EcoCoffeeBlog

Doi Chaang, Thailand: In Search of the Fairest Cup of All By Matthew Kadey

2011-09-06T14:27:00.002-04:00

My most woeful moment of the trip is now upon me. In the clutches of dehydration and legs wilted by a road that carves a sinuous route along impossibly steep grades, I am close to calling it a day and trying to coerce a pick-up driver to deliver me and my bike to the top of this evil mountain.
Between periods of roadside breaks, my girlfriend Tabi Ferguson is also ailing but encourages us to push on. "Only five more kilometers to an iced coffee," she says matter-of-factly. And only five more kilometers to one of the most successful agricultural programs in all of the Kingdom of Thailand.

When conversation turns to the world’s great coffee growing nations, Ethiopia, Columbia and Jamaica are usual mentions. Thailand? Not so much. What comes to mind for most when they think of Thailand is opalescent beaches and fiery victuals. Yet, in one remote mountain community some of the most flavorful and sustainable coffee beans are being grown, harvested and brewed.

Rich in culture and tradition, shrouded in myth and legend, the Akha people of northern Thailand, who trace their lineage to Tibet, have no official written language but maintain a detailed oral history and live life according to the "Akha Way," a spiritual, moral and social philosophy that governs behavior and emphasizes strong ties to land and family.

There are roughly 80,000 colourfully-robed Akha living in Thailand’s northern mountainous provinces. Yet, of all the hill tribes, few in Thailand have been down-trodden, shunned or as impoverished as have the Akha people.

In an effort to improve their fortunes and eager for them to produce a profitable, more wholesome crop than poppies used to fuel the opium trade, His Majesty King Rama IX in the early 1980s set forth a royal decree insisting that destitute tribal families in the mountains of northern Thailand be given coffee sprouts.

During those humble beginnings, the Akha had to transport their beans on treacherous roads that became peanut butter in the rainy season 70 kilometers to the city of Chiang Rai where shady middlemen would pay them a pittance for their beans. The absence of Thai citizenship did not help their cause either.

On the knife edge of poverty, the community banded together to form the cooperative Doi Chaang Coffee Original Co., LTD. In doing so, there was strength in numbers and it became impossible for the coffee dealers to play one family against another. Going directly from grower to buyer, the Akha would finally earn a profit from their premium grade single-estate Arabica beans by selling them to markets throughout Asia.

Today, the village is playing host to an increasing number of tourists such as Tabi and I who are looking for something more out of Thailand than elephant rides and lazy days on the beach. As chance would have it, our ten-week bicycling sojourn in Thailand and Laos coincided with peak harvest season.

Under skies as sunny as the Disney Channel, my pedal partner Tabi and I arrived in Chiang Rai, a city nestled in the exotic and notorious Golden Triangle region of northern Thailand surrounded by some of the countries most dramatic, hill-tribe dotted mountains, with one thing on our minds: café yen. This ridiculously refreshing mix of coffee, ice and condensed milk is the perfect companion to sultry climates.

Prior to arrival, we were directed to visit the Doi Chaang coffee shop where we could quaff this chilled delight and arrange a visit to the mountain top Doi Chaang village. The coffee shop with a unmistakable relaxed vibe was established several years ago to showcase the coffee grown in the nearby mountains. With rumbling tummies, we were delighted to discover that they also rustle up some tasty baked goods.

We knew we were in for a cycling challenge when the shop’s employees looked perplexed that we wished to ride our pannier-laden bikes up to the coffee growing community. "It’s a long way up," a young worker said, trying to keep her laugh suppressed. What’s a long way when you’re buzzed on java?

Faced with a 23-kilometer climb to reach the summit of Doi Chaang, one of Chiang Rai province’s tallest peaks, that we were told would involve a road that oscillates between steep and steeper, Tabi and I make sure to load up our bellies and panniers with the offerings from the Chiang Rai morning market.

Gastronomes laud South East Asia for their abundance of bustling food markets that offer a dizzying array of local produce, meat and unidentifiables for prices that leave you agog to buy plenty. Like other markets throughout Thailand, this one is a busy affair redolent of hunger-inducing aromas and where gossiping seems to be a past-time. Or perhaps the market ladies are just laughing at my fumbled attempts at the Thai language. You try saying "kob kun krab" – meaning thank you in Thai – with a mouthful of sticky rice!

Mercifully, the 50-kilometers from Chiang Rai to the turn-off for Doi Chaang are mostly flat. For me, the ride is filled with plenty of angst as I’m less than confident my legs will propel me to the summit. A previous bike trip to northern Thailand demonstrated just how arduous the climbs can be.

Thailand roads have a nasty habit of going up quicker than Mark Zuckerbergs’ bank account instead of winding gradually along and around mountains. I make sure to send plenty of noodle soup down the gullet at the junction restaurant in a sorry attempt to carbohydrate load.

