The folks over at Boing Boing have posted Part 2 of Mark Frauenfelder’s visit to Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea's roasting facility in Los Angeles. Kyle Glanville takes him through the process of making the perfect espresso with Mark’s own machine and gives a step-by-step tutorial in brewing with a vacuum pot.
Watch a super cool coffee nerd in action.
Members of the Students for Fair Trade organization at the University of Houston--that's right, in Texas--were protesting a plan to install a Starbucks in a library kiosk yesterday because the 'Bucks doesn't buy or serve exclusively fair trade coffee. The students marched their giant bean of protestation right into the chancellor's office, but, hey, guess what? The head honcho was out of town. So, what do you do when your protest target is MIA? You badger a poor receptionist until the campus fuzz shows up! Smooth.
Okay, kids, here's the first thing you need to do to have a successful protest--and believe me, I've been in my fair share to know firsthand just how quickly a protest for a good cause can fall apart when, sure, there's plenty of people but they're all lazier than a profit-at-all-costs corporate CEO who'd rather maintain the status quo than divest from a situation in which people are suffering: Call ahead.
Link (via Coffee Talk)
Today's episode of Boing Boing TV features a tour of Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea's roasting facility in Los Angeles. Mark Frauenfelder interviews Kyle Glanville, head of research and development, and is guided through the roasting process by Deaton Pigot, roaster and quality control specialist.
This is only part 1, so be sure to head back to Boing Boing for the second half when they get around to posting it.
Alterra Coffee is holding three open house/hiring fairs, June 12-14.
Go here to find out dates, times and locations.
Good Luck!
On May 15, the international nonprofit conservation organization Rainforest Alliance will recognize its 2008 honorees at the annual Gala of sustainability stars. The Gala, held at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, honors those companies and individuals who have worked with Rainforest Alliance and demonstrated leadership in sustainability and support of conservation work.
Among the recipients are two global coffee companies: Australian youngster Gloria Jean's International and Italian elder Luigi Lavazza S.p.A.
Read the press release and give them both an environmentally and farm worker friendly Huzzah! (via Coffee Talk)
Stock of US coffee giant #2, Caribou Coffee, dropped 11 cents (4.1%) in trading today after it reported a wider first-quarter loss than the prior-year period. Nevertheless, Morningstar, analyst of all things traded, still gives the company a positive review, stating, "We think this stock could be a bargain, but only for investors with a strong appetite for risk." It's like they're speaking directly to me!
With Starbucks experiencing similar stock woes, it's clear that none will be spared the carnage of this non-recession.
Link (via Coffee Talk)
This intel has been out there for a good year now, but it's worth bringing to your attention and so I shall. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and the Jane Goodall Institute have partnered to create a sustainable coffee farming program in the Kigoma region of Tanzania, which borders the protected chimpanzee habitat of Gombe National Park. The program has birthed Green Mountain's Tanzanian Gombe Reserve and about 10% of sales proceeds goes to the Jane Goodall Institute.
As the most famous of all primatologists, coffee lover Dr. Jane Goodall has worked tirelessly to save chimpanzees from extinction, but she has also worked just as hard to assist the humans who live among them. This program helps to ensure that some 2,700 small farmers in the Kalinzi Cooperative can grow high quality coffee using sustainable methods and receive a fair price for their beans.
Watch a video on the program to get the warm chimp fuzzies. Then, if you're so inclined, buy Green Mountain’s Tanzanian Gombe Reserve to show your support.
Stone Creek Coffee Roasters has apparently dropped its biweekly email newsletter, The Buzz Blog. I haven't received one in my inbox since April 1--unless I've been unsubscribed from the list, which I didn't request. I sent an email yesterday to Steve Hawthorne, Stone Creek's Executive Manager of Sales and Marketing, asking about the fate of newsletter, but there's been no response yet.
The latest post on the company's site is dated April 14--and, yes, if you click over there right now you may be greeted by a post from May, 2007, penned by some crackpot blogger who no longer works for Stone Creek. Perhaps the Milwaukee roaster's shift of focus to its wholesale business is beginning to take a toll on its marketing and PR, hmm? (Boy howdy, I do loves me some baseless speculation!)
I know it's hard to maintain a company blog or "What’s New" web page, not to mention a regularly scheduled email newsletter, and to be fair most businesses don't bother to try. Even local java heartthrob Alterra strains to keep current--a pattern of neglect that seems to be turning itself around as of late. But we're living in what the young kids mockingly yet rightly call The Internets Age, so any effort is better than none.
UPDATE: Looks like Stone Creek has jumped back into action by blogging from SCAA 2008. Good show, y'all!
On Saturday, the Examiner reported on a Pueblo, Colorado coffee company that roasts its beans with solar power. Brothers David and Mike Hartkop moved their Solar Roast Coffee Company--a business with very humble kiosk beginnings--from Oregon to downtown Pueblo in December 2006 and installed the Helios 4 Solar Coffee Roaster atop a rural mesa five miles away.
It's a pretty great story of going green and winning over skeptical locals by creating healthy community relations.
Link (via Coffee Talk)
