The next chapter: new varietals in the nursery

AT OUR FARM IN NORTH QUEENSLAND, THE WORK RARELY STANDS STILL.

WHILE THIS YEAR’S HARVEST APPROACHES - PICKING, PROCESSING, AND ROASTING, ANOTHER LAYER IS QUIETLY UNDERWAY, IN THE NURSERY. ROWS OF YOUNG PLANTS, STILL MONTHS AWAY FROM THE FIELD, BUT ALREADY SHAPING WHAT AUSTRALIAN COFFEE COULD BECOME.

FOLLOWING ON FROM OUR EARLIER PIECE, UNDERSTANDING VARIETALS: THE NEXT CHAPTER OF AUSTRALIAN COFFEEWHICH YOU CAN REVISIT HERE. THIS IS THE NEXT STEP IN THAT DIRECTION.

WE ARE NOW TENDING TO A NEW GROUP OF VARIETALS THAT WILL BE PLANTED OUT IN THE COMING MONTHS, MARESELLESA, NR25, PARAISO, AND IPR 107. THESE HAVE BEEN ACCESSED THROUGH THE LOCALISED WORK OF WORLD COFFEE RESEARCH, WHOSE GLOBAL VARIETAL TRIALS AND BREEDING PROGRAMS ARE HELPING PRODUCERS BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW COFFEE PERFORMS ACROSS DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS. FOR US, THIS IS A DELIBERATE SHIFT.

MOVING BEYOND CATUAI

OUR FARM HAS BEEN BUILT ON CATUAI. IT HAS PROVIDED CONSISTENCY, RELIABILITY, AND A FOUNDATION TO ESTABLISH AUSTRALIAN GROWN COFFEE AT A SPECIALTY LEVEL. BUT LIKE ANY SINGLE VARIETAL SYSTEM, IT ALSO DEFINES THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT IS POSSIBLE, BOTH IN THE CUP AND IN THE FIELD.

THIS NEXT PLANTING MOVES US BEYOND THAT, NOT AS A REPLACEMENT, BUT AS AN EXPANSION. EACH OF THESE VARIETALS BRINGS A DIFFERENT SET OF CHARACTERISTICS, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, EACH HAS BEEN SELECTED WITH INTENT FOR HOW IT MAY PERFORM HERE, IN OUR CONDITIONS.

MARESELLESA HAS BEEN SELECTED FOR ITS BALANCE OF DISEASE RESISTANCE AND CUP QUALITY. WHAT INTERESTS US IS ITS POTENTIAL FOR CLARITY AND STRUCTURE WHEN PROCESSED CLEANLY, PARTICULARLY ACROSS WASHED AND HONEY FORMATS. NR25 IS A MORE EXPERIMENTAL INCLUSION. EARLY DATA SUGGESTS RESILIENCE AND YIELD POTENTIAL IN WARMER CLIMATES, BUT WHAT WE ARE LOOKING TO UNDERSTAND IS HOW IT BEHAVES UNDER CONTROLLED FERMENTATION. PARAISO IS A HYBRID THAT HAS SHOWN ADAPTABILITY ACROSS ENVIRONMENTS, AND THE OPPORTUNITY HERE IS EXPRESSION, HOW FAR WE CAN PUSH FLAVOUR THROUGH PROCESSING WHILE MAINTAINING BALANCE. IPR 107, BRED IN BRAZIL WITH PRODUCTIVITY IN MIND, IS ABOUT CONSISTENCY FOR US, HOW IT HOLDS YEAR ON YEAR, BOTH IN YIELD AND CUP QUALITY.

AT THIS STAGE, THESE ARE NOT FINISHED COFFEES. THEY ARE POTENTIAL.

WHY THIS MATTERS FOR AUSTRALIAN COFFEE

AUSTRALIA HAS HISTORICALLY GROWN A NARROW RANGE OF VARIETALS AT A COMMERCIAL SCALE, WHICH HAS LIMITED BOTH THE FLAVOUR SPECTRUM AVAILABLE TO DRINKERS AND THE AGRICULTURAL UNDERSTANDING AVAILABLE TO PRODUCERS.

WHAT THIS WORK BEGINS TO DO IS OPEN THAT UP. BY INTRODUCING NEW GENETICS INTO OUR SYSTEM, WE ARE STARTING TO BUILD A CLEARER PICTURE OF WHAT COFFEE CAN BE IN THIS COUNTRY, NOT JUST WHAT HAS WORKED ELSEWHERE, BUT WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS HERE.

THIS IS NOT THEORETICAL. IT IS PRACTICAL AND NECESSARY. IT ALLOWS US TO UNDERSTAND WHICH VARIETALS PERFORM CONSISTENTLY IN OUR CLIMATE YEAR ON YEAR, IDENTIFY THOSE THAT OFFER STRONG YIELD WITHOUT COMPROMISING CUP QUALITY, OBSERVE HOW DIFFERENT PLANTS RESPOND TO OUR PROCESSING METHODS INCLUDING WASHED, HONEY, NATURAL, AND CONTROLLED FERMENTATIONS, AND EXPAND THE FLAVOUR SPECTRUM OF AUSTRALIAN GROWN COFFEE BEYOND ITS CURRENT RANGE.

