mie

i moved!

2010-06-16T06:01:00.002+02:00

flea market spring fling

2010-06-08T20:28:00.000+02:00

another incredibly nice weekend called me out to the alameda flea market on sunday! you actually have to go there by ferry, which is also my favorite thing about living so close to the bay. i wandered around there all day long in the sunshine, ate good food and learned about the flea market business. i got a pretty and blue enameled coffee pitcher (finally my pour turbulence over will be more controlled) and met many nice people. also, there was a vendor selling old illustrations from books and i got the a couple of really nice ones from the book all about coffee by william h ukers. it's available from google books here. have a wonderful coffee time!

cherries

2010-06-04T23:05:00.000+02:00

i'm in love with this season! i don't know if it's the summer, my incredible cherry shopping skills, or just that i am supposed to be with cherries a lot these days, but i've had so many fabulous cherries lately. eating them plain - chewing and spitting out pits. yum!

are jean shorts cool?

2010-05-30T04:25:00.000+02:00

problem solved here!

it's san francisco

2010-05-25T08:31:00.002+02:00

i'm still in love with san francisco! i miss my friends and family in norway, but i feel so calm and happy about life here now. i bike downtown every morning, from my house in noe valley, past the ritual store in the mission, four barrel, rainbow grocery, down folsom and head into the alley that leads to the ritual roastery and doing it faster and faster.

recently, i turned 30 and i was kind of down the afternoon before - but i soon realized that no matter how fake facebook friends are, they sure made me feel very very blessed on my birthday and the entire night before (i had already been 30 in norway for a while when i woke up on my real birthday). the day in itself was uneventful, ritual and i share the same birthday, and we were all kind of busy planning on the big party we were going to have in the alley the following saturday. but i got a mie(tte) cake, birthday song and flowers. i biked home that night, and and figured i was where i wanted to be.

my birthday present for myself was nothing extravagant, but i thought i should have a little something i've wanted for a long time, so i ended up purchasing the $30 app mojotogo. i realize it's a $30 calculator, but i'm trying to make it worth it by using it to jam up my aeropressing. i know you're probably tired of me talking about it, but after all, there's the world aeropress championship coming up soon. ben will compete for me, since i can't go myself, and i am already getting excited! i assume there will be some sort of streaming of the event?

going, going, gone!

2010-02-20T07:46:00.000+01:00

greetings from america! i am writing this, looking out at the american flag waving in the wind. a flag, that in the morning when i come out in the kitchen is pretty much covered in fog. so it's san francisco. in the past week, i've thought about many possible ways to start writing about my new life here in san francisco. about how and why. about expectations and disappointments. thinking of it, the most fascinating part might be how norwegian i've become. i watch norwegian television online. i am more than excited every time i see the brewery 'nøgne ø' (which is norwegian) present in beer stores with impressive selections of beers. i react in ways i thought i wouldn't on expressions of american culture. food. sports. like, why aren't they showing any norwegians when reporting from the winter olympics? why on earth is that tiger woods mishap still in the news? where is obama? no seriously. where is he? constantly critical, investigating, curious and impressed.

i adore andreas viestad's book "the journey to cadillac". perhaps the most enjoyable part of it is it's various citations and insights about the american culture (he actually travels to cadillac, france, in a cadillac deville sedan 1969). in the book i read that the author celine had a belief that traveling was useful. it's an escape from whatever that is, or is not, at home. it can give you knowledge. it can expand your imagination. but, he was also of the opinion that for the most part, it leads to uncomfortable situations, egotism, hardships and disappointments.

i can't wait to have norwegian waffles in the norwegian sailor's church on sunday. until then: à la prochaine!

long time, no writing

2009-12-23T13:16:00.000+01:00

It might seem like quite some time since i had something in particular interesting going on in my head regarding coffee. But i have been thinking about interesting things and coffee a lot also since my last post. Mostly, the lack of posts are due to the new coffee people favourite thing - micro blogging - twitter. And I have honestly not spent so much time writing up blogposts, because the twitter universe has made it very easy to delve into subjects with links to other blog posts and articles about blog posts. Facing the diverse and burgeoning amount of blogs and articles has made me experience and contemplate the complexity of the field - the plethora of methodological decisions that coffee people that wants to be on top of things needs to face every day and the insane amount of time we spend to follow up on each other - what is going on today? every day.

It's almost Christmas, and I will spend it contemplating this year - which has rolled by faster than I could say Maracaturra. On New Years Eve, I am leaving Oslo for a while for San Francisco, which I think will be interesting and a learning experience. In particular, I am looking forward to learn more about extraction, a field of interest that is mostly overlooked by me. Not because I don't want to, but just because I'm not there yet. Not in 2009, at least. The multitude of alternative approaches to extraction has made explicitly this subject something I wish I knew more about - a coffee challenge that is not yet completed.

Merry Christmas, friends. And peace on earth.

Cup of Excellence debate

2009-09-23T22:54:00.005+02:00

For those who is still following my blogging, there haven't been many adventures in coffee recently, but a report from the San Francisco coffee scene should be on its way along with a discussion about climate changes and its affect on coffee production thanks to my new friend Juan Ramon, agronomist from Costa Rica and the Brumas del Zurquí micro mill. He has taught me lots of interesting things about tsunamis and axes.

For now, please join Rasmus from Kaffemisjonen in Bergen and a few responders (including yours sincerely) on how Cup of Excellence award winning farmers should spend their dineros here. Enjoy!

ps the picture is from the last time I visited Honduras, May 2009, and we are discussing sample roasting. From the Cup of Excellence auction in 2008 we were able to establish a very successful relationship there. see the CoE winner to the far right? we still get along great! <3

putting things into boxes

2009-08-06T19:03:00.003+02:00

for those who occasionally looks through my flickr, you've probably seen that the entire roastery is moving. today i was the last one to put everything on my desk in a box - after they removed even the piping for the roaster. leaving was sad, but i am prepared for new adventures!

summer has been good, nice people visiting from panama, australia and the us (should i include sweden or not?) and lots of good talks about coffee. even fun times in parks and by the sea - we took us cup tasting champion ben kaminsky to swim in the oslo fjord after some serious nerding around for a few days.

our new roastery / wonderland is spacious, 35m from wall-to-wall, around 700m2 all in all. i am currently busy trying to have some control over all the coffees we've been holding back for a while in wait for the new space - all arriving over the next couple of weeks - these are of course the latino lovers and africans. around 8 lots from various micro mills in costa rica is arriving first together with the best of panama, various micro lots from boquete and esmeralda auction lots, so that we can be well prepared for francisco menna and exclusive coffee's visit in september.

WAC - (unofficial) world aeropress championship

2009-05-24T11:11:00.004+02:00

WAC by mieh1 on Polyvore.com

first of all : i am competing in this competition, for whatever reason i am not sure of. i hate competing in something i can't possibly win, but then again, it might be fun and i am right now experiencing my head telling me that, and my heart struggling to accept it. "might be fun". ok. so i'm reading the rules and heading over to wendelbottom later today to pick up some divine love (amor de dios is the actual coffee we're going to use). at least i can cup it tomorrow to see what's in it. i hope everyone at the roastery can take their pride in finding my grind.

oh, and i'm also substituting for ben kaminsky. oops. if you are out there, make sure to send me some instructions, or you'll loose !! i plan on wearing a hat for that one.

coffee blossoms !

2009-05-14T00:01:00.003+02:00

I’m about to head out of Panama City for the third time in a week – this time for returning to Oslo. Robert came to Boquete to ”pick me up” last Saturday and cup some lots there before we headed to Honduras together for a few days. Yesterday was my birthday, and except from a few beloved ones that were not present, my day was amazing !

