1st ever Latte Art throw down for Haiti - in Victoria at DISCO · 25 January 2010 by colin newell
I had the pleasure of watching all of Victoria’s coffee passion packed into one room at Discovery Coffee on Discovery Street…
and I got to judge a round. How about that.
Tonight in Victoria.
Everyone was there and the love was in the air.
There was enough zippy coffee groove to knock small planets out of their orbits. But that is not why we were there.
A good dozen or so of the Island’s best baristi duked it out for the Earthquake ravaged country of Haiti – and we raised almost $1000.
The winner was one of the lovely and charming gals from DISCO on Oak Bay Avenue – runner-ups included Geir Oglend of the Drumroaster in Mill Bay.
More photos here
Coffee in Victoria B.C. and the lower Island EAT Magazine · 22 January 2010 by colin newell
I will let the article do the talking… or the reading I guess.
Many thanks to Rebecca Baugniet of EAT Magazine for kick starting this.
2010 Olympic Rant #40 Three cheers for Chris Shaw · 10 January 2010 by colin newell
Why let me tell it – read the Canadian Press for yourself.
Story passed on to me from my dear friend Mark at Bubby Roses Bakery.
A highlight:
He soon came to see the Olympics as little more than a scheme to make developers rich, help sponsors market their brands and funnel money back to the International Olympic Committee – itself effectively a multinational corporation that uses its brand to exert enormous influence over host governments, Shaw believes.
In return, he argues, the communities that host the Games are left with higher-than-projected costs and empty promises about environmental sustainability and social development.
“What I saw with the Olympics was a microcosm of that larger globalization issue,” says Shaw.
“The IOC is basically another multinational corporation, it’s just got this great gimmick.”
I hate to say this now (me speaking)… but anyone that buys into this pseudo Olympic spirit is a naive chump who has his (her) head up their ass.
My wife and I spent over a half and hour with the wonderful businessperson behind Victoria’s own Cairo Coffee – a staple in Victoria since 1913.
Stupid me, I said that we were all going to be fine in 2010 – that the coffee world was going to rock and everyone was going to be fine…
Geepers did Bill (owner of Cairo Coffee) give me a much needed wake-up call. My dear wife, standing near-by, agreed with every word Bill laid out for me.
Which makes me a naive chump… with my head up my ass.
Pretty much.
Combine the downturn in the economy, the 2010 sinkhole, Gordon Campbell’s irrepressible desire to sell the Province to the highest foreign bidder and the inclusion of the much maligned HST tax… and, according to Bill of Cairo Coffee, “We have the fixins for the perfect storm in the Province of British Columbia…”
“Next year is going to be grim…”
In the 1/2 hour we chatted late on Saturday afternoon, not a soul popped into a normally very busy store.
Who’s right? Who’s wrong?
We have a year to find out… if only in part.
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Baby bottom bugaboos and other bewildering blather · 8 December 2009 by colin newell
While waiting in line for my favorite serving of breakfast (a weekend or so ago…) I noticed a young parent plunk down their diapered bambino on the cafe counter adjacent to the POS terminal. You know, where staff put food and beverages…
The young couple had just pushed their way into the cafe with a HUMVEE sized stroller that essentially trapped us mortal folk inside the cafe. In the event of fire or pestilence we would have died happy while grabbing for our favorite baked goodies while fire and smoke overtook our sorry souls.
But this does not bother me half as much as Tim Horton’s HQ who are desperately trying to hang on to their profit share by using some kind of Faith based science in defending their unbridled expansion of drive through extensions in the Province of Ontario.
I use the term Faith in that they must really take themselves seriously if they expect us to believe in the nonsense that they are pitching.
Facing a rising brew ha ha of municipal anti-drive-thru ordinances, Horton’s parent company TDL commissioned a study last year from RWDI consultants, based in Guelph, Ont… comparing total emissions given off by customers’ cars that use drive-thrus and those that use parking lots.
The stunning result: — that cars using drive-thrus produce lower emissions than those using parking lots.
The suggestion is… parked cars generate more pollution than the idling cars in the drive-through. Right.
Fact is, it is a high stakes game because Timmies makes almost 50% of its revenue from un-conscientious smoggers. Yes lots of folks simply cannot get out of their cars because of squalling babies and implacable pets – and there are other reasons.
Timmies supposition that Drive-Throughs work towards a general social good is cynical and deceptive. And we are not buying it.
And neither should you.
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Book review - Driven to Espresso by Ray Weisgerber · 2 December 2009 by colin newell
People ask me: What is it about coffee and cafe culture that has given it that certain lasting quality? That particular something that keeps it on our radar time and again… I mean, one need only subscribe to a newspaper or magazine or watch TV to experience how pervasive coffee culture is in society. For me, although not a life vocation, coffee has been a steady source of fascination and creative output.
