Coffees from Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo are amazing, ranking up with high Ethiopian and Kenyan coffees. A very rare defect in a bean can cause your drink to taste like steamed vegetables. Let's talk about potato defect.

What is Potato Defect?

In these three countries, coffees occasionally get affected by potato defect. There is a spore in the region that can cling to any cracks and crags of the green coffee bean. As that spore begins to grow, the coffee's immune system attacks the spore, resulting in a release of a chemical that tastes like steamed vegetables to us drinkers.

In specialty coffee, we are sorting out any beans that don't meet high standards. It is extremely rare for specialty coffee to be affected by potato defect because of the high standards in sorting. But it is possible and that is why we are talking about it together. In this video, Tom Owens from Sweet Maria's Coffee Importers talks about the problem of potato defect and what causes it.

How Can We Avoid Potato Defect?

At Origin

Mills in these growing regions are very aware of the things that could go wrong and hurt their cup quality. Their sorters are looking for anything that could cause this annoying taste. They want importers and roasters to think of their beans for high quality compared to other mills and growing cooperatives, so they put work in to sort out all the affected beans. Here is a video to illustrate the hard work at the mill.

At the Roaster

We also put in work to enhance the quality of your experience by hand-sorting any defect beans. Think of this as a second set of eyes on each bean. We are looking for bumps, bruises, scratches, bore holes, chips, and any other noticeable surface that these spores could take hold on the otherwise smooth surface of the bean. Here is a video that explains what we do to identify and eliminate any problem beans before they go into the cup.

After all that work in sorting, it still occurs very rarely that a cup may be affected by this smell and taste. I've personally roasted and consumed over 70 pounds of Rwandan coffee and have only ever had one bad cup of coffee. In fact, other brews from that same roast batch tasted wonderful. This goes to show how one bad bean can affect a cup, but will not affect other beans in the same bag of beans.

You will only begin to notice it when hot water meets the ground coffee. Its dry fragrance before and after grinding will not be any different than any other coffee you have had. When it meets hot water, a defect coffee will smell like steamed vegetables, or in less affected coffee, like wet hay. Drinking coffee affected by potato defect is not harmful to your body in any way, but it will not be enjoyable. And of course, if the wet aroma of water mixing with grounds smells good, then you will have an amazing cup of coffee. In nearly every cup, specialty coffees from these regions are scored really high at cupping and so we want to offer you the amazing experience these coffees offer; we see the defect as a minor inconvenience to a top shelf coffee.

What Should YOU Do If It's in Your Cup of Joe By Schmo?

Email us and we will replace your bag with another coffee of your choice at no cost to you. We think that specialty coffees from these origins are well worth the risk of one bad cup. We stand behind the quality we are offering to our customers. Enjoy your purchase! And with that, know we will make it right in the very rare event that you get a bad cup. Email us and we will make it right for you!

So, is it worth the risk? Absolutely!

Learn More About these Countries