12.28.2008
Thoughts on the Cafe Bombing
The bombing at a cafe up the street has been the most unsettling. The thought that it could have just as easy have been our coffee shop does not sit well with me. There is no defense against somebody willing to do that with no regard for their own life. There aren't really preventive measures that can be taken.
No news is certainly not good news. Nothing reliable or new has come out since the day of. Conflicting reports continue to sweep through what little online reports there have been. No major news agency or media has picked up the story at all. We are left to guess what happened, why it happened, and whether or not it will happen again.
The anti-foreigner backlash has been probably the most troubling. Online some locals have blamed foreigners for this assault or asked for all of us "laowai" or outsiders to leave China or even for us simply to die. There is still deep hate in some people's hearts to say such things in the wake of this tragedy.
12.26.2008
12.24.2008
Cafe Bombing - Kunming
12.19.2008
McD's getting fiesty
12.17.2008
Best of Kunming- Vote Now!
12.16.2008
Quest for the Supreme Bean- part three
The cherries are then disposed of and the beans are spread out in the sun to dry. It takes about a week for the beans to fully dry and it is important step in the overall quality of the coffee. If the beans become to dry they will be brittle and break but if they are too moist then bacteria and fungus will begin to grow on them.
Here one of the farmers is sifting through the drying beans to make sure they dry evenly and thoroughly. After the beans are dried another outer shell is removed. Finally, the beans are sorted by size so that the grade of beans can be determined. After this final step the beans are then bag and made ready to be shipped or sold.
Its at this point that we now buy directly from the coffee farm (for local Yunnan beans) or through a third party (for buying imported beans from around the world.) For us we then cup the coffee to test its quality and then roast the beans so they are ready to make into various beverages from coffee to lattes.
12.15.2008
Quest for the Supreme Bean- part two
Miles and miles of Arabica coffee trees. Arabica coffee is far superior to the lesser quality of Robusta coffee. Arabica coffee is much harder to grow and cultivate but produces a more supreb flavor and taste. Robusta on the other hand is used mostly in instant coffee.
Arabica coffee must be grown at a higher elevation so a lot of time it is grown on the side of a mountain.
The Lujiang Coffee farm covers most of the mountainside in the foreground of most of these pictures. There are over 30 employed to cover the picking of all these coffee trees.
Unfortunately standards for Yunnan coffee are a bit lower so you can still see about 15% of the cherries that were picked before they fully ripened. Yunnan coffee is continuing to improve as more and more investment is poured into the crop and stricter standards are enforced. Beans of this region in Yunnan are said to have a stronger and deeper flavor than beans in the other major growing regions around the province.
Below you can see another picture of the coffee cherries as well one of a coffee picker way off in the distance.
12.14.2008
Quest for the Supreme Bean- part one
It was a fast trip (1.5 days) but it wouldn't be a trip within Yunnan without the obligatory flight delays or cancels. I took a Lucky Air flight, a local Yunnan airline, that was delayed 3 hours. I knew we were doomed once we boarded and began to crawl towards the runaway when they started to move the stairs back up to the airplane door. Sure enough, our plane was broken so we just needed to hop onto a different before we could take off.
Side Note: Lucky Air
Most translation errors or mistakes are funny and sometimes understandable. But come on. Lucky Air. I will grant you that in Chinese everybody loves Luck and it has a little bit of a different meaning than in English. But please I don't want to cruising at 30,000 with a company that just considers themselves lucky. Not exactly a vote of confidence.
Side Side Note: E-cigarettes
Apparently I missed the announcement of the invention of electronic cigarettes. I was baffled when the folks at Lucky Air informed us that cigarettes, cigars, and electronic cigarettes were all banned on board the flight. I thought it must an error in translation since I had not even imagined such an invention was possible. But then I wikipediaed it when I got home and sure enough, the electronic cigarette.
The flight to Baoshan is only an hour but the coffee farm village is about 2 to 3 hours further into the mountains. In fact, it was very close to the Myanmar border, as the Chinese man with the machine gun pointed out.
Upon arrival at the farm, we waited for the tractor to pick us up and take us up the mountain.
more of the quest tomorrow...
12.13.2008
12.09.2008
Debunking Myth #3- Can't teach an old dog new tricks
"Yes" does not always mean "yes" - in fact sometimes it does not mean anything at all
Roasting my own coffee and running a coffee company has tripled my coffee intake and my joy in drinking coffee
I view landlords in a different light
I do not appreciate being threatened but I have learned that I do not easily back down
If given the opportunity some people will gladly down 5 Grande Mochas without blinking
Cooking and baking can be very therapeutic
Hot Brewed Coffee never goes out of season
Confusion is a very strong negotiating tactic
A properly crafted latte can take as little as 52 seconds
Humor knows no language barrier
There is no common ground quite like a coffee shop
12.04.2008
Holiday Blend Coffee available starting Dec 5th/6th at Nordica
12.01.2008
Carrefour Hostage Standoff- Kunming, China
Crazy to think how close to home that is and that Carrefour is often where I go to buy things for the coffee shop and for my home. In fact, in the picture above is exactly where I park my electric scooter. The picture below describes the event in detail so please don't look closely or zoom in if you are distrubed by violent images. images from www.yn.chinanews.com.cn, www.kunming.cn
11.28.2008
Intelligentsia Coffee- My 2nd Favorite Coffee Company
Founded in 1995 Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea Inc. brings a passion for coffee and a focus on exceptional quality. This coffee company with three locations in downtown Chicago and one in L.A. has received many awards and their baristas continually perform well in barsita competitions around the world. My favorite coffee shop in the western hemisphere has a simple setup but their roasting, their drink preperation, and the excellent taste of their drinks is anything but simple. Although Starbucks started the coffee revolution I beleive it is Intelligentsia that is perfecting it.
11.26.2008
Top 3: Companies
1. WS Coffee (Guangzhou)
One of the few companies that delivers every single time. Never a fake excuse. Never a delay of shipment. Sometimes they lack complete knowledge of their product but they make up for it by consistently sending us free samples.
2. XinCon Consultancy (Kunming)
XinCon or now ShinCon made a registration process much easier than I could ever have imagined. Friendly and competent staff.
3. Nestle (Kunming)
Props for not putting melamine in their milk. Otherwise I am not sure how we would of been able to keep frothing milk for lattes and stuff. We had a great sales rep. until she moved onto another job so hopefully their service will stay great.
11.24.2008
The only cell phone approved by Chicago Coffee
11.22.2008
Coffee Prices might climb 20% by March
A report by Bloomberg pointed to a price increase due to Brazil's production decline and roasters rebuilding of stockpiles. "Brazil's total output of coffee, including robusta and arabica beans, may drop to 40-42 million bags from 45 million bags this year, according to Brazil's Coffee Exporters Council."
11.20.2008
Chicago Coffee Friend: Tian FuRong
Friend of Chicago Coffee and Professor at Kunming University received acknoweldgement this week from a local magazine for her bartending abilities. Tian FuRong, 田芙蓉, created and runs a bartending and barista course at a nearby college. I have worked with her a few times to help bloster the coffee and barista portions of their course. It has been great to have the chance to work with her to give students this opportunity.
11.17.2008
Cake for the Government
Requirement # 937
Provide 4 cakes and 6 cups of coffee for inspection
Provide 4 cakes and 6 cups of coffee in any container but plastic bags for inspection
Provide 4 cakes and 6 cups of coffee in any container but plastic bags for inspection before 11 AM
Provide 4 cakes and 6 cups of coffee in pizza box and plastic sealed cups for inspection before 11 AM
Provide 4 cakes and 6 cups of coffee in sealed plastic cups and sealed plastic bags for inspection before 11 AM
Provide 6 cakes and 8 cups of coffee sealed in plastic bags and plastic cups for inspection before 11 AM and bag up any dignity and patience you have left and we will dispose of that for you as well
I envisioned that my musings would be solely focused on the raw pure delight of a hot brewed cup of coffee but as it turns out there is a lot of 麻烦 (mafan) or trouble that goes into serving that cup of coffee here. Alas these are my musings about coffee and my experiences of being able to serve that coffee here in Kunming.
In order to get a particular license renewed, we literally dealt with the ebb and flow of the requirement listed above. The reason it has been amended 5 times was because of the different requirements we were given each time we went to the gov. department to turn in our materials to be inspected. It went a little like this: we make the trip to the gov. department, inquire as to what exactly needed to be done to meet this requirement, a gov. official instructs us what to do, we return back to the coffee shop, bake and brew the necessary items, return the follow day to the same gov. department, and finally we are told by the same gov. official a completely different set of instructions.
Adding to all of this was originally their reluctance to tell us what to do for this requirement because A) they weren't 100% sure they were the right department for this inspection and B) the inspection fee was unclear until they conferred and pulled a very large number out of thin air and then quoted us that. I am sure there must of been confusion because of our insistence to do all of this by the book when I am certain that most companies don't even bother and take the short cut. Otherwise, I am not sure how we were only the second company that week to apply out of the tens of thousands of companies that have to also pass this inspection every year.