Fall 2009 coffee drinking - what's on today? · Wednesday October 14, 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)
Fall Fun Food and Drink Chapter Five - laughter in my cup · Tuesday September 29, 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
Comment [3]
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.
Comment [1]
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.
