We are thrilled to announce Heart Roasters new website! Thanks to the Wilderness team (http://www.wildernessoffice.com/) for working with us to create an extension of our company that we feel showcases who we are, in a tasteful, straightforward manner. When you have a chance, check it out……
heartroasters.com
We are thrilled to announce Heart Roasters new website! Thanks to the Wilderness team (http://www.wildernessoffice.com/) for working with us to create an extension of our company, that we feel showcases who we are—in a tasteful, straightforward manner. When you have a chance, check it out……
We have been excitedly getting ready for the biggest coffee convention in the world to finally hit Portland for the first time.
The Specialty Coffee Association of America has chosen Portland for the site of their annual convention, which means loads of coffee people from all over the world will be descending on Portland to partake in all of the coffee, food, and libations our great city has to offer.
An exciting part of the convention for us is the first annual United States Aeropress Championship, followed by the World Aeropress Championship. This is the first time for these events to be held on U.S. soil. We are honored to be roasting all of the coffee used in both competitions. The competition will bring together passionate and accomplished coffee professionals from all over the world to face off in a friendly battle for the tastiest aeropress.
The coffees of choice will be two coffees we are loving right now: for the U.S. Championship we have roasted our Guatemala Limonar, a fresh crop coffee that is extremely sweet and clean, with notes of peach and milk chocolate. For the World Championship we have roasted a short run of a great washed processed Ethiopia Sidamo, which is a refreshing and lively coffee displaying notes of bergamot, meyer lemon, and caramel.
We’re proud to have our very own Alison Cole representing Heart in the competition, and we wish her lots of luck! Big thanks to Tim Varney, Brent Fortune, Aerobie, La Marzocco, Marco, Samuel at Keffa, Leah at Mercanta and all of those who have worked really hard to make the competition happen this week. Good luck to all the competitors, and we can’t wait to see the action!
Sarah Mykkanen is a smart, passionate, outgoing, level headed, pretty lady—who happens to love coffee. Lucky for us, she also happens to be one of our barista’s here at Heart.
Sarah planned a solo trip to Central America for the next month and a half, where she could soak in the culture and learn about the farming practices that make it possible for her to make delicious coffee here at home. Before Sarah left for her journey, I met with her to discuss what she would be doing and how we would be kept in the loop–a bit of an itinerary run down.
The plan was simple. She would be contacting specific farms that she has enjoyed coffee from. Any knowledge she could gain along the way and take back with her—would only make her a more well-rounded barista.She will be volunteering her time wherever she can on the farms and is planning to keep an open schedule for any opportunities that may arise (she will most likely be meeting up with Wille, while he is sourcing coffee at the end of February!).
We will be sharing some of Sarah’s experiences and pictures through our blog as we receive them via email. I thought I would be editing these written experiences, but I think its’ entirety is worth reading. Thanks Sarah, for keeping us informed!
-Rebekah Yli-Luoma
January 13,2012
Sitting here, looking out over the ocean, with a wamr breeze and mangrove trees.
I can finally relax and write about the past few days and my first coffee farm visit! I am in Playa El Tunco, El Salvador, a cute little surfer town….I feel like I have been travelling for a month already.
So, Ricardo Zelaya owns Finca Santa Clara, just outside of Antigua, Guatemala. He was supposed to pick me up at 10:30 and take me out to his farm. At noon, I got a call that he was 10 minutes away. At 12:30, I saw a silver BMW roll slowly by the hostel—I knew it was him. I waved him down and hopped in his car (something I have never done in Guatemala).
A welcoming yet assertive businessman, as we wound through the cobblestone streets of Antigua, Ricardo began asking me about Heart. Asking if I was a roaster or a buyer, if we have wholesale accounts and how much coffee we buy per month. I answered his questions as best I could, explained my connection to the guy who introduced me to Ricardo. I explained that I was just a barista, but I am the one in charge of the final step in the whole coffee chain. I am the one talking to the customer and selling the coffee—and that I wanted to learn more about what he does and bring it back to the customer.
He seemed to respect my answer and the conversation lightened. I appreciate his straight forward, no BS attitude though.
