Title image for the photo essay about Paul deLima Coffee.

Roasting Green

Roasting Green

Drivers on Interstate 81, north of Syracuse, can smell the coffee.  The source? The Paul deLima Coffee roasting plant, a company that is reducing its carbon footprint -- and its costs -- with renewable energy.

A wind turbine and solar photovoltaic array provide renewable energy for the Paul deLima Coffee roasting facility.

The plant is inconspicuous, except for its windmill and solar panels, which seem as out of place in the area as the coffee production itself.

Solar photovoltaic array at Paul deLima coffee roasting plant.
Wind turbine at Paul deLima coffee roasting plant.

The coffee company, owned and operated by the Drescher family, is using renewable energy to lower its energy costs and reduce its carbon footprint. About 10 years ago, Warner Energy, Paul deLima’s sister company, saw an emerging opportunity in renewable energy, and used the coffee producer’s roasting and distribution facilities as a testing ground for wind and solar power.

The wind turbine and solar photovoltaic array were installed and commissioned in 2009, connecting directly to the electric grid. Together, they have provided much of the energy used by the roaster and the adjoining store ever since: about 14 megawatt hours annually from the turbine, and 8.8 megawatt hours annually from the solar photovoltaic array.

Recently, however, the company’s costs have gone up, with the installation of a new roaster and grinder to increase production. Mike Drescher, a son of one of the owners, said it was time to increase their energy efficiency, updating the solar panels to capitalize on advances in the technology since they were installed. The goal is to once again have most of the company’s energy needs met by renewable sources.

At Paul deLima, the smell of coffee pulls visitors into the store, where they are warmly greeted by Kate Drescher, Mike’s sister, or Glenn Guy, Mike’s uncle, and invited to have a cup of coffee.

Customers getting coffee at the complementary coffee bar at the Paul deLima store.
In addition to their popular coffee blends, Paul deLima sells single-sourced coffee beans such as these from Kenya, which they'll grind free for you.

The store sells Paul deLima ground coffee and beans (ground on request) from a variety of countries and in a variety of blends.  DeLima branded products, such as coffee mugs, are also available for purchase.

 

Kate holds the favorite antique coffee can from the collection on display. The can still has its key attached and is full of coffee.

Above the merchandise are displays of old coffee cans, mostly from the early years of the company. The odds-on favorite of the staff is a circa 1960s can that still has the key attached to the bottom and is filled with coffee. Despite its novelty, the staff members say the coffee is probably best left in the container at this point, but they are curious how it tastes.

An antique Paul deLima coffee can style that many older customers still associate with the brand.

Photos of the deLima family on display in the hallway between the store and the museum at Paul deLima roastery. The collection starts with Ella Barber deLima, who brought coffee beans from her husband's family's farm in Brazil and started roasting them in her kitchen. The coffee became popular enough with her friends that she started a business in her kitchen. Her son, Paul deLima, incorporated the business in 1916.

Adjacent to the store is a hallway with photos highlighting the development of the company by the deLima family from the early 20th century. The story begins with Ella Barber deLima, who traveled to Syracuse in 1902 and began roasting beans from her husband’s family farm in Brazil. The beans were so popular with friends that she started a small business in her kitchen. The company was incorporated by her son in 1916.

The Paul deLima museum is located down a short hallway from the store. Visitors can learn about the process of growing and making coffee. Short informational videos supplement the captioned photos on the wall.
Green, unroasted, coffee beans on display at the Paul deLima museum.
Roasted coffee beans on display at the Paul deLima museum.
A Paul deLima shirt on display in the museum with old coffee grinding equipment in the background.
Paul deLima coffee seeks social sustainability of their farmers by participating in the Fair Trade program.

At the end of the hallway is a museum with exhibits about the process of growing and making coffee.  In one area, visitors can run their fingers through green or roasted coffee beans, read about fair trade practices (which Paul deLima participates in), and check out old equipment.

 

Mike Drescher at the entrance to the Paul deLima roasting facility. The stacks of burlap sacks are green coffee beans from various coffee-producing countries awaiting processing.

The newer equipment is in the roastery at the heart of the facility, where workers don hairnets and beard nets while leaving  items behind that might fall into the coffee, like rings and necklaces. Mike Drescher will occasionally lead visitors on a prearranged tour, no cameras allowed, where the aroma of coffee permeates everything. In the roasting area, they arrange burlap sacks full of fresh coffee beans, pour the beans into the sorter to remove stones, and then send them through the roaster and grinder, before placing them in large sacks for transportation to the company’s packaging and distribution center.

