Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Daterra, Brasil unloaded



So after some hours of hard work we managed to unload the container with green beans from Daterra, Brasil, from who we now are buying directly.
Even if we are not used to this kind of intense carrying, it is really rewarding to get some physical experience of the coffee. It really makes you think about what gigantic work it is in the farm before the coffee even gets to us. Humble greetings from the loaders. Now it is up to us to carry on with the rest.

Bom trabalho mineiros ! Beleeeza!

6 comments:

Rob Berghmans said...

Isn't this a bit late?
AKC has there container Daterra in stock since the beginning of December already.
Not to be negative, but at the price you're selling this i hope to have the freshest beans on the market.
Or is the price lower now you buy these beans in bulk?

Anonymous said...

Hi Roberto

It's great to have someone asking about freshness of the green coffee. Most people here in Denmark are slowly just starting to learn about the freshness after roasting, but as we've discussed earlier on this blog, fresh green coffee is also important.

The Daterra has been shipped directly from the farm after they loaded the container. Of course some of the bigger shipments might have left Daterra earlier. After all, they usually don't ship anything else than full containers, so we were fortunate to be able to buy our smaller quantity directly from them. One month later is not much when you're talking coffee logistics. I know specialty roasters in the States who's been waiting over 10 months for coffee to get out of Ethiopia!
Regarding freshness of this particular coffee, remember that Daterra use their Penta packaging for their higher quality coffees. This means it's not packed in coffee (jute) bags but in vacummed, nitrogen-flushed bags, which greatly improves the longevity of the coffee. So I think we can still guarantee the freshness.
Regarding the price, there will be a pleasant Direct Trade update soon.
Hope that answers your question.

Anonymous said...

Without a doubt, there is not any company that is more fanatical and proactive about raw freshness than Terroir. We also have a great relationship with Daterra. Terroir still has't received new crop Daterras.

I believe the only way it'll consistently get much faster than this would be if Daterra decreases the time the coffee intentionally rests in Brasil, or by flying the coffee, though flying it can be too difficult.

In agreement with Klaus, I'm thrilled you're concerned about raw freshness, Rob.

Anonymous said...

And to be clear, I think the Daterras are fresh enough right now, and this is a great, delicious vintage from Daterra!

Rob Berghmans said...

Don't get me wrong, it tastes fantastic.
I had 60K coming in from my roaster last tuesday and sold already 10K. They seal the bags and replace the air with oxygine, or how do you call it? Because they ship it to France, Russia, STates and others. If you finish the bags fast after opening it brings good results. All our other coffee's are maximum two weeks old, but this week we can keep it in stock for a month.

This week i'll post a new article on the blog about this wonderful bean. Yeah!
By the way ; we tested the Daterra from CC and Teroir. Both great roasting and comparable with ours, that's roasted on a (very) big 1965 Probat.

Anonymous said...

Just a few more thoughts about freshness of greens. If one lot from the Daterra 2007 harvest has arrived early december and another lot has arrived early january all during december the first lot will be of new crop and therefore fresher. From january and untill next crop the two lots will everything else equal be exactly equally fresh.
Things that might disturb this picture is if the coffee was stored worse at origin than at the roasters, but in the case of daterra (as Klaus mentioned) this does not seem to me to be relevant since their storage at origin is extremely carefull. When arrived at the roasters it is their task to protect the freshness where I agree that Terroir is at the forefront.
Another thing is that as I remember the harvest at Daterra is lasting for at least two month and therefore if we are down to judge freshness on a finer scale than harvest year we need to know harvest dates. In theory the january lot could be fresher if it was from the late harvest and the december lot from the early harvest!

My point is that I don't think arriving dates within one or two month is the best indicator of green freshness -lots of other factors are into play.

Nevertheless as the other commentators I am thrilled that these questions are raised since it gives good discussions and keeps us on the toes!

 
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