Great coffee - start from the top... · Tuesday July 4, 2006 by colin newell
Synesso, Aeropress, Clover, Baratza Virtuoso, Cup-of-Excellence, Panama hat…
huh?
The last six monthes have been a wake-up call for me. There has been an endless stream of things to get a handle on and a mouthful of words and terms to file away with suitable explanations.
All the while, we have been thinking about branding our website some, if only for fun.
Ok. Well, ball-cap? T-Shirt? Coffee-mug?
What would people want, if they wanted a piece of our online thing?
How about a hat? Something with style?
A Panama hat.
Haven’t you always wanted a Panama Hat?
Truth be told – my hair is not getting thicker as I get older.
And the ozone layer is not getting thicker either.
Seems I burn way quicker.
And if I ever want to spend a day or a week picking coffee, I will need some protection.
Well here it is.
Comment [1]
Mini-restaurant review - Zambri's Victoria · Saturday July 1, 2006 by colin newell
Attended a retirement dinner last night at Zambri’s Restaurant. Located in a faceless Yates Street Mall just up from Quadra Street, Zambri’s has made a name for themselves serving the freshest of slow-food, sourced from all-local suppliers of organic veg and meat.
Slow-food.
What is it?
No… No, it is not slow service. Quite the opposite.
In Zambri’s case, it is a wonderful example of quality dishes prepared fresh and served in no perceptible rush.
And rush we did not.
We arrived (on time) at 7 PM.
We were immediately handed a sparkling wine beverage.
We had one of the party rooms in the back. It is a bit sterile with a careful selection of local art hung on an otherwise unremarkable wall.
The windows looks out over the View Towers entrance. If you know Victoria, you know the View Towers. It used to be a very lively residence housing some of Victoria’s most colorful individuals.
Anyho. After all the guests had arrived and settled in, platters of antipasti started to filter in. They were good. All good. Nothing out of the ordinary mind you – just predictable offerings like brucshetta, polenta, deep fried cauliflower, tuna and potato salad and the like.
Again, at Zambri’s it is not about knocking you out of the park with drop dead amazing flavors – it is about the simple things done right.
Our main course was an offering of Fish (Salmon) or Poultry (Chicken), again simply prepared with a few twists.
There were two choices for dessert: Tiramisu or Pizelle with fresh organic strawberries. They were both wonderful.
This was a group event. My wife and I will be going back for the romantic couple experience!
Slow-food indeed! We finally left (almost the last people out) at about 11:15PM! I had about one glass of sparkling white-wine, a half-glass of a mystery red wine and a mug of 1/2-Caf with my tiramisu. I was one satisfied diner.
And you will be too! Bon apetit folks!
Presenting the Baratza Virtuoso grinder blog · Friday June 30, 2006 by colin newell
That is right folks – there is nothing else like this on the Planet.
At least – we are pretty sure.
I have asked Ottawa Dave to participate with me on this one.
We will talk about the Virtuoso Grinder.
A lot.
Enjoy!
The Baratza Virtuoso grinder · Wednesday June 28, 2006 by colin newell
I have had one for a couple of monthes now.
I received the latest version about a week ago.
Yesterday I shipped off my original Virtuoso Grinder to Dave Anderson in Ottawa. Dave, as you may know, is our Ottawa bureau-chief for the CoffeeCrew.Com website.
We are going to take a slightly different approach on the Virtuoso review. We are going to mash them up at the same time and come out with a he said – he said double-header review of the grinder.
I do not know if it will be more or less interesting than the typical one head reviews you see out there on the net – but what the heck. We aim to be different.
Stay tuned!
