This International Women's Day we interviewed Maria Pavani of Tres Marias Coffee Company. Today, with over 10 years of industry experience under her belt, Maria is leading the way for women in the coffee industry as a professional and entrepreneur.

About the roaster
Maria might be familiar to many who are part of the coffee championships circuit. As a certified sensory judge, she's often spotted slurping coffee with a clipboard in hand at many regional and world coffee competitions.

She wears many hats, the main one being the Founder of Três Marias Coffee Company - a roastery based in Dubai, whose name takes inspiration from the Belt of Orion. It represents their ambition to be recognisable and distinctive in the world of coffee, and they’re quickly becoming just that.

Três Marias is one of the leading coffee brands in the United Arab Emirates, they have been innovating high-quality coffee products and bringing new formats to the market - from roasting experimentally-processed coffees and launching instant specialty coffee, to producing ice coffee pops and now capsule coffee.

1. Can you share with us how your journey with coffee started and how it came to now with your business - Três Marias, in Dubai?

My first experience working as a barista was while I was living in Portugal with my mother. I was working part-time behind the bar in a busy coffee shop in Central Lisbon.

After I finished my studies, I decided to go back to Brazil and explore the opportunities there. I got a summer job at a cafe that was just starting to roast their coffee and that was my first venture into the specialty coffee world - understanding Brazil as a coffee-producing country, the processes, varieties etc.

Soon after, a friend of mine who moved to Dubai got me an offer as a head barista for a five-star hotel. I took up the offer and moved here in 2013, where the market was almost untouched with only one specialty coffee roaster then. I saw this as an opportunity to invest in my career by deeply studying coffee and understanding the whole supply chain.

In 2019, when the UAE market was already somewhat established, I decided that I wanted to have my voice on how I approach coffee, and that was how Três Marias Coffee Company was born.

2. Why did Três Marias decide to put coffees into the convenient capsule format?

Specialty coffee capsules are a new world to explore and because we (at Três Marias Coffee) strive to make specialty coffee accessible through innovation, accessibility and community; capsules as a product fit naturally with our core values as a brand.

The challenge with specialty coffee is to help people understand that coffee could have more flavours other than overpowering bitterness, and capsules are a great way to introduce that.

So I feel there is an opportunity here, and we wanted to lead the market towards it.

3. What’s been the most exciting achievement so far working in coffee?

Last year, I officially became a certified Sensory Judge for the World Barista Championships. I have been working on this project for years, and I am very happy I finally got my certification.

This will allow me to travel more to different countries to judge their national barista championship. This month I am going to Turkey and Portugal, to meet the amazing team of professionals on the world stage and choose the best barista in the world.

This makes me proud.

4. In your time as a tasting judge in many coffee competitions, was there a particular coffee you’ve tasted that left a lasting impression to this day

When we are part of competitions as sensory judges, we focus on not allowing the ‘’wow factor’’ and personal impression to affect our judging of each section on the score sheet. We try to stay true to the taste that the barista tells us to expect and what we find in the cup with our sensory skills as the measure.

But having said that, I remember tasting a coffee that I never tasted before last year at the UAE brewers' national championship, and then another outstanding coffee on the world stage in Milano!

5. Are there any issues in coffee that you think may be critically overlooked by the casual coffee consumer?

Definitely. This year we started to feel the impact of climate change a lot more with the prices of coffee going up.

This is something that we, as coffee brands and coffee professionals, should communicate about. It is important to share about the supply chain and that prices raised are from the increase of green coffee pricing and not because roasters want to increase their profits.

6. If you could have a coffee with anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

I lost my grandmother during Covid so I did not get the chance to say goodbye in person.

I still remember visiting her in Lisbon just before the lockdowns happened and had the chance to bring some Três Marias Coffee to drink with her. I wish I knew that it was my last cup with her.

So, I would definitely love to relive that moment again.

7. What’s next for Três Marias as a company?

That is a very good question. I think we have done so much in the past two and a half years, that we’re now working internally as a company to understand how to grow with better procedures as a team.

For coffee products, we have two new launches this year, one which I believe will help Três Marias reach new heights. We are all super excited about it!

We see ourselves growing to other countries as well, but we’ll move step by step.

Other women-led Partner Roasters on the Morning Marketplace include Bettr Coffee from Singapore and The Coffee Academics from Hong Kong. Shop their coffees here!

