by Carlo Odello *

Consumer Reports, operating in the field of mass consumption product assessment in the United States since 1936, have just tested 37 leading coffee blends on offer on the American market. Their report reads:

None of the 37 caffeinated and decaffeinated varieties tested by Consumer Reports coffee experts earned an Excellent or Very Good rating.

And that would be fair, as we know that the American market is accustomed to all sorts of products, mainly of mediocre quality (mind, the same could be said about us). The following statement is less convincing:

However, java lovers can still find at least a few Good cups of coffee. Starbucks House Blend and Green Mountain Signature Nantucket Blend Medium Roast perked to the top of the 14 caffeinated blends that earned a Good rating from Consumer Reports.

At 26 and 23 cents per cup respectively, both the Starbucks House Blend and Green Mountain Signature Nantucket Blend Medium Roast offer a good combination of taste and price. Both have an earthy, woody taste, but Starbucks was found to be a fairly bitter to very bitter darker roast, while the Green Mountain has green/sharp flavor.

In other words, the findings point out that, despite their earthy and woody aroma, Starbucks and Green Mountain lead the ranking of the tested coffees. Which could make sense, as such blends might at any rate be the less unappealing in the ambit of American coffee for mass consumption. But it is surprising to find out that Consumer Reports’ assessment is however positive. That means that two intolerable faults, such as earthy and woody aromas, are tolerated after all.

Such America is absolutely different from the one influenced by the Third Wave (or is it already Fourth Wave?) and by specialty coffee which, leaving aside some twisted principles, pursue total quality. And by no means equal to those Italians who continue proposing high level products, either exported from fatherland or produced in the States by operators of Italian descent.

Yet if, as we love doing, we compare ourselves to the United States we will realise that mediocrity is promoted by many in our country, too. And that such people, forgive me if I sound a little old fashioned, are active in educating the mass to appreciate faulty and disappointing coffee. This time the States do not rank first.

* Trainer and member of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters

The International Institute of Coffee Tasters is pleased to announce that an Espresso Italiano Tasting course will be organised in cooperation with FAC S.p.a. – Porcellane ACF. The course will be held in English on the 12th of February 2010 at FAC’s headquarters in Albisola Superiore (Savona, Italy).

To get more information please write to Debora Tallarico (debora.tallarico@acf.it) or to Carlo Odello (carlo.odello@italiantasters.com). For a description of the course, please visit the website.

by Carlo Odello *

A flash of lightning across the serene sky of the American coffee scene: Starbucks, the giant of the 16,000 cafes scattered between the four corners of the earth, gambles its name.  As Jason Daley’s optimal article for Entrepreneur Magazine reports, this summer the colossus from Seattle opened a new cafe.  However, it was not called Starbucks; instead, they named it, "15th Ave Coffee and Tea," decorated in a completely different style and operated by a completely different mindset than the traditional cafes.

Why would an international chain whose very trademark became its driving force, a shamelessly global business that serialized the cafe concept, suddenly try to play it local?  One simple motive: it needs to return to the community and connect to its territories to make the consumer perceive it in a different way.  It is no longer the great homogenous chain, the coffee empire over which the sun will never set; instead, it is becoming a social place in service of the community.

The good news for Italian baristas: you are ahead of Starbucks. You are already local, you already serve your communities, you are already part of the social fabric; more accurately, you help build it.  Besides, the Seattle colossus admitted it: Italy is a difficult market, with a capillaceous presence, rooted and diffused in its tens of thousands of cafes.  Frankly put: a nightmare for the commercial logic of Starbucks.

The bad news for the Italian baristas: you are behind Starbucks.  Most of you do not do any marketing whatsoever.  The overwhelming majority of your cafes all look the same: even though they are not part of any chain, they are still characterized by that conformity typical of franchises, almost always offering the same banal and homologous products.  And yet, one could do so much more with very little: in addition to paying closer attention to the coffee, which wouldn’t hurt anyone, why not start thinking of ways to make these cafes truly unique?

Dear Italian baristas, take from Starbucks a different way of marketing. You have the advantage of being local, something for which the American giant now aspires. One step further and you will be in the future.

* Trainer and member of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters

Espresso Italiano Roasting, the new publication from the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, has just been published. It is completely focused on the Italian way of roasting and blending.

Italian espresso stands out as a concrete expression of the elegance typical of “Made in Italy”, products covering the key role of testimonial of our agro-food culture. And this is why science can only resort to all the modern available means to photograph this art, hoping to replicate and innovate it.

And the aim of Espresso Italiano Roasting is all about this, in fact it focuses on collecting and arranging the output of coffee research using appropriate technical terms to promote its diffusion, giving special attention to the current available means in the field of coffee roasting. As a matter of fact, each single chapter and paragraph is soaked in sensory analysis, which is the main tool used at present for selecting green coffee, setting the roasting process and realizing the blends. The countless correlations involving chemistry, technology and sensory results will easily guide the readers, giving them the tools to understand phenomena they have certainly already observed in the past without the necessary competence.

