Daniel's World of Coffee

Event Announcement: Pacamaras in Seattle!

If you're like me, when Coffee Fest (or any other coffee get-together) ends, you always wish you could have cupped more coffees. Somehow the whole weekend goes by and, while you got to sit in some lectures and visit some booths, you never got a chance to really dig in there with your spoon and explore the latest crops.

I am sitting on some absolutely stunning fresh-crop pacamaras and bourbons from El Salvador — micro-lots that aren't available anywhere else — but I had begun to despair of finding the right location for a cupping at such a late date.

Lucky for me, I ran into Sarah Dooley of Visions Espresso the other day (what a great town Seattle is!) and she told me about the Coffee Enhancement Lounge that Visions has boldly created. It's a roaster-neutral site where specialty coffee people — roasters, equipment people, retailers, baristas — can come together in the name of exploring great coffee.

Well, great coffee samples + great location + great coffee people = the cupping is ON!

You are cordially invited to join us for a cupping of these fantastic coffees, including the famous and elusive El Salvador pacamara. It's this Sunday, September 27th, at 1 pm. That's late enough for you to sleep in after the latte art smackdown and still hit the show floor. And it's early enough for you to get out of town plenty early in the day. If you AREN'T EVEN GOING TO COFFEE FEST, you should still come to our cupping. It's going to be a beautiful Sunday in Seattle.

The CEL at Visions is located a hop skip and a jump from the Convention Center, at 2737 1st Avenue South, just south of the intersection of 1st and Lander. Plenty of easy, safe street parking there.

These coffees are not to be missed! And Visions' Coffee Enhancement Lounge is something you DEFINITELY want to check out! Please RSVP to Daniel Humphries at daniel@coffeescholars.com if you would like to come. I anticipate we will have a full house, so RSVP early to ensure your spot!

Cheers, and happy cupping!

Coffee Shop: Fuel on Montlake

While I am in Seattle, I thought it would be fun to explore some new coffee shops and blog about it here. I'll still be hitting up my old favorites, but I've mentioned them on here before. Instead I'm going to mention places that are new, new to me, or just really interesting.

Tuesday, for instance, I was at Victrola on 15th, which is my old tamping grounds. That beautiful old Synesso is still in there (first one ever in a coffee shop... I remember the day they installed it... serial number #0002). I had a lovely cappuccino and ran into some old friends. In fact, I saw fellow erstwhile Brooklynite Liz Clayton fresh on her return from the Nordic Barista Cup in Iceland. She's in town for Coffee Fest, which is this weekend. Also happening this weekend, FYI, is a Seattle VS Los Angeles latte art competition being held by Victrola at their Pike Street location. 10 Seattle baristas against 10 LA baristas, with booze and music to follow. Apparently it's predicted to be a rager and they are planning for hundreds of people to be there..

But! It being a positively glorious late-summer Seattle day (78 degrees, no humidity, not a cloud in the sky, green trees everywhere and a light breeze off the Sound), I decided to take a long walk. My trek took me down 23rd Avenue to Montlake, where I happened upon a store that was new to me.

Fuel Coffee opened up not too far from Victrola, on 19th Avenue, a few years back. That first store was a nice place, with a pretty small footprint. Well, the newer store on 23rd is a lot bigger. [There is now also a third location in Wallingford.] It has a nice big, open floor plan which is very inviting. When I stopped by, six or seven young women in business casual wear were sitting around a table laughing and drinking their coffee, while several other patrons sat scattered throughout the place. Out front was the requisite Seattle bearded guy poking at his iPhone.

Barista Laura answered my several questions about the place with friendliness and aplomb. They have a very beautiful shiny black La Marzocco given pride of place right in the middle of their nice, long countertop. In general, I was impressed with the visual flow of the place, the easy-going and yet coherent feel. It's one of the hardest things to get right about a coffee shop. Couple that with good service and you've got a winning combination.

Oh, the coffee, you ask? I had a pretty good cup of the house blend, drip style, that Laura served me. Fuel's coffee is roasted by longtime Seattle bean people, Caffé Vita. My cup was sweet, mellow, and fairly drinkable, with low acidity. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't do my normal "Cappuccino, espresso, cup of drip, etc. etc. routine" because it was late in the day, I'd already had several cups at Victrola, and I hadn't even been planning on visiting Fuel at all. But it was good coffee.

Now that I know I like the place, I plan on going back. If you are in that neighborhood of Seattle, I highly recommend checking it out.

Event Announcement: Micro-lot Cupping in NYC

(this week's header: two Clovers at Cafe Grumpy in Manhattan, the first two such machines on the East Coast)

Dear Friends,

I'd like to invite you to a cupping of some high-quality micro-lot coffees in New York City. Recently, at the Northeast Roasters Retreat, coffee farmer and industry expert Graciano Cruz of Panama brought some fantastic, unique small-lot coffees from El Salvador. I led a cupping that went over very well with the folks who were able to make it to Vermont for the event.

Since then I have been looking for a venue to get more exposure for these unique coffees.