There was a scene in the film “A Film About Coffee” where Blue Bottle Founder, James Freeman shares about the first time he tried coffee. After catching a whiff of the coffee his parents were making, he wanted to try it out, and was surprised to find that it tasted bitter.

Many of us who’ve had our first cups of coffee can attest to this experience. Although there are people who have grown to love the bitterness, there definitely is more to the cup than meets the eye. Coffee doesn’t need to be bitter, but yet that descriptor is what sticks most for people.

What makes coffee bitter?

From a scientific perspective, there will always be some element of the coffee that will contain bitterness. To keep things simple, we’ll be identifying the most common of these elements which are: Chlorogenic acid and Caffeine.

Chlorogenic acid in its original state is not bitter, but as the coffee undergoes the roasting process and depending on the roast profile, chemical changes occur.
You can probably guess - if the coffee you’re tasting is roasted on the lighter side (light roast), you’re likely to find less bitterness and more balance in that cup of coffee; whereas when roasted on the darker side, you might find that familiar lingering bitterness in your cup.

Caffeine also plays a significant role in bringing forward bitterness, coffee types with more caffeine content will be more bitter than those with less. By that association, it explains how Robusta is a naturally more bitter coffee than Arabica, and why certain instant coffee blends are made with a mix of both to try and find that balance in the flavour.

How do you control bitterness?

All things above considered, extraction then plays the next part in determining a coffee’s bitterness. When brewing coffee, you’re ultimately trying to extract the best of its flavours, and anything more than that will be the unpleasant elements of the coffee. When at a specialty café, you might notice that when pulling the shots of espresso, the barista takes extra care in adjusting the grind size, water temperature and timing of how long the shot is pulled, for good reason - because these variables affect coffee extraction.

These same principles apply to home-brewing:

1. Grind Size: Decreasing the coffee grind size (smaller) means an increased surface area around the coffee ground. This means an increased area that comes into contact with water, resulting in more flavours, which may include bitterness, being extracted.
   
2. Water Temperature: The optimal brewing temperature recommended by the Specialty Coffee Association is between 90°C and 96°C but going slightly further off from that range may not be all bad. Do note that the higher the water temperature, the easier it is to extract flavour and aroma compounds, including bitterness.
   
3. Brew Time: Brew time translates to the amount of time that the coffee grounds are spent in contact with water. The longer that time is, the more extraction will occur, releasing more bitter elements into the cup.

There are a multitude of other factors that might determine the taste of your coffee, whether bitter or sour, the list goes on. The key is to find that balance in all of these variables and when you hit that sweet spot, it results in a delightful cup that extracts the intended flavours of your coffee.

Happy Brewing!

Words by Ryan Uy @thenameisrye

What’s on the label of your favourite coffee? Along with the origin, roast profile, and those useful tasting notes, coffee processing methods are crucial in forming the bean’s final flavour profile. They matter because they greatly affect your everyday brew! Here’s why.

In order to understand coffee processing, we first have to brush up on the coffee bean’s anatomy. The widely popular beverage we know and love comes from roasted coffee beans, and these beans are actually seeds of a fruit known as the coffee cherry.

The coffee cherry is composed of the following:

• Skin, which surrounds the fruit.

• Pulp, a fleshy layer that can be found beneath the fruit’s skin.

• Mucilage, which is the inner layer of the pulp.

• Parchment, a paper-like hull that envelops the seed.

• Seed, in its purest form before it’s roasted, ground, and brewed!

Parts of the coffee cherry

We can think of processing as the extraction of the green coffee seed (or bean) from the coffee cherry. This means that the skin, pulp, mucilage, and parchment have to be removed in order to get to the seed. This is how coffee is processed in its most basic form, and there are many ways to go about this. How a farmer or producer chooses to process the coffee they have has a profound impact on how the coffee tastes once it is brewed. Let’s take a look at the different coffee processing methods below:

Common Coffee Processing Methods

Washed Process
Also known as Fully Washed, Wet Process, Parchment-dried

Developed in the Caribbean in the 1850s, this method became popular in Central America due to the higher volumes of coffee produced. It's a widely popular processing method due to its consistent results. In the washed process, coffee cherries are pulped and fermented in water to remove the skin, pulp, and mucilage. The beans are then dried on parchment, prior to dry milling and selling.