And I cannot help but admire the person that captures some of the energy and puts it into book form. Because from where I am sitting, books are forever baby!
A successful photographer in his own right, Ray Weisgerber’s has put some of his coffee love into a soft cover book that we can all enjoy – and on several levels.
For the coffee lover, the drive-through espresso stand or kiosk is the alter of caffeine, the church of brew, the mosque of hot, black and satisfying java. And as we now know – the thing that makes the coffee stand or cafe that sacred place is its ability to take you away from the everyday. The coffee house is not your home and it’s not your office. And with the blurring of the work place, the cafe has become that one place where you can chill for 15 minutes to a half hour and get away from all the day to day demands.
Ray Weisgerber’s photos encapsulate a part of the American experience that is familiar and reassuring. He accurately captures the breadth of architectural style that is at once common to the North-west but also unique in its variance.
Driven to Espresso would make a great gift for anyone who enjoys a hot cup of joe or simply wants to share in the American journey. Driven to Espresso is available directly from Ray’s website or via online vendors like Amazon.
Tropical Colors Warm Winds Tour Chapter 3 · 23 November 2009 by colin newell
Sunset. It is a day. A week. A month. It’s your life.
And birth. A death.
Joy. Elation. Celebration. Renewal.
We hang our souls to dry like tropical themed towels at the pool-side.
And while staring into the sun gives clarity and honesty, home is
where the heart is.
Yes. It is here. Some of the time. And it’s back home with friends and loved ones.
After we hung out with a seasoned coffee farmer at Lehuulu Farms we sat in an old theater cafe up-country where they grow coffee.
The Aloha cafe is at 79-7384 Mamalahoa Hwy in Kealakekua, Hawaii – a mere 15 minutes from Kona, Hawaii.
We start to take root. We realize that we now have friends for life here.
And there. Back home.
I guess. Even though our family shrunk by one recently (and we were broken…)
Our World grew a bit bigger today.
Such is life.
Tropical Colors Warm Winds Tour Chapter 2 · 21 November 2009 by colin newell
Pushing around a rake over coffee parchment to find my soul.
I reorganize and re-balance.
In coffee we are looking for the right amount of moisture in the bean.
In life we are looking for the right balance of love and fear.
Enough love to say Hey and enough fear to say Fool…
Yes. You do get it both ways.
The ying and yang of our existence is just about balance.
A balance that we never actually achieve but spend a lifetime walking the fine line
for.
Tropical Colors Warm Winds Tour 2009 · 10 November 2009 by colin newell
Hello from Kona, Hawaii. Breaking my silence now.
Have spent a few days on light duty observation of Kona Coffee Fest – and what a wonderful, rural event it is indeed.
Sat with Joachim Oster of Blue Horse Kona (and my dear Wife Andrea) over coffee at the Keahou Outrigger waterside bar and talking about life, death, coffee, birth, the farmers life, the science of coffee and everything in between.
Photo above: I am loading 80 pound bags of Kona cherry into the pulper at Blue Horse Kona
This is why I am here. To get some of those pressing questions answered.
To hang the soul out to dry and to heal.
To let the rays of the tropical Sun trickle charge largely discharged batteries.
To move forward by sitting perfectly still.
This will become a regular home for upwards of a month a year.
I would suggest this kind of down time for anyone. It is amazing. And subtle. And gentle.
It is Hawaii.
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Fall 2009 coffee drinking - what's on today? · 14 October 2009 by colin newell
Today: A surprise bag of Cafe de Altura – La Quinta MAry – 100% Organic… and no, you are not going to find this on any Cup of Excellence hot list or specialty coffee auction block. This is very good, freshly roasted Mexican coffee from the holiday heartland of Puerto Vallarta.
A colleague visited the historic town of San Sebastian while he was on vacation – and while there stopped at Café de Altura, which is at the town’s entrance; a coffee plantation run by Rafael Sánchez Alvarado, where you can purchase delicious coffee and mocha blends.
And I agree, it is delicious. It is not often I get hand delivered beans from someone’s Mexican vacation. Thanks Gerry!
Later this morning I will be brewing up some Karatina Kenyan AA from the Nyeri Region (with thanks to Transcend Coffee)
Brown Gold · 9 October 2009 by joachim oster
Hidden in hearses, double floored baby strollers, left over armored Nazi vehicles, modified Porsches, even in undergarments – roasted coffee beans were once smuggled into post war Germany in ways which would put any contemporary Colombian drug lord to shame.
