Cafe Grumpy » cafegrumpy

Buena Esperanza (Gustavo Alfaro, Producer)

cafegrumpy — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:39:59 +0000

Assam tea, Strawberry, Cane Sugar, Rhubarb

Mundo Nuevo.

The Greatest Coffees of 2011

cafegrumpy — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:53:03 +0000

Colombia El Paraiso Cappuccino Roasted by Cafe Grumpy
“Being a coffee super-geek affords a lot of rare pleasures, not the least of which is getting to sample seldom available coffee creations during the barista competition season…The coffees baristas select are often among the more special, small lot, too-costly-to-make-financial-sense-as-a-regular-cafe-offering sort, but if you’re in the right place at the right time when a competitor is working out his drink, you might get to try something special. Like, in this case, a cappuccino made with the mapley-cacao El Paraiso, roundly sweetened by one of New York State’s lushest milks, from Battenkill Valley Creamery. The single origin espresso roast’s fresh, raspberry-tart acidity still sang in the cappuccino cup. This one was a winner with me.”

Read the full article by Liz Clayton in Serious Eats.

Colleen’s Trip Report – Costa Rica & Panama

cafegrumpy — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:06:42 +0000

The harvest is only in the very beginning stages in some regions in Costa Rica and has yet to start in others, but it was still a very informative and exciting trip. I visited producer’s mills in Tarrazu, Costa Rica then flew to Panama to visit Volcan and Boquete. The next week, I headed back to Costa Rica to visit the Central and West Valleys.

Since this was my first visit to Costa Rica, it was great chance to spend time visiting mills and speaking with producers to learn more about how the coffee industry in Costa Rica works. They are moving away from having centralized processing mills where producers would simply deliver their coffee cherry to a mill to now processing their own cherry and working directly with an exporter. This is especially exciting for us as coffee roasters because it means the conversation between us and the producer has fewer intermediaries.

During this trip, I also had the opportunity to meet a producer we have been working with for the last couple of years – Richardo Calderon. His coffee has always been an exceptional arrival. In fact, it is the one I wait all year to receive and then feel sad when we roast through it all! Richardo and his sons have a few farms and a very thoughtful perception on producing coffee as well as pride in their mill. It’s very promising to see an entire family dedicated to such high quality production and it looks to be that the next generation of Calderons will be great farmers, just like the current generation.

The second half of the week in Panama was just as interesting as our time in Costa Rica. Over the last two years, both lots of coffee we have featured from Panama were bought through the International Best of Panama Competition. The selections entered into these competitions have always been impressive and I took this visit as a chance to discover what factors in to producing such great coffees.

There is, in Boquete, maybe even more pride and friendly competition between producers then I have ever before seen. Boquete is a pretty remarkable place for growing coffee due to its many micro-climates. All of the basic rules of quality are strictly adhered to so it is almost like crossing off any external variables and tasting truly how the available nutrients, moisture, and maturation of each micro-climate effects cup quality.

I returned from this trip very excited and hopeful for the coming year in coffees.

-Colleen

View more photos from this trip here.

Holiday Gift Ideas (Part One) – Colombian Coffee Sampler

cafegrumpy — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:16:38 +0000

It is that time again! Over the next two weeks, we’ll be posting some holiday gift ideas for your coffee-loving friends.

We are proud to present these three unique coffee selections from Colombia. We have been working with the El Meridiano Co-op, Desarrollo Co-op & Jose Ider Zapata for a couple of years now. We feel that these selections showcase the hard work and dedication of these producers with their distinct and complex profiles.

-El Meridiano, Produced by El Meridiano Co-op, Herrera, Tolima
Mellow sweetness with notes of honey and red apple. Tangerine brightness. Waffle cone in the finish.
-Desarrollo, Produced by Desarrollo Co-op, Gigante, Huila
Red grapefruit, candied apricot, peaches & cream, brown sugar, tangerine.
-La Coqueta, Produced by Jose Ider Zapata, Herrera, Tolima
Delicate herbal rose aroma, maple sweetness, citrus zest.

The Colombian Coffee Sampler Set ($40) contains three ½ lb bags of coffee beans (sealed in bags with one-way degassing valves). The set comes in a kraft gift box with our logo stamped on it. For our out of town friends, you can order the sets online here.

Snowflake Festival (Park Slope)

cafegrumpy — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:06:38 +0000

December 8, 2011
7:00 pm	to	9:00 pm
December 15, 2011
7:00 pm	to	9:00 pm

We’ll be offering 20% off coffee beans & coffee brewing equipment, mugs, etc. from 6 – 9pm.

Las Flores (Cesar Fernandez, Producer)

cafegrumpy — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:08:26 +0000

Peach Nectar, Apricot, Dried Currant, Vanilla

In the department of Santa Barbara near the town of Peña Blanca, Cesar Fernandez grows coffee along side his four brothers. On his 4 hectare farm, land that was given to him by his father, Cesar and his brothers support each other in the production of great quality coffee. Motivated and driven by each other, this year together they installed a shared, tile lined, fermentation tank. His coffee and that of his bothers, consistently rank highly in the Cup of Excellence program. They continuously reinvest the money they earn in the auction to improve their farms and processing. Cesar knows quality is found in harvesting only ripe cherries. Depulping and fermentation take place on the brother’s shared equipment only a short distance from Las Flores. The close proximity of the wet mill ensures that all coffee harvested is depluped and ready for fermentation the same day. The amount of time allotted for fermentation varies based on the weather conditions of the day. Working together and listening to the advice of the Paz family, sons and relatives of the owner of Beneficio San Vicente the exporters of Las Flores, Cesar is able to produce a consistently high quality, beautiful coffee.

Pacas and Bourbon. Grown at 1500-1600 masl. Washed. Shipped in GrainPro.

See images of the farm and order this coffee online here.