Tag: All Things Coffee

  • Land for Burundi Coffee

    Following @kristyjcarlson on Twitter and Instagram gets me excited about being part of this family of four that has their hearts set on helping a community in rural Burundi produce amazing coffee. I’m so happy to be a part of it.

    Building a coffee washing station in Burundi has meant taking on an obscenely huge amount of challenges and obstacles on the way to realizing the dream.  Let’s just say accomplishing something like this in Burundi has few more challenges in it than building that lemonade stand in Wisconsin when I was six.

    For months now we have set our sites on building this coffee washing station.  Finding the perfect location was key to making it a success.  After 3 years of sourcing and cupping Burundi coffee, I knew where we needed to be.  The place we were looking for was sitting in the middle of a triangle of the best coffee washing stations producing the best coffee in all of Burundi.  Besides the best coffee, it was a place where farmers are too far to carry their coffee to the nearest station forcing them to sell to local buyers at ridiculously low prices.  It has one river, bringing plenty of fresh clean water to run the de-pulper.  Sitting at the perfect altitude with a micro-climate that is unique and ideal for producing the kind of coffee that makes you (ok, maybe just me) go weak in the knees.

    Three years to make certain of this specific spot.  Months to get all the paperwork done and meet all the farmers to explain the vision.  Weeks to get all the signatures of the owners of the land willing to sell and the neighboring farmers as witnesses. Then, on the last day before signing, we find out that two of the five farmers don’t feel like selling anymore.

    What do we do?  Tomorrow we go back to the land to talk to the farmers.  The area co-op president and commune elder have talked through our vision and are coming with us to make sure that the farmers know the kind of impact this station will have on the lives of all 2,500 families in the four surrounding hills.  If they still decide they don’t want to sell are we back to square one?  No, the commune elder said that we can have the two hectors next to the spot we want that are owned by the commune.  The rivers the same, the slope is great, and the view is stunning.  He gets the vision.  He has caught hope.  He tells us that they will do whatever it takes to see us partner with them.

    We have found our spot and started to put down our roots.  This challenge is just one of many in our way, but if it was easy we wouldn’t need to do it, it would already be done. Am I Worried? No, but we are weeks away from starting to build on land that we still don’t own with money we still have not raised… It will all happen though, it will all happen.

     

    Coffee Guy

     

  • Christmas Gift Ideas for Coffee Lovers

    Christmas Gift Ideas for Coffee Lovers

    christmas coffee, iced coffeeHave you ever wondered what Christmas gift to get the coffee guy who has everything? I sure have! Being married to the coffee-est-coffee-guy of them all, I often have a difficult time figuring out what the heck to get him. Here’s our list of coffee stuff you can’t go wrong with.

    GRINDERS

    It is often argued that the grinder is the most important cog in the coffee making process. If your grind is off, your coffee will be too! And buying pre-ground coffee? Well, that’s a sin most coffee lovers won’t forgive you for. Coffee begins to loose it’s favor as quickly as four minutes after it has been ground. Don’t let this daunt you. Here’s our list of the best grinders around in each price bracket. I will keep this explanation simple because we have a lot of coffee ground to cover. We recommend burr grinders. Here’s why. They crush the coffee at an even rate, while blade grinders cut the coffee at various consistencies. If you want a consistent cup of coffee, you should have a grinder with burrs, conical (the way they are set) ceramic (what they are made of) burrs are best.

    Rancilio Rocky SD 1 lbs Rocky Coffee Grinder

    Bodum Bistro Electric Burr Coffee Grinder

     

    Not ready for this kind of financial commitment? Here’s our top pick for a blade grinder, although we do recommend the Hario hand grinder (non electric… get those muscles working) over it.

    Bodum Bistro – Electric Mill

     

    Last, but NOT least our favorite grinding method. We often lack electricity and this grinder has kept us brewing coffee even when that happens! It just takes a bit of elbow grease! Great for camping, power shortages, you know… the usual. You can also do a search for “vintage coffee grinders” on etsy or ebay to find a vintage hand grinder instead of the new spiffy one below. Just make sure all the parts are working and clean before committing to buy one of these.

    Hario Skerton Hand Coffee Grinder – Ceramic Burr Coffee Mill (coffee grinder)

    With all these grinders, except the Bodum Bistro, you can set the grind for the coffee you are brewing (courser for a french press, finer for espresso).