Flavours to expect: Floral, Bright, Citrusy, Clean

Natural Process
Also known as Dry Processed, Fruit-dried

This is the oldest form of coffee processing, traditionally used in Ethiopia and in Yemen. In this process, whole coffee cherries are laid on patios or mats, where they dry under the heat of the sun. This method gained popularity in coffee-growing sites with limited access to water, and was considered a poor choice for flavour due to its tendency for inconsistency and over-fermentation.

Nowadays, producers experiment with the natural process to give coffees an intense, funky, fruited flavour profile.

Flavours to expect: Fruity, Winey, Fermented

Honey Process / Pulp Natural
Also known as Mucilage-dried

This technique hails from Brazil, where it was referred to as ‘pseudo-natural’ processing. In this processing method, producers sort and depulp coffee, leaving the seeds in their mucilage to dry on a flat surface.

In 2008, an earthquake left washing stations in Costa Rica without water, driving coffee producers to explore a water-free alternative based on the Pulp Natural method, which they coined the “Honey Process”.

Many say that the Honey Process can mimic a Washed profile or a Natural profile, and this is achieved through differences in retained mucilage, drying time, or level of shade. White, Yellow, Red, and Black Honey processes are just a few of these subcategories.

Flavours to expect: Fruity, but also a large range of flavours

Other Processing Methods

Wet Hulled
Also known as Giling Basah, Seed-dried

Uncommon everywhere else, but it is the de facto processing method in Indonesia.

Much like Washed and Honey processes, the wet hulled method starts with removing the cherry’s pulp, while fermentation and mucilage removal is optional. While other processing methods include a drying on parchment step, the wet hulled process involves the drying of the bare seed. With a quicker drying time, this allows farmers to sell the product faster, but increases the risk of the seed absorbing not-so-palatable flavours.

Flavours to expect: Musty, Earthy, Herb-like, Chocolatey, Full-bodied

Anaerobic Fermentation
A highly-controlled, scientific way of extending the fermentation process.

Coffee is pulped and then placed in an airtight tank with a one-way valve. The anaerobic fermentation style takes longer than the traditional Washed style fermentation of 12-36 hours. Due to the lack of oxygen, a limited set of microbes affect the chemical reactions that take place, resulting in incredibly precise and identifiable flavour profiles.

Flavours to expect: Unique and distinct flavours such as bubblegum or whiskey

Carbonic Maceration
A technique adapted from wine-making where whole grapes are fermented instead of crushed.

Carbonic Maceration is similar to Anaerobic Fermentation, except that the cherries are placed inside airtight tanks without depulping. In addition, the chamber is flooded with carbon dioxide, which allows an extended fermentation time that can run from days to even weeks.

Flavours to expect: Unique and distinct flavours such as bubblegum or whiskey

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Coffee processing is rarely a talking point in shops or coffee websites, but it is, nevertheless, an integral part of crafting the coffee bean’s flavour and character. We don’t think there is a ‘best method’—they’re all different expressions that unlock (or enhance!) the flavour potential of coffee. Still, the next time you pick up a bag of Honey Processed Costa Rican or some Natural Ethiopian capsules, you'll hopefully have an idea of what to look forward to!

Words by Jon Choi @theheadbean

Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora, better known as Arabica and Robusta, are two household names when it comes to coffee species. A distant third is Coffea Liberica, accounting for less than 2% of commercially-grown coffee worldwide.

Indigenous to West Africa, Liberica was brought over to Southeast Asia in the 1890s to replace Arabica plants that were plagued with coffee rust disease. Liberica proved to be resistant to disease, pests, drought, and climate change. Today, it is still cultivated in some parts of Malaysia and the Philippines.

Despite its rarity, Liberica has a bad rap for its flavour profile. This can be attributed to inferior processing and roasting in the countries that cultivate it, as well as the relatively cheap price it's sold at. In the Philippines, Coffea Liberica is known as "Barako Coffee", which roughly translates to "Manly Coffee", due to its strong and bitter taste.

However, there exists a movement to change this perception. A new generation of coffee producers is determined to put Liberica on the Specialty Coffee map, and leading the change in the Philippines is Elaine Agoncillo Barrios of Plantacion Agoncillo. We had a virtual sit-down with Elaine to chat about coffee producer life, thriving through calamity, and her efforts to elevate this underappreciated species.

