Barista Magazine

APR-MAY 2016

Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005

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I unpacked the varieties and lined them up on my kitchen table. I set to work getting my "home cupping" setup ready: Grinder, kettle, timer, digital scale, and the closest thing I have to a cupping set— my grandmother's Lenox rose china teacups and her antique silver spoons. I set to work boiling, measuring, grinding, and pouring and then…waiting. Those four minutes felt interminable. Finally, the timer chirped and I dipped a spoon into the first cup, and then the second, and then the third. As I smelled and tasted, the noise in my head that always comes with tasting a new coffee began to settle. Coffee has subtleties of aroma, texture, and flavor rivaled by almost no other food, and it can seem as if its flavors are infinite. But they aren't. Comparing coffees side-by-side allows you to put some order to things. As I tasted, two rivaling thoughts began to crowd in on one another: These coffees taste identifiably different—but not that different. If I weren't tasting them side by side and really focusing on my experience, I don't think I could have told them apart. In fact, this was almost a perfect reflection of coffee's lack of genet- ic diversity. Or, I should clarify, Coffea arabica's genetic diversity. There are two main species of coffee that we drink: C. arabica and C. canephora a.k.a. Robusta. But there are actually 125 identified species of coffee, most of them found in forests in coffee's "center of origin," around Ethiopia, Sudan, and Madagascar. When we talk about high-quality coffee, we are almost exclusively talking about Arabica coffee (and it is what this article addresses, unless otherwise mentioned). Though there are clear differences in how varieties of Arabica can taste—Gesha is the obvious example—it turns out that one reason we've had a hard time defining coffee varieties by their flavor dif- ferences is that, genetically, most Arabica is very closely related. Its potential for wide-ranging flavor differences is limited. One reason why coffees of Ethiopian origin, such as Gesha, taste different from coffees typically found in Latin America is that Ethiopian varieties are more genetically diverse. Coffee's lack of genetic diversity has fascinating implications for coffee flavor; but it's important for coffee in more significant—and more dire—ways. W h y g e n e t i c d i v e r s i t y m a t t e r s Why genetic diversity matters The more genetic diversity a species has, the bigger its toolkit is for facing challenges. You can do a lot more with a hammer and a screw- driver than just a hammer. The more tools a plant has in its toolkit, the more able it will be to fight off diseases and adapt to climate change. It turns out these two challenges—disease and rising tem- peratures—pose a major, possibly existential, threat to Arabica in the coming decades. The conditions under which Arabica evolved are very different from the conditions we see now. Even with the tender help of com- mitted coffee farmers, it's going to be increasingly hard for Arabica to keep up in the 21st century. In some places it will be too hot for Arabica to thrive, in others too dry, in others too rainy. How high are the stakes? The coffee-leaf rust epidemic that began in Central America in 2012 is the perfect example of the danger Arabica faces. A massive disease outbreak or drought can cause cof- fee farmers, many of them poor and unable to absorb the economic shock of a year or more without income from coffee, to switch to other plants, or leave farming altogether. In El Salvador between 2010 to 2013 alone, 80,000 acres of land that once grew coffee were no longer growing it. Catholic Relief Services estimated that by 2014, nearly 25,000 farmworkers in the country had lost their jobs. Across all of Central America, the figure was 440,000. Many of them will not come back to coffee. S o , h o w u n - d i v e r s e i s c o f f e e ? So, how un-diverse is coffee? Very. There are different methods for analyzing genetic diversity with- in a species, but most of the studies performed over the last 20 years on Arabica have come to the same conclusion: Its lack of diversity is troubling. A study in 2015 by the organization I work for, World Coffee Research (WCR), found that in a broadly representative sample of 846 Arabica coffees from around the world (including more than 400 from Ethiopia), there was only 1.2 percent diversity. "In other words," says Dr. Tim Schilling, executive director of WCR, "they are basically, with very few exceptions, the same darn thing." (For more information about Dr. Schilling, see "Master Q+A" on page 112.) Other major food crops like ic diversity . Or , I should clarify , Coffea arabica s genetic diversity . There are two main species o f co ff ee that we drink: C . arabic a an d C . cane ph or a C h a. k .a. R o b us t a. B u t th ere are ac t ua lly 125 id en tifi e d k R b t B t th t ll 125 id tifi d , y p shock of a y ear or more without income from coffee , to switch to other plants, or leave farming altogether. In El Salvador between 2010 t o pl an ts , or l ea ve f ar mi ng a lt og et he r. I n El S al va do r be tw ee n 20 10 t o 2013 l 80 000 f l d t h t ff l N e w t e c h n o l o g y i s a l l o w i n g s c i e n t i s t s t o New technology is allowing scientists to q u i c k l y a n d d r a m a t i c a l l y i n c r e a s e t h e i r quickly and dramatically increase their u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e s e v a r i e t i e s , f o r e x a m p l e , understanding of these varieties, for example, t o i d e n t i f y p a r t i c u l a r g e n e s a n d g e n e t i c m a r k e r s to identify particular genes and genetic markers l i n k e d t o t r a i t s t h a t w i l l b e i m p o r t a n t i n t h e linked to traits that will be important in the 2 1 s t c e n t u r y , l i k e d r o u g h t t o l e r a n c e , q u a l i t y , 21st century, like drought tolerance, quality, a n d d i s e a s e r e s i s t a n c e . and disease resistance. 84 barista magazine

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