500 grams of water (that’s also 500ml of water volume, blessed metric) to 35 grams of coffee.  contact time 3 1/2 to 4 minutes.

makes 16ounces of coffee.  more or less.

On a serious note, I would like to mention the Cup of Excellence in El Salvador 2011, broke a record of having the most coffees to be passed into the international auction. I scored around 60+ different coffees, and 40+ of them twice, and they were all great.  Several were astounding.  I hope to remain in contact with whomever bids on the 1st place winning farm lot.  I’m in the process of going over my own cupping scores to see which other lot Cultiva may be interested in buying.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0BxNy-wJQi1z2YTY2Y2EwNmYtYWQyMi00Yjg4LTk2MjctOGQ4NDhkM2YwMDZi&hl=en

Cultiva Coffee Roasting Company has introduced it’s own coins with fluctuating value! Some days it may be as simple as a cup of soup or a cappuccino, other days it might be a travel mug! Keep your eyes and ears open for the currency changes on the Cultiva Coffee Roasting Company Facebook page!

Frequently Asked Questions:

May I buy one? Yes, but these are very limited and we may not have any in stock when asked. Please inquire if you are interested.  Limit to 5 coins per purchase. Prices do not include Sales tax, but it DOES include Lincoln’s newly established “2.5% occupation tax”, so as to pay for the new arena.

• Kettle Coin $3.75
• Roaster Coin $7.50
• Cappuccino Coin $3.00

May I exchange them for cash? No.

What if I loose them? They become lost, and are no longer redeemable by you. Maybe by the lucky one who finds it!

Do they expire? They expire when Cultiva does.

Are they good at any of the Cultiva locations? Trick question. Cultiva has only one location. You have arrived. Cultiva’s only location is at 727 S.11^th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska 68508, 11^th & G Streets, next to DaVinci’s, west side of the street, in a brick building, where Jones and dbeans once had a café.

Why is Cultiva doing this? It’s fun!

Currently, as of 1/12/2011, values for each coin are as follows:

Kettle Coin Cup of soup

Roaster Coin ½ lb. bag of regular priced coffee

Cappuccino Coin Cappuccino, traditional 6oz

(402) 435-1133 CAFÉ & ROASTERY

(We are still training staff as to how to deal with coffee wholesale and deliveries, so please bare with us.

If you need further assistance, email your order to : jon@cultivacoffee.com

or call Jon’s cell phone: (402) 802-1909

Friday morning the room broke out into discussion tables to address why and how each sector of the coffee industry would benefit from investing in the GCQRI.  At the roasting discussion table sat; Trish Rothgeb (Wrecking Ball), Thompson Owen (Sweet Maria’s), James Hoffman (Square Mile), Jon Ferguson (Cultiva), Amanda Slade (Safehouse), Byron Holcomb (Dallis Bros.), Ildi Revi (Leopard Forest), and Bruce Mullin (CBI)

As a brief summary to GCQRI’s congress experience,  we have summarized some key points as to why many small to midsize roasters may be interested in investing in the research and development initiative.

By investing in the GCQRI, roasters are:

• increasing value of coffee for the farmer, therefore  are able to directly invest in improving the quality of life for farmers.
• increasing the availability of quality coffee for the consumer, therefore securing roaster’s ability to continue to increase the level of quality coffee being sold.
• given access to participate and have a direct voice in research and development issues which are directly related to maintaining integrity of quality in coffee.

Limiting the benefits to investing in the GCQRI to these three bullet points function as a quick way to summarize the main points.  There are endless reasons why everyone should support the GCQRI’s research and development, but these three specific points were unanimously shared throughout the roasting community.  To ensure issues are addressed fairly, investors should plan to see at least one seat on the GCQRI Board of Directors representing small to mid-sized roasters. It’s a great start to a very much needed research and development effort!

Jacek A. Koziel, Ph.D. (right)

On another note,  I met Dr. Jacek Koziel, Associate Professor of Air Quality Engineering and Livestock Odor, from Iowa State University’s Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.  Dr. Koziel invited Cultiva’s staff to join him in his lab to analyze the aromatic compounds in a coffee selection from Cultiva’s inventory.  He is currently involved in a project which is analyzing the aromatics of the potato defect in coffee.  He also informed me about his previous research on ladybugs, informing me  on how the color of a ladybug’s shell determines a certain amount of distinct aromatic compounds that…nevermind, this man is amazing!

The only thing I need to do now is choose which coffee to sample!  Kenyan perhaps?

Women sorting coffee in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia typcially earn approximately 80¢ for working an eight hour shift. They need to arrive to the warehouse early, with no guarantee they will be given a place to sit in order to earn their daily pay. They are not farmers, nor are they (to the best of my knowledge) directly apart of the system in which Fair Trade coffees protect. Higher prices can only help these women in the long run. A cup of coffee can no longer be cheap, unless the consumer is fine with the continued exploitation of cheap labor in impoverished nations.

Cultiva revitalized the option of offering our  coffee  for sale online!  For the last several years I have purposefully made it slightly difficult to buy Cultiva’s coffee selections online, not to be mean, but to help Cultiva develop it’s roots locally in order to build a solid foundation.   With the demand of our coffees growing, the economy struggling, and coffee prices dramatically increasing on an international level, I’ve decided to launch Cultiva’s goodies to a wider audience in hopes of increasing our sales.  I also would like to mention that with the price of coffee increasing dramatically, everyone, including wholesale accounts, will see an increase and transformation in our price structure.  We will no longer be selling most of our coffee at the same price.  We will also not lower our quality standards of our single origins due to the economic crunch.   Many people may see other roasting companies raise their prices and also search for the cheapest “Fair Trade Organic” or single origin coffees available, regardless of the overall flavor or quality of the bean.  At Cultiva, we will continue to search for the most traceable and  transparent quality tasting single origin Mirco-lot coffees available to us, and will also continue to offer Fair Trade and Organic Certified coffees at a competitive price.

If you purchase Cultiva, whether from our café or as a wholesale customer, and have any questions regarding our pricing, please  call (402) 742-7865 and ask our roasting crew about the changes.  We are building a “tier” system for our coffees.  Most FTO’s will remain within a reasonable similar pricing as before, including the following; FTO Espresso, FTO Sirius, FTO Saratoga, FTO Chiapas, and FTO Sumatra.  All other single origin coffee retail prices will be strickly determined by what our cost per pound is from our importers.   It will be a nice place for everyone!  Our goal is to not sacrifice quality, but rather reward the farmer with better prices for their hard work and dedication to producing quality coffees.  Cultiva cannot begin to buy on price alone. It’s completely against our principles, the planet, impoverished nations, and our palates!

Global Coffee Quality Research Initiative

“The mission of the GCQRI is to build upon and expand the global network of coffee quality research institutions and scientists that will work with the specialty coffee industry to design and execute prioritized and coordinated superlative research on key factors limiting cup quality and constraining increased volumes of quality coffee. Paramount to achieving these goals will be the strong partnerships developed between origin country research organizations, International Research Organizations and the global specialty coffee industry. Working together to conceive, conduct and extend the research results will increase revenues of farmers, profits for companies, and pleasure to consumers.

Results from research will be made freely available in perpetuity without restrictions to users worldwide through partnerships and linkages with trade and farmer associations, individual companies, host country extension agencies, processors, and exporters ‐ as well as through classic research venues like scientific journals, conferences, proceedings, web‐based platforms, and others to be determined.” – Tim Schilling, Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture