Archive for July, 2008
Posted on July 30, 2008 - by deCadmus
Stumptown’s Guatemala El Injerto Reserva
You should know something about coffee people… we’re *constantly* tasting coffee: our own, the stuff from the guy across the street, and across the country. Oh sure, part of it’s about keeping tabs on what other folks are doing — but that’s a small part, really. The larger share is just ’cause we like coffee, and love the origins and flavors of coffee the world over, even if it’s not us that’s selling it.
Consequently, things like family vacations are sometimes interrupted with a brief dash into an unfamiliar coffee shop to sample the brew of the day, or — in the case of a recent trip Don Holly made to Portland — a quick jog in to Stumpies to grab a bunch of beans for the gang back home ’cause you just *know* they’re gonna be good.
“The thing about El Injerto,” says Holly, “is they have the most amazing worm farm.”
I ponder this for a moment.
“So…” I ask, “how do you judge a worm farm, anyway?”
Don shrugs.
“It’s like art. I know it when I see it.”
There *is* something artful about this cup — Guatemala Finca El Injerto Reserva, by Stumptown Coffee — that’s just about as challenging to pin down. It’s something experiential: the rich, spiced cocoa and savory herbal note as it brews, the tremendous expression of jasmine and coffee flower aromas in the cup; the lush, saturated flavors of dark fruit — raisin and plum and ripe mango — matched with ample body and just enough of a bright, crisp, acid snap to counterbalance the richness of it all.
The way I see it, this is one great cup. It’s also, I believe, a limited offering, being a Cup of Excellence bean and all. So get it while you can.
Rating: Rating: 
Available from Stumptown Coffee Roasters.
Posted on July 28, 2008 - by deCadmus
Various and Sundry
- It was only a matter of time before Rupert Murdoch’s poisoned hand of glory made itself manifest on the pages of the Wall Street Journal. I shouldn’t have imagined, however, it would appear so blatantly, so soon. Talking Squid takes ‘em on in a blog ditty entitled, Sanity Finally Snaps at Wall Street Journal.
- It’s clear to me the Internet has brought about changes in my own reading habits, and my reading habits go back, er… a ways. (As I child I essentially started at one end of the local library and read my way to the other.) In one of the more thoughtful pieces I’ve seen on the intersection of the Internet and reading, and the resulting impact on literacy, the NY Times asks, Online: R U Really Reading?
Clearly, reading in print and on the Internet are different. On paper, text has a predetermined beginning, middle and end, where readers focus for a sustained period on one author’s vision. On the Internet, readers skate through cyberspace at will and, in effect, compose their own beginnings, middles and ends.
Young people “aren’t as troubled as some of us older folks are by reading that doesn’t go in a line,” said Rand J. Spiro, a professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University who is studying reading practices on the Internet. “That’s a good thing because the world doesn’t go in a line, and the world isn’t organized into separate compartments or chapters.”
See also: Is Google Making Us Stupid?
- Finally, get thee to Subterranean Press for their irregularly offered Grab Bag Sale! It’s like Woot!, but with words!
Posted on July 26, 2008 - by deCadmus
Town Meeting Day
And now for something completely different.
Of late I’ve been writing an increasing amount about fiction on these pages. This is the first time in a very long while that I’ve offered up any of my own.
Town Meeting Day — the first Tuesday in March — is an institution in Vermont, and throughout much of New England. It’s notable for being a hands-on, participatory style of democracy. In this story, the citizens of one small town in Vermont have their hands full…
Town Meeting Day
“I object!”
“Mr. Dunhill, this isn’t a trial. You may not object. Not that I can make heads or tails of what you’re objecting to.”
“I object to this venue!”
“Gabe, this is a town meeting, not a court room. These are your neighbors, they’re not a jury. Now kindly sit down and stop being an ass.”
Harvey Tuttle — large-animal veterinarian of Cold Hollow, Vermont, and just forty-five minutes ago elected moderator of Town Meeting — eyeballed Dunhill from his seat at the raised table at the north end of village hall. This morning he’d helped to set up the old wooden platform that came out just once a year, special for Town Meeting day. Old Ben Isham, the senior village selectman, had specifically asked for Harvey’s assistance in raising the dais. Harvey was, of course, happy to help. But in the intervening hours — and especially in the last few minutes — he’d begun to suspect the old wooden platform wasn’t all that had been set-up this morning.
Harvey could think of a dozen things he might rather be doing just now… getting kicked by a horse was near the top of his list. Right up there with getting stepped on by a pregnant heifer. That was always good for a grin. Buck up, Harv… just do the job in front of you.
Harvey stared down Dunhill, who — finally — took his seat. For good measure, Harvey eyeballed the rest of the gathering, too, to stifle the sniggering among the assembled.
The hall was packed… 250, maybe 300 folks had turned out, easily a quarter of the village, and a good many more than the room could seat comfortably. There were more — dozens more — standing behind the ranks of folding chairs and leaning against the whitewashed walls in the back. It looked like the sheriff was one of the leaners in back — Harvey could easily see Andy Barrow’s Stetson hat above the crowd — and Andy was a man who tended to get places early.
A high turnout at Town Meeting wasn’t unusual — folks here took their democracy seriously, thank-you-very-much — but still. Something was up. And, as usual, it seemed Harvey was the last to know about it. (more…)
Posted on July 23, 2008 - by deCadmus
Just for Clicks: The Caffeine Click Test
First a disclaimer: I’m not of the “I drink coffee for a caffeine high” camp.
There’s two reasons for that. The first being that, as I have a long history of drinking cup after cup (after cup) all day long, I guess I have something in the way of caffeine tolerance. And the second, I don’t care how much caffeine a given cup has, if its flavor and aroma don’t move me, I’m just not interested.
Having said all that, this is cute. ;)
[Hat tip: Hasbean]
Posted on July 23, 2008 - by deCadmus
July 23, 2008
The Light Edition…
Posted on July 23, 2008 - by deCadmus
Great Moments in Coffee Blogging History!
Seven years ago today the fine folks at Blogger (You remember them? Swallowed by Google?) recognized Bloggle [the Coffee Odyssey] as a Blog of Note. Oh sure… you can smile your isn’t that nice smile now, but it was a Big Deal in 2001. It was like… you’d arrived.
‘Course it’s been all downhill, since. ;)
Posted on July 22, 2008 - by deCadmus
Writing and Reading Notes
- I have no idea how Matt at Enter the Octopuss compiles his daily masses of links — but I’m glad that he does!
- The new Tor Dot Com site — it’s a blog, and a new home for original fiction — has lots of promise. Like many publishers, they’re a wee bit late to the whole social networking party, but Tor’s folks have clearly done their homework. Check out the brand new shorts by John Scalzi and Charlie Stross! These stories both take place in established universes from each writer. While I’m well-versed with Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War” milieu, this is my first encounter with Stross’ “The Laundry” series, and I like it. A lot.
- I’ve been working my way through Vandermeer’s The New Wierd. I have to admit, with many of the stories in the collection, they’ve outwierded me… or at the least, helped me discover my threshold for curious and odd tales.
- And I’ve finally cracked open John Twelve Hawks‘ The Traveler. It’s a smart, gripping read… just my kind of summer novel.
Posted on July 21, 2008 - by deCadmus
Coffee, Climate Change and Canaries
What’s the impact of global climate change on coffee?
I’ve had conversations with a number of coffee farmers — particularly folks in South and Central America — about what they’re experiencing on their farms. The stories they tell are of seasons off kilter: of too much rain at the wrong time of the year, not enough when they need it; of coffee trees flowering and coffee cherries ripening in increasingly staggered spans — especially among farms at varying altitudes – making harvest more challenging. But still, they are simple anecdotes, these stories farmers tell… and every year has such stories. They are not, themselves, a body of evidence of climate change.
The report released by Oxfam this month — Turning up the heat, Climate Change and Poverty in Uganda — now that’s evidence of the impact of climate change on coffee production. And the evidence does not bode well:
“The outlook is bleak. If the average global temperatures rise by two degrees or more, then most of Uganda is likely to cease to be suitable for coffee..this may happen in 40 years or perhaps as little as 30.”
Keep in mind that the figures that Oxfam cites are for coffee production in all of Uganda. It’s more than possible — it’s likely — that coffees from premiere origins within Uganda could succumb to the devastating effects of a changing climate in only just a few years as they lose those unique microclimates that contributed to their coffee’s character. Coffees like Bugisu, the bluesy, saturated cup from Mbale that I profiled here a short seven years ago:
From an utterly selfish point of view, I don’t want to lose this coffee. But you don’t have to be self-serving to worry about the devastating impact of climate change on coffee, because it’s the very same impact that will be affecting the wider food supply. All the world’s food supply. Crops like coffee that thrive only in superbly balanced ecosystems and rarefied microclimes are likely harbingers of the greater threat of climate change. Where coffee fails, tea may follow. Where tea fails, rice may follow. Where rice fails, well… two thirds of the world’s population may follow.
Like canaries in the coal mine, specialty coffee — and the farming families who produce it — may prove among the first to succumb to the hazards of a warming world. And if that doesn’t worry you just a little bit, it damn well should.
Posted on July 21, 2008 - by deCadmus
July 21, 2008
- Tor Dot Com. Nice.
- Booklert. (via)
- We Can Solve It
Posted on July 16, 2008 - by deCadmus
Coffee Notes from All Over
- Nick Cho makes his debut this week as the Coffee Nazi — or something like that. From the glossy web pages of U.S. News’ Money & Business section, to the frenzied spaces of Boing Boing and MetaFilter, Cho’s Murky Coffee was grabbing headlines as the coffee shop that wouldn’t serve it the way the customer wanted it.
“It sounds like a cheesy sitcom scene: Man goes into coffee shop. He orders his favorite drink, a triple shot of espresso over ice. Barista declines; he says the drink goes against company policy because pouring espresso over ice ruins the quality of the coffee. Man gets angry. He leaves a tip with an expletive scrawled across it.”
It didn’t end there, of course, as the customer blogged about the experience — complete with a snapshot of the explative-laden dollar bill he left as a tip. (Yes, he hated the experience so much he left a tip. Go figure.) And that led to the colorful, open letter from Murky’s Cho.
Oh, the calamity.
- Starbucks gets “back to basics” by… introducing smoothies? How does this get back to the core that Howard was talking about not so long ago?
“One of the results has been stores that no longer have the soul of the past,” he wrote. “Some people even call our stores sterile, cookie cutter, no longer reflecting the passion our partners feel about our coffee.”
No worries… the Jamba Juice gambit will surely make folks focus on the coffee. Meanwhile, in light of Starbucks’ malaise, how are independent shops faring? Just fine, thanks.
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Hello.
Bloggle is the online playground of Doug Cadmus, a usability guy, author, photographer and sometime dramatist who moved to Vermont for the coffee. When not writing, reading or walking his neurotic golden retriever, he roasts coffee in his garage and is the Web Guy for Green Mountain Coffee in Waterbury, Vermont. Flickr Photos
