Friday, April 22, 2005


moroccan honey & date chicken tagine: with coffee

so i spent this morning drinking a stumptown hairbender cappuccino -- yes, chris' coffee is now 14 days old, on its last freshness legs, but i must say, still gives great crema and tastes lovely altho' some of the more subtle flavors have passed away, but there was no waaay i was going to toss the last of the bag! -- reading the other amazing down under consumer coffee culture magazine, bean scene.

i found myself completely fixated on the delicious looking moroccan recipes. . . i nearly skipped over the great feature on home coffee roasting. . .and the one on long-time bccy pals, rainforest alliance (hiya, sabrina!).

and the extremely unusual but fascinating architectural discussion of melbourne's historic cafes. i mean, it's a fairly in-depth evaluation of the second empire style as a statement of melbourne's social affluence, political developments in the 19th cent. temperance movement, and how the restoration of the grand hotel coffee bar, now known as the windsor, remains a hallmark of the australian preservation movement.

also, the renowned coffee journalist and scae staffer alf kramer has a realistic piece on jamaican blue mountain, followed by a really serious article on sensory evaluation.

no wonder australasia has such a developed coffee culture. it's actually awe-inspiring how this magazine firmly ties wine, coffee and high-end food appreciation together.

but back to chris t. with all due respect, reading his recent blog entries on his reactions as he toured the show floor at the recent scaa conference nearly had me falling outta my chair.

"i realized that stumptown is different than the rest of the industry," he says, as if this idea has dawned on him for the first time. it's like watching andre soltner ponder a mickey d's.

earth to chris! we consumers know stumptown is massively different, that is focused on raising the bar for quality coffee to absolutely unforeseen heights! this is why we are in awe of you!

and finally, charlie of coffeewholesalers: don't give up! i will talk about your coffee tomorrow!

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