Decaf is often the unfortunate stepchild in any coffee roasting operation. Most roasters offer only one decaf coffee and if there are two, then the other decaf is usually referred to as the organic decaf. Decaf is mistreated at roasting facilities around the world every morning as the first batch...
An undervalued, understudied coefficient in our series about analyzing green coffee (Part I - Moisture and Water Activity, Part II - Screen Size, Part III - Visual Defects) is density. The fact of the matter is that we don’t have a complete understanding of the myriad factors influencing green...
One of the big pieces of recent news at Royal is that we’ve elected to cease contracting Methylene Chloride decaf. The reasons are nuanced, but a recent conversation with founder Bob Fulmer made it clear to me that the decision was made at least in part in principle. While the impact of Royal...
We have been observing and collecting data in Santa Elena as part of the Catracha Quality Project to improve upon green coffee processing strategies. (See related Catracha articles here). But once the coffee is ready to ship from Honduras, we cannot ride along in the container as it makes its...
For the last several weeks, members of the Catracha Quality Project have been presenting results of a data survey conducted during the 2016 harvest season in Santa Elena, Honduras. To go back and read some of that work -- which includes detailed process maps and an analysis of correlation between...
When the Catracha Quality Project began, Catracha organizers encouraged producers to focus on the quality of the coffee by selecting ripe cherry. In the Royal Blog last week, Arvin Juan presented a post-harvest process map, the result of two years of observing practices and interviewing producers....
When we started the Catracha Quality Project (CQP), our first goal was to create a map to visualize how the Catracha producers were processing coffee from cherry to dried parchment. Over the last two harvests in Santa Elena, we interviewed producers and observed their practices to create a...
Once a coffee cherry is picked from the branch, every step it takes until it’s brewed is a desperate act of preservation, a struggle against the entropy that will inevitably degrade the dying seed. In a perfect world, short distances traveled in stable environments would contribute to that...
Let's cut to the chase: I need to issue a few corrections. Lucia Solis, of Scott Labs (not to be confused with the similarly named entity that helped develop the SL-28 variety in Kenya, for example. That Scott Labs no longer exists as such, but is now the National Agricultural Laboratories, a part...
This week we’re back on the grading table, this time focusing our attention on visual defects in green coffee. In many ways, green coffee defects share some similarities with screen size. They both impact the way coffee roasts and tastes and equally can have financial ramifications in terms of...
When building a blend, having a set of goals is key. What is the ideal blend for your particular situation, and what is your situation, exactly? For green buyers, constant maintenance of one’s position is a necessity, and some blends are built out of this necessity. Coffee is an agricultural...
Download the printer-friendly PDF In Part I of this series on analyzing green coffee, we focused in a lot of detail on the water – specifically the relationship of a green coffee’s water content and activity to its safety, longevity, and potential for browning reactions in the roaster. This...
Download the printer-friendly PDF Bob & Max’s Note: If you are a coffee roaster doing wholesale business with any number of large-format retailers in the United States, you’ve probably been hearing the phrase “HACCP” with more regularity. In an effort to provide the best customer service we...
Download the printer-friendly PDF Bob & Max’s Note: If you are a coffee roaster doing wholesale business with any number of large-format retailers in the United States, you’ve probably been hearing the phrase “HACCP” with more regularity. In an effort to provide the best customer service we...
Editor's Note: This article was updated September 15th, 2022. In an interview, Royal Co-founder Bob Fulmer was once asked, “If you were to die and come back as a drink, what drink would you be?" He responded, “Yemen Mocca Sanani, roasted full city, made fresh and strong.” You can check out our...
