How Long Miles ensures quality, from farm to cup
Every step that coffee takes in the process from seed to cup impacts its quality. Ensuring coffee quality at every touch point has been a steep learning curve for the Long Miles Coffee team, and is something they are continuously learning to improve with every coffee harvest that comes to pass.
Robyn-Leigh van Laren is the Story Manager at Long Miles Coffee, a specialty coffee producer founded in Burundi, East Africa. Over the last three and a half years, together with the Long Miles Story Team, she has been documenting and sharing the stories of Burundian coffee farmers and their coffee.
Over to Robyn:
Every step that coffee takes in the process from seed to cup impacts its quality. Ensuring coffee quality at every touch point has been a steep learning curve for the Long Miles Coffee team, and is something they are continuously learning to improve with every coffee harvest that comes to pass.
“Could we actually produce specialty coffee in Burundi?”
When Long Miles’ co-founders, Ben and Kristy Carlson, moved to Burundi in 2011, they quickly realized that the most central place to see transformative change in the lives of coffee farmers and the quality of their coffee was at the washing station. In early 2013, the Carlsons built Bukeye, the first Long Miles Washing Station, with the underlying goal of answering the question, “Could we actually produce specialty coffee in Burundi?”
That same year, Lauren Kagori (née Rosenberg), a PhD candidate from South Africa, joined the Long Miles Team as their first Farmer Relations Officer. Kagori’s role was to understand coffee farmers' relationship to the washing station. As they began to build trust and work with the coffee farming communities around the washing station, it became clear to Kagori that farmers’ greatest challenge to coffee quality was the lack of access to inputs: fertilizer, lime, mulch, and to some degree access to loans to pay laborers to work on their farms.
“You can go to lengths investing in infrastructure at the washing station, but quality really begins on the farm,” Kagori says. “The most obvious challenge to [Long Miles] ensuring coffee quality was opening Bukeye washing station for the inaugural harvest and having no reference point or previous experience to draw from,” Kagori shares. “The team was inexperienced and lacked technical skills. They didn’t know how to hand select cherries or how to manage the pre-drying of parchment coffee, let alone guide farmers.”
By the end of their first harvest, Long Miles produced only eighty bags of coffee- just a quarter of a container. Needless to say, the coffee didn’t taste very good that year and many roasters rejected the lots upon arrival in the United States. “We learned that you don’t just engage with farmers a month or two before harvest- it’s a year-round effort”, Kagori explains.
This was a turning point for Long Miles. They had built a washing station, invested in a community of smallholder coffee growers, and grown a team of people. But there was an obvious limit to the return on their investment if they didn’t invest in bottom lines that went beyond profitability.
Tricks for ripe cherry picking
The Long Miles team came up with all sorts of innovative ideas to help guide farmers on how to improve their coffee’s quality. The first set of interns spent hours perusing local paint stores for the exact shade of red that resembled a ripened coffee cherry. The idea was to paint the bases of woven baskets that farmers generally use to collect hand-picked coffee cherries. It quickly went from baskets to dipping small wooden chips in the same red paint that farmers could easily slip in and out of their pockets to compare their ripening cherries against. Back at the washing station, a borehole was drilled so that their team could start processing coffee with clean groundwater instead of water from a nearby river.
Wooden chips painted red to compare the ripening cherries against helps farmers to improve their coffee’s quality.
“It would be remiss not to acknowledge that there is countless research, processes, and tools, like the ROEST sample roaster, used at every touchpoint along coffee’s journey, but ensuring the quality of Long Miles’ coffee really comes down to people, like ROEST. ”
Understanding the quality
Around that time, another challenge was rising, both at the farm level and on the cupping table: the Potato Taste Defect. It took a trip to visit an established coffee producer in Rwanda and interviews with Long Miles’ partner roasters to realize that Potato Taste Defect was a real issue- not just in Burundi, but in neighboring coffee-growing countries too. That’s how the Long Miles Coffee Scouts came to be.
Antestia bug - the insect linked to the Potato Taste Defect.
Led by Epaphras Ndikumana, Social and Environmental Impact Leader at Long Miles, the Coffee Scouts guide partner farmers through the cherry picking process on their farms while also scouting for and removing any antestia bugs (the insect linked to the Potato Taste Defect). The Coffee Scouts also encourage farmers to practice floating cherries at home and then again at the washing stations. Standing side-by-side with farmers at the washing stations, the Scouts help to hand-sort their cherries for ripeness and visible defects. Back on the farm, they distribute indigenous and shade trees to partner coffee farmers, encouraging them to plant green manures to improve soil health, mitigate climate change and the productivity of their coffee trees. The Coffee Scouts have been pivotal in improving the quality of Burundi coffee, and the Potato Taste Defect has since become increasingly less common on our cupping tables.
