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Category: Coffee
The Journey Behind Our Coffees
Since our involvement in the coffee business in Ireland since the mid 2000’s coffee consumption has been steadily rising along with the number of outlets selling coffee. The variety of coffee styles is very apparent now too. No longer is coffee just good or bad; it’s an opinions business, where different origins and roasting techniques give huge variation to the flavour.
Coffee in the global village
Soaring global coffee consumption is good news for the economies of the countries reliant on the trade, also known as origins. In a growing market where there is huge demand for new flavours. Coffee origins are key to flavour profiles and have become distinct in their own right, similar to that of wine producing regions. This has allowed many smaller producers, like Charles Mutwiri, who produces the single origin beans for our Green Ocean Dorinish coffee, gain an international foothold enabling them to sell direct to businesses like ourselves. Selling directly allows producers to bypass the commodification of their harvest in the futures markets and coffee bean dealers of the stock exchange. We have labelled this process ‘Direct from Farm’. There is a clear line from the farm to the cup which improves transparency and providence as well as giving farmers like Charles Mutwiri visibility on future orders which is key for him in making investment decisions. Our focus with ‘Direct from Farm’ is to support developing communities by proving opportunity for them to grow and prosper.
What is coffee?
A coffee bean comes from inside a coffee cherry, which grow on coffee trees from a region of the world known as the coffee belt (between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn). We use Arabica coffee beans in all of our Woodland Coffee and Green Ocean Coffee brands. Arabica coffee beans originate from Ethiopia and accounts for over 60% of the world’s coffee. Usually grown at higher altitudes and in mountainous areas under a variety of different conditions like shade / partial sunlight etc which impact the flavour of the coffee. Much like wine, coffee flavours reflect their ‘terroir’ of climate, soil type and geomorphology.
What makes some coffee stand out?
Once the coffee cherries are harvested (when they turn bright red) they are dried and graded. As you would expect, grading is critical to the blending and roasting process and is carried out with reference to the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) rules. Once a coffee achieves a grade of 80 or above, it is categorised as speciality grade arabica. Both Green Ocean and Woodland Coffee are all specialty grade, and this has been a key reason why we won 3 out of the 6 prizes in the two coffee categories at last year’s Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards.
Woodland and Green Ocean Coffee
Each of the coffees in the Woodland and Green Ocean ranges offers difference, the flavours are contemporary, balanced and nuanced. Roasted in Ireland, all of our coffees proudly carry the ‘Guaranteed Irish’ logo and both Woodland and Green Ocean fund real environmental projects here in Ireland which deliver long term measurable benefits in terms of carbon sequestration and biodiversity improvement on land and in our coastal seas.
If you fancy finding out a bit more about our award-winning coffee that makes the world we live in a better place, then please get in touch!
More about Woodland Coffee here
More about Green Ocean Coffee here
Launching Green Ocean Coffee
At Watermark, we are committed to running our business in a way that minimises our environmental impact. This is an unrelenting process that requires a lot of thought and vigilance but we’re up for the challenge!! As a person who has always been deeply interested in the natural world, I feel that our business has an opportunity to do more than just minimise our environmental impact in a way that is meaningful, transparent, and measurable.
From Woodland Coffee (and 27,000 trees later)
Buoyed on by the success and response to our Woodland Coffee initiative, launched in 2020, I felt that I wanted to do a project that involves my love of coffee and the sea. After 3 years, which involved a lot of research, planning, scrapping plans, starting over, more research, negotiating, refinement of ideas, the output of this process is a new coffee brand called Green Ocean Coffee.
Making Green Ocean Coffee a reality!
While getting to this stage has not been straightforward; the idea behind Green Ocean Coffee is simple; for each bag of Green Ocean Coffee purchased, 1 square metre of seabed will be restored to promote the development of oyster and sea grass reefs in Clew Bay Co Mayo, Ireland. We have partnered with Clew Bay Oyster Co-Op to restore 180 hectares of ancient fishing grounds in Clew Bay which are now closed to fishing and are designated as special areas of conservation (SAC). The restoration involves creating a habitat that allows for oysters, and in turn seagrass to re-establish. This habitat is wonderful for expanding biodiversity as oyster reefs and seagrass beds provide excellent nursery grounds for juvenile fish and marine invertebrates. Below is a video introduction on Green Ocean Coffee. There is a lot more information on the website www.greenoceancoffee.ie (Click here to link)
The Coffee itself
We have selected a different style of coffee for our Green Ocean blends favouring more medium and lighter roasts that are a combination of single origin and multi farm blends. The coffee is sourced directly from the coffee farmer, and we have chosen these based on quality but also for the progressive production and sustainability values that the farmers represent. I invite you to read about these farmers like Charles Mutwiri in Kenya who is a changemaker in terms of developing a profitable business that provide opportunities for his community while also championing female participation in the coffee industry.
Apart from amazing coffee, this is a truly wonderful project on so many levels. The oceans play such an important role in regulating the earth’s temperature and in absorbing atmospheric carbon. Sea grass and shellfish play a pivotal role in sequestering carbon at a speed which is unrivalled by the rainforest or anywhere else in the natural world. A healthy coastal habitat is critical in decarbonising food production and provides a focal point for tourism that benefits everyone.
We have had tremendous help from our friends in Ocean Divers, namely Monica Schaefer, Willie Siddel and Brian Murphy, Geoff Robinson in Bord Iascaigh Mhara and of course Alex Blackwell and Michael Mulloy of Clew Bay Oyster Co-Op. Their enthusiasm and knowledge have helped make Green Ocean Coffee a reality.
Green Ocean Coffee is a positive environmental action initiative aimed at ‘changemaker’ businesses that want amazing speciality grade coffee but also want to make a meaningful and measurable difference. If you think Green Ocean Coffee would suit you and your office or cafe, then we would love to hear from you so we can arrange a coffee tasting and you can find out more about us and Green Ocean Coffee. If you just want a bag to try at home then click here for the shop. I really hope that you can get behind this super project and be apart of this exciting journey.
David Lawlor, CEO
Like to get involved? This is why you should!
The Cost of Coffee
Those involved in the coffee trade over the past 2 years and have seen gyrations to the coffee price that were previously inconceivable. The worldwide supply of coffee has reduced due to damage from late frosts in Brazil in May 2020 combined with the covid difficulties in productivity and shipping. Brazil who are the world’s largest coffee producer, at 2.4m tonnes, has more impact on coffee price and supply that any other producer.
The net effect of this is a reduction in available supply of coffee for export and accordingly a steady and continuous rise in green bean coffee prices. In July 2019 the traded price for arabica green beans was USD$2.99 per kg, this had increased to USD$5.84 by February 2022. For those of us in the coffee importing countries, this is a significant price increase which makes us look at our own businesses and decide what we need to do to stay competitive while offering our customers an attractive proposition.
But before we blame climate change and covid for our woes, it’s worth looking at this from the coffee producing nations’ perspective. Up until 2019, there was an oversupply of green bean coffee (primarily from Brazil). As a result, the price of coffee was steadily falling; in economic terms, coffee is considered to have ‘inelastic demand’ (as the price of green bean coffee drops this does not lead to similar increases in demand) but the price is hugely influenced by the amount of supply. The reasons for the steady price decrease occurred due to the rapid rise in production capacity (in Brazil), slower growth in coffee consumption (most people don’t drink more coffee because it’s cheaper), excess power by the major coffee roasters and a depreciation of the Brazilian Real against the US Dollar.
The net effect of this was calamitous for smaller producing countries (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Honduras, Columbia etc) who are almost always in the developing world and are hugely dependent on exporting green bean coffee to fund the basic running of their countries. For the farmers themselves, this resulted in communities adopting ‘coping strategies’ that include reducing the maintenance on coffee plants, reduced expenditure on health, education and so on. The governments of coffee producing countries did try and club together to set up minimum price per kg but these have largely been unsuccessful due to the temptation to break ranks.
So in May 2020, the Brazilian coffee crop has a fright, the challenge of Covid put pressure on previously efficient supply channels and the western coffee drinking world had to stop and rethink their strategy. Smaller coffee producing counties come back into focus as the prices look reasonable. At Watermark we are no different, we launched our Tibradden single origin blend from Kenya at the beginning of the year and the coffee has been a great addition to our Woodland Coffee range.
Who knows what will happen over the next few years but what has happened recently to the price of coffee probably reflects an inherent fairness. The price increases seen of recent times merely reflects a more equitable situation whereby growers are getting a better deal.
Getting your coffee just right
Whether you are a home coffee enthusiast or operate in a busy café, ensuring you get the best from your coffee and coffee equipment demands vigilance.
In no particular order; the top tips to help you get the most of your coffee and your espresso machine are:
1 Make sure your machine is clean, serviced and working correctly
Backflushing the shower disk and group head is essential to ensure that the espresso flavours are vibrant and are not tainted with stale coffee oils which can give a smokey after taste to the coffee. Use espresso machine detergent tablets or powder and follow the instructions in terms of the correct dose for each group. Overdosing detergent powder can cause the brew valve to block, so be careful.
Adhere to the recommended service interval, this will both save money in terms of catching things like water filters that require changing. It is also a chance to recalibrate the machine settings if they require adjustment and replace wear and tear parts which are vital to ensure the coffee machine is operating correctly.
2 Calibrate your grinder to ensure you get perfect coffee flavour extraction
Espresso that is brewed too fast or too slow ruins the flavour extraction. The grinder is key to regulating the flow and making sure that this is running perfectly is essential in delivering quality coffee. We have several ‘How To’ videos that demonstrate how to adjust the grinders we use. Click here to see the range of videos
3 Buy good quality coffee
Matching your coffee choice with your budget is essential; try and pick coffee that is either 100% Arabica or close to it. Not all coffee is created equally and there are still some terrible coffee beans for sale in the market. All the Watermark coffee bean blends that we sell are high grade speciality espresso Arabica.
4 Keep an eye on your measurements
Making sure that each of your coffee drinks have a balanced flavour is key here. Once you are happy that you have achieved this balance for the cup size, record and compare regularly:
- the amount of coffee being dosed from the grinder,
- the amount of water is being extracted through the espresso shot
5 Keep your beans fresh and free from oxidisatio
For the most part, coffee beans are now packed with nitrogen infusion which dramatically helps in eliminating oxidisation when the coffee beans are sealed in their bag. The real harm from oxidisation occurs when the bags are open, and the beans are sitting in the bean hopper for longer than they should. Ideally try and keep the amount of beans exposed to the air as low as possible, storing the remaining beans in an airtight container. Using a ‘grind on demand’ grinder really helps with preventing oxidisation with ground coffee.
6 Avoid overheating your milk when making cappuccino, latte and flat white
This can be a tricky one to gauge as some people like their latte made with very hot milk. In Italy, cappuccino / latte is served at about 62/63 degrees centigrade which would be largely unacceptable to most people here. I like my flat white made to about 66 to 67 degrees as it allows the coffee and milk flavours to complement each other. Avoid going over 72 degrees as the milk starts to burn at this temperature and the steamed milk loses its consistency and flavour. I usually recommend operators to gauge the temperature with their hand placed (outside) on the side of the jug as it’s being steamed and turn the wand off when it’s hot. If you’re unsure of when this is, then a milk thermometer can be useful.
7 Keep an eye on your water quality
I had a customer in Northern Scotland who used to claim that his water was the magic ingredient; his coffee did taste wonderful! As you would expect, water quality plays a large role in coffee flavour. While it can be difficult to change your mains water supply, you can invest in water filtration to ensure you are getting the best from it.
For our commercial customers I recommend that those making coffee for customers have a coffee every day from their machine and really concentrate on how it tastes. This daily routine helps identify anything that might need adjustment or attention. If you would like to find out more, please drop us a line at info@watermark.ie
All the best
David
Increasing footfall in a coffee business
With more and more new cafes opening, the challenge for a lot of cafes is how to hold on to and attract customers in the door. While there is no single panacea; it’s an accumulation of doing a lot right that keeps people coming back and talking about your coffee business. When all is said and done, the personal recommendation is key whether by word of mouth or on-line in getting customers coming through the door. While this is not a definitive list of suggestions, hopefully it might get you thinking about some of the solutions that might work for your situation.
Quality is key
Having amazing coffee and coffee equipment will unfortunately not guarantee amazing coffee. Coffee grinder calibration, coffee machine cleaning and barista skill all play a pivotal role and these need to be monitored closely. The best way I find is to taste the coffee every day to check that it is tasting the way I need it to. I find that that this requires a little more that taking a coffee ‘on the run’ but more a ‘sit down’ and concentrate on what flavours are coming through.
Try and personalise your business.
Your business is very likely very personal to you as mine is to me. Given the volume of customers that come through your door every day, It can be difficult to give all your customers a personalised experience that feels genuine but if you can start with one customer at a time, it builds up fast. Rather than talking at your customers, try and get them to talk to you. Sometimes this is as simple as asking them – ‘How are you?’ Whatever approach you think works for you, give it a go and see the reaction!
Be easily found
Claim your business on Google, Yelp and Trip Advisor. Listing your coffee shop’s ‘Business Profile’ correctly in Google is a great way to ensure people searching for a café or restaurant p in your area can quickly find out all they want to know, via Google Search or Google Maps. Claiming your business is free. Make sure that you complete every section of your profile, including opening hours, your address, phone number and a link to your website if you have one.
Asking for feedback and reviews
Increasing the number of reviews on google, trip advisor and yelp is a really great way of increasing your relevance on Google. Getting people to leave a review can be difficult as people are busy. Just remember most people want to say something positive. Try and respond to all reviews even the ones you’re not happy with.
Have something interesting to engage your customers with.
Over the past year, many of our Woodland Coffee customers have been telling their customers how many trees have been planted and the expected CO2 that is expected to be sequestered from the coffee sales at their café. Usually this is as simple as putting it on a chalk board. This is a really great way of getting a message across that is specific to the café and their customers.
If you would like to find out more about Woodland Coffee or how we can help, please drop us email oninfo@watermark.ieor call us on 01 4666304.
What is happening in global coffee markets?
It’s been a year of turmoil on international coffee markets. The price of green bean coffee has steadily increased month on month since the start of the year pushing up prices by 43%. So what’s behind these increases?
Damage to the Brazilian coffee crop
Brazil is the largest producer of greenbean coffee amounting to 44% of the worldwide supply (and equates to 22,400 60kg bags). Rainfall in Brazil has been significantly less during the year causing drought which weakens coffee trees and reduces their productivity in terms of quantity and quality. In addition to drought, there were a series of late frosts during the summer which caused additional damage to the growing trees as temperatures were on average half what they should have been. Many farmers were left with a damaged crop as well as the need to ‘stump’ their trees or replant them altogether. Yet another timely reminder of the fragility of our ecosystem and the impact that small changes in weather can have on food production.
Pandemic supply chain bottlenecks
A global confusion in container freight is adding the difficulty in getting supply from coffee producers in Vietnam to foreign markets. Vietnam predominately produces robusta coffee which is not used for our speciality grade coffee but a shortage of supply from one market tends to push up demand for other suppliers and hence more upward price pressure. Hopefully as the global supply chain return to normal over the coming months this particular challenge will dissipate.
Coffee Consumption
In case you didn’t know it already, we’re drinking more coffee. Coffee consumption has increased year on year and this year it’s expected that demand will outstrip supply by 1.4m tonnes. The effect of steady increasing demand with the uncertainty around the Brazilian coffee crop in 2022 and 2023 its sending upward pressure on the coffee futures price
The Coffee Bean Journey
Coffee is one of the World’s most traded commodities. Coffee production, farming and processing are continually advancing with a continual focus on improving the quality of the coffee green beans. The increasing sophistication in consumer demand requires that coffee bean production incorporates the nuanced flavours of their ‘terroir’ into the cup.
The coffee beans that we encounter are largely divided between two varietals, Robusta beans and Arabica beans. Robusta coffee plants are grown at lower altitude and are more resilient to frost and disease but their flavours are less complex and subtle than Arabica beans. Robusta beans have a stronger flavour with more caffeine and are typically used in instant coffee. Arabica beans are grown at higher altitudes in mountainous areas and tend to be what is used for speciality coffee and accounts for approximately 60% of the world’s production.
A coffee tree takes between 3 and 5 years for it to mature and produce coffee cherries. Like most plants, the coffee tree flowers and when pollinated, produces the cherry. The coffee cherry is allowed to ripen on the tree and picked when it turns red. The ripe cherries are processed which involves drying and sorting. Key factors influencing flavour at this stage are the drying methods used, whether natural or mechanical, humidity, stirring, airflow and the avoidance of additional water. Even the surface on which the coffee is dried can impact the final flavour.
Once dried the coffee beans (known as green beans) are graded by Q graders and packed and sent on their merry way around the world for blending and roasting. The reason why they tend not to be roasted in the country of origin is to allow for further blending to achieve a particular taste profile and also to ensure that the coffee does not unduly deteriorate during transport as a result of oxidation which greatly impacts the taste of the coffee during brewing.
All of our coffees are 100% high grade speciality Arabica coffee beans to give a range of flavours to suit your offering. We are always experimenting with new blends to give our range the extra edge, like to find out more? Drop us a line on info@watermark.ieor call us on 01 4666304.
#coffee #specialitycoffee #watermarkcoffee
Coffee and Sport
With the Olympics starting in a few weeks time, coffee is the drink of choice for many athletes; here are some of the reasons why:
Coffee burns fat and boosts energy
The high levels of caffeine in coffee significantly improve the ability to burn fat during exercise by increasing fat oxidation and metabolism. Once caffeine enters the bloodstream, the body responds in several ways. Blood pressure and heart rate increase, fat stores are broken down, and fatty acids are released into the bloodstream. As a result many people feel energised and ready for exercise.
Coffee Enhances Athletic Performance
“Caffeine is effective for enhancing various types of performance when consumed in low-to-moderate doses,” according to a position stand from the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Caffeine enables an athlete to train longer and with greater power output. Caffeine was also shown to improve endurance levels and resistance to fatigue.
Endurance athletes appear to benefit greatly from coffee. Coffee stimulates the body to burn fat instead of muscle glycogen (sugar), during long workouts. This allows for prolonged use of working muscles.
Coffee Promotes Better Concentration
Coffee and caffeine have been shown to improve mental focus. Caffeine is a natural stimulant that can improve brain function and have a positive impact on the areas of the brain responsible for memory and concentration. When thinking is sharp, workouts and exercise become more productive and effective.
Coffee Reduces Muscle Pain
Based on studies carried out in the US, drinking a cup of coffee prior to exercise may help those who suffer from ‘stitch’ caused by the build up of lactic acid in muscles. Participants who consumed coffee prior to a work out reported less muscle pain and better performance during the final set of repetitions.
Coffee Helps Fight Disease
Coffee contains powerful antioxidants shown to reduce our risk of disease. Antioxidants work by removing free radicals that cause inflammation in the body resulting in illnesses and diseases. According to research published in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “coffee provides one of the greatest sources of antioxidants in the American diet.”
Inject some summer feeling with an Iced Caramel Latte!
Variety is the spice of life, as my mother used to say when we were young; along with phrases like ‘there are more fish in the sea’ (which never really helped, sorry Mum!). But adding an extra dimension to the beverage menu is a simple and easy way to improve customer engagement at the counter as well as on social media. Iced coffee is unlikely to replace the popularity of regular Americano or Latte but it definitely appeals to the younger customer base.
We have teamed up with a New Zealand Company called Shott that produces a range of ‘super premium’ fruit and spice syrups using only natural ingredients with no added sugars, colouring or flavouring. The result is a syrup that oozes bold natural flavours and does not have that synthetic taste that other highly processed sugared syrups have.
The great news is that there is an abundance of recipe ideas that you can tailor to your own situation that suits your set up and customers. For starters, let’s look at an Iced Caramel Latte, it real simple. Just mix 20ml of Shott Caramel, 200ml of full cream milk, 30 ml of espresso coffee and ice. Garnish with some caramel and Voila!
There are hundreds of recipe ideas to choose from and each come with simple instruction in terms of the recommended serving suggestion or you can simply come up with a few of your own signature ideas. The Shott website has lots of inspiration to get you going and we can also send you some recipe booklets by email, just let us know.
A Summer Outside
Coffee from horseboxes is a new phenomenon of living with lockdown. Given the surge in demand for coffee machines going into horseboxes there is apparently plenty of demand from the public to support these local entrepreneurs that see and seize their opportunity. For those with existing businesses and premises that may be operating at reduced capacity or are currently closed, there is a great opportunity to adapt the offering and increase revenue into the business.
Coffee is a great ‘horsebox’ product because it’s easy to handle, low preparation, attractive margin and customers don’t necessarily need to take a seat or table. For existing businesses with reputation, power, water, refrigeration all close to hand an adaptation of the business model should be reasonably straight forward. Whether it’s moving an existing coffee machine and running it off a pumped water bottle system or putting in a smaller 1 or 2 group machines like the Gaggia Ruby, there are plenty of options that can boost your revenues; who knows it might become a permanent feature of your business once lockdown eases!
It’s worth checking out to see if your business qualifies for an ‘outdoor dining grant’ which is being administered through Failte Ireland to help businesses adjust to the new operating environment.
If you would like to find out more about what coffee equipment might be most suitable, please give us a call or drop us a line, we’d love to hear from you.
#outdoordining #coffeetogo #summer2021 #supportlocal
