Coffee Kids Foundation

Coffee is, after oil, the second most traded commodity in the world. But so many people working in those coffee origin country's do not have enough income to give decent education or basic needs to their children.

Daisy, our senior female Barista at Caffènation, had this fantastic idea to use a part of the tip jar, for charity. Now it mostly goes to our daughter Rocky, but there are so many children in the world who can use some extra support, so we decided to donate 25 dollar a month to Coffee Kids.

COFFEE KIDS has helped thousands of children, women, and men in coffee-producing regions in Mexico and Central America to improve the quality of their lives and build more sustainable communities. Founded by coffee roaster Bill Fishbein in 1988, Coffee Kids is an international nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. The staff works with local non-governmental community organizations in Latin America to create education, health-care, training, and microenterprise programs for coffee farmers and their families. The projects respect the cultural integrity of their local partners, foster independence, and promote long-term self-sufficiency.

What is Coffee Kids’ mission?
To improve the quality of life for children and families who live in coffee-growing communities around the world.

Via a link on our blog you can follow all their activities.

Hopefully people appreciate the action by leaving a bit of the change in the tipping jar and so maybe we can in the future increase our donations.

Coffee Fiesta Antwerp

From May 18 till 20, Antwerp is going to be Europe's coffee capital.
The SCAE organizes plenty of coffee championships, workshops, etc ...
For all those who are interested, here's the program for the most spectacular event :
Latte Art Championship
and the official SCAE website.

And don't forget the party!

And the Danish winner is ....

Again James and his articles on his website inspire me for writing this article.
The world Barista championship is coming closer and more and more country's present their participants. Next monday we will know the Dutch champion, but last weekend we had the Danish finals. Very important knowing this country's barista is immediately one of the favourites for the world crown.

1. Lene Hylddahl (695 points)
2. Soren Stiller (644 points)
3. Marianna Jonsdottir (590 points)

For the first time ever we got a female winner in Denmark.
Lene is owner of the 'Behag Din Smog' espresso bar and works with a by Dupont roasted Estate Blend, worldwide known as the roaster who helped Klaus Thompsen win the WBC in 2006 . Estate coffee is taken over the number one position Kontra had for several years.
The weird thing with both roasters is that i prefered Estate when i was in Denmark, but at home i had way better results with the Kontra mixture.


Congrats Lene and good luck in Tokyo.

For more information and photo's about the Danish championship :
www.jimseven.com
(Flickr photo by King Seven)

Barista Party

website info

Thesis Thomas vragenlijst

Vorige week had ik het voorrecht om een avondvullende babbel te doen met Thomas, naar aanleiding van diens thesis - emoties, ervaringen en herinneringen in de waardeketen. Voor een stuk Apple - ja, ik ben een fan, Starbucks en als tegenhanger ook Caffènation zijn onderwerp van onderzoek.
Het was voor mij een openbaring om na een kleine twintig jaar als (part time) marketeer een gesprek met een expert ter velde te kunnen hebben. Veel dingen die bij mij vooral onbewust kwamen en waar ik nooit diep over nagedacht had, werden me ineens zeer duidelijk. Andere dingen aangaande lopende en toekomstgerichte zaken kregen een ander licht en gaven me een beetje het gevoel dat Thomas die avond zo'n beetje mijn 'marketingpsychiater' was.

Vandaag vraagt Thomas of er Caffènation klanten zijn die mee willen werken aan een kwalitatief onderzoek naar Caffènation ervaring en door hun ervaringen mee te delen een bijdrage zouden leveren aan de kwaliteit van de thesis.
Doen zou ik zeggen : deze jongen is baanbrekend werk aan het verrichten.

klik hier

Faema E91

As we look at our current Faema E91 (3-group) i ordered a new one today. The same, but new.
Why Faema? What makes the E91 so special?

At the beginning of the 90's, Faema appointed Giugiaro Design to create a product which could recall the prestige and success of a legendary model in Faema's industrial history : the E61. Advanced technology with extra attention on steaming, temperature control and reliability, that was the goal, and so the E91 came to light.

Today Faema introduces E91 Ambassador SE (Special Edition), but that machine review is for next month.
Our old, revised, E91 is a very strong and reliable work horse. And the company Faema is an ideal partner for those who look for good professional advice and follow up.
There is very limited electronics and no digital stuff, great! It all sounds wonderful to hear what those new machines can do, but the more they can, the more they break down.
At the same time we live in Belgium. With all those lungo and tea drinkers we can use a big boiler, and 17,5 liters is big. It's also thanks to this big boiler that we got this steady temperature. As long as we flush well before every shot, i see very little temperature fluctuations.
The biggest disadvantage i see is the steaming part. Due to the incredible power, getting microfoam is quite a challenge. Now Ronny (Faema's rep for Antwerp) gave me some new steaming tips to do some testing. I'm curious and keep you guys informed.

To finish of i want to give you our daily credo :
We do our best, and Faema does the rest. (free translation of the dutch : "We doen ons best en Faema doet de rest".

Road to work

One week a year i find on my way to coffee heaven, also known as my work, a pink street.
The street in between the old palace of justice and the all famous Brasseurs restaurant is one of the streets i bike through almost every day.
Always a nice moment when nature colors the streets pink.
A princess pavement to make my little girl Rocky jealous.