Chart. You can read more about this technology on Gizmodo. Naturally, Oriole Coffee’s Chief Geek Officer, Keith Loh had to have it.

Keith and John record the ExtractMojo readings

I spoke to Keith and he remarked excitedly, giddy as a schoolgirl that “now there was a tool to empirically assess the extraction levels of the way that I was pulling my shots and it probably allowed a consistent way to measure quantitatively instead of qualitatively what I was doing. I’ve attended many cupping classes and tasting classes and the one thing I realized is the diversity of opinions when it comes to taste and flavor. After understanding about brew strength and extraction yields, there was finally a tool that could actually produce these results on a repeatable and measurable basis easily through just one small device.”

Keith further elaborates that

“We’ve been using the Extract Mojo for almost 2 years and I feel it’s time to unveil that the Extract Mojo is the secret little weapon we have, or the secret little tool that has helped us to understand what we were doing. It comes full circle because we’re about to launch our VST baskets across all our outlets. In fact, we’ve actually been rolling out the VST baskets at all our outlets for almost a month now. And we’ve been backing up our results with the Extract Mojo as you can see here from our chart. The trickiest one and the one we left to the end was the Strada EP, of which we should be rolling out as we speak.

Keith adds “This is ultimately the means to an end, and not the means itself, the end being the entire product experience, and not just the coffee. When you sit down, how fast you get served, how it looks, how it’s presented, its price and how fast it’s being served to you – the product experience.”

Tight datapoints grouping of the Strada EP using VST baskets

This is the final grouping test we did for the Strada EP on the 22 gram basket. And as you can see, they’re so close that I don’t think we could’ve achieve such tight grouping with normal baskets. So, it’s nice to see that the Extract Mojo has proven that as we move along, we will continue to use technology to improve our consistency and let it work as a feedback loop to maintain our protocols, or to advance our protocols as we increase our volume.”

Last but not least, Oriole Coffee’s resident coffee roaster John Ting adds, “It changes how you looked at espresso extraction and makes you rethink all that you have learned, bringing you back to basics.”

ExtractMojo graph on the Lenovo laptop

]]> http://oriolecafe.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/extractmojo/feed/ 3 us mojo2 mojo1 mojo3 mojo4 http://oriolecafe.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/finca-la-fany/ http://oriolecafe.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/finca-la-fany/#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:45:02 +0000 us http://oriolecafe.wordpress.com/?p=820 ]]> - By John Ryan Ting

unripe cherries waiting to mature

Some of you may have already noticed that we have a new coffee on the shelves. A coffee that gives you a juicy mouthfeel, notes of cane sugar, sweetness of oranges and honey, clean lingering finish.

Majority of El Salvador’s total coffee production is of the bourbon varietal, one of the most desired coffee varietals. It is harder to grow, more susceptible to disease and provides a lower yield than some other varietals, but it also produces some of the finest coffee in the world .This coffee is 100% Red Bourbon and is an example of one of El Salvador’s finest coffees. This shade grown coffee is exceptionally creamy and sweet. The cup leaves a mouth full of creamy caramel.

Baskets of Fully Ripe Cherries

Finca La Fany located in the altitudes of 1400- 1600 meters above sea level. Within the Department of Ahuachapán and in the municipality of Apaneca Ilamatepec Mountains region which translates to ‘River of Winds’; and this is by no coincidence! The winds in this region are very strong, so very tall Copalchi trees have been planted in a grid or waffle like shape to protect the coffee trees from strong winds.

 
Finca La Fany has been producing coffee in El Salvador since 1870, and has belonged to the same family from generation to generation. Situated on the Santa Ana Volcano, the farm provides work for 24 families in the community in a biological corridor that stretches for 28 hectares from Mexico to Panama and is full of Bourbon and Pacamara coffees.

Fantastic view of the farm

Rafael and his wife Carmen Da Silva have been running the farm for the last ten years, and are the fifth generation of their family to be producing coffee. Rafael is a keen agronomist and takes great care in looking after the farm.

Only just recently, the Da Silva’s installed a wet mill on their property which now gives them much greater control over the coffee from harvest through to export; a very exciting development.

