I had posted before about my great interest in this thing called the Global Coffee Quality Research Initiative: GCQRI. (It’s a rare case where the full name is actually easier than the acronym!) Basically this Initiative is trying to pull together coffee roasters, importers, and anyone else in the coffee trade who cares about the future of quality. If we can pool resources and fund the kind of research we want, about improving the quality of coffee, and growing more quality coffee, then I think a lot of other goals that have to do with economic fairness, environment, and poverty are also addressed. Buyers pay for quality, that is what a “differential” is all about in the coffee trade. If that quality is generated at the farm level, then the farm stands to have the most economic gain. Whereas if coffee is sold as a bulk commodity but is “improved” by the magic of good dry-milling, the large company, often a multi-national, will get any premium for the coffee being better-than-average. Typically research aims toward two goals: to increase yields or improve disease resistance of the coffee. Those are important and they are part of the overall quality formula. After all, you can’t get by as a farmer if you grow amazing coffee but your yields are so low that no customer could actually pay for your price of production. Farmers need to grow a good quantity of high quality coffee. With the introductions of new CatimorAteng is a common name for Catimor coffees widely planted in Sumatra and other Indonesia isles.: Ateng, with several subtypes, is a common name for Catimor coffees widely... high-yield and disease-resistant types of coffee, quality is becoming rare. Nobody can blame local agencies for these hybrids with RobustaRobusta usually refers to Coffea Robusta, responsible for roughly 25% of the world's commercial coffee. Taxonomy of Robusta is debated: some sources use “Robusta” to refer to any... in their genes: They are trying to help farmers make it. But when rigorous cuppingCupping is a method of tasting coffee by steeping grounds in separate cups for discrete amounts of ground coffee, to reveal good flavors and defects to their fullest.... becomes part of the evaluation, cupping done by the buyers who ultimately decide the value of the coffee, these hybrids fail. And yet there are other options, ones that take considerable cooperation by producing countries and their researchers, as well as impetus from buyers. For example, EthiopiaEthiopia, formerly known as Abyssinia, or a coffee cultivar: Ethiopia, or more specifically the Empire under Haile Selassie, was known as Abyssinia. The name is Latin, derived from... researchers could attract funding to work with original forest coffee varietals (which represent something like 90% of the genetic diversity of coffeaThe botanical genus colloquially referred to as the “coffea genus,” which is comprised of over 120 individual species. These are generally opposite-leaved, evergreen shrubs or small understory trees... arabicaArabica refers to Coffea Arabica, the taxonomic species name of the genus responsible for around 75% of the worlds commercial coffee crop.: Arabica refers to Coffea Arabica, the...) to look for disease resistance to rust fungusRust Fungus is a big problem in Colombia and beyond, found in many coffee producing countries. Known as La Roya in the Americas, this disease diminishes fruit production..., which destroys coffee in many countries. At the same time these Ethiopia types can have fantastic cup character, unlike the catimorCatimor is a broad group of cultivars derived from a Hibrido de Timor (HdT) and Caturra cross, highly productive, sometimes with inferior cup flavor. The main issue is... hybrids now propagated for this purpose. Simple-minded notion, sure … but I doubt Colombian researchers at CenicafeCenicafe is the Colombia research organization, and promotes research in coffee to aid Colombia coffee farmers, as part of the FNC who face a huge rust fungus (royaCastillo is a selection of the Colombia cultivar that has become the most commonly grown coffee in Colombia. It is preferred to the older resistant variety, Variedad Colombia...) problem ever had an option to share research with Ethiopia’s vast facilities, and yet both would gain in funding and results.
Right now the Initiative is setting it’s structure and soon will be identifying 3 to 5 research projects for 2011 that best meet the communal Quality objectives of its members. Oh … members signed on so far are roasters large and small, and Sweet Maria’s has been an early enthusiast of this whole effort, and will be funding it as much as we possibly can. More information from the “congress” I attended (really, just a big brainstorming session) can be found on the Initiative web site: http://www.gcqri.org/ . Also, I posted the FAQ for the Initiative here so it is easily accessible -Tom
PS: Also check out the blog of another “fan of GCQRI”, James Hoffman. He has quite a few posts on the topic.
