Posts Tagged ‘Ethiopia’

Posted on April 4, 2007 - by deCadmus

Coffee Notes from All Over

More on the USDA and Organic coffee certification kerfuffle when I can get to it… meanwhile here’s a link-dump of coffee notes from all over:

• Ever wondered what it takes to get to championship levels in Barista competition? Practice, practice, practice. (Youtube.) I really like Jen Prince’s point of view — and her humble approach to the bean — and having been on the receiving end of one of her stellar espresso macchiatos when I was last in Seattle I think she’ll go far.
  

  I don’t really have much of a life outside of coffee.
  – Jen Prince, Zoka Coffee

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Posted on February 20, 2007 - by deCadmus

Green Mountain Special Reserve Ethiopian Sidamo

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An extraordinary, and extraordinarily fruited, dry process Ethiopian Sidamo.

I’ll warn you right up front that this is one of those coffees that’s simply unavailable at any price. I’ll tell you why in a moment or two, but let’s talk about the coffee first, shall we?
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Posted on February 15, 2007 - by deCadmus

Forbidden Fruit? Coffee in the Garden of Eden.

Imagine, if you will, an afternoon in the Garden of Eden. You’re kicked back on a La-Z-Boy-shaped hunk of moss trying to collect your thoughts after a hard day’s work naming animals. There are so many, after all, and having spent the better part of a day ruminating over a curious duck-billed, web-footed, furry critter that — good grief! just happens to lay eggs — you must need a break. (I mean, platypus? That’s the best you could do?)

Enter, stage left, your winsome companion. Wearing nothing (of course) but her long, auburn tresses and a particularly knowing smile she offers you a ripe, red fruit. You hesitate. You raise an eyebrow.

“This isn’t an apple,” you say, suggesting somehow that Eve’s gone a bit off-script.

“No,” she purrs, “it’s better. It’s refreshing. It’s engaging. It’s consciousness-raising. And it’s lovely dried, roasted, brewed and served with danish.” (more…)

Posted on July 23, 2006 - by deCadmus

Wayback: When Flavors Attack!

From two years ago today in Bloggle’s wayback archive…

For her morning cup, herself brewed some of Green Mountain’s Wild Mountain Blueberry, which as flavored coffees go, doesn’t suck. This is not faint praise, but my own inner struggle with flavored coffees. [Yes, I know folks have been flavoring beans since time began… but too many flavored coffees strike me as so much potpourri.] And then, herself kind soul that she is brewed some of ye ol’ Mocha Java of Yore for my to-go cup. (more…)

Posted on July 21, 2006 - by deCadmus

Tasting: FTO Ethiopian Sidamo

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“You’ve already won me over-in spite of me. So don’t be alarmed if I fall head over feet. And don’t be surprised if I love you for all that you are. I couldn’t help it — it’s all your fault.”
– Alanis Morissette

I’m back at the roaster after too long away, working my way through a care package just arrived from Sweet Maria’s. First on my roast list, a dry-processed Ethiopian Sidamo. This bean is Fair Trade Certified and Organic, and it bears a familiar name — Oromia — the same coop that processes the Fair Trade Organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe we roast at Green Mountain. (more…)

Posted on June 6, 2005 - by deCadmus

Tasting: Ethiopian Yirgacheffe MAO

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Over the course of the last week I’ve roasted several batches of new coffees from my favorite purveyor of green coffees, Sweet Marias. The first on my tasting list is a brilliant Ethiopian Yirgacheffe under the MAO mark (lot 538).

I haven’t roasted in a while, so after lots of seasonal cleaning (you won’t believe all the places chaff can build up on a roaster!) I gathered up my watch and my notebook… both indispensable tools when roasting a new bean. This one got treated to just the vanguard snaps of 2nd crack, though that’s mere happenstance… I still roast mostly by nose, and this coffee offered a pronounced sweet-savory signal in its smoke.
The result: wonderful, room-filling sweet floral and citrus aromas (most remarkable I’ve experienced since Barry scored that stunning Yirg a year or three ago) that evoke apple blossoms and jasmine. Its acidity is high-toned; subtle citrus… very smooth and not at all shrill. Its flavors are rich and complex; a bit of smoldering cedar, a little roasty lapsang souchong tea (black tea, but more like a flowery dark oolong). Far more body than I’d expect from a washed coffee… and a finish that sweetly fades into dark, sweet cherries.

Highly recommended. If you’re a home-roaster, add this coffee to your next Sweet Maria’s order. If you’re not a home-roaster, I can’t think of any better reason to start.

Category: Bloggle/Coffee

Posted on June 25, 2004 - by deCadmus

Coffee History Series: The Legend of Kaldi

Once upon a time, in a faraway land called Ethiopia — or maybe Abyssinia, it was a very long time ago, after all — there lived a young goatherd named Kaldi. By all accounts [and there are many, as the story has been retold many, many times] Kaldi was a very responsible young man, and not one to do foolish things.

Every day Kaldi would set his goats to grazing in the hills that surrounded his village, and every evening his loyal goats would return home. This, of course, would suggest that the goats were the responsible parties. How foolish is it, after all, to just turn your goats loose into the hills every morning? But, back to our story…

One evening, Kaldi’s goats did not return home. The young man, no doubt feeling a little foolish by now, searched for his herd all through the night, and as morning broke he found them, leaping and dancing with reckless abandon and apparent glee round a stand of shiny, dark-leafed shrubs with bright red berries. Kaldi took in the scene before him, amazed. He soon decided it must be the berries that caused such reckless behavior in his otherwise responsible goats, and — forgetting everything his mother told him about eating strange foods from strange places — Kaldi sampled the berries, himself. In no time, he too was dancing gleefully with his goats around the green-leafed shrubs.

Soon, we are told, a wise and learned man passed by — an imam, or monk — trudging sleepily on his way to prayer. The imam rubbed his eyes and took in the scene before him — Kaldi and his goats — dancing gleefully about a stand of shiny, dark-leafed shrubs with bright red berries.

Being both a curious and learned man, the imam gathered some of these berries, himself, and on returning home he studied them. In his experiments with the bright red berries, he roasted them, boiled them and sampled the resulting beverage. He shared what he found with the rest of his fellow monks, and soon none fell asleep at prayers! And so coffee spread from place to place, creating a more gleeful, and wakeful, world.

So what of Kaldi? Perhaps he and his goats are dancing, still.