Alistair sent us his latest fresh sheet for the Elysian Room, which includes the Novo coffee I was raving about.
Ethiopian Hache from Novo (roasted Oct 9) - "fruity, wild and elegant. cherries and chocolate" - $3.25 per cup
We’ll be heading by later this morning to check it out :)
Ianiv just celebrated his 27th birthday. Recently, Ianiv started a new job, and for a birthday gift, my mom gave him a Bodum Chambord 3-Cup Coffee Press
Ianiv has been making coffee before leaving for work, around 8 am, for the both of us in our 8-Cup Bodum and taking it in his Thermos Nissan Travel Mug (we both have them now, because they are the best mugs ever).
However, as the afternoon goes on… such early coffee means it runs out earlier. We are both used to our coffee around 11am when I finally pry Ianiv from his email and beg for him to make it. Now, he does it regularly. So, to give him a little jolt at work, he can now brew a second cup all to himself.
Only problem, Ianiv will have to grind and measure his coffee before going to work every day. Oh well ;)
Tags: coffee, bodum, french press, travel mug, mugs
USA Today had an article out yesterday about the caffeine content in decaffeinated coffees. The facts are quite interesting. We all kind of know that decaffeinated coffee does have some caffeine in it - just how much?
The University of Florida published an article in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology about decaffeinated coffee. The researches bought 10 cups of 16oz drip decaf coffee from 9 chain and local coffee houses and tested them on caffeine content.
Research found that Folgers Coffee Crystals was the only decaf with 0 caffeine. Others ranged from 8.6 milligrams to 13.9 milligrams (regular coffee has approx 170 milligrams).
Starbucks in particular was tested. Espresso decaf had 3-15.8 milligrams, while brewed had 12-13.4 milligrams. Interesting variance. Perhaps based on the cleanliness of the machines?
This research was conducted for health reasons, as many people cannot have caffeine due to some medical conditions. Caffeine as low as 10 milligrams can cause effects in sensitive people.
Tags: coffee, decaf, decaffeinated, caffeine, health, science
Last week we were at the Elysian Room and got to taste a new coffee they were sampling, NOVO coffee. Both coffees were made on the Clover.
I tried the Ethiopian (Sidamo, HACHE).
From high in Sidamo where people live longer than in all of Ethiopia, locals wrap themselves in beautiful woven blankets for comfort in the cool mountains. Hache is hours deep on the rough road into Sidamo. Nearby giant waterfalls and cool running rivers enhance the peacefulness of Hache Coop, run by the keenest deep-country accountant we’ve ever met.
It was like a breath of fresh air. We have been drinking the same coffee from Intelligentsia, the Honduras, and I’ve been keen on something new. Ethiopian coffees have always been in my top favorites, and this was no exception. It had such a beautiful soft taste in the mouth and a great finish. I would love more of this one.
Ianiv tried the Sumatra Tawar
From the Lintong and Aceh regions surrounding Lake Tawar, the gigantic and beautiful beans of the Novo Tawar display intense, syrupy, spicy earth flavor and a lengthy, sweet finish.
Flavor Profile: sweet, spicy, fragrant earth
His had a more tart taste, but not really tart. It was just more of a sharp taste than a full bodied one. Had lots of flavor profile to it. Very good as well.
NOVO Coffee is in Denver, and the Brodsky family has been roasting there since 2002. For more, read here.
Tags: novo coffee, coffee, ethiopian coffee, sumatra, tawar, sidamo hache
Vince and Sam Piccolo have sold their Caffe Artigiano chain, for an undisclosed price, to former Earl’s exec Willie Mounzer.
Vince has grown his chain of coffee stores from one in 2000 to 5 in 2006. He is well known for his dedication to the craft of coffee and his brother, Sammy, is the 3 time Canadian Barista Champion.
Vince and Sam still own their new roasting facility, 49th Parallel, and it remains to be seen what next they have planned for the coffee community. It will also be interesting to see what happens to the Artigiano chain and its ability to keep such high coffee standards.
Via Vancouver Sun ; Tags: caffe artigiano, vince piccolo, sam piccolo, vancouver, coffee
Vancouver-based Blenz Coffee has taken over four Vancouver Seattle’s Best Coffee locations - the stores have officially reopened as Blenz locations.
These 4 locations were operated by Whitefish Group, the franchisee of SBC in Canada.
This is an aggressive growth opportunity for Blenz, who competes with SBC in the local retail environment with similar product offerings. These are prime locations and help grow Blenz, which is now introducing more non-coffee beverages as it’s “thing.”
Blenz is less known for it’s drip coffee (probably a good thing), and more known for it’s blended drinks, iced beverages and other alternatives.
Via newswire ; Tags: blenz, seattles best coffee, sbc, vancouver, coffee
Monday I went to the coffee & tea expo to watch the result of the Canadian National Barista Championship. It was a lot of fun. Got to browse the expo, check out some other retailers, try various tea options as well as coffee, and watch the pro’s do their thing.
The competition was timed, and each barista had to pull out three beverages, usually a cappucino, an espresso and a signature drink, the latter of which could be mild or quite extreme.
The judging was on everything from the coffee, to its presentation to the barista’s ability to keep the work area clean.