Spent the day cupping and visiting the Santa Marta farm (CoE winner with a Pacamara in 2007) where the coffee trees were blooming. So beautiful. Saw the farm, and even went bathing in their water source (true, i was allowed to since it was my bday!). Some cerveza on the way back to San Pedro Sula, some ceviche and then a very very nice present from Robert – a full mariachi band playing ”felicidaaaaades a miiiia” (that’s supposed to be me) and the biggest whitest cake I’ve ever seen. I have to head to the airport now. Friday back home Mr B has been roasting some more Ethiopia samples. Can't wait to taste them, I'll post cupping notes at kaffa.no immediately after.

best of panama 2009

2009-05-10T05:54:00.003+02:00

best of panama 2009 by mieh1 featuring Diane von Furstenberg dresses

i'm writing post the awards ceremony from the best of panama (BOP) 2009. i came to panama city late tuesday night and boquete the day after - first flight wednesday morning from panama city to davíd and spent the day cupping samples with josé david garrido. we've been cupping the mama cata farm samples quite rigorously this season and have already committed to a very nice "fully washed" lot - a blend of caturra, villa sarchi, bourbon and typica picked in the beginning of march. i need to note that what they call "fully washed" locally is what i feel is better explained as a mechanical wet process. we have previously bought his honey processed geisha - there's a lot to say about the various processing methods that are experimented with here in panama right now and there were many discussions about the subject. all the judges were asked to cup one table with only naturals when the BOP cuppings were over and asked to give feedback to the farmers.

the official BOP cuppings lasted for three days - and we had some very interesting methodological and existential questions brought up, like mentioned about the naturals. top two coffees were geishas, and we also cupped a very nice third place winning pacamara. winner of the competition this year was the esmeralda farm here in boquete, who has their own geisha auction scheduled for may 19th.

i did a small collage of my essential needs on coffee trips : shoulder bag big enough to fit all the important things you want to bring - samples, green converses and gowns (for awards ceremonies). and of course my aeropress ! i just love it !! upcoming world aeropress championship is announced at the wendelblog. i'm heading to honduras tomorrow to cup some coffees there as well, but i'm hoping for a chic lunch in panama city on my way from one airport to the other.

espresso for all

2009-04-23T16:08:00.003+02:00

i am pondering over espresso these days, and in particular a new espresso blend together with the brainy roasters @ KAFFA. we decided yesterday that friday should be our espresso day (as much as thursday is our sample roasting day) - and that rune, one of the roasters, is our best barista. so as from tomorrow, he'll be pulling all kind of deliciousness for brewing instructions and help for customers. and firstly, working on a new blend for the month of may, my bday and the norwegian constitution day. all at once.

i got a quick note from ecco saying that the coffee we were cupping, and that i wrote about here, should be pulled, not cupped. there is much to say about this issue, and frankly, i'm more in need for ice cream delights than espresso discussions right now. but as i've mentioned before, i choose to think about espresso as just one of many optional brew methods.

i hope to taste some espresso tomorrow, maybe even the wbc winning coffee pulled as espresso. we cupped it yesterday, but perhaps this coffee too needs to be tested with the espresso brewing method. i'll keep you posted.

highlights from atlanta & wbc

2009-04-21T08:27:00.009+02:00

a very short trip to atlanta is about to end, as i am in schipol airport amsterdam on my way back to oslo. kaffa's roast master and two of the managers of java and mocca were sent to atlanta by their respective employers, and for the first time i went there a bit on my own to teach cupping and hang out. turns out a lot of people did that, so i was in good company of other coffee friends sleeping on hotel room floors, housing with local friends ("civilians", as the wonderful liz clayton of twitchy said about hers) or in very cheap business hotels. so many faces to see and hands to shake, ref pic of me and sarah kluth of intelligentsia shaking hands after important meeting at their booth where we decided to only drink nice coffee forever and ever.

i had a hard time figuring out the city geographically, but i had some very delicious meals with various amazing people. i was excited to teach cupping to people and share my ideas about how to become a better cupper in the "advanced" class. walking around the fair is most often more like walking two steps, talking to someone, walking again, talking - i visited a few booths, like the slayer espresso machine that's been notoriously blogged about lately, intelligentsia, la marzocco and cup of excellence.

the world barista championship was won by gwilym davies from the uk - he did such an amazing performance! humble and all about coffee. the partying after was a lot of fun. in particular, i liked showing up wearing a button with his face on. in general, more people should button their faces. oda almighty, the best barista in norway right now placed 17th with our coffee in the grinder. we were hoping to do better, but the competition was tough. SCAA's "coffee of the year" was won by our exporter in colombia, virmax, that helped us with the competition lot, so all in all, it was good coffee and good times.

the first us cup tasting championship was also arranged. i received a text from ben kaminsky after the finals sunday afternoon: "won". congratulations, cupper ! but i still don't get it - why the americans are so crazy about dragging things out. i thought the three rounds of the usbc was a bit too much, but hey, also the cup tasting, with 6 competitors in the semi finals and 3 in the finals happened over three days. perhaps it was all about cupping with a fresh palate for every flight or some other reason. but it would have been more fun watching if it was a longer show. none of my bizniz, i know, but i kind of like being opinionated about these things.

back in oslo work is piling up. it's weird how much fun it is to travel in coffee, and so labour intensive it is to prepare for and then get back from it. even if it's just for a few days. well worth it, though. see you all next year in londres !!

benedict, who are you?

2009-04-05T22:37:00.005+02:00

spring seems to be on its way, waking me with sun and the sounds of a city where people have started walking the streets again. i'm alone. i have a sunday and no money. in the fridge i have eggs and ham and i'm going to make myself a feast, my favourite brunch - eggs benedict. there's something slightly intimidating about poaching eggs and making hollandaise. nothing i recommend for those sundays when your head is heavy, your feet smelly with noises coming from your belly. even though that might be when you need it.

who was this benedict dude? one version of the story, is that he was a stock broker in new york. one awfully hung over day in 1894, there was absolutely nothing of interest for him at waldorf astoria's extensive menu. so he ordered what his heavy head, smelly feet and rumbling belly desired: toast, bacon, poached eggs and what he called "a hooker of hollandaise". well. the chef was perhaps not a stranger himself to the culinary delights needed to cure a hangover - he was supposedly so impressed about this unusual composition that he put it on the menu with a few, but not unimportant modifications: he switched bacon for ham and toast for english muffin. this last modification brought the sweetness to the course that forever took it away from heavy hang over food to something else. more refined. and one very important offering on many, many brunch menus since then.

my self made brunch was very tasty, accompanied by the new yorker, which seemed like the only appropriate choice. for coffee, i didn't have a single bean in the house, and headed out for coffee at tim wendelboe - his espressoblend is smashing right now, and previous barista champ chris kolbu pulled some excellent shots. my day? perfect!

when it comes to aeropresssss'ing

2009-03-29T17:49:00.002+02:00

sunny oslo on a sunday morning. got up late, trying to open my eyes while brewing an aeropress. my love-hate relationship with the aeropress is slightly moving towards more loving, less hatred, but now, well, i just don't know any more.

i have been thinking about writing something about the aeropress for a long time, to show my appreciation to tim wendelboe who gave me the best present i've gotten in a really long time. my own little aeropress kit. tim rocks. i spent the first part of my relationship with the aeropress to figure out what to brew in. found out that the "i am not a papercup" ceramic cup was perfect. i can also bring it on the bus to the roastery every morning. ok. so looks cool. the snaggle is that it tastes so very close to perfect, but there are so many things to think about and refine. ah.

just when i thought i got it right, i hear some rumours about turning the whole thing upside down and of course, i had to try it. after two attempts of down-dosing and water temperature control, but forgetting to keep focus on the assembling of the damn thing, i finally got it right. but there must be something about my grind. oh well. i want the method to be solid and fool-proof, and potentially bring out the best of the coffee. considering all my brave attempts, i still don't have it. the punch. because i just come up with more and more parameters to control. for example, i now have to add some measurement of the water dosage, because it turns out differently depending on how the coffee grounds reacts. more accurate, if it's super fresh and bubbly vs old and flat. i'll tell you when i know more. check out these blogs about aeropress'ing : barismo, wundeltimmers and the always delightful jimseven. enjoy !

cute !