The corner where Germany borders Belgium and the Netherlands was a lawless region after WW2. Here, the possession of coffee meant more than having Deutschmarks or dollars. Hitler’s Westwall had fallen and many villages were still bombed out from the Battle of the Bulge. However, unexploded mines wouldn’t stop the German lads in their endeavor to supply their morally and physically beaten countrymen with cheap caffeine.
After all, the newly formed German Republic had slapped a 120% tax on roasted coffee to rebuild the infrastructure. Something even Hitler hadn’t dared to do. But then again he had wanted his people to conquer the world. That plan apparently didn’t quite work so well, caffeinated Aryans or not. And now after losing the house, brother, sister and/or father in war, the Jewish neighbors, the gypsies, the gays, many priests, the mentally disabled, plus half the countryside to the commies, how should one go on without coffee?!
In 1949 a whole village in this impoverished strip of land got arrested for smuggling coffee. Their priest held public prayers for them to be released. Sometimes hordes of children were seen running past a couple of overwhelmed custom officials, screaming and laughing and carrying bags full of the brown gold. American Sherman tanks were repaired to mow down border posts. Porsches, able to go up to 120mph on the Autobahn, were fitted with hydraulic steel brooms to sweep nails off the pavement at roadblocks. Yes, the pursuing cops were lucky to have an old VW beetle! Increasingly, Cadillacs and Buicks were bought from the American G.I.s stationed in the vicinity. Tail-finned cruisers had more horsepower, and plenty of nooks and crannies to hide coffee beans. Mostly they were left alone by the German cops anyway: thought to be driven by an occupying American officer, who was pretty much above the German law in those days.
The smugglers had the perfect training grounds right there in the country side of the Eifel: The Nürburgring, Germany’s famous car race track was sleeping deep in the woods, unscathed by American bombing raids and no Mercedes Siberpfeils ready to be tested there. Here, unemployed and willing, Germany’s fastest drivers were trained in evasive maneuvers and hi-speed escapes. Just to get coffee, although from Liege, Antwerp or Maastrich.
A typical police report mentioned i.e. a fake ambulance with 3,000 pounds of coffee ending in a ditch after a successful chase. It’s cover blown at a custom stop by a German Shepard dog trained to find roasted coffee. A four year old guiding his blind, deaf aunt across the border carrying undeclared coffee in her backpack. A coffin in a mourning parties procession not only containing a body, but a freshly roasted batch of Arabica beans as well.
Cigarettes, chocolate, nylon stockings, liquor – nothing could match the profit margin of the daily fix of caffeine. Despite being outgunned, out witted, out-driven, the German customs confiscated between 1946 – 50 more than 223 tons (450,000 LBS) of coffee in the area. How much more had made it across, one wonders. A single pound of coffee could be then sold with today’s equivalent of USD $750, if not more.
Veterans with missing limbs stuffed coffee in their hollow prosthesis; trained family dogs on covert missions appeared like strays wandering through the Ardennes forest with a pouch of FULL CITY roast strapped to their belly. A bicyclist wobbling along the country road: her legs disproportionately thickened as a result of wearing nylons filled with beans. Car tires ‘inflated’ with French roasted beans from Belgium, smelling delicious to any tailgater. Tunnels were meticulously planned, engineered, dug, discovered, destroyed and rebuilt. Obviously when a fire brigade saw a fire across the border, rushing to help and back to their station in Germany had various reasons; fighting flames being of lesser importance.
Yes, people died over coffee in that blood drenched corner of the world. Within 6 years, some 53 smugglers and 2 custom agents were killed. Hundreds of injuries occurred on both sides. Some were innocent; some were women, some teenagers, and some elderly. Children caught smuggling three times or more were put into orphanages. Border guards shot carrier pigeons that were used for airborne missions on sight. Hamas does it for arms, Mexicans for illegal immigrants, while Germans did it for coffee!
Yet the church in the totally destroyed hamlet of Schmidt was rebuilt mostly by money earned from contraband beans. Still being known as “St. Mocca”, the priest included in his sermons all the efforts of his daring parishioners. Most people living in these corners of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands endured since centuries ever-shifting borders and alliances. Speaking a mix of languages and a unique dialect, they are used to smuggle people persecuted by governments and always looked out for the next profitable tax difference on goodies.
Then, nearly overnight, 1953 the German government reduced their outlandish coffee import tax to the current level of approx $1.50 per pound. A Prussian king had established this coffee tax in 1781 out of his pure dislike of coffee. And every consecutive German government (incl. the Kaisers, the facists, the commies, the socialists, the liberals, the Christian democrats, occupying Americans, French or Brits) were not interested in changing it.
At least after these smuggling years the German rulers know now that raising the coffee tax is not on option either.
