The Coffee Intelligence Monitor       

“All the Coffee News Fit to Print”

 from Global to Local Roasters 7/07

Coffee FAQ: A Tale of Two Colombians

 Q: "What? Two coffees from Columbia? How can there be more than one coffee from any country? Aren't all coffees from any country the same?"

 (Hint: Would you ask "Why have more than one wine from France?")

 A: "Colombia, like all coffee growing countries, has not just one coffee but lots of other coffees in different areas of those countries! Welcome to coffee connoisseur 101!"
 What are these 2 Colombian coffees (among many others, which also we won't get into right now--but likely will in the future of our "Adventures in Coffee" approach to the coffee biz…)


 …Our two Colombians are:

 "Mesa de los Santos", from the Burcuramanga region, The Mesa has been selling here at LE for about the past six months in both medium and dark roasts, the medium having been the featured guest coffee at the Sano Café and in the deli take out airpot, the dark along with the medium in the bulk bins as well.

¨ The newest arrival is "Oparapa", from Palestina in the South Huila region.
 So how is it these coffees both are stand outs but yet from different places? Good question! (In fact a much better question than "Why do you roast two coffees from the same country?" we think…)

 Hint: both go against the long standing approach of the Colombian Coffee Association, AKA the government, of looking only for the biggest beans rather than the best quality. BUT these two different regional coffee folk do this in two different ways. Which also may be why they're different, even while noticeably related! You can find out more by reading the tags on the bins in the bulk coffee section! Hey who said shopping has to be brain-dead? 
Departing coffee question for you: how does wine tasting compare to coffee cupping?  I'll explain in the next issue.
 3/11/07


THE ADVENTURE OF COFFEE ("in crisis there is opportunity")

You may have noticed changes in the GTL selection--more and different coffees. While we've done well with our established popular coffees, we've also found that the introduction of new coffees increases sales as well.

This happened serendipitously when our most popular coffee, Timor, went MIA due to a mini civil war in East Timor. We had to scramble to choose another, and worked with our supplier to select a replacement.

Colombia won the day, including getting into Living Earth’s Café Sano as their featured coffee along with our scrumptious shade grown Costa Rica dekaff. Then the Colombia supply ran low! We gulped, busted our budget and bought the last of it. As a back up we scrambled to check out Sumatra, which was great. And then the Timor came back! And then the Colombia came back! YIKES! How confusing is that to someone who thinks "all coffee's always the same, Just 'Joe', no?"

And in all this we learned about "cupping", which we'll be sharing with customers in the near future.

Stay tuned! AND KEEP ON WATCHING FOR MORE CHANGES!

Yours most adventurously…

Dr. Koffee, RM (Roastmeister) Global to Local Coffee