Our sugar journey is almost complete as we round out the third installment in the Brix series. I hope the previous podcast episodes helped open your mind to some of the challenges we face in talking about sugar in the coffee industry.

Today's episode focuses on ripeness and how counterintuitively sometimes measuring Brix can lead to lower quality coffee.

And to help illustrate this point I'm sharing a lesson from one of my favorite industries: the cork industry. Specifically cork wine stoppers. In 2013 I was invited to visit Portugal as part of a Quality Control trip on behalf of the winery I worked for.

In this episode we will talk about Brix and fruit maturity (ripeness), I will discuss the results of research done on a Brazilian coffee farm and we will see if there isn't a better instrument than a refractometer to help us look inside the coffee fruit and determine what will make a quality cup of coffee.

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Cover Art by: Nick Hafner
Intro song: Elijah Bisbee

Mentioned in the Episode:
Worms and Germs Video Presentation

Comedy Skits: these are weird but hey, maybe you're weird too.
SNL Cork Soakers Skit
John C Riley Sweet Berry Wine Skit

Free conference by The Barista League:
High Density Digital Conference

I hope the previous podcast episode helped open your mind to some of the challenges we face in talking about sugar in the coffee industry. In today's episode we are adding another element, another piece of the puzzle—the refractometer and the other instruments used to measure sugar.

In today's episode we will see how a refractometer can give a high Brix reading even when there is zero sugar in the sample. Or, how it is possible to get negative Brix readings.

I think understanding more about the the instruments we use, helps us understand the limitations of measuring Brix at all.

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Cover Art by: Nick Hafner
Intro song: Elijah Bisbee

Mentioned in the Episode:
Why is This Happening Podcast: Pappy Van Winkle
TTB Alcohol Tax Chart
Sugar Cane exporting Countries

Where does sweetness come from? Can something taste sweet that has no sugar? How can we measure sugar in coffee?

This will be a more technical episode where we will talk about the sugar compounds like carbohydrates, sucrose, glucose and fructose and sweetness as a concept. We will also look at how sugar content differs based on processing style: washed, honey or natural.

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Cover Art by: Nick Hafner
Intro song: Elijah Bisbee

Mentioned in the Episode:

Brodie Vissers Youtube channel
Brodie Vissers Instagram

Vanishing Fleece by Clara Parkes

Boss Barista C-Market Part I
Boss Barista C-Market Part II

Today you get to be a fly on the wall of a consulting session between myself and a coffee producer in Uganda. The Coffee Gardens is a newer project of coffee producers who have partnered with select coffee farmers in Eastern Uganda. They currently work directly with 300 small holder farmers. They have a micro-processing station in the foothills of Mount Elgon.

This episode might be most relevant to a coffee producer, so if you know any, please pass this episode along to them. Especially if they are curious about using yeast to control their fermentations.

Today we cover how to process undesirable cherries, we talk about the challenges in scaling up from a small trial to full scale lots. We also discuss yeast usage in very rural settings, is it even appropriate? At what volume should a producer consider using yeast?

 Even if you’re not a coffee producer I hope you will listen to the questions and concerns of a coffee producer and better understand their reality.

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Cover Art by: Nick Hafner
Into song: Elijah Bisbee

Mentioned in the Episode:

The Coffee Gardens

If you started the season with me in October you’ll remember that I started exploring the topic of what we lose when we take a plant from its native environment. Episode #25: A California Coffee Farm & Native vs. Local Yeasts looked at the relationship between coffee trees and the fermentation.

Dr. Aimee Dudley’s research showed that the native microbes do not travel with the plant material and therefore all coffee fermentations outside of Ethiopia are non-native fermentations.

Episode #26: Do Coffee Trees Talk? How Underground Fungi Affect Coffee Quality showed that when we take a plant from it’s native environment the microbes it needs to have strong immune response are also left behind.

So we’ve touched on the above and below ground microbes that we leave behind.
But is it only about microbes?
Are microbes the most important thing we leave behind?
I argue that it is not. As important as I think they are, I think there is something more valuable that is lost.

Today, in part 3 I want to talk about another aspect we miss out on when we take something from its native environment.

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Cover Art by: Nick Hafner
Into song: Elijah Bisbee

Mentioned in the Episode:

Podcast: How Not To Travel Like A Basic Bitch

Dr. Aimee Dudley's Research Lab

Maca Pirate Video

The Nagoya Protocol 

 We usually hear about coffee from roasters or even people like me, who work with coffee producers but we are not producers ourselves. One of my podcast goals is to bring you directly to the source. Whether it's scientific research or hearing directly from coffee producers.