2009-03-23T13:33:00.002+01:00

awake from the dead : gauperaa and his coffee happiness.
welcome back !

hipp hipp hooray for michael phillips

2009-03-09T07:36:00.003+01:00

the united barista championship of the states of america has been eventful, great fun and all in all a learning experience. i got to see michael phillips of intelligentsia chicago take first place in the usbc today, congratulations and salutations !! i want to write more about the finals - i tasted all the beverages, i had the best cappuccino i've had in my l-i-f-e (it's true!), i could be referring to so many interesting talks...

but right now, i'm just ready to crawl under the covers and sleep for like, 24 hours. i will write more later, michael phillips rocks and so do all the finalists of the usbc 2009 !

almost leaving

2009-02-26T20:25:00.004+01:00

i'm heading out of oslo for a while, or actually almost the entire month of march. it's my month off work, and i've dedicated it to coffee. no surprise. first, i'm quitting my job in managing java and mocca for now, it's been many fantastic years, but i am no longer managing the stores from day-to-day (actually, i haven't been for a while), and it's such a bliss to have two of my favorite baristas taking over the responsibilities from day to day.

to celebrate life and enjoy each other's company, the entire java / mocca / kaffa crew is closing the stores early on saturday and taking into the woods outside of oslo for a sleep over in a cabin we've rented. wildlife, here we come...robert, mr b, rune and myself are going there as soon as we can tomorrow after work to have some male bonding and family time with just the kaffa crew, and then, everyone is arriving at some point during saturday. it's about one hour skiing from the tram, so it'll be fun seeing everyone arrive...i'll post some photos, promise!

back from the woods, i'll be home for one night and early next morning i'm taking off to portland to enjoy the usbc. ten days of non-stop vacation, can't wait to have my morning coffee somewhere not java. the end of the month will be spent in el salvador with my friends at the consejo for the coe prenational jury and hopefully some cerveza and ceviche as well. sonia promised to take me to the beach. yay. we've started to cup ethiopians a while ago and i'm excited about a washed one in particular - thus waiting for someone to explain me the about the availability of coffees through the new system.

new norwegian barista champion!

2009-02-22T21:29:00.004+01:00

she's only 18 and often named on my flickr as "oda almighty" - yesterday she became the new norwegian barista champion! she started first of the six finalists saturday morning at 10am - after a very impressive performance, the next 12 hours was a long wait for the new champ. her espresso was the esmeralda geisha from panama, roasted by bjørnar at KAFFA - all the top four contestants used KAFFA coffee, which we are very excited about. both oda, håkon who placed second and rasmus placed as number four works at kaffemisjonen in bergen. number three was jannicke from MOCCA - congratulations to all! i also have to mention that håkon is 22, jannicke 19 - almost a new generation of baristas finding their way into the norwegian specialty coffee scene.

las mingas, friends and barista'ing

2009-02-17T20:08:00.000+01:00

today, i had five production roasted "las mingas" coffees on the cupping table. like christmas and birthday in one hour of cupping. perhaps because of all the work getting to those exact five coffees (we bought 14 micro lots all together). all of them are from nariño - la union, and i will post cupping notes on kaffa.no later today.

it's also the week of the norwegian barista championship, and i am really looking forward to it - hopefully we will see the future of specialty coffee perform in the bc. kaffa was generously invited to a cupping with wendeltim, but mr b is bound for that spot. fortunately, i think there will be lots of cuppings going on where the competition is held at because most of the roasteries in norway will be present. the bc will be hosted by the norwegian culinary academy, and they will even be represented with one of their sommeliéres as a sensory judge during the competition.

all kinds of people are expected to show up in oslo this week, and i'm of course very excited. in particular, i have high expectations about the crew from "kaffemisjonen" in bergen participating in the bc. my old colleague from java, håkon, placed 2nd in the bc last year and rasmus won the cup tasting competition. last year, everything was about naturals from ethiopia, so i'm curious what the hype of the year is for 2009. i have some geisha plans for the cupping table tomorrow morning, and mocca barista jannicke will be using the esmeralda for all her drinks - i can not describe the exerience in any other way than saying it's like someone is trying to make espresso out of earl grey tea. so, tomorrow morning, we will try to decide what roast she will be using. i wrote rachel peterson of esmeralda because we had some questions about how they decided the lot # at esmeralda, and she answered so thuroughly and quickly, i decided i need to work harder to answer all my emails in the future to follow her excellent example.

i just realized this might be my last proper dinner in a week, so i'm going to make some spaghetti with meat balls. tomorrow, team KAFFA will be out and about with the zoka crew. yay.

working in a coffee shop

2009-02-07T18:12:00.000+01:00

our manager and barista trainer kaveh left java one week ago to pursue a career in politics, so i started training our newest staff memeber a few days ago. along the way, i've forgotten how much fun it is pulling shots and how glorious and fantastic the customers are at java. some of them are even glamorous.

so, right now, i'm very focused on details including exiting subjects like cleaning, napkin policies and coffee logistics. even though this also means working 7 days a week, i spent an hour or so this morning walking around the neighbourhood looking for treasures. even though i didn't have much money to spend, i wanted to treat myself with something nice. my bargains were: thriftstore finds: piano notes: debussy "the cake walk" (or petit negre, which was the original title) and a biography of norwegian crown princess märtha who died in the early 1950s. so early, so sad. glamorous, and that was exactly what i needed. by the way, i'm a biography addict, and was in serious doubt whether antoher book should be purchased instead, about the soccer player ole gunnar solskjær. it's called "æ" ("I"). i browsed through some pages where ole gunnar was talking about the love of his life (his wife...) and soccer business in the early 1990s. kindof hoping it will be there when i'm done with märtha. he obviously knows something about life i don't. then, i headed into the hardware store, they had advertised cheap kitchen scales - i really wanted one for our kitchen at home. so i will be entertained the entire weekend for the ridiculously low cost of only 20$. then, pulling shots at java and sweeping the side walk. it's snowing and snowing, never seen anything like it in oslo.

the baristas at java had already decided to promote a washed ethiopia sidamo from adem bedane, processed at kombo, one of the operation cherry red coffees. it was on one of the grinders, like eating lemon candy. yum.

the espresso brewing method and its impact on flavor profile

2009-01-30T19:30:00.000+01:00

i'm sick and in bed, not even bored, because i'm so troubled with espresso thoughts. existensialism. i wish i had my flower panties to make me feel better...why are we blending for espresso ? this was the focal point in a presentation i did for one of the whole sale accounts this week. before i got sick. i tried to do some internet research, but nothing. i mean, there's a lot about espresso that's sort of "entry level" knowledge, but i really wanted to see some cupping notes where comparative tastings were done meticulously. some kind of methodology for explaining espresso flavor according to aromas, mouthfeel and balance (acidity / sweetness).

espresso is not a coffee, a blend or a roast. espresso is one interpretation of coffee brewing - and one common interpretation of what coffee should be used is to blend different components to make a fuller palate.

it was interesting to plan cuppings in order to make baristas able to decide what kind of style they preferred for espresso by experiencing how flavors changes with different brewing methods. typically, one of kaffa's blends is a pulped natural from brazil, a semi-washed indonesian coffee, a washed kenya and a natural from ethiopia. which clearly is one of the most successful versions of caffe tenore ever presented, like a berry basket. but then again, somewhat weird with milk. for caffe tenore i recommend a decent espresso con panna, nothing less.