Beautiful and delicate when brewed as a pour-over, sweet and creamy when enjoyed as an espresso.

A view of part of the plantation of Samambaia

Firstly, many thanks to all who loved our previous seasonal blend created with coffees from Fazenda Lambari from Brazil + Sidamo Valley, Ethiopia. It’s a pity that we ran out of the coffee from Fazenda Lambari sooner than we expected. But fret not, we have got our hands on some lovely, creamy pulped natural coffee from the similar region of Minas Gerais, this varietal of Mundo Novo that has been grown at the altitudes of 1,150 metres above sea level.

Fazenda Samambaia, located in the city of Sul de Minas, is owned by Henrique Dias Cambraia who contributes the success of the farm to a combination of various factors – the geographic location at 1,200m above sea level, steady cool climate averaging 21 degrees centigrade, competent management of the plantations, constant training based on total quality control program that involves the whole team that works on the farm.

Henrique is committed not only to producing high quality coffee, but to farming in a way that is socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. He is happy to say that, during his absence from the farm between March 2000 and July 2001 – when he was studying towards a Master’s degree in International Business in Phoenix, Arizona – his employees demonstrated that they fully understood and were capable of upholding the Samambaia concept of sustainability.

Recently, Henrique Dias Cambraia was elected President of Sulminas-Café. Together with other 20 coffee producers of the Santo Antônio do Amparo region, he founded the Santo Antônio Estate Coffee, to build relationships with the specialty coffee market.

Combining this lot of coffee from Samambaia with our current stock of the coffee from Sidamo Valley, we present to you a combination of; creamy & viscous mouthfeel, balanced sweetness of caramel & honey, notes of hazelnuts & vanilla, finished with a soft orange acidity and subtle floral finish.

Look out for these notes in our Yellowbird Seasonal Espresso Blend that is hitting the shelves. Have you gotten yours yet?

Ecological Responsibility.

Fazenda Lambari is located in Poços de Caldas, in the far south of the state of Minas Gerais on the Serra da Mantiqueira. On this farm, coffee is grown at 1,100m, accompanied by two well defined seasons: one rainy and dry. With an annual average temperature of 19^oC and 2,000 mm of rain spread across its long summer.

The microclimate of this region favors a concentrated flowering and therefore uniform maturation during the dry winter when harvesting takes place. The great difference between day and night temperatures combined with “patio” drying makes a unique coffee. In this region you even find Bourbon plants that may well be over 100 years old.

This naturally processed coffee is of mixed varietals of Acaia, Bourbon & Catuai from the crop of 10/11. Cupping notes of this coffee on its own: buttery mouth feel, flavours of butterscotch & almonds, clean & refined.

Creating a blend using this coffee as a base, completing it with a fully washed coffee from Sidamo Valley, Ethiopia, our latest seasonal blend displays floral notes in the front palate, rich & creamy mouth feel, hints of almonds and ending with a dark chocolate finish.

This will be featured for a limited time only as this is a very sought-after coffee. Do try it and give us your feedbacks on how you think of this.

Country: BOLVIA
City: Coroico
Region: Nor-Yungas
Altitude: 1,460 metres above sea level
Variety: Typica, Catuaí and Caturra
Processing: Semi-washed and sun-dried on raised drying screens
Owner: Cervando Montaño Rocha

Cervando Montaño Rocha has been growing coffee in Bolivia’s green and mountainous north Yungas region since 1977. After both his parents died of Yellow Fever when he was five years old, he was taken in and brought up by a local family, on whose farm he worked until the age of 20. That year he was gifted a coffee farm of around 10 hectares in return for his hard work for the family.

Cervando’s farm is located at an average of 1,460 metres above sea level, some 115km from La Paz and 7km from the mountain town of Coroico. The region is blessed with ideal conditions for growing coffee – a temperate climate, fertile soil and high altitude. Cervando originally planted out the Arabica varieties Typica and Catuaí, and later also added some Caturra trees to the farm.

The coffee is entirely organic and grows in the shade of native forest trees, providing habitat for the many birds and insects that can be seen on the farm. The coffee cherries are picked by hand when fully ripe, washed, and sun-dried on raised drying screens.

