Fall Fun Food and Drink Chapter Four - rapture in my cup · Thursday September 24, 2009 by colin newell
Overwhelmed. o·ver·whelm …To affect deeply in mind or emotion
Yesterday I served Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee and pure Kona (from RocketFuelCoffee.Com in Toronto, Ontario)
The JBM was brewed 75g to this 1.5 liter Bodum bad-boy. 20s of vigorous stirring and a 3.5 minute brew period.
We stood in a circle like a Bulgarian woman’s a capella choir – singing its praises in near perfect harmony;
Balanced acidity. Medium body. Not a lot of bite.
But was it is a truly exceptional JBM?
In light of what we followed up with: a pure Kona brewed in a 60g load in a Newco OCS-8 40 fluid ounce drip brewer… it was good, maybe great.
But how great?
The Kona was cleaner tasting – both had great body and were balanced on the palate with gentle citrus notes.
Then we tried Helsar de Zarcero from Drumroaster Coffee of Cobble Hill, British Columbia. Helsar de Zarcero 100% typica varietal is one in a long line of exceptional coffees from the Perz and Rodrigues Villalobos families. The coffee is supple, sweet and, as always, meticulously processed at the Miramontes micro mill.
Helsar de Zarcero is raised in Costa Rica’s fertile West Valley at elevations between 5400-6100 feet.
How did this modest bean take two of the World’s caffeine super-powers by the stem and push them aside?
Simple; diligence, dedication, love, location, attention to detail… and a desire to produce one of the Planet’s best tasting coffees.
Photo above – Geir Oglend captures the moment
I am not saying that great JBM and Kona isn’t wonderful, because it is. It is just… that in 2009, there are better coffees (for less) that are worth your dollars and unflinching attention.
Cheers to master artisan roaster, Geir Oglend, of Drumroaster Coffee on Vancouver Island for another stirring and stunning coffee presentation… And, of course, to the folks at Helsar de Zarcero in Costa Rica.
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Fall Fun Food Drink and Words with Rex Murphy · Monday September 21, 2009 by colin newell
One of the great pleasures of the spoken (and written) word (particularly in a country as free as Canada) is the ability to wax philosophic on every subject that irritates the psyche. It is, as if, in Canada, a country that prides itself on free expression, labels the very exercise of soliloquy as a national obligation – the failure to do so, within itself, could well be rewarded with a social punishment, or banishment worthy of a much harsher crime.
Which leads me to the hour of validation provided by none other than Rex Murphy – orator, intellect, maven of all things Canadian Culture – host of Canada’s beloved “Cross Country Check-up”, writer for the Globe and Mail… and on… and on… and on…
We have seen Rex on several occasions, each successive venture in listening more profound than the one before it. Mister Murphy has an uncommon connection to the most intimate fabric of the Canadian experience and a word skill sufficiently advanced to weave an otherwise cryptic and esoteric sweater of ideas into a warm and gentle blanket of thought wearable by even the most jaded and maple leaf detached person.
His message tonight was quite simple: We live in a country with a whole lot of great stuff around us and like the “forest for the trees” adage, we don’t know what we have even when we are surrounded by it – and it is not so much about the learning of this concept, because we know it by rote – but that we often need to be reminded of the little things that coalesce into the big things… that make Canada the most desirable place on the Planet – and the people resting on its familiar soil some of the most giving and empathic.
In a short story about 9/11 and how average Canadians (Newfoundland in his example) come to the aid of stranded Americans and Internationals, forced out of the air in a day of infamy, senseless aggression and rage. – Rex illustrates the factor of molecular memory in Human behavior and how good things can come from all Canadians – of all stripes, because we know what the right thing to do is when we are in dire straits – or when our neighbors are in difficult times.
And not only that, the very manifestation of the Canadian zeitgeist guarantees the feels good reward by doing the right thing – without expectation of recognition – but just the simple satisfaction of lending a hand when it’s needed.
And it is intrinsically Canadian to do so.
It was a great time. We bought his new book (photo upper right) and lined up with other Canadians to have a private moment with the wordsmith – and to have the book custom signed.
