Monthly Archives: January 2007
New coffee helps rare songbird
Cerulean Warbler Conservation Coffee, a shade grown coffee from central Columbia, is now being offered for sale through a partnership between Thanksgiving Coffee Co and the American Bird Conservatory. It’s perhaps the latest in a growing trend of environmentally friendly premium coffee. The plantations growing this coffee are designed to preserve a suitable habitat for … Continue reading
Scientists find the genes for perfect coffee beans
What gives a coffee its flavor? Scientists from Brazil and France have figured it out, they’ve identified the key genes responsible for sucrose accumulation in coffee (sucrose is believed to release flavor and aroma during roasting). This discovery has the potential to lead to new strains of coffee beans with previously unheard of levels of … Continue reading
A good use for robusta beans
Most coffee lovers will scowl when they hear ‘robusta’, for those beans are generally regarded as the cheapest, least interesting. They’re also the most common, and widely used for ‘commodity’ coffees. Actually, true Italian espresso uses a blend of beans that should contain a small amount of robusta. Well anyway, in 1932 Popular Science reported … Continue reading
Chalk art
Chalk art. It adds a casual, but often classy, look to coffee shops everywhere. I’ve noticed that even Starbucks seems to be adopting this trend, in the form of small chalkboards announcing the name of the barista, along with, of course, some artistic flair with the name. I didn’t realize some people actually earn a … Continue reading
Find local independent coffee shops
Starbucks. To many, the name brings a smile; to others, a grimace. It often seems like they’re everywhere, sometimes literally only a couple blocks apart. The global spread of Starbucks has its advantages for travelers who just want a known quantity, they don’t want to experiment, but on the flip-side, the smaller independent coffee shops … Continue reading
Picking coffee = hard work!
“From 5 a.m. to noon in the harvest season that runs through February, coffee pickers walk backward down the steep slopes of the 320-acre Hacienda Ana plantation in the shadow of Cerro Punta, the commonwealth’s highest peak, toting heavy buckets of fruit. After noon, it’s too darn hot.” Hmm, doesn’t sound fun, but this is … Continue reading
