Great Gourmet Coffee

ETHIOPIA – Grain Marketing Enterprise exported 128,000 quintals as for coffee in the last fiscal year
The Ethiopian Grain Marketing Enterprise exported 128thousand quintals of coffee worth 513 million Birr (US$ 37,7 million) in the time of the only ended Ethiopian fiscal year, reports Ena.
The overall Manager Berhane Hailu said the Enterprise had exported this device To Germany, England, Italy, America, Middle East, China as well as Russia, via Europe accounting To 80 percent on the export.

BRAZIL Coffee exports amend
Until June 30, June shipments were at 1,411,729 bags as to Arabica and also 134,236 bags as to conillon totalling 1,545,965 bags on green coffee plus 179,537 bags on soluble coffee against 2,231,732 on that same day to might.
Furthermore, until June a few or many, requests how to issue certificates as for origin being June shipments totalled 2,164,328 bags against 2,485,328 bags at that same day to may.

A leading legal specialist to exotic coffees, has made public this partnership with Jacqui Christian as to Pitcairn Island, the remote island in the South Pacific.
The last remaining British overseas territory in the Pacific, the Pitcairn Islands have to be formed usage a group on four volcanic islands to the southern Pacific Ocean, as for which only the second largest, Pitcairn, is inhabited.
Guy Wilmot of Sea Island Coffee said, The islands must be very best known as home place of the descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, as well as the Tahitians who accompanied them.
by only 50 inhabitants from nine families, Pitcairn is also notable being being the least populated and many remote jurisdiction on the areas. Indeed, the Mutiny and also the mutineers’ families were immortalised on absolute Hollywood films.
a warm or hot environment I would envision from the Pitcairn Islands, this coffee is exceedingly rare. planting wild in the able to conceive volcanic soil as for Pitcairn as well as harvested usage Jacqui Christian, whose ancestry is obvious, this is produced on tiny quantities.
We probably are lucky indeed how to allow this endless lost coffee on our possession such is the challenge on sourcing and producing this. For example, Pitcairn lacks a harbour or airstrip forcing most sell how to be allowed use longboat how to as well as out of the occasional visiting relocate.
its volcanic and also maritime location is clearly influential by use of the coffee’s taste as this is redolent on hazelnuts and tobacco by a pleasing, slightly salty, acidity and also a long clear, caramel aftertaste.
it is currently being created on ideal small quantities using Jacqui Christian as well as we have to be in truth proud which she has chosen main sea Island Coffee To promote and market this unique as well as incredibly rare coffee.

Good for coffee, environment

Shade-grown coffee reduces the need of fertilizers

While I may not be The Amazing Kreskin (or even Carnac the Magnificent), I feel safe in making at least one prediction for this new year — green will continue to be a very popular color, particularly as it relates to environmental concerns and the health of our planet.

“Going green” was a phrase heard often last year, in business and at home, and it is sure to be even more prevalent in both conversation and practice this year.

The specialty coffee industry has been at the forefront of global environmental and social issues for many years. It is now generally understood that what is good for the environment is probably good for humans, as well.

There are a number of certifications and labels in use in the coffee industry that address such concerns, labels such as Certified Organic, Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade. The basic idea behind these labels and certifications is that by ensuring socially and environmentally friendly practices in the |production of coffee, not only do the farmers and their lands benefit (and by extension the rest of the planet as well) but so do consumers, who then have access to the higher quality product that such certifications promote.

In my opinion, perhaps the most impactful of the coffee certifications is Bird Friendly. It’s a certification program of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, a proactive, interdisciplinary organization whose concern is promoting awareness and protection of migratory bird species wherever they may be in the western hemisphere. These folks get their hands dirty using science, politics and social forces to try to make sure that bird species and habitats from North America to South America are protected and enhanced.

It just so happens that what’s good for migrating birds is also pretty darn good for coffee, coffee farmers and consumers. Bird Friendly certification works hand in hand with shade-grown coffee, that is, coffee grown beneath a canopy of indigenous trees. Coffee that is grown this way, as opposed to modern, technologically advanced methods of farming where all non-target plants are eliminated, has a number of benefits.

Shade-grown coffee reduces or eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers, maintains better soil quality naturally, reduces erosion and provides natural mulch, reducing the need for weeding. Bird Friendly takes the idea of shade grown to a rigorous level when certifying a farm. If a coffee farm is labeled Bird Friendly it must, among other criteria, be Certified Organic from a USDA-accredited agency, there must be at least 10 species of trees and shrubs, at least three layers of foliage, the presence of leaf litter, and have at least 12 meters of canopy height.

This type of farm is a haven for migratory birds. The number of birds found on such a farm may literally be dozens of times more than in a modernized, shade-free farm. One result of that kind of bird congregation is natural pest control. No pesticides are needed in such an environment.

Because of the nature of this kind of growing environment, the coffee is also thought to be of higher quality and better taste than its clean-farm equivalent. The plants take longer to mature under a canopy of other trees, and longer maturation promotes a more full-flavored fruit. In turn, farmers are able to offer a higher quality product to the market, and theoretically reap greater financial reimbursement and an improved standard of living for their efforts.

A package of Bird Friendly certified coffee may cost a bit more than non-certified, but I believe it is worth the price when considering the positive impact such a program has on our planet, in addition to providing an excellent coffee to enjoy.

Coffee wilt disease was first reported from Central Africa in the 1920s, but was brought under control by the 1950s and was no longer considered a threat. However, it returned with a vengeance in the 1990s, taking advantage of coffee institutes weakened by years of political and economic crises.

Not-for-profit science-based development and information organisation Cabi has recently published the final report of a seven-year study on coffee wilt disease funded by the Common Fund for Commodities, together with the Eu and Dfid. The report was presented at the Common Fund for Commodities’ 20th Anniversary Seminar in The Hague in December 2009.

The research programme involved scientists from UK, France, Belgium and seven African countries including the four countries where the disease is now present: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

The disease is caused by a fungus (Fusarium xylarioides), although genetic studies carried out during the project suggest that there are at least two separate forms, one attacking only Robusta coffee, the other (found in Ethiopia alone) attacking Arabica coffee.

Unlike other coffee diseases, this one kills the plant, causing total 100% farm losses which impact smallholder farmers severely – especially since the soil remains infective for many months. The most affected countries have been Drc and Uganda where total losses to the disease exceed US$500 million. Total losses caused by the disease in the four affected countries over the last 10 years are hard to assess, but are conservatively estimated to exceed US$1 billion in lost earnings to farmers. As such it represents the largest single natural disaster ever to affect African coffee.

The project supported a range of activities to develop protective measures for the disease, including the development of resistant Robusta clones, carried out by Ugandan scientists of the Coffee Research Institute at Kituza, which will be released to farmers in 2010. This is a major achievement by those scientists, who have developed and multiplied the clones in a very short time.

Thousands of extensionists and more than one million farmers were trained during the course of the project to recognize the symptoms of the disease and take early action to prevent spread.

Despite the project’s advances, much more needs to be done, since the disease is still spreading in DRC potentially threatening West African coffee countries. Arabica coffee is also at risk if the disease were to spread southwards from Ethiopia to Kenya and beyond.