THE FLAMEKEEPER

Presented by the Roasters Guild

FRESH FROM The SCAA Convention and the Roasters Guild Membership Meeting is plenty of news! But first and foremost is the commencement of registration for our 7th Annual Roasters Guild Retreat. Registration is now open. If you are a Roasters Guild member, sign up now because this retreat is guaranteed to sell out! The retreat will take place August 16–19, 2007 in Grand Rapids, Minn.
     The Roastmaster Challenge Cup 2007 and Grand Slam Challenge will happen concurrently. This year’s competition will center around three coffees. Instead of blending the coffees, this year, each team will roast all three coffees individually to their perception of optimum roast levels and the coffees will be cupped separately. While the cupping results will count, so will careful planning; if your coffees don’t measure up to your planned intentions, you won’t win, because intention, like poise, counts!
     This year’s retreat will feature without a doubt the most informative and intensive educational classes ever offered by the guild. Not only that, but the classes will be led by some undisputed coffee heavyweights! Just take a look at this line-up…

The Science of Sensory Analysis
led by Paul V. Songer
This class will examine various strategies and fundamental truths behind sensory analysis and our own perception of flavor as it relates to coffee cupping, the roaster’s best (and cheapest!) tool.

The Cost of Quality: Economics on a Coffee Farm
led by K.C. O’Keefe
How do you figure out how to properly value coffee? Real costs are involved to turn a farm producing a 75-point coffee into a farm producing a 90-point coffee. This class will give you a better understanding of what costs accrue at origin and during processing that affect both quality and price.

Cupping Workshop: Impact of Processing
led by Peter Giuliano
What are the most important factors that lead to incredible flavors in the cup? We aim to find out in this intensive cupping workshop! The information generated in this class will be useful to farmers around the world and this information will be used to create greater dialogue with them.

Details in Organic Farming
led by Mario Serracin, Ph.D
Dr. Serracin is an incredibly knowledgeable and charismatic agronomist from Panama and in this class he will share his expertise about various inputs and innovations in organic farming.

Cupping Workshop: Tasting Varietals
led by Timothy J. Castle
How much of cup quality can be attributed to genetics? By isolating coffee varietals from single farms, this class aims to enlighten and enliven our sensory perception to be more attuned to varietal taste and processing results.

Of course, there will be hands-on sample and production roasting workshops as well! Sign up now at www.roastersguild.org.

And Now, For The Rest Of The News!

During the Roasters Guild Member Meeting at SCAA, Timothy Chapdelaine, the new vice chair of the Roasters Guild Executive Council (RGEC), told us of his line-by-line analysis with the SCAA of our operating budget and thanked Trish Skeie for all her hard work on the Accreditation Task Force and Educational Committee. Trish Skeie, Jeremy Raths and Paul Thornton all received plaques commemorating their service to the guild. New RGEC Members, Beth Dominick, Victor Allen Mondry and Wendy De Jong joined the remaining EC members, Bob Arceneux, Mike McKim, Christy Thorns, Norm Killmon and Rocky Roads. Geoff Watts took over as chair of the RGEC, releasing Paul Thornton to the past chair position.
     We also announced our next origin trip. It will be July 9–14, 2007 and will be sponsored by the Colombian National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC). Watts promised that it would be “The most comprehensive and interesting trip you’ll ever take.” At this point, we are awaiting final confirmation of the itinerary and should be opening sign-up within the next two weeks. There are only 20 spaces available, first come first serve, so stay tuned and check in frequently to the RG website for more info. In addition, Watts said that a long overdue remodeling of the website will be commencing this year, complete with photo galleries, a bulletin board categorized by topic, and loads of interesting info along with links to important coffee research sites.
     Dawn Jantsch, the SCAA’s new executive director, told us that there were more than 9,000 people on the show floor Saturday, and she gave the Roasters Guild credit for our important part in the development of the SCAA, telling us that cupping would be the next idea that the SCAA will push to the media.
     Jantsch also let us know the important distinction between “accreditation” and “certification,” informing us that the RG Accreditation process would better be suited as a certification process for those individuals that take all the required tests and that the SCAA and the Roasters Guild should accredit barista, roaster and culinary schools in the near future. She sees the future of our accreditation task force as “Programmatic Accreditation.” Lastly, she let us know that the operating budget of the SCAA would be tight this year.
     As many of you already know, Stacie Woods, our SCAA staff liaison, is moving on. During the meeting, she received a standing ovation in appreciation for her incredible work for the Roasters Guild. As Peter Giuliano put it, “There were a lot of us there at the 2000 Miami conference when Stacie got the order to help us form our guild. She really had to clean up the monkey cage to make it happen. I’ve never had the privilege of working with someone with such undying passion and heart. She believed in the organization, nurtured it and has honored me and this group by working with us.”
     In addition, the volunteers were thanked by name for their good work this last year in many areas by the RGEC. Irving Soto of Café de Costa Rica thanked the RG for our origin trip to Costa Rica and welcomed us in advance in the future.