April in Paris a Photo Journal - Cont'd

Motorola Droid2 cell phone photos
of Paris, France

Air France - au revoir / à bientôt
(or Good bye / See you soon)

 Perfectly lovely espresso

Cafe/Coffee Gourmand - ordered as a dessert
(if only had known what this was sooner, found out the last night out to a restaurant for dinner)

Wine selection from Le Chansonnier - must find this label again
 http://www.lechansonnier.com/

Airport Gate - Charles de Gaulle - Paris, France (in the new modern section-I like...even though was leaving at the time, but was early, time to roam, too bad not more snoozer loungers is all I could complain about...)

Link to AirLine Trends for Airports--didn't see any Light Therapy Pods at Charles de Gaulle tho (could be since wasn't flying Finnair, this time...) but I like the Sleeping Pod idea in Moscow & the Rent a Stuff in Lisbon & I may have to Print out a Banner at Schiphol next time flying thru Amsterdam - the best tho is the Ladies Only Airplane Restroom on Korean Air, here's hoping they make that for 'all' airlines & 'Tout Suite" too?!
http://www.airlinetrends.com/category/airport-ground/

How did I miss 'tryvertising' or 'brand butlers' that Aéroports de Paris has set up at either Charles de Gaulle (CDG airport code) or Orly (ORY) - musta been on another terminal, can only hope next visit there will be more...what fun to be had then?!

Look here at their Facebook Page for Airport Brand Spaces...
(where was that Samsung Sound Corner when I needed it, would of so curled up in one of those futurist padded circular pods for the long wait after arriving ridiculously early for this recent flight I had leaving Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport?!)
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.260360853995875.68399.120174654681163&type=1

This is what we missed at 2B - we were at 2E...so close & yet so far...sigh...next time Paris, France--next time...
http://www.aeroportsdeparis.fr/ADP/fr-FR/Passagers/Services/services-confort/detente/music-lounge.htm

Breaking the Crust at my first official Cupping

Breaking the Crust
Cupping
Cafe Cohen - Barista Jason Cohen
Roaster - Cultivar - Dallas, TX

Jason Cohen - Cafe Cohen - Cupping w/Cultivar...
of course making a fun face, that I didn't see when I took the photo ;o)

http://www.cafecohen.com/

Jonathan w/Cultivar Coffee - instructing us before we 'break the crust'
at the cupping at Cafe Cohen


http://cultivarcoffee.com/

Jonathan Meadows - Cultivar Roaster - Barista - SCAA 2011 5th Place...
http://www.usbaristachampionship.org/?p=southcentral&s=comp

Jonathan Meadows - Roaster - Barista - White Rock Coffee - Lakewood Advocate Magazine...
http://lakewood.advocatemag.com/2010/05/launch-qa-with-jonathan-meadows/

note: one of his specialty drinks is made with espresso, ruby red grapefruit & raw honey...
not exactly what most folks would think to throw together in a coffee mug right?!

Cupping at Cafe Cohen - love these tilted bowls for the smelling/tasting of
5 different roasts: 4 Cultivar & 1 Guest roast...
Cultivar Coffee (previously Stir Coffee was here) is inside Good 2 Go Taco...
http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2011/may/05/coffee-operation-inside-good-2-go-taco-stir/
note: Jonathan Meadows with business partner Nathan Shelton co-own Cultivar Coffee...
thought curious that Cafe Cohen is inside Great Harvest like Cultivar Coffee is inside Good 2 Go Taco - one tho in Lafayette, LA while the other is in Dallas, TX...

Cultivar Coffee logo on a roasted bag of coffee...
think coffee cup instead of a globe - which coffee
is from around the world, so that is fitting
Coffee Cupping...

Wiki explains it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_cupping

Coffee Research Org explains it...
http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/cupping.htm

Counter Culture Coffee--shows another photo of what may be 'breaking the crust' in the glasses that are used for Cortado's & also in Cafe Cohen's case, that 'off the menu' request called a 'J-Co'...
http://counterculturecoffee.com/cupping

close up view of the 5 roasts on the Cafe Cohen counter

during our Cupping w/Cultivar - Guatemala, Rwanda, Columbia, Costa Rica

& the guest roaster in the black bag (that Ugh--I forget the name of, will have to ask)

leftover grounds at the bottom of the tilted cupping bowls,

next to the Cultivar Guatemala roasted bag of beans...