This is the view driving into Santa Clara. You can see the coffee fields up the mountain
We turned the corner and pulled into Santa Clara–coffee lots on either side of the drive, straight ahead was a mountain with coffee plants all the way to the top. I was grinning. It was beautiful and I was so excited! A quick stop in to the fanciest house I have ever seen in Guatemala and then Ricardo and I were off in his camo 4WD golf cart (so fun!). He started by showing me the lowest part of his plantation—bourbon and bourboncito varietals. He explained that he prunes every few years and re-plants when necessary. He informed me that the trees he uses for shade come from Ireland (or somewhere in Europe) and can withstand temperatures down to 20 degrees below zero. He showed me plants that were more than 30 years old. He pointed to sprinklers up on the mountain and told me about his irrigation system and that is hasn’t rained since October 16th!
I know I said this before, but it was so beautiful. The plants, all evenly spaced, royal looking shade trees overhead, warm and humid, the smell of damp earth and sweet fermenting fruit—probably from the wet mill.
As we climbed in elevation, I started to see more ripe cherries. We started to see Florafundia, a tall plant with bugle shaped white flowers that hang down—the most intoxicating tropical smell.
We passed a woman who was moving around irrigation hoses and I asked about the worker situation. Ricardo has 40-50 workers through out the year and sometimes up to 250 during harvest, both men and women.
When we got to the top, the view was amazing! At 1700 meters, Volcan Agua was directly to our left, towering another 2000 meters. The colonial town was spread out on the valley floor, shimmering white and orange. Ricardo pointed out his aunts farm, his brothers farm, and 3 other farms he is managing: Jauja, Santa Ines, and Puerta Verde.
“What!? Puerta Verde?!” I asked. I told him that was the coffee I made the day I left Portland and how it was a favorite at our shop. I told him that we bought a lot of it and that Wille roasts lighter than others to bring out the natural flavors of the coffee, rather than tasting the roast. “Okay,” Ricardo said, “After lunch, Vamos a Puerta verde!”
Me, very happy, overlooking Antigua Valley.
During this whole, very animated exchange, Marcos, the foreman who was with us, got a call that the pickers had finished at Jauja and were starting to sort. Ricardo drove us to Jauja, in his 4WD golf cart, zipping around corners and busses on the side of the road. Sun shining, wind in my hair, I was holding on for dear life. I was stoked.
We pulled into Jauja, and I immediately could see the wealth disparity between the coffee grower and the workers. There were more women (mostly indigenous) than men and cute kids running around playing. Some workers were alone and some in groups–with their coffee spread out on tarps, sorting out the dried out or unripe cherries.
I took some picture of the kids, asked their names and some other questions. I know that some Mayans believe that a photograph captures part of your soul and some people I asked didn’t want to be photographed. I started talking to this older woman who was working alone. She hardly spoke Spanish, needing someone close by to translate into Quiche, extremely timid and soft spoken, she hardly whispered that her name is Marielena and that she came all the way from the Quiche region (about 5-6 hours away) to work the coffee harvest.
She let me take her photograph and I said “montiosh,” which means “thank you” in Katchiquel, an indigenous language closely related to Quiche. I wanted to talk more to the workers about their lives, etc, but everyone was pretty wary of my presence. I understand though. They were working and I zoomed in with their boss who was watching them, with a camera in their face. Hopefully soon, I will be able to get in the fields and build that trust by showing kindness and working hard.
Dona Marielana sorting. She traveled here to work the harvest and speaks mostly Quiche.
The workers lined up their bags to be weighed and were dumped into the back of a truck to check the quality of each workers picking and sorting. It was such an honor and special to witness. Most striking though, was the realness of these people–the “farmers” who we talk about daily in the coffee shop and somewhat objectify. There I was, faced with their poverty, their smiles, their language, and their children. Getting to know them might be a little harder than I thought, but I am still going to try.
Dumping Harvest into the truck and checking quality.
Ricardo and I zipped back to his hacienda and had lunch of chicken, rice, vegetables, and soup that his maid, Gloria had prepared for us. We ate on his back deck, overlooking his lawn and pool. He told me that owning a coffee farm was like owning a black hole for money. You make an initial investment, but you never really make it back, because something is always in need of repair. I said it was sort of like coffee shops and we both agreed that everyone in this industry must be a little crazy to love coffee so much.
After lunch, we went to the wet mill. They had dumped the coffee from the truck, but hadn’t started the machines. Ricardo had them fire it up and was explaining how it all works to me.
He showed me the de-pulper, and how the good coffee falls through the holes and goes into a tank where it ferments for 12-30 hours. There was some coffee from previous days harvest fermenting in a tank. I reached in with my hand to scoop some out to smell and for a closer look, just like I scoop green coffee out of the bins at Heart. The coffee was soft and so slimy!
Then, Ricardo showed me where the “bad’ coffee goes—the coffee that floats or isn’t ready and doesn’t de-pulp. It flows into a tank, with a sort of dam, so the “bad” coffee flows over the edge, while the “good” coffee stays in the tank.
We walked toward the drying patio and there was a pipe dumping a pile of coffee cherries on the ground.
“And this is where the bad coffee ends up…” Ricardo explained, “what you would call…a…how do you say….natural.”
Ha! No wonder. I had no idea that some naturals can be coffee that was picked too soon and considered “bad.”
He showed me the patios. He told me the guy that is in charge knows the coffee so well; he can tell when it is finished drying. The patios sit right at the foot of the hill we had just climbed.
There was a room with some guys removing parchment from dried coffee, checking for defects, and sifting samples through screens. I thought it was pretty cool to see the actual screens and process.
Earlier, Ricardo had asked me if I had heard of an “Airpress.” Aeropress? “Yes!” He said,
“Airpress!”
He had been given one and wanted me to teach him how to use it. So, we unwrapped his brand new aeropress, used some coffee he had roasted–and in broken Spanish & English, I gave Ricardo and his maid Gloria the Aeropress tutorial. We each drank our coffee. Ricardo, out of his “worlds greatest dad” mug on the back porch and Ricardo showed me/told me about some of the awards Santa Clara and Puerta Verde had won. Ricardo is really proud, as well he should be, of his families coffee success and roots in the Antigua area. It’s a family business. Even Marcos, the foreman, took over his fathers’ job when he got too old. Marcos dad still lives on the farm in la casa del guardian.
We hopped back in the golf cart and headed over to Puerta Verde! I was all smiles and so excited! To see the farm, the plants, the origin of a coffee I had just been working with and getting to know was literally a dream come true.
To be a barista is to dance with coffee, letting it lead and learning to follow–getting to know all of the flavors and what to do to bring out the sweetness, the right amount of bitters.
Barista’s who care, get to know the coffee they work with intimately and create a delicious cup for the customer. Yet, we are so separated from where it comes from. We talk about the farm; try to learn about all the facts: elevation, varietal, screen size, process, farmer’s name, correct pronunciation, but nothing compares to going there. What I am trying to say to you all is that this was huge for me—-in the best, coffee-nerdiest way!
We turn in, just off the highway. Marcos opens the gate and there are about 15-20 chuchos (stray dog&puppies) running around—the casa del guardian to my right. Flat and serene, sun peeking through the shade trees, we start down the rows.
Finca Puerta Verde, Bourbon Plants, lush and beautiful.
Ricardo tells me that this was once a pig farm long ago and later divided up into coffee farms.
The owners called him in to consult. He helped them re-plant and dealt with a theft problem, and now he manages the farm.
We passed lots of bouborn, bourboncito, and caturra. Most of the fruit was ripe—Ricardo said they would pick in a few days. Caturra is beautiful, with lots of cherries, like rubies, close together. Bourbon is a larger plant, more spaced out. Ricardo compared it to a high performance car. It can be amazing, but needs a lot of room to grow, requires a lot of attention, and isn’t always the best producer. The bourboncitos is a newer varieta. It is a smaller, heartier, more condensed version of the bourbon. He called it a bulldozer.
He showed me wells he had made and how the water table was just 15 feet below the last crop, what we were serving. There had been a storm and the water table came almost to the surface—the plants kept growing (instead of putting that energy into producing coffee).
