Yukio Umezawa | TYPICA Lab

Theme of this trip

watanabe — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 10:21:18 +0000

It should have been mentioned earlier, but I would like to discuss the main objectives of this trip.

Firstly, it is to establish a closer relationship with the coffee producers and learn more about them. What are their lives like, and what are their thoughts while producing coffee?

Naturally, the purpose of this trip is to gain a hands-on understanding of the coffee production process by observing and participating.

In particular, Primavera Coffee in Guatemala and Cafe Nor in El Salvador are our primary points of contact for coffee purchases. We want to understand their perspective on dealing with the farmers and develop a strong relationship with them for ongoing bean purchases.

Secondly, I want to deepen my connections with the Japanese roasters who are traveling with me on this trip.

What are their thoughts on coffee sales, and how do they feel about this journey? I want to have extensive discussions with them.

Since I have only been running my store for three years, there is much for me to learn. My goal is to establish a positive, long-term relationship with everyone.

Coffee flowers in full bloom

watanabe — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 10:18:01 +0000

The previous days of our itinerary mainly involved transportation, but today is the first day of real touring. Our guide for today is Chris, also known as Nadine’s dad, from Primavera Coffee, who will be taking us around.

Secret to high quality

Our first stop was the dry mill of Primavera Coffee where parchment coffee from different producers is processed into green coffee beans. Inside the facility, many jute bags of parchment coffee are stacked on top of each other. A machine sucked up these parchment coffees in large quantities, and foreign substances and poor-quality coffee due to color were removed, while the coffee was sorted into coffees with uniform screen sizes. After these machine processes, the resulting green coffee beans are of high quality. However, 20% of the weight, including parchment, is removed, and beans of poor quality are sold for instant coffee. The parchment is sold as a heat resource.

Large farm focused on commodity

We then visited a large plantation that produces commodity coffee. The plantation is situated about 1,000 meters above sea level, so it is not possible to produce specialty coffee, but a vast area is planted with a large number of coffee trees. At the entrance of the plantation, we saw coffee flowers that had just bloomed, but at the back of the plantation, we found that the flowers, which bloom only about three days a year, were in full bloom. The aroma was wonderful, and insects were gathering nectar. The flowers that bloom at this time of the year become coffee cherries, and the harvest season is in November.

Bananas are planted as shade trees on this farm, and many bananas were also harvested. Bananas are known to be compatible with coffee because they do not absorb nutrients from the soil, which is necessary for coffee to grow. They grow very fast, several meters in about a month. However, they do not grow well at lower elevations, and there were no bananas at the higher elevation specialty farms that we would visit later. This farm also installed an automatic watering system this year, which is expected to increase the yield.

We learned that in recent years, there has been an exodus of young people from Japan, and there is now a shortage of pickers and other workers. Usually, about 400 pickers used to gather at this farm, but now there are only about 100. We hope that the coffee industry will become more active and attract more people.

After Day 1

Chris, our guide for the day, took us to a large-scale farm that deals with commodities. By seeing both large-scale farms and small-scale producers, he thought we could learn the differences between them and gain a deeper understanding of coffee production in Guatemala.

We are grateful to Chris for showing us all aspects of coffee production in Guatemala.

Finally off to my first trip to coffee producing areas

watanabe — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 09:37:09 +0000

When I was a tech engineer and had no interest in coffee, I got to know about specialty coffee for the first time. I decided to become a roaster out of a desire to share this beautiful thing with many more people in Japan.

As I learned more about coffee, my eagerness grew stronger to visit and see coffee farms firsthand and interact with people at farms.

I’m sure any other roaster would feel the same way.

But there have been many hurdles, and I knew it wasn’t the kind of place where I could go when I wanted to go. I was just thinking that I wanted to go there someday….

But fortunately, a little over two years after I started roasting, TYPICA offered me the opportunity to become a member of TYPICA Lab, and I am now able to go to Guatemala and El Salvador!

I am really happy.

I can’t wait to see how this experience will impact the future of FIVECOFFEE.

My First Ever Trip to Coffee Origin: Prologue

watanabe — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 15:00:00 +0000

08-23-2022

My First Ever Trip to Coffee Origin: Prologue

A cup of specialty coffee inspired me to become a coffee roaster.

I’d never liked coffee, or did I ever think it was delicious. But that cup opened my eyes up to what coffee really tasted like.

I started studying coffee to tell as many people as I can about that fact.

Rather early into my research, I found out that such great coffees were grown by farmers with ambitions, and that the rewards they receive raise their motivation and prompt them to produce even higher-quality coffee.

I thought that in addition to spreading how great coffee is supposed to taste, I also need to raise awareness that a little more money people pay for coffee helps farmers and leads to sustainable coffee production.

I’d kept that in mind when I bought coffee, feeling grateful to farmers somewhere far away that I had never met. But that was just me thinking, and I always found it hard to directly express my gratitude.

But since I started buying coffee through TYPICA, the direct trade platform has allowed me to send messages to farmers, listen to their stories online, ask them questions, and sometimes talk with them.

These were very interesting. I was always excited to hear what they had to say.

It’s an honor to have been nominated by TYPICA as a member of TYPICA Lab, a project to take roasters to coffee origins.

Out of several destinations, I picked Guatemala – El Salvador as my first choice. And that is where I will be going.

Other destinations were Ethiopia, Bolivia and Kenya – Tanzania. Why Guatemala – El Salvador?

First, Central America produces many coffees I like, with high quality and good balance between acidity, depth and sweetness.

The second reason relates to the Cup of Excellence in El Salvador a few years ago. Whereas Geisha and other high-end varieties took top spots in other countries, Pacas and Pacamara dominated the competition in El Salvador. I was surprised at the result.

It was very fascinating that farmers seem proud about competing with their native, ancient varieties in a competition where many farmers tend to submit Geisha and coffees processed with special methods.

After I realized that important things about El Salvadorian coffees, especially Pacamara, are sweetness and moderate acidity, they became my favorite and coffees to look out for.

El Salvador has a coffee research institute and seems to be very committed to the coffee industry. Guatemala, meanwhile, has technical prowess. It should be very interesting to see how farmers are growing coffee there and what they are thinking about.

I really love Guatemalan and El Salvadorian coffee. I want to tell it to farmers and hear various things from them.

I’m looking forward to meeting them very much.