Coffee

Not Called Stumptown

We all know Portland is no stranger to delicious coffee. As pioneers of many great local products, it only seems fitting that some of the world’s best roasted coffee is made right here in this fantastic city of ours. As a purveyor and distributor of these fine coffee products let me introduce to you the best coffee you can find, not called Stumptown, in Portland, OR.

Nossa Familia Coffee

Clearly one of the best coffees roasted in Portland. Nossa Familia gets all of their green coffee beans from their family farm in Brazil. They’ve been growing coffee in the rich fertile lands of Brazil for over 100 years and the taste can’t be matched. With superb roasting skills to bring out the best of the coffee bean flavor, you simply can’t help but love their coffee.

Where to find them?

2 N. Killingsworth, Portland, 97217 (Ethos Builiding)

What makes them great?

Single origin coffees can be hit or miss, but when they hit they’re out of this world. Nossa Familia has perfected the art of consistency and quality. You haven’t lived till you’ve had an Ernesto’s latte or a Teodoro’s French press.

Cellar Door

This is one of our favorite little roasters. Jeremy and Andrea have been working hard to produce one of the finest coffees you’ve ever tasted. That would be good enough for most companies, but not for them. They strive for perfection from roasting, packaging, and brewing. Using 100% renewable energy to power their shop and their roaster they’re dedicated to helping our environment.

Where to find them?

2001 SE 11th, Portland, 97214

What makes them great?

Their caf has that neighborhood feel that just oozes charm. From the moment you walk in you can smell the waft of fresh roasted coffee as it seeps up from the cellar. All of their coffee is hand roasted in small batches ensuring the finest quality. From drip to espresso, there isn’t anything they can’t do.

Heart Coffee

Heart Coffee is a new comer to the coffee scene but has made a grand entrance. Small hand crafted artisan coffee that truly warms the heart. Highly skilled baristas and great pastries to boot this place is surely a repeat visit.

Where to find them?

2211 E Burnside, Portland, 97214

What makes them great?

You mean besides the expertly pulled shots or the fantastic home baked goods? The moment you walk into Heart you know you’re in for a treat. With a state of the art roaster located right in the heart of the caf and a beautiful espresso machine to match, the ambience can’t be topped. This place is hip- Trendy hip.

Ristretto Roasters

Ristretto Roasters has been around for a little more than a half a decade. Time has really favored them as they have perfect their craft. Artisan crafted coffee that is hand roasted in small batches. As fine a coffee as I have ever tasted.

Where to find them?

3520 Northeast 42nd Ave, Portland, 97213
3808 N Williams Ave, Portland, 97227

What makes them great?

Have you ever bought a bag of whole bean coffee that is still warm from the roasting process? You can at Ristretto.

Blue Kangaroo Coffee Roasters

Considered an Old World craftsmanship coffee Blue Kangaroo stands out with their roasting process. Using no formulas or automated recipe cards they simply roast by sight, sound, and smell. Their process starts with the search for the finest green coffee beans and then roasting those to make the finest black coffee you can drink.

Where to find them?

7901 SE 13th Ave, Portland, OR.

What makes them great?

All of their roasting is done to order. If you want a guaranteed fresh roasted coffee, you simply can’t pass them by. Stop in and order a bag of coffee, I bet it’ll still be warm.

All of the aforementioned coffee shops are local to Portland, Oregon. Put down the Starbucks and see what else Portland has to offer.

Find coffee for your office at http://www.hhcoffeesupply.com. We Keep Your Employees Awake! Whether you have a small, medium, or large office we can provide you coffee break room supplies at wholesale pricing and bulk discounts. We offer free shipping on all of our coffee and coffee related items. We specialize in small micro roasted coffees. We carry a large line of BUNN commercial brewing equipment to for your office break room. We carry an ever increasing line of specialty coffee from the Pacific Northwest. All of our coffee is considered gourmet but at wholesale pricing. http://www.hhcoffeesupply.com

Author: Eric Hermeling
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Advice on AdSense

Not Called Stumptown

We all know Portland is no stranger to delicious coffee. As pioneers of many great local products, it only seems fitting that some of the world’s best roasted coffee is made right here in this fantastic city of ours. As a purveyor and distributor of these fine coffee products let me introduce to you the best coffee you can find, not called Stumptown, in Portland, OR.

Nossa Familia Coffee

Clearly one of the best coffees roasted in Portland. Nossa Familia gets all of their green coffee beans from their family farm in Brazil. They’ve been growing coffee in the rich fertile lands of Brazil for over 100 years and the taste can’t be matched. With superb roasting skills to bring out the best of the coffee bean flavor, you simply can’t help but love their coffee.

Where to find them?

2 N. Killingsworth, Portland, 97217 (Ethos Builiding)

What makes them great?

Single origin coffees can be hit or miss, but when they hit they’re out of this world. Nossa Familia has perfected the art of consistency and quality. You haven’t lived till you’ve had an Ernesto’s latte or a Teodoro’s French press.

Cellar Door

This is one of our favorite little roasters. Jeremy and Andrea have been working hard to produce one of the finest coffees you’ve ever tasted. That would be good enough for most companies, but not for them. They strive for perfection from roasting, packaging, and brewing. Using 100% renewable energy to power their shop and their roaster they’re dedicated to helping our environment.

Where to find them?

2001 SE 11th, Portland, 97214

What makes them great?

Their caf has that neighborhood feel that just oozes charm. From the moment you walk in you can smell the waft of fresh roasted coffee as it seeps up from the cellar. All of their coffee is hand roasted in small batches ensuring the finest quality. From drip to espresso, there isn’t anything they can’t do.

Heart Coffee

Heart Coffee is a new comer to the coffee scene but has made a grand entrance. Small hand crafted artisan coffee that truly warms the heart. Highly skilled baristas and great pastries to boot this place is surely a repeat visit.

Where to find them?

2211 E Burnside, Portland, 97214

What makes them great?

You mean besides the expertly pulled shots or the fantastic home baked goods? The moment you walk into Heart you know you’re in for a treat. With a state of the art roaster located right in the heart of the caf and a beautiful espresso machine to match, the ambience can’t be topped. This place is hip- Trendy hip.

Ristretto Roasters

Ristretto Roasters has been around for a little more than a half a decade. Time has really favored them as they have perfect their craft. Artisan crafted coffee that is hand roasted in small batches. As fine a coffee as I have ever tasted.

Where to find them?

3520 Northeast 42nd Ave, Portland, 97213
3808 N Williams Ave, Portland, 97227

What makes them great?

Have you ever bought a bag of whole bean coffee that is still warm from the roasting process? You can at Ristretto.

Blue Kangaroo Coffee Roasters

Considered an Old World craftsmanship coffee Blue Kangaroo stands out with their roasting process. Using no formulas or automated recipe cards they simply roast by sight, sound, and smell. Their process starts with the search for the finest green coffee beans and then roasting those to make the finest black coffee you can drink.

Where to find them?

7901 SE 13th Ave, Portland, OR.

What makes them great?

All of their roasting is done to order. If you want a guaranteed fresh roasted coffee, you simply can’t pass them by. Stop in and order a bag of coffee, I bet it’ll still be warm.

All of the aforementioned coffee shops are local to Portland, Oregon. Put down the Starbucks and see what else Portland has to offer.

Find coffee for your office at http://www.hhcoffeesupply.com. We Keep Your Employees Awake! Whether you have a small, medium, or large office we can provide you coffee break room supplies at wholesale pricing and bulk discounts. We offer free shipping on all of our coffee and coffee related items. We specialize in small micro roasted coffees. We carry a large line of BUNN commercial brewing equipment to for your office break room. We carry an ever increasing line of specialty coffee from the Pacific Northwest. All of our coffee is considered gourmet but at wholesale pricing. http://www.hhcoffeesupply.com

Author: Eric Hermeling
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Healing food: natural way to cure cancer

A 2008 glance at Kona coffee retail prices shows options from $7 to 45 per pound. Contrary to the headline this actually sounds like a rather wide range where every market segment should be able to get their respective luxury-gourmet-coffee experience.

Yet if one subtracts all the products coat-tailing on the Kona name (e.g. ‘Kona Blend, ‘Kona Style’, ‘Kona Roast’) the range is getting much narrower. Nothing below $ 19.99 per pound, which appears somewhat genuine is to be found. If any other specifics like ‘Organic’ or ‘Extra Fancy’ are being added the prices are going quickly towards the $30 mark and above. Yet in supermarkets one can get for five bucks a wide variety of ordinary coffees and sale signs galore in the respective aisles. So who is getting rich here? And where is the discount stuff?

Let’s take a closer look of what Kona coffee actually is. The fabled Kona coffee belt stretches for 20 miles with only 2 miles width through the districts of North and South Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, USA. Ideal coffee growing conditions produce a very unique, highly aromatic, mellow, yet limited annual crop of the fabled ‘kona typica’ beans. Mostly small family farms line the two roads winding along the fertile slopes of the active volcanoes Hualalai and Mauna Kea. The verdant green scenery with the blue hues of the Pacific below is occasionally interrupted by the signs of coffee processors trying to entice the local farmers to sell them their freshly picked coffee cherries: ‘$1.60 CASH!’ or ‘WEEKLY: $1.55′ or ‘BUYING CHERRY-Always Highest Prices!’. (1 lb roasted coffee needs a 7.4 lbs of coffee cherry). Also, once the harvest comes to an end, ‘BUYING PARCHMENT’ banners will flap in the gentle ocean breeze. What’s called ‘parchment’ is the now pulped and dried coffee, still in a thin membrane covering the green bean, which will fetch a price in the range of $7.50 – $8.50 per pound.

And that’s the key to understanding the 100% Kona coffee’s economics: Every local Kona coffee farmer has the chance to sell their crop! No additional work as pulping, drying, storing, milling, sorting, roasting, packaging, labeling, marketing goes into it. Many choose to do so, as labor costs in Hawaii are at a premium and housing for low wage workers is nearly impossible to find on the island. The actual Kona Coffee Belt land is too steep and rocky to navigate with machinery and hard human labor is needed to plant, grow and harvest.

Most farm parcels are only of 3 – 5 acres average size and are capable of producing 20 – 40,000 pound of coffee cherry. Once picking costs are subtracted (50 cent per pound) the annual monies earned can be considered only an additional income. So farmers have their unpaid families and friends pitching in during picking season and then the numbers look somewhat better. Yet so far no one got rich farming Kona coffee – it still is a labor of passion similar to an old fashioned vintners’ backbreaking daily chores. And passion it is when a few of these traditional family farmers in the age of the internet are able to bring their product direct to the customers: No middlemen, no processors, no pooling of various farms, no store chains or roasters between the consumer and them. Even that for the farmers to process, package, ship, advertise, et al raises will their profits only marginal, it guarantees them independence. It’s added value for both parties, as customers know exactly where the beans come from and the farmer is able to care and quality-control the coffee from seed to cup.

The main factors driving the price of genuine Kona coffee are therefore: Kona as a limited growing region for a superb tasting product requiring intense hand labor, coupled with a steadfast national and international consumer demand that guarantees virtually no surpluses or discounted volumes of Kona coffee to be moved.

But with many folks never having experienced what a real handcrafted Kona coffee tastes like, the profit margin between the ‘commodity’ coffees and the rare 100% Kona coffee is too tempting for many roasters. The growing market of single origin, single estate coffees – as a Kona coffee should be labeled – is flooded with impostor coffee brands. So please do your research and don’t always believe what’s written on the bag when buying Kona coffee. Especially when the deal sounds too good to be true or it tastes like generic coffee, it is most likely that those beans haven’t seen Hawaii at all.

See many pictures and read more of how a small farm produces delicious, affordable 100% Kona coffee: http://www.bluehorsekona.com/ (low end pricing)

Life seen through the eyes of a little Hawaiian girl growing up on a genuine small coffee farm in Kona: http://www.athenaofhawaii.com/ (moderate pricing; celebrity clientele; presented in handcrafted wooden gift boxes and unique tapa cloth pouches)

Author: Joaquin Delanuit
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Digital Camera News

What actually makes a Kona coffee farmer, who are they, why are they doing it, or just for the mental exercise: Could I too become a filthy rich, days-in-the-sun, surfing, shooting-the-breeze Hawaiian coffee farmer? This is a highly subjective, behind the scenes explanation of the most pressing question folks seems to have on their minds when they meet one of us coffee dudes. So for the sake of it, let’s categorize:

Cherry farms

are often held by the same family over three or four generations. These farms originated to provide additional income to the day jobs working the sugar cane fields in the 19th century. The high number of children and grandparents enabled the owners to do the unpaid hard coffee field work in the mornings, evenings and Sunday’s. Most Kona coffee is grown in the vicinity of family farmer’s residences; planted between rocks in irregular patterns, ranging from 100 to 1,000 trees per acre, often interspersed with other crops and some shade trees. Nearly all is sold as freshly picked coffee cherries to large processors, who also throw in a few bags of free fertilizer. The parcels range between 1 to 5 acres and are often leased in 40 year terms. This is and always has been the backbone of the Kona coffee industry. None of the farmers has to worry too much about government inspections regarding pesticide or herbicide usage, or coffee quality standards. The cheap lease of the land, which requires some agricultural practices to be obtained, justifies the small profit. Living and housing in Hawaii is expensive and the rural lifestyle eases the financial burden a bit. Most cherry farmers have a Japanese, Philippine or Hawaiian background and reside in the South Kona district. Age group: 50 – 90, 2 to 3 family generations under one roof. Many are members of the Kona Pacific Farmers Coop and not linked to any farmers organization. No web presence or farm tours offered.

