Articles written by Banks Thomas - Director of Coffee

Banks is back from Sumatra

Banks Thomas •  24 March 2011

I love visiting Sumatra...

although one of the hardest parts of traveling to Sumatra is simply the travel itself. It all starts with a 3:10am departure from Vancouver enroute to Hong Kong (a 13-hour flight over 15 time zones); next, a four-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur and finally another short one-hour flight to my destination: Medan, Sumatra.

Sorting at C.V. SidikalangCheck-in and Check-up

Admittedly, the motivation behind this month’s visit to Sumatra is a little different than usual, and very different than our visit to Nicaragua earlier this month.

As we mentioned back in January, friends and colleagues within the KBQB co-op and the coffee industry shared that we may experience challenges securing this year’s supply of high quality coffee from Sumatra because of extreme rains in Aceh in recent months, and a lack of rain in Lintong.

So, with Sumatra, Aceh Gayo as one of our most popular Single Origin coffees, we wanted to ensure that all was well for the coming year.

Lessons from the Road

What this trip did for us as a company is reinforce the power and importance of direct fair trade. If we didn't enjoy such a strong relationship with KQBQ, I might be anxious about our Sumatran supply in the coming year.

The best news of all is that not only are we going to have high quality coffee from Sumatra, Aceh Gayo again this year, we were also able to contract enough of our Sumatra High Density (a Micro-Lot in 2010) to introduce this excellent brew to our line of Single Origin coffees in 2011. All good things for Sumatran coffee lovers, like our own Mickey McLeod.

Sumatra Travel Journal - Recap

Day 1 and 2. All travel.

3:10 AM departure non-stop to Hong Kong is how it all starts. One of the hardest parts of traveling to Sumatra is the travel itself. First a 13-hour flight that takes me over 15 time zones. Next, a 4-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur then a short one-hour flight to Medan, Sumatra... and, finally a 12-hour nap.

Day 3. Medan, Sumatra with C.V.

Still recovering from jet lag. I visited CV. Sidikalang, a coffee exporter in Medan. We cupped a few spectacular coffees from Lintong and Aceh. The Aceh was really interesting; it was quite bright with a nice spicy flavour to it. Once I get to Aceh, hopefully I'll get a chance to meet the farmers that grew this awesome coffee.

Cupping at Volkopi, Indonesia.Day 4. Volkopi, Indonesia.

This morning I was lucky enough to have time to cup at Volkopi, Indonesia before leaving for Aceh - and wow were these coffees good. We cupped 10 coffees overall, all good but a few really stood out: Aged Sumatra Peaberry, Lake Tawar and a blend from Lintong. At the moment, I believe the best coffees in Sumatra are coming from Volkopi. I would love to write more about these unique coffees but it's time to jump on a very small plane and head to Aceh.

Day 4 Part 2: Travel to Takengon, Sumatra.

Travel from Medan to Takengon (home of KBQB co-op) was grueling. It started with a bumpy one-hour flight, then a windy five-hour drive into the mountains. Thankfully the trip ended at guesthouse (later than expected) with outstanding Chinese food.

Day 5 Part 1: Cupping at KBQB.

Our morning was spent cupping coffees from KBQB. As always the coffees from this area are extraordinary. I am happy to announce that the high density bean will be our Single Origin Sumatra this year. We should have new crop in June and will have enough for the whole year.

Day 5 Part 2: Tour of KBQB.

The KBQB dry mill is one of the cleanest and best-organized mills that I've visited. This place does huge volumes of coffee; just yesterday they received 37 tonnes of wet coffee, which will yield about 12 tonnes of grade one organic coffee. Although I heard that this was going to be a challenging year in Sumatra, so far things are looking ok for Salt Spring Coffee.

Day 5 Part 3: Farm visit.

I ended the day with three farm visits. The farmers had their homes and farms completely burned down in 2004 during the civil war in the Aceh region. With the help of KBQB co-op these farmers have been able to move back onto their old land, rebuild their homes, replant their coffee and get their lives back. Be on the lookout for a blog about this in coming weeks.

