A position has opened up in one of our Emporiums for an experienced General Manager.

If you think you have what it takes, then why not apply for a challenging and rewarding job, where all the urban coffee is free!!!

For more info and to apply, click here.

Our Aaran is going to be running this crazy looking thing on weekdays, with Katie and others helping out on the weekends.

We will be open Mon-Fri 7am-3pm and Sat & Sun 10am-5pm. Hours will hopefully be prolonged as demand grows ;)

The most exciting thing about it is that we will be serving a completely different espresso to what you can get in our Emporiums, as we don’t want to become boring now do we?! Watch this space for Rich’s blog entirely dedicated to the new blend…!

Hope you love our new digs as much as we do!

After a month where everyone finished the book this time the split of those who finished the book was a little more pronounced. The beginning mystery of the book put off a few, but those that persevered enjoyed the book. Although the book’s title focused on psychopaths, the group felt the book was more a look at mental health more widely. Some people felt the book was more a collection of articles looking loosely at a number of different elements rather than a concentrated focus on psychopathy. But everyone enjoyed the easy to read nature of the book.

May’s book is the award winning novel by Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending, which is available in all good bookshop and your local library. We’ll be meeting on Thursday 31st May at 6pm in the Church St. We’d love for you to join us…even if you don’t finish (or start) the book!

Urban Book Club.

The coffee industry, for the last ten years or so, has been accelerating at a phenomenal rate. You may not realise this walking into your nearest chain, but people directly involved in the learning process of the coffee industry (at an independent level) are constantly looking for more information to educate the customer – one thing that is paramount in the craft of coffee. If you don’t inform the customer as you move along, then you risk alienating them, and they won’t understand why you’ve changed and why you do the things that you do.

One of the biggest problems that stunts the growth of the Coffee Industry is the Americanisation of coffee ordering. For years, as customers, we have been told various conflicting ways of consuming coffee and people have used misplaced words such as ‘strong coffee’ to explain the boldness of a brew, and words like ‘foamy’ being used to denote stretched milk. This being none of the customers fault, it’s just a lack of knowledge that’s been paraded around as loose knowledge with generic words.

The truth about coffee is that the temperature of every single component affects the way that it tastes. The process of making a coffee in itself is a course of deterioration from bean to cup, but some Baristas can limit the deterioration through proper use of equipment, knowledge and skill. Think of the most commonly ordered drink in most coffee shops: a Latte. First of all the espresso needs to be extracted in accordance within the parameters of what the Barista has deemed optimal extraction. We have been recently using Union Colombian Asprotimana which I have personally been pulling as quite a tight shot at around 91 degrees. Pulling the shot as a tight extraction at a slightly lowered temperature to me really makes it burst in your mouth and highlights the sour apple-like acidity. If you have pulled a good shot you then need to ensure that your milk is stretched to the correct temperature of 65 degrees. This is the optimal temperature for milk, as when it becomes too hot it breaks down the proteins and sugars in the milk and drastically alters the taste.

If you ever want to put this to the test try it at home – once you get past a certain temperature you will notice a custard like smell and a burnt tangy taste on your pallet. If you add this to coffee it will completely alter the flavour and require you to add sugar to it (which is why most people who ask for ‘extra hot’ often have the desire to put sugar in their drinks).

If you drink coffee as it is meant to be drank (within a few minutes to get the best out of it) you will notice a distinct sweetness within the milk, and heating it to 65 degrees highlights this sweetness. Add to that a well roasted bean extracted perfectly and you have a really distinctive drink. Feel free to swing by and put it to the test.

In conclusion, a well crafted coffee is similar to eating a good steak – to bring out the best in the ingredients it must always always be prepared correctly.

Rich

So you will have a new place to venture to when you need that excellent caffeine fix but don’t have time to sit! Watch this space for our launch date, where free coffee & cupcakes will be handed out on the day and where this magnificent, albeit huge coffee pod will be…if you haven’t guessed already ;)

I’ve always enjoyed good coffee at home. For me, home brewing was actually how I got into coffee in the first place. Good Coffee at home isn’t difficult as long as you follow a simple recipe, much like cooking. At Urban we sell a coffee brewer that is perfect for brewing at home, the V60 filter brewer.

There are 3 parameters to a brewing recipe, grind, dose and time.