The three hour ride ends up being a verdant blur of sun blasted ridgelines, copious views and punishing inclines as the beauty of the region confronts us with every sloth-like pedal stroke. Despite the laborious task, I’m content that this road through a remote wild country is ultimately best plied in the saddle of a bike than behind a steering wheel.

With the gas tank well below red, we finally reach the Doi Chaang Coffee House, a quant coffee shop atop the eponymous mountain were the air is redolent of freshly brewed java. I collapse in a chair like a brave fish taken from the sea after a momentous battle with its captor.

At the table across from us sits Panachai Pisailert (who is often called "Adel"), the managing director of Doi Chaang Coffee Company who assures us that many cyclists ride up here. Deflated, I want to huck the espresso machine at him. Two café yen’s are placed on the table in front of us and all is instantly forgiven.

Adel is an easy-going man who we quickly take a liking to over dinner that blissfully contains mountains of tasty Thai eats. After gorging on rice like it’s about to become extinct, Adel takes Tabi and I on an initial tour of the on-site coffee processing facilities. Booming machines shake back and forth separating beans into different grades while sorters meticulously finish the job. The facilities appear spotless not to mention well organized.

"About two thousand tons of coffee come through here every year," Adel says with unabashed pride. I’m trying to keep up my enthusiasm, but by 9 p.m. my eyelids are leaden, and I can no longer stay up to try my hand at manual coffee bean sorting or admire the night sky that has become ablaze in laser-sharp stars. After we turn out the lights, the darkness is absolute, and I fall sound asleep and dream of how I conquered Doi Chaang as if I was certain 7-time Tour winner.

We are awakened as the sun is just starting to sneak its way up the mountain to the sounds of rakes as they spread out the noble beans to dry under the big, yellow orb and the revving engines of pick-ups as they whisk pickers to the plantations. Thankfully, the coffee shop is already brewing up goodness. Heavyweights in the industry have ranked Doi Chaang coffee as amongst the most flavorful in the world.

At breakfast replete with espresso and Americano, we meet up with Miga Saedoo, an administration manager at Doi Chaang. She is a slight, cordial woman of Akha background who is content plying us with as much coffee as we can drink. Miga looks around at her crew and says brightly, "Drink up!"

With a good buzz on, Miga takes us to the Doi Chaang Coffee Academy located on lush grounds nearby. With some of the profits funnelled back to the community from the sale of their fair trade coffee around the globe, the cooperative built the academy to help foster farmer’s education in such fields as quality control and sustainable agriculture.

On a table rests a model of the school that Miga says the community hopes to build in the near future. It’s an impressive looking structure that will house hundreds of children from Doi Chaang and the surrounding villages. Coffee profits have also been used to upgrade coffee processing equipment, improve access to safe drinking water and operate a medical center.

It hasn’t been an easy journey, but it seems things are looking up for this once ostracized hill-tribe community. Film crews from North America have even shown up to document this feel-good success story.

In 2007, the energetic farming community partnered with a Vancouver-based company to introduce their coffee to the North American market. In many ways, it’s one of the most forward-thinking business arrangements in the coffee biz. The farmers maintain total ownership and control over their own Thai company and domestic sales.

In addition, without any cost incurred to them, they also have 50 percent ownership in the Canadian company, Doi Chaang Coffee Company, Inc, created to roast and distribute Doi Chaang coffee in North America and Europe and who buys the beans from the cooperative for double the going Fair Trade price. You could say that it’s Fair Trade on steroids.

The remainder of our day is spent driving to different areas of the Doi Chaang property with plant manager Kitsadathun Wuiyue on roads so pitted that the very word ‘rough’ seems comically inappropriate.

Despite being tossed around like a basketball, it’s hard not to be captivated by the glorious setting as we soak in the sylvan setting around us. Located at a temperate 1,300 meters and blessed with very fertile soil, the Doi Chaang area, which includes over 6,000 acres of coffee plants, is an ideal environment for cultivating superior organic coffee.

In the fields under a blazing mid-day sun, workers are busy picking ripe, ruby red berries and placing them in hand-woven baskets. From here, the berries will be taken to a washing station, pulped, soak, sun dried and much more.

I’ll leave this mountain humbled by the amount of work involved in the journey from tree to latte. Suddenly, three bucks for Fair Trade, organic coffee doesn’t seem so outlandish.

Being tea aficionados, we are excited to come upon a patch of tea bushes. To diversify their income, the cooperative is now producing a number of other products including exquisite oolong tea, sexy black coffee soap, floral tasting coffee blossom honey and macadamia nuts whose trees provide shade for the shade-loving coffee plants.

Wild civit cats lurk in the canopy ready to nosh on their cherished coffee cherries come nightfall. The cherries go in one end and beans come out the other. Amazingly, java die-hards buy this cat poo coffee for big bucks.

On the bouncy drive back to the coffee shop for a much needed iced coffee fix, we visit the house of Piko Saedoo, whose noble portrait is plastered on every bag of Doi Chaang coffee. A village elder, Piko was one of the first Akha tribesmen to trade in opium cultivation for coffee. This day, however, he’s engrossed in his television show, so I decide I’ll wait another day to ask this rock star of the coffee world for an autograph.