Abdul, one of the farmers who rebuilt his coffee crop with the help of the KBQB.Day 6.

Today we visited a few more rehabilitated farms of KBQB’s. The afternoon was spent meeting the board members of the Tunas Indus co-op and then a trip to their dry mill. At this point in the harvest season, they don’t have any coffee to show, so our visit was short but nevertheless important.

Day 7 Journey home.

Left Takengon Saturday morning on NBA airline, which uses old small airplanes that look like a bus with wings to fly back to Medan. We’re spending the night in Medan and then starting the long trek back to Vancouver with some really interesting coffee samples that we'll be tasting at Friday's 10:00 staff cupping. See everyone soon.

Category: Travel Stories

He's been decorating trees and dancing in the streets. Banks Thomas is back from Peru.

Banks Thomas •  05 August 2010

As Director of Coffee for Salt Spring Coffee one of the best parts of my job is the annual visit to our growing partners in origin.

Since 2002 we’ve been traveling to Peru to work with a truly exceptional group of coffee farmers at Co-operativa Agraria Cafetalera (CAC) in Pangoa. Kevin Burk our Director of Sales and I departed Vancouver International Airport early on the morning of July 23, touching down in Lima about 18-hours later. We grabbed a quick cat nap, a quick coffee and headed out on our journey to reach Pangoa – it’s 450km east of Lima and a wild drive into the rugged and remote mountains. Anyone whose traveled to Peru knows that driving laws are merely just suggestions and that going twice the speed limit and passing on a blind curve is completely the norm!

When working in Peru it’s key to remember that a “plan” is also merely a suggestion. To work successfully in Peru you really have to be willing to go with the flow as plans change all the time. Our original plan was to arrive in Pangoa on the July 25 and taste all the samples that were summated for our Coffees of Distinction competition… however, when we arrived in Pangoa the samples hadn’t yet arrived and a few hadn’t been roasted, so we decided to change the plan and visit two of our Coffees of Distinction winners from 2009. We were keen to see how the farmers and their families were doing and how they had decided to spend the premium they won in last year’s competition.

Hillside in Villa Rica - PeruOur first visit was to Marcelo Ramos of Finca Trimpo. Last year, Marcelo showed us some seedlings that he had planned to plant in 2010. With the premium that he received from his Coffees of Distinction win, Marcelo was able to buy much-needed organic fertilizer to make his new seedlings a success. This is great news, because this year his crop was a little smaller than he had hoped but he knows that with these new plants his crop and coffee quality will improve in the years to come.

The second 2009 Coffees of Distinction winner we visited was the elusive Ceasar Riveros of Finca Cedros. Last year when we visited Ceasar he wasn’t there and ironically the same thing happened again this year; we did however get the opportunity to meet his daughter, Milda Acevedo. Milda was very kind and showed us the family’s beautiful farm. Hopefully, we will have the chance to connect with the mysterious Ceasar on our next visit to Pangoa.

On day two in Pangoa we visited two farmers with new washing stations and solar dryers – two items that will make their jobs a whole lot easier while also improving their coffee's quality. Finca Montevideo was the first farm that we visited and from the moment we arrived we knew this place was special.

It took Favio Sarzo Huachopoma three years to build his new washing station and solar dryer:

Inside Favio Sarzo Huachopoma's New Solar Dryer - Peru“It was very hard to find the money and materials to build all of this but I knew that if I finished it my job as a farmer would be so much easier and I can use the extra time to grow more and better coffee”

After we spent a few hours with Favio we decided to head down the road to Finca Nevado Sara Sara owned by Jesus Vina. Many of you will remember Jesus, he's our first Coffees of Distinction winner (back in 2008) and his coffee was our first Culinary Micro-Lot. We couldn’t stay too long at Jesus’ farm because Favio had some amazing chicken soup cooking for us back at his house!

