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Coffee farmers
seranade scientists on
the farm (above)
Version I Fermentation Kit
(below)
Flash! Susan Jackels awarded a NSF Discovery Corps Senior Fellowship for this project in 2005 - 2006 (more later!)
2004 - Project Initiation - Field Study in Matagalpa
Susan and Charles
Jackels, both PhD chemists, spent January through March 2004 in
Nicaragua as volunteers for Catholic Relief Services/Nicaragua and as
visiting scientists at the University of Central America, Managua.
Supported by staff of CRS/NI, they worked with Nicaraguan NGO, ADDAC,
on coffee farms in the
Matagalpa region on a field-study project to characterize coffee
fermentation. The results of this study have been accepted for
publication in the Journal of Food Science.
2004 - Fermentation Test Kit
The ADDAC staff and
producers agreed that the fermentation step in coffee production was
top priority for improvement and control. Commonly the tasting
results had indicated that over-fermentation should be avoided.
Based on the results of the field study that revealed a sharp drop in
pH of the fermenting coffee around the time of fermentation completion,
and increases in ethyl alcohol and lactic acid, it was agreed that a
test kit would be helpful for farmers to control and optimize the
fermentation step. The kit was created with an appropriate range
pH paper and simple pictorial instructions (in Spanish of course) for
it's use. The Jackels' returned to Matagalpa in December 2004 to
conduct a workshop to train ADDAC staff in the use of the kit.
Ten version I kits were deployed to farms and in all about 30
fermentation batches were monitored.
Below, Susan Jackels, Lara Puglielli, Charles Jackels and Carlos Vallejos with Experimental Batches of Coffee
In December 2004
while the test kits
were deployed, the Jackels collaborated with coffee producers of ADDAC
to conduct controlled fermentation batches derived from a common source
of coffee cherries. The aim was to intentionally stop
fermentation at the optimum point then allow parallel batches to
proceed further by four or eight hours and test the effect on pH
and ultimately on roasted coffee taste quality. In all, 24
batches were created and were cupped by certified tasters. The
results verified that the data from the kit will be useful for coffee
producers in optimizing and controlling the quality of their
coffee. A patent application was submitted for the kit and method.