Things you’ll need:
• Hot water (around 91-95C, just off the boil. DO NOT USE boiling water, it’ll burn the coffee and taste nasty)
• A V60 and V60 filter papers
• Digital Scales (optional, but highly recommended)
• A vessel to brew into (jug, mug etc)
• Fresh, tasty coffee.

Grind

Grind is vital, how coarse or fine the grind is will effect how long the water is in contact with the water, too long it will over extract giving a bitter taste, too little it will under extract giving a sour taste. Communicating grind size is difficult but it should be a similar texture to sand, a better indicator is that if your brew falls between 2:30-3:00, grind should be ok. If you are buying pre-ground coffee from us, please state which brewing method you are using and we’ll adjust the grind according. If you start drinking a lot of coffee, think about investing in a grinder!

Dose

How much coffee you use is also important, a good rule of thumb for most filter brewing methods is 60g per litre, this is no different for the V60. You can calculate this using very simple maths, if we wish to brew 330ml of coffee (a big mug) just do 0.330 x 60 = 19.8g, so round that up to 20g.

Time

Ideally, we want the brew to take around 2:30 and 3:00. Any more than that, the grind is too fine so you need to coarsen up that grind, any less than that the grind is too coarse so make it finer. If you bought pre-ground from a supermarket chances are its a grind half way between filter and espresso, meaning any extraction will be poor. Investing in a grinder or getting us to grind your coffee, specific to your brew method, in store is the only way to rectify this.

Method

First put foremost, put the filter paper into the V60, and run some water through it, this heats up the V60 and removes any paper taste from the filter. (If you don’t believe me that it tastes like paper, lick it).

If you have digital scales (if not, why not?) put the vessel you are going to brew into ontop of the scales and the v60 on top and zero the scales.

Add the coffee, I am making 500ml (2 cups) so I’ll be using 30g of coffee. With your finger make a little divot in the coffee. This allows the coffee to “bloom” really well. Bloom is the process of adding a little bit of water to wet the grounds but also to importantly release all the gases into the coffee, this gets all those tasty flavours out for us to enjoy in the final cup. So add a bit of water to grind the coffee (to be precise: add 2ml for every gram of coffee, so 60ml of water in this case). Leave the coffee to bloom for 30 seconds.

Now the fill, We want to add the rest of the water until we hit 500ml quite slowly, pouring in tight concentric circles, do not hit the edges with the water as it’ll just pour straight through. Once you have added all the water, let it drip through.

Finally, pour, serve and drink.

Once you have done this a couple of times it’ll seem like second nature. I really recommend you invest in the scales, a set of Salter scales is about £10 in Sainsburys and are useful for cooking too. While pouring water from a kettle is doable, if you want to extend your home coffee maybe consider getting a gooseneck pouring kettle to help control the pour. At Urban we use a Tiamo kettle for £20, while it may seem quite steep for something that just pours water, it does help the brew.

Please feel free to message me any questions on Twitter: @gregdash

Using a number of instruments, ‘The Mistakings’ can sing in close harmonies and swap between violins, trumpets, guitars and percussion. Mainly playing acoustic with folk influences, they’ve already played a number of venues in and around Birmingham, and for a relatively new group that ain’t half bad!

We’ll have drink offers on for ales and cider (coffee & cake too!) so swing by after work and enjoy a few pints or a glass of wine and start to unwind for the weekend.

Abahuzamugambi ba kawa cooperative produce an exemplary crop from 100% Bourbon cultivars. Because of its lower yield, this varietal is not widely commercially produced in the global coffee market, compared to modern varietals. Bourbon is highly noted for the natural sweet fruity flavour attribute and rich silky body. Although Rwanda has grown coffee commercially since the early 1900’s, it was not noted for producing beans of gourmet quality until the initiative of the USAID funded PEARL, project now SPREAD, in 2001.

Union were an early adopter partner with this organization to develop a sustainable commercial relationship with Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa, bringing their coffee to the attention of the specialty market as Rwanda Maraba Bourbon “World First single origin Rwanda coffee” and “World First Fairtrade produce from Rwanda” in February 2003 in the Comic Relief Red Nose Day campaign. Since then, Rwanda Maraba Bourbon has been heavily cited as the instrument of transformational change, and Rwanda is the new darling for the speciality coffee disciples.
Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa is known as Maraba because that was the former name of the sector, now renamed Huye. Everyone knows Maraba, and it’s easier to pronounce. It’s comprised of 1200 farmer members, who each have families and children that extent to around 6000 people. Over the years, the success of Maraba has been the beacon to which other co-operatives aspire towards and they’ve demonstrated what can be achieved by “people who work together in coffee ”Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa”.