Jonathan - proof that he does wear many hats,

he roasts, he's a Barista, he also does the dishes...

(who told me at times they have a table of 14 roasts to taste at once -

which I can hardly keep track of the 5 we had, with 2 favorites...

this time one that I didn't pick last cupping with just Jason trying

to create a cupping experience - now this time it's rather official?!)

Thank you, Cafe Cohen - Jason, Cultivar - Jonathan

& Great Harvest Bread Co for giving Cafe Cohen the Coffeebar space!!

Cultivar Coffee - Facebook page...

http://www.facebook.com/cultivarcoffee

Cafe Cohen - Blog - an earlier cupping w/Cultivar & Nathan that time...
http://www.cafecohen.com/blog/
(note: which somehow I missed, no matter I'm the mayor on Foursquare?!)

Wiki List of Coffee Varieties mentions 'Cultivar' - which may very well be why they chose their name, Cultivar Coffee (I've yet to hear the rest of the story, but here is the proper description...)

Cultivar, the botanical term, is normally and correctly used for selections and forms of cultivated plants; it must be visually distinct from other cultivars, and it must be possible to propagate it reliably.

Found a Coffee Cupper's Handbook by Ted Lingle on Sweet Maria's webpage (who claim to be an online Coffee Univ) - 66 pgs at $38 - includes a Coffee Cupper's Flavor Wheel on the inside cover
http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/miscellaneous/books/coffee-cupper-s-handbook-full-edition.html
(note: Wow--still it's way/Way over my head, so not for my coffee table...or not this year?!)

Link to a YouTube about a Cupping Room--tho it's downunder, so no visit anytime soon (perhaps there's one here in the US too, just a Coffee Cupping Room...hmmm...on the list of coffee adventures yet to be had...)
http://youtu.be/pBJwOC7H4lg

To get to be an official cupper, there is a test, here is a 'taste' of that testing on YouTube with Coffee Video Magazine - Sensory Skills Test...
http://youtu.be/us91z1O_r_Y

 

a Cupping Spoon - in stainless - that you can order online
say off Amazon.com for about $10 - set of 2

Coffee Cupping Equipment - one example...

Dozen Cupping (silver) Spoons $22
Set - 3 Dozen - Cupping Bowls porcelain/heavy Glasses $82
Plastic (blue) Cupping Trays $3.75 ea
A fully plumbed Cupping Table $16,050
all prices per Coffee Tec... http://www.coffeetec.com/default.asp
(note: I'm getting the idea, like all else, it's an expensive coffee lab adventure...
you'll note on the YouTubes if they use one of these Cupping Tables, that turn
& you can spit in little side sinks, what it costs above...I'm not sure I would
spit at that if I had to consider the costs?!)


Photos following of that earlier Coffee Cupping at Cafe Cohen w/just Jason -
so perhaps not so official as with Cultivar Coffee Roasters & Jonathan,
but it was a great First Experience at Coffee Cupping for sure (my first time
to hear about 'breaking the crust' for one thing, bit by bit I'm learning enough
about coffee to be perhaps dangerous, just a bit...either that or a Coffee Geek?!)

beans & grounds lined up on counter
(yes, it's a very sunny day)

from the other direction, the 4 roasts for the day on the bar...
(this is when I'll discover that I don't know Rwanda roast,
but I like it the best, surprised me - after my beloved Guatemala)

Jason in the sun, Jason is sunny already--getting ready to poor

hot water over the grounds so we can have a smell, then a taste -

of our unknown coffee roasts...

and the smelling has begun, as is our lineup -

me & the boys, in the sun with our regular spoons,

that we correctly dip into hot water after each dip

(so no double dipping going on right?!)

Jason does a demo for us, we know nothing...
except it's early & we've not had our caffeine for the morning,
so it's amazing for one we can wait, or that we can focus?!

