Region Kenya: Coffee prices rise on quality

Prices for Kenyan coffee improved at Tuesday's auction ahead of a month-long seasonal break and thanks to better quality, an auction official said.

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The average price for all grades rose to $168.25 per 50-kg bag from last week's $167.99 per bag.

Although Kenya produces only about 1 percent of global output its beans are valued by roasters who blend them with coffee from other countries, earning the east African economy an average of some $100 million each year.

"The two main factors are that we are closing for a month and we are also seeing a bit of good qualities," said Daniel Mbithi, an official of a group that conducts sales at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE).

The auction will resume on January 13.

Beans that have been arriving for sale in the past few weeks have been from the tail end of the fly crop, which do not usually make top notch brews.

But better quality coffee from the main crop is now in the market.

"There is a bit of influx from the main crop and we are starting to see some good prices too," Mbithi said.

A total 20,335 bags were on offer and 16,570 of them sold for a total $3.4 million.

Ethiopia’s Coffee Crop May Fall 60% in Two Main Areas

Coffee output in the two main export-growing areas of Ethiopia, Africa’s largest producer of the beans, may decline 60 percent because of drought, the United Nations said.

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The lower harvest may aggravate malnutrition in southern Ethiopia’s Gedeo and Sidamo zones, where hunger is rife as a result of the drought, falling world coffee prices and higher food prices, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report today.

Production in Gedeo may fall 67 percent from a year earlier, while that in Sidamo may decline 53 percent, Tamirat Mulu, the author of the report, said in a phone interview in the capital, Addis Ababa, today. The report was based on a livelihood assessment carried out by relief agencies between Nov. 17 and Dec. 5. Ethiopia’s main coffee harvest is from October through December.

Ethiopia exported 170,888 metric tons of coffee last year. About 35 percent of that was high-grade washed coffee and 65 percent lower quality dried coffee. Sidama and Gedeo provide about 60 percent of Ethiopia’s washed coffee, Mulu said.

By Jason McLureDec. 17 (Bloomberg)

Region: Tanzanian Coffee prices firm at Moshi aution

Oct 3
Tanzanian coffee prices firmed slightly at last week's auction as buyers sought to cover their positions ahead of a Muslim holiday, traders said on Wednesday. The Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) said 46,150 60-kg bags were on offer on Thursday last week, with 44,984 sold. In the previous week's sale, 32,623 60-kg bags were offered for sale, with 16,926 sold.

Benchmark grade AA sold at $175-$129.40 per 50-kg bag, compared with $170.00-$130.00 per bag at the last auction. Grade A was bought at $170-$133 per 50-kg bag, compared with the previous week's $152.40-$129 per bag. "The quantities on offer were quite handsome. Generally, prices were very firm. It could be mainly (due to) shippers who are short of coffee," said Kennedy Keya, a trader with Dorman Tanzania.

"The quality is good. Prices may have been firm because there's no auction in Tanzania (this week) so many people are trying to cover their short positions." Tanzania largely produces arabica coffee but also grows robusta, thriving mostly in the northern, southern and western parts of the country in areas around Mount Kilimanjaro and Lake Victoria. The auction, held in Moshi took place on last week but TCB released the results on Wednesday.

Getting the Coffee Straight from the Beans

Good Information here!

by Johnathan Bakers

There are do many different types of beans and the plants will fall in three different categories. The Arabica, first known on the Arabian Peninsula and the Robusta that contains about two times the amount of caffeine in every cup. This is going to be something to wake you up in the morning for sure.

These beans are going to be different that of wine because of the thing called coffee berry that is decided not because of the fruit but due to the bean that is found inside it. A bean is aged perfectly, roasted and then ground and brewed. Coffee is going to be as it has never been before with this type of bean, you could use it with your cappuccino maker.

The beans are actually going to be found in two different ways. There will be green and the red with the red having the most in smelling power of oil and the much lower acid amounts. This is used to make the higher quality coffees. One of the biggest deals in the life of bean is when it leaves the shelf from the time it was plucked.

Beans are usually picked from the hands of people and this means that there are only a few baskets done a day. They have to separate the red and the green and it is something that is a big job requirement. This is due to the huge impact on the outcome of the coffee.

Having good cappuccino is going to depend on the way that the bean is picked. The fruits can be soaked, scoured, and rubbed by machines. After this, the beans are going to be washed and removed from the part that is still there. This is going to be known as the fermentation period and will bring about beans that are dried in the sun over a large concrete or rock. This will go on until at least twelve percent is determined to be water.

The beans are then going to be displayed by their size and color and done more so by a machine. Some of the beans are going to be thrown away and others will be polished to take the skin off. For some of them, the beans are going to be aged for three to eight or nine years and the others are going to be ready for roasting in one year. This will make your cappuccino makers happy!

With the 400-degrees Fahrenheit that these beans are roasted at, they will grow to at least twice their dried out size. They may crack and even change color as the green goes to brown because the oils from the inside are being released. The oil will give the different types of coffees their true and delicious taste that we love so much.

There are so many different types of techniques that have been found for the roasting part. The beans from the Java and Kenya are usually going to be barely roasted and produce a delicious flavor for coffees. Once the roasting is done the beans, will then produce a carbon dioxide for a few days and this will make the beans because rid of their gasses? Airing or packing them in the semi-permeable bags that is made for shipping only does this.

The result is going to happen a few weeks from now. They are going to be ground where there will be differences in styles and results. In some of the cases, the burr grinders are going to crush up the beans to a size that is normal like a granule. With the others, the choppers are going to be used to chop up the beans so small with a tinier result. There is also Turkish coffee that will be made with the pounding of the beans to almost powder. This will be done with mortar and pestle.

The deciding taste is the brewing. This will be where there will be a variety of styles and ways for each brewing company. All of the good differences will be in one of four degrees and they are boiling, pressure, gravity and steeping. With boiling, the water is hot and ran through the actual grounds as they are going to be filtered out. With the pressure type, this will be espresso for most, they are going to be lightly boiled and the water will force the grounds through with the intense hot pressure. The gravity or what is also known, as drip brew will have hot water dripping onto the coffee grounds that are inside filters. This is typical for most people because they are going to want to use the coffee makers that are easily bought today. Also steeping is going to be much like the method of having tea with tea bags. This is even though the bags are a lot larger than others are.

This is going to be a long journey from the places that coffee comes from but the coffee beans are going to make it to your kitchen from the jungle. Many love a great drink. With the new ways of research and the actual health benefits from the coffee consumption, increasingly love it all the time. It is a great way to have a little picked me up anytime of the day or night. There are many flavors to love and so many will want to try increasingly.

Coffee Facts - Decaffeination processes

To make coffee caffeine free, the stimulating supplement needs to be derived from the beans. Since coffee develops most of its flavour during roasting, the caffeine is extracted from the raw green coffee beans. Various methods exist to achieve this, of which the water-carbon (H2O/C) and dichloromethane (commonly known as DCM) methods are the most used. Both of these techniques extract the caffeine with a caffeine-selective solvent, which therefore leaves the other substances in the bean. Modern decaffeinating methods have no effect upon the flavour and aroma of the coffee. Good decaffeinated coffee therefore tastes almost the same as coffee containing caffeine.

Water-carbon method
This process uses water (H2O) as a solvent. The green beans are rinsed with water for a long period, during which time the caffeine dissolves into the water. The water, with its dissolved caffeine, is then pumped through an active carbon (C) filter which absorbs the caffeine. The decaffeinated beans are dried using warm air and then cooled with cold air. They are then roasted, ground and packed in the usual way. The water is re-used for the decaffeination process.

Dichloromethane process
This method employs dichloromethane (DCM) as a solvent and has been developed to suit the requirements of the out of home industry. The green beans are moistened with water in order to make the surface of the bean porous, and soaked in the solvent for 30 minutes. This is repeated several times. The beans are removed from the solvent once the caffeine has dissolved. They are then steamed for some time in order to remove any remaining solvent. Afterwards the beans are dried using warm air, then cooled with cold air. They are roasted, ground and packed in the usual way. The dichloromethane is reused for further decaffeinating.

Coffee Facts - Decaffeinated coffee

Coffee naturally contains the active supplement caffeine. The stimulating power of coffee is as well known as the outstanding taste. A lot of people appreciate this stimulating power, but there are some people that do not handle caffeine so well or do not like the stimulating effect every time of the day. For them there is decaffeinated coffee on the market. This decaffeinated coffee lacks the stimulating power of caffeine.

Normal coffee beans contain between 0.8 percent and 2.5 percent caffeine depending on origin and variety. Decaffeinated coffee is not entirely caffeine-free. In European Community (EC) countries, roasted decaffeinated coffee may contain a caffeine residue of 0.1 percent and coffee extract 0.3 percent.

What makes a Bean a "Specialty Bean"?

Like a diamond, coffee comes in "quality" classes. There are 5 of them and they relate to the number of "defects" in a 350 gram sample. Each of these classes has a different price premium and are separated as follows:
CLASS 1 - Specialty coffee: 0-5 defects
CLASS 2 - Premium grade: 6-8 defects
CLASS 3 - Exchange grade: 9-23 defects
CLASS 4 - Below Standard grade: 24-86 defects
CLASS 5 - Off grade: More than 86 defects

Class 1 is the grade you will find at Caffe-amante
Class 2 (along with class 1) demand premiums to class 3
Class 3 is the grade traded on the NYCE and bought for commodity price.
Class 4 & 5 is the typical coffee you purchase in your local grocery store and command a discount from grade3.