World’s are colliding. What happens when some of the best coffee in the world arrives to coincide with the purchase of a new extreme espresso toy. Pow! Right in the kisser. I have studiously avoided buying any Kenyan coffee for several years. There were a host of reasons: price, lack of certifications (organic, fair trade, rainforest alliance), corrupt government coffee board. My dad had even brought back some Kenya samples from a friend of his and I didn’t like them at all. Not long ago, Noah, at Café Imports, sent me some samples that have changed my mind and brightened my cup. These...

I recently visited the Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company in Bloomfield Hills,...

Here is an explanation from the Indian coffee grower as to how they practice biodynamism with an Indian twist.

"Basically following the calendar of biodynamics, energies balanced between Saturn and the Moon…interfering less with nature, smallest input = larger effect on the planet, the sun in the source of all life, they sunworship in the center of the estate in the cardemum field… at sunrise and sunset.

Read Full Post

From the shores of Sulawesi to the shores of Papua New Guinea (PNG); the journey is not long as the crow flies. In fact, the island of New Guinea is shared by Indonesia in the west and Papua in the east. Although there are certain similarities, the two countries and the two coffees could hardly be more different. PNG until recently had been known more for cannibals than coffee. The remoteness of the growing areas of PNG is startling in this modern era. Fully one third of remaining...

What the deuces is Biodynamic Agriculture? It is old-fashioned and newly fashionable sustainable agriculture. The kind of farming practices our grandparents employed until they were unemployed when agriculture turned into agri-business. Now as people rediscover local foods and start showing concern about their local environments, we can resow the seeds of how things really work. In biodynamic farming, the farm is treated as a living organism and all efforts are made to ensure the long term...

  FAIR TRADE ORGANIC SUMATRA GAYO MOUNTAIN

Back in the days of the colonial trading companies, the Dutch traders brought coffee from Ethiopia, its birthplace, to the East Indies or Spice Islands, now known as Indonesia. They tried growing coffee on many of the islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago. Sumatra, the largest island, provided one of the best climates for coffee cultivation....

We are down with the Market.

No not that market. The Eastern Market is what I am talking about. Since our economy and free market are foundering why not return to the fundamentals of the true market economy. That is, selling food and drinks grown and produced locally. We are fully supportive of the locavore movement even if it is a bit of a mouthful. As long as we’ve got mouthfuls of Michigan produce in our larder, we can weather any economic turbulence....

The 100% Colombian coffee campaign by the Colombian Coffee Federation is one of the most successful attempts at branding a country I can remember. Everyone knows Juan Valdez. Asking for 100% Colombian coffee used to be a sure-fire way to ask for a good cup of coffee. Unfortunately through the years Juan got lazy and the quality of the coffee suffered much like Vinnie Chase’s movie career in Entourage. He was a star before he made Medellin, a bloated, over-hyped over the top movie which tanked. Colombian coffee used to account for 80% of Colombia’s...