Thanks for the Coffee Cupping Tester Morning Cafe Cohen--Jason?!
Now we were ready for Cultivar & their fancy Coffee Spoons & slanted bowls!!

H-Town Coffee Adventure No.1

H-Town (aka Houston, TX)
Coffee Adventure No. 1
w/e of 1/20/12 - 1/22/12

Stop No. 1

photo credit: catalinacoffeeshop.com

Catalina Coffee Shop
2201 Washington Ave
Houston, TX 77007

Bus Stop - Sawyer @ Union
S. Heights

Roaster of Catalina's Coffees - Amaya Roasting Co - Max, the Owner

http://catalinacoffeeshop.com/

photo/logo credit: catalinacoffeeshop.com

About...
Since opening in April 2007, Catalina Coffee has sought to provide our customers with a fresh and exciting coffee experience. We strive to consistently offer the best product that we can, and constantly evolve to do so. We mainly feature coffee from Amaya Roasting Company, as well as bringing in guest coffees from other roasters from across the country.

Hours:Monday - Friday 6:30 AM – 7:00 PM
Saturday - Sunday 7:30 AM – 7:00 PM

phone 713.861.8448

my Cortado, on the wood counter in the back corner against the brick wall...
taken w/natural light, can you tell (OK, I will not give up my Day Job for Photography anytime soon...)
Back to the coffee--there was no messing around--there is no Latte Art here, or not in this order...

A curious link to a Proto type of Luminaire LB-1 under the News tab on their webpage...
http://catalinacoffeeshop.com/index.php?option=com_zoo&view=category&Itemid=224

Link to their Facebook page...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Catalina-Coffee-Shop/249554315274

Facebook Info...

"A tribute to the best coffeehouse in Houston. If you're in the market for a foo-foo, coffee-flavored beverage, you're in the WRONG place. I would willingly increase my carbon footprint for the brew." Link to Urbanspoon reviews... http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/8/777940/restaurant/The-Heights/Catalina-Coffee-Shop-Houston Link to Yelp reviews... http://www.yelp.com/biz/catalina-coffee-houston Link to Houston Press - Best of 2011 Award - Best Coffee Shop... http://www.houstonpress.com/bestof/2011/award/best-coffee-shop-2674542/ "Here's our exhaustive criterion when it comes to drinking coffee: It has to be good. Annnndddd that's about it. All of the bells and whistles in terms of decor and iPod playlists are fine, but if the warm liquid that fills our barely awake beings tastes like brown water, our caffeine-deprived benchmark will never be met. It's true that Catalina boasts an inviting and chic space in the Sixth Ward, but they're nailing the most important part — the coffee — thanks to creative yet not too fancy takes on goods from Amaya Roasting Company, which harvests coffee beans from countries such as Brazil, Costa Rica and Ethiopia." Link to Houston City Search reviews...

http://houston.citysearch.com/profile/45339821/houston_tx/catalina_coffee.html


Link to Chron.com review by TechBlog...
http://blog.chron.com/techblog/2008/06/caffeinated-wi-fi-review-catalina-coffee/

Link to 29-95 Restaurants review...
http://www.29-95.com/restaurants/catalina-coffee

Link to their Roaster Amaya...
http://www.amayaroasting.com/

sparrows in the winter trees alongside Catalina Coffee Shop in their garden...
I like they have a side garden there & metal art work hanging/flying on the corner of the bldg too, a bird, a phoenix (should of taken a photo of that too, but I was on a coffee mission first...)

My Note - My Purchases - Guatemala & Rwanda...
And a Coffeebag packed T-shirt (for a coffee loving friend I know, who just happens to be a Barista back home too - who sent me here so how could I not say Thank you with a Coffeeshop Tee?!)

Descriptions from Roaster webpage...