The Union relationship is not “just a buyer”, but to provide long-term support to Maraba so that farmers we engage with can prosper.

Union provides:-
Minimum purchasing commitment to give members of the co-operative with the security they need to invest in their land and locality.
Forward financing, either directly or via financing agencies. This ensures cash is available to pay farmers at the time of picking and also enables essential supplies that directly affect coffee quality to be purchased.
Visits at least every 12 months to develop strategy for the season, to assess quality and review for the following year.
New projects to improve capacity building and strengthen governance and leadership within the co-operative.
Through our combined efforts the local district has transformed itself; building a clinic, bank, bustling twice-weekly farmers market, primary & secondary level schooling, and even 6 hairdressers and other ancillary shops and services have opened – creating a genuine sense of community where once there was only grinding poverty and despair. Much progress has been made at the Co-operative level: purchasing trucks to collect and deliver coffee cherries to washing stations, installation of groundwater treatment facilities to ensure no contamination of the environment and construction of additional coffee washing stations have increased capacity and hence income.

For our 4th Film Event and 2nd JQ Dinner this April we’ll be showing the eternal classic Casablanca.

Set in World War II, Rick Blaine, exiled American and former freedom fighter, runs the most popular nightspot in town. The cynical lone wolf Blaine comes into the possession of two valuable letters of transit. Much to his surprise Rick’s one time love Ilsa turns up, who ran out on him in Paris. But when he learns she had good reason to, they plan to run off together again using the letters of transit. Well, that was their original plan….

Pop in to either of our emporiums to pick up your £10.00 supper ticket (£12.50 on the door) which will get you a delicious Moroccan themed dinner and a glass of wine, beer, or hot drink.

There’s a little interval during the film where you can pop to the WC or pick up a piece of cake from the bar, or as before text your order through on the night and we’ll bring your cake and drinks over. Now that’s service!

Date Thursday the 26th of April. Doors Open and Food served from 6.30. Film Starts 7.30.

Email peter@urbancoffee.co.uk  or pop in to either of our Emporiums for more information.

The quality of coffee from Colombia has suffered badly in recent years, but changes late in 1990′s to the country’s national structure allowed small producer co-operatives to emerge from underneath the national coffee Federation’s wings and offer their exceptional coffee on a direct trade basis. It is from such origins that the farmers at Timaná, near Cacica, formed their co-operative.

In August 2001, 36 coffee farmers and their families at Timana from the Huila district believed their possible options to survive the coffee crisis that was depressing world prices at that time was to create a cooperative and seek to improve the quality of their coffee. They hoped this would open doors to new opportunities in the market and a better future.

The outcome has been an undoubted success. Timana was one of our first Direct Contact Trade relationships back in 2003 and we’ve been buying from them every year since. Today, the co-operative – Asociation de Productores Agricoles de Timaná – has expanded to 75families and continues to work on its founding principles of economic, social and environmental sustainability and, fundamentally, absolute quality-led production.

In 2009 2010, Colombia harvest had many problems. It was the lowest in 33 years falling by 30%. We’d been aware that farmers were eager to capture the rising market price and sell their coffee before it was fully processed without completion of the sun-drying. Selling wet parchment causes quality to suffer. Furthermore, the high level of rainfall earlier in the season and the then almost lack of rain, increased pest problems all contributed to low yield. This was compounded by the weakness of the local currency and increase in fertilizer costs. A perfect storm. But it’s a test of the relationship that we managed to navigate this treacherous path to select the coffees we wanted and bring them home.

Further to this we pay a premium for their Timaná Coffee, which is an incentive to maintain and improve coffee quality. The farmers work with a trained agronomist to focus on the best growing and processing methods. Our premium provides the families with a better quality of life and is used to fund local schools and hospitals.

Timana continue to give high priority towards protecting their natural habitat and introducing sustainable processing techniques. Up to 80% of the coffee trees are “shade grown” – creating a sound, forest like habitat for migratory birds and other animals, while also preventing soil erosion and improves water conservation. During the time we’ve been working with Timana they have achieved certification for Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance, plus won Great Taste awards for two years running.