By Kevin Kapaun
Founder & President
SpecialtyJava.com

He pulls the can of coffee from the cupboard, flips off the top and takes a whiff! Wincing, eyes watering, he searches for a date on the can. Unable to find a "dispose by" date he shrugs his shoulders and begins his morning routine of making a pot of coffee. Fuel…but not fun.

As a specialty roaster, I regularly hear complaints from "potential" customers about the poor quality they are experiencing. Certainly storage, grinding, and brewing process has much too do with quality. But the quality of the roasted bean is paramount.

According to the United States Food and Drug Administration rules, the smell our friend noticed above, may not be coffee at all! In a November 10, 2002 Wall Street Journal' article written by Katy McLauglin entitled: Coffee That's Good to the Last Twig, McLaughlin states:

"This year, coffee makers are increasingly substituting high-quality beans in their ground coffee with low-quality replacement beans, according to the International Coffee Organization, a global trade group and sort of an OPEC for coffee. In addition, the purity of the average cup of coffee-the ratio of debris like twigs and rotten beans to actual fresh beans-has shifted markedly in the unappetizing direction over the past two years."

McLaughlin goes on to say that Kraft Foods, which makes Maxwell House says its second-largest supplier of coffee is now Vietnam, which grows some of the cheapest and lowest quality bean in the world. She noted that other big users of Vietnamese beans, including Sara Lee and Procter & Gamble, which make brands including Hills Bros. and Folgers, respectively, declined to disclose which of their brands include lower-quality beans in their blends.

Why are Vietnamese beans a subject of such controversy? Clearly, some beans are inferior to others just because of their type. McLaughlin continues in her article:

"Despite the proliferation of coffee choices today, there are only two basic bean types: Arabica is generally the best, while robusta is cheaper and less tasty.

Vietnam is fast becoming the robusta king. In the past five years, that country has come out of almost nowhere to emerge as the world's third-largest coffee producer, behind only Brazil and Colombia.... Vietnam now claims about 12% of the world market, although Vietnam has no minimum export grades, produces low-quality beans and notoriously exports some of the world's most impure coffee.

In coffee, "there are two kinds of off tastes," says Kenneth David, a coffee taster and industry consultant. One is a "compost" taste, and the other is "old shoes in the back of the closet," he says. "Vietnamese robusta combines both."

Finding the highest quality, specialty grade beans is dependent on having the right sources. As a specialty roaster I am committed to providing my customers the coffee experience they desire. In the midst of a market flooded with inferior coffee, I import exclusively specialty grade beans. The quality in the cup is leaps above the readily available commercial brands so many people blindly consume each day.

Many remember the TV commercial touting how much "yield" they get out of a can. We are now turning our focus to how good gourmet coffee can be!