“The activities of our social projects help partner coffee farmers to improve their agricultural practices which increases the productivity and quality of their coffee in the long run”, Ndikumana says. He has done extensive research on how to improve the productivity of Burundian farmers’ coffee trees and soil health, initiating programs like the PIP approach (translated from French as ‘Integrated Farm Plans’) and Farmer Field Schools within the farming communities that Long Miles works with in Burundi.
Ndikumana checking sugar level of the coffee cherries.
Long Miles’ Coffee and Quality Production Manager, Seth Nduwayo, adds to this by explaining that, “Our protocols, standards and communication are the most powerful tools that help us to produce quality coffee in a systemized way. We don’t only make efforts to perform well but try to make sure we perform more consistently while also aiming to improve our performance.” Ensuring coffee quality quietly continues long after harvest has ended at the dry mill. Nduwayo and the Long Miles team spend weeks at a time, following their coffee through innumerable quality steps at the mill: from hulling to grading, density sorting, handsorting, weighing, and eventually loading containers for export.
Green grading and sample roasting
On the other side of the world, David Stallings, head of Roaster and Importer Relations, ensures that coffee goes through meticulous quality steps once it reaches the Long Miles Coffee Lab in North America. He starts by measuring the water activity, performing a moisture and UV analysis of the coffee weighing and then roasting each sample using our ROEST. All the relevant physical data about each sample is documented before the process is repeated over and over again before samples are sent to their roasting partners across the globe.
During coffee season, Stallings typically processes and on ROEST around 120 samples a week: “The ROEST sample roaster may be the most perfect small-scale machine yet designed to explore the many different aspects of coffee roasting that I learned about through various roasting systems. The capability to develop profiles based on different parameters and the machine’s ability to develop coffee remarkably evenly, coupled with its ease of use and maintenance, make it an essential tool in my professional life.”
Click here to read more about how David Stallings developed the Long Miles ROEST profiles.
Preparing coffee samples for roasting. Usually 100g of green beans per sample.
Sample roasting on ROEST: during the season it is around 120 samples a week.
It's a teamwork
It would be remiss not to acknowledge that there is countless research, processes, and tools, like the ROEST sample roaster, used at every touchpoint along coffee’s journey, but ensuring the quality of Long Miles’ coffee really comes down to people, like ROEST. Each coffee farming family that Long Miles works with. By continuing to listen to their thoughts and understand their challenges and needs, they continue to put steps in place to improve the quality of their coffee. The team of Coffee Scouts, working tirelessly throughout the year guiding partner farmers on best agricultural practices. It’s every member of the Long Miles team, investing in the long-term impact of smallholder coffee farmers in East Africa and the coffee they produce.
All this before any coffee reaches your cup.
Written by Robyn-Leigh van Laren is the Story Manager at Long Miles Coffee
LMC photos curtesy of Long Miles Coffee. ROEST photos from Julianna Stallings.
Have you tried ROEST Profiles developed by Long Miles Coffee?
Why you need a sample roaster for your coffee business
Are you thinking about getting into the coffee roasting business? Or maybe you have already started, and you keep browsing the right equipment for your roastery? If you are not sure whether a sample roaster is an important asset to purchase, keep reading.
Are you thinking about getting into the coffee roasting business? Or maybe you have already started, and you keep browsing the right equipment for your roastery? If you are not sure whether a sample roaster is an important asset to purchase, keep reading.
5 reasons:
Why you need a sample roaster for your coffee business
1. QUALITY CONTROL
Keeps quality of your coffee under control.
Once the green coffee arrives at your roastery, you store it and schedule it for your roasting menu. It can take weeks or months before you start roasting it. Coffee changes its flavor profile within time even if stored in ideal conditions. Therefore, it is important to regularly keep an eye on the quality. Sample roasting helps to prevent possible defects or flaws in the coffee.
After coffee samples are roasted the next step is to evaluate the taste. You can prepare a cupping 24hrs after roasting is done. Cupping provides important feedback to your coffee quality and roasting profile.
2. PRODUCTION
Unlocks the true potential of your coffee.
Sample roasting helps to understand how the coffee reacts to the chosen roasting profile and what adjustments are needed on the way to desired cup. Sometimes even a small change of your development time or charging temperature can have a significant impact on the flavor. Roasting a small amount of coffee beans is ideal when trying to perfect and highlight specific characteristics before you roast 10kg of it on a production roaster.
Before head roasters put new coffee up for production roasting they sample roast a small amount to understand a potential of the green beans. ROEST sample roaster provides similar roasting experience with its hybrid drum roasting. Therefore it’s easier to develop beans close to the taste coming from a production roaster.
"ROEST combines all the features like replicable roasts, data logging, very accessible handling and now the first crack detector, we were looking for in a sample roaster." says Olli, head roaster from @Flying_roasters.
3. GREEN COFFEE BUYING
Your biggest decisions depend on it.
Sample roasting is a critical part of quality control usually underestimated by roasteries. Deciding to buy a half a container from Brazil for your next espresso roast depends on a small green coffee sample. That is a big decision which relies on a small sample of roasted coffee.
While importers might offer you roasted samples to assess the potential of green coffee you are considering buying, it’s always better to roast it the way you like it. Kenji from @fuglencoffee_tokyo , a head roaster and buyer of green coffee: “When I buy green coffee, I want to roast and cup with my own roast point: not too dark nor too light.”
Pawel, owner of @kawiarniabezcukru: “A sample roaster is a “must have” for a high-quality specialty roastery. Thanks to it, we can learn the potential of the coffee we want to order. I think that Roest passed the exam exemplary!”
Many coffee importers sample roast their coffee on similar equipment and they are happy to share their profiles with you. It’s good for inspiration but always make sure to adjust it towards your preferences. Create your own roasting profile library for different origins or processing methods.
4. PRACTICE
The best tool to learn coffee roasting.
Before you invest a lot of money in the coffee business, get to know your product better. The best way to learn how to roast coffee is to start roasting on a sample roaster. Roasting small amounts of coffee provides a bigger playground for testing various roasting parameters. Changing one parameter at a time helps you to understand what effects it has on the cup. Sample roasters with smart technology are easy to operate and don’t require too much coffee roasting knowledge at the start. The more you roast and cup, the more you learn.
Pawel: “There is a plan to open a coffee roastery in the future. So I decided to buy the Roest in advance as the roasting process itself is like that of a large coffee roaster. This is how I learn how to roast coffee. Working with Roest is extremely intuitive and fun! I am convinced that in the future the knowledge and experience gained while working with Roest will be reflected.”
A lot to of home roasters choose ROEST sample roaster for learning how to roast coffee. It is easy to use: it provides automatic roasting so you can start observing and tasting, and also manual roasting to get more advanced with your skills.
5. SHARE KNOWLEDGE
A way to teach about coffee.
Roasting on a sample roaster improves not just your coffee knowledge. You can organize a small workshop and share the experience with others: “it’s good when you teach about coffee to your barista and customers to experience the difference from the roasting.” says Kenji.
There are many roasteries and coffee consultants using sample roasters for the roasting courses. Tim Wendelboe organizes roasting classes (due to travel restrictions classes are on pause) for professional roasters: “On ROEST we roast also defect roasts. It is a set of bad roasts, training people to recognize green or baked taste of coffee.”
How to evaluate the quality of your coffee. Part 3: Cupping
After green bean evaluation and sample roasting, cupping is the final and exciting step of Quality Control process. Cupping gives you an understanding of your coffee, its aromas and flavours and provides an important feedback. It helps to track progress of the quality or backtrack potential quality issues. Read how this process is done by Quality Control Lab Manager.
“Mmmm, what an aroma! I bet this cup tastes amazing as well!“
Cupping is the last and (for a lot of us) maybe the most excting step of the quality control. It uncovers the final layer of your beans. It seems easy to set up proper cupping table and make cupping notes. It is a very important decision in your buying or production process, which has an impact on your business. So do it right!
This article is the last part of the QC trilogy by Julia Rebecca Richardson. Get inspired by Julia, the coffee professional with years of experiences in Quality Control lab at a coffee import company.
Over to Julia:
cupping is a must
For a QC lab manager it’s important to cup offer, pre-shipment and arrival samples. If you’re a roaster, you cup also each roast to ensure it is up to your standards. Cupping gives you an understanding of your coffee and provides an important feedback. It helps to track progress or backtrack potential quality issues.
Production cupping table at Kaffa roastery, Oslo
Read more on this in article on How to store green coffee.
Coffee Grading System
To grade specialty roasted coffee, the cupping evaluation is a 0 to 100 scoring system. A general expectation is that specialty coffee will score a minimum of a total of 80 points, scoring less than 8 in any category indicates negative traits, and less than 7.5 in any category will generally disqualify a coffee. The categories can be divided up into 4 different steps as stated by SCAA:
Step #1 - Fragrance/Aroma
The score is based on a wet/dry evaluation. First done within 15 minutes of grinding the coffee, and then done when breaking the crust.
Step #2 - Flavor, Aftertaste, Acidity, Body, and Balance
When the cup has cooled to 160F/71 C or 8-10 minutes
Step #3 - Sweetness, Uniformity, and Cleanliness
As the cup reaches room temperature below 100F/37 C
Step #4 - Scoring
After all the samples have been evaluated, you tally up the score.