I thought you would be interested to know that Graciano Cruz is bringing more samples of those micro-lot El Salvadors we cupped, up from Central America, this time to New York City.

I'm hosting a cupping at Think Coffee's Manhattan lab, on Wednesday, September 16th, at 11:30 am. I'd love for you to attend. The coffees on the table will be similar in quality to the ones we tried in Vermont, with more varied flavor profiles. Bourbons, Pacamaras, and Bourbon-Pacas blends; varied processing, too. Graciano will also be presenting some dynamite A/V material on these producers and what we can expect from them in the 2009-10 harvest.

Think Coffee is at 248 Mercer Street, between 3rd and 4th Avenues 3rd and 4th Streets in downtown Manhattan. Lots of great restaurants and sights to see in that area if you want to make a day of it. Just RSVP to me at daniel@coffeescholars.com.

Please also feel free to spread the word to any other quality-oriented roasters and coffee people and tell them to drop me a line if they feel like coming.

Hope to see you there!

(This event is specifically for coffee roasters and other coffee professionals. If you are an amateur or just a fan, and would like to attend, please drop me a private message at daniel@coffeescholars.com, and we can discuss!)

Event Announcement: Crop to Cup on the Highline

My friend Taylor now serves his Crop to Cup coffee in (on?) New York City's newest park, the elevated train tracks on the West Side that have been converted into a long, skinny, walkable green park, the Highline.

This Sunday he's having a free coffee giveaway. Crop to Cup is a New York-based company that specializes in Ugandan coffee. Taylor and his partner got the idea for the business while living in Uganda a few years ago. If you haven't seen the Highline yet, here's your excuse....

Taylor's announcement: The “Crop to Cup Free for All” party is set for Sunday, to celebrate the recent launch of Crop to Cup Coffee Co.’s new café up on the Highline. This Sunday, August 16, from 4pm to 6pm, we will lock away our cash box and dish out free coffee and chocolate drinks to all. Revelers will be able to choose from our signature hot and iced coffees, iced chocolate (from our own homemade ganache) and hot or iced mochas (also made with our ganache). All dairy will be from our friends at Basis Farm to Chef and Battenkill Valley Creamery.

As always, Crop to Cup is your NYC-roasted source for the best in farmer-direct single origin coffees and trace-your-impact sustainability. By supporting family farmers in Uganda and elsewhere, as well as sustainability-focused dairy farms in our own backyard, we’re doing our very best to help reinvent the food system the world depends on.

So, please come join Crop to Cup and delicious farm products - from Uganda to Upstate - as we party it up at the super cool Highline park. Our new 29-day café (lasts until Sept 6) is the perfect spot to spend the afternoon, with amazing views of the river, spectacular architecture of the neighborhood’s old warehouse buildings, and of course the beautiful Highline park. Stay for the sunset – our west-facing view over the Hudson is the best in the city!

Details:

• What: “Crop to Cup Free for All” - Free Drinks for All!

• When: Sunday, August 16, 4pm to 6pm

• Where: Crop to Cup Coffee stand at the Highline Park, at the Chelsea Market Underpass (near the Highline’s 16th St entrance).

• Rain or Shine, as we’re sheltered by the Chelsea Market building

• Why? On a hot summer day you deserve a delicious freshly brewed iced coffee or iced chocolate! 1 free coffee or chocolate drink per person

We hope to see you there!

Late Summer Classes

After next week, I'll be taking a short break from teaching public classes. If you've been at all interested in taking a class during the summer, or if you'd like to come by and visit me and talk some coffee, I've got the following public coffee events/appearances planned for the next ten days. Next chance might not be till fall!

Friday, August 15. 10 am- 6 pm: I'll be making espresso at Ost Café in the East Village.

Tuesday, August 18. 11:30 am: Public cupping at Intelligentsia's Soho lab.

Tuesday, August 18. 2-5 pm: Espresso Enthusiasts in-depth barista class at Intelligentsia.

Wednesday, August 19. 4-5:30 pm: Home brewing class at Intelligentsia.

Saturday, August 22. 1-4 pm: Espresso Enthusiasts at Intelligentsia.

Sunday, August 23. 10 am- 6 pm: Making more coffee at Ost!

Please note that the Intelligentsia Soho classes require a sign-up which you can do through the links above, but you can expect a very thorough and professional session.

Coming to Ost for coffee only requires that you don't mind watching me rock out to Led Zeppelin in a backwards Seahawks hat while I make your macchiato.

NYCS Event This Thursday

My good friend and coffee colleague, Willem Boot, is in New York this week and we're throwing a little coffee event together. Join Willem and me, and the rest of your co-Coffee Societals, this Thursday, July 2nd, at 7 pm at Ost Café in the East Village. We'll be tasting some fresh-crop Central American coffees and discussing the quality coffee movement in general.