Cervando is now married to Alejandra Ramos and has 10 children – 6 girls and 4 boys, who grew up helping their parents on the farm. His son, Damian Daniel Montaño Ramos, won 19th place at Cup of Excellence in 2007 with Café Inca.

This Bolivian coffee offers green apple acidity, smooth & syrupy mouthfeel, short dry finish, hints of figs in its aftertaste.

Stay tuned for more exciting and interesting coffee coming up. :)

coffee plants on the Gethumbwini estate

As we approach this weekend, we are proud to roll out three exciting single estate coffees for  our single-cup brewed coffee at both Somerset and Republic Plaza locations.

First up we have Kenyan Gethembwini single estate. Located in the city of Thika some 35km north of Nairobi.  It is a fully washed coffee that is further sundried on raised African beds.

Gethumbwini Estate spans over  360 hectares of land with perfect growing conditions of  temperature (15-26C) and rich  volcanic soil (from neardy Mount Kenya).

Kenyan gethumbwini estate  coffees are well known for their fine quality with distinct blackcurrant notes, rich creamy body with clean finish.

Regarded by many as the finest coffee from Africa, the management of the farm also takes pride in being socially responsible with providing housing with clean drinking water and electricity for their employees. Medical care is also given to all employees and their families with a qualified nurse stationed in a clinic on their farm. Education is provided for the children of their workers.

Next up, I would like to introduce another single estate coffee from Cafatalera Zamorana Alajuela, Costa Rica.

workers transporting hand-picked coffee to the processing facility

The Zamora family has been growing coffee at the Cafatalera Zamorana estate for over 100 years and four generations. Jorge Zamora is now in charge of the family business, which he runs with the help of his five sons.

Located some 1350m above sea level, the estate is made up of some ten farms dotted around the foot of Costa Rica’s central volcanic mountain range. With rich volcanic soils and mild mountain climate that provides ideal conditions for the production of top quality specialty coffee. The two varietals grown on the estate are Caturra and Catuaí.

The coffee goes through strict selective handpicking before they are taken to the estate’s processing facility in San Isidro, Alajuela. At the processing facility, the cherries are pulped, washed and either dried in the sun on patios, or using a Guardiola dryer.

The solid coffee pulp left over at the end of the process is recycled and used as organic fertilizer on the estate, while the waste water is filtered naturally in purification lagoons.

This crop of coffee from Zamorana has a creamy mouthfeel of dark chocolate, notes of plums and a full rich body. Do take your time to enjoy the sweetness of the brew especially as it cools down.

Lastly, we managed to get our hands on a great batch of quality coffee from Harrar, Ethiopia. What makes it difficult to purchase good quality coffee from Ethiopia is largely due to the fact that in April 2008; the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) established a platform for the trade of undifferentiated crops such as wheat, maize, sesame and haricot beans. Sadly, coffee was also brought under this roof later that year – in part to enable the government to realize some of the revenue earnings from this unique crop.

On arrival at the ECX, the coffee is repackaged and then categorized according to cup profile and any origin provenance is effectively lost at this point.

Although this intervention does not  necessarily result in a poorer cup quality – indeed, it may well lead to a more consistent and better cup – and may well help to secure higher prices for growers, the pooling of coffees based on taste alone means that, crucially, the buyer cannot trace a coffee back to the grower, cooperative or region. And this is what is upsetting buyers as traceability has become a defining criteria in specialty coffee as more people want to know where their coffee is coming from.

At this time, an estimated 90% of all Ethiopia’s crop is sold through the ECX and only large cooperatives can seek exemption. Importers and roasters continue to lobby the ECX for greater transparency and remain hopeful that traceability can soon be restored and individual growers of exceptional coffees given the recognition they deserve.

In this batch of Harrar we’ve noted floral aroma with distinct notes of blueberries with a smooth lingering finish. I am really proud to be sharing with you a coffee that has been a long time favorite of mine. Took me long enough to be able to find this and finally have the honor of sharing it with all of you.

Well it started last year and we’d always thought that there was a link to it but there wasn’t!

Well here it is. Oh and please excuse the quality. It is done by professional amateurs.