Coffee Plantations 

in Kona are increasing in size, but there are only a few names in this category. All are owned by corporations or individuals with financial backing from the mainland. Their sizes range from 20 to 60 acres, and often contain other outlying parcels. In this production system recommended seedlings are used, the rocky land is being bulldozed, row planting, proper cover crops, mulching, manuring, weeding, and pruning methods are practiced. Nearly all use chemical fertilizers and herbicides as they are purely profit driven. Their coffees are always inspected and certified by the State. Yet most of their harvested coffees end up as highly profitable “10% Kona Blends” to duped tourists, who believe this coffee being pure Kona beans. The rest is sold to green coffee brokers in Japan and the US mainland. In addition to their own production they buy from smaller farms freshly picked coffee cherries at a fluctuating per pound price. They also process and grade coffee for farmers lacking the required big equipment. When buying from them always look for their expensive private labels, otherwise you’ll get the coffee pooled from many farms. Traditionally these large plantations in Hawaii went bust in recessions because of their high overheads. Cherry farmers may not get paid by them on time, but can i.e. hibernate through the current recession by simply neglecting their orchard for a season or two. Owners and managers are nearly all long time Caucasian residents of Hawaii, who are experienced with the local political culture. They organize in the Hawaii Coffee Association and Hawaii Coffee Grower’s Association to maintain the faulty legal status of the Kona Blend laws. Age group: 35 to 65; ‘good old boys’ networkers; SCAA members and exhibitors; all offer guided farm tours, farm stores, and professional websites. Their Kona coffees and Kona Blends have a strong presence in US mainland and Hawaiian stores.

Gentlemen farms

or “Snowbird farms” grow coffee on their properties as a hobby, as a tax incentive or because a vacation property is zoned as ‘agricultural’. One can completely relinquish the actual work to one of the larger plantations, who then in turn provide some roasted coffee upon request just in case the owner wants to sell a few bags under his/her own label. These types of farms are not really meant to be profitable but this doesn’t indicate if their coffees are good, bad or excellent. Some are organically cultivated. Some even sell their well-cared for coffee below costs. The owners have other sources of income and only reside part time in Kona. Under US tax law a property qualifies as a ‘farm’ when generating more than $1,000 in sales p.a. Gentlemen farmers are mostly Caucasians who strife for living a calm, easy Hawaiian life and have a story to tell when asked for what they are doing all day long. Geographically in the North Kona district centered around Holualoa. The 55 to 80 year old group consists of retired, married couples, single women. They have no professional affiliation or only nominally memberships at the Kona Coffee Council and the Kona Coffee Farmers Association. Some have websites and generally no farm tours are offered by them.

Boutique farms 

are yet another category but constitute the fastest growing segment. The vertical integration of the growing, processing and direct marketing to the customer and owning all means of production is essential. A small profit margin is indeed possible but it needs a multidisciplinary approach by the owners to keep any outsourcing to a bare minimum. About a quarter of them practice organic farming and they are environmentally concerned. Yet the combination of advancing age, hard physical labor and lack of computer literacy are challenging for many. But also big egos nurtured in prior high flying professions stand in their way: farming makes you humble but not instantaneously. A number of these farms default during the current recession, because their owners overlooked that equipment needs to amortize and public awareness of Kona coffee was always low. Building a solid customer base for a farm takes approximately 5 years. Learning the ins and outs of coffee farming about 3 years+. This group of farmers sees the faulty Kona Blend law as the largest stumbling block to a higher price for Kona coffee. Yet they oppose quality control and state inspections of their product, which doesn’t fly with the government. Owners are mostly mainland Caucasian and are sometimes married into Hawaiian families with various ethnic backgrounds. One can meet a colorful assortment of the human species in this group: The aging hippie, the retired colonel, the liberal professor, the activist lawyer, the Silicon Valley mini tycoon. They organize occasionally and challenge the legal status quo of the legislature. Age group: 40 to 75, couples, gay couples, single women, single guys. Affiliation: Kona Coffee Farmers Association or none. Mostly homemade web stores, shop presence in a few Hawaiian stores, farm tours offered upon requests.

There you have it. None of this background info indicates that a particular Kona coffee tastes better than the other! As long as it’s not a ‘blend’ or fake of course. The border lines between the categories are also not so well defined as one farm can be a ’boutique’ but also offers processing. Or it could appear like a large plantation with managers and all, but is held afloat by the partnership income of a big time law office in L.A. Or a fourth generation Japanese cherry farm made it successfully into the cyberage with a dazzling website.