IF AUSTRALIAN COFFEE IS TO MATURE AS AN ORIGIN, IT NEEDS THIS LAYER OF WORK. NOT JUST BETTER PROCESSING OR ROASTING, BUT BETTER PLANT SELECTION AT THE FOUNDATION.

GROUNDED IN OUR CONDITIONS

OUR FARM SITS AT ROUGHLY 600 METRES ABOVE SEA LEVEL IN NORTH QUEENSLAND, WITH A CLIMATE DEFINED BY DISTINCT WET AND DRY PERIODS AND A HARVEST THAT MOVES THROUGH COOLER TROPICAL CONDITIONS.

THESE VARIABLES MATTER. NOT EVERY VARIETAL WILL SUIT THIS ENVIRONMENT. SOME WILL STRUGGLE WITH HUMIDITY, OTHERS WITH TEMPERATURE SWINGS, AND OTHERS WITH DISEASE PRESSURE ACROSS SEASONS.

THIS IS WHAT WE ARE TESTING FOR. THESE NEW PLANTINGS WILL SIT ALONGSIDE OUR EXISTING CATUAI BLOCKS, ALLOWING US TO COMPARE DIRECTLY ACROSS GROWTH PATTERNS AND PLANT HEALTH, CHERRY DEVELOPMENT AND RIPENING CYCLES, YIELD PER TREE AND PER HECTARE, AND CUP QUALITY ACROSS MULTIPLE HARVESTS.

ONLY OVER TIME DO THESE COMPARISONS BECOME MEANINGFUL.

FROM NURSERY TO FIELD TO CUP

WHAT SITS IN THE NURSERY TODAY WILL TAKE TIME.

OVER THE COMING MONTHS, THESE PLANTS WILL BE ESTABLISHED IN THE FIELD. FROM THERE, THE TIMELINE STRETCHES FROM YEAR ONE TO TWO WITH ESTABLISHMENT AND EARLY GROWTH, INTO YEAR THREE WITH INITIAL CHERRY PRODUCTION THAT IS LIMITED AND INCONSISTENT, AND FROM YEAR FOUR ONWARDS WHERE YIELDS BEGIN TO STABILISE AND REAL EVALUATION CAN BEGIN.

IT IS ONLY AT THAT POINT THAT WE CAN UNDERSTAND THEM PROPERLY, NOT JUST HOW THEY TASTE, BUT HOW THEY BEHAVE IN TERMS OF CLIMATE TOLERANCE, RESPONSE TO PICKING AND PROCESSING, AND CONSISTENCY ACROSS HARVESTS.

THIS IS LONG TERM WORK. THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS HERE.

A BROADER SPECTRUM

WHAT THIS UNLOCKS OVER TIME IS RANGE, NOT JUST ONE EXPRESSION OF AUSTRALIAN COFFEE, BUT MANY.

DIFFERENT VARIETALS, GROWN IN THE SAME PLACE AND PROCESSED IN DIFFERENT WAYS, WILL BEGIN TO CREATE A BROADER SPECTRUM OF FLAVOUR AND A CLEARER IDENTITY OF WHAT AUSTRALIAN COFFEE CAN BE.

THIS BUILDS ON THE WORK ALREADY UNDERWAY ACROSS PROCESSING AND FERMENTATION, FROM CLEAN WASHED PROFILES THROUGH TO MORE EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES THAT PUSH SWEETNESS, STRUCTURE, AND INTENSITY. THE VARIETAL BECOMES ANOTHER LAYER IN THAT SYSTEM.

WHY NOW

THERE IS A MOMENT IN ANY PRODUCING COUNTRY WHERE IT MOVES FROM ESTABLISHING VIABILITY TO EXPLORING IDENTITY. FOR AUSTRALIAN COFFEE, THAT MOMENT IS NOW.

THE EARLY YEARS WERE ABOUT PROVING COFFEE COULD BE GROWN HERE AT A HIGH LEVEL. THAT FOUNDATION HAS BEEN SET. THE NEXT PHASE IS MORE NUANCED.

IT IS ABOUT ASKING BETTER QUESTIONS. WHAT SHOULD AUSTRALIAN COFFEE TASTE LIKE, WHICH VARIETALS BEST EXPRESS THIS ENVIRONMENT, AND HOW WE BUILD CONSISTENCY WITHOUT LOSING CHARACTER.

THIS WORK IN THE NURSERY IS A DIRECT RESPONSE TO THAT.

LOOKING AHEAD

PLANTING BEGINS IN THE COMING MONTHS. FROM THERE, THE TIMELINE STRETCHES OUT, SEASONS, NOT WEEKS. BUT THIS IS WHERE IT STARTS, QUIETLY, IN THE NURSERY, BEFORE ANYTHING REACHES THE CUP.

OVER TIME, THESE VARIETALS WILL SHAPE NOT JUST WHAT WE GROW, BUT HOW AUSTRALIAN COFFEE IS UNDERSTOOD. NOT FIXED, NOT INHERITED, BUT BUILT, SEASON BY SEASON.