The Twelve Days of Christmas at Bridgehead

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Amanda Rheaume at Bridgehead – Oh Come All Ye Faithful

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Amanda Rheaume Live at Bridgehead

Visit Bridgehead at Bank and Albert on Thursday Dec. 17th at noon and see Amanda Rheaume perform live. While you are there, pick up her Christmas album for only $5 - 100% of sales goes to the Boys and Girls Club.

New Ecuador in Espresso This Week

Just a quick note that we’re seeing some of the 2009 Ecuador Procafeq Coop coffee roasted in the espresso this week.  It is in some of the batches roasted on Monday that are in service today through Sunday.  As of late in the day Sunday all of the espresso should have the new crop in it.

Although it only amounts to 16% of the blend there is a very noticable difference in the viscosity visually when it pours.  Essentially we’re getting “gloopier” pours with a higher concentration of oils – something that should consistently result in more flavour intensity, more balanced taste and of course a pretty amped mouthfeel.

The lot we’re using this year is the best we’ve had from Procafeq in 3 seasons with their coffee.  More notes to come once I’ve had ample time to play with it.  If you notice your espresso is extra gloopy, give it a taste for curiosity’s sake (as you should be doing anyway!!).

Smith vs Smith: A primer on the Fair Trade debate – Diversification & Structural Change

For anyone interested in learning more about the debate between advocates of absolute market liberalization and the broad concept of Fair Trade (as an aside, I believe these are interdependent), Smith presents in the video/powerpoint presentation below the common critiques of Fair Trade made by those advocating the avoidance of intervention in agricultural markets like coffee, as well as his rebuttals to these critiques.  All of the points made are theoretical microeconomic arguments, but Smith does quite a good job of outlining the realities facing many coffee producers.

Video Presentation:  FLO Fair Trade Diversification And Structural Change

For those that would prefer to read on the subject, here’s a useful document that outlines much of the arguments presented from both sides (although considerably biased towards the opinion of the author).   Link to pdf

What’s pulling this week…

Hi all, here’s a brief espresso update for those prone to a little enjoyment thereof.

Current blend composition:

2008 Peru La Divisoria

2009 Mexico Coatlanes (Santa Domingo & San Sebastien, Oaxaca)

2008 East Timor Cooperativa Café Timor

2008 Ecuador Loja Procafeq/Fapecafes (2009 crop is here and will be in the blend within a week I think)

Pulling at:

• 202.5F to 203.0F
• 15-16 grams for a yielded beverage weight of about 32 grams

Aroma: It’s tough to find words for as the aromas when we pull at winter brew temperatures above 202F.  They aren’t obvious in the sense that blueberries, for instance, are quite obviously blueberries.   There is certainly a peanut-like quality leading a generally nut-like aroma profile, with a dense freshly baked bread character nuanced with bush-like flora (in a good way… think Scotch whiskey descriptions…).

Taste Balance: Balanced; not especially sweet.  There is a nice hit of  crisp acidity to add a bit of energy, although the general theme of the coffee is definitely calming and warming rather than energized.

Flavour: Typical of shots of this blend pulled at higher temperatures, we’re mostly getting that baked bread, nut-like and slightly bushy quality dominating the flavour along with a clove-like spiciness at some shops while others are pulling shots with more of  that dried physalis-like fruitiness (Golden & Gilmour for instance).

Mouthfeel: Super dense; not extremely oily but “buttery” is not an inappropriate description.

Aftertaste: Very long lasting nut-like & toasty

On the horizon: We should have the 2009 Ecuador Procafeq in the blend within a week or two.  Strictly based on the sample I cupped before it shipped from Ecuador I suspect (or hope, rather) this might introduce some hazelnut-like flavours.  It’ s the best coffee we’ve had from that coop so I’m pretty excited!  There is also a chance we may look at adjusting the roast profile to allow us to pull with slightly lower temperatures during the low water alkalinity seasons.

Elgin lets their creative juices flow out onto the sidewalk

Golden rolles out the red carpet…

TV’s Golden Girls make a surprise appearance at Golden on October 31st.

Blanche event spent some time serving some customers, mostly just to chat up good looking men of course.

A very successful Halloween celebration at Golden!

Golden rolls out the red carpet yet again, this time the Rockettes. See them perform at the NAC on Nov. 15th