Kona coffee beans grow regardless and despite of the local politicking on their behalf. A coffee tree doesn’t judge its farmer by skin color, age, sexual orientation, political affiliation or prior profession. Just if it gets its leaves properly tickled from time to time…

Joachim always tries to tickle the leaves of the BLUE HORSE KONA COFFEE trees the way they like it. This ancient Polynesian farm land in South Kona was developed from pure cherry farming into a boutique/family farm, but also offers wet processing and sun drying to neighbor farms.

http://www.bluehorsekona.com

Author: Joachim Oster
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Digital Camera News

Dear Coffee Drinker,

“Fair Trade” is a certification that is given primarily to a company that can prove, together with a specific coffee farm, that fair prices are being given to the independent farm. These are certifications that are primarily being marketed in the USA by a firm in California. For example, StarBucks may promote a certain type of coffee that is being sold as Fair Trade coffee. Not all their coffee can be sold as such because this only applies to a very few farms that hold these certifications together with the buyer. This needs to be proven to the agencies in the United States that govern this certification. Even though StarBucks sells one type of coffee that is certified Fair Trade this does not mean that all their coffee is certified. This would be an impossible task. The biggest problem is most US companies only pay the farmer or roaster Fair Trade and then they have to trust that the roaster is passing this extra money to the laborers. So the farmer gets a fair price but the laborers, many times children work for pennies a day.AND FAIR TRADE – However does not ensure that children are not used to pick coffee or that the children are given a fair price. Neither does it ensure that the migrate farm laborers are paid fair prices. Fair Trade has been great in elevating people’s awareness of the coffee industry and has ensured that the coffee farmer and or roaster is getting a fair price and to a lesser extend some farmers but it has not always helped the people actually picking the coffee and completing the other coffee labor. Worse it has allowed the bigger farmers to make more money buying up the smaller farmers and making more money while the labor pool suffers. The going rate for labor has not increased in five years while Fair Trade Coffee prices have doubled. So whats fair about the owner making more while the laborers still suffer.

Worse Fair Trade has become so popular that it elevated many “bad or poor” coffees into popoluar brands – not because they taste good but because they have become Fair Trade – as that has any correlation to taste. Sadlty Fair Trade only means the large land owner gets more money.

Costa Rica on the other hand has a different system than most coffee producing countries. The coffee you purchased is from one of the best regions of coffee in the world, known as Tarrazu Costa Rica. There is a cooperative in Tarrazu known as CoopeTarrazu. StarBucks is a large buyer of CoopeTarrazu’s coffee. CoopeTarrazu owns 25% of our company. CoopeTarrazu in turn is owned by approximately 1500 small to medium sized independent farms. The function of CoopeTarrazu is to get the best price for the coffees that these 1500 plus farms turn into this processing plant as a group. The profits are then divided and paid to each farmer based on his percentage interest or the amount of product supplied to CoopeTarrazu by him. The entire process is governed by the Government of Costa Rica. The overseeing body is known as ICAFE. It regulates all coffee that is processed and exported from Costa Rica. ICAFE’s watchful eye makes sure that the independent farms are receiving fair market prices for the coffee they turn into CoopeTarrazu. Not only does Costa Rica have some of the best coffee in the world it also is some of the most expensive coffee in the world. The reason for this is directly linked to ICAFE’s involvement in the coffee industry within Costa Rica. It makes sure that the farmers are receiving fair prices for their coffee. Our plant is registered with ICAFE for this reason. This proves that we are part of the system that makes sure our coffee is truly Fair Trade coffee even though we are not certified by the USA body known as Fair Trade. We are also owned by 3 other cooperatives in Costa Rica – CoopeVictoria, CoopePalmares, and CoopeSabalito. In other words we work with more than 8000 small farmers. Each cooperative has a significant % share in our roasting plant and these are the sources from which we draw upon for our raw product, our green bean.

There are some other functions of ICAFE, which works very closely with the Minister of Health, the Minister of Children, and the Minister of Labor. For example, ICAFE also makes sure that the Indians that come in from the jungles of Panama and Nicaragua to pick coffee during the harvest season are paid fair wages, given health insurance, and proper housing accommodations during the harvest season. They also work closely to make sure there is no exploitation of children and adult workers. Costa Rica is very much into protecting the less fortunate and overseeing their rights. This is another reason why we are proud members of ICAFE.

So if you want to make a statement and buy a coffee really making a difference – buy a Costa Rica coffee.

Sincerely,

George Boake Moore
CEO
Mission Grounds
http://www.missiongrounds.com

Author: Boake Moore
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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