Good afternoon, Cleveland winter....I'm snowed into my apartment with my boyfriend, who's tiny car is hidden underneath a snowdrift, thank you plow. We're expecting between 7 and 14 inches in the next couple of days. In a city where it's winter 9 months out of a year, you'd expect to get used to it. Never fails to depress the living hell out of me. The morning was spent playing a rousing game of scrabble (did you know 'sonsie' is a word? It means 'comely'. Which means.....?) in which I won by…
Continue
Added by Trza on March 8, 2008 at 12:00pm —
1 Comment
Bill Fishbein, founder of Coffee Kids, has resigned from the board of directors. Declaring his confidence in the organization Fishbein has decided to offer his expertise to other non-profits and businesses looking to maximize the impact of their Corporate Social Responsibility dollars and pursue other opportunities to help coffee-farming families. Fishbein continues to be an ardent supporter of Coffee Kids and will continue to advocate for the organization and serve on the board of Coffee Kids…
Continue
Added by Coffee Kids on March 8, 2008 at 9:00am —
No Comments
As a coffee house owner there are many decisions that one can make to offer sustainable coffees, environmentally friendly products and to create a culture within your business that is socially responsible. I have seen an exponential growth in customer education and social awareness in the past few years and am excited to see coffee houses and coffee roasters/green coffee buyers focusing not only on quality but also developing direct relationships with coffee farmers…
Continue
Added by Matt Milletto on March 7, 2008 at 1:46pm —
7 Comments
Is Minneapolis a cigar friendly town? Is anyone up for a gathering of coffee and cigar folks? We can call it the puff and slurp social! Looking for a location - please let us know of a suitable location.
Thanks.
The Coffee & Cigars Group
Added by Spencer on March 7, 2008 at 9:34am —
12 Comments
I am writing an essay on the fairtrade movement...I am learning so much! I would love to hear the thoughts of those directly involved in the movement, whether you are part of and NGO, retailer, buyer, or producer!
Hope to hear from anyone...
Added by Noelle on March 6, 2008 at 8:53pm —
7 Comments
Hi everyone,
Thanks for your participation on bX. I am pleased with the growth of the site so far, and have some great PR stuff planned in the near future. I recently added a new "Jobs" posting page on the site. The format and functionality is killer and as someone who has posted jobs on bX before I encourage you to try it out.…
Continue
Added by Matt Milletto on March 6, 2008 at 8:00pm —
2 Comments
I've been here in Guatemala now for a month. I'm now doing all the roasting orders for Mike with the exception of a few special ones he directs, but still involves me in. I've visited several farms and learned about green coffee selection and what to look for.
My next big task is taking my own farm trip. I'm planning on spending a week in Antigua visiting friends and checking out a few farms. There is also a possibility that I'll make a trip up to Hue Hue Tenango, though I'm not sure about…
Continue
Added by James Spano on March 6, 2008 at 7:43pm —
1 Comment
Thank you to all the great people who put their money where their heart is and donated money to help support Juana Martin and her family. Together we raised $3,803.00 for the Martin family!!
Edwin Martinez of Finca Vista Hermosa is flying to Guatemala Friday the 7th and will be bringing down the money to help out the entire family. Thank you so much to all who donated, chipped in and helped out. I know that several other great roasters like Victrola Coffee, Brown Coffee and others…
Continue
Added by Andy Newbom on March 6, 2008 at 6:30pm —
3 Comments
Does your coffee shop have free internet access? Did you know there are several online Wi-Fi directories where you can list your Coffee Shop Hotspot for free? It's true and it's quick and easy to do. Visit our website to read the rest of the article, Free Coffee Shop Advertising.
Added by Aaron Daywitt on March 5, 2008 at 9:31pm —
No Comments
So, another little thing about living on a small island way out in the Pacific is that you can't find anyone to fix your espresso machine. Needless to say, I'm doing pretty good at fixing stuff, reading manuals, and I'm way more mechanically inclined than I ever knew. However, our steam want pulled out of it's socket a few weeks ago. What do you do? So we jimmy-rigged a wand from another machine that we have (our current method of competing with other shops is to buy up all the espresso…
Continue
Added by Anni Caporuscio on March 5, 2008 at 2:47pm —
No Comments
We are proud to announce the next
Barista Exchange Meet Up will take place Friday, April 11th in conjunction with the
NERBC. The party is sponsored by the
American Barista & Coffee School
Here are the details:
Friday, April 11th, 2008
8pm - 1am
Ithaca, NY
The Chanticleer Loft (corner of Cayuga St. and State St.)