After gassing up on more caffeine, it was time for a rip roaring descent back to Chiang Rai. While Thailand remains but a speck on the coffee producing radar, the passion and commitment to community up here in the mountains and clean air is strong enough that it’s only a matter of time before Doi Chaang coffee is being sipped in more coffee shops, restaurants and kitchens around the globe.

As we whiz by thatch huts that dot the mountains, my thoughts however are being dominated by only one thing - the iced coffee awaiting at the bottom.

Matthew Kadey is a Canadian-based freelance writer who has cycled his way through a number of countries including Thailand, Laos, Jordan, New Zealand, Ireland and Cuba. Find him at www.mattkadey.ca

EcoCafe Quebec site goes live

2011-06-21T15:23:00.003-04:00

Congrats to Eddy and the gang up in Quebec who have now launched the french version of their site http://www.eco-cafe.ca/ .... Site and videos look mighty fine, makes you want to create your own EcoCafe in your town....!

A better deal for workers and their villages

2010-08-26T14:06:00.001-04:00

Fair play provides a fair price. Whole communities benefit when fair trade principles are applied

By TERRENCE BELFORD, Postmedia News August 26, 2010

Almost every Saturday morning, you can find Ken McGuffin outside Toronto's St. Lawrence Market selling scarves, bags, vests and an assortment of other brightly coloured goods woven by village women in Guatemala.
Once every few weeks, he also distributes from 40 to 60 300-gram bags of Cafe Justicia, a fair-trade brand of coffee brought in by BC Casa from the highlands of Guatemala.
McGuffin, who works as manager of media relations for the prestigious Rotman School of Management, is one of the faces of fair trade in Canada.
Steve Stewart, green bean coordinator for Cafe Justicia in Vancouver, is another. He and a group of fellow university students first got involved in fair trade in 1999. They first went to Guatemala in 1990 to show solidarity for Guatemalan students targeted by death squads.
As they toured the country over the years, they conceived a plan to help the country's farmers and their communities. They would help local villages in the highlands organize themselves into coffee-growing co-operatives and then sell their beans in Canada.
Initially, they brought back just 350 pounds of green beans in their backpacks. Today BC Casa, the cooperative they formed, imports 60,000 pounds of beans a year from 11 village co-ops.
What drives people and companies to embrace fair trade? For many, it's the difference fair trade can make in the lives of Third World farmers and workers. It provides a living wage, and money to help villages build schools, health care clinics and other essential infrastructure.
McGuffin, for example, sells imported scarves for about $15 each. A Guatemalan weaver's co-op gets the lion's share; it provides the women who weave the scarves all their raw materials plus $5 in cash. The balance goes to community projects.
"Before we started this, the women would have to buy all their yarn, dye it, weave it and then maybe sell it for whatever they could get to tourists on the streets of cities like Antigua," McGuffin says. "Now they are assured of a sale and at a price considerably more than they were getting before."
BC Casa sells its roasted coffee for $12 a pound. Of that amount, $2 goes to the growers and $6.50 to the coop, says Stewart. In contrast, in villages where there is no fair trade co-op, middlemen -known as coyotes -pay as little as 30 cents a pound and villages get nothing.
"Just being there has had a ripple effect, though," says Stewart. "Now when the coyotes can't get coffee at 30 cents a pound, they are being forced to match the price we pay."
Fair trade benefits not just growers but entire communities, says Michael Zelmer, director of communications at TransFair Canada, the national certification organization for fair trade products.
He highlights Vinasol, a non-profit association of grape growers in Argentina. Its grapes go to the Soluna brand of wine sold in Canada.
Fair-trade premiums have helped provide scholarships for workers' children, paid for a bus to take 126 children to school, and built or renovated homes for 30 workers and a new cafeteria. The premiums have also been used to hire health care workers and buy the organization computers to modernize its business practices.
In Sri Lanka, the Small Organic Farmers Association
has used fair-trade money paid for the tea spices and vegetables its members grow to provide tea plants and fertilizers to its members to help increase farm yields. The money has paid for a community room for village meetings, funded a scholarship program for farmers' children, provided training and technical assistance to farmers, ensured safe drinking water and purchased 40 cows to supply milk for village children.
Nor is the fair trade movement restricted to developing countries. Its reach now extends into Canada.
In Saskatchewan, 70 certified organic family farms formed the Farmers Direct Cooperative and recently gained fair-trade certification for the wheat, flax, lentils and beans it sells wholesale to manufacturers and distributors.
Fair trade may well be an idea whose time has come.
"If consumers want the food system in Canada to become more ethical, they need to support independent and family farms," says Jason Freemen, the co-op's manager.
"If they do, then big companies will have no choice but to follow."

Spotted Frog RFA Espresso

2010-05-13T11:14:00.000-04:00

We've been busy busy busy in coffee land!! We've secured a great supply of Rainforest Alliance certified coffees and locked ourselves in the lab testing all sorts of new products. We put about 15 combinations under the microscope and picked one that blew them all out of the water. So it is our pleasure to announce our new, 100% RFA Certified Blend - Spotted Frog Espresso. We've fused 3 origins and 2 distinct roast profiles together to get the perfect balance of bite and bright, with a beautiful crema and subtle aftertaste.
EcoCafe Quebec City has been running a test with customers and we can't believe the reception has been. We are overjoyed to see coffee drinkers and lovers taking the time to read about the product and the RFA, as well as ask questions. We love carrying Rainforest Alliance origins and are excited for them to continue to grow with more high quality coffees!

Roasting Abroad

2010-04-16T13:30:00.003-04:00

I got the opportunity to spend the last week in Bielsko-Biala, Poland doing some consulting work for a new roasting operation. It's always a tough challenge coming in to a new culture, new market, new equipment etc. but also a great opportunity for lots of learning. We covered everything from product catalog, to operations, to marketing and I feel good saying there will be great quality coffee coming out of the small down in the shadow of the southern mountain ranges of Poland. I'll bring some more pieces of the story in the coming week, but here are a few photos to get started!

Being a Coffee Artisan

2010-03-30T12:39:00.002-04:00

I ran across this quote the other day, I would love to give credit to whoever wrote it, but it was anonymous where I found it. If anyone out there wants the credit, let me know.....

As for the quote, it trully defines why we consider what we do more than just a job or a craft.....
"The man who works with his hands is a laborer. The man who works with his
hands and his brain is a craftsman. The man who works with his hands, his brains
and his heart ia an artist"

Get Juiced - Get Eco

2010-03-18T10:01:00.002-04:00

A shout out to our latest Eco family member in Guelph.

John Rice has opened up the finest Juice store in the area, and has now completed his offering of the freshest juice possible, with the freshest coffee possible.

If you haven't had a chance to try them out, next time you are on Macdonell in Guelph with a bit of a thirst for something delectable, pop in an tell John the Eco boys sent you!

Whether it's a frosty juice, or a crema filled espresso, it will make your day!

Cafe @ Kitchener Market Sold

2010-03-13T08:28:00.002-05:00

After mentioning that something big was in the pipeline, I am extremely proud to announce that our EcoCafe located at the Kitchener Market has been sold to an amazing couple, Ramin and Mojhgan, and will be rebranded as Serrinia Cafe.

In the beginning of the sales motion we had expectations to sell to somenone who would carry on the cafe name along with the operations model as a licensee. As time passed, it became apparent that the city of Kitchener would not permit this for several reasons, which at this time do not need to be discussed under this announcement. In turn what occurred is that this couple, who are local residents and who have been entrepeneurs in Canada for several decades, decided to buy the business, keep mostof the basic concepts intact, yet re-brand it and add their own touches to demonstrate their sense of ownership.

For both parties, this is an exciting turn of events.

For Eco-Coffee, we are proud to announce the sale which allows us to concentrate on our core business of roasting coffee and wholesaling to independents. It creates our largest cafe client a mere kilometer and a half from our headquarters on Mill St. It allows us to continue to offer our previous retail clients a continuity of all the products which they have grown accustomed to over the last five years with no interruption. And it permits us to help another small business grow in our community

For the new owners, of what is now called Serrinia Cafe, it allows them to engage in a vibrant Market with the help of a goodwill which has been established over the last five years. It enables them to engage with the local community by way of all the goods and services provided previously. It presents them the opportunity to take a small business and grow and improve it by using all of their previous business experience while leveraging the existing clientele.

So join us in extending a welcome to the new owners, Ramin and Mojhgan who will continue the traditions we established and probably improve them by way of the things they add. I see a great future in our business dealings, and I encourage everyone else to take notice of the wonderful things which will develop between our organizations.

Local Kudos

2010-03-02T14:27:00.003-05:00

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/678213

You can look us up on-line and find more places where we sell coffee beyond the Kitchener Market.

Just Espresso Yourself

2010-02-17T11:18:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I'm starting to become a bit of a twitter junkie, and I get a lot of questions like "Can I put vanilla in a ..." or "What's the right kind of milk to use for a..." and I have a slew of friends who apologize as they add cream and sugar to their coffee. There has never been a right or wrong way to make a coffee - it's a means of enjoyment, not another place you have to follow protocol. Snobs will be snobs, and purists will be purists, but I have always liked to think of a cup of coffee as a blank canvas. Make it sweet, flavourful, creamy, light, foamy, or just an excuse to catch up with some friends - make it your own!

Here are a few of my guilty coffee pleasures!

