Coffee links - February 25

February 25, 2011 Will Hutchens

Links for February 25, 2011

Is it possible to grow coffee in Portland? Marrowmag.com has an interesting article about Coava’s Matt Higgins trying to grow coffee in his basement. link

Coffee futures reached their highest price in fourteen years this week. Of course, it could be worse for consumers—cocoa prices are the highest they have been in thirty-two years. link

Brazil’s government is holding onto its coffee stocks, in anticipation of even higher prices to come this year. link

After seeing Starbucks make a deal with Tata to enter the Indian market, Dunkin’ Donuts decided it wants some of the action too. link

Dunkin’ also made a deal this week with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to put its coffee into the K-cups. The question is, should you short Green Mountain’s stock? That’s what Steven Syre, writing in the Boston Globe, tries to figure out. link

If you like Bollywood films and you like coffee, you might like Kudirithe Kappu Coffee. link

The Calgary Herald sees a parallel between the coffee and the chocolate industries. link

Even as worldwide demand for coffee has increased, Kenya’s coffee production has decreased over the last two decades, according to Business Daily Africa. Richard Gitonga, the author, proposes some solutions. link

Growing higher-quality coffee has brought a higher standard of living to coffee farmers in Uganda. link

I just like the picture in this coffee article.

Did you know that you can make oatmeal in your coffee maker? A better question might be, why would you want to?

I know I’m getting older, but. . .

February 22, 2011 Will Hutchens

I received a letter in the mail today that kind of surprised me. The letter was from the AARP—formerly known as the American Association of Retired People, a lobbying organization that advocates for people over 50—and it contained my new membership card (see photo below). Now, I know that Portland is a place where “young people go to retire,” but this is a little ridiculous (I’m 34). Isn't this kind of like McDonald's marketing Happy Meals to 6 year-olds? You know, get them hooked early...I think I’ll tell the AARP to try again in twenty years.

What the . . .?

Barista Profile – Thomas Suprenant

February 21, 2011 Will Hutchens

[Over the last several months, I have spent quite a few hours in cafés, learning about coffee and giving my impressions of the cafés. It has been fun. There are so many good cafés and I have been spoiled to be able try so many different (and high-quality) coffees. While I love the adventure, one of the downsides of doing this is that I feel an obligation to keep looking for new cafés all the time, and I never really become a regular at any of them.

Over the next few weeks, I hope to focus more on the people and the stories behind the coffee shops in this city as opposed to the cafés themselves. I am still going to write the occasional café review (there are more cafés that I want to visit), but that will be less of a focus. Instead, I will be working to meet people and talk about a variety of coffee-related things. If you are someone who has a café, is a barista, roasts coffee or just loves coffee and has a unique story to tell, let me know what you are up to and I will share your story here. I would like to interview you and learn more about the great things you are doing (if you are doing something great that is not related to coffee, we can figure out some tie-in, even if we just sit down over a cup of good coffee). The following is the first post in that direction.]

Thomas Suprenant is one of the skilled baristas at Cellar Door Coffee Roasters. In the picture above, he is competing at his first Northwest Regional Barista Championship in January. On my recent stop at the café, Thomas gave me a tour and sat down to tell me a little bit of his own story. Many thanks to Cassie, the other barista on duty, for taking care of the café while we were talking.

Friday's Links - February 18

February 18, 2011 Will Hutchens

Friday has come quickly again this week. Hope you are ready for a good weekend. Here are your Friday links:

Reuters has a story about the coffee culture in Iran. It sounds like the country has a small but growing coffee industry that is catching on among young people. link

In the article, the author mentions an Iranian coffee chain called Raees, which Starbucks unsuccessfully sued for infringement of trademark. You can see the logo for yourself here. I cannot imagine why Starbucks was upset (sarcasm intended).

As you know, single-serve coffee is the fastest growing segment of the coffee market. Starbucks wants in on the game too. There was speculation that Starbucks was in talks with Green Mountain Coffee over using the K-cup technology that Green Mountain owns. This week, however, Howard Schultz wrote a very cryptic memo to company employees about those rumors. It appears that Starbucks is either trying to create leverage in its talks with Green Mountain, or the company has plans to develop its own technology. Either way, it does not seem like you are going to have Starbucks K-cups for a while. link

Here’s an article about Maryland coffee shops, posted on a Kitsap, Washington site. Sounds like lots of Laptopistanis are out there working in coffee shops. I can relate. link

If you’re traveling through Forsyth County, Georgia, you might want to avoid stopping at this particular Starbucks, as it has been hit by a car twice in the last month.

Good.com has an interesting map of the world’s coffee consumption. Most of the coffee is not consumed in the places where it is grown. link

If you like the toasted smoky taste of coffee but are tired of caffeine, you could always try roasted barley. link

Want to know more about the history of coffee? Prague has a good museum to visit. link

An Irish traveler visited Portland and came away with a very favorable opinion. Surprisingly, the visit was in January. link

How do you store coffee?

February 16, 2011 Will Hutchens

Quick, what are the two most destructive things on earth?

I will give you 10 seconds to come up with them.

1. . .2. . .3. . .4. . .5. . .6. . .7. . .8. . .9. . .10

Okay, what are they?

I can only guess at some of the answers you might have come up with: Guns, nuclear bombs, George W. Bush (if you are a Democrat), single-payer health care (if you are a Republican).

I might pick ignorance, but actually, the two most destructive things on earth are water and air. Water, given enough time, can move mountains. Air, or more specifically oxygen, combines with many materials to cause destruction in the form of rust, or in some cases, fire.

As you can imagine then, if you are trying to preserve your coffee beans, you do not want them to come into contact with either air or water (heat and light are two more things that coffee beans should stay away from). If you can remember this, you have a pretty good idea of how to store coffee. Ideally, you would not store your beans for very long, but if you must, then these tips will help you get the best flavor out of them.