October & November Crisis

Every year we suffer in this period of the year.
We angrily waiting for the new Brazilians to arrive and hope to find enough African or, rarer, fresh Latins.
After been disappointed by the latest arrival of El Salvador, Colombia, Honduras and Nicaragua single origins; next two months could be tough.
The organic Santo Domingo and Bolivia La Paz should be back by Saturday. They still had a less grass, jute and ashy taste when we had them at the beginning of September. Hoping....

Future acclimated warehouses (like the Trabocca or 49th P Roasters ones) should help us enormously.
Therefor I'm very happy with the new Efico efforts and their soon to open new warehouse in the harbour of Zeebrugge.
Hope to get there soon and write an article (with photos) about it.

To finish a photo of a Caffenation Latte with Tulip design. Not the best tulip ever, but nice microfoam and contrast.

WBC 2010 London Announcement

Click it.
And same place and date : the Caffè Culture event.

A Caffenation Espresso

'I Need Coffee' Battle

A nice article from Michael Allen Smith (I Need Coffee), who's talking about the best two shots he ever had and compares a (all mighty) Esmeralda Clover brew from a top notch coffee company with a proper (popcorn) roasted Kenya brewed with his French press.

Cupping Notes from Jeff & Joost

JAZZY JEFF CUPPING NOTES :


49th Parallel roasters:

Guatemala, Finca La Perla

Altitude: 1400 meters

Variety: Bourbon and Caturra

Roast: Tad darker than medium

In the cup: White peach with some caramel. Very sweet and balanced cup, clean finish.



Honduras, El Manzano:

Cup of Excellence winner #3

Altitude: 1500 meters

Variety: Catuai

Roast: Medium-light

In the cup: Very juicy sweet and snappy acidity, reminds me of an apple I like named “jazz” little oak wood, little caramel, clean aftertaste and mouth feel.



Coffee Collective:

Guatemala, Finca Vista Hermosa

Altitude: 1700-2000 meters

Variety: Bourbon, Canturra and Catuai

Roast: Medium-light

In the cup: Clean, toffee, milkchocolate, nice body and good underlying acidity. Still, not that interesting, maybe I expected more.



Ethiopia, Idido Yircha Cheffe Aricha

Altitude: 2000 meters

Variety: Natural Arabica varieties

Roast: Light

In the cup: Creamy ripe strawberries very very pronounced, good acidity for ajuicy mouthfeel. Maybe a bit off balance, but still very clean for a natural. Mind-blowing clear-cut taste profile, one of my all time favorites to cup.



CUPPING NOTES VAN JOOST (ESW) (IN DUTCH):

Ik heb eindelijk de tijd gevonden de 3 Caffenation koffies te cuppen.
Allen gecupt als espresso's omdat ze espresso-gebrand zijn.

Hier de resultaten:

Guatemala El Bosque Red Bourbon:

Geur van de bonen: vol, zoet, romige vanille
Uiterlijk van de bonen: egaal, gelijkmatig, middelgebrand (vlak voor de 2e krak)
Geur van de gemalen koffie: vlezig, als paté, doet denken aan Kopi Luwak, aards, warm en vertrouwd

Aroma (geur van de natte koffie): honing, zoet, caramel, marshmellows op de bbq, crema catelana ( gebrande suiker)

Smaak van de hete espresso: vol, zoet, veel body, stevig, lichte afdronk van gepofte kastanjes



Smaak van de koude espresso: fruitiger; zoete dadels


Waardering: 9


El Salvador Finca Los Amates Cup Of Excellence :

Geur van de bonen: licht gerookte noten
Uiterlijk van de bonen: groot, net na de 2e krak, zeer goede kwaliteit
Geur van de gemalen koffie: loden/ tinnen soldaatjes, truffel, stevig, mooie diepe geur

Aroma (geur van de natte koffie): rozijnen, dadels, weer gebrande suikers

Smaak van de hete espresso: verrassend licht en genuanceerd, veel romige vanille, zoet fruit als ananas en mango.
ook romige pure chocolade
licht assige nasmaak (te donker gebrand?)


Smaak van de koude espresso: wanneer de koffie afkoelt krijgt hij ene veel diepere bitterdere smaak, richting verbranding


Waardering: 8,5


Brazil Fazenda Cachoeira Canario :

Geur van de bonen: notig (pecan), zoet, vol
Uiterlijk van de bonen: klein rond, ruim na de 2e krak, een paar, heel licht geroosterde bonen er tussendoor (±2%)
Geur van de gemalen koffie: aards, vol, stevig, truffel, donker, diepe bittere chocoladegeur

Aroma (geur van de natte koffie): zoet, heldere suikergeur, kaneel (mooiste crema van allemaal)

Smaak van de hete espresso: kaneelsuiker (heel duidelijk!), romig, chocolade, stevig, vol, ietwat verdrogend in de keel.
wat te donker gebrand. Helaas geen fruittonen, wel een heel heldere laurierdrop nasmaak


Smaak van de koude espresso: De koude koffie wordt veel vlakker, erg bitter en de laurierdrop overheerst.

Waardering: 7,5

Barista Jam & Home Brewing Session Attendees (Dutch)

Onder het motto 'Met een Muji Timer in de hand wandel ik door heel het land' gaan we er deze herfst weer keihard tegenaan.

De volgende mensen worden nu zondag 11 oktober verwacht op de Barista Jam Non-Professionals vanaf 18u45 te Hopland 46.

MOESKOP
ERIC CANTALOOP
IRIS DE SINGEL
DAVE (2)
VALENTIJN
LIESBETH
INDRA
EL PINXTO (2)
THE GLORIOUS
HANS
PATRICK
ISABELLE (2)
IVO
MAXIM (2)
PAUL
YVAN
STEFANIE
LORIN (laatste kans)
ANNELEEN (2)
JAN
KOEN

En de 11de november/wapenstilstand voor de eerste Home Brewing Session - sorry voor al die Engelse woorden - vanaf 9u45 's morgens tot 12u stipt (want de zaak moet open).

BART BRAEM
SARA ROEGIERS
KRISTOF DE BELDER
JOHAN
LANDER
SAMUEL
MATTHIAS DE RIDDER
REGY JACKERS
LIESBETH


Hier kan/moet nog iemand bij.

Tot dan!
Uw gastheren/vrouwen Rob, Katrien, Jeff, Noömi

Barista Job Search Stories

Last week we had a good one :

Girl walks in and asks : "A Soy Decaf Flat Latte please". And 5 seconds later : "And do you have a job for me?"
At least she was polite. And drinking (some kind of) coffee. Lots of people asking for a job don't even drink coffee. Do we look that good?


Last year we had another good one :

Guy walks in and orders a 'Latte de Pooh'. This is a latte sweetened with honey (on top).
One hour, or something, later he walks out without paying. Bird yells at Katrien that she needs to get the guy. Katrien storms out the bar and chases him.
When she comes back in with the guy on her heels something funny happens. He pays his dept and without a shame he then asks us if we don't have an open position for him.

I don't know his name, but he's still coming and drinking his poohs. But I think he found a job somewhere else now. :-)


Oh yes; for those interested : we're not looking for new people right now.