A moment with a great Canadian, teacher, speaker and a reminder what it is to be Canadian…
Utterly priceless.
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Fall Fun Food and Drink Chapter Three - Ethiopia in my cup · Sunday September 20, 2009 by colin newell
It is said that single-origin coffee and direct trade relationships with importers can be the key to breaking cycles of poverty in a coffee-producing country like Ethiopia.
With programs like Cup of Excellence making inroads; getting a fair price for the folks that produce the raw materials and bypassing dozens if not hundreds of middlemen – a life of circuitous misery guaranteed…
…the World has actually become a better place for coffee farmers.
So what is happening with Ethiopia right now? And why, does it seem that the government is taking a step backwards?
Some history.
From Fortune magazine: To produce a pound of organic sun-dried coffee, farmers in the southern Ethiopian village of Fero spread six pounds of ripe, red coffee cherries onto pallets near their fields. They sun the fruit for 15 days, stirring every few minutes to ensure uniform dryness, then shuck the shells.
Last season, that pound of coffee fetched farmers an average price of $1.45. Figuring in the cost of generator fuel, bank interest, labor and transport across Ethiopia’s dusty roads, it netted them less than $1. In the U.S., however, that same pound of coffee commands a much higher price: $26 for a bag of Starbucks’ roasted Shirkina Sun-Dried Sidamo.
The price differential is evidence that Ethiopia has been unable to capitalize on its intellectual property, coffee.
So Ethiopia decided to trademark names like Yirgacheffe, Harrar and Sidamo.
But Starbucks beat them to it.
And remarkable or not, this raises a wild ride of questions about our “right” to a great cuppa and the farmers right to capitalize on their wonderful beans.
In the end, Ethiopia won and created an Ethiopia Coffee Exchange (ECX) – and at many levels getting a real bead on where your great coffee beans are coming from… well exactly… is somewhat muted.
Still, Ethiopia’s 12 million plus subsistence farmers should be able to rise above some of the Western imposed adversity. For Starbucks, their public relations disaster, pitting the coffee company, which had record revenue of $7.8 billion last year, up 22 percent over 2005, against one of the world’s poorest countries, is a tad tacky.
And as a lover of Misty Valley Ethiopian coffee (a bean we might not be seeing for a while…), I am equally guilty (OK not 7.8 Billion dollar guilty…) of contributing on some small level to the misery in Country…
Except that this great coffee was probably purchased during an online auction netting the farmers 10 times as much money as they would have had on the other inferior schemes.
Coffee has always been a roller coaster – and Ethiopia is a great example of how great things can come to an awesome, proud and hardworking people… if we can all just figure this thing out.
Coming up, a review of a “pooled” Ethiopian coffee – a truly great one… From Transcend Coffee in Edmonton, Canada.
Rage against the Machine - corporate vandalism of public spaces. · Saturday September 19, 2009 by colin newell
Shame on the Bay Centre in Victoria B.C. Canada for their abuse of a public space: the sidewalks of Victoria B.C. Canada. In a cynical attempt at being gritty, edgy and on the fringe this latest attempt by a local marketing agency falls flat like so much scattered waste from a sea gull.
In my often downtown forays into the urban shell, I spend a lot of time looking into windows and into faces – never are my eyes forced downward on to the sidewalk other than to change course from some inadvertently deposited animal dropping. So what is up with the dated concept of guerrilla marketing by Eclipse Creative in Victoria?
I mean – do they have a permit for this? Or is this another one of them brilliant IKEA IDEAS?
In a recent conversation with one of their agents (who will remain nameless…) she revealed… “Permit? I do not think so. Do we need one? Gee. I don’t know…”
It seems the Bay Centre “Maintenance Crew” used the stencils provided to them by Eclipse Creative to spray a water soluble material onto the public sidewalks.
So what is stopping me from spraying over their message with my message?
Which is: “get out of my face already…”
Do you have any idea how fast I would have the cuffs slapped on me if I created my own special and unique message on a public sidewalk?
Anyway. Eclipse Creatives attempt at edginess is so yesterday. As a former member of the Prada team pointed out, this was so done in the 90’s.
Welcome to the 21st century baby.
Buzz not achieved.
Try again.
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