Restaurateur Noah Westby’s Africa mission: coffee

Alexia Parks | Nov 16, 2009

Let’s say you’re 34 years old, and have a passion for brewing coffee, where would that passion take you?

Noah Westby

For Boulderite Noah Westby, owner of both DaGabi Cucina restaurant in North Boulder and the legendary Trident Booksellers and Cafe on Pearl Street, and brother of Kristen Westby, whose heroics I recalled in a blog on the Huffington Post, and son of the founder of September School … that passion would take you to Rwanda.

Noah is part of a small group of coffee expert. Right now, he’s in Rwanda to both taste the coffee from three different regions of the country (called “cupping”) and to test it.

The three tests to coffee they are tasting include testing the TDS (total devolved solids) that the extracted coffee contains, testing the PH levels, and doing a TA test (traceable acidity).

They will also be graphing the growing conditions and soil of the coffee. The end result, says Westby, will enable coffee companies all over the world to use this information to determine what kind of Rwandan coffee they would like to purchase.

Over the years, there has been a steady stream of bad news emerging from this African country. If Noah’s project is successful, the country should be able to find economic success in marketing its coffee to the world.