Anne Kaltenbach, is the quality assurance manager for Hawaii Coffee Co. in Kalihi. She stands each day at a table with several colleagues and samples various coffee roasts with a "slurp" to make sure they're up to par. The tasting is called "cupping."
A Matter of Taste
If you’ve had a cup of coffee
from Hawaii lately, chances are
Anne Kaltenbach helped pass
judgment on its quality before
it got to you
Anne KaltenbachTitle: Quality control managerJob: Assures that each batch of Hawaii Coffee Co.'s roasted coffee meets the company's standards for flavor, color, aroma and acidity.
|
Question: How long have you been at the Hawaii Coffee Co.?
Answer: About 14, 15 months.
Q: You sound French? Is that right?
A: Yes.
Q: What's the story behind that?
A: My boyfriend is fortunate enough to work here. He studied in Florida, so he gets a visa to work anywhere in the United States, and he chose Hawaii, because we like water and surfing and windsurfing, so I followed him here. It's the best place for us. In France, it's really a dream to live in the United States, especially in Hawaii. We had the opportunity to work here and live here, so we take it. (Laughter)
Q: So he's French, too.
A: Yes.
Q: What did he study?
A: Software. He's a software engineer.
Q: When did you move to Hawaii?
A: Maybe 2 1/2 years ago.
Q: What was your first job here?
A: It was in a software company. I did quality documentation. It's different from what I do here. But before this in France, I worked for a cheese company, doing almost the same thing I do for this company. So I wanted to go back to a food company, because I think it's so interesting.
Q: What are you, a coffee taster?
A: Yeah, coffee and tea, because we do tea also.
Q: Where does the tea come from?
A: The Hawaiian Islands Tea Co. It merged with Hawaii Coffee Co. a year ago.
Q: Was there an opening for this job?
A: No, no. I was in my software job, but I really wanted to go back into food industry, but there were no openings here, so instead of applying for a job, I decided to look for a job that I wanted. So I went to the Hawaii Coffee Co. Web site, and thought that this company was big enough to need somebody in quality, so I sent my resume to Mr. (Jim) Wayman, director of the company, and he created a position for me.
Q: How many people work there?
A: I think about 90, in production and management.
Q: What kind of coffee do they sell?
A: Every kind of coffee. We have Kona coffee, Molokai, Maui, and we have a lot of blends.
Q: Exactly what do you do there?
A: I drink the production of coffee and tea. I make sure the product complies with the customers' orders, so I make sure that it's the correct roast, grind, flavor, weight, label, sticker, box, the UPCs. You have so many different coffees and different clients.
Q: Do you brew the coffee and sit down and taste it?
A: We do a daily cupping.
Anne Kaltenbach checks about 40 roasts a day at Hawaii Coffee Co. in Kalihi to make sure they meet the company's standards for quality.
A: It's similar to wine tasting, except for coffee. We look for the color, the smell and the taste. We measure the flavor, aroma and acidity of coffee.
I check every day three or four coffees, and we test them with the director of the company, Jim Wayman; the roasting facility manager, John Kuper; the sales manager, Jim Lenhart; and Sharon Zambofan, vice president of worldwide military sales.
Q: They all join you?
A: Yes, every day.
Q: When you're doing that, are you using any equipment?
A: When we do this, we have cups, with seven grams of each coffee, that I grind. I add hot water, we mix the coffee and smell, then we remove the top of the coffee, and after that we slurp it.
Q: What if you don't like it?
A: Then we try another coffee from the same batch. If there is still something weird, I roast it myself, the same kind of coffee. It's not so often, but maybe some of the batch of the green beans were not conform.
Q: So you throw it out?
A: Yeah.
Q: What's your favorite coffee.
A: I like a pure Kona, and a Lion French, of course. (Laughter)
Q: Do you have a favorite tea?
A: I like pineapple.
Q: So are you jittery all day?
A: (Laughter) Oh no, it's OK. I like it, so it's good.
Q: Do you ever get sick of drinking coffee?
A: No, no. We also do cupping of new flavors, once a week or so.
Q: How many flavors do you have altogether.?
A: Maybe 30 to 40. Some are only limited editions.
Q: Do you ever drink coffee at home?
A: Oh no. (Laughter) I drink enough during the day.
Q: Besides the cupping each day ...
A: Oh, I check the color of each roast.
Q: You do this all day?
A: Yeah. We have maybe 40 roasts each day, so I come in and check each one of them -- the grind, moisture, and the oxygen content.
Q: Where did you learn how to do this?
A: Jim and John taught me, and I study here. I already knew a lot of things, but I was ready to learn new things about coffee.
I also take care of the quality documentation.
Q: Who's that for?
A: The crew and me. We fill out a lot of paperwork to make sure they use the right flavor and the right recipe for each product.
Q: For the flavored coffees?
A: Right.
Q: What do you think about the flavored coffees?
A: I like them.
Q: Can you tell when something is decaffeinated?
A: Oh yeah.
Q: How can you tell?
A: It's a different taste.
Q: When you're at home with your boyfriend, I guess you guys talk French, yeah?
A: Yeah, but we have a lot of American friends, so we talk English a lot, too.
[News] [Business] [Features] [Sports] [Editorial] [Do It Electric!]
[Classified Ads] [Search] [Subscribe] [Info] [Letter to Editor]
[Feedback]
