Friday, November 14, 2003


kona coffee festival prizes

there are a couple of prizes given out by various places -- and they go to: kona coffee & tea, merle wood, aikane, kona mtn.

the aikane is familiar to many i'm sure from the dean & deluca paper catalogue, where they ask a mere kidney for it. so you can pull the plug on grandma, collect the inheritance, and then fed ex the relevant organs to the soho store.

my favorite konas, personally, are: smith farms, kona star, greenwell farms, and langenstein farms. as much for the coffee as the owners!

actually i've always been amazed by the dean & deluca coffee gifts. whenever i would spin my dreams of opening a gambrinus-style cafe here in new york, with coffee served in deruta, selling cult coffees from out-of-town for $17 a pound, everyone giggled.

but the dean & deluca coffee gifts should reinforce my courage! for example, the cameroon boyo estate coffee they sell. you can pay US$21.50 per pound with shipping; or you can pay US$14.20 with shipping.

it's the silver box, stupid! when will i learn?

and another tidbit i should learn is how incredible the people at counterculture coffee are. cindy chang and david haddock, this means you!

david haddock sweetly sent me another 3 lbs. of their organic coffee: an ethiopian sidamo; their holiday blend; and their aficionado espresso. personally, i've never seen a coffee bloom in the cafetiere (a.ka. french press) the way counterculture coffees do.

they explode, basically; and this is surely a sign of superb freshness. the scent of these coffees is intoxicating.

you know how the perfume of real vanilla -- even the tiniest amount -- can enchant you? there's something about very fresh coffee that is the same way; it just hooks the brain and reels it in. coffee must have some kind of similar aldehyde or something. . . .

for those who tend to say that certified organic coffees don't have the quality of most conventional specialty coffees, i have to say that in my experience the counterculture coffees are just as good. many many thanks to david haddock, and to cindy.

they are both tremendous supporters of the scaa consumer member program to boot! the motto is "coffee driven people | people driven coffee."

and it's true! i heart the counterculture. . .

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