A couple of weeks ago I had the good fortune to pay a visit to Barrington Coffee Roasters, over in Lee, Mass. A long-time friend of mine worked there many years ago, and today his coffee shops work with Barrington for all of their coffee needs. Because the visit was something that he and I had talked about for ages, but simply hadn’t gotten around to, he was good enough to organize the field trip during my vacation week.

The timing was perfect. My thoughts had recently turned to questions of coffee seasonality and vintages (as captured in this post), thoughts that coincidentally are of great interest to the owners of Barrington Coffee. So I was pretty excited to visit them and talk about these ideas, so that I could learn more about the nuances that play into them and see what Barrington Coffee is doing along these lines.

The specialty coffee market seems like it’s in a funny place right now. Specialty coffee roasters are offering amazing, very carefully prepared coffees from great sources. These roasters are slowly building a landscape where lots of attention is paid to the details making up the coffee in your cup. The varietals, method of processing, elevation at which the cherries were grown, what micro-region the coffee is from, the background of the farmers or mill owners who produced the coffee beans, and so on. This level of detail gradually builds a story, one that is embodied by the coffee that you’re drinking. In other words, you’re not just drinking a single-origin Ethiopian coffee, but a single-origin, yellow-bourbon varietal, dry-processed, shade-grown coffee from a coop made up of 40 farmers who each farm 1-1.5 hectares of land apiece.

That’s a lot of information to digest, but is it the full story?

Herein lies the reason that my mind drifted towards questions of seasonality and vintages. Without question, there are pieces missing in the story making up specialty coffees today, details left out or as yet uncovered. And prominent among these are questions of how seasonality affects coffee, and whether vintage quality plays a role in the final quality of the coffee in your cup. I’m not content to know bits and pieces of a given coffee’s story, I want to know the nuances. And I’m not alone. Coffee can be wonderful and engaging, but leaving out the story is leaving out the romance.

The more I thought about this, the more I came to believe that the two concepts of seasonality and vintages are closely intertwined, and pulling them apart to look at separately is a bit thorny. In the end, this had a lot to do with the outcome of my discussion with Barrington co-owner Barth Anderson. He was generous enough to spend a few hours of his day discussing the topic, sampling both green and roasted coffees, and taking us on a tour of the roasters. But, in the end I felt like I was no closer to an understanding than I had been previously. The conversation took many twists and turns, followed numerous threads, I learned a ton, and – as the best conversations usually do – I ended up with more questions than answers, and certainly more questions than I had arrived with.

The gist of what I came away with was:

1. Yes, seasonality and vintages play a large role in the quality of any given coffee. The weather patterns of a season have a huge impact both on the size of a crop and the quality, and therefore the same tree will not produce the same coffee two vintages in a row. The differences may be nuanced, but they are there.
2. How weather affects the final flavor of a coffee is not clear. How does temperature affect the finished quality of a coffee? How about rainfall? Shade vs. sun-grown? Many questions remain to be thoroughly explored here.
3. As a tree matures, the quality of its coffee will change. This will undoubtedly play into the quality of a coffee from one vintage to the next. Think of the role of old-growth vines in producing fine, vintage wines.
4. Maintaining a coffee’s state for one or more years, so that you can directly assess the relative quality of different vintages, is a problematic and very tricky endeavor. Storage mechanisms and temperature, and ideal serving methods for vintage coffees remain wholly unanswered questions.
5. As well, what coffees age better than others also remains an open question. Whether coffee from one region is more appropriate for aging than coffee from another is not entirely known, as well as what qualities a coffee needs to have in order to be age-worthy.

These are all questions that Barrington Coffee is very interested in, and has been exploring the answers to for several years. In their warehouse they’ve got bags and bags of beans representing several vintages of specially sealed coffees from several origins, representing the fruits of their awesome Landed Aging Program. And during our discussion, they brought out a wealth of information based on their experiences in aging coffees, specifically concerning which coffees age most gracefully, and what preparation methods best suit aged coffees. We also had the opportunity to talk about the profound varietal differences that can exist within single lots of coffee, and to begin exploring the question of which varietals are most suited to aging.

