Fun Friday: Fratello preview; Prarires

This weekend, Fratello will be the host for the
Prairie Regional Barsita Championship, happening August 6th.
Live stream can be found here.

Heavy competition from the Alberta region; with favourites from local roasters Phil &Sebastian throwing their own in-house competition to find their best competitor.
I'll be keeping a watchful eye on the internet.

Last week the boys over at Fratello Coffee Roasters sent me a large box of Coffee - thru Fedex. After trying to delivery twice (both times I was away on an espresso adventures) I finally went to the main depot to pick it up.
Getting the coffees over only took about 2-3 business days, and the roast dates were clearly labelled on all 5 bags.

Preview for the Weekend: #Winning

AN AFTERNOON AND EVENING OF
ETHIOPIAN COFFEE AND FOOD

Saturday May 14th, Dark Horse Espresso

215 Spadina Ave.

Samuel from Keffa Coffee will be in town and so will his Ethiopian Coffee.
Detour Coffee and gracious hosts Dark Horse 2 will be holding a special Coffee Cupping.

Cupping 4pm - 5pm
Discussion 5pm - 5:30pm
Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony 5:30 - 6:30

Ethiopian Food prepared by Samuels sister to follow and latte art throwdown!

Sunday: Revival of Espresso Adventures (Spring edition 2)
I'll keep you posted about the progress.
Faithfuls that liked to join should e-mail me; info@espressoadventures.com

V60; Grumpy Honduras

Surprise, surprise Toronto. SNOW!

No grumpiness here, just exctasy with this mornings brew. The start of the new season of roasting has gone off amazingly well, and most cafe have been brewing some incredible SO and Blends. This can only mean that everyone is benefitting from the source of these beans, acquiring knowledge through craftmanship.

We so easily forget who roasted, or where the source of the beans are located, or most importantly the farmers that work hard all-year round. Their craft of cultivating amazing beans by pouring blood, sweat and soil into highlighting the best quality that they can obtain from the fruit.

As we've now hit spring, this is a Thank You tribute to all farmers - not just coffee farmers.

Coffee: Lo Mejor de San Vicente ( Pena Blanca, Santa Barbara region), Honduras
Varietals: Pacas + Bourbon
Producer: Santos Alexi. Flor de la pena + moreno
Roaster: Cafe Grumpy (Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NYC)

Roasters note: fruited and sweet with hibscus, ripe red grapefruit and honey

Method: Hario V60 Pour over


Verdict: Sweetness, sweetness, sweetness. clean honey tones with a ringing bright sweet lime-like finish.
Nostrils: strong-tea


Overall: this microlot is definitely lush! Sweetness from the first sip, gets even better as the fresh brewed coffee starts to cool. The sweet, fully ripe ruby grapefruit starts to shine, and the pleasent after-taste lingers just enough that you wish you brewed a big quantity.

But with amazing crops this year, the talks of coffee prices on the rise may be generating a divide between great coffee, and creating a larger gap from the "bad, unwanted" coffee. What are your thoughts?

Coffee Cupping at LIT (College)

LIT Espresso Bar (College Location)
Address: 810 College Street
Neighbourhood: College Street, Little Portugal
(website, @litespressobar)

At LIT Espresso Bar on College there's an opportunity to discover the tastes and aromas of coffee through their informal coffee cupping sessions. Typically used for quality assurance, Alex (barista), was able to run through 4 different types of beans from renowned US-roasters Stumptown. Lit is the only cafe in Toronto to have a partnership with Stumptown, so it's an exclusive deal. A Good thing for sure.

Coffee Cupping at Detour

In the last edition of this week's spotlight, the pivotal practice of

Coffee Cupping

A technique used to evaluate the aromas and flavour profile of roasted beans, and to determine defects. Sometimes used to ween out bad beans or to even to create their own blend. Taking samples at different roasting points can pin point the exact roast time to bring out certain flavours. It's all about the roaster and how well they know their craft.

It's important to keep coffee relative; meaning that testing different regions side to side and picking out what they enjoyed best from that particular region is all part of the fun. Be it the subtle hits of bergamont, juiciness of a grapefruit, to the sharp earthy tones of Sumatra, the roasting process that will allow these features to shine through.

Intro to Coffee Cupping

On Tuesday afternoon, just after the lovely Rain session, my attendence at Ten Thousand Villages on the Danforth was well rewarded with an intimate 1.5 hour session on Coffee Cupping, the ethos of Level Ground and the Direct Fair Trade.

Josh Del Sol - Roastmaster and Quality Control Specialist

During the session, Josh was able to show how to prepare ground coffee at home, and asked us to compare the Tanzanian and the Peruivan blends. He Prepared the coffee using a FRENCH PRESS from BODUM. and Talked about the many factors that are included in the process of coffee making.
Now the session included 3 other older ladies, volunteers and staff but the audience was intent on listening to the process of the Plant -> Flower -> Cherry Fruit -> Bean -> Wash n Dry -> selection -> Roasting.

All in all, he gave a FACE to the farmers in Colombia and informed us of how the Co-Ops work and where Level Ground steps in the buy the containers from the co-ops and pays them fair prices, usually at a premium over the market value (which can sometimes be below the commodity price). Just goes to show you why some beans can still cost less <$15 but be ethical, and when some are $18-22 and may not be justified.

That is why we should question how the Beans are actually made, how they are acquired and whether I am supporting a Broker or the farmers directly.

Wish I had more photos that were part of Josh' slideshow showing the stories behind the farm land, farmers and the general facilities that they use to process the coffee bean. All of the location were so clean, that you would be shocked if you weren't expecting top notch cleaniness. Great job farmers of Colombia.

Direct Fair Trade Espresso

Roast: Medium-Dark

Origin: Tanzania/Bolivia/Peru

Blind Assessment: Dark chocolate and aromatic wood with a hint of brightness in the aroma. In the small cup light-bodied but delicately plush in mouthfeel, pungently sweet, with continued hints of aromatic wood, dark chocolate, and a complex but muted fruit. The chocolate in particular carries into a rich, rather dry finish. Flavor maintains nicely in three parts hot milk, the chocolate rounding and softening predictably while the aromatic wood notes retain some crisp authority.

CS verdict: VERY Chocolatey, with a smooth balance. Pulled correctly and rich Crema is formed.

more information click on the links below:

Level Ground - based in Victoria, BC

Ten Thousand Villages - Danforth

French Press - BODUM