Espresso Italiano Roasting is in fact based on the experience that the author has achieved with the courses held by the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, the thousands of consumer and laboratory tests carried out by the Taster Study Centre and the tens of samples that have undergone sophisticated chemical analysis.

Espresso Italiano Roasting is only available in electronic format (high resolution PDF) and can be ordered on the website of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. The index and the first chapter are freely downloadable from the same website.

by Luigi Odello

Secretary General of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, he is also a lecturer at the University of Udine, Verona and at the Cattolica in Piacenza. In addition he is the Chairman of the Taster Study Center and Secretary General of the Italian Espresso National Institute

 Why do I have to drink just 25 milliliters of coffee? There are moments in which you need to drink and our organism is satisfied only by a high quantity. And in these moments it is possible to commit two crimes: to water down wine and to order a ‘long’ at the bar.

Let go of the first and consider the second. What does happen in the 99% of cases in which you order a long espresso to the barman? He will let the liquid flow from the espresso machine till the cup is full. And if you have asked for a long in a big cup, he won’t make a different thing, and if he had a little good sense he will stop at three quarters.
The crime is then done: the espresso is not short or long, the Italian espresso, the best in the world, is of 25 milliliters because the blend is projected like that. Instant substances, suspended and emulsified, will reach the right balance in the cup to the strike of the 25th milliliter.

If it will be less, it means that a part of the components is not already pass in the extraction water, if it will be more the extraction will have effect of ever growing shares of unpleasant substances. But there is more. When the coffee is long the cooking is anomalous during the extraction phase and so the disgust grows. In many countries out of Italy, where less than 50 millilitres is not served, they maintain the grinding coarser and so they reduce the problem (more or less).

But what we can do if we want a real long coffee? The best long coffee that I have drunk in the world is the Peruvian ‘gota a gota’, made with a coffee syrup obtained with a particular coffeemaker. To make this coffee concentrate the real adepts need a couple of hours, keep on adding little quantity of hot water on the ground coffee and waiting that it goes down drop by drop. But then they have got coffee for a whole day: they just need to dilute the syrup with some hot water. And everyone can drink as much coffee has they want to. The only important thing is to use quality coffees as well as the washed Peruvians.

At home we have got different possibilities: the Neapolitan coffeemaker, the percolator, the siphon and the filter in last place because it isn’t useful to give quality. But if we have got an espresso machine, which you can find almost everywhere, or we are at the bar, how can we have a great long coffee? It is easy: a big cup and hot water apart. You extract the espresso in the right quantity and add as much water as you want. An excellent espresso holds till five parts of water, so you can have a big cup of 150 millilitres, like the cappuccino one. Pay attention however: do not you think you can do it without quality coffee just because you are drinking it long. Especially in this case you have to choose blends rich of washed coffees, better if there are some citrus aromas which are the best ones for dilution.

by Carlo Odello *

From Portland to Vancouver, via Seattle. Three cities, three states, two nations. But one great love for the quality of life and fine food. A love that express itself in a choice of high-level restaurants, expression of the diverse world cuisines that meet in this cities. A passion that involves the wine too, with its continued holding of more or less mundane events that bring in these cities the best producers worldwide.

And a visceral love for coffee. A fervent activity which is reflected in thousands of coffee shops, owned by the most important chains or independent. Yes, indeed: the independent ones, run by entrepreneurs who, in total financial autonomy, have decided to make coffee their business. And in many cases almost a reason for living. People that welcome you in the coffee shop with a pride and an enthusiasm that leaves you amazed.

Baristas who are not there by chance, people who made a precise choice and who prepared themselves for this. People ready to pull out a few thousand dollars to learn how to make a business plan for their shop, to understand how to manage it from a financial point of view, to develop a marketing that will give them a possibility more with respect to the fierce competition. Baristas who treat their equipment as objects of a liturgy: difficult to find a dirty machine, the metal always shines, the hoppers of the grinders are impeccable.

In any case there is something that leaves you a little confused. Because if it is true that the bow must be well tended if you want the arrow to go far, it is equally true that you must take a good sight. In most coffee shops you have the impression that the search for the perfection has led to a race in which who fills the filter the most wins. If you do not specify that you want a single espresso you will nearly always have a double, even triple one, considering that it is extracted from 20 grams of ground coffee. The feeling, as some Canadian friends confirm, is that they have misunderstood the concept of espresso: it has to be powerful, but someone said that power is nothing without control. Certainly, most of the cups go into cappuccinos, lattes and other beverages.

Yet, well begun is half done. And then, let’s start again, we said in the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. Well, we said, let’s see if we can bring the word of Italian espresso in such a complicated context. So we took the occasion of the invitation by Caffè Umbria, which for years has been working only with the Italian standard. So with the help of Pasquale Madeddu, Emanuele Bizzarri and Jesse Sweeney the first two Espresso Italiano Tasting courses were born. For the first time we went overseas, more precisely in Vancouver and Portland.

Our impression? At first a little difficulty by the participants to understand exactly the Italian standard, but at the end of the course, satisfaction on their part for the experience. It was helpful to them to hear the voice of Italy and they have finally taken the right measures of what is truly an Italian espresso. That’s the beauty of America: it is the land of opportunities. You just need to know how to catch them. The door is now open and some strange ideas about espresso have been eradicated, at least in the minds of our first students.

* Trainer and member of the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters

The Aibes, the Italian Association of Barmen and Supporters, and the Italian Espresso National Institute will work together in the professional channel of coffee with the objective to increase professionalism in this industry. This is the objective of the agreement signed between the two associations involving the intervention of the National Italian Espresso both in competitions and in training by Aibes. In particular in the regional and national Aibes championships, the section Espresso Italiano Champion will be created. So in 2010, through the regional championships and the national competition that will follow, it will be possible to identify the best barista in Italy.

"This agreement with the Italian Espresso National Institute – said Giorgio Fadda, President of the Aibes – allows Aibes to implement the skills of our members in the coffee area, which we consider of essential importance. The qualified support of the Italian Espresso National Institute will be then used as part of our training programs. Since we believe that our competitions are an important moment of confrontation between professionals, we included in the 2010 program of competitions the section Espresso Italiano Champion: a new exciting challenge for the industry".

"The agreement between the Italian Espresso National Institute and Aibes is a historical step for the bar industry in Italy – said Gianluigi Sora, president of the Italian Espresso National Institute – Espresso Italiano Champion will be a stimulus for growth in the sector because it will reward professionalism. However, the collaboration is not just limited to competition: in fact the Italian Espresso National Institute will support Aibes in the training in the coffee sector through its members. And the partnership with Aibes will allow our professional baristas, the Espresso Italiano Specialists, to enhance their culture in mixed drinks and in the high level hospitality".

The Italian Espresso National Institute, which includes coffee roasters, equipment manufacturers and other partners that focus on quality espresso, now has 40 members with a combined turnover of around 650 million euros. The Aibes deals with developing the professionalism and skills of people working in bars through a training program that includes courses, masters, study trips and moments of confrontation between barmen and other companies in the sector. Aibes has a history of 60 years of activity and more than 3,000 associated barmen in Italy.

by Luigi Odello

Secretary General of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, he is also a lecturer at the University of Udine, Verona and at the Cattolica in Piacenza. In addition he is the Chairman of the Taster Study Center and Secretary General of the Italian Espresso National Institute

We are not resented with Coffea canephora, but this time we just can’t help to consider some of its characters that, not only justify its use in our national cup, but make some people consider it necessary. We refer to its dowry to give body to the coffee which is unique for some roasters (especially for those who want to save money and do not want to fight with baristas), but easily substitutable by Arabica of some origins, mature and perfectly roasted for some other roasters.

Just put aside malice and consider only the technical part of the issue: the search of concentrate, thick coffees, almost colloidal. Those coffees that stand with success the horrible sugar test. Are still in fashion or are they as the kind of wine perfect to be tasted but that we do not drink?

Until about twenty years ago we looked for drinkability of wine: it was said that it had to be fresh and fruity. Then slowly the thesis of the major critics arose: fleshy, concentrated, muscular wines.  The companies sacrificed on the altar of economic business all their asset to increase the density of strains in the vineyard, to reduce the amount of water in the must, to build barriques since with a touch of American-woody their wine was "trendy". The result? The reduction of volumes consumed. Indeed, could you dine with an Amarone, an Australian Shiraz or a Chilean Cabernet with an alcohol content around 15%? Now the wine to drink is coming back, most suitable to French and Italian oenology that focus on elegance, not on surprise.

At this point we wonder if it is better to reconsider the coffee, does it really matter to have a "tablet" of coffee frequently having to suffer traces of earth, wet bark, damp basement floor, pharmacy and iodized phoenix usually accompanied by a good astringency? Please go back and teach people the style, offering an Italian espresso with a very fine cream, a taste and touch profile characterised by silkiness and a flavour distinguished by valuable notes of flowers and fresh fruit, and a hint of dried fruit and spices.

*from the correspondent Antonello Monardo

The Brazilian coffee market is managing with an excess of offer. To avoid the situation to strike against producers, the minister of agriculture of Brazil, Reinhold Stephanes, argues that it is necessary to retire from the market something like 10 millions of sacks. A measure that will be adopt both this year and next one. It is estimated a sum of a billion of Brazilian reis for this operation (380 million of euro), of which 300 millions  will derived from commercialization and the rest from other sources. *

Antonello Monardo is living in Brasilia since 1992 and he his delegate of the Italian Brazilian chamber of commerce and industry. Working for café gourmet and special, he won the gold medal at the International Coffee Tasting 2008. He works on and manages classes for barmen and barwomen, he takes part to conferences and events in universities, spreading the culture of the quality coffee.

The new IIAC website is on line. We are adding content right now. We would like to publish our members’ pictures. Send us a picture of you with IIAC certificates, possibly at your workplace. We will publish it in the new members’ gallery. You can send your picture to news@coffeetasters.org.