On day three we were finally able to cup the samples for this year. There were only 15 entries due to a fact of life that exists in many coffee-farming communities. A new company moved into Pangoa last year and secured loans to many farmers. A lot of farmers then had to sell their coffee early to pay back these loans – otherwise, they would face very high interest rate charges. On a positive note, we did taste some really great coffees and had two repeat winners, Meza Alanya of Finca Felix and Torres Ramos of Finca Opertino, both winners in 2008. We selected five of 15 coffees. Each scored 84+ and were very fresh samples. Fresh “green” coffee doesn’t cup as well as it does with a little rest time, so I’m sure the coffees will cup at least a point or two higher by the time they arrive in Vancouver for roasting. Mickey and Robbyn heading back to Pangoa in September – so stay tuned for more updates and info on CAC Pangoa.

Day four meant that we had to say goodbye to Esparanza, the General Manager of CAC Pangoa because we had scheduled a visit at Villa Rica with a group of native coffee farmers, the Yanesha. We visited this group back in 2009 and are amazed at the progress they've made in so little time – they are now well on their way to be certified organic. If all goes well we will be able to purchase certified organic coffee from the Yanesha next year.

Marcelo Ramos of Finca Trimpo - PeruLucky for us - the night we stayed in Villa Rica was the beginning of a weeklong coffee festival – what timing! The whole village came out to celebrate the harvest. Here, I had the opportunity to do something that I will never forget. In this region of Peru villagers go into the forest, cut down a big tree and take it back to town; they then dig a hole in the middle of the street and replant the tree. Next, they decorate the tree with balloons and candy – right there in the middle of the road! The band starts and a small group of people (you can guess where this goes…) is invited to dance around the tree with an axe – each individuals takes a turn chopping at the newly decorated tree. You can only imagine, there I was taking a swing at a decorated tree in the middle of Villa Rica! The funny thing is - the person who takes the last swing with the axe and chops down the tree has to pay for the party the following year! The final chop did not come from me, but if it had the villagers would have expected me to join the party next year – and foot the bill!

On our last day in beautiful coffee country we visited CAC Palomar, a new co-op in the Villa Rica area. CAC Palomar is a fairly young co-op (just nine years old) and comprised of approximately 100 coffee farmers. Really, for such a young and small co-op CAC Palomar is extremely advanced. Unlike CAC Pangoa, CAC Palomar has a central washing station and next year they plan to do all their own dry milling. My hope is that we will be able to buy a container from CAC Palomar in 2011 in addition to the coffee that we purchase from CAC Pangoa.

I’m now back in Vancouver and anxious to receive all the great new coffees uncovered on this trip to Peru - we'll let you know once they have arrived! Stay tuned.

Category: Travel Stories

Honduras Trip Report

Banks Thomas •  06 January 2012

Sumatra, Nicaragua, Peru and… Honduras? It’s time.

For the last three years we’ve worked hard to develop our Fair to Farmer (F2F) direct trade program in countries, like Indonesia, Nicaragua and Peru. And, while we’re still 100% committed to our partner co-ops in these countries and thrilled with the quality of coffee they’re producing, we like to keep an eye on promising coffee markets.

Travelling to up-and-coming coffee markets gives us the chance to us to discover beautiful, untapped seasonal coffee first hand. It also lets us develop personal relationships with coffee farmers and co-ops - one of the key pieces of our direct trade model.

A bit of background.

Finca Popitos, co-op CapucasGenerally speaking, in recent years Honduran farms have had a reputation within the coffee industry for producing average beans. Though, lately things have shifted and the coffee industry is taking note.

Honduran co-op managers and coffee farmers have come to see - maybe because of the quality of coffee coming out of nearby Nicaragua - that if they want to secure a premium price for their green coffee beans they've got to produce a high quality product. So, with that said, we packed our bags and readied ourselves for our first sourcing trip to Honduras.

Hitting the ground in Honduras.