Often we leave it to coffee professionals and educators to speak about coffee producers but it’s rare to hear directly from coffee producers about their motivations and challenges. And even when we do hear from them on their social media channels, there is a hidden pressure to present a rosy version of reality.

 Today’s conversation is with Mark from Finca Rosenheim in the Villa Rica region in Peru.

 This conversation is an honest look at some of the challenges producers rarely get to talk about. I asked Mark about organic certifications, climate challenges, coffee competitions, crop diversification, and what happens when markets can’t rebalance themselves.

To get samples or buy coffee from Mark:

Website: www.fincarosenheim.com
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @fincarosenheim

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Cover Art by: Nick Hafner
Into song: Elijah Bisbee

Mentioned in the Episode:

Vox Video: Coffee Crisis in Colombia

What is left behind when coffee moves to new locations. What is the trade off for innovation?  This episode looks at what else we potentially leave behind when we introduce new plant material to non-native locations.

The inspiration for this episode was a beautiful book by Peter Wohlleben called The Hidden Life of Trees. In it, Peter talks about native forests vs planted forests and the differences we (humans) are able to perceive.

One of the example trees in Peter's book are oak trees. This was an interesting cross over for me because oak is very important for winemaking. Most of red wine is aged in oak barrels and many Chardonnay's too.

This episode is filled with wine information on barrels, tastings and stories of my time in the wine industry.

I enjoyed putting this episode together and I hope you enjoy listening to it. If you would like to support the show and help me make more episodes, join the Patreon community.

Support the show on Patreon and get access to research papers.

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Cover Art by: Nick Hafner
Into song: Elijah Bisbee

Mentioned in the Episode:

Video: How A Barrel Is Made

Video: Dr. Susan Simard Ted Talk

This week I want to talk to you about where native coffee yeast come from.  If you are concerned about coffee flavor manipulation by yeast, I hope by the end of the episode you have a broader understanding of where "native" yeast originally came from.

To help illustrate the point, we start with non traditional coffee growing regions like Southern California.

In the episode I will also be sharing research from Dr. Amiee Dudley.

I met Dr. Aimee Dudley in 2017 during SCA EXPO in Seattle when we were on a Re:CO Panel together talking about yeast. I was offering the perspective of practical application of yeast, how coffee producers in situ could use it and Dr. Dudley was presenting her research on yeast genetics. She runs a lab at Pacific North West Research Institute and she is an expert on yeast genetics.

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Cover Art by: Nick Hafner
Into song: Elijah Bisbee

Mentioned in the Episode:

The Coffee Podcast: Jay Ruskey

Frinj Coffee

Dr. Aimee Dudley's Research Lab

Aurora is back for another tea chat.

Unfortunately I think coffee and tea are often lumped together in similar categories but they have very different histories and I think it’s worth trying to de-couple these beverages.

Join us as we discuss how:
-tea is largely consumed in it's botanical origins and coffee is not.
-the different flavors of stress (positive and negative)
-over extraction and the role of color
-my thoughts on Cascara tea

Mentioned in the Podcast:

Support the show on Patreon and get Aurora's curated tea flights and download the research paper on Leafhoppers and Oriental Beauty oolong tea.

Aurora's Website

Tea Reading List 2020 located at worldcat.org, curated by Aurora Prehn

How to Taste by Becky Selengut

What happens when the best in the world can't tell if a wine comes from the Willamette Valley in Oregon or Burgundy, France? What happens when the experts can't tell if the bubbles are from Champagne or California.

Does a place really have a taste? Can we find it in the glass?

That is the premise of terroir, tasting the land, localizing the product. But often, when put "terroir" to the test it cannot be found. 

Today's episode starts with the story of the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting, a famous part of wine history that pitted French terroir-driven wines against terroir-less California wines. The competition had a blind tasting for red wine and for white wines. The red wines were predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon and the white wines were the Chardonnay variety.

We are also going to see what happens when Terroir is used as a basis for certifications. I'll share with you some of the limitations of the "geographic protectionism" and the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system.

Certifications are usually protective tools but sometimes they can work against the producers they are meant to protect.

How can such a romantic and noble concept, tasting the land, respecting nature - work against producers?

To pick future podcast topics, get access to the scientific papers, ask questions that I answer on the podcast, and help me continue making episodes: consider supporting the show by Joining Patreon Here

Mentioned on the podcast:

The historical origins are from the book Terroir and Other Myths of Winegrowing by Mark A Matthews.

Bottle Shock Movie

A Cougar

Racist Champagne