i think it is interesting how roasteries view their blends. typically in oslo these days, "state-of-the-art" coffee shops would have at least two grinders with one so option. it was strange browsing through all those web pages, but no one really explained why they were blending in the first place. how amazing it is that blends would change according to what coffees that are available - since more and more roasteries are open about the components of their blends. and last, but not least, the roasting of blends. how are they roasted and why ? what in particular does a darker roast take out compared to a lighter roast ? i swear, i've had customers that i've known for ten years asking me about coffee from france, when they really wanted to ask about french roast (which is not how we talk about roasting, but it's a big thing in oslo). the biggest chain in oslo's special blend is a 3/4 italian and 1/4 french roast. that's all.

all in all, there's a lot of fuzz about how amazing the components are, but not so much focus on how they change when espresso brewed vs filter brewed or cupped. give it to me.

brewing on the french press

2009-01-22T18:06:00.000+01:00

i spent some time this week trying to figure out accurate measures for french press brewing. i would be straight out lying if i said that sailing season is coming up soon here in norway. nevertheless, KAFFAs roast master mr b just volunteered to crew this summer on the biggest over night regatta in the world with robert and myself. so far in life, that's about the only time a year i actually delve into french press brewing and the best thing i can say, is that it's freshly brewed coffee. we race. our boat is made for racing. there's no pantry so the only hot meals we can make is what we mix with boiling water while tacking down the oslo fjord. and with the entire quality control - and roasting department of KAFFA supervising, i want to make good coffee times on board. the other reason i'm interested in the fine arts of french press brewing is that i'm obsessing with the paper tainted flavour all filter brewing methods are adding. but the sailing story seemed more fun.

trying to figure out french press, i've watched youtube videos and read about different techniques. after my visits on the west coast in the us of a i am tired of the conundrum : filter brewed awful coffee or top quality coffee french press brewed. my norwegian palate being used to the cleanliness of a filter brew, the french press technique most often used is as far as i've seen "old style" - resulting in a particular unclean mouthfeel and sediments sitting forever and ever adding bitterness and all the coffee oils on the walls of your stolen ritual mug while you eat your bread pudding at tartine. james hoffman, tim wendelboe and other nerds had long discussions about different techniques on their blogs - skimming and / or breaking and then pressing on their blogs and coffeed.

i was pleased to discover how the skimming took away bitterness and the not-so-pleasant mouthfeel. i've also had good luck in pouring water, letting it sit for a minute, stirring and then leave with a lid for three more minutes before skimming (not breaking) and pressing. so today, i spent some time in KAFFAbutikk serving french press brewed guatemala el injerto, pacamara and i even sold a few more bags of coffee. the french press is my newest coffee friend.

high on oslo

2009-01-19T11:29:00.000+01:00

during my 10th year in oslo, i have felt that oslove several times: watching the city from the fjord on a quiet summer night after a late swim, and yesterday afternoon: skiing in a winter wonderland. bliss!

brazil theme week

2009-01-07T17:17:00.000+01:00

back to reality, i've sample roasted the cup of excellence samples from brasil, lots of samples from bahía and minas gerais that's on the cupping table all week. it was a pleasant surprise coming into the lab this afternoon when robert had made a blend out of the naturals from bahía and pulled shots of them. super sweet, but of course you can not cup or drink naturals from brasil without thinking about whether you like the concept or not. a clean cup is for me the most important criteria for natural processed coffees and a nice acidity to balance the sweetness. more about the results after some more cupping later this week.

the roastery is constantly working on the espresso blends, and right now it's the caffe forte blend that's under serious supervision. mr b, the roast master, and the rest of us, are constantly cupping and changing the blends, thinking that the forte blend should be even darker and fuller - it's a blend that has historically consisted of the same coffees as crescendo, but roasted through 2nd crack. however, we have serious plans to change the components and make crescendo (dropped at the crescendo of 2nd crack) even lighter putting more florals and citric notes into it by adding new components. right now forte is a blend of two caturras: panama don pepe (from boquete) and colombia buenos aires (from pitalito), a pacamara from guatemala el injerto (huehuetenango) and a washed ethiopia sidamo processed by adem bedane at kombo (referred to as ethipia sidamo adem kombo). so many things to think about when labeling coffees and most of us have a long way to go to get it right.

happy new year!

2008-12-30T14:10:00.000+01:00

it is absolutely no secret that this year has been my best year in coffee so far. i've visited more coffee producing countries, made more friends and developed as a cupper and gained a better understanding of coffee and the trade all in all.

better, i've been part of training more ehtusiastic and skilled baristas (who often seemingly also are messaristas, but we have 2009 to deal with that). java barista håkon placed 2nd in the norwegian bc, kaffa bought josé ordones' entire production of finca buenos aires when there was no coe first harvest in colombia this year. right now, sr ordones is picking and processing only caturras for us. soon, we'll have new crop from colombia arriving - we bought several micro lots through the las mingas project and all of them are amazing coffees. and in vacuum. yay!

the year of vacuum. during the year, i've had lots of discussions about green storage with roasters, exporters, importers and producers. when visiting boquete in panama, casa ruíz generously hosted a cupping where different storing methods was put on the table. air tight, light tight, vacuum, no vacuum, plastic bins...from that cupping, i am sure that light is just as damaging to greens as air.

the year of the b - word. there's been discussions about what a barista should be, or what people should be called if not baristas. i don't know the answer to that question, but i do know that there's some kind of atlantic gap here where i enjoy the idea of the original use of the word - a bartender in italian. and yes, bartenders do work with espresso in italy. however, they are also bar professionals, making drinks, serving food, hosting. i like it, and i like the word. and i don't like changes, but this time, i don't think the sulution is changing the word, but maybe how the people hired as baristas are perfoming in their job. and i got to be the last 2008 cover girl of barista magazine so maybe i am a barista, too.

happy new year. and peace on earth!

food, drinks and happy holidays!

2008-12-23T09:56:00.000+01:00

long time, no blogging. but i've been busy! i can just as well be honest about my thing for christmas. i love it! when i was 21 i stopped going "home" to my parents for christmas, and since then i've celebrated in many different ways. the most important thing of all for me during these years; there are no rules! first of all, my favorite christmas preparation is cooking rice porridge for all of the incredible java and mocca baristas, and having them over for a small get-together before christmas. there's also this awful rule about that night, no other songs than christmas songs can be played. so no holiday music allowed until then, and after that - it's a mess...this year, i've also snuggled up with friends and family drinking apple gløgg. the traditional scandinavian gløgg is a version of glühwein, red wine spiced up and served wine (see klaus thomsens brilliant blog post post about danish gløgg). apple gløgg includes your best apple juice with different spices. heat slowly and spice even further with a dash of bourbon before serving. you can choose pretty much any spice you like, but classical christmas spices are cloves, ginger and cinnamon. far better than the red wine gløgg. and better for your head the next day.

next step for christmas preparations is to make sure you have fresh flowers in house, candles, and that you will make more cookies than anyone can ever eat up. favorites are ginger bread in different shapes - and a house of ginger bread. every year, i make a kind of white cookies which is very common up north in norway, they're just really sweet and not spicy at all, but i make them because children and my dad loves them. except from these two versions of traditional cookies (you're supposed to make 7 different kinds if you're a true christmas aficionado, but i can assure you neither of the 7 most common ones are very tasty, just old fashioned). so i've got two traditional down and five more explorative to go while i drink up my apple gløgg. this year i'm making biscotti, sarah bernards, honey cake, chocolate cake and a cake called kransekake.

