Tim Wendelboe Podcast

In this episode I speak with Alejandro Renjifo who was the one who introduced me to Colombia back in 2007 and who is exporting the coffees we buy from Elias Roa and his farm Finca Tamana.   Alejandro has a long history in the coffee industry and is one of the pioneers in the developing of the FNC’s (Colombian Coffee Growers Federation) specialty coffee program. Today Alejandro is an exporter of high quality Colombian coffees and he loves to facilitate connections and help establish long term relationships between coffee growers and coffee roasters.   This was not really a structured conversation but since Alejandro is an opinionated person and has a lot of history and knowledge about quality coffee in Colombia I thought it would be nice to have a long conversation to get a better insight to Colombia as a coffee producing country.    Alejandro loves to talk, so we discuss everything from Colombian coffee varieties &  rust resistance and why most coffees are not sustainably grown in Colombia. He also touches on the history of Colombian coffee and why he was asked to introduce a «specialty coffee» program by the FNC. More importantly we speak about the importance of relationships and what that really means and  Alejandro shares his opinion on why he believes that commitment in the coffee trade is the only way to make it transformative for the growers and the roasters.    Music by my uncle Jens Wendelboe

In this episode I am having a long conversation with my dear friend and freshly crowned World Barista Champion of 2021 Diego Campos. Diego is a Colombian barista that I have known since 2014 when he came with me to Finca Tamana to help me translate. It did not take long before we became good friends and since 2014 I have been privileged to be able to work with Diego both on improving the farm practices at Finca Tamana, working at our own farm Finca el Suelo as well as training him for barista competitions and learning about coffee together with him. Today Diego is married to Elias Roa's daughter Derlin, and together they own  Finca el Diamante, a small coffee farm in Belen, Huila. Join our conversation as Diego's talks about his long road to victory and how he became a world barista champion.    

In episode 11, my guest is Mr. Fotios Daflas. Fotios used to work with us as a barista and coffee roaster but is now working at Solberg & Hansen in their roastery. In 2019 Fotios traveled with me to Colombia to visit Finca Tamana and our own farm Finca el Suelo. For a full week he helped me work on the farm, making compost, spraying compost tea, spreading wood chips around the trees and removing weeds. Since then some of the coffee trees on our farm have started producing coffee and recently we received the very first harvest that was big enough to roast and taste properly. I was so excited to taste the coffees from our own farm so I wanted to share the experience with Fotios as a token of appreciation for all the work he put in to the farm during his visit. Join us in this episode as we discuss the very first coffees we have tasted from Finca el Suelo, what they are and how they taste. The coffees were the following: 1. Variedad Colombia & Castillo blend from Finca Tamana 2. Caturra from Finca el Suelo 3. Ethiopian cultivar from Finca el Suelo 4. Semper Florens cultivar from the variety garden at Finca el Suelo  5. Geisha from Finca el Suelo 6. Común cultivar from the variety garden at Finca el Suelo  Follow our farm on instagram @fincaelsuelo   Music by Jens Wendelboe

Morten Munchow, a notable coffee researcher and owner of Coffee Mind, dives into the fascinating world of organic acids in coffee. He discusses how citric acid and other organic acids shape coffee's flavor and aroma, challenging common misconceptions about sweetness. Morten also highlights the unique acidity of Kenyan coffee varieties and emphasizes the importance of simplifying scientific concepts to enhance coffee education. Innovative sensory training methods are explored, revealing how aroma often surpasses direct acid identification in tasting competitions.

Morten Munchow, a coffee scientist and founder of Coffee Mind, dives deep into the world of coffee roasting. He discusses the importance of quality ingredients and the significance of measuring roast color for crafting perfect brews. Listeners will learn about the pivotal moments in roasting, like the first and second cracks, and why empirical research matters in this art. Morten also shares insights on how roasting techniques can drastically affect flavor, making complex topics accessible to coffee lovers and professionals alike.

Join us for another coffee podcast episode where I discuss funky coffees together with Jamie Jongkind  who works with sales and coffee purchasing at Nordic Approach. It is no surprise that I am personally not a huge fan of coffees that have pronounced flavours of fermentation, but our guest Jamie explains why he loves funky coffees and what fermentation can contribute with in terms of flavours.  This is a long episode where we discuss natural processed coffees vs washed coffees, try to explain what anaerobic and carbonic macerated coffees means and we dig in to what kind of flavours you can expect or what to watch out for in these strange and trendy coffees. 

In our 7th episode I speak with our fantastic bar manager, Stephanie Dawn Holm who has been working with us for 10 years and has been our bar manager for a very long time. Listen while we talk about how we hire, train and do our quality control in our Espresso Bar.

In this episode I am joined by my team member Marit who is one of our roasters and baristas. Marit was traveling with me to Central America in February this year where we visited Gilberto at Los Pirineos in El Salvador, Moises Herrera and Marysabel Caballero in Marcala and Jobneel at Finca Nacimiento in Santa Barbara in Honduras. Marit shares some of her experiences from her first ever visit to a coffee farm and we talk about how it is to taste coffees at origin and share some of our memories from the trip. Music by uncle Jens Wendelboe

In our fifth episode I visit famous coffee producer Gilberto Baraona on his coffee farm Los Pirineos in El Salvador. Listen in while we speak about coffee processing and also about Gilberto's farm that has been in his family for over 100 years. Gilberto will also explain how different processes like washed, natural, honey or anaerobic fermentation affect coffee flavour and how he is able to custom make different qualities of coffee for different clients. We have been buying coffees from Gilberto since 2009 but mainly the washed coffees he produces. Gilberto is not only a great producer but has become a good friend and a person that inspires me and that I respect a lot.  

In our fourth podcast episode, I am joined by our colleague Anders Fretheim who works with sales and customer support. Anders is also a barista and used to run his own coffee shop.  In this episode we discuss Espresso and why it is almost always disappointing. We share our experience on how to fix common problems to get your extractions up so that your shots starts to taste really good. This is part two of our conversation about espresso that started in episode 3.  Here are some links we mention in episode 3 & 4: Chris Baca on hacking mazzer wire screens James Hoffmann video Matt Perger Distributing espresso Matt Perger & Refractometers