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Blog
How to make 600 cups of plunger coffee
At 5:30am on a warm, summer morning I am driving a van full of hot water and a bunch of other utensils en-route Wellington's annual bike breakfast. The goal? - to make coffee for 600 caffeine hungry cyclists in under 2 hours.
Year's end....a few reflections
Its countdown to the end of 2009, and an apt time to reflect on a year of good things.
Coffee Tour Dispatch # 4 - Uganda: New coffee from the old world
Sitting in a bus stop restaurant yesterday deciding whether rice, fried chicken and chips would be a good meal choice, a young, Irish traveller got talking to us. After he found out we were Fair Trade coffee buyers, he asked "How do you decide which groups to buy from?"
Peoples Coffee Presents: The KeepCup
If one were to stroll into one of the Peoples Coffee espresso bars today, one would find (drum roll please)…..The KeepCup. After searching high and low, blood sweat and tears, and the gnashing of teeth – it is finally here. Please, hold the applause. Oh OK, Applaud.
Coffee Tour Dispatch #3 - Ethiopia: Four years of remarkable change.
The last five days have seen us covering thousands of miles of Ethiopian road as we met with coffee farmers. From the lush shade-grown coffee region of Yiracheffe in the south, across to the mountainous areas of Harar in the mid-east – it has been our great privilege to sit down with dozens of coffee farmers and their cooperatives and hear how Fair Trade has been making some big changes in their lives.
Coffee Tour Dispatch #2 Cupping Ethiopia Coffees
First up, this is going to be a short post. Its late here in Ethiopia and we have a bleary eyed start on the road to coffee farms tomorrow. Here is a little glimpse into 'cupping coffee' - as it happens in the Oromia Coffee Farmers Union every day during their harvest season (Nov - Feb). In the attached video post you will see Tilahun Mekonen, Oromia's licensed Q-Graded Cupper showing us some of last years coffees (Sadly, we are too early to experience the beautifully fresh coffees that are being picked and processed as I write this!).
Coffee Tour Dispatch #1 - Ethiopia - Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa - the capital city of Ethiopia. We have been fortunate to hike around the capital city of Addis Ababa for a few days while waiting for our itinerary to the cooperatives in Sidamo and Harar get finalized (and re-finalized, and re-touched yet once more..) by the Oromia Farmers Union. Tight and dependable schedules are not I recall, their strong point.
Back to the Birthplace of Coffee
Tomorrow I will be en route to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia - the proverbial birthplace of coffee.