Guatemala
http://www.amayaroasting.com/product/concepcion-pixcaya

Guatemala Concepcion Pixcaya

Notes: Juicy, complex, melon, cane syrup, bakers chocolate.
Origin: Guatemala
Owner(s): Manuel Zaghi Miron and Maria Cristina Miron de Zaghi
Region: Sacatepequez
Varietal: Giant Bourbon
Elevation: 1890MASL
Process: Fully washed

(note: nothing else after this...Let it be known though that I support the Guatemalan Coffee Farmers, maybe I repeat this, due to the fact I know a family from there whose patron use to tell them sad stories about the local coffee plantation farmers & then after I met them as an Expat they'd tell me some of them...right then & there, I did a silent "I swear I will help however I can in the future"--so I buy Gutemala Coffee, Fair Trade especially, whenever I possibly can?!)

also in the Catalina Coffee Shop garden, I think it's a fig tree, sparrows gone

Rwanda
http://www.amayaroasting.com/product/rwanda-musasa

Rwanda Musasa

Notes: Violet, dried cranberry, prune, black tea, complex.
Co-Op: Dukundekawa Musasa (1815 Co-Op Members)
Region: Ruli Sector, Rushashi District
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Elevation: 1500 - 2000 MASL
Processing: Fully Washed and dried on African beds
The Dukundekawa Musasa cooperative lies high in Rwanda’s rugged north-west, at around 1,800 meters. The co-op built its first coffee washing station in 2003, with a development loan from the Rwandan government and the support of the USAID-financed PEARL project.
This transformational program was aimed at switching the focus in the Rwandan coffee sector from an historic emphasis on quantity to one of quality - and so opening up Rwanda to the far higher-earning specialty coffee market. The programme and its successor, SPREAD, have been invaluable in helping Rwanda’s small-scale coffee farmers to rebuild their production in the wake of the devastating 1994 genocide and the 1990s world coffee crash.
Musasa now owns two washing stations and is one of Rwanda’s larger cooperatives, with 1,815 members in the 2010/11 crop year. In addition, the co-op buys and processes cherries from a few thousand more farmers in the area who are not official co-op members.
Most of these small scale producers own less than a hectare of land, with an average of only 500 coffee trees each as well as other subsistence food crops. Musasa gives these small farmers the chance to combine their harvests and process cherries centrally - and therefore sell them on to international buyers for far higher prices. Before the proliferation of washing stations such as Musasa, the norm in Rwanda was for small farmers to sell semi-processed cherries to a middleman - and the market was dominated by a single exporter. This commodity-focused system - coupled with declining world prices in the 1990s - brought severe hardship to farmers, some of whom abandoned coffee entirely.
Today, it’s a different picture. Farmers who work with Musasa have seen their income at least double, and the co-op produces some outstanding lots for the specialty market year after year. ‘Dukundekawa’ means ‘love coffee’ in Kinyarwanda (Rwanda’s official language) - in reference to the power of coffee to improve the lives of those in rural communities.
The level of care that Musasa takes over the processing is impressive. Cherries are hand picked only when fully ripe and the beans are sorted, sorted and sorted again to remove defects. Individual lots are also tracked through the pulping, sorting and drying process, meaning that Musasa can trace each lot back to the individual farmers that grow it.

(note: we would sample this coffee roast as a Clever/PourOver after the w/e in Houston along with another Rwanda coffee from another roaster & Both of them were very/Very interesting to my tastebuds...I was very/Very surprised & a bit sad that my Guatemala choice & another Guatemala from another roaster were not as interesting...)

Other Coffee Roasts of Amaya Roasting Co. I did not purchase...
Columbia
Peru
Santa Ana - Guatemala - Decaf

above the Catalina Coffee Shop garden, the power boxes & one my fav secret loves to photograph, grafitti - Yes, grafitti stickers count (in my book) - I always want to know who 'they' are, who put them there...(my all time fav's are still back in Stavanger, Norway...sigh...the power boxes that were there were painted to look like mini apt complexes, complete with say satellite dish details?!)

...and in zooming in I have a feeling the 'force majeure' sticker, on the middle box at the top, just may have a little something to do with a certain oil spill in the Gulf, so it's been there that long on this power box... (having driven over from Lafayette & having lived there before & also having lived in Houston before I know a bit of the backstory to that sticker's image--just don't know who made these & put them up - were they making a statement? hmmm...for another investigation, another time?!)

Next Adventure - Coffee & Grafitti (I may need a guide--any volunteers out there?!)