Rwanda Coffee Review Log: potato flaw

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"Ladies and Gentlemen, sample 6 has confirmed that there is a Potato Defect,PD in sample 6 and needs to be eliminated immediately." The voice of the main judge broke the tranquillity of the cup test venue. There have also been a lot of caffeine flaws that have been eliminated in the past three days. But the difference is that the people in the venue seem to be particularly fond of coffee No. 6. The Japanese judges even shook their heads and sighed, reciting the word "remnant" in Japanese.

It is difficult to find the appearance of raw beans.

"Why did this spell happen to No. 6?" The judge from Helsingborg sighed: "it was the 2nd of the first quarter yesterday." That blackcurrant tastes like Kenyan coffee. I have been so impressed since the first day that I can recognize it in the next few sections. It's presidential material. "

In this year's Rwanda COE competition, 220coffee samples from all over the country entered the pre-selection (pre-selection), of which 100 entered the domestic competition. In the week-long competition, 59 were selected into the international evaluation competition, including the author, 20 international judges, in the five-day competition period to select more than 85 points of coffee. The 20 coffee samples with the highest scores represent the best efforts of farmers in the country in the past year. The average price at an international auction is usually tens of times the price of the commodity market. However, once eliminated during the competition, the participating coffee can only be sold at local prices. Farmers put far more effort into growing participating coffee than commercial coffee; this is the cruelty of the competition.

There are many kinds of coffee defects, such as mixed with foreign objects (foreign body), which can occur all over the world. On the other hand, some will only ravage some areas like endemic diseases, such as Rio in Brazil. PD mainly affects several Central African countries such as Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Kenya. The affected coffee has a strong flavor of raw potato, which is quite obvious. The industry does not know much about its causes. Current evidence suggests that Antestia insects bite through the peel of coffee and cause bacteria to invade and release a chemical into the core of the fruit. What annoys farmers most is that most of the defects can be found and can be removed in the process of harvesting, handling or bagging. But the appearance of raw beans with PD is as green as normal, and there is no difference until the moment of stir-frying. The smell of potato will only come out after grinding. The only chance is the subtle identification of colors on pods that have never been dried. Searching through thousands of pods to be dried is impossible in Africa, where coffee is screened manually.

That night, PD naturally became the theme of the round-table dinner between the international jury and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture of Rwanda.

The loss of $20 million made no improvement.

"it's just a bean to knock out the coffee, which has a good chance of winning the national championship over the past two weeks. Who knows how many coffees will be involved by PD in the top ten ranking competitions tomorrow! (post note: two of the top 10 were eliminated due to PD, which were automatically made up by 11 and 12.) our company has also reduced its imports of Rwandan coffee since last year because of this time bomb. You guys know for yourselves. " Senior judges from the United States are impolite. According to a rough estimate, PD cost Rwanda's coffee industry $20 million last year. Like a deflated ball, officials took notes and promised to improve. The author later looked up the data and found that the issue of PD had been discussed by enthusiasts as early as 2007, but so far there has been no progress, so it is no wonder that international buyers have been deterred.

Patrick Tam (owner of the boutique coffee shop Knockbox, approved barista of the American and European boutique coffee associations, CQI recognized cup tester, Cup of Excellence's first Hong Kong resident judge, www.facebook.com/Knockboxcoffee)