I saw 5 month old plants, 10 year old plants, and freshly pruned plants. I saw flowering plants and smelled my first coffee blossom. It’s an aroma we talk about a lot and it was awesome to finally smell one in real life! I would say sweet smelling, like plumeria, but with some of that light pungency of jasmine. He showed me a trick he uses to taste the coffee. You pick a ripe cherry, squeeze it until the beans pop into your mouth, suck off the mucilage, and spit out the beans. This is how you taste the “honey,” the sweetness of the cherry.
As we finished the tour, the sun was starting to go down, Volcan Agua stood guard over Puerta Verde.
Ricardo pulled out of the farm into rush hour traffic on the highway into Antigua. I held on for dear life again as he cut off a chicken bus and sped me back to my hostel. A barista’s dream come true.
And now I am in El Salvador, relaxing before I visit 2 more farms next week……..
We have just received and roasted our first few batches of Rwanda Bufcafé. This coffee is delicious and delicate, with a very clean African profile. It’s the kind of coffee that we love to drink: soft on the palate, with clean, sweet citrus, and floral notes. We also taste notes of black tea, clove, cranberry, and caramel. Not only is the coffee delicious, but it has a great story. This coffee is from Bufcafé washing station in the Gikongoro region of Rwanda. It is a pure bourbon cultivar, and grown at 1650-2100 meters above sea level. The coffee is grown by about 400 families on small shares, where it is picked ripe, and then transported to the Bufcafé mill to be processed. Mukashyaka Epiphanie is the owner of the mill and is a genocide widow. Her mission is to rebuild the specialty coffee industry in Rwanda and the community where she lives. All coffee is hand milled and hand sorted, wet processed, and sun dried, which helps to create a coffee that is very sweet with bright, bold acidity. This is our first Rwandan coffee at Heart, and we are very impressed to see the coffee from that region continually improve year by year. This is a testament to what can happen when people work together in the face of adversity with the common goal of improving coffee quality, and improving the lives of those who work to make it happen.
-Jeremy Williamson
We are very excited to have our coffee be a part of the NYC Coffee Common event happening in Chelsea on January 19-22, at The Start-Up Store!
Coffee Common is a unique collaboration between top-notch baristas and roasters bringing the highest quality coffee to people during these special and innovative events. The idea is simple—if more people drink great coffee, prepared by passionate coffee professionals, we all win. We couldn’t be happier to be a part of this process. Coffee Common has made huge progress as ambassadors for great coffee during their first two TED events, with conferences held in California and London last year. They are taking it to the the next level this time around by going straight to the heart of New York City–Chelsea’s innovative “Start-Up Store.” The focus of the event will be hand brewed, by the cup coffee, prepared by some of the nation’s best baristas–on a variety of different brewing apparatus–all aimed at helping you create a better cup at home.
The cost is a bargain at five dollars, which covers entry, coffee tasting, and priceless knowledge on how to brew great coffee at home. We will be sending our Guatemala Puerta Verde to be brewed at the event, a coffee we feel privileged to bring to you again for the second year in a row. This year, the Puerta Verde is fantastic! Hard-candy sweetness with delicate stone fruit flavors and a finish that lingers on the palate.
We are also really excited about this coffee, because Hearts’ own Sarah Mykkanen happens to be in Guatemala at the farm this very moment checking out the plants, the mill, and breathing the air. We are very jealous, but can’t wait to hear back from her about the trip.
So, to all of our friends in NYC: go down to a great event and taste some delicious coffees! Tickets can be purchased in advance on the web site, and this is advisable, as they will be going fast.