In the end, the results stand as follows:
Bob Blumer is a celebrity chef who came into the competition as a part of his new show, “Glutton For Punishment”, which has him sign up for competitions in various things, from this to being a great waiter and all sorts of other food-related competitions. Sammy Piccolo, our 3 time Canadian champ, trained up Bob in 3 days, and Bob, who hadn’t had a coffee in 17 years, zoomed up into 3rd place.
Tags: barista championship, bob blumer, canadian barista, barista, coffee, canada, vancouver
Today’s UserFriendly makes fun of flavoured coffee.
This weekend is the Canadian Coffee & Tea Expo in Vancouver. September 24-25 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, over 80 exhibitors will get together to display goods, classes will be held, cuppings, and the crown jewel - the Canadian National Barista Championship.
We will be attending on Monday, hopefully to witness the final round of the barista championship, which is being held between 1-4.
Tags: vancouver, coffee, tea, barista, barista championship, coffee and tea expo
Every morning, when I am making coffee, I wish that my french press would tell me if it’s going to rain later in the day… Well, not really. But if I you do care about having that feature in my coffee maker then take a look at the Melitta ME1MSB, a 10-cup grinder/brewer combo with a weather forecast display. It gets the weather data from MSN Direct, using FM signals, and no subscription is required.
Features include “brew-pause function allows for pouring a cup midbrew, and its clock display automatically springs forward, falls back, and resets after a power failure. Other highlights include a water reservoir with a large viewing window, high-quality stainless-steel grinding blades, a permanent stainless-steel filter basket, a warming plate with automatic shut off, and hidden cord storage.”
But the feature I like the most is “In addition to its optional sleep function, where if the unit is idle for a period of time an animated, napping cat appears”.
You can buy it from Amazon
.
A little while back Trevor emailed me to let me know he was starting a new coffee blog: Coffee Tribune. And we seem to be partly responsible for this, in the blog he says:
“What is the purpose of this blog?” Well, I’ll tell you.
I love coffee. Most of my friends love coffee. Even my pastor loves coffee. My wife loves coffee, too. We love coffee.
Recently, I was scouring the internet for fresh new blogs to read, and I found Vancouver Coffee. The authors simply want to share their coffee experiences with you. They live in Vancouver, BC and they love coffee. Do you get it?
So I was thinking, “Hey, I love coffee.” and, “I like to share my opinions.” and, “I can blog.”
So now you have the Coffee Tribune.
He shares news, tips and opinions. I really like the story of how he met his wife.
So welcome Trevor, Coffee Tribune is now in my coffee blogs folder :)
Update: Starbucks has decided giving free coffee to everyone is a bad idea. The coupon will no longer be honored. The press release is here.
Greg emailed us to let us know about a Starbucks coupon you can print to get a free iced coffee every day until September 30. We were skeptical at first so I did some research and it turns out that this is actually real. Apparently this was supposed to be a regional offer but the coupons leaked so much that they will now honour them in all of North America. Snopes.com has more details.
So if you like Starbucks coffee just print this coupon and enjoy!
It all started on January 1st, 2005 when Lloyd Asato decided to document every cup of coffee he would drink that year:
"The year is 2005 and it is time to reflect upon my life and there is no better accomplement than a freshly brewed cup of Peets. Thus begins The Year of Coffee, an honest look through the lense of Major Dickason. I secretly hope that I live something heroic or tragic though I suspect it may be a fluffy romantic comedy. Whatever is revealed will be shared here. It begins as an unflinching search for truth, but may end up as just a photo album of mugs of coffee."
And Lloyd did just that. Every day he would a picture (or two) of a cup of coffee, along with some quick comment, a glipse of the events in Lloyd’s day. On December 31, 2020 he posted the 1000th picture:
"I did not achieve enlightenment, but it did warm me up. My one-thousandth cup of 2005 was a latte from that place at the end of Mill Avenue. It was yummy, though the pastry sucked."
On Sunday he posted a video of the first 1000 cups, it takes less than 2 minutes to see them all.
And The Year of Coffee Blog continues, 1235 cups and counting.
I am at a conference today in San Jose (BlogHer) and the combination of lack of sleep with intense concentration and networking has left me yawning.
Over the course of the day I’ve had four cups of coffee and it seems to have stopped working. Trying to see if tea can give me a jump, although my comfort association with tea might just put me to sleep.
Do you ever have those days where caffeine just doesn’t seem to work?
Today we ran out of milk and both of us were too busy/lazy to run to the store for more. So I opted for soy milk instead of no milk.
Oy, so different. Way more tart. Doesn’t let through the coffee taste at all.
Now, if it were a superb Americano, I could go black. No sugar or milk. But with the French Press, no matter how fabulous the beans, I still like my milk and sugar.
I do like Soy in some things. Love soy milk alone. Love it in an iced coffee from Starbucks (why not, the coffee is not great to begin with). But not in good coffee.
Today I’m not having a good cup of coffee. Note to self: get milk for tomorrow.
This blog has been created by Ianiv Schweber and Arieanna Foley
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Copyright © 2005 Ianiv Schweber, Arieanna Foley
