Daniel's Coffee Blog

These Cherries are Not Ripe . . .Yet!

Radio silence ended! Coffee Scholars has been moving its world headquarters for the last week or so, culminating with two days of madness Sunday and Monday. Thank goodness that is over. It even caused me to miss a great event...

Check out what Anne and Neil did on Sunday! Coffee at the New Amsterdam Market near the Seaport! To raise money for the market and for Bikes to Rwanda! Plus a cupping at a new (to the NYCS) spot on the same day!

And their report on the last NYCS cupping before that! Amazing stuff.

In the process of moving our offices and warehouse space, I realized just how many green samples I have laying around. The quantity isn't that mind-blowing (nothing that an addict like me couldn't put away in a couple of months), but there's a huge variety. I'm always complaining to people that I don't get enough green... well, I guess it's paid off without me even noticing. This calls for a cupping, and soon! It's time to give Anne a break, since she and Neil have been doing all the work round these parts lately.

I haven't done anything in BK lately, other than our little brunch shindig. Perhaps we shall do something at a café in my neighborhood for a change.

Coffee and coffee and coffee and food and coffee....

As always, the more going on, the less time I have to post about it. There's tons going on right now!

First of all, a huge round of applause for the new World Barista Champion, Stephen Morrissey of Ireland. Stephen is a great guy, and so dedicated to great coffee. He will be a great ambassador for our industry. I can't wait to see the wonderful things he does in the next year and beyond. Congrats to Stephen, U.S.A. champion Kyle, and all the great competitors! We all owe you so much!

Second, Bobbie and I had a great and delicious time on Saturday with our food and coffee pairing. As always, Bobbie outdid herself with the dishes. The prize for best dish was a close match between Bobbie's "breakfast quinoa" and the eminently edible steak and cheese sandwiches (I devoured mine like a hungry wolverine). But the dish that truly blew me away was the medium-boiled eggs with garden sprouts and fresh pea puree served with a Blue Batak Sumatra from Volcafé. I have been at this food-and-coffee pairing business for a while. I daresay I've done more of this than just about anyone in North America. And I can't say I have ever seen it nailed so well as Bobbie nailed it on Saturday. I kept going back and forth between the coffee and the puree, even rudely interrupting conversation, to taste the incredible similarities and contrasts. Wow! Thumbs up to Volcafe and the producers of the coffee, and double thumbs up to NYC's best-kept chef secret: Bobbie Marchand!!!

Thanks to Bobbie for doing all the work, Rachel G. for helping, and thanks to Cerise, Randal, Allie, Ashley and Ginnie for attending. (Ginnie has a rad science-writing blog here.)

Third, my colleague Willem Boot is in New York for two days on his way to Mexico for a conference on natural-processed coffees in Acapulco. We have big plans for the quality coffee scene in New York. I know I am more coy than revealing in these blog posts when it comes to future plans, but I'm not at liberty to say much now about our plans. But it will be cool! And it will result in better coffee for everyone in New York! Huzzah!

Fourth, the excellent and estimable Andrew Barnett of Ecco Caffé, of Santa Rosa, California, revealed to me last night that he's opening a roastery and café in New York City. AhhhhHHHH! Awesome. Anyone who knows me knows that I basically consider Andrew the pre-eminent coffee roaster in the United States. That he has been on the West Coast these two years that I have been on the East Coast has been a constant thorn in my coffee-loving side. There are many hurdles to clear and inspectors to placate in the meantime, but the knowledge that Ecco is on the way to Gotham makes me happy inside.

Go Andrew Barnett. Go Stephen Morrissey. Go Bobbie Marchand. Go Willem Boot. Go love it all.

Back into the Belly of the (B)East

Today is my last day on the West Coast. I have been in Seattle since Friday, tying up all kinds of loose ends. So this extended period of floating around away from New York is coming to an end and we're about to jump back into things full force in Gotham.

I've neglected the café reviews this time around because it's only been a few months since I was here last, and that kind of thing can get a little old. Suffice to say that the coffee is still damn good out here (provided you go to the right places), and that on the day it was 99 in NYC and people were literally dying from heat stroke, it was around 50 degrees and misting and so windy in downtown Seattle that I almost lost my footing just standing on the street corner.

I'm bringing all kinds of interesting green coffee (Ethiopians, Kenyans, Brazilian, Panamanian and a couple of Sumatrans) to roast up and cup (or just, ahem, you know, drink). This will come in very handy because at last count we have four events sceduled for the next couple of weeks... tomorrow night (read the post below this one); New Amsterdam Market on June 29 (more on Neil's project there forthcoming); coffee brunch at Bobbie's on the 21st; plus another Ethiopia Limited event between now and the first week of July. Plus I think we have to do a hardcore NYCS coffee-scoring class between now and then, too.

My next out-of-country trip will be to Ethiopia in July. In the meantime, it will be all New York, all the time. Other upcoming goals include getting a new camera (this blog is looking awfully drab, methinks), and setting up some cool long-term monthly programs centered around coffee quality in NYC. More on that last one to come soon.

Coffee Pairing Brunch in Brooklyn

Oh snap, NYC. Bobbie Marchand and I are doing it again.

Saturday, June 21st, 10:30-ish a.m: another coffee and food pairing in Brooklyn! The last one was all nighttime and rooftops and dinner; this one will be all late morning and backyard and brunch. Once again, Bobbie's handling the food end of the things. Coffee by yours truly. 

What's going to be on the menu depends on what I find on my current adventure out West. At Willem Boot's lab in California where I am this week, I have access to some excellent El Salvadors, Panamas, and Kenyas. And there may finally be some big batches of sample material arriving from Addis Ababa from the Ethiopia Limited project. 

What a dreamy time of year to do this, too. All the Central Americans are fresh off the boat bursting with sweetness and sparkling with life; spring foods are fresh and in-season. I can't wait to see how Bobbie works her magic this time. I can tell you the coffee will rock (we'll do at least four or five... small portions as always). 

Cost is $25 to cover Bobbie's food ingredients. Location is a beautiful backyard patio in Carroll Garden (to be revealed to people who RSVP in time). Menu and coffee choices will be disclosed as soon as they are settled on. Space is very, very limited. 

E-mail me (newyorkcoffeesociety and then an at sign and then a gmail.com) if you are interested!

Entropy is Not Freedom

(photo by these guys)

Daniel Mulu took the train up from Baltimore (where he is visiting family before his return to Addis Ababa). We missed Andrew Barnett's Brazilian coffee event at Grumpy, which was a major bummer. Daniel got off the train in Jersey instead of Penn Station. I predict I will not stop making fun of him until mid-2015 at the earliest.

But we did manage to make it our own coffee event in time, the next day. It was freaking great! We took the A-train out to Ozone Park where John Moore of Dallis Coffee set us up on their sweet two-barrel Probat sample roaster. We roasted up 12 delicious samples from the Ethiopia auction and then trained it back into town just in time to pick up some cupping supplies from Gimme! and head up to the BODUM headquarters.

Andrew Barnett came, and Oren from Oren's Daily Roast, Genevieve Kappler of international cupping fame (France, US, Ethiopia, Colombia), a delegation from the Ethiopian permanent mission at the UN. Plus Koji from Japan, Matija and Mare from Croatia, and assorted Mannahattoes and Breukleiners...

(thanks Koji, Anne and Neil for the photos... and Anne and Neil I swear I am getting a new camera and will stop stealing your pics).

THANK YOU BODUM.

THANK YOU EDIBLE MANHATTAN.

Much coffee was cupped. The space is beautiful. Afterward, much meat and beer with Anne and Neil and Andrew (what a terrible Buddhist I am), and I took Daniel to SoHo to see the pretty girls and the bright lights.

Perhaps some Cup of Excellence events there in the near future? Raise your hand if you like this idea...

Which Coffee Person is Most Beautiful?

I don't have any photos of my own from SCAA Minneapolis. But here are a few very nice shots by the lovely and talented Liz Clayton.

Cupping pavilion...

The Champ...

USBC audience shot...

Scott Lucey...

Alterra gave out free t shirts (genius!)....

Nick Cho with the japanese cold-brew folks (this shot by Mark Prince)....

Chris Deferio, one of the Northeast's finest...

Amber Fox...

Intelly's souped up Mistral (looks like a Nissan Z to me)...

Search, Tonx, Barnett...

Check out more pretty pics on the flickr group that Mark organized and to which Liz contributed here.

Convergence of the Überdorks

Lots of great and interesting things happening at the SCAA show in Minneapolis already. And things don't even really get going until tomorrow. The Salvadoran and Ethiopian delegations are staying at the same hotel as me; the place is dripping with coffee wisdom. And what a contrast in style between the two delegations. Both highly competent and experienced, but coming at their goals and organization from completely different directions.

The amount of stuff to take in is overwhelming. I could spend the whole weekend just catching up with old friends, but there are dozens of really valuable, in-depth seminars going on, and hundreds of booths to visit. I stumbled upon the USBC already taking place this afternoon.... 20 competitors already down and I had no idea I was missing it. Semi-finals on Sunday and Finals on Monday. Crack team of live bloggers blogging it up here.

Here's a look at the odds-on favorite for this years Championship, Kyle Glanville (warning: serious, long, dorky dissertation on citrus versus maple in Kyle's single origin El Sal espresso... for true coffee nerds only):

Special Event in New York: May 8th

Tri-state area coffee people are invited to an event at the new BODUM USA headquarters in Manhattan, Thursday, May 8, at 6 pm.

We'll be cupping and pressing some of the top coffees from this years Ethiopia Limited auction. For those of you who wanted to attend the April 10th event but couldn't make it, here's your chance. And for anyone who's going to Minnesota for SCAA, this should leave you enough time to get home, get some sleep, and get back out there and cup with some fellow New Yorkers!

The coffees are outstanding; you have my guarantee on that. Also, this is a chance to rub elbows with some international coffee judges, including Andrew Barnett of Ecco Caffé and Daniel Mulu, one of Africa's most famous cuppers.

The event is courtesy of yours truly and ...

BODUM USA

Edible Manhattan and....

Boot Coffee

A special invitation to roasters and green buyers. Space is extremely limited, so please write to me if you want to come... I expect that we will unfortunately have to turn some people away. RSVP here. Hope to see you there!

Article in barista magazine

Check out my new article on the coffee scene in Harlem in the "Field Reports" section of the new issue of barista. The article begins on page 31. Click here to read it.

An excerpt:

Still, for a city of this size, where the disdainful restaurant review pan was elevated to an art form and where the local papers run wine columns the way most towns discuss high school football, there has been a remarkable lack of sophistication when it comes to coffee. The corner bodegas feature commodity grade robusta, and in many neighborhoods the big chains still pass for “gourmet.” But things are changing. Events like the one at Society — and others we have hosted around the city over the last couple of years — have proven that there is no lack of interest in great coffee.

What made the night at Society feel special, aside from the amazingly warm atmosphere (and the waffles), was that it was taking place right there in Harlem, on Frederick Douglass Boulevard where Richard Wright and Malcom X used to roam.

Read on [go to page 31]...

Ethiopia Cupping Report

Yesterday's cupping at the Cupping Room Tasting Room (maybe they should change the name...) was a blast. We had a great cross-section of people there, including green buyers from coffee roasting companies and importers, cafe owners, baristas, and discerning coffee drinking customers from all over New York City. Matija, a barista from Croatia, came with his girlfriend, Mare. Hannah Wallace came, from the New York Times. And so did photographer Chester Higgins. Chester has done photography in Ethiopia, and he brought prints of a beautiful photo of his of the famous rock-hewn church at Lalibela, which he graciously handed out to our participants.

Also, a little Ethiopian saxaphone music to set the mood. (Off the topic of coffee... the music in Ethiopia was something I was not prepared for. It's almost impossible to describe for me. Here's one of the prettiest songs I have ever heard. Breaks my heart, the title alone...Mulatu Astatqe's "Baby, My Unforgettable Remembrance")

The coffee was outstanding, as expected. Everything was good, of course. But what really stood out for me yesterday was, among the washed coffees, the coffee from Lensemo Lamisso from Aleta Wondo, and among the natural coffees, the Idido from S. A. Bagersh.

I'm getting more and more excited about this auction. I've been excited about these coffees since I tasted them in Addis Ababa, but the auction itself is getting closer and closer... all the work will have been worth it if people bid on these coffees. If you are in any way connected with the coffee industry, make sure you spread the word about this event. (Info here.) If you don't actually work in coffee, but only drink it, ask your favorite roaster or coffee shop if they plan to participate. The coffee is so outstanding, and the proceeds go directly to the farmers, helping them build a better life and further ensuring more quality coffee down the line.

I want to thank everyone who came. I also want to thank Cory Magamoll for helping everything to go so smoothly. Thanks Cory. Birr!! Also, as always, the fantastic folks at the Tasting Room. They get no money or anything for doing these events. They're just dedicated to really wonderful-tasting things. Awesome.