for the 24th, which is the night for food and gifts here in norway, i've been eating pork all my life. with various company of family and friends and various side dishes. it's very common to have rice porridge early on the 24th, which makes sure you're stuffed the rest of the day anyways. this year, i will be celebrating with my parents who serve: tart shells with sea food. rib of pork with potatoes, sauerkraut, gravy, fresh pineapple and dried fruits. almond ice cream with cloudberries for dessert. same procedure as every year. for the years i spent without my parents and still demanding pork ribs - robert has been thinking a lot about doing a fresher version of the pig. with all that fat you really want some acidity to balance it. by the time we got to the 24th, the pig had been swimming in orange juice, cloves, ginger, chili and garlic. one year, we had only a salad with anchovies on the side. what i think is more important than the food in itself, is to remember to bring the hostess champagne, and for all the grease in pork ribs you really need some nice acidity. this year i have a few bottles left of agrapart blanc des blancs 1996 and at least one is reserved for christmas eve. but for back up i have a riesling from nahe, just in case.

java, mocca and kaffa customers (and even colleagues within the coffee business) have been thinking and wondering about christmas coffee for quite some time now. so i ask them, "what kind of coffee would you like to be your christmas coffee?" i won't start a discussion about that now, because i can not think about any roastery i know of who is still doing holiday blends where the content is various coffees of unknown origins. however, the perfect varietal for christmas is pacamara. we have a spicy guatemala el injerto pacamara (the varietal they took 1st place in cup of excellence this year). nice acidity with lots of sweet citric notes, cloves, milk chocolate. and el salvador finca el porvenir (which was judged to a 3rd place in el salvador coe). intense florals in the aroma, but as for the flavor profile - it tastes a lot like hot chocolate. for now, happy holidays. and peace on earth!

fair trade again!

2008-12-03T21:58:00.000+01:00

a documentary about fair trade was shown on the state channel last night, and debates will follow tonight. finally. you can watch the documentary in norwegian here.

documentary about tea trade. riot in noruega tonight.
this is a previous post about fair trade i wrote a while ago.

vacuum!

2008-12-02T17:12:00.000+01:00

years ago, when part of my coffee fascination was about equipment just as much as the coffee in itself - i purchased a beautiful antique vacuum pot in a thrift shop. i started figuring it out just recently - in lieu with my 50s house wife style cake baking. the design is simple and has been done in countless variations. two glass bulbs placed on top of each other - the upper for ground coffee and the lower for water. in addition, the upper bulb has a rubber valve to keep the grounds where they are supposed to be while brewing and after. as water is starting to boil, the pressure forces the water into the upper bulb - it will stay there with the grounds until the pressure falls by the temperature being lowered. the cooling makes the air contract and this creates a vacuum in the lower bulb. coffee is sucked back into the lower chamber and tada! the lower bulb is full of fresh brewed coffee.

now, that's the easy part. and for me it seems like this might be the perfect way of coffee brewing - no paper, only coffee and water together. let the puzzle begin! i started by using some known parameters for brewing - around 50g per liter of water. however, there is always some water left in the lower chamber that will be mixed with the ready brewed coffee. therefore, some over dosing is necessary - around 60g per liter of water has been a better dosage. yes yes, i've only been using KAFFA coffee, and so far i've been experimenting with a pacamara from el salvador finca el porvenir coe # 3. creamy. milk chocolate. orange blossoms. yum. i use the universal grind i've mentioned before - coarser than what most people think of as appropriate for filter brewing, finer than for a french press. after a while it became obvious that the water should be boiled in a kettle and then used in the vacuum pot - i'm too impatient to wait forever for a small glass flame heating the water slowly. too slow! when the water from the lower chamber is pressured into the coffee in the upper chamber, i turn down the gas. the point is to have enough heat to have the residual water simmering, but you also have to keep the brewing coffee in the upper chamber from boiling. i gently stir the coffee into the water, supervises the temperature for 3,5 to 4 minutes and then turn off the gas. the view of the ready brewed coffee pouring down is creating enthusiasm i've never experienced with any filter method. maybe i'm also excited because so far, the results has been somewhat different from brew to brew - but i'm improving the method for every brew i make and that's why i'm still doing it. never perfect. never done.

biscotti baking

2008-11-27T20:06:00.000+01:00

baking season already started with extensive comfort cooking going on in my kitchen. we don’t thank or give in norway today. instead, we’re baking: biscotti. actually, i call them clementine biscotti. because i had no orange in house and after all, it’s clementine season. seasonal baking. baking season. important biscotti notes about nuts: i once wanted to make really cool muli coloured biscotti for java – using pecan nuts. i even found lots of biscotti recipes including pecan nuts. don’t do it! they’re too fat and won’t crunch no matter how you treat them. for chic biscotti i give up on green and choose crunchy. late night comfort bakers choose honduras finca portillo coe # 7, pacas to go with tangerine biscotti.

ingredients:
120 g almonds
100 g hazelnuts
150 g butter
250 g sugar
400 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
clementine juice
3 large eggs
1 egg white

200 °C, continue on 180 °C

toast nuts in oven for 15 mins. cool. mix the rest - eggs and nuts in the end. make nice biscotti sausages - sized as desired. let rest for 30 mins somewhere cold. make nice on top using egg white. cook for 40 mins. cut biscotti pieces. place back on tray and cook for 10 more mins. put in your pretty jar. give your friends. have a nice coffee time.

little people

2008-11-25T14:24:00.000+01:00

i love these little guys!! it's from little people - a tiny street art project
makes me want to cook. makes me want to laugh. perfect.

bergen by night

2008-11-23T20:43:00.000+01:00

hot spot of the norwegian coffee scene this weekend was bergen - west coast. i went to bergen last night to attend the one year anniversary party of kaffemisjonen ("coffee mission"). one year after the original mission opened, they are now 4 coffee shops known under various names - misjonen, edvard, boksen and bryggen. since my stop over was so quick, i have to admit i spent sunday afternoon cupping at the first store and did not see any of the other hot spots in day light. well, just another reason for going back as soon as possible.

besides coffee, i also got the chance to check out supposedly norway's first gastro pub - amongst the bergen crew, this international trend of gastronomy is conquering down town bergen right now. i have to admit the single most impressive thing about the place was the wine list and in addition, a framed chef's jacket with metallica autographs. they went there this summer for pizza. i had coalfish with leek, potatoes and bacon. my fish was delicious and maybe even perfect, but as i was eating my way through the dish i became more and more impatient about the bacon part. in my opinion, everything that's a gastronomical success should contain at least some bacon. cold potatoes did not help in direction of placing "jacobs" - the first gastro pub of norway - on my "to-do" list for your next visit in bergen. after asking about the bacon and potatoes, i had one bowl of panchetta and hot mashed potatoes, but that was after finishing the fish. it's like that when you go to gastro pubs. rough.

as usual, being around the kaffemisjonen staff was lots of fun. they are just about the youngest, most knowledgeable and ass kicking team of coffee people in the country. the party was great - and KAFFAs roaster mr b had apparently a fan club of his own on the west coast. after nagging about coffee all night we finally had a midnight cup of filter brewed panama esmeralda geisha lot # 8. after substantial amounts of nv champagne it was a perfect match!

back from brasil

2008-11-17T15:57:00.000+01:00

i just landed in oslo - however, my head is apparently still traveling in coffee, i've dreamt about coffee descriptions the last few days - including on the plane. after the award ceremony friday night the following days were spent visiting coffee farms around carmo and pocos in mina gerais and even a few flights of nice coffees were cupped. also, a nice sunday afternoon brunch with new and old coffee friends took place in sao paulo before we all took off. i feel exhausted after traveling, yet very happy about the trip all in all. or to quote andrew barnett: "has everyone been nice to you today?". the answer is "yes! more than i could ever hope for". people have been generous and kind - spending their time with us, asking about coffee and taking care of us at all times.