Joachim Oster’s family always had their hands in coffee. Since many generations his relatives live and farm on all sides of this border triangle. Naturally their bonds were stronger than whatever various kings, dictators, governments or even General Patton told them to do. He and his American-Hawaiian wife and daughter grow now delicious, pure Blue Horse Kona coffee in Hawaii. And a tad reluctantly of course, always pay the totally ridiculous German coffee tax when shipping their coffee to the family back home.
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Fall Fun Food and Drink Chapter Five - laughter in my cup · 29 September 2009 by colin newell
Saw this ad on TV this morning… for VIA Instant coffee from Starbucks.
Pets sitting with their owners. Pets who look like their owners cannot tell the difference between VIA and real coffee.
Civil War re-creators who cannot tell the difference between VIA and actual coffee – in the frame, civil war actors falling to the ground clutching their muskets…
from bullets or instant coffee? Who knows.
I laughed. and laughed. and laughed and laughed.
Why? Because 50 years ago… or more. Instant coffee was introduced because coffee had gotten so bad that this was the only way that trans-nationals could think of cheapening coffee any further.
My opinion now folks: Things have gotten so bad at Starbucks that this is what they are stooping to: Instant coffee for the masses.
Laughing some more.
Does Starbucks cynicism and contempt for their customer base know no bounds?
If there was ever a sign of the End Times, this could well be it. Parades? Dancing girls? WTF people. WTF.
Giggling again.
VIA Instant Coffee – from Starbucks.
Oh. My. God.
This is so funny.
Insert Jabba the Hut moment now…
Hahahahahahaha Hehehehehehehe Hohohohohohohoho.
Bwahahahahah HEHEHEHEHEHEHE HOHOHOHOHOHHO
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH HEHEHEHEHEHEHEH HOOOOHOOOOHOOO!
For the CoffeeCrew.Com website, I am Colin Newell
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Fall Fun Food and Drink Chapter Four - rapture in my cup · 24 September 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 and Drink Chapter Three - Ethiopia in my cup · 20 September 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.
Fall Fun 2009 Crazy Creative Writing Action - win a coffee maker · 14 September 2009 by colin newell
Ok. I have brand new Technivorm thermal carafe drip brewer – arguably one of the best drip brewers on the Planet…
Up for grabs.
And all you need to do is write a story (including a digital picture or two…)
or send an audio MP3 – not to exceed 15 minutes in length.
About… a poignant aha moment in your life… that can have a coffee connection… or not. It can be about life, food, drink, or travel.
Our panel of judges are looking for an emotional bang or a solid belly laugh… or both.
Life is full of ups and downs – grand moments and bad moments.
And your power to win this will pivot on your ability to:
a.) Win reader votes and
b.) Influence our panel of cynical and jaded judges.
c.) Being a resident of CANADA
Word count: 475 to 575 words.
Important Voting rule – Voters will be encouraged to read all the stories and vote for 3! Voters need to give at least a sentence of energy towards each of the 3 choices.
RULES:
a.) No obvious use of Facebook and Twitter will be permitted (disqualification if detected) — sure, by all means be creative… but be sure to instruct your fan club to be just a little bit more creative than “I VOTE FOR STORY #17!”
-SEE Very important VOTING rule above.
b.) Multiple votes from single network or IP addresses will not be tolerated – and I do not care how many people in your office are going to be rooting for you – be creative and get them to vote when they go home!
c.) Encourage your supporters to actually read some of the stories. And then vote for your 3 favorite stories citing reasons why.
d.) Canadian residents only for this one folks! I do not know who carries the TECHNIVORM in the U.S. – this is a Dutch made coffee maker that is CSA Approved – not necessarily for the U.S. Market – importation could be a nightmare.
Abuse of any of the rules can result in immediate disqualification.
CONTEST COMMENCES RIGHT NOW! September 14, 2009 and the writing portion ends at 5PM Pacific Standard Time on the 30th of September, 2009. Voting and judgment will begin on October 1, 2009.
Send your entries – Titled BREWER CONTEST ENTRY to my e-mail
Make me proud people! and good luck everyone!
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Fall Fun Food and Drink Chapter One - DISCO open on Oak Bay Avenue · 3 September 2009 by colin newell
Stopped in at 8:20AM for a killer espresso made by Logan at the new Oak Bay Avenue Discovery Coffee –
Click on any photo for the super view.
Arguably the most anticipated coffee shop opening of the year.
Photo at left: Logan does the Misty Valley from Ethiopia on the Siphon Bar – Saturday morning – September 5, 2009 at 11 AM.
More photos here
Photo below – inside view of the new Discovery Coffee – Oak Bay and Amphion – this is, for me, a welcome oasis of great Coffee at the Oak Bay border – three cheers for the Grays, Riopka’s and their crew!
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