    BREW METHODS

    AeroPress

    Aerobie AeroPress Coffee and Espresso – w/zippered nylon tote bag 

    For around $27.25. Look for a blog post here detailing how to brew an AeroPress next week.

    French Press

    11055-16

    There are about as many French press options as there are people on this planet. If you need help brewing one, head OVER HERE. We like the Bodum Columbia French press 4 cup for around $60.

    If you are looking for a less expensive French press, we recommend the Bodum Brazil with a stainless steel screen (it comes in a 3 cup version or an 8 cup version). If the screen inside is plastic, your French press is likely to break much quicker. The Brazil also comes in lots of fun colors! Yippie skippy!

    Pour Overs

    If you want to own a brewing masterpiece. We highly recommend owning a pour over system. There is the beautiful Chemex (to learn how to brew one go HERE) for around $40.

    Or the Hario V60 dripper for about $30, but we looooooove this gift set with filters and cup for $65. It is a single cup pour over, and ohh so pretty.

    Keep in mind that you need to also buy paper filter papers for both the Chemex and the Hario dripper. You can buy a stainless steel screen for your Chemex called the Coava Kone. We don’t have one, but we hear they’re nifty.

    Siphon Pots

    There are a whole lot of Siphon Pots out there. Brewing them is like conducting a science experiment, so if you have a science buff who likes coffee… this is a great gift!

    We like this one:

    Northwest Glass Siphon Vacuum Pot for about $60.

    You can google for plenty more. There are even Siphon pots out there that you can brew on the stove-top instead of with Methol Hydrate (but that feels a lot less like a science experiment to us!).

    Moka Pots

    Bialetti 6-Cup Stovetop Espresso Maker

    Stick ’em on the stove with a little coffee inside and “Presto” you have espresso! Or something that sort of resembles it. I have an enamel covered cream version of this moka pot that is “oh so pretty”, but I looked high and low online and could not find that one for you! There are quite a few variations of these, but we think Bialetti makes the best ones.

    Espresso Machines

    This is a tricky subject in our house. I keep trying to get Coffee Guy to recommend a more affordable option than the Rancillo Silvia (at $630) but he refuses. This is as low as he will go folks.

    Rancillo Silvia

    Which is a drop in the bucket when compared to the stunning, amazing

    La Marzocco GS3 (which Coffee Guy was drooling over a moment ago).

    In our house we have the 

    Wega Mininova

    We love it lots… the fact that Coffee Guy traded himself in for it makes it even better. It’s tempermental and we have to hit it sometimes, but it’s a member of our family now… even if Coffee Guy is drooling over the LaMarzocco above.

    KETTLES

    Most brew methods require that you heat some water, which makes having a kettle on hand absolutely essential. We love the ease of electric kettles, but there are some great stove top ones as well.

    Bonavita Electric Kettle

    for about $60

    That funky curve on the nozzle helps you to “direct the pour” Coffee Guy just informed me. He also said, “The geekier you get, the more important that will become to you.” Here’s to that!

    For your stovetop we recommend the

    Hario V60 Coffee Drip Kettle Buono

     at around $50.

    Or the

    Kalita Thin Spout Kettle – 700mL

    at around $78 (this one made me drool a little… but I like shiny things!).

    Or, if the spout does not concern you, but color makes you weak in the knees, I would suggest that we all allow my Le Creuset obsession to continue by buying this bad boy… in nearly any color you like.

    Halo Kettle

    Halo Kettle

    Hubba, hubba! Yes, i’m still looking at the kettle. Moving on…

    COFFEE GEEKERY

    Whirley Pop

    Yeah, you heard right. This popcorn popper can be a great home roaster according to our friends at Sweet Marias.

    Salter Compact Espresso Scale

    The geekier you get the more you want to measure. For real, I’ve seen it happen to Coffee Guy.

    COFFEE BEANS

    Now, the reason you are not going to see us jumping up and down and pointing you in the direction of some great Burundi coffee is that…. it has not left the country yet. We are feeling a bit sheepish about that, but Coffee Guy has been working his little bum bum off to try and get it outta here. There is a lot of red tape and a whole lot of crazy goin’ on over here. What we can tell you is that there is a little bit making it’s way to the USA right now. Hopefully the rest will follow suit soon.