For those of you who don't know him, Willem Boot is one of the world's leading specialty coffee experts. He grew up helping his father run a coffee roasting company in his home country of Holland, and has since worked in just about every capacity in the coffee industry, from roasting to cupping to quality-development at origin. Willem is a regular judge at international coffee competitions; he has led projects in Africa, Latin America, and Asia to help farmers improve their coffee and find markets for their product; his intensive roasting and cupping seminars at his laboratory in the Bay Area, where he lives, have helped countless specialty roasters (some quite famous) get their start; he is one of the founders of the Common River project helping Ethiopian coffee farmers and orphans in Aleta Wondo, Ethiopia; and he even is a coffee farmer himself, with two small farm in the Boquete region of Panama! I can tell you from personal experience that Willem is a goldmine of knowledge about coffee, a great speaker, and a fun guy, too!

And if you haven't been to Ost yet, you are really missing out. They've been serving some of the best, most lovingly-prepared coffee in all of New York City since the start of 2009, in a beautiful, elegant environment. I like Ost so much that I sling shifts there many Sundays just to soak up the atmosphere and the coffee love. The Ostians, Alex, Aaron, and Kat, are being kind enough to close business early for us and our dorky ways, so let's show them a great Coffee Society turnout and really pack the place!

JULY 2nd, 7 pm Ost Café Corner of 12th and Avenue A, in the East Village

Please RSVP to newyorkcoffeesociety@gmail.com if you plan on coming, and as always, feel free to bring a friend.

NYCS Event this Saturday, June 6

My friend David Latourell just came back from a week in Scandinavia and he brought back some treats for us. David's friends with just about all the top coffee people in Copenhagen, which just might be the top coffee city in the world. So these roasters, taster's champions and World Barista Champions sent him back to New York City arms laden with all kinds of beautiful beans.

The New York Coffee Society will be tasting these coffees (including 3 espressos!) on Saturday, June 6, at 2 pm in Soho. The location is Intelligentsia Coffee's cool little shiny white coffee laboratory on Broadway just south of Houston.

The address is 594 Broadway, Suite 909A

Just take the elevators on the right side of the lobby on up to the 9th floor and follow the smell of coffee!

This event is open to amateurs and professionals alike; there is no charge, and as always it's a non-commercial event (no selling stuff or advertising allowed!). We'll be tasting two different roasts for the same natural-process Ethiopian coffee (from Bagersh), in addition to pulling shots on our GB-5/Robur-E set-up.

RSVP to newyorkcoffeesociety@gmail.com if you would like to come. We're going to cap it at around 20 people. As always, there's a high likelihood of tacos and/or beers happening afterwards for those who want to take the edge off the caffeine buzz.

Hope to see you there!

Espresso Tasting this Saturday

I have lots of tastings and classes with Intelligentsia coming up, but there's one in particular I'd like to mention on here.

An espresso tasting! This Saturday, May 9th, at 11:30 am. It's at Intelligentsia's pretty white training and education lab in Soho... 594 Broadway, Suite 909A (just south of Houston).

How often do you get to taste more than one espresso in the space of an hour? If you go to the right store, you might be able to get two espressos. Well, we are going to have four! I'll have the new iteration of the Black Cat on tap (now with Rwandan coffee!), plus some single origins, including the famous Bolivia Anjilanaka. Plus we might mix some of them up with milk and see how they do. I'll be pulling all the shots on our pretty La Marzocco... come check out our new GS-3, too!

You can sign up here. Also, while on that site, check out all the other cool classes I am teaching (for instance, there's a cupping on Thursday morning, at 10 am... you should come to that, too!).

Hope to see you on Saturday.

Cheese!

Don't forget! This Wednesday evening is my cheese and coffee class at Artisanal Premium Cheese. The bubbly will be flowing (and we might whip out the port at the end too), three fantastic coffees from around the world married with six unbelievable cheeses.

Here is my longer post about it.

Sign up at Artisanal here.

See you there!

New Harvest El Salvador Cupping

This week is the Specialty Coffee Association of America conference in Atlanta. I'll be there along with several hundred other coffee professionals.

So I wanted to get the word out sooner rather than later about an event that I will be hosting the week after the show, right here in New York City.

It's a tasting of top new coffees from El Salvador, from this year's (2008-09) harvest. These are coffees that you haven't tasted yet, unless you've been to El Salvador in the last couple of months.

In the winter, Ken Davids and Willem Boot did a blind evaluation of dozens of Salvadoran coffees. They sent me samples of the top scorers; and when I was in San Salvador last, in February, I was able to get 8 or 10 fresh-crop samples from the same farms that had done so well. Some of these farms are past Cup of Excellence winners, but many of them are getting special exposure like this for the first time. All of the coffees are top notch, all above 85, and several scoring well into the 90's.

It was a touch-and-go year in E.S. because of the weather, but the crop has really turned out well. Coffee professionals and the curious are invited to come taste them and learn a little about what to expect from this rich, beautiful coffee country in the next 12 months.

The wonderful people at Bodum have once again agreed to open up their lovely Chelsea showroom for our event. This is the same place where we held our Taste of Ethiopia event last year.

There is no charge, but RSVP is required.

Thursday, April 23rd

6:00 pm

Bodum USA Headquarters

601 West 26th St. Suite 1250 Between 11th and 12th Aves.

RSVP to daniel@coffeescholars.com

Hope to see you there.