Vanilla Bean Latte - double short, 4oz skim milk steamed with 4 REAL vanilla beans
Yoohoo Mocha - triple short, steamed Yoohoo Chocolate drink
Espresso Banana Smoothie - Two scoops of vanilla yogurt, 1 cup up banana, crushed ice, skim milk and a triple short shot

For the tweeters out there, feel free to follow, or ask any questions you might have @ecocoffee

Blended Coffee

2010-02-17T08:20:00.002-05:00

I understand quite well why coffees are blended. In some cases it is required in order to achieve a desired result, such as espresso. If you don't blend espresso by using several coffees, you will not achieve the desired characteristics in the cup you desire. Different coffees behave different and when properly and consistently mixed, they create the great harmony you desire.

Another reason for blending coffee is to achieve a greater consistency in the cup result. Although single origins, from a particular region are very consistent from crop to crop, it does not guarantee that they are exactly the same. After all, coffee is a living plant that derives its makeup from the surrounding enviroment and weather conditions. And we all know that the weather is never the same two years in a row, a great example is the lack of snow in Ontario this year....and the tons they have gotten south of here! So oblending two or three origins will create a melange that is relatively consistent from one batch to the next, sufficient enough so that the general consumer will not differentiate any subtle change.

What I do not condone is that some individuals will sell something as something else, just becasue they feel that there customers will identify with it better. Tell people what you sell, tell them what coffee is in your blend, if you do not know, then make sure you ask! In many cases, your roaster may not tell you exactly what amounts of each component are present, there is something to be said of maintaining trade secrets so other will not replicate it. But do not sell a blend as a single origin just because people know the name, or have heard and can identify with a place. If you do this, what you end up doing is misinforming your clients and educating them improperly. Take the time to taste your product, understand what makes it what it is, and then educate your clients so that you help them identify what to expect and why. By doing these things you will gain their respect and their trust and they will remain loyal and true.

Natural Remedies against the Dengue Fever

2010-02-12T07:54:00.002-05:00

Not that we worry about contracting Dengue Fever here in North America, but I sure did find this line of work and discovery interesting and worth talking about. If I knew anything about it, I would take this a step further and study the ability to control our own mosquito types here. I would consider it a magnificent way to control pest along with fertilizing the soild around our homes.

Scientist and biologist Alessandra Laranja, from the Bio-Science Institute of the NESP, during her master's investigation, discovered that used coffee grounds create a certain effect that blocks and stops the developing of AEDES AEGYPTI (or the yellow fever mosquito), which produces the dengue fever.
This process is extremely simple: The mosquito can be combated by placing used coffee grounds (like the ones left over after you make coffee) in the water plates under plants, inside the leaves of orchids and other flowers, etc. Since coffee is produced every day and in practically every home, this remedy does not cost a thing. The only actual thing you have to do is place the used coffee grounds in the plants and over the garden soil.
Many public health specialists, including sanitary doctors, are coming face-to-face with Alessandra's discoveries. Not only do we have the threat of Type 3 dengue fever due to the many storms at the end of the year, but we also have a new threat on the exterior: Type 4 dengue fever.
According to the biologist, 500 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of water blocks the development of the larva in its second of four stages, and reduces the lifetime of the adult mosquito. In her study, she showed that the caffeine in used coffee grounds alters the enzymes responsible for the fundamental physical processes with the hormonal metabolism.

Do you know why this has not been disclosed before? ......Exactly!!!

Because cities and towns gain a great amount of money annually for selling the chemicals and repellents needed to fend off mosquitoes. Similarly, laboratories gain money from selling the medicines and drugs needed to attack this virus. We can conclude that together we are stronger.

Spread the word! Send this to family members and friends to prevent this disease that can be fatal for children, elders, and even adults.

Source: Article sent by: Luciana Rocha Antunes, Biologist Specializing in Environmental Management

Romance Coffees I

2010-02-11T08:42:00.002-05:00

East Africa and Yemen, just across the Red Sea, produce some of the world's most distinctively romantic coffees, generally characterized by vividly floral, fruity, wine tones very rich in acidity. This fundamental East African profile can range from berry toned and wild in dry porcessed Ethiopia Harrar and Yemeni Mocha, to clean floral and citrus toned in the wet processed Ethiopian coffees like Sidamo and Yirgacheffe, to dry and winelike in Kenya. Exceptions to these would be wet processed coffee from Tanzania, Zambia, Rwanda and Malawi which tend to be soft, full rounded and gently understated.

The best place to start in Romance coffee is Kenya. This state of the art industry produces a plentiful yet superb product that is relatively easy to obtain. It is a powerful example of the East Africa taste, intense in its dry, burgundy like acidity, medium bodied yet surprisingly rich with occasional berry tones.

After Kenya, you may want to try Ethiopia, either Sidamo or Yirgacheffe. In these impeccably wet processed coffees, the powerful dry fruit and wine notes lift off and become buoyant, often startlingly floral and exhilaratingly lemony.

You then follow with softer and fuller East African profiles such as Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia, that although lesser known and not as easy to find in our North American markets, all of them present uniquely fascinating qualities and nuances which separate them from one another and make them just as enjoyable.

Lastly, there is need for a bit of clarification. There are many variant spelling on English of Ethiopian and Yemeni names. Mocha may be seen as Moca, Mocca, or Moka. Harrar can be found as Harer, Harar or Harari; Jimma as Djimah or Jima; Gimbi as Ghimbi; Yirgacheffe as Yrgacheffe...all are correct and all are valid, just a matter of where you come from that you may spell them differently. First taste the coffee, then worry anbout how to spell it!

The Museum Press release

2010-02-09T16:44:00.002-05:00

For immediate release.

The Museum delighted with new Cafe initiatives
Waterloo's Whole Lot-A Gelata among new partners to launch at Cafe

Kitchener, ON - The yellow walls aren't the only big change the cafe has seen at The Museum lately. With the start of the new year came new initiatives for the organic restaurant located in downtown Kitchener, including new food and new partners.

The Museum Cafe, its namesake being its location on The Museum's first level, is introducing a new menu, new management and new collaborations with local companies and can now offer visitors more options than ever before. The Museum Cafe will continue to be a downtown option for organic, locally grown meals, re-created in part by Red Seal Chef, Tim Farley, in addition to other new tasty treats.

With the guidance and local restaurateur, Chris Farley, The Museum Cafe has secured a lineup of new partners. Whole Lot-A Gelata - a unique gelato parlour in Uptown Waterloo - has agreed to collaborate to open its first remote location on site at The Museum Cafe. The Museum Cafe will begin offering seven flavours of the locally made dessert later this month.

This partnership is just one of the new projects The Museum Cafe is working on and is in keeping with The Museum's attempts to showcase exhibits by Waterloo Regional Innovators such as Christie Digital, Com Dev and ATS.

The Museum Cafe will continue the tradition of supporting farmers through a new relationship with EcoCafe - a local company currently operating at the Kitchener Market. This partnership allows guests to enjoy a fine organic cup of coffee or the option to have the quicker service of ready brewed.

In addition, The Golden Hearth Bakery, another local supplier located downtown, will provide The Museum Cafe with fresh breads to complement the new menu.

"The Museum experience doesn't have to start or finish at our front doors. Brunch before your visit or a coffee to reflect on the exhibits is just another way for people to spend their day with us downtown," explains David Marskell, CEO. "We are just so pleased to be working with so many community partners in order to continue to offer the high quality service and food people have come to expect here."

Come warmer weather patrons of The Museum Cafe will be able to enjoy an outdoor beverage or serving of Whole Lot-A Gelata and watch the world pass by on their soon to be licensed patio.

Busy Times

2010-02-09T07:57:00.002-05:00

I have had absolutely no time to write anything new in the last week. There are about three major announcements I would like to make, but until they become irreversible, I do not want to JINX any of them. I will try to get something out later today.

Brazil Classics

2010-02-01T14:05:00.001-05:00

Brazil produces enormous quantities of coffee using a daunting variety of processing methods and botanical varieties. It is probably safe to divide Brazil's coffees into three very broad categories.

The first category would be commercial coffees, which inlcude cheap, mass produced arabica coffees that are strip-picked and dried on vast patios, plus the smaller quantities of robusta species coffee grown in Brazil. Home roasters can feel safe in dismissing these coffees from their collections.

The second category are the best Santos-style commercially traded coffees. These coffees, usually described in the trade as Santos 2/3, good to fine cup, which have been picked and dry processed with more care than the previously mentioned lower grades and which are extremely usefull in blending, particularly for espresso. These are usually medium to full -bodied, sweet, round but heartier than similar wet-processed coffees from other coffee origins.

Finally, the true Brazilian Specialty coffees, our last category, which are sold by estate name and by processing method, which can range from wet-processed or washed that are light, bright and gentle, to dry-processed or natural coffees that are rounder and fuller, to the often extraordinary semi-dry-processed or pulped cherry coffees, which may glisten with subtle fruit and floral notes riding a delicate sweetness. As elsewhere in Latin America, trees of the traditional Bourbon variety produce the most sought after and usually complex lots of coffee, but other selected varieties like Mundo Novo and Catuai also produce outstanding cup quality.

Exciting News!

2010-01-26T17:50:00.001-05:00

We're happy to announce our involvement in the new Museum Café in downtown Kitchener. Formally known as Exhibit Café, the new Museum Café is part of a overall change of branding to the very successful Children's Museum. We've created a special certified Fair Trade blend exclusive to them, as well they will be providing our famous house espresso blend to be enjoyed in the café, on the go, or in take home retail bags. For more information visit the them at 10 King St. W, or at Themuseum.ca

In other exciting news, we're on the verge of launching our new retail brand that has been about a year in the planning books, and 2 months in production. Look for more details on this very soon! In the mean time, visit our online store, new product is being added all the time!

The Crew

2010-01-26T09:58:00.001-05:00

I was doing some computer cleaning and I ran across a picture of the Warehouse crew....in shorts and enjoying the summer! Oh to be warm again....we do have some more crew, let me work on getting a picture of them as well so they do not feel left out.

Other Classic Coffees

2010-01-19T12:38:00.002-05:00

There are fine selections of coffee that come from the Caribbean (Jamaica, Puerto Rico , Dominican Republic and even coastal Venezuela). Most of these are powerful yet lower-toned, and with an acidity which holds in the deep, sweet and long finish. The most well known of these is obvioucly the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, which is intense and rounded, a big coffee with a richly balanced acidity. The unfortunate part is that small production areas have led to many cases of diluting higher grown, better quality product with lower grown ordinary varieties, thus making this well known origin a rather ordinary Caribbean coffee, usually not worth the price which is triple or quadruple what you would pay for other fine origins. Just be cautious about your supply line and steer clear of anything claiming to be "Blue Mountain Style" or "Blue Mountain Blend".

Other gentler classics would be Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru and Mexico. All of which tend to be lively more than overpowering in acidity and rounded in flavour. These are coffees with abundant natural sweetness which will come through in lighter roasts and get enhanced in the darker profiles. Their gentler acidity makes them very attractive to the black coffee drinker who abstain from using sweeteners. In terms of body, these range from well rounded coffees such as Peru, to fuller bodied coffee from Nicaragua, or light and sweet varieties such as El Salvador. You also have some origins which display fruitier and floral tones like Mexico or Panama when they are not over roasted.

The last of the classics is Brazil, which deserves a post all on its own, being the largest coffee producer in the world with an ample variety within one origin.

Classic Coffees

2010-01-14T09:10:00.002-05:00

The Classics tend to manifest full body, bright acidity and clean and straightforward cup presence. These are the coffees that provide what North Americans tend to consider normal within their cup of coffee.

The most beloved of these types of coffee are balanced, yet powerful. This means they are strong in all respects. They present a vibrant acidity as well as a full body and complex flavor. As a norm they are all grown at high altitude, even though many factors such as latitude, cloud cover, moisture and such can create coffees which will mimic what comes natural to the classic high mountain grown. When coffee is grown at lower altitude, it tends to show by way of a softer and sweeter taste, with a lighter and brisker acidity and lesser body.

The classics taste is based in part on its brightness and clarity of flavor which is achieved during the wet processsing of the coffee cherry. Most of all the latin american coffees are wet processed, with the exception being the dry and semi dry processed coffees of Brazil.

Generally speaking, the bigger classics of Latin America are the finer Costa Ricans, Guatemalans and Colombians, all full bodied and with a rich acidity content. The best of the Guatemalans are generally a bit more intriguing and complex than the Costa Ricans, which are most famous for the clarity they present. It is generally believed that the difference stems from the varietals or cultivars which are planted in each country, whereas in Costa Rica growers plant alot of the newer Caturra arabica and in Guatemala they tend more towards the older Typica and Bourbon arabica cultivars. In Colombia, coffee is remarkably consistent, mostly owing to the Coffee Federation and its standards. They also concentrate on growing Bourbon and Typica, but with the work of the federation, have created strains of these which are more resistance to pests, provide more yield and carry a magnificient quality of taste, owing much to the valid fame of their cup quality.

Types of Coffee traded

2010-01-07T08:18:00.004-05:00

Before we get into what specific coffee we have, we make note that there are several types of coffee which can be sold.

Commodity Market Coffee – Big industry coffee is continuously bought and sold throughout our marketplace. It is dealt with in container lots, mostly by traded positions in the commodities market. From there it ends up in the hands of brokers and large roasters with which your form relationships to purchase in smaller than container quantities. It is usually good quality, or should I say commensurate with its rating and the buyers cupping standards. Great for industrial use due to its consistency in process from origin. Single origins tend to be blended from several farms within the regions of particular countries, due to possible dramatic flavor changes based on different growing conditions.

Certified Fair Trade Coffee – these are coffees produced by democratically run cooperatives whose members have been guaranteed a “fair” price for their coffee based on an internationally determined formula. A premium of what consumers pay for their Fair Trade coffee goes to promote the fair-trade principles in consuming nations, but mostly reaches farmers directly. Most Fair Trade coffee is also organic as well as shade grown, adding to it’s environmental responsibility and allowing for a progressive choice by the buyer.

Rainforest Alliance Certified – The Rainforest Alliance’s Certification (which Abby from the Alliance promptly pointed out to me used to be called the Eco-OK seal, now wasn’t that a better name! Just my two cents….. ) certifies that inspection has determined that the farms and mills meet a wide variety of environmental criteria, including wildlife diversity, non-polluting practices and responsible use of chemicals. Beyond that there are additional social and economic criteria which support the welfare of the farmers and the mill workers.

Sustainable Coffee – A project of the SCAA to create a big-tent, inclusive definition of sustainability which will combine criteria for the environment as well as social and economic sustainability. Hoepfully sooner than latere….

Partnership or Relationship Coffee – Partnerships created with cooperatives by the roaster, in which a fixed percentage of the retail price of the coffee is returned directly to the cooperative that produced it, outside of any international certifying bodies. These are the coffees that tend to be of the highest quality due to the marriage of producer and roaster fulfilling both their needs in terms of taste and quality of product.

Will continue to talk about geography and classic coffee producers

Learning blogger

2010-01-06T17:29:00.002-05:00

Just when I had promised to be more consistent in writing to the blog, we up and change how I do it.

So now that we are trying to learn new tools to tell you all about coffee, lets see what we can do

Have you been on the store http://www.ecocoffeestore.com/

Picture of holiday work session at the tube park!

Because of the Coffee

2010-01-04T18:25:00.001-05:00

A bright spot came about over the holiday week, which is always a strange time of year. We have ramped up so hard for the holidays, then business kind of disappears as everyone is sucked in by the family and extracurricular activities which the time of year represent. You get to have a chance to clean up, organize and tie lose ends that need attention. I was in the midst of just one of those tasks when I heard the door open and was transported half way around the world…..

In came a vibrant gentleman with a steely yet inquisitive look. He immediately gave me his card while speaking in an odd accent I was not prepared for. As I took a moment to digest this abrupt circumstance it all started to sink in….

His name was Sasa, he was from Canberra, Australia and that he represented ONA Coffee (follow his link to learn more). He was telling me he was in town for a couple of days visiting friends, that he was then leaving for Cuba and proceeding back home after that. He had already spent too much time away from his coffee and that he was a bit taken aback by the poor coffee culture he had encountered in our part of the world. This led him to search for specialty coffee and that in all of his local searches we kept popping up, so he took the advice on our web store and came to visit.

My first thought was to extend him a welcome, to excuse the mess but I was working on my little snowblower project, but could I offer to pull him a shot. He accepted grateful for something freshly roasted. Little did I know at the time as I pulled him a shot into an ecotainer, instead of a china cup, that I was pulling a shot for a well known and respected roaster, but also the dual WBC champion in his home country. Thank god and my roastmaster, that the coffee in the office is always fresh, so I pulled him a short double of our signature espresso with it’s typical fine crema and proceeded to offer him a tour.

We spoke about magnitude, it seems that ONA is probably 10 times our size in terms of roast capacity and volume. We talked about latte art and baristas and what our location had to offer in this. We chatted about coffee and different origins and roasts. We determined that although in general our cultures have a different appreciation for styles of coffee, we had also many similarities in how we roast. Now this is fun stuff because it is not so often we meet people that have the same insight in to a particular topic.

I showed him our operation, and as we walked around his hands dipped into the various sacks of green coffee. As he quaffed the aroma of the fresh beans, he was picking out origins by smell alone. Although this alone is an exceptional talent, the fact was dwarfed by seeing him transported to each place when he described the scent he was perceiving. He said he missed the smell and feel of the coffee….once again, great stuff for a slow mid-week afternoon.

We then wrapped up, with brief descriptions of what we do, how we do and why we do what we do. That we would cross emails and such. And in a blink of an eye he was gone!

Sasa, thanks for making last Thursday one of those anecdotal coffee moments, that only roasters get to have, all because of the coffee….

2010 Challenge

2010-01-04T18:23:00.000-05:00

So after a conversation with Adam, he pointed out something which needed attention. After commenting on the web presence, the design components and possible changes, I asked about adding a new web feature. He clarified for me that we should probably use what we already have before creating something new I wont use. Point taken.

The challenge is to learn to be a better blogger, to express my point of view on a regular basis about what we do, how we do, why we do what we do so that people will follow and also share the amazing world that coffee brings to our door every day.

Challenge accepted, will see how we grade it at the end of 2010….hmm, that rhymes!

What's in a Name?

2009-12-08T18:16:00.000-05:00

I have been doing lots of coffee reading lately, got a couple of great titles for the holidays, The Devil’s Cup by Stewart Lee Allen and Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast. It always amazes me when I run across new meaning to old words. A few of the words I have been schooled about so far:

bunn - the original Ethiopian name for the coffee plant of which the original consumption was of chewing the leaves and beans

qishr - a sweet beverage made from the lightly roasted hulls of the coffee cherry, now more commonly known as kisher

kapuziner - a strongly brewed coffee, not espresso, with a dome of schlagober (whipped cream or milk). When the two blend together, they create the exact color of the robes worn by the Capuchin order of Monks of the catholic church. Created in Vienna, the gateway of coffee into European society. Not to be confused with the Italian cappuccino, named for the same order but made with espresso.

muck-fuck - okay, so the real spelling is mocha-faux and it means fake mocha. This beverage was made from burnt bread, caramelized carrots, chicory among other non-specific substances. It came into vogue when Frederick the Great persecuted people who roasted coffee with his coffee sniffer soldiers in the 1770s Germany.

french roast - “when the bean is burnt beyond recognition, thus enhancing carbon and oil content. Carbon absorbs gastric acids, facilitating traffic flow (be creative here, gastric flow); fats and oils are known laxatives.” Now I can confirm why I do not like the super dark coffee roasts…..

I will add more as they show up….