Coffee makes people :-)

Mr LGB Summer of 14

Mr LGB Summer of 14 • 1/3 Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Kochere Gr1 • 1/3 Costa Rica Tarrazu Monte Canet Estate • 1/3 Kenya Kirinyaga Zahabu Peaberry

Mr LGB Summer is our Summer Espresso Blend for those who are looking for something clean, fruity or excellent with milk. The first part is, again, a Yirgacheffe. This Kochere is picked southwest of the town of Yirga Cheffe and near a little village of Ch'elelek'tu in the Gedeo zone. The plantation is situated around 2000 masl! It's from various Heirloom Varientals. Our volume on Kochere is relatively low, so possibly we will have another Ethiopian bean taking over by the end of August. The second component is a yearly classic. And we're so fond of it that we bought the full European lot this year. The coffee comes out of Costa Ricas' most famous region Tarrazu, more precisely San Marcos. The man running the farm is called Mario Solis. This bean grows at an 1650 meter altitude and the variety is a mix of Caturra, Catuai and Geisha(!). This coffee is a real espresso championship coffee; very well balanced, powerful, nice body and super clean. Last washed bean is one from Kenya. First 2 beans are relatively low in acidity and therefor we needed something with more fruitiness and acidity to help cut through the milk. We chose this Peaberry coffee from Cooperative Societies, Nyeri - Kirinyaga. A very well balanced bean (SL 28/34) that makes the blend also suitable for filter brewing. Don't hesitate to tell us what you think about this unique Seasonal Specialty Coffee Blend.

Velodrome at Krakow Poland

11 years Caffenation and now 4 year Specialty Coffee Roasters as well. It gave us a lot of stories and some great professional challenges as well.
And the latest is Krakow, Poland.

International our ball started to roll 6 years ago with Inspire Breda. 
After that a fist full of Dutch cities followed, but also Vienna, Paris and recently Norwich England. We shipped stuff to Barcelona, Milan, Helsinki, Barcelona, Berlin, London, Lucca and Lille, but the latest shipment was a big box of goodies into the direction of Krakow where we found our latest dealer.

When David and Agate spoke me one year ago about their ambitions, i was very hungry to help them to fulfill their dream, which was the start up of a specialized espresso bar.

Meanwhile month after month passed by and finally Velodrome Krakow is a fact.

'Bikes and Coffee' has been a winning formula a lot of times before and also David thinks this is the right fit for him and his wife, although at Velodrome it's more decoration and a show off of his passion.

The bar is located at Berka Joselewicza 12, one of the green and cosy side streets of the Kazimierz quarter, a neighborhood is full blossom.

Their La Marzocco Linea PB is the very first one in Krakow and coupled to a Mazzer Kony, Anfim Caimano and a state of the art Bunn Water Tower. Great!
They'll give you the choice between a blend, a single origin espresso or a couple of filter coffees. Also they use fresh milk and offer a while selectoin of iced coffees and teas.

Lots of luck David and Agate with this great project. You'll have a lot of work in front of you, but i am sure every one who reads this article will pass by your door the day they visit the gorgeous city of Krakow. Very much recommended!

Awesome Japanese TV commercial "BOSS" coffee with Tommy Lee Jones

Not only the Japanese can prepare worlds best coffee, they also make funny coffee commercials. Tommy does beter than George for sure.

WAC and WBC 2014 : Jeff finishing 3rd.

4 times our head roaster Jeff Verellen was able to defend the colors of our country at the World Aeropress Championships and 4 times he's going home with a medal.

After bronze in London and gold in Milan and Melbourne he became 3rd again in this years finals.

A fine result after a fine day.

Report :

While Bert and I were still on our way from Bologna to our apartment in Riccione, Rimini, our 2 roasters Jeff and Simon were moving towards the fiera to see Charlene De Buysere doing her thing at the Barista World Championships.
First WBC ever for Charlene. Never easy and no semi finals for her.
Curious to know the final results I went surfing on the World Wide Web, but can't find any info, except for the finals. Unbelievable.

I have the feeling all these competitions are losing interest. A pity, but a bit understandable cause it's a bit boring to watch if you are not competing yourself or a fan of one of the champs.
The rules get more complicated by the year and there's still no chance to taste what the Barista's are prepping on stage.
If one of my Barista's want to compete next year I'll be more than happy - it's a great stage to show your skills and a lot learn - but if nobody's in, we won't be sad about it.

Luckily there's still the Aeropress Championships!! More popular every year thanks to the relaxed settings and easy rules.
This year the setting of the WAC was the best ever ; on the Rimini beach.

La Marzocco organized this event together with Tim Varney. What a splendid job. The Barista's were performing barefoot in the sand of Rimini while the sun was omni present and even showing a fantastic sun set around the finals. Brilliant!!

Simon Boone represented The Netherlands and Jeff Verellen Belgium. Both were favorites in their series. Lots of expectations on Simon's shoulders when his recipe works wonderfully at the rehearsals a couple of hours prior to the comp.
Jeff was, because of the heat in Rimini, still struggling with temperatures and the (relatively dark) coffee; a splendid Ecuador by Cafe Imports. 

Mélodie from France was another side favorite, just as Lara from Spain and Dylan from Australia.

27 competitors. That means 9 rounds of 3.
While Mélodie, Jeff and Lara advance, Simon falls off with a lightly under extracted cup. Ooooh.

The comp goes on and on and judges Tim Styles, James Hoffmann and Tim Wendelboe keep on cupping. Finally we see the Japanese Presser Shuichi Sasaki wins the finals, after uber Judge Tim Varney had to cup through all 3 cups because the judges were undecided on what the best cup was.

More info, photo's and recipes here.

Every year we see more and more country's organizing an Aeropress Championship. Mostly in a bar with the crowd side by side with the competing Barista's. Beer, coffee and friendship go hand in hand and people can taste the recipes after the judges decide on the heats' winner.
The design of the posters and T-shirts are becoming an event on itself and we expect this competition to grow every year.
Is this the future of coffee championships? Partly, yes!

Oh yes, Japan also won the Barista Title this year.
My friend Coen van Sprang 7th! Respect!

The fun of Aeropress Competitions

Filtropa #4 Coffee Filters

We did use a lot of white Melitta number 4 filter in the past. We needed them in our bar at Hopland to go into our Clever Drippers. And in the Mocca Master brewers.

Very often we were cursing though, when - once again - they busted and so we started putting 2 in after a while. 
Very expensive at the end of the line and more work as well.

These Filtropa filters seem to be much stronger and still not expensive at all. 
Since this week we have them available in our shop at Caffenation. 
First we have to finish the small boxes of 40 pieces (at €1,40), but later on the normal sized boxes with 100 will be available at €2,45/box. 

Here a small discription on the Filtropa's by Sweet Maria's, who's selling them since a while : 
"The Filtropa are my favorite cone-type filters. They don't impart much paper taste and are very sturdy. I think they are far superior to the flimsy Melitta filters that have busted at the seams while I have brewed my coffee on many occasions. The filter is bonded without the use of any glues or chemicals, and the paper stock is certified dioxin-free. Filtropa uses an oxygen-based whitening process which produces a totally chlorine free paper."