I am happy to announce that we finally can launch our website in English.
That means this blog will be moved to our new site. (We will no longer post anything on bogspot.)
If you are subscribing to this blog, I recommend visiting http://timwendelboe.no/news/ and start subscribing to our news feed.
We will be continuing posting news and rants about coffee on the new site.
Thanks to Chris Kolbu for HTMLing the new site.
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Thursday, 4 December 2008
The second film
Here is the second film in our production.
The film is about adjusting the espresso grinder.
We hope you like it.
The film is about adjusting the espresso grinder.
We hope you like it.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Critical documentary about Fair trade
Our national television NRK sent a very interesting and critical documentary about fair trade yesterday.
You can watch it here
Although we endorse the principals of sustainable trading and also care about the welfare of the workers that in our case pick our coffee, we have never been huge fans of the fair trade organization.
The reason for this is because we believe it does not benefit the farmer in long term, because there is too little focus on the quality of the coffee and the certification is too expensive and the control system is not efficient.
We have also experienced that most fair trade stamped coffee is of poor quality.
Therefore we have a different take on the principals of fair trade:
We pay more for better quality and try to create a relationship with the coffee farmers in order to make them focus on quality of the coffee as well as for their workers. You can only get the farmer and the picker to do a better job if you pay them well for it.
An example of this is our project in Colombia with Finca La Lomita. We are currently paying USD 2,50 per pound of green coffee for Mr. Alvaro Diaz' coffee which is over USD 1,20 above the market price and the fair trade price. We know that Mr. Alvaro Diaz is getting his money and we know he pays his workers well.
How do we know? We communicate with him and we visit him and talk to him and his neighbours as well as with the cooperative he works with.
Although we are paying more for a better coffee, we cannot call the coffee "fair trade coffee". Despite this my conscience is a hell of a lot better.
You can watch it here
Although we endorse the principals of sustainable trading and also care about the welfare of the workers that in our case pick our coffee, we have never been huge fans of the fair trade organization.
The reason for this is because we believe it does not benefit the farmer in long term, because there is too little focus on the quality of the coffee and the certification is too expensive and the control system is not efficient.
We have also experienced that most fair trade stamped coffee is of poor quality.
Therefore we have a different take on the principals of fair trade:
We pay more for better quality and try to create a relationship with the coffee farmers in order to make them focus on quality of the coffee as well as for their workers. You can only get the farmer and the picker to do a better job if you pay them well for it.
An example of this is our project in Colombia with Finca La Lomita. We are currently paying USD 2,50 per pound of green coffee for Mr. Alvaro Diaz' coffee which is over USD 1,20 above the market price and the fair trade price. We know that Mr. Alvaro Diaz is getting his money and we know he pays his workers well.
How do we know? We communicate with him and we visit him and talk to him and his neighbours as well as with the cooperative he works with.
Although we are paying more for a better coffee, we cannot call the coffee "fair trade coffee". Despite this my conscience is a hell of a lot better.
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Yet another film
Here is another film that was made by Mediaplanet a month ago.
It is not part of our film series, but I thought you might enjoy it anyway.
(And, yes, I had cold during the shooting of this film..)
It is not part of our film series, but I thought you might enjoy it anyway.
(And, yes, I had cold during the shooting of this film..)
Monday, 1 December 2008
Our own films: introduction to espresso
We are very happy to present a series of short films about espressopreparation and milk steaming basics. The films are made in assosciation with espressospesialisten in Norway and will be published on their and our website.
The films were actually shot over a year ago, but due to my busy schedule and some new adittions to the family of the editor, it has taken a lot of time to get them finished.
Credits and thank you to Patrick Watz from espressospesialisten to give us the kick in the ass so that we finally made our film plans become reality.
Our very own Ola Brattås, who has a history of being a film director, is currently in the editing room to put his final touch on the films.
Therefore we will launch the films one by one as they get ready.
Here is the first one:
Of course it is in Norwegian at this point, but we might have to translate and dub them in English in the future.
If you liked the first film, make sure you pop in to our blog every day during the following 2 weeks and you will get more...
The films were actually shot over a year ago, but due to my busy schedule and some new adittions to the family of the editor, it has taken a lot of time to get them finished.
Credits and thank you to Patrick Watz from espressospesialisten to give us the kick in the ass so that we finally made our film plans become reality.
Our very own Ola Brattås, who has a history of being a film director, is currently in the editing room to put his final touch on the films.
Therefore we will launch the films one by one as they get ready.
Here is the first one:
Of course it is in Norwegian at this point, but we might have to translate and dub them in English in the future.
If you liked the first film, make sure you pop in to our blog every day during the following 2 weeks and you will get more...
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Mr. Alvaro Diaz of Finca La Lomita in the news
Here is a link to a small article about Finca La Lomita and Mr. Alvaro Diaz getting payed a premium (by us) for his quality coffee. Scroll down on the page and you will see a picture of his wife and son as well as the boss of the cooperative he is part of.
Last batch of Gatundu
We roasted the last batch of Gatundu this week.
Unfortunately we have run out of this lovely Kenyan coffee.
If you haven't tried it yet, or if you are one of the Gatundu fans, I recommend trying the last brew of it on an Aeropress.
After our internal Aeropress championship, Tim Varney brewed a really characteristic and well balanced cup of the Gatundu coffee. His recipe is as follows:
18 grams of slightly fine filter ground Gatundu
2dl water straight from the water boiler.
15 seconds steep time after 3 vigourous stirs.
Press and enjoy.
For a picture series of how to brew with the Aeropress visit our Flickr page.
Unfortunately we have run out of this lovely Kenyan coffee.
If you haven't tried it yet, or if you are one of the Gatundu fans, I recommend trying the last brew of it on an Aeropress.
After our internal Aeropress championship, Tim Varney brewed a really characteristic and well balanced cup of the Gatundu coffee. His recipe is as follows:
18 grams of slightly fine filter ground Gatundu
2dl water straight from the water boiler.
15 seconds steep time after 3 vigourous stirs.
Press and enjoy.
For a picture series of how to brew with the Aeropress visit our Flickr page.
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