As I said, I came away with more questions than answers. But enough questions to fuel both further speculation and, hopefully, future conversations with the folks at Barrington Coffee. The conversation about aged coffees, vintages, and seasonal variation in quality is at a nascent stage, and while it may be taking place just in a small part of a small group of dedicated coffee enthusiasts, I believe that it’s an incredibly valuable conversation to have on a broader scale. Coffee deserves serious attention and consideration, and investigation into these questions, however hard they may be to answer, and however limited the apparent impact of their answers may be, is a relevant next step in elevating the level of that conversation.

As for this coffee, what is there to say? Lots! The Ethiopian Nekisse Micro Lot Selection One was harvested in December 2009 in the Sidamo/Shakiso region of southern Ethiopia. The trees grew at an altitude of 5904 feet, and the beans are made up of mixed heirloom varietals that were dry-processed. The beans came to Barrington by way of Ninety+Plus Coffee, a project begun by Joseph Brodsky whose mission is to deliver fine, unique small lots of coffee to specialty coffee roasters. They previously worked with Ninety+Plus to source their Ethiopian Beloya Selection Eight, which was magnificent.

Tasting Notes

The nose has notes of brown sugar, cinnamon, blackberries, and blueberries. The palate is fresh, with brightening acidity complementing a lithe, well-textured body sporting flavors of fresh berries, mint, kiwi, oak, and hazelnut. The finish has notes of bittersweet chocolate, blood oranges, and a subtle fruitiness, accompanied by a balancing acidity.

I tasted this coffee after preparing it in a french press. I also made it in a single-cup filter, and must say that the flavors came across quite different. Using the filter, the coffee was much more delicate, with brighter, strawberries. In the french press, the coffee was denser, with darker fruit flavors. At Barrington, we tasted the coffee from a vacuum coffeemaker–which is possibly the superior brewing technique. As a testament to the coffee’s quality, the coffee was delicious (albeit different) by all of these preparation techniques, so you can’t really go wrong here.

This Nekisse is carefully sourced, impeccably roasted, well-packaged (Barrington includes roast dates on their packaging now!), and presents wonderfully in the cup. The information they’ve included, both on the packaging and on their website, tells a good deal about the coffee, and gives you a fair notion of where this coffee came from, and why it is what it is.

All in all, a truly excellent cup of coffee. One that really opens up your taste buds, and your senses, and gets your thoughts perking first thing in the morning.

I’ve been thinking about coffee quite a bit the past two days. It’s been a dominant theme in my thoughts, spurred in part by a conversation that I had about Intelligentsia Coffee with a co-worker. Without realizing it, I haven’t had Intelligentsia coffee for a long time. In the meantime I’ve tasted a bunch of great coffees, no doubt. But there is something about Intelligentsia that really captured my imagination back when I first began getting more serious about understanding coffee.

And so while I was sipping on this cup of coffee from Gimme, I began to think about why roasters such as Stumptown, Intelligentsia, Counter Culture, and Gimme get me so excited about coffee. It’s not necessarily that their coffees are better than any other roasters’. And it’s not the cool-factor that surrounds certain of them, Stumptown perhaps the most. No, it’s neither of those.

What is so exciting about these roasters is how passionate they are about coffee and the people who grow it. If you read their websites, and follow their blogs, what jumps out of the pages is enthusiasm for finding great coffees, establishing relationships with the farmers that grow them, and enriching the exchange between grower, roaster, and the home coffee maker. This kind of enthusiasm is always compelling to me. Whether it is a brewer, a winemaker, or coffee roaster the consistent theme in the people and companies that hold my attention is their commitment to the culture in which they operate.

Gimme is a great example. Yes, they source great coffees. And yes, they do a great job of roasting them. But they also work very hard to reach out to their customers, to educate them about where the coffees come from, the lives of the people who farmed them, and why the coffees taste the way they taste. They fill in the gaps between the many stories that come together to make up the culture of coffee. Through their words you can learn so much about the tapestry of coffee.

So while other coffee roasters also produce very good, and often great, coffees, it’s the companies who make this extra effort that make me interested in coffee at all. Without them, coffee would be another faceless, colorless product.

So what is the story behind this coffee? The beans were farmed in the Amaro Mountains in the Sidamo region of Ethiopia and processed at the Amaro Gayo mill. This mill is owned by Asnakech Thomas, the only female owner of a coffee mill in all of Ethiopia. Not only that, but she’s also the only female exporter in Ethiopia, and owns 250 hectares of coffee farmland as well. The result is that she has near complete control over the coffee that she produces, from farming to exporting.

