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I just wanted to give you coffee lovers out there a heads up about something I stumbled upon (wow, I sound like some marketing exec, non-existent god help me).
Now I am a coffee Nazi, I could bore for Britain given half the chance. I get my beans from all over. Square Mile Coffee in the city, Redroaster in Brighton, Ismail?s in Tunbridge Wells, Monmouth coffee, the Algerian Coffee shop in Soho and numerous other places. I like to hunt down good beans and play with them to find out how they are best turned into a fine drink. Be it filter, stove top or espresso machine most beans have a method that suits them best. Due to my picky tastes and perhaps educated palette it is rare for me to find a coffee I can really enthuse over that is available in a supermarket!
I was in Brighton last weekend and stumbled across the food festival thing they had on. As well as some interesting teas I was introduced to a stunning new coffee. I was walking through the stalls and presentations when I had two small paper (PAPER! Christ is nothing sacred) cups of coffee thrust at me by an overly enthusiastic representative of Cafe Direct. Now my defences where instantly raised. I recognised this bunch as one of those do-gooder sycophant coffee companies that call themselves ?fair trade?. Apparently this means the growers and pickers are woken at around 11am with quiet choral singing and given massages to start the day. Following that, and only if they feel so inclined, they might go and pick some coffee for a few minutes or at least until the luncheon champagne is properly chilled. I like my coffee picked by slave labour. Orphan children whipped out of what can hardly be described as bed and made to work for twenty three and a half a day so that the coffee beans can be picked within fifteen minutes of reaching readiness. I like to be able to taste the blood, sweat and tears of the third world on in my coffee, it just makes the warm and comforting embrace of my drink all the sweeter.
Well the two coffees I was given from this bunch of hippies was from Kilimanjaro. I tried it and was unimpressed. A coffee of no real note, ?yawn?. The second cup was from Machu Picchu and was really bloody good indeed, a nutty flavour with dark chocolate overtones. I instantly knew I had to buy beans and experiment at home. When I asked the representative some questions the answers I received I did not like much. To add insult to injury it turned out that this coffee was organic. Apparently this means the insects are allowed to gorge themselves on the crop first and then allowed, if not encouraged to have wild drug induced sex amongst the remaining crops. Only after this are the half cut on champagne and thoroughly massaged pickers allowed to collect what is left, that is if they do not mind awfully. The second bad bit of news was that they only had bags of ground coffee for sale, I would have to find the beans in stores. I thought that was a vanishingly small probability but I thanked the sickeningly enthusiastic youth and helped myself to three or four more cups before walking on.
The following week I looked for the beans and sure enough could find nothing but the ground coffee in the supermarkets, that was until I looked in the place I should have started, home away from home, Waitrose. I purchased a bag or six of the beans and started my experimentation. I even took a bag to work and used it in the filter machine meaning I had to share with the unwashed plebs in the office but it was a worthwhile sacrifice for a brief trip to flavour country whilst having to tolerate overly dramatic work days.
So following a week worth of tinkering I can still strongly recommend this coffee, it works rather well as simple filter coffee or stove top.
So as much as it pains me, may I suggest you track down some of this :
You can always try the ready ground if you like :
but it never makes such good coffee unless ground immediately prior to drinking.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
Now I am a coffee Nazi, I could bore for Britain given half the chance. I get my beans from all over. Square Mile Coffee in the city, Redroaster in Brighton, Ismail?s in Tunbridge Wells, Monmouth coffee, the Algerian Coffee shop in Soho and numerous other places. I like to hunt down good beans and play with them to find out how they are best turned into a fine drink. Be it filter, stove top or espresso machine most beans have a method that suits them best. Due to my picky tastes and perhaps educated palette it is rare for me to find a coffee I can really enthuse over that is available in a supermarket!
I was in Brighton last weekend and stumbled across the food festival thing they had on. As well as some interesting teas I was introduced to a stunning new coffee. I was walking through the stalls and presentations when I had two small paper (PAPER! Christ is nothing sacred) cups of coffee thrust at me by an overly enthusiastic representative of Cafe Direct. Now my defences where instantly raised. I recognised this bunch as one of those do-gooder sycophant coffee companies that call themselves ?fair trade?. Apparently this means the growers and pickers are woken at around 11am with quiet choral singing and given massages to start the day. Following that, and only if they feel so inclined, they might go and pick some coffee for a few minutes or at least until the luncheon champagne is properly chilled. I like my coffee picked by slave labour. Orphan children whipped out of what can hardly be described as bed and made to work for twenty three and a half a day so that the coffee beans can be picked within fifteen minutes of reaching readiness. I like to be able to taste the blood, sweat and tears of the third world on in my coffee, it just makes the warm and comforting embrace of my drink all the sweeter.
Well the two coffees I was given from this bunch of hippies was from Kilimanjaro. I tried it and was unimpressed. A coffee of no real note, ?yawn?. The second cup was from Machu Picchu and was really bloody good indeed, a nutty flavour with dark chocolate overtones. I instantly knew I had to buy beans and experiment at home. When I asked the representative some questions the answers I received I did not like much. To add insult to injury it turned out that this coffee was organic. Apparently this means the insects are allowed to gorge themselves on the crop first and then allowed, if not encouraged to have wild drug induced sex amongst the remaining crops. Only after this are the half cut on champagne and thoroughly massaged pickers allowed to collect what is left, that is if they do not mind awfully. The second bad bit of news was that they only had bags of ground coffee for sale, I would have to find the beans in stores. I thought that was a vanishingly small probability but I thanked the sickeningly enthusiastic youth and helped myself to three or four more cups before walking on.
The following week I looked for the beans and sure enough could find nothing but the ground coffee in the supermarkets, that was until I looked in the place I should have started, home away from home, Waitrose. I purchased a bag or six of the beans and started my experimentation. I even took a bag to work and used it in the filter machine meaning I had to share with the unwashed plebs in the office but it was a worthwhile sacrifice for a brief trip to flavour country whilst having to tolerate overly dramatic work days.
So following a week worth of tinkering I can still strongly recommend this coffee, it works rather well as simple filter coffee or stove top.
So as much as it pains me, may I suggest you track down some of this :
You can always try the ready ground if you like :
but it never makes such good coffee unless ground immediately prior to drinking.
Anyway, just my thoughts.
But having said that, I'm sure it's a very nice story senor Big, but way too many words with no emoticons for my simple brain to obsorb. 
don TJ and the 
Coros
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