Total Score Quality Classification
90-100 = Outstanding - Specialty
85-99.99 = Excellent - Specialty
80-84.99 = Very Good - Specialty
< 80.0 = Below Specialty Quality - Not Specialty
Detailed version of cupping protocol: https://www.baristahustle.com/cupping-protocols/
The Espresso lab Roastery likes listening to the music during their QC procedures.
My Cupping Routine
CUPPING ROOM
I ensure the space is clean, distraction free, I do like a little mood music for the set up and introduction, but once the cupping starts, silence is best.
Equipment
Cupping table, cupping spoons, trays, cupping numbers, scale, grinder, kettles, cupping cups, timer, cloths.
TIP:
Invite colleagues, guests, buyers and friends to cup. Notify cuppers when you’re about to grind the coffee. You can create a cupping session on an online platform such as Cropster and invite guests, hand out SCAA cupping sheets or provide blank pieces of paper with pens for notes and scoring.
Cupping session with friends and colleagues.
REQUIREMENTS
Coffee samples are roasted within 24 hours of cupping.
Following the Golden Cup Standards, I use 11.5g of coffee per 200ml of water
My coffee table set up goes from most basic to most acidic, and sub-categorize washed first, honey in the middle and naturals always last.
I prefer to do cuppings blindly, even if we know the purpose of the cupping. I associate numbers with each coffee, and I hide the labels until the end of the cupping.
For buying and quality control purposes, I like to have the remainder of the roast in a tray with greens easily accessible, in case a client is interested in inspecting the roast or greens.
Preparation
how many cups
Depending on the size and purpose of the cupping, I usually do 2-3 cups per coffee sample. With cups of clean hot water at every other cup, followed by clean cloths, paper towels and spit cups.
ratio
I then weigh up 11.5 g of roasted whole bean coffee sample in cupping cups. I may make adjustments +/- in grams used, depending on whether the sample was roasted on a production roaster or a sample roaster, there is a different extraction.
Tip: To make sure you’re hitting the mark, I recommend investing in a refractometer such as VST or Atago, and aim for an extraction yield of 18 %-22 %. I use 200g cupping cups.
grinding
The coffee should be ground no longer than 15 minutes before water hits the cup.
Once the cupping table is set and the coffees are weighed, I then notify the guests and begin grinding. I personally use the Mahlkonig EK43 and purge the grinder with extra sample material between each different type of coffee.
SCAA recommends that the grind particle size should be slightly coarser than typically used for paper filter drip brewing, with 70 % to 75 % of the particles passing through a U.S. Standard size 20 mesh sieve.
DRY AROMA
While the guests do a dry sensory analysis of the coffee samples and make appropriate notes, I prepare the water. The water should be freshly drawn, odor free, not distilled or softened, with a pH between 7.0 and 7.4 and a level of buffer no higher than 70 ppm. Bring the water to approximately 200F/93C.
pour & time
Each cupping glass holds 200g of water, start your stopwatch and begin pouring until the lip of the glass or use a scale. Wait 4 minutes before breaking.
Cupping of arrival samples at Nordic Approachh.
Once the 4 minutes is up, take a cupping spoon and posture your nose close to the cup. Do 3 to 4 smooth motions of the spoon to break the crust. Take in a sensorial analysis, and take note. Clean the cup.
From pour to cupping, I typically wait approximately 8-10 minutes, 13 minutes being the absolute maximum. During this time, I may briefly discuss a producer or origin with the guests, some aspects of the coffee without giving away specific information about the cup.
And don’t forget to follow hygiene! Ensure that you clean your spoon between each sample. In the time of COVID-19 there are some adjustments to cupping rules. Read more about it on SCAA website.
NOW YOU CAN TALK
Enter your data, score the coffee and when everyone is done: have a good discussion!
I personally like to approach cupping as an opportunity to be humble and open for learning. There are times when you need to be with your calibrated team, and make focused, quick and important decisions. There are other times when you will be digging into the coffees and profiles and need more time to reflect, discuss and evaluate with co-workers. And there are times when you’re in a mixed crowd of experienced and newcomers. All should feel welcomed, appreciated and valued for their opinion, as everyone can offer a fresh perspective.
Morten and Kaya from Nordic approach cupping together and sharing thoughts about the samples.
Keeping data
Lastly, it is important to record and archive all the data. Keeping it in an organized and user-friendly document makes it easy not only for yourself, but for your teammates as well. You will find it helpful when looking back in order to be able compare how the taste developed from roast to roast. As mentioned before: Data tells the story.
Read more about Quality Control Routines: