COFFEE TRAVEL?!?

Good luck getting a decent cup of coffee in an airport stuffed with Illy and DD. So what do you do if you are taking a trip and still want an banging cup of coffee?

Bring your own stash!

You don't need all of this, but it did make me feel at home in Holland and Paris where it was very hard/impossible to get a good cup of coffee.

If you are traveling light I would recommend a Hario ceramic burr hand grinder. Perfect for grinding beans on the road. It has an adjustable grind setting which is crucial. The downside is it's takes some elbow grease to get things going. So it's not great for brewing a big pot or having a coffee party.

Also a single cup brewer/filters of some kind (v60, Melita, Aeropress). I like the V60 I have a glass version, but it also comes in ceramic. The V shape and detachable handle is great for packing. Most hotels have a coffee pot so you could heat your water that way, but all the hotels in London conveniently came with a hot water pot for tea. Don't forget the COFFEE!

Stop by Everyman and if you don't want to schlep a grinder we can help you out, but remember that as soon as coffee is ground it starts to loose it's flavor. It starts to "DE-GAS" and after a few days will not even bloom when you brew it. :( So getting a grinder and adding a step is worth it.

Bon Voyage

Photos from the WBC London 2010

We made it to the 2010 World Barista Championships in London!

This is Peter Giuliano wearing my glasses. We swapped!

Peter G. as I like to call him is Director of Coffee and

Co-owner of Counter Culture Coffee.

STREET ART

Coffee Travel Menagerie

Only drip, only for here.

I had the La Linda from Columbia. It was really awesome.

Brewed in a wood necked Hario it was sweet with the

tartness of a cherry. Penny is the first retail outpost

of Square Mile Coffee roasters. It is designed mostly for prospective

accounts of Square Mile. It was 3 GBP for this cup, but it

was worth every pence!

Portrait of the champion. Mike Phillips USA.

Headroom central. After party with

Mikey P. and Cory from Berlin.

HUNK WATCH

We were featured! Spruge.com snapped a cool picture of me brewing the airopress at the WBC Brew Bar. I was making different coffees roasted by people from all over the world. I had coffees from Counter Culture and Intelligentsia, but also coffees from Tim Wendleboe former WBC champ now roaster. There where even a few written in a few I couldn't read because they weren't in english. I narrowed it down to my favs, bringing home about 10lbs of coffee

TOP TWO ON THE BREW BAR

Roasted by Coffee Angel the Cafe Wara Wara III. This is a Irish roaster based out of Belfast. The Wara Wara is from Bolivia! Get it HERE

My Ultimate fav is the La Tortuga or "the turtle" roasted by Intelli. It's awesome! I had a once in a lifetime chance to brew the coffee for the farmer Mr. Caballero.

Intelligentsia outlines the entire story of their relationship with the farm on their website. Here's a list of all the recent improvements to the farm that made a real difference in the cup...

• - Tile-lined all their fermentation tanks and washing channels to improve cleanliness
• - Installed an experimental coffee cherry sorter, allowing for mature cherry selection
• - Fenced in their patio drying space which prevents animals from contaminating the coffee
• - Added a new sediment tank to improve their ecological footprint
• - Spruced up their wet mill with a new paint job and ornamental plants
• - Added 10 varieties of shade trees to their nursery for future replanting
• - Added a workers' lunch room/resting spot at the mill

CLICK HERE TO GET LA TORTUGA, MARCALA, HONDURAS

ICE COFFEE-FINCA NUEVA ARMENIA GUATEMALA

Currently we are brewing the Finca Nueva Armenia from Huehuetenango, Guatemala as our ice coffee. I am not a huge fan of cold brew coffee. I like cold brew coffee, but the 24 hour brew process mutes the distinct flavors of different origins. I prefer to brew a concentrated amount of coffee over ice. As the ice melts the concentrate dilutes to a perfect ice coffee. You can do this at home in a chemex. Use about twice as much coffee as usual. Load the chemex with ice and brew.

DRIP GUIDE APRIL 2010

EVERYMAN ESPRESSO'S

APRIL 2010

URI DRIP GUIDE

COFFEES AVAILABLE FOR RETAIL

PAPUA NEW GUINEA-TAMBUL

Sweet. Round. Chocolate Cherries.

Y Preferred brewing methods Y

Chemex, V60, Melita, Clever brewer

Pretty Much any pour over coffee method.

Pour over really highlights all the juicy flavors of

this pacific rim coffee.

Read the story of how counter culture sourced this coffee at http://www.counterculturecoffee.com/coffee/asia-and-pacific?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=189&category_id=9

COLOMBIA-LA GOLONDRINA

Carmel. Cocoa. Red Grape.

Y Preferred brewing methods Y

French Press, Clever, Air-O-Press

La Golondrina is a Co-operative of the highest quality farms in Colombia. Only coffees that score a 92 on a scale of one hundred are allowed to participate. Coffees that score an exceptionally high score are singled out and sold as a seperate "Micro-lot" Read more here > www.counterculturecoffee.com/coffee/asia-and-pacificpage=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=189&category_id=9

PERU, VALLE DEL SANTUARIO

Plum. Pastry. Sugar Cane.

Y Preferred brewing methods Y

Pour over, Period.

I fell head over heals for this coffee last year and I am glad to see most of the same characteristics in this years crop. I do believe this year is a bit more fruit forward and a tiny bit sweeter. I do get the roasted brussel sprouts and asparagus and super savory notes this go round, but they are far more subtle.

NY TIMES ! NY TIMES!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/dining/10coffee.html?8dpc

NY TIMES ARTICLE MY FIST IS ON THE COVER OF THE DINING!

Great article for the education of our customers. They now have a great reference point and know what to look for in a good coffee shop! The struggle with that is getting shorter and shorter THANK YOU NY TIMES...OLIVER!

ROSETTAS FOR RELIEF