TASTEBUD
SO MUCH TO TASTE. SO LITTLE TIME.Archive for fair trade
West Is Best [Caffeine]
I’ve bent many an ear with tales of a certain coffee roaster from my hometown of Portland, Oregon, where the black and bitter can do wonders for the grey and melancholy that is the Rose City’s curiously beloved meteorological norm. That’d be Stumptown, the brainchild of Duane Sorenson, whose passion for fairly-traded, sustainable—and ultra high quality—coffee approaches the monastic. But he’s no shut-in: Sorenson leads annual source trips to such coffee-growing nations as Yemen, Indonesia, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, leading curious imbibers to the source. [I wrote about Duane’s never-ending search for the perfect bean in 2003 for National Geographic Adventure, describing a remote plantation in Guatemala known as Finca El Valle that comes damn close to producing it.]While there is undoubtedly some good coffee going on here in the city—thanks, Gorilla—it’s not exactly easy to get a good cup. So it was with joy I read (via Eater) that Sorenson’s search-and-deliver mission has finally landed in NYC. According to the item (linked to eGullet), Ninth Street Espresso will begin taking Wednesday and Friday deliveries of Hair Bender, an appropriately-named espresso blend derived from five coffees grown in three major world cultivation areas. Even better, goes the report, Stumptown will soon be setting up a Brooklyn roaster to facilitate the impending, city-wide jones. Anyone care to nominate their favorite NYC espresso spot? Noms will be tested in person—and shared here.
TASTEBUD 