Limu coffee from west of Jimma

At Bucer’s now, we have coffee from the Nano Sebeka cooperative, located a bit west of Jimma Ethiopia. Up until only about 2 years ago, most of the farms in this area had no access wet processing stations and so their beans were deemed low-grade and not exported on the specialty coffee market. Things are […]

The best home-brewing method

I have tried (and failed) many times over the years to produce an excellent cup of coffee at home. I’ve tried various drip brewers, many different timings and ratios with a French press, and at least a hundred attempts with an Italian moka pot, including the Brikka, which includes a pressurized cap. That one actually […]

Dancing Starbucks

I know Gangnam Style is old, old news now, but this fun enough to repost regardless.

On Starbucks

Perfect typeface placement in relation to the sliding door. I don’t care that they make money. That’s fine. The chief problem with Starbucks is of course the taste of the coffee itself. Beans. Starbucks buys a bazillion tons of beans from all over the world. They don’t buy high-end stuff (despite what the labels claim), […]

Coffee Variables

(Click the image for a large version.) A while back, I came up with this chart to display all the different variables that go into producing coffee. Using just the combinations listed here and assuming about 20 growing regions, you get 2 x 5 x 20 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 5 x […]

A Taste of Addis Ababa

Last year when I was in Ethiopia to adopt my daughter (our fourth child, second adoption), I was astounded at how good the coffee was. I talked about some of my observations here. Ethiopia is one of the only coffee-producing areas in the world where all the indigenous people actually drink it. Columbia may be […]

Sampling some whole bean coffee available around town

Since I roast coffee at Bucer’s I usually just take home the fruit of my labor from there. Still, sometimes I run out unexpectedly and grab a bit from the grocery store. Also, I occasionally poke around and try other things just to see what they taste like. I still pick up a drink at […]

A move in the right direction for Starbucks

Last week I visited the new Starbucks in the University of Idaho’s bookstore. Why? They have an unusually nice selection of baked goods and though overpriced and very small, the “morning buns” are really quite tasty. Nothing like what they used to have an Zume bakery before it became West of Paris before it become […]

True barista chatter

If you’re a coffee shop lurker, or espresso snob, this is absolutely hilarious. (Thanks for the link Andrew.)

Misunderstandings

Sometimes, while I am in the shop, but not roasting, I hear people comment about the machine as they walk past it. Last week I heard it described as a “strange giant machine” and another girl told her friend it was “some sort of brewery thing”. Most accurate was a boy of eight who told […]