Cafe culture Winter 2009 marathon post number three · Friday February 6, 2009 by colin newell
We drink the Kopi Luwak so you do not have to. Then again, you might want to anyway.
It is the job of the CoffeeCrew.Com writers to put their palates on the line to get the story. In an upcoming review we tackle some Island culture with our first ever Canadian review of Kava root.
Thanks go out to Kona Kava Farm on the Big Island of Hawaii for supplying us with a sample bag of some of the finest ground Kava root. Kava has been used in Fiji for 6000 years – as a social drink, as a catalyst of conversation, and part of the very fabric of Island life.
For some strange reason, in Canada, Kava is forbidden from re-sale; in Health food stores, in Herbal stores and other locations that sell tried, true and tested healthful products.
Not that I am an expert or anything – but I think it is a little odd that the Federal Government (with the backing of the Pharmaceutical industry [Big Pharma]) has stamped out Kava in this fashion.
Apparently there have been 3 cases of liver toxicity with Kava use (in Canada) – and that alone warranted the pull from the shelf order.
Liver damage eh? Doesn’t excessive consumption of beer and wine do that too?
Yea. I thought so. Anyway – stay tuned for our report.
In other news, yours truly is writing for Eat Magazine and (hopefully) will be a regular fixture in that wonderful publication.
Cafe culture Winter 2009 marathon post number two · Thursday February 5, 2009 by colin newell
The other interesting thing about this particular sample of the ECM Cellini Professional… is that it was dropped about 10 feet… onto concrete. Yup. It had its face pushed in quite seriously. I have given it a semi-pro fix while it waits for some replacement steel components. Which makes an important point: This machine is built like a tank!
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Nod to the Great Canadian Blog - Clean Hot and Dry · Wednesday February 4, 2009 by colin newell
If I never blogged another sentence about coffee culture, specialty coffee and the pop culture associated with the scene in the North-west…
I certainly would not be missed. Especially when there are spot-on blogs like Clean Hot Dry
Like the Jim Seven blog, Clean Hot Dry brings home the reality of the sheer sexiness of the coffee scene in Vancouver – the life and times of the baristi in Vancouver – and Clean Hot Dry speaks to the best of the best across Canada and America.
And when I return to Vancouver for a week in June, I am going to have my work cut out for me getting caught up – of course I will have the assistance of my two key associates there; Dave and Theresa.
Anyway Clean Hot Dry reduces the essence of the Vancouver coffee scene to a sweet, sweet ristretto stream of consciousness – I love it and I think you will too.
In other thoughts, I am thinking of finally abandoning the multi-threaded theme of this website; coffee, food, rants, miscellany – and just focusing on Coffee and Food Culture in the Northwest.
If there are any objections, raise them now in the comment fields.
Click on the above image for the full photizzle…
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and writer of words… his search for the perfect cup of coffee is on going
Bonus blog - things that make me steam · Monday February 2, 2009 by colin newell
Picture at left – a portion of my ham shack – the receivers – one of which used to be used to pick up an actual Sputnik satellite (upper left Radio Shack DX150B circa 1973)!
From the Canadian wire and on Global TV news today…
Four Toronto college students have accomplished a technological feat that their teachers are calling a first. The Humber College seniors made contact with the International Space Station on Monday with a radio system they designed and built themselves.
School officials say that, to their knowledge, that’s never been accomplished by students at the college level.
These school officials have;
never used an internet search engine…
have never researched an article…
and have been living under a skull crushing pile of gravel for the duration of their miserable lives…
Hello. Has anyone ever heard of Amateur Radio? Ham radio as it is also called is a hobby enjoyed by about 1 million people Worldwide.
And thousands of student radio operators, if not tens of thousands of student radio operators (at various high-school, college and University amateur radio clubs…) have enjoyed the thrill of radio contact with orbital space craft, shuttles, space stations etc.
I am one of those people. My call sign is VA7WWV.
My first radio conversation, prior to actually having my own license, was as an 11 year old conversing with a rescue mission in Managua, Nicaragua after the 1972 earthquake that killed 5,000 of the 400,000 population, leaving 20,000 injured and over 250,000 homeless.
And as for space communications… We have been doing it since Skylab, every shuttle since, the Mir space station and the current international space station.
And to the good folks at Humber College…
Do your homework!
