Page 83 - #57 English

In my journeys around the
region, to be totally honest and
blunt, I’ve tasted more stale, hay-
like, and washed-out coffee than
I’ve tasted anywhere else in the
world. There is an epidemic of
“baggy” and “past-crop” flavors
in East Asia, and Southeast Asia.
What’s worse, many cuppers are
so accustomed to this flavor that
they don’t even notice it — or
they even come to praise it as
something good!
This is a serious situation, and
it is my belief that it’s holding back
the industry in this part of the
world. People talk about “farm to
cup.” Great care is put into select-
ing the farm. Great care is put into
brewing the cup.
But in between there is a pe-
riod of months or years that the
“special” coffee is getting treated
like it was just a big pile of gar-
bage rotting away in an indus-
trial warehouse!

TRANSPORT UNFAIR ADVANTAGES IN GEOGRAPHY
& STORAGE As with my past articles (about wet weather in
Panama, drought in Brazil, and El Niño in El Salvador),
much of the issue comes down to geography and climate.
My background in life and in coffee is from the Se-
attle area of the United States. I believe it is no coincidence
that the strongest centers of the third wave specialty cof-
fee explosion back in the late 1990s and early 2000s were
on the West Coast of the United States: Seattle, Portland,
and San Francisco. These three cities have relatively
similar climates: cool (but not freezing) in the winter;
warm (but not hot) in the summer, with ocean breezes.
All three cities receive oceanic precipitation, but the am-
bient humidity is low and stable overall, and they do not
receive monsoon style rains that you see in the tropics.
Why is this important? Because it allows for a style
of green coffee storage that naturally preserves the inher-
ent flavor of the beans. Many are familiar with the idea
that green coffee is “like a sponge.” That is to say: i t soaks
up whatever is around it. In moist environments, the cof-
fee absorbs moisture, and in dry environments, it releases
the moisture.

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