Dumpster of burlap sacks that held coffee beans in shipment and are free for the taking at Paul deLima roasting facility.

In the roastery, they use or recycle nearly everything. There is even a special dumpster for burlap sacks, where people or businesses can take them for free. Many of the sacks are currently going to a farmer, who shreds them to be used for mulching. This focus on sustainability and reducing waste has reduced their carbon dioxide emissions, while saving the company money on waste disposal, Mike Drescher said. He added that the other way the company keeps costs down is by co-manufacturing coffee for other companies. Sometimes those companies even send over beans they want roasted, and the extra business is significant enough to keep production profitable for Paul deLima.

The Paul deLima cupping room, where coffee beans are tested for taste, as seen from the company store.
Coffee bean samples sent to Paul deLima for quality assurance testing and awaiting the cupping process.

The experienced tasters at the plant – known as “cuppers” – agree that the best room in Paul deLima is the cupping room. The cupping process involves roasting the beans, grinding them, soaking them in hot water, breaking the crust, and removing the “creme,”  a white film that forms on the surface after the crust sinks to the bottom. All of this is done in prescribed amounts and for specific lengths of time.

Glenn grinds coffee beans in preparation for tasting during the cupping process.
Glenn tests how the coffee beans smell in preparation for the cupping process.
Glenn prepares the ground coffee on the cupping table at Paul deLima. The roaster used for the small samples is in the background.
Glenn pours hot water over the coffee grounds to steep them prior to tasting during the cupping process.
Glenn breaks the crust that forms on the top of the coffee during the cupping process as the coffee grinds soak.
The creme of the coffee is removed after the crust has been broken and before tasting occurs at Paul deLima.
Glenn moving to a new coffee to try at Paul deLima during the cupping process.
Kate cupping the coffee samples that Glen has already tasted. Multiple cuppers will evaluate each sample.
Ryan cupping the coffee samples as the third taster in series. The cuppers don't ingest the concentrated coffee and here he spits the coffee into the dentist spittoon after having tasted it.

Then each cupper takes quick sips of concentrated coffee made from beans grown in various coffee-producing countries. If the beans aren’t up to their standards, the cuppers won’t order from that batch, or they will return the  shipment if the beans were already ordered.

This vetting process keeps the quality of the coffee that Paul deLima sells high, Mike Drescher said, and saves loads that have already been ordered from being returned. In 20 years, he said, they have only returned one shipment to the source, a testament to the advantage of testing the batches prior to ordering.

Glenn Guy explained that for the purposes of testing, the coffee is made stronger than normal in order for the different notes to be more noticeable. Much like wine and beer tasting, each cupper will identify different flavors, and they each have to learn his or her own taste profile for good beans from different regions.

 

After all cuppers have tasted the coffee samples, they discuss which meet the standards of Paul deLima and which have an off taste that they will not order.

The cuppers spend many weeks in training, learning the taste of beans from one region before moving to beans from another region. Along the way, they are tested and must correctly identify the beans or go through more training. After a cupping session, all the cuppers discuss the beans and decide if any of them tasted “off” in some way, meaning they should not be ordered.

Kate Drescher, Mike Drescher, Glenn Guy, Ryan Cummings, and Ron Chrysler all take part in the cupping process, and if visitors are lucky they can witness the daily ritual through a large window in the store.

An sign informs visitors of the wind turbine, installed in 2009, that provides renewable energy to the Paul deLima roastery in Cicero, NY.

The new roaster, low transportation of wastes, and the renewable energy sources all decrease the carbon footprint of Paul deLima coffee. Mike said that the company orders beans from all coffee-producing countries, which are located in tropical regions that are at increased risk for impacts from climate change. As global temperatures rise, these areas may no longer be suitable for growing coffee as a crop. Simply moving north will not solve the problem, Mike Drescher said, because temperature is not the only factor: the levels of precipitation that coffee plants need to grow are changing as well. By reducing their emissions, they are helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change, and contributing to sustainability in the tropical regions where the beans are grown.

He said he thinks it will be a challenge to find new regions to grow coffee in a changing climate, while meeting world demand.

 

“What’s going to happen? I don’t know,” he says, “but I’m curious.”