For this trip, we focused our attention on the Copan region in Western Honduras. Once we landed our first move was to track down Peter Rodriguez of Honduran Quality Coffee. Peter is the person to talk to in the Copan region when it comes to sourcing beautiful, seasonal coffee. With only three days to tour the region, Peter said that we had to visit co-op Capucas and co-op Cocafelol, both near Beneficio Santa Rosa. And, as with most trips, Peter proved that it’s incredibly helpful to know a local.

Co-op visit 1: Capucas

Capucas is about a one hour’s drive from Beneficio Santa Rosa in the Las Capucas, Copan region. Jose Omar, the co-op’s General Manager, kindly met me at the door and after a quick tour of the co-op's operations, he invited me to see Finca Popitos. Finca Popitos is, based on other farms I've seen, a shinning example of a quality coffee farm.

We also visited coffee farmer Jose Isidro Lara. Jose, Peter told me, is thought of as the ‘master of processing’ in the region. Jose Isidro Lara takes the processing of his coffee so seriously that he himself is the only individual allowed on his drying patio (a rarity in the industry given the amount of work associated with drying coffee). It’s clear to me, from Jose’s attention to detail that he's committed to producing premium coffee.

Co-op visit 2: Cocafelol

Near co-op CapucasAt Cocafelol we had the great pleasure of meeting General Manager and coffee farmer Roberto Salazar, who gave us a personal tour of the co-op. Once again, I was blown away by its cleanliness and the attention to detail at the co-op’s washing station and in its drying areas. What impressed me most though is Roberto’s commitment to coffee education – not just for direct trade buyers like us and visitors to the cooperative – but for his farmers.

Every season Roberto roasts, brews and tastes the co-op's coffee with the farmers. For me, this is incredibly telling. The vast majority of coffee farmers don’t taste or cup the coffee they produce. What this means is that they don’t get the chance to reflect upon the quality of coffee they've grown in a given season.

Giving the farming community the opportunity to taste their coffee means that they are much more likely to become invested in the quality of product they produce.

Home bound.

It’s true; the buzz about Honduran coffee in the Copan region is well deserved. Not only did I cup coffee that scored in the mid-80s and above at Capucas and Cocafelol, the management and day-to-day operations at each co-op impressed me. Given everything we’ve seen on this trip, and if weather conditions remain consistent in the region, we hope to share a Honduran coffee or two as part of our seasonal lineup this spring.

Cheers and until next time,

Banks Thomas, Director of Coffee

Category: Travel Stories

Let’s Talk Coffee – A Key Connector in the Sustainable Coffee Supply Chain

Banks Thomas •  04 November 2010

Organic production, processing, brewing and barista technology, water scarcity and climate change – you name it, it’s up for discussion at Let’s Talk Coffee.

There’s a reason why year after year more than 350 producers and roasters from 25 countries flock to Let’s Talk Coffee, one of the sustainable coffee industry's must-attend summits. So, at the invitation of Sustainable Harvest, the event organizer and host, we hopped a plane to Tarapoto, Peru for our first visit to Let’s Talk Coffee, which is, now well into its eight year.

Yes it’s true that Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and handheld devices have completely changed the way we live and do smart business these days but Let’s Talk Coffee really circled us back to the importance of real-time, meaningful conversation. Speaking and idea swapping with the individuals and co-ops whose families have been steeped in coffee production for generations is so inspiring, and a truly refreshing way to discuss, debate and learn coffee.

At Salt Spring Coffee we’re steadfast supporters of the direct trade model, which is why we started our Fair to Farmer Direct™ program earlier this year. We want to know the coffee farmers who grow the coffee beans for Salt Spring Coffee so, for us, spending time in origin and at summits like Let’s Talk Coffee is critical to the health and prosperity of our supply chain.

It was also great to see a handful of Canadian-based roasters at Let’s Talk Coffee 2010. Since 1996 when we opened our first roasting café on Salt Spring Island, the number of committed, like-minded roasters has grown and their active participation in events like Let’s Talk Coffee is critical to the advancement of ethical purchasing practices here at home.

We've posted photos from the trip on our Facebook page - check it out.

Category: Travel Stories