Every year we eagerly anticipate the next SCAA (now SCA) Specialty Coffee Expo. Let’s be honest, it’s the biggest gathering in our industry, and there’s a lot of excitement and a lot of buzz! It’s an opportunity for us to check in on current trends, sample some new origins, reconnect with the industry and meet up with a few of our roasters. On top of all that, it was a special treat this year to have the show in Seattle, a bonafide coffee town, STEEPED in Americana and a love for coffee.

To be fair, Seattle was practically built on coffee; it has a long history both in importing and roasting including scores of startup, so-called third wave operations. The culture is firmly established, the city is incredibly friendly, and if you look around you’ll quickly find the baristas, shop owners and enthusiasts—just try and count the number of people walking around with coffee cups instead of umbrellas! In all seriousness the industry owes a degree of gratitude to the (now) titans of coffee, in particular Starbucks, who opened their first café here in 1971. We had the chance to visit the flagship Starbucks Reserve, which is just blocks away from the convention center but more on that later.

Let’s tamp down on the show first!

The Washing State Convention Center is an impressive construct of glass, steel and natural light. The exhibition floor is over 400,000 sq feet and let me tell you it was mobbed. Friday was a zoo! Maybe 10-15,000 people on the floor, where most everything takes place including the brewer’s cup and barista competitions. The roaster’s village was upstairs on the second floor, where they hosted the US Roasters Championship. There were also classes, talks and networking mixers to attend; that said with everything going on it was difficult to see it all.

We saw more home and consumer exhibitors like Technivorm debuting new home/enthusiast brewing devices and focused on b-to-b opportunities to feature their products. It makes sense considering the number of roasting and retail operations that now function as a nouveau, urban marketplace for a new generation of coffee lovers.

Roasters and importers are pushing honeys and micro lots in an effort to show off the farms and something uniquely theirs. We will continue carrying our selection of choice micros and honeys with the understanding that all the extra work at the farms to produce micros comes at a cost. You’ve got to separate the plants, separate the cherries, pulp them separately, wash them separately—there’s an entire apparatus that needs to be in place. With that in mind micros work really well in retail environments where roasters and shop owners can highlight them as limited specials. IE this week only: Origin X, roasted on Monday and brewed Tuesday ‘til we run out! The farmers want to produce micro lots because they’re popular and more expensive per volume, but if we look at the wider picture, they have limited appeal and it’s our view that micros will continue to be both popular heavily marketed, but a niche offering nonetheless.

Kenya made a big splash, showing out with a gigantic booth, tribal dancers and their own cupping event. This was very nice to see! In all our years attending the SCAA, we’ve never seen Kenya deliver such a commanding statement. The best Kenyan auction lots continue to command large premiums, but in recent years we’ve seen the demand waver slightly as roasters have sought after some of the other fantastic origins that have come into favor. Perhaps some came and saw this and said, “Oh yeah, let’s get some Kenya this year!”

Only a few blocks from the convention center is what might as well be the Willy Wonka factory of the coffee world. At a rumored cost of 15-20 million dollars and a total of 15,000 square feet, there’s not a roaster alive that wouldn’t appreciate this place – it’s unbelievable. The form, the function, the finishes, all of it’s top-of-the-line, making for as much of a visual experience as a sensory one. Starbucks is touting its quality, its smaller boutique lots (not necessarily micro), freshness and the back story. In a sense they’re getting back to their roots and really flexing their muscle in a show to the public that says, “Yes, we DO in fact know coffee, and we know it well.”  It’s a refreshing trend actually; get back to basics and reconnect with today’s consumers who are becoming more and more information hungry as they become more educated in coffee. As for cups I had a Peruvian espresso, which was good I have to say. It was served in a demitasse cup and saucer on a wooden tray with a small bit of lemon cookie on the side. Nice touch! The baristas were top notch and the entire staff really knew their coffee down to the profile minutia.

At the end of the weekend, you sort of need a vacation from the vacation. Lots of meetings, lots of coffee, and little rest! The city that doesn’t sleep certainly lived up to its expectations – okay so that’s supposed to be New York, but who’s keeping score with the amount of caffeine being thrown around this town? Not us! We had a really great time too, by the way. Thank you to everyone who took the time to meet up and speak with us. You’re the reason we always look forward to attending and we truly hope to see all of you again next year! 

Yours In Coffee,

Andrew

Full SCA 2017 Report available online with additional content, our take on a few origins & cold brews and our discussions about Direct Trade and GrainPro.

Tucked in between Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras, the nation of Guatemala is known for producing a sweet, well-balanced, classic coffee that has been a beloved centerpiece of the Central American market for decades. The nation has many renowned co-ops and single estates hailing from equally famed regions like Antigua, Cobán and Huehuetenango, to name a few. Throughout North America and much of Europe, Guatemalan coffee is known for its nuanced complexity, body and balance—it’s a very distinctive coffee experience, one that lingers far beyond the cup and offers a subtle reminder as to why it’s the daily beverage of choice for much the world.

Our Guatemala Huehuetenango SHB Dulce Leonarda isn’t just another great Guatemalan coffee or a running favorite with our roasters, it’s an exclusive estate offering from the Gustavo Mauricio Tello family estate with whom we’ve been working for over 10 years. In our opinion the Dulce is one of the top Guatemalan coffees on the market, and there’s only about 1,000 bags of it available each year. Bourbon, Catuai and Caturra varietals are harvested from the farms 590 acres of natural shade covered plants. The family handpicks, pulps, washes and dry all their own coffee on site from cherry down to parchment; this is all done at 5,000+ feet elevation, which earns it Guatemala’s true SHB (or Strictly Hard Bean) arabica grade. The dry mill in Escuintla processes the parchment down to green in the final stage before bagging and export.

The Dulce performs well as a medium roast, but we encourage our roasters to be their own judge and push it slightly further (or slightly less) as is often the trend these days! Somewhere in the middle just before second crack you’ll find a deeply satisfying, syrupy sweet cup, some caramel notes, a great mouthfeel, some citrusy-lemon accents and a long, floral finish.

The farms of Huehuetenango, perched high up in their comfortable, arabica-friendly microclimates overlook thousands of miles of green valley, tropical lowlands and farmlands. Huehuetenango shares one of its borders with neighboring Mexico and is one of eight different coffee growing regions in Guatemala. Over a million people call Huehuetenango their home, making it the country’s second most populated department. Arabica production continues to be a key economic driver for Huehuetenango in addition to smaller amounts of wheat, sugar, potatoes and tobacco. 

Our 2017 container of the Dulce is currently on the water en route to The Annex. Be on the lookout for an update later this month when it arrives, and as always feel free to call us anytime M-F, 8AM – 4:30PM (PST) to speak to our friendly staff about the Huehue or any of our other fantastic offerings.

Read more >> VournasCoffee.com/Guatemala-Huehue-Dulce