Jon: Hey Elaine! Tell us a little bit about your background with coffee and
Plantacion Agoncillo.

Elaine: My fondness with coffee began when I was in college. But it was only back in 2012, when I resigned from my job as a biochemist extracting stuff out of dried ground plants, that I thought of researching on how to make the perfect cup of coffee. I started looking into how to brew the proper way, and how to change its [the coffee’s] taste.

My research led me to exploring different kinds of beans and eventually into roasting. I took a crash course where I met people who hooked me up with locally-sourced green coffee beans that I first pan-roasted. I used a small Teflon pan and simulated a drum by using a pot cover then shaking it around every few seconds or so.

I then got more interested in learning about green coffee, and I realized that it all boils down to the crop—while the perfect cup of coffee is rather subjective, you can’t make a good cup if you have bad beans. Since I was out of a job and my family was looking into other things, I asked if I could try to plant coffee. I got their support and so, Plantacion Agoncillo was born in 2014, and I just continued to dig deeper into the rabbit hole of the coffee world.

J: How big is the plantation and what other coffee varieties or plants do you grow, if any?

E: The coffee plantation is 1.5 hectares with about 970 trees. We only planted Libericas since the land is located in Batangas. (Writer’s note: A low-elevation province in the Philippines.)

J: What do you do differently at the farm that sets your Libericas apart?

E: When we began our little farm, I had the idea of processing the Libericas somewhat like how the specialty arabicas are processed to see how it will affect taste. Until now, that’s what we do since we liked how it initially turned out. Raised drying beds, semi washed method, etc.

J: What about your Liberica’s flavour profile are you most proud of? Any signature or unique taste characteristics?

E: I think the attribute I am proudest of is that the strong jackfruit smell usually associated with Libericas isn’t there. Well, it depends. I noticed that if you roast it a certain way, it comes out but not as strong as the “normal” Barako. Also, I think it has a unique citrus rind acidity and a certain “whiskey-ness” to it.

J: We agree! When we roasted and served your coffee in the past, we called the dominant flavour note “Old Fashioned”, like the classic cocktail. Definitely a coffee to remember!

E: And thank you Jon, for seeing its potential and giving our Libericas a chance!

Elaine checking out her Libericas at Exchange
Alley Coffee House in Manila (Photo from 2018)

J: I want to talk about where we first met you. It was at a local coffee auction two years ago, where your Libericas were featured alongside some amazing local Arabicas. And they set record-breaking prices for the species! Can you talk to us about that experience?

E: That was surreal and exciting for me. I was hopeful and scared at the same time. I didn’t know how the people in the specialty coffee industry would accept the Libericas considering their bad rap especially when you compare them with the other varieties that everyone is used to. I was lucky to be surrounded by very supportive coffee friends who gave me the extra push to just do it.

J: How is the farm doing at present? The first quarter of this year has seen a volcano eruption a few kilometers from your estate, followed by country-wide lockdowns due to COVID-19. Has this impacted the coffee production in your area?

E: At first, I thought it didn’t affect our trees since not that much ash fell on the trees, but even a thin layer [of the ash] affected most of our cherries. Also, there was a shortage of water due to the eruption so we couldn’t water the trees properly. We had a few kilos of cherries harvested and dried, but mold grew on them due to improper handling. We couldn’t find people to help us work the farm and do post-processing due to the lockdown. Unfortunately, we lost our 2019-2020 crop year coffee.

J: I’m so sorry to hear that. How are you guys coping for the next crop year?

E: We just continued our routine maintenance in the farm. Most of the trees have green cherries already, so we are hoping for the best. Though there are quite a few trees that have nothing on them, which boggles me until now. I guess that’s the main challenge of farming, especially as a first-timer. It’s really trial and error, and you only know what the results will be after a year.

J: We’re happy your team is fighting for it! And I hope there is another opportunity to serve your coffee in the future. Which begs the question—where do you wish to see Plantacion Agoncillo and Philippine Liberica in the next few years?

E: I would love to have an increase in production without using too much fertilizers in our farm in the coming years. I would also love to see the Philippine Liberica being appreciated by both the local and international market.

J: What do you consider the biggest barriers to achieving this goal?

