A Rainforest Blend - update

This is what this hobby is all about.
A simple attempt at a simple blend of ethically sustainable coffees and being wonderfully surprised at an unexpected, indeed, a serendipitous outcome!

Comment | Posted: 20 July 08
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A 'rainforest' blend

Just when I said I was going to put blending on hold for a while… I get the urge to try and come up with a simple blend that will not only be great to drink but give you warm, fuzzy feelings inside of another kind…

Comment | Posted: 12 July 08
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Ridgeback Estate Coffee

Challenging my disdain for Australian-grown coffee again, I have the chance to chance to roast up some promising beans from Ridgeback Estate in far north Queensland.
The description is promising and the sample roast looks good…

Comment [2] | Posted: 27 June 08
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Costa Rica Rio Negro RFA

As single origins go, I reckon most Centrals make great blending beans!
But there’s always the exception, and this bean might be one.

I bought a bag after speaking with a good roaster friend who happened to visit a farm this coffee comes from last year. He spoke in glowing terms about this Central American coffee, so when stock arrived…

I would characterise this Rainforest Alliance coffee as having a dark chocolatey tone, with a full body, good acidity and with some fruit on the finish…

Comment | Posted: 14 June 08
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Colombian RFA Excelso Kachalu Organic

Colombian coffee has the reputation of tasting, well, just like coffee – nothing outstanding, but just nice coffee.

But that is changing, and some fantastic coffees are coming out of Colombia these days. This is one…

Comment | Posted: 3 June 08
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Coelho's Gold Monsooned Malabar

If you have never come across a Monsooned Malabar before, this is a very unusual bean.
This a high quality coffee grown in a hilly range in India called the Western Ghats under ideal coffee-growing conditions.
Then the monsooning process start…

Comment [3] | Posted: 3 June 08
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Old coffee grounds

My house finds itself with a knockbox full of spent pucks of coffee at the end of every day. We would pull anywhere between six and eighteen double shots a day. That’s around 14g of coffee per puck, which would work out at more than 71Kgs of coffee grounds per year!
The question is what’s a good use for them?

| Posted: 1 June 08
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Nez du Cafe

Reading Michelle’s coffee blog the other day, she mentioned that her husband had given her a Nez du Cafe kit, and how this had helped develop her coffee cupping skills.

It reminded me of a couple of stimulating Saturday afternoons spent at Hazel’s cafe with a bunch other coffee geeks…

Comment [7] | Posted: 24 May 08
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The Fairtrade debate continues... 2

If you stopped by over at the Solar Panel and caught up with the debate there (interestingly, the comments have separated out into two distinct threads: those discussing the theological issues of justice and caring for the poor, and those tossing around the questions around how FT coffee is prompted and encouraged.) you will know that my comments about Fair Trade not necessarily being the best way to help coffee growers has not been all that well received.

So I went and did some more digging…

Comment [2] | Posted: 18 May 08
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Coffea Arabica