    Instead of recommending specific beans (how could we ever cheat on Burundi coffee) we would rather tell you about some roasters we respect. People who put a lot into helping farmers and giving you a great product. Here we go…

    Dogwood Coffee, Minneapolis MN

    Intelligentsia Coffee,  Chicago and beyond (if you are a Midwesterner, we know for sure that Angry Catfish in MPLS uses Intelligentsia coffee).

     Stumptown Coffee, Portland and beyond

     Gimme Coffee, NYC and beyond

    Bean There Coffee Company, Johannesberg and Cape Town

    Try your hand at roasting coffee at home. Buy green beans from Sweet Marias, Oakland, CA and beyond.

    Many of the people who buy coffee for these businesses, or own them, have passed through our doors this year. We can tell you they care. About quality and about people.

    Whew, did we miss anything? Let us know below if we did!

    Happy Shopping!

    *this is a revised post, originally publish December 9, 2011

  • Burundi Cup of Excellence Predictions. How did I do?

    Well, the Burundi Cup of Excellence has come and gone and now the burning question on everyone’s mind is “how did Ben’s predictions turn out?” That and maybe “who were the top 10?”  Those two questions will be answered in the video!  Enjoy.

    Coffee Guy

    Burundi Cup of Excellence. Was I right? from Ben Carlson on Vimeo.

  • 10 great uses for used coffee grounds

    10 great uses for used coffee grounds

    great uses for used coffee grounds, 10 great uses for used coffee grounds, uses for used coffee

    We have a lot of used coffee grounds around our house. The grounds from all Ben’s coffee cupping, the espresso “pucks” (yes, they are actually called that) from all our espresso drinking, and the French press grounds leftover from those times when espressos just won’t do. That adds up to A LOT of coffee.

    Here are some of the best ways we’ve heard of that put those grounds to good use.

    10.Coffee Exfoliator. I think one of the most interesting uses for used coffee grounds is as a facial and body exfoliator. The caffeine in the coffee is a stimulant it helps skin cells and promotes healthier, tighter skin. According to some, the caffeine in coffee shrinks blood vessels. This helps improve the appearance of varicose veins. You can add mineral oil, vitamin E oil, jojoba oil or olive oil to coffee grounds and then apply directly to your skin.

    Wanna get fancy? Try this Coffee and Lavender Sugar Body Scrub recipe from Joy the Baker… Since I don’t have vegetable glycerine, I’m going to make  my scrub with olive oil instead!

    9. Plant food. We place used coffee grounds beneath our plants in the soil. It does seem to work, as both a fertilizer and a pest repellent.

    8. Insect Repellant. Place coffee grounds anywhere outside that you would rather not see ants. They don’t like it and will go running for the hills if it’s placed near your doorstep or by windows.

    7. Deodorizer. Dry grounds on a cookie sheet or flat surface and then put them in a bowl in your refrigerator or freezer. Add a touch of vanilla or even essential oils to the grounds to add a nice smell. You can also rub grounds on your hands to get rid of food prep smells…. like onions and garlic.

    6. Hair and clothing dye. I’ve heard people say that brunettes can rinse their hair in coffee grounds for a darker sheen, but I have yet to try this one myself.  To try it on your hair: Steep used coffee grounds in 2 cups hot water for 15 minutes or so and then rinse through hair for a darker, more vibrant shine. For clothing: Re-steep the grounds in hot water and the submerge clothing. I’ve also heard people have success with running a cup of coffee (not including grounds) through their brown clothing in the wash to temporarily rejuvenate the brown color.

    5. Cleaning scrub. Tough places to clean that need an abrasive cleaner? Give the ol’ coffee grounds a try.

    4. Flea Reducer. After you give your dog a bath, rub dried coffee grounds through the coat of your pet, and then brush out later if needed. Coffee grounds are said to repel fleas.

    3. Hide Those Scratches. Did grandma’s heirloom table get a scratch? Re-steep some used coffee grounds and reduce the appearance of the scratch by coating it with the steeped brew
    2. Cat repellant. Don’t want the cat to step all over your garden lettuce? Place coffee grounds where-ever you want to keep kitty away.
    1. Develop film in coffee. As a film lover, this fun fact blew me away! Re-brewed coffee as a film developer? Yes, mam! You definitely can develop black and white film in re-steeped coffee grounds. Don’t believe me? For a full tutorial head over to Photojojo and check out some examples in the Caffenol pool on Flickr!
    Don’t feel like trying any of the above? Then just chuck the grounds into your compost pile for a rich composting agent.

