The Reading Room

/files/u707/iStock_000008004636XSmall.jpg" alt="Hazelnut Syrup" title="Hazelnut Syrup" align="left" border="0" height="240" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="161" />Before we get to the main thrust of this post, I want to say a few words about the importance of coffee freshness.  Again and again, the experts drone...

Victor Prieto is tall, soft-spoken and sturdy as the mountains surrounding his 2 hectare FINCA EL CONSUELO, which he and his wife Cecilia have operated for 22 years. Their strength and dedication have allowed them to raise 9 children; all...

Step right up ladies and gentlemen and witness the amazing.  The truth is out there.  And it goes by the name Pete Licata./files/u1/logo_region.png" alt="Western Regional Barista Competition (WRBC) " title="Western Regional Barista Competition (WRBC) " align="right" height="108" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="290"...

/files/u707/iStock_000006960135XSmall.jpg" width="311" height="200" align="left" border="0" vspace="10" hspace="10" />I am ecstatic right now as I type this.  The reason is that I just cheated.  Not sure why, but I just typed into Google, “How does Kenyan coffee taste?”  You see, I...

Alicia Murcia is a retired school teacher who, along with her daughter Isaura Bermudez also a retired school teacher, run the family's estate of FINCA EL CARMELO, founded 72 years ago by their forefathers. Nine years ago, Alicia and Isaura...

In Hawai‘i, the blending of Kona coffee with imported coffee is a regular controversy.  I’ve written about it before and I expect I’ll write about it again.  Today’s blog addresses a new development in the discussion. This is the current...

/files/u707/yowza.jpg" align="left" border="0" height="249" hspace="15" vspace="15" width="249" />For this week’s post, I decided to try another single-origin coffee.  Inside the specialty coffee shop, I asked the clerk what single-origins she had.  Ooh, how about this nice Brazilian roast I have?,...

It has been a busy end of 2009. I love beginnings and 2010 is promising. I am sure it will bring us opportunities to make it a better year. I started the year drinking Antigua coffee. The colonial style city...

Looking for topics this week, I stumbled upon this NYTimes.com blog post called Robusta Economy by Oliver Schwaner-Albright.  In a coffee bean nutshell, the post declared that if there’s one thing diverse roasters could agree upon, it was that “Arabica...

/files/u707/IMG_4196_0.jpg" alt="My new French Press" title="My new French Press" align="top" border="0" width="300" height="400" /> It’s been hyped more than Apple’s new iPad.  Well maybe that’s not true, but among coffee snobs aficionados, the pressure is palpable: if you want to...

Yorisato Iwata, SCAA member, talks softly but wisely. He silently watches what goes on around him. His first visit to Colombia was different to his visits to other countries. He is used to meet with executives in their offices, but...

Siphon demonstration on how to make exceptional coffee at home A gourmet coffee demo like no other, Frank Lanzkron Tamarazo, owner of acclaimed Chazzano Coffee Roasters in Ferndale, Michigan, brings us into a professional coffee brewing and tasting session. Learn...

Last week, I volunteered at a booth at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco.  The booth belonged to the Hawaii Coffee Association and its purpose was to promote Hawaiian coffees.  Few other booths were dedicated to coffee at the...

/files/u707/IMG_4189.jpg" border="0" align="top" height="256" width="384" />In both biscotti’s posts so far, I’ve reviewed single-origin coffees; not specific brands or crops, just coffees that came entirely from one of the world’s main coffee growing regions.  So far, I’ve sampled coffee from...

OK.  Biscotti’s first post was well received.  Blessing/curse.  Now what should I write about this week? Well, this isn’t a news blog.  My focus shouldn’t be the latest, behind-the-scenes corporate maneuvering at Starbucks, or its next consumer rollout.  Nor am...

/files/u707/IMG00019-20100106-1105.jpg" align="top" height="222" width="333" />You mean I get to blog about coffee?  For real?  Where's the cameras - c'mon, who put you up to this?Oh, OK.  You were serious.  Let's begin.First, a smidge of background.  For a long time, I...

The endless blue ocean that is the Arafura Sea meets Papua with a violent shudder of breaking surf on rocky beaches. Papua simply rises out of the water like some strange prehistoric animal. Ponderous, enormous, mysterious. The mountains climb endlessly,...

 Photo by Blogdeguatemala.com Landing in Guatemala City is a pleasure to the sight. Clear blue sky, sunlight softly caressing the magnificent volcanoes, gently reminding us they are still alive.  Agua volcano nourishes coffee plantations soils with sand, once in a while,...

I was born right next to a coffee plantation, here in San Jose, Costa Rica. Even my earliest memories are attached to the coffee. I remember when I was around 3 years old to see my grandmother roasting coffee in...

As if it wasn't complicated enough.Sometimes I think that coffee is more complicated than wine.  Forget about the up-front factors, like location, weather, ripeness of the fruit, processing, aging, etc.  They both have those things in common.  I'm just talking...

Guatemala City, November 8th. 2009. The National Growers Association's, ANACAFE, officials announced yesterday that Raul Rodas was the three time winner of the Guatemala Barista Competition. Noe Castro, representing Café San Lucas and Barista Champion in 2006, and Pablo Bobadilla...