All posts tagged: speciality coffee

Humans of coffee: Ashley Els

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Who is Ashley Els? I really struggled with this question – it’s something that I’ve been wrestling with for a while now. It’s easy to define ourselves by what we do and what we have. The culture of today tells us this and leads us to neglect the essence of who we truly are at our core, down at the fibres that we have been woven together with. I recently have discovered who I am and will forever continue to do so… I am a teacher, a lover of all things coffee, an amateur writer of sorts, lover of people but above all a son of my loving Father. What is your best childhood memory? Definitely travelling down to my grandparents, who lived in Outeniqua Strand (a beautiful stretch of the Garden Route), early in December. I’d go before the rest of my family and spend time with my precious Nanna. We’d bake, cook, chat, go to the beach and catch up. A week or so later the rest of the family would arrive. I remember just sitting …

How to design a café

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You’ve seen me comment countless times on my instagram posts that “coffee spaces are my favourite kind”. And they really are. I’ve often wondered what goes into designing a coffee space. So I asked an architect. Here’s what Ledda Russo Architects had to say about how they went about creating the space that is Salotto Cafe in Sassari, Italy: The project is the result of reading the existing context. The main action was to reinterpret, respecting the character, an important Liberty interior, located in the main square of the city of Sassari. The main element of the new project is the bar, located at the end of the room, defining a scenery where the bartender and his activity take on a central role. The supporting plane of the bar is made in matt Orosei marble. The “bar facade” is made up of a series of wooden panels realised with the new 3d printing technology, in which there are different shades and where three-dimensional geometries overlap. The back of the counter, there is a dark grey …

Humans of coffee: Aga Bukowska

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Who is Aga Bukowska? A girl who wants to squeeze the most out of life. Who loves talking with passionate people, drinking coffee and taking pictures. Who thinks that there is no other way of doing things than doing them at 100%. Professionally, I am Expansion Supervisor at Coffeedesk, which is the leading coffee & coffee accessories distributor in Central/Eastern Europe. I am responsible for finding new spots, negotiating deals, operational synergy and marketing activities of our coffee shops. After 7 years of working in advertising agencies, I said to myself that I love everything about coffee community and I want to be a part of it full-time. As I’m the kind of person who can’t half-commit, here I am. What is your favorite childhood memory? As a child I used to spend all of my holidays at my grandparents farm. I remember waking up at 5 to a cup of cocoa my grandfather just made with freshly squeezed milk. Then going to a fair at the nearest city to sell wheat and oat from …

Humans of coffee: Reg Barber

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Who is Reg Barber? Reg is an artist who ended up designing and manufacturing coffee tampers. What is your favourite childhood memory? Walking alone in the snow on our ranch when I was very young. I pretended that the field was an ocean covered in ice and I was flying my airplane over it. If you could have a do-over in your life, what would it be? I have always longed for my own coffee shop, which is what I was working on when I began making coffee tampers. Another do-over would have been the ability to have patented my coffee tampers. What do you feel most proud of? Designing and making the World Championship trophies. If you could keep only 3 possessions, what would they be and why? My camera: I love taking photos. My gun: being from a ranch in southern British Columbia I began hunting for for food (deer) on horseback at an early age with my Mom who has just had her 100thbirthday and is good health. I have never missed …

Humans of coffee: Wira Handaya

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Who is Wira Handaya? A creative coffee enthusiast. Started with passion for video taking, cinematography to be exact. Back in the old days, coffee was only a drink that helps me stay awake for the day, and I started getting inspiration from taking and playing around with coffee photos I took. What is your favorite childhood memory? I would probably say that is the feeling when I see my son. When the world still feel safe and carefree. I would careless about what I should do for fun, because everything I see, feel and touch still is new and fresh. If you could have a do-over in life, what would you do differently? Life is perfectly imperfect. I wouldn’t change anything because everything builds who I am today. What do you feel most proud of? Simpelfideo. I have come a long way with many obstacles taking coffee photography but I still managed to build this name all through self learning and experimenting. If you could keep only 3 possessions, what would they be and why? …