about the winning coffees - lots of good coffees from carmo de minas (yellow bourbon) in minas gerais. the winning farm, faenda kaquend and third place winner fazenda tijuco preto were my over all favorites. also the coffee that was tide for third place, submitted by fazenda rainha near the city sao sebastiao da grama in sao paulo region (yellow bourbon as well) came out sweet, full bodied with elegant and clear acitidy. for brasil, all of these farms are relatively high, around 1300 masl. what i also found interesting, was that we saw (and tasted) a few impeccably processed naturals. however, most of them cupped really fresh and needs more resting (none of the coffees that went past the pre-selection done by the national jury were naturals).

the coffees were amazing, however only 100 farms submitted coffees to the pre-selection this year. something that needs discussion, regarding the fact that brasil is the biggest producing coffee nation in the world. we spent hours and hours driving through farms, they were huge!

retro food

2008-11-14T02:17:00.000+01:00

i'll get back to the coffees later - for now i just have to announce that being in brasil and eating is how i suppose it was like being in the 70s (where i never went, btw). buffets, fried stuff...

traveling to coe means lots of cupping - standing still by cupping tables many hours per day in deep concentration and the rest of the time, it's fried food and other food. coca cola. cerveza. i feel stuffed. filled with buffet food from the 70s.

machado, brasil day one - calibration

2008-11-10T20:09:00.000+01:00

i didn't take any pictures yet, so i stole this from whorange.net which is a really cool site about designs. it's supposed to be cup of excellence judges riding a bus (and the dangers we meet on the road). because there's always a lot of bus riding going on. here in brasil, the coffee excellence centre where we do all the cupping is a bus ride away from machado where we're staying throughout the week. located in mina gerais, machado is about 4 hours north of sao paulo by car. we just finished cupping - day one is always about calibrating the judges. i think the necessity of spending a day calibrating can be discussed, however, it was obvious that everyone was excited to be in brasil for coffee. after the last calibration round, an optional naturals cupping was on the program. only a few judges preferred to go back to the hotel in machado. the rest seemed to be thrilled about slurping some more into the afternoon.

calibrating the judges can be done in many ways - today we cupped the same table three times, evaluating after the first round, then the same order over again with no evaluation. the last flight was in revised order - in that way we are able to see how consistent we are as cuppers. it's exciting and interesting, and everyone seems pretty curious about how the others are calibrated. i love being able to spend a day of calibration - it's something i can never do at home. besides, i like feeling the group dynamics and i learned a few things already about how people perceive the score sheet. in my opinion, average coffees should not be scored 84 or above. that's for excellent coffees (and it IS entry level for coe)! but then again, being a cupper is realizing there are no right or wrong answers. just a lot of really good coffes that we have yet to taste.

leaving oslo for brasil

2008-11-08T09:43:00.001+01:00

i'm about to take off to brasil for the cup of excellence (coe) jury - although work is piling up faster than i can take it away, it seems like i can actually leave with no breathing problems ahead for the next week or so. just aspirating that coffee. i even sent off my spanish homework to my tutor - juan - so he can use that ridiculous red pen he is tagging down my books with.

as i am about to leave, i started wondering what other jurors are doing before leaving their home - for me it's normally a lot to take care off work wise, and then i leave the house just taking care of necessities. like, turning off the gas. i don't pack until the last minute before i go to bed the night before - most flights leave at 630am to amsterdam or charles de gaulle where i am taking off from most often when traveling. at that insanely early hour i have to get out of bed i am so tired i feel almost feverish. but: this time, i am not leaving until sunday - the travel will be a snap: oslo - amsteram - sao paulo. and it's saturday - i'm off work except a few small things. therefore, whatever i'm doing to make the house and myself look nice, i need to do it asap - starting...now! robert is in indonesia, and what is not better than coming home to a clean and fresh house? first thing will be to do some fall work in the garden for a few hours, then i hope to see my mom for a late lunch. after, i want to clean that nasty bathroom sink and i need to get my hideous legs ready to see daylight again after months of hiding under panty hoses. and scented candle, i need to bring a scented candle for hotel room nights - i want it to smell home-ish (and i'm a candle addict). i LOVE my work and being able to do coffee things with coffee colleagues, but i'm really not that crazy about fabric smelling, dense hotel rooms that are too hot or too cold or just in general too gross. my worst (and at the same time most exciting) memory is from putting my feet on the floor after a too short and too gekko-fear-filled night in el salvador - only for realizing "hey, it's water". and then: "it's water - from the toilet". yikes! would be easier if i was a guy, right?

serving as a coe judge can be intensive - there are most often things going on at night and day, clock round all the week. in addition, i suppose i'm not the only one that have emails coming in, phones ringing - so a lot of work needs to be taken care of for home as well. i hope i will be online, i hope i can receive phone calls, but you never know before you actually get there. ok. piles of leaves in the garden are waiting for me.

recently, my flickr account was deleted, and i now have a new flickr account name: mieh1. i'm the one with no contacts yet.

dining and wining. and coffee?

2008-10-29T19:22:00.000+01:00

one of my favorite things about being in coffee – working in “specialty coffee” - is that i always, at every season, every year, over and over again have this excited feeling about being at the beginning of the beginning. something is about to happen. friday night text message from friend out traveling ticked in with a question about what coffee to choose after a magnificent, outstanding dining experience. the choice was between "india mysore" or "kona coffee". um. well. at least it was a choice, and again i was thinking "something is about to happen".

let me go back a few weeks when husband and i visited nyc. we had delicious cappuccinos at gimme!. coffee brewed a la minute on clovers at café grumpy and el beit. and brown water at pretty much every restaurant visited. i started sympathize with all those people i’ve encountered over the years that claim they simply “don’t like coffee”. so there i am, in the world’s best city, paying hundreds of dollars for delicious food and 10$ for a cup of coffee – turns out it’s dish water. don’t think i’m trying to label nyc, this is also status quo in oslo and everywhere else in norway. the second largest coffee consuming country per capita after our eastern neighbors finland. seriously, i’ve never met anyone working in food or wine around the cupping table that couldn’t taste the difference. KAFFA is hosting public cuppings every morning during the week. i know i’m sort of lame on showing up on things myself, but if there was a regular wine tasting every day i’m sure people would show up even if they didn’t “care for the style” (yes, i once had someone working in wine entering one of our public cuppings, claiming he only liked “good coffee” and therefore refused to cup our coffees, but that’s a completely different story. at least he had a stand point in this matter).

so, i’m sure people notice the difference, and they are not forced into buying the (good) stuff, but still, most cuppings are done with baristas and only baristas. people working in food / wine obviously have the palate to detect the difference between a cup of any industrial blend and a specialty coffee. defining specialty coffee like erna knutsen coined the term in 1974: "to describe beans of outstanding flavor produced by special microclimates".

let’s leave the training required for making espresso out of the discussion this time. i would be satisfied with no choice for espresso / espresso based drinks available, just a clean, delicious cup of chemex, french press or filter brewed coffee. restaurants quite frequently uses french press, for example, why do they put horrible coffee in it? i’m not talking about coffee that was roasted into something I don’t care particularly much about, or processed in a way i’m not fond of for that specific coffee. i’m talking about coffee they bought from where they buy their candles, napkins or whatever. i know that a restaurateur can be quite price sensitive, but i’m sure the difference of a few dollars per cup of coffee is something customers aren’t that reluctant to spend after spending hundreds on food and wine. especially if they are served that coffee with the same knowledge about the differences between minas gerais and bahia as their sommelier showed when explaining the differences in burgundy terroir between côte de beaune from côte de nuits. specialty roasters seems to care a lot about sourcing coffees, so there is a lot of information available regarding where the coffee came from, what’s special about that region etc.