  • Underneath the coffee trees

    I love it under the coffee trees. Don’t you? We’re off to the coffee hills again tomorrow. I’ll be photographing more of the harvest process and Coffee Guy will be talking with farmers and making sure the coffee cherries are being processed correctly .

    I can’t wait. Being among the coffee trees re-connects me with the very reason we made such a dramatic move in the first place. My boys run free in their gum boots in the middle of Africa and my heart swells a bah-zillion times.

    Love,

    me

     

  • The Burundi Coffee Harvest

    It’s harvest time here in Burundi and we decided to take the entire family into Burundi’s beautiful coffee hills to see it… and the film crew tagged along too. I don’t know if you will remember, but last year we didn’t see the harvest because we couldn’t get ourselves moved over here in time. It is a beautiful thing to see those coffee cherries bright red on the trees. The harvest will last for almost 90 days this season, so I am sure you will be sick and tired of hearing about it by the time we are through!

    Meanwhile… the amazing cinematographer Sunel filming the picking process. Me with my sassy pants on, caught by Producer Wesley while drying polaroid negatives between the coffee trees. Coffee Guy explaining the picking process for the cameras, while surrounded by kids (some of them his own, most of them not).

    Happy harvest!

    Love,

    me

  • The Burundi Details.

    I LOVE being in the coffee hills. They are THE PEOPLE we moved here for. Being up there with them always reminds me of the reasons we gave up that other life, changed course, and set up camp in Burundi.

    Wedding photographers talk about “detail shots” a lot. What the flowers, the decor, and the dresses were like. I had a chuckle about this on Saturday (the wedding-ist-crazy day of the week) while we were in the coffee hills with some amazing guests from our organization, The Navigators. I realized that while I was photographing dirty feet and age old bikes, others were probably busy photographing pretty flowers and beautiful gowns. Mine is a whole different kind of detail. I love it though!

    This is the same community that I wrote about here… and let me tell you, they have captured my heart. I can’t wait to spend more time with them! Really, they are beyond amazing and I love that we are developing such an exciting relationship with them. More on that in my next post.

    The building project you see? That’s drying tables for the coffee, in progress.

    Love,

    me

  • Want $45,000?

    I sure do… to help this community. I’m not going to lie. There have been lots of days (usually the “I’m-not-writing-on-that-darn-blog” days) that I don’t understand or know my purpose here. I know who I am, but not always what I am doing here. I am a wife. A mother. A photographer. A creative. A wanna-be chef. A wanna-be gardener. A wanna-be runner….. we better stop now. My wanna-be list is as long as my arm. BUT it is ultimately Coffee Guy’s purpose that brought us here. Yes, I love coffee. No, it’s not my job to export containers of it or to help farmers… but I care about it anyways. Deeply.

    I need to go to the coffee hills. To bring the kids with. To connect with the reason why I left everything I did to come here. To see the women, to know we are helping, to breathe the air they breathe, to see the communities they live in. To remember WHY I gave up my house and my dog and my friends…. for a new purpose. Those are THE BEST DAYS of this journey. I love our mid-week jaunts to the hills. It’s a time for us to pull the kid out of school, drive through the banana trees and connect. Connect. Connect. With our purpose.

    But enough about me… really. Seriously. There are people right outside my door with no clothes on and I’m whining about my purpose. Uff duh… so far to go girl, so far to go.

    Last week, with the film crew and the nanny all packed into the car…we headed to a new community. Farmers in a new part of Burundi. We drove along the lake and then up and up and up into new hills.

    Being filmed along the way.The following few pics shot out the car windows. Aka: totally incredible images. Just kidding. Try bumpy, blurry ones.Goat meat kabobs anyone? The goat is hanging right there so you can pick your cut of meat. That yellow container probably has banana beer in it. Good combo, banana beer and goat. Not much left, better hurry on down!

     

    Move it cows, we’re comin’ through!

    Burundi is full of people. Wide open spaces? Not without people! Here, there and everywhere.
    In the car… the producer (ahem, Wesley), the cinematographer (see Sunel, I can even spell it!), the nanny (and yes, IT’S TOTALLY AWESOME TO HAVE A NANNY!), the two kids… and the parents.
    Driving alongside the lake and the DRC mountains.
    Arriving at this amazing community.

    The farmers waiting for us.