E: It is a challenge for our farm to find good help and a constant water supply. So those two are huge barriers for us now. As for the export of the Philippine Liberica, I tried sending some coffee out to interested foreign buyers, but I was asked for a lot of paperwork that, well, small farmers/producers don’t normally have. If there was a way to make it easier for us smaller players to send out our products, that would be a big help.

J: With Philippine Coffee getting a bigger spotlight year after year, I am hoping your Libericas gain even bigger prominence soon! My last question—if you were allowed to give Liberica a new local nickname other than simply “Barako”, what would it be?

E: I never thought of this, but I heard someone say before that it's "not your Lolo's Barako" or something like that *laughs*. I kind of like that. (Writer’s note: “Lolo” is Filipino for Grandfather.)

J: I like it, too! And we look forward to hearing and tasting more! Thank you for your time and for sharing your insights and experiences, Elaine! Anything else you want to share before we end the interview?

E: I’m glad more people were able to taste our coffee because of EACH! We still have some 2018-2019 harvest available for those who still want to try it. We kept a batch to age in parchment and hulled it a few months after to see the difference. I hope more people will be open and interested to try the “new” Libericas available in the market—not just ours, but other locally-farmed and processed coffees as well.

Words by Jon Choi @theheadbean
Header Photo by Asser Christensen

Recipe by Jon Choi @theheadbean

As it turns out, he is also an aspiring barista and owner of a caffeinated venture called Big Face Coffee.

.@JimmyButler's been selling his own coffee in the bubble.

He pulled up to Game 1 in a 'BIG FACE COFFEE OWNER' shirt 😂☕️ pic.twitter.com/6yKZSFnZb6

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 15, 2020

Not satisfied with the coffee being offered inside the bubble, and realizing that he was surrounded by very well-to-do individuals in need of some caffeine, Butler opened his “café” from the comfort of his hotel room.

Each cup sells for $20, regardless of coffee size or variety. Small pour-over? $20. Large cappuccino? $20. The price point, in the context of your average neighborhood café, probably sounds quite absurd and obscene, but when hustle mixes with basic economic principles, the end results can be quite interesting.

Let’s take a look at the menu of Big Face Coffee, and see what has helped fuel the bubble.

Black Coffees:

Pour-Over – The pour-over is commonly associated with specialty cafés and home brewers, so the presence of such an option at Big Face provides some indication of the quality they aim to achieve. Based on a recent Instagram post, Jimmy seems to be using a Hario V60 02.

Espresso – A good shot of espresso can go a long way in providing a nice kick, and given the declared brewers being used at Big Face, it is most likely made with a French Press.

Americano – Basically an espresso shot with some added hot water to help get it closer to tasting like a drip coffee but with a slightly stronger kick.

Red Eye – A cup of drip coffee mixed with a shot of espresso, the Red Eye is the penultimate drink for the caffeine-deprived.

White Coffees:

Latte and Cappuccino – Sibling coffee beverages with a mere difference in their construction. Both start with an espresso base, with the cappuccino having equal parts steamed milk then foam topped, while a latte would have a thicker layer of steamed milk and a thin/light layer of foam.

Thinking of just how much work it would entail to prepare this, I do hope that Jimmy Butler had more than one French Press in his hotel room so that one can be used to make the espresso shot, while the other one can be for the milk prep.

Mocha – Essentially a latte but with chocolate mixed in, added in either before or after the shot, but not after the milk. Chocolate syrup would be the preferred choice for mixing, so the possibility of Jimmy Butler requesting chocolate from the hotel is quite an interesting prospect.

Macchiato – An espresso shot with a splash of steamed milk. Think of it as a mini latte with a much stronger flavor profile thanks to the espresso being much more dominant.

Café au Lait – Drip coffee with milk added, a nice, light coffee to have.

Today I got my Big Face Coffee for free 😎!!! Thanks @JimmyButler pic.twitter.com/DsuYXkrvvw

— Goran Dragić (@Goran_Dragic) September 18, 2020

Although Jimmy Butler’s performance in the NBA Finals will surely be the stuff of legends, it was probably his caffeine-fuelled business that generated him the most amount of publicity. For $20 a cup, or basically, the price of a bag or two of coffee, you can have yourself a cup of Big Face Coffee, Butler’s coffee business powered by his French press, pour-over, coffee grinder, and passion for the beverage.

Words by Ryan Uy @thenameisrye