of course, there are many exceptions. and lots of things can also be said about pairing coffees with desserts. a sweet dessert with lots of fat will bring out the brighter notes in a coffee that you thought of as dark and savory. paired with extreme sweetness, you will have to think about that coffee in another way. a long discussion for another time. so for now, that excited feeling of being at the beginning of the beginning is still there.

moka pot brewing

2008-10-24T09:21:00.000+02:00

most mornings, all my life, i've chosen earl grey tea for breakfast. it has probably something to do with my upbringing. i was raised served tea at the most awkward times. i previously wrote about my dad's (and he's the one making all the food in the family) obsession about spaghetti to pretty much any dish. in addition to potatoes. well. he has the same idea about tea. it all comes from his family: serving earl grey tea for breakfast. ok, makes sense. serving earl grey tea for lunch. normal as well. serving earl grey tea for different dinner dishes: traditional norwegian meat balls, shrimps and any dish including eggs. only for true enthusiasts. therefore, i've always preferred tea for my breakfast. and until recently, instead of white wine accompanying sea food. but now, i can never trade a good riesling for earl grey. i do them both.

i'm not one of those people who can skip breakfast and rush into the nearest coffee shop (that being JAVA) to have my morning coffee and no food. not most mornings, at least. instead, i have fresh bread, candles and newspapers by our kitchen table. and, now i can surprise my husband with a freshly brewed cup of java bedside. ahwwww. because his moka pot is my new fling!

actually, he was the one starting it, this whole moka pot thing. he's been the grind - and brewmaster in our home for all these years. and we most often only had coffee at night, except saturdays and sundays where i have chocolate after breakfast and need some good coffee. but lately, our daily routine has changed dramatically, because of the moka pot. robert has for as long as i can remember always been advocating coarser grinds. and universal grinds. sort of developed our own house brewing style with a universal grind for all brewing methods, except french press which we never use anyways. methods frequently used for brewing are: melitta, chemex, aero press and now proudly introducing the moka pot. so simple and fast even your impatient wife can make it:

grind your small amount of coffee. use a grind a littlebit coarser than what you normally would consider a filter grind, like raw sugar or similar to what you would use for cuppings. grounds should not clamp or form too well when squeezed. boil water in a kettle. use the boiled water in your moka pot, and turn on the gas. wa-wa-woom: less than two minutes after putting on the water boiler, i have a freshly brewed cuppa!

fair trade. yes.

2008-10-18T09:50:00.000+02:00

"gjør fremtidens merkesak til en vanesak" in norwegian can be translated to something similar to "making the future's labeling issue into a choice of habit"...or something. doesn't rhyme in english, but...this is what norwegians can see on giant posters and in magazine ads all over the country right now, it's a governmental supported campaign that will go on for about a month. celebrities are advocating the importance of making the right choice, advocating the importance of certifications.

so, friday morning after viewing the campaign on several posters walking over to MOCCA and KAFFAbutikk from JAVA, i tried to get a little bit deeper in the shit, googling fair trade (FT) in norway. i even met a political advisor for the government (supporting the campaign) at bar JAVA last night who i got to discuss this fascinating subject with briefly. respect & thank you to my new friend jørund. what i found of particular interest googling the subject, was that fair trade is something businesses mention quite frequently, and consumers seems to be obsessing about right now. the discussion board of the campaign’s web site is full of questions about where these fine commodities can be bought. oh my, what did i get myself started with and why don't i like it particularly much?

over the years, many, many customers have asked me about fair trade. why we don’t do FT coffees. working on the slow food event in the us, i became aware of the fact that there is some kind of “atlantic gap” here, but also in norway, consumers are more and more aware of and willing to discuss the issue of fair trade certifications. the fact is, that for instance some of the ethiopia / kenya coffees we’ve been buying are fair trade certified. organic hooray. you name it. but KAFFA never label the coffees with certifications – and we don’t say direct trade either. this is certainly not something only caused by the atlantic gap i mentioned ealier, there are enough roasteries doing this kind of labeling here.

in fact, i think i've concluded my part so far. most often my problem (read about my husband describing me "stubborn as a goat" in a previous post). fair trade isn’t good enough. it’s not good enough for the farmers, and it’s not good enough for businesses or consumers. i know i’m stepping on people’s toes here, but so be it. isn’t the only fair thing to pay farmers the right price to do an amazing job with what they grow? i'm in coffee solely for the sake of coffee. doing healthy business is just what it takes.

so, what is the right price? i used to study economy – and one of my favorite part was microeconomics and game theory. pricing, while not rocket science, is pretty important and deserves a lot more attention than many people give it, especially in an industry based on a commodity most often known for being extremely fragile for the market's response for pricing.

for those who didn't hear about that, world trade organization (WTO)'s important doha round was a lot about farm subsidies. as far as i am concerned, FT doesn't diverse too much from subsidies. paying a tiny bit of money (i don't know the current premium, but it's a matter of cents per pound / ca 450g) above the market price, doesn't allow for anything but even more overproduction. current producers are producing more coffee from higher yielding varietals - like the colombiana case in colombia, of lower cup quality - and new producers enters the market on these premises. again, leading to over production and lower prices in the marketplace. and a tiny premium to the producers joining cooperatives who are FT certified.

my last point is a bit vague, although i'm working on it. it is my firm belief after meeting many coffee producers, that joining cooperatives will only limit their opportunities since they will never be able to reach a niche in the marketplace. in coffee, FT is based on political assumptions about how to organize labour. since this certification is only available not to a single farm, but only to coops, coffee that most specialty coffee roasters are buying from i.e. central america won't be FT certified. from the producers perspective, one can be forced into putting your coffee into a coop instead of trying to hit a market niche of roasters.

a niche where it's all about traceability and transparency. where even a commodity like coffee has it's history. this is our (KAFFA's) first season where our labeling of the coffees highlight the varietal. instead of being tricked into believing you, as a consumer, are doing FAIR TRADE, you can actually make a difference. know your roaster. buy your coffee from someone that's doing real business. when i see a FT coffee in the shelves in the supermarket, and i know that the price difference between that coffee (green) and the other coffees displayed are just a few cents, it's strange that they are sold for such a high price from the (industrialized) roaster. take those few cents, times 10 or there about to find what norwegian consumers think the premium they are paying is. fair trade isn’t good enough. so easy to say, so hard to change consumer's minds.

picture: (morenitos, thanks to my friend chris davidson for this awesome pic)

mie in nyc

2008-10-15T12:17:00.000+02:00

the first time i visited nyc back in 2002 nothing much was going on in coffee in the city. i mean, we spent a lot of time trying to find the mud truck - a nyc classic. found it, and didn't care so much for it. really, doing coffee out of a truck you need to be on your toes as a barista. java was for three months just a cart out in the park back in 2004 when java was rebuilt and doubled in size, so we've tried the cart life. since 2002 i've been able to come back to nyc a few times, and it's such a different (coffee) world now.

i met lots of coffee friends and had nice coffee times. it seems a bit extreme for me to squeeze in as much as 21 grams of espresso in a filter and serve it as a "triple ristretto" - but then again, what is espresso really?

from the hard core coffee nerds at gimme! coffee, cafe grumpy and 9th street espresso a few newcomers has also made their way into nyc and are doing a very good job with coffee. i especially liked the el beit in williamsburg. we also did a training at fika - a swedish espresso bar just about to open its 2nd location at park av and 28th after running its first for a few years already. that's more like what i think about coffee in nyc in general - fika is using coffee roasted by löfberg's back in sweden and it's shipped there about once or twice a month. so, it's swedish all right. remember, löfberg is the coffee you can bring home from ikea, so you are welcome to check it out. robert always insists on doing cupping sessions with trainings, which makes a lot of sense. on the table was their "brewing coffee" (a löfberg designed blend of guatemala, brasil and kenya), stumptown roasted sumastra mandheling and kaffa roasted panama hacienda esmeralda 'special' lot # 8. it's always very interesting to cup with people who's never cupped before. they liked the löfberg blend best. ooops.