-Jeremy Williamson
Last season was the first time we offered coffee from the incredible Finca Santa Clara, and it was quite lovely. This season we’re very excited to be bringing back a very unique micro-lot from this same farm, the “Bourboncillo.” This coffee is produced using the fruit from the “Bourboncito” or dwarf bourbon plants, which is a low yielding, high quality mutation of the Bourbon varietal of arabica. This mutation produces a cup with a beautifully clean citrus, and intense sweetness. Finca Santa Clara is a pristine farm on the slopes of Volcan de Agua in the Antigua region of Guatemala. The Zelaya family have been growing coffee at Santa Clara for four generations, and are extremely committed to both quality and sustainability, and we’re excited to be able to showcase this unique and beautiful lot. It would be very easy to make this a very long blog post describing how much we love this coffee and all of it’s unique flavor notes, but we’ll refrain, and simply say that if you like cherry and milk chocolate, you’ll love this coffee. Stop by the shop for a bag or a chemex, or visit the online store because this one won’t last
-Jeremy Williamson
Early summer brings good things to Portland: an end to the monsoon season and a chance to get some color, lots of bicycles, parades, festivals, delicious fresh produce, and fresh crop Kenyan coffees. While we love all of the coffees that we serve at Heart, there’s just a special place in our Hearts for a good Kenya, and this year, we are especially happy with the coffee we have received from Gichathaini Cooperative in Nyeri. The coffee is a combination of the SL-28, and SL-34 varietals, and the ripe cherries are picked, washed, and then fermented for 72 hours, quite long in processing terms. The fermented coffee is then placed on raised beds to dry in the sun. The meticulous processing leads to a clean and vibrant cup with a bright acidity and notes of apple, fresh berries, rhubarb, lemon tea, and cane sugar. The profile of the cup is so fruity and sweet that many have compared it to more of a fruit juice, or fruit infused herbal tea than coffee, and that’s alright with us. Come experience this unique and beautiful coffee while you can, buy it in a 12 ounce bag for home, or try a Chemex on the brew bar. -Jeremy Williamson
The Factory manager
Pulp tower at Gichatha-ini factory.
SUSTAINABLE FARMING
In line with sustainable and responsible farming principles the factory has adopted certification and
advocates for good agricultural practices among its farmers. The factory is Fairtrade certified
and is currently pursuing Utz Kapeh certification.
In order to conserve electricity clean water for pulping is sourced from river Ragati using channels.
Additionally coffee is sun dried on the numerous drying tables available.
For conservation water is re-circulated during processing and disposed responsibly in numerous
soak pits away from water sources. Pulp from the factory is collected by farmers for use as mulch
on their farms to improve the soil structure and organic matter content.
Daterra Sweet Yellow is finally at Heart. We have been waiting for this coffee for a while and we are excited about its’ arrival. This coffee will be available as single origin espresso and also it will be the main component for Stereo blend. Yes, Stereo is changing and it will be 73% Daterra and 27% Leka Wato Wollega.
Daterra Sweet Yellow is from a farm in Brazil, located in the Cerrado region (State of Minas Gerais) and in the Mogiana region (State of São Paulo). Daterra’s plantations are located at an average altitude of 3,800 ft (1,150 m) under a stable temperature of around 70ºF (25ºC), which constitutes the perfect environment for Arabica Coffee production. Furthermore, the dry season during the harvest makes this region unique for the best Arabica coffees.
Location: Barazil, Cerrado
Farm: Daterra
Altitude: 1150 m
Varietals: Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Mondo Novo, Red/Yellow Icatu
Processing: Pulped Natural
Cupping notes: Sweet, creamy, nougat, green apple, and fresh butter
Daterra ships all their coffee in Vacuum sealed bags that are then packaged in boxes. This ensures that coffee will keep longer and transportation is much easier. A typical day in Portland in April, thank you Daterra for such great packaging!
.
This coffee we have been anticipating for is finally here. Thanks to Alejandro Renjifo from Fairfiel Trading, we have this coffee at heart. Earlier in November 2010, we cupped 16 pre-shipment samples and Alfredos coffee was one of them. From the 16 different samples, this coffee stood out the most. Flavors of pomegranate fruit, hard candy sweetness, and winey, with a clean green apple like acidity. Alfredo only produced 11x 150 lb bags and we got 10 of them. The one left in Colombia got blended in with some other lots so, we now can say that we are the only ones with this coffee. We are very proud and lucky at the same time. Come in and get this coffee on Siphon, Karslbad coffee machine, Chemex, Aeropress or Espresso. We will be roasting this coffee for espresso occasionally and it will be rotating with the other single origin espressos.
Farmer: Luis Alfredo Rojas
Location: Colombia, Municipality of Garzon, Huila
Altitude: 1450 m
Varietal: Colombia and Caturra
Harvesting: October 2010-January 2011
Processing: Wet process with traditional fermentation
Heart Coffee Roasters Blog 