Barista…
Continue
Added by Matt Milletto on March 5, 2008 at 10:30am —
2 Comments
Major coffee producing regions of the world have also been the sites of bitter conflict, including Columbia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Vietnam, Laos, Uganda, Angola and Ethiopia. Tragically, areas with the heaviest concentrations of landmine use and the best coffee producing regions frequently overlap.
One of the best places to grow high quality coffee is in the mountains, the same areas that in times of war are strategically significant as borders between territories, or as…
Continue
Added by Swapna on March 5, 2008 at 7:44am —
2 Comments
For donations or more information please contact me or: escuelatloma@gmail.com.
Tloma Primary school is located in Karatu, Tanzania. A little village situated west of Arusha. The conditions of their school is what you can see in the pic... it is really horrible...
A group of friends will be travelling soon to help them built a better school so any thing will be helpfull...
Pens, books, ETC ETC is… Continue
Added by chiara nicolini jiskra on March 4, 2008 at 10:58am —
3 Comments
Sunday, March 9th, there will be Spring Bashage to be had at Harefield Road! Harefield Road is a great little spot just east of the corner of Graham and Metropolitan Avenues. Bashage will take form at this event in many coffee professionals, enthusiasts and friends getting together for beer and good times with no espresso machine in sight. Easy arrival at the Graham Avenue stop on the L train. See you there!
Added by Ed Kaufmann on March 4, 2008 at 8:04am —
No Comments
This Sunday night at 6PM. Informal barista jam. Sling some espresso, throw some milk, talk some smack.
Next Friday, March 14th. Coffee cupping and roundtable. 10AM. Cup some coffees, talk about the state of coffee in the area.
Dilworth Coffee Roastery, Charlotte.
Contact me if you're interested.
704.340.3005.
Added by Jason Dominy on March 3, 2008 at 12:00pm —
1 Comment
We just received a DVD here in the Coffee Kids offices and thought you should check it out as well.
Black Coffee is a three-hour, three part movie chronicling the history of coffee and the conditions faced by coffee farmers. It gives a great unbiased overview of the coffee industry, but also explains the challenges that coffee farmers are facing.
Black Gold is another good movie to…
Continue
Added by Coffee Kids on March 3, 2008 at 9:00am —
No Comments
Well, I just got back from a trip up the mountain to Asheville, NC. It's a pretty laid back town, with a broad spectrum of people. Every time I get up there, the place is a little different, so it's fun to see what's going on there. I visited several coffeehouses in the area, even one in a red double-decker bus that was cool. The shops I visited were, Double Decker Coffee, Izzy's Coffee Den, World Coffee, Asheville Coffee Roasters, and Caffeind. I had some great coffee, I had some horrible…
Continue
Added by Jason Dominy on March 2, 2008 at 7:00pm —
4 Comments
In Search of an Ethical Bean This recent article from News Leader in Staunton, Va., gives a recap of local efforts to ensure fair trade for coffee farmers. It's a nice article covering the benefits of a variety of price premiums for farmers. But in the seventh paragraph, Melissa Scholl, co-owner of…
Continue
Added by Coffee Kids on March 1, 2008 at 9:00am —
No Comments
Okay so i have been an official latte art shot pulling barista for about a month now.
I have quickly realized at times it is stressful.
You see peeps there is usually only 2 people in the morning to run the register make drinks and food.
So if we get a ton of food orders the customers at the register wait and the bar person usually gets stacked with drinks at the same time.
It does not help we offer every breakfast option known to man breakfast burritos made from…
Continue
Added by Jason Casale on February 29, 2008 at 9:15pm —
1 Comment
I just read an article on JSOnline that successfully managed to blow out a couple of bricks from the sturdy wall I have carefully built against sentimentality and flood my mind with a rush of childhood memories. The last of the real department store restaurants in the Milwaukee area, The Cream City Café at the Southridge Boston Store, will shut its doors for the final time on Monday, March 4.
When I was but a wee lass, my Mother and Grandmother used to take me and my siblings to…
Continue
Added by Mary Dally-Muenzmaier on February 29, 2008 at 11:30am —
No Comments