nyc in general was serving me a lot of really nice shots, with milk and without milk. a lot of people seems to be thinking about roasting there in the near future. yes, you've heard it before. stumptown is setting up a roastery in red hook to serve their accounts as well as their café in the ace hotel - soon to be opened. grumpy will roast their own coffee. i bumped into andrew barnett of ecco a few times and he's definitely looking for a retail / roasting space. etc. etc. thinking about it, gimme! is actually the only place roasting their own coffees right now.

potato day report

2008-10-06T09:56:00.000+02:00

yesterday, i celebrated potato day! early morning, a text message ticked in from food writer and friend andreas, who invited us for potato tastings and all kinds of potato fun at the potato day celebration that supposedly was taking place in oslo that day.

walking around oslo sunday morning, i was resembled with a goat by my dear better half. robert explained to me how it "really makes a lot of sense" to do so - i eat everything, i am mostly happy but incredibly stubborn. all of this, because i was trying my hardest to focus on finding our way to a potato tasting in time. and i was nowhere near convinced he actually knew the way better than myself. who never went to that particular place before. but robert knows his way around oslo, and we actually made it.

the other part of the context is that the UN has named 2008 for international year of the potato. oh yes. potato events are organized all over the world, and this weekend it was oslo's turn to celebrate and be educated about this product. the fact is, that every year for generations has been the year of the potato in norway. in my family, for instance, it is eaten pretty much 365 days a year. to be noted: not instead of, but along with spaghetti. it has been like that since the spaghetti was cooked by my great grandmother along with cloudberry jam, potato and pretty much any kind of game. also for preserved fish dishes, as fish pudding. yum. but who knew that this event would showcase more than 100 potato varietals? we could also cheer in the semi finals before the norwegian potato peeling championship next weekend or attend potato tastings. a selection of potato varietals made up a flight with about 20 different to taste - boiled to perfection and served with salt. from the sweet and mellom "beate" to the almost acidic and stringent "blue congolese". most varietals had too difficult names to remember, there were princesses ("cinderella", "anastacia") and other nobleness ("lady claire", "lady felicia") and old classics ("kerrs pink") and many more.

we also got to discuss potato farming with simen volden who along with his wife grows around 200 different varietals of potatoes. unfortunately, as far as i could understand, there is no market for these varietals here - and they are therefore not sold outside the farm. celebrating or not.

panama festival 2008

2008-10-02T11:59:00.000+02:00

this year, we have so much coffee from panama, or should i say boquete, that we really need to have a panama festival. boquete is situated up north in the tiny country. panama is pretty much right on the equator, and boquete is nestled into a craggy mountain valley a short hour drive north from david - the nearest airport. kaffa bought coffees from different farms, different varietals (three geisha lots from two different farms...) and different processing methods used on these coffees.

the mountain range that is right by boquete, is separating the atlantic ocean climate from the pacific. since boquete is situated on the pacific side, but right under these mountains, all the cool climate comes in and is creating unique micro climates from farm to farm. from a coffee buyers' perspective, it makes sense then to have different farms and different processing methods for different varietals represented.

kaffa is currently buying:
PANAMA hacienda Esmeralda, geisha special lot # 8 + # 9 (aqua pulped)
PANAMA estate Don Pepe, caturra (aqua pulped)
PANAMA estate Don Pepe, caturra (honey)
PANAMA estate Mama Cata, caturra (aqua pulped)
PANAMA estate Mama Cata, geisha (honey)

i'm really hoping for us to sometime in the future be real "boquetenos", but that's a different discussion. for now, i still live on price peterson calling me a princess (without me telling him to do so...).

OCR - WTF?

2008-10-01T09:36:00.000+02:00

so, almost everyone's newest fling in coffee seems to be the operation cherry red project in ethiopia. the project in itself is pretty self explaining - picking only the ripe cherries makes cleaner, riper and more complete cups of coffee in the end. KAFFA has these days our first new crop arrivals directly from ethiopia in stores - and all of them are labeled OCR - washed and sun dried ("natural"). cupping the first production roast this morning really convinced me that the cleanliness of these coffees must be referred to as exceptional.

the project was started with 1 million euro funded by the dutch government and the eu and the project was initiated by dutch coffee trader and ethiopia specialist menno sims and his trading company trabocca in cooperation with their customers. the money has been invested in various parts of the coffee processing and trading operations in the coffee growing regions yirgacheffe, sidamo and limu. robert and i cupped with menno in amsterdam in april, and he explained back then that there are several goals about these project. over all, it is all aiming at improving the cup quality, but it's also about developing an understanding for what this means amongst the people in coffee. if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. if you teach him how to fish, he will have food for life. um. still with me?

firstly, it's about investing in new, environmentally friendly machinery - pulping machines, dry-hullers, graders, drying tables etc. secondly, it's hiring acknowledged experts like agronomists and cupping trainers. this is to pass on and develop the local expertise amongst the growers and in that way also be sustainable. trabocca is also working on the packaging of greens (as most exporters are these days) - vacuum or similar and in addition they are supporting local administration - management, banking and documentation is all done from origin.

and as always - it makes a lot of sense to pay more money for more carefully picked and sustainable processed coffee when this comes through so clean and complete at the cupping table.

sloooooow fooooood naaaaation

2008-09-23T14:59:00.000+02:00

september started with a visit to coffee friends and colleagues in san francisco, california, the americas. i was volunteering at the slow food nation event as a taste captain, but also spent time cupping, sample roasting, hanging out in parks and in coffee shops for the entire week before the event. actually, when i think about it, i spent about five days up and down valencia street between the beautiful new-opened fourbarrel and the not-so-new-but-still-a-classic ritual coffee roasters. and tartine. and bi-rite. and dolores park. more about that another time.

being a taste captain can be compared to what i do for whole sale accounts, coffee shop customers and baristas every day. i talk about coffee. and it really felt like the people that showed up for the tastings (and yes, there were lines...) really liked to hear about the origins. how the coffee was harvested and processed, elevation of the farm, micro climatic conditions, varietals etc. after doing taste flights for five hours straight, i was sick and tired of hearing my own voice and realized i elegantly leaped over focal points - as pointing out the country where the coffee was produced, but got straight into bourbon varietal history. um. time for a beer and some charcutrie, then. the food event in itself was almost too huge for me to digest. not literally, i have a big belly. pavilions with coffee, tea, bread, fish, charcutrie, pizza, beer, wine, ice cream. yum.

it is impossible to talk about coffee events without thinking about the people behind it. andrew barnett of ecco caffe, eileen hassi of ritual coffee roasters and tonx of tonx.org was co-curating the coffee pavilion, and brent fortune did an amazing job organizing all the volunteers. i don't know how many volunteers he was juggling around, but he did quite an impression on me with his google spreadsheets and strict dress code. i had the cutest and nicest runners that did dishes all day long, brought ceviche and i was constantly inspired by the extremely knowledgeable peter giuliano from counter culture coffee and all my other co-captains and all the baristas working on machines pulling shots of the same coffees. oh my.

before going to california i heard so much about verve coffee roasters in santa cruz (totally into naturals from central america...). i was thrilled to be able to do a tiny road trip with a few friends down to santa cruz monday after the show. i could almost not wait to have my face melted (they supposedly call their espresso for a face melter)! stopping by tartine in the mission /sf for a early morning bun and bread pudding before taking off and then down south. their roasting operation looked neat, and their cafe is situated in the neighboring building. one of the owners told me they looked into the design of java and mocca before designing the space. well, if so, i'm honored, their space was beautiful and the baristas totally melted my face!