    They have built this washing station with their own money. Here in Burundi, that’s rare. most exist because of government grants or foreign aid or foreign investment. This one exists because of initiative. Pure and Simple. We were so impressed by this amazing community. They need a $45,000 USD loan to complete their washing station. Feel like investing? Email us! We can give you a breakdown of where every cent would go.

    If you are a coffee shop and invest, they would give you first option on all the coffee they produce and you can garantee we would help oversee the processes as much as possible for as long as we are here.

    They stopped school and brought the students to us so that we could tell them about the importance of education and coffee farming for their community.

    Ever wondered what it looks like to produce a TV show in the coffee hills. Well, it looks like this! Hi Wesley!
    So cute, no?Myles does some cool drawings while the community meets with us about their project.
    When we got there the whole community was waiting and they had decorated the washing station with beautiful hanging flower arrangements (above). They had me hook, line and sinker right there.
    Do they have you? If you or anyone you know would be interested in providing a small business loan to this community, email us! The kids also desperately need some new clothes. I re-tied one boys pants three times… just so that they would stay up high enough to cover his willie. So, if you want to donate childrens clothes… we can talk about finding a way to get them to those kids.
    Love,
    me

  • Are You Drinking Ethically Sourced Coffee?

    This morning I am sipping a double espresso from Gatare, a washing station in the Kayanza district of Burundi that is producing amazing coffee. All this coffee sipping got me thinking about you. I starting thinking… What are YOU drinking?

    This as a sort of follow up to my What’s in Your Cup? thoughts. I know there is an extraordinarily large amount of people who care, really truly care, about buying ethically sourced coffee. They might care because they have social justice on their minds, or they have a heart for seeing impoverished people succeed, or they are on a year long quest to love the earth. Whatever the reason, we are here to give those who care a two thumbs up for their sensitive conscience.

    I like purchasing ethically sourced coffee.  For me, it’s a way of living out one of our family’s core values: The dignity and value of every person. So getting down to it, what should you buy?  Whats the difference between Fair Trade and Direct Trade? And who really cares?

    That’s too much for one coffee guy to dive into all at once.  So, I’ll give my two cents on “what coffee should you buy?”  I mean, I love you Barbara Kingsolover.  I’ll eat local for a life time, but… I won’t stop buying amazing coffee sourced from the other side of the planet.  I can’t justify cutting off a farmer’s only means of income because he lives in Costa Rica or Papua New Guinea or BURUNDI… especially if his coffee makes me weak in the knees.

    So, you are going to your local coffee shop to buy your coffee, but what should you buy? Here’s my list, in order of significance, of what I look for when buying roasted beans.

    1.  Freshly and expertly roasted. Roasting should have taken place no later than two weeks prior to the purchase date and the roasting date should be evident on the bag. Also, try before you buy. Often baristas will be more than happy to share a sample of their brew with you before you delve into a $15 purchase.

    2.  A unique coffee that matches the method of preparation you intend it for. Each coffee has a roast that will bring out it’s best characteristics depending on it’s use, ie: Chemex, espresso, French-press, etc.

    3. “Third hill from the left.”  The coffee you drink should be traceable. Get as close to the farmer as possible, see if you can get a detailed description of where the farmers are and what their community is like. This matters, plain and simply because people matter.

    4.  Ethically sourced and purchased coffee. Coffee that provides a livable and sustainable wage to each stakeholder along the coffee trail. The farmers. The workers at the washing station. The workers at the dry mill. The truck drivers. The exporters. The importers. The roasters. The coffee shop owners. The baristas. Without each one of these people along the coffee trail, good coffee does not exist.

    5.  Growers and buyers at origin who maintain a social and environmental conscience. People… like us.

    6.  Transparency in financial transactions stemming from your cup back to the tree. Ask your coffee shop how each dollar you spend on your coffee is divided amongst the coffee stakeholders listed in #4. They should tell you, really.

    I realize we can’t all do all of these things at once, but it’s about the effort. The effort to make a contribution towards building whole and healthy communities. You may think this contribution is a silent one, but it’s not. YOU dictate what businesses like your local coffee shop buy. I’ll bet if your coffee shop is not doing these things and you tell them that you want to drink this kind of coffee, you will plant a seed of change. Try it, and see what happens.

    If your local coffee shop is doing these things, give them a shout out in the comments section so other people can go thank them for a job well done.

    Coffee Guy

     

     

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