This coffee was grown organically, and is wet-processed and sun-dried, as is typical for Ethiopia.

The nose has compelling notes of vanilla, coconut, blueberries, and huckleberries. One of the most wonderfully fragrant coffees I’ve had! The palate has a warm, mellow, slightly voluptuous body with a rind of acidity. Flavors of cocoa,raspberries, and blueberries are underscored by a hint of caramel. The finish is somewhat minty, with blueberries once again prominent.

What a remarkably enjoyable cup of coffee, the kind that just brings a smile to your face first thing in the morning. The berry flavors are very reminiscent of other Ethiopian coffees I’ve had, in particular a couple from Barrington Coffee Roasters. Naturally, my mind ends up roaming back to the questions I’ve been mulling over for so long regarding the role of terroir in coffee. A subject that I’ll have to come back to another time…

What has always interested me about Terroir is the earnestness with which they promote specialty coffee and the farmers that grow it. All of their coffees are identified by the farm/coop that produced the coffee, and on their website most of the coffees that are listed include information about the growers, the region, and specifics about the varietal, geography, and harvesting of the coffee. Alongside this their website has a solid lineup of informational articles about coffee in general. Of particular note is George Howell’s “The Long Road To Coffee Quality”, a series of articles that he has been writing and publishing in the company’s weekly newsletter.

The company’s mission is clearly inspired by equal parts education and evangelism, and after looking at Howell’s coffee-industry history this is no surprise. After discovering high-quality coffee in northern California in the 1970’s, Howell moved to Boston and started the Coffee Connection, a series of coffee shops throughout New England. At the time (this is pre-Starbucks) the product that Coffee Connection was offering was wholly unique, and the company gradually became pretty successful. In fact, I remember a Coffee Connection in the town I went to college in, and distinctly remember that the coffee it served was easily the best in town.

In the mid-1990’s Howell sold the Coffee Connection to the green giant, Starbucks. Part of the sale included a no-complete clause that Howell had to abide by for several years, and so his role in the specialty-coffee industry changed at this point. He worked as a consultant to coffee growers and governments, and established the Cup of Excellence, a series of annual award competitions for coffee industries in Latin America, South America, and Africa.

And then in 2004, after the no-compete clause had expired and Cup of Excellence was finding success, he founded Terroir Coffee with the mission of recognizing the “fundamental role and identity [of coffee growers] in the production of high quality coffees”. Today, the company offers coffees from 10 different countries, each identified with a specific producer.

Last Spring and Summer I tried a number of their coffees, and enjoyed them all to some extent. But the reality is that I wasn’t ready for these coffees. They were all generally light-to-medium roasts, and given that most of the coffees I drank at that time were dark roasts, I wasn’t prepared for the bright acidity that was such a feature of the Terroir coffees. It really wasn’t until I began drinking coffees such as this consistently that I got the hang of them and could both relate to and enjoy what was in the cup.

And so when I recently ran out of coffee at home, it seemed like the perfect time to give Terroir Coffee a chance once again. Luckily, a coffee shop near our house is supplied by Terroir and sells some of their coffees in 12oz. bags. So, while the coffee is not the freshest (this bag was roasted in late March), I at least know that it’s been taken care of since having been roasted.

Ademe Bedane is a privately-owned washing station in the Sidamo region of Ethiopia, adjacent to the more famous Yirgacheffe region. The washing station buys coffee cherries from the local farmers and processes them using the washed method. The cherries, which were harvested in December and January, are all grown between 5000-6000 feet above sea level and are made up of a number of local varieties.

The nose has light scents of red fruits layered over a deep base of creamy milk chocolate. The palate is intriguingly earthy, with almonds, walnuts, and maple syrup. As the coffee cooled the palate became more expressive, with melons and berries coming into the mix. The texture is very soft and velvety, with lightly prickling acidity. The finish has a distinctly nutty acidity and an intriguing grapey sweet note crops up, almost cognac-like.

This coffee certainly confirmed my past experiences with Terroir in that it was delicate and complex, and definitely took some time to get to know. I was probably halfway through the bag before I really felt like I was able to fully enjoy the coffee. But it was fun wrapping my head, and taste buds, around this coffee. I’d like to go back and taste other coffees from Terroir, especially now that I am firmly in the grip of an African-coffee extravaganza*. Next time I will definitely order direct, just to ensure that I’m getting a chance to try them at their freshest best.

*Stay tuned, three bags of coffee from Stumptown just arrived on my doorstep, two from Rwandan and one from Burundi. I can’t wait!

What sets the coffees of Ethiopia apart from one another is a) the regions in which they are grown, and b) the method used for milling the coffee beans.

There are several coffee growing regions, with Harrar, Sidamo, and Yirgacheffe (which is actually a sub-region of Sidamo) the most prominent in terms of quality. Roasters rate the Yirgacheffe most highly, using compliments such as “no other coffee in the world has its perfumed, sweet, lemon-apricot aroma” (Terroir Coffee), “Ethiopia coffees are among the world’s most varied and distinctive, and at least one, Yirgacheffe, ranks among the very finest”, (Coffee Review), and “Yirgacheffe reaches higher and sails farther on the palate than [Sidamo]” (Intelligentsia). Yirgacheffe is a sort of coffee parallel to an Italian DOCG within a larger DOC growing zone – e.g the Barolo DOCG within the Langhe DOC zone – a subzone that has been identified over the course of time as producing a product superlative to the surrounding area in which it resides.

But alongside the region in which the coffee is grown, the method for processing it has a huge effect on the finished coffee bean. There are basically two methods commonly employed in Ethiopia: wet- and dry-processing. The methods produce two distinctly different finished coffees, and tend to be employed on a regional basis with most Yirgacheffe coffees wet-processed and most from Harrar dry-processed (coffees from Sidamo using both methods). The majority of the finest coffee cherries are sent to mills for wet-processing where it is prepared using the most modern methods available in the country. This guarantees a coffee that is bright and fresh in the cup, and preserves the delicate and floral aromas and complex flavors so highly prized by roasters. Dry-processing on the other hand involves laying the cherries out on elevated tables to dry in the sun with the coffee bean being extracted once the cherry has fully dried. The result is a coffee with a more lush fruit character and complex and slightly fermented flavors.

This Ethiopia Sidamo from Barrington Coffee continues the run of very good coffees that I’ve had from them recently, right alongside the Colombian that I recently tried. They don’t give much information on their website, although slightly more on the package than I’ve normally seen from them. The package shows the name of the coffee as “Ethiopia Sidamo Korate Natural 2008″. Unfortunately, neither the package nor the website explains what “Korate” means, so I’m assuming this to be the name of the cooperative. I’m also assuming that 2008 simply indicates the vintage that the beans are from. So the degree of information Barrington Coffee gives for this coffee is a bit mixed. I’m glad they indicate the cooperative, method (“Natural”) and vintage – especially the vintage as this is actually pretty unusual for anyone to indicate on their packaging. But the fact that they don’t state anywhere exactly what “Korate” stands for is somewhat disappointing.

Other sources that I’ve found indicate that the coffee was growing between 1850-2100 meters in the Dara Woreda district of the Sidamo region. I haven’t been able to find an indication of what variety (or varieties) this is, or still what “Korate” stands for.

Nonetheless, the coffee is one of the more outstanding that I’ve had recently. The first thing that strikes you is the aroma from the beans themselves: vivid blueberry aromas leap out of the bag and from the freshly ground beans. The aroma of the brewed coffee has vivid notes of fresh blueberry cake and whipped cream. The blueberry flavors continue on the palate, accompanied by a mix of red fruits, cherries and raspberries, a hint of 60% dark chocolate, and a distinct thread of citrus flavors. The palate has a creamy texture that serves as a great backdrop for this array of flavors. The berry notes continue through a strong finish accompanied by a hint of hot chocolate.

This coffee reminds me very much of some of the Rwandan coffees that I’ve had and have enjoyed so much. The coffees from both regions that I’ve tried have been lushly bodied and expressed vivid, deep flavors of red berries and fruits, particularly blueberries and cherries with an almost wine-like complexity.

As I keep pondering the relationship between coffee and terroir and wondering what relationships and common characteristics exist among coffees from different regions, I can’t help but find this commonality inspiring. It would be great if Barrington came out with a Rwandan coffee so that I’d have a chance to see if they employ a similar roast profile for that region’s coffees and produce a similar result. I’ve been disappointed in finding that the relationships between terroir and coffee have been almost completely unexplored in any significant way, and believe that my experiences with coffees from these two regions of Africa is a clear indication this is indeed an topic that could be fruitfully explored by someone with the knowledge and inspiration.