BadBeard's Micro Roaster

Unique S.O. Brazil espresso in house today!

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:09:00 -0700

Welcome mat rolled out today for the biodynamically-produced, organic certified Fazenda Floresta from Bahia State in Northeastern Brazil. Doesn't get much better for single origin espresso cravers.

And the juicy Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Blue Nile back in stock, fresh crop just off the boat, better than ever. I LOVE this coffee.

HOT FLASH...Going out of town Thursday May 9...last chance orders shipping/roasting tomorrow

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:26:00 -0700

Hey there Badbeardians, gotta chill for a few days and head out to lovely Chapel Hill, NC to witness my stepson's UNC Law School graduation...yay Maaatthew! Will be roasting and shipping any and all orders placed before Wednesday, May 8 but not again til Tuesday May 14. In the next life I'll try to be in two places at once, or better yet, have a roasting beotch.

This will be posted on the last page of the order checkout box as well.

Yirgacheffe Blue Nile backorder, Sumatra Honey Mandheling

Wed, 01 May 2013 11:22:00 -0700

Will be replenishing the outstanding Yirgacheffe Blue Nile in a couple of weeks with the new crop offering...sold out. Also hope to introduce the complex "honey process" Sumatra Mandheling, a pirated brief description from Royal Coffees info portal..."This coffee is processed in a unique style, which we doubt is found anywhere else in the world. It begins with ripe cherries from the Bener Meriah District being run through hand-cranked de-pulpers to remove the skins. This is followed by a “dry” fermentation overnight. No water is added at any stage. On the second day, the parchment, still covered in sticky mucilage, is laid out on the drying patios. The coffee is dried to below 30% moisture content and then wet-hulled in the traditional Sumatra style, after which it returns to the patios for final drying of the green beans. So, in effect, this is a Dry-Fermented/Pulped-Natural/Wet-Hulled coffee. Definitely an advanced level of coffee processing which yields quite a unique final product." (courtesy exclusive importer Royal Coffee, Emeryville, CA)

New Kenya estate coffees in-house

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:14:00 -0700

Happy to have very nice Peaberry Kenyas from Oaklands and Ruera Estates in stock! These are vivid cups in all respects, and belie the gloom and doom of the lowered quality and price indices coming out of the recent Nairobi Coffee Auction reports. Reposting the Bloomberg entry for today, which is really for commodity trader-types. Coffee lovers will be very pleased with these new offerings.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/kenyan-coffee-declines-for-a-fourth-week-on-weakening-demand.html

"Coffee Rust" and its impacts, continuing bad news...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:10:00 -0700

Lest you had any thoughts we don't live in a fragile world...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/coffee-fungus-spurs-central-america-migration-plans-jobs.html

Coffee growing in the Rust Belt"

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:01:00 -0700

All you biologists-in-the-closet have doubtless heard something in the press about the devastating fungal outbreak of "Coffee Rust" being experienced by particularly hard-hit Central America and Mexico. States of Emergency in the coffee sector have been announced in Guatemala and other