Spring into unusual coffee season with Doi Chaang Organic Civet Coffee · Wednesday May 20, 2009 by colin newell
Just brewed up a small < 20 fluid ounce Newco thermal carafe of Doi Chaang Thai civet coffee from the good people at Doi Chaang coffee.
Doi Chaang only uses Northern Thailand 100% arabica coffee – and their civet coffee is 100% pass grade – which means through and through – need another definition? The red cherries pass through the civet cat entirely – not chewed and expectorated.
The Doi Chaang Civet coffee (unlike some cheap Vietnamese knock-off Kopi Luwak coffees) are organic from free-range civet cats – not penned up factory product like you get from Vietnam.
What does it taste like?
In the bag (whole bean), the coffee is very mild with a pleasant caramel fragrance.
In the cup: Very softly defined sugars, a gentle astringency – not a hint of bitterness… a very, very balanced acidity that I would have never have expected from something so new and novel.
The Doi Chaang civet coffee reminds me of some of the better Kona’s that I have had – with a mysterious and whimsical edge that I cannot quite put my finger on.
We served to about 8 people in the first batch – everyone (even the Pro’s) found it agreeable and surprisingly mild. If you were expecting a wild flavor with tons of berry notes or big body and chocolate, this is not that coffee.
It is, however, light years ahead of the Vietnamese impersonators.
Thumbs up to a pleasant and tasty civet coffee!
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Spring into a coffee podcast - with Kyle Anderson of Baratza · Monday May 18, 2009 by colin newell
Seattle Washington. Home of endless rain and gray winters… the city that invented the latte – and host to arguably the best coffee in North America.
Seattle’s other secret is Kyle Anderson, CEO and engineer-inventor at Baratza INC. They brought us the Baratza Virtuoso grinder – and now the Vario. We interviewed Kyle today via the miracle of Skype.
Kyle is the affable, jovial, frank and often downright amusing guy behind some of the most successful coffee grinders on the Planet Earth – it was fun hooking up with him and we think you will agree… there are few things he loves more than coffee.
Have a listen!
or click here for the mp3 if you cannot see the above widget.
Saying no to twitter chapter 1 · Sunday May 17, 2009 by colin newell
If anyone is interested in what I did.. without having to tune into the ultra-lame and now square twitter…
here goes.
Saturday lunch: Visited the ultra-rural Ken’s Cafe on West Saanich road for memorable pancakes. Andrea had the cheeseburger. Coffee by Van Houtte. Not bad. Will return again as Eat magazine has said yes to an actual restaurant review.
Dinner: Red Fish Blue Fish for Halibut and chips – Andrea had the Shrimp roll.
Dessert: Ice cream at the now open “Sweet Memories”.
Personal comment. I wish the owner would re-visit his food safe guide. He served about 20 people before us, handling money and food and never once washed his hands. Now that’s just gross. Normally, I would speak up but I like my ice cream…
lightly sprinkled with cocaine from all those american dollar bills he handled before scooping my single scoop on a waffle cone.
Sunday: Got up at noon. Made a buffet of waffles, bacon and eggs – and granola to keep it safe. Espresso from Everyday Gourmet Coffee roasters, Toronto – brewed in a Gaggia Dose – coffee ground by a Baratza Vario grinder.
Stuck my head into the new Crumbsby’s cupcake and gourmet coffee joint in the Estevan Village, Victoria. Thanks to rock music engineer, Peter Lupini, for the tip. Crumbsby’s has a multi-group fire engine red La Marzocco machine and coffee from the Drumroaster – Crumbsby’s is very child friendly – and today they were packed with screaming children (this is a holiday long weekend) – so I did not hang out for coffee.
Dinner: Nachos, Calamari and Beer at the Swifsure on Bellevue across from the inner harbor, Victoria.
Dessert. Andrea and I were with Sheila, creator of Wisdom’s Essential Elements and she insisted on more ice cream from Sweet Memories… obviously did not get enough cocaine from last nights money-handled cones.
Now. Wasn’t that better than a brain dead twitter feed of dozen word nonsense posts?
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Spring into a better Planet - on Earth Day 2009 · Wednesday April 22, 2009 by colin newell
Originally conceived in the Fall of 1969 at an event in Seattle, Washington – it was declared that the first Earth Day would be in April of 1970 and every year after that.
Personally, I do not think I was aware of Earth Day til the eighties – Here are some random thoughts from yours truly from Earth day’s past… of how I would have thought about those days if I was actually paying attention to anything…
- April 1970 Are the Beatles really breaking up? How will this effect the Planet?
- April 1971 TV show Dark Shadows goes off the air – the Planet has been saved from Barnabas Collins. You really need to be older than 35 to get this.
- April 1972 Rolling Stones release Exile on Main Street – dang these Stones are old and they look old doing what they are doing. They should have retired when the Beatles retired.
- April 1973 Skylab is launched releasing tons of shit into the atmosphere… not so good.
- April 1974 148 tornadoes affecting 13 states and 1 Canadian province in 18 hours, the biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history – The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured. Earth angry
- April 1976 Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Earth is soon to be turned to plastic and silicon.
- April 1981 Space Shuttle Columbia passes flight tests dumping millions of pounds of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
There are an estimated 6.7 billion humans on the Planet. That is 4 times the number a mere 100 years ago. This is serious. For this reason (and other reasons) I will not be having children – and I encourage as many people as possible to, at least, limit their number of offspring to 1… if that. Better yet: Get a dog or a cat. They are less messy.
Happy Earth Day!
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