Humans of coffee: Kyle Wade Sheppard

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Who is Kyle Wade Sheppard? In a nutshell, I’m a husband, Jesus follower, professional photographer and coffee enthusiast, so basically your average Instagram hipster haha. I’m a big picture oriented dreamer with an excessive amount of energy and I’m frequently stoked about a great many things. Professionally, I travel and shoot weddings with my wife (Kyle Loves Tori Photography) which is a crazy awesome gig, I couldn’t be happier with it! When I’m not traveling, I manage social media and content creation for local businesses in St. George, UT, where we live currently. Though I live in Utah, I’m a native born Coloradan at heart, and I’m very proud of my home state. What is your favorite childhood memory? My dad bought a digital SLR sometime when I was in late elementary school/middle school. He would take pictures through out the week at the summer camp my family ran. Sometime in high school, I remember my mom telling me that he, referencing my dad, had a special eye for it. I don’t know why that …

Humans of coffee: Sara Zuluaga Parodi

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Who is Sara Zuluaga Parodi? I was born and raised in Medellín, Colombia in a coffee grower’s family. From a very young age coffee has been part of my life. Growing up in the very heart of the coffee production in Colombia has allowed me to experience and learn about the whole process from within. I will say I’m a business woman of many many hats because I love the coffee world, I’m passionate about traveling and I’m a certified yoga instructor. What is your favorite childhood memory? Spending time in the countryside of Colombia was definitely an amazing experience, from riding horses, bikes, climbing all kind of trees to swimming in rivers. I feel very privileged for being able to enjoy my exuberant country since I was a kid. If you could have a do-over in life, what would you do differently? Nothing at all. I feel proud of who I am and I believe that all the experiences that we have in life are the result of who we become. What do you …

This is a good story and we are only on the first page

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Today a team from TriBeCa Coffee Company will head to Kilimanjaro to both build a dairy for a woman farmer who produces amazing organic coffee on the slopes of Kilimanjaro and, in celebration of woman in coffee, will also be climbing Kilimanjaro and brewing Kilimanjaro coffee on the summit. They’ll not only be continually updating their social media feed, but will also have a live tracker that people can follow to see exactly where they are! Starting on the 12th of March to the 24th of March. Of the world’s estimated 1 billion poor, 70% are women. Women own less than 1% of the world’s titled land. The World Bank estimates that more than 500 million people throughout the world are dependent on coffee for their livelihoods, and of that number, 25 million are coffee farmers. Unfortunately, coffee farmers typically live and work in substandard conditions, which are compounded by the fact that they receive only a small percentage of the actual price for which the coffee is sold to the consumer. Women, who represent …

Humans of coffee: Bastiaan Roozendaal

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Who is Bastiaan Roozendaal? I am 31 years old at the moment. I am a coffee lover, no I am not an expert. I am an entrepeneur, a father, a boyfriend and love to take on new things. I am from the Netherlands – no, I do not wear wooden shoes! What is your favorite childhood memory? That probably is the freedom you have as a kid. Not a care in the world only caring about that kickflip I need to land or the next fun thing I was going to do. I grew up in a small village with a lot of open land and farms, so that’s a lot of fun as a kid. If you could have a do-over in life, what would you do differently? My shool! I didn’t feel the urge to do my best in that time so I finished shool but I could have done so much more. What do you feel most proud of? My son, my grilfriend and my 2nd son that will come in July!! …

From a farm in Ethiopia to a Rocky Mountain bike trail

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I’m sitting on a summit 6500′ above sea level where the Rocky Mountains of Canada meet the Columbia range. Surrounded by postcard views and staggering cliffs, I take in the crisp alpine air and turn my attention to the bag of carefully roasted beans I had stashed in my pack. Coffee is beautiful. I am reminded of this every time I open a new bag. These beans are more than vessels for caffeine, they have a story, and a purpose. The label on the bag can tell me where they came from, but how did they end up here? As I run my fingers over their smooth, chocolatey skin I like to think about all the hands involved in bringing these beans to my cup. I try to picture the faces of the people who planted the seeds and watched them grow into trees, then carefully harvested, sorting through rows upon rows of plants using calloused and cracked fingers to delicately select only the ripest cherries. For the farmers growing coffee, these beans are more …