Boston GreenScene: Redefining Terroir

by Dan Burgess

terroir [teh-RWAHR]: French for "soil" and used in the phrase gout de terroir ("taste of the soil") to refer to the earthy flavor of some wines. ~www.epicurious.com

A certain romantic quality exists at Terroir Select Coffee and an endearment for fine coffee is almost contagious when you walk through the door and smell the aroma of freshly roasted beans.

Two years ago, I was fortunate enough to attend a coffee tasting, site tour, and presentation at Terroir’s facility in Acton, MA. George Howell, the ivy league educated owner and founder of Terroir who has been called ‘Juan Valdez in a blue blazer’ and ‘a walking encyclopedia on coffee’ by the New York Times, personally walked us through the roasting facility.

George Howell’s love affair with high quality coffee is obvious to even the most casual observer, and to hear him speak of his time spent with single-origin farmers in equatorial lands is reminiscent to reading Ernest Hemingway chronicle his African hunting expeditions. Like the famed Hemingway safari accounts, Howell’s journeys are filled with passion, thrill, and above all, a respect for the people and process involved. Fortunately, his travels differ from Hemingway in that what Howell brings back, we can all enjoy first hand: arguably the world’s finest coffee beans.

“Coffee has progressed from the flatline-quality graveyard of the 1960’s and 70’s to the quality trapezoid of today’s specialty blend market. This trapezoid now needs to be crowned with great single-source, named coffees to become a quality pyramid – for the health of the marketplace, the growers, the growers’ nations – and for our very real pleasure and delight!” - Terroir website.

Terroir, founded in 2004 by Howell after numerous successful endeavors in the coffee world, not only produces some of the world’s best coffee, but does so in a socially and environmentally responsible way. As stated on the website, this endeavor “represents a return for George to his roots: identifying, roasting and discovering the highest quality coffees possible. His Terroir line of single-origin coffees is the next step in this unfolding odyssey as he presses to extend the limits of quality coffee standards. Terroir is based on the simple premise that the apex of coffee quality is represented by single estates, be they farms or carefully focused cooperatives.” - Terroir website.

By 'single origin,' Terroir is not referring to the continent that your coffee beans come from as most coffee conglomerates do. Terroir tells you the origin country, region, and the farm, estate, or cooperative of the beans you are grinding. While each farm may not be certified as organic (this certification is often too expensive and impractical for many small farms), you can be sure that your coffee is grown in the most sustainable way possible. Practicing sustainable farming is the only way these small farms can possibly survive. Small farms and cooperatives rely on cultivating the same land year after year, and must preserve their precious land in order to survive. For example, one of the highest ranked coffees currently at Terroir comes from a farm in Kenya called the Ndiara Estate. Ndiara Estate, is an eight-acre farm.

Howell and the folks at Terroir work tirelessly with these farms to increase the quality of their product. Howell shares his vast knowledge and experience with them and even experiments with different techniques to further the quality of the beans shipped to the United States. While walking through the Terroir facilities two years ago, Howell pointed out new, more advanced packing that they were experimenting with in an attempt to improve the preservation of the beans while in transit.

In addition to working with small farmers and cooperatives, Terroir is continuously educating consumers on quality coffee. To get an idea of how ‘coffee is produced from seed to cup,’ check out the beginnings of what is hopefully a soon to come, illustrated book. You can also hear Howell on NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook, here. But be warned, your steaming hot french roast or flavored coffee may never taste the same.

As the quality coffee movement continues to progress and we begin to see similarities to the growth of the wine industry (think vintages and credit to individual farms and roasters) you can be sure George Howell and the Terroir Select Coffee will be leading the way.

You can find Terroir Coffee in Boston here, and I’ve had especially good experiences with Terroir coffee at Creme Cafe in Harvard Square in Cambridge. Creme only serves Terroir coffee and hangs images of Howell’s journeys on it’s brick walls.