Kostverlorenvaart

The beans that smelled most delicious for me at yesterday's Lot Sixty One workshop are from the Los Lajones farm owned by Graziano Cruz: http://www.loslajonesestate.com/eng/farmer/ " Graciano Cruz is a full-time specialty coffee farmer living at the foot of Volcan Baru, just few minutes from his main farms - Los Lajones and Emporium. He is also certified Q cupper, MBA graduate, director of many projects, father of two sons, surfer and most importantly a big proponent of high quality coffee processed with the minimum of natural resources." To get the best possible result from these tender beans, I carefully check them to take out any funny looking different-colored beans: I come across one little cherry that made it all the way from the farm to my house with its fruit flesh coat still on. Dried out and crisp. I took a small sharp knife and cut it in two to find the coffee bean inside: Da Vinci (Thanks Christiaan!) Add caption

Roastmaster and barista Onno van Zanten hosted a meeting where he told the guests about coffee plants, farming and trading coffee, singe origins, blends and cupping. He roasted a sample in the small Probat sample roaster and we enjoyed the smells and the tasting of fine coffees.

About these beans: http://nordicapproach.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/finca-tamana/ Quotes from that blog: "This is the coffee from the farm Finca Tamana that Tim has been working with closely in order to improve the picking and processing.  We started working with Elias early 2012 and did our first harvest together in May – July 2012. The farm is 63 hectares but only 23 hectares are planted with coffee so far. It is located in the mountains near El Pital in Huila where the climate is constantly changing with scattered showers almost every day." " Cherries are hand sorted before they are processed in order to make sure only the ripe cherries are processed together. After de-pulping the parchment coffee is dry-fermented for about 2 hours before it is rinsed in clean water. Then the water is drained from the fermentation tank and the parchment is left to dry-ferment for another 12 to 14 hours. After fermentation the coffee is washed in clean water that is chan...

Telefoon des ochtends in alle vroegte. "U spreekt met XX van de Amsterdamse Recherche. Bent u Frans Goddijn, eigenaar van een Renault Clio met kenteken [...]? Er heeft zich afgelopen nacht EEN INCIDENT VOORGEDAAN MET WIT POEDER. Een verdachte is aangehouden. Graag horen we van u of u schade heeft aan uw wagen en graag nemen we een aangifte van u op." Ik ga terstond op mijn fiets naar huis waar het heden "plaats delict" heet en tref een onvoorstelbare chaos aan. Rep alsmede roe r. Meer sneeuw dan ze in Sotsji kunnen wensen. Wat wil het geval: oude buurman dacht gisteren "deze poederblussers zijn over datum, weet je wat, die leg ik op straat in de open container." Voorbijgangers dachten vannacht "Hee, poederblussers. Zou daar nog wat in zitten? Even knijpen." Gevolg: een gigantische wolk, geen hand voor ogen zien, duisternis bij volle maan, in ademnood verkeren, het op een lopen zetten. Buren hebben verdachten achtervolgd, politie is u...

A tasting session of the sample roasts we did last tuesday night: cupping and espresso. The beans are very freshly roasted so we need to taste again in a few days but we couldn't wait any longer. The roast looks and smells good and the taste was very nice as well. Edward and Erik from Trakteren are more experienced than I am in these matters so I am happy to hear that. The beans are interesting as well. Currently, the Indonesian beans they already have on their shelf are very good already, so these would need to develop extremely well before they want to find out how to import quantities directly. Discovering how this direct trading unfolds is a separate adventure. Some photo impressions of the tasting: Beans inspection Ground coarsely Smelling the grinds Pouring on the water Steep 4 minutes Count down Break crust, smell Smelling Slurrrrppp Ground for espresso First seconds of extraction Espresso from sample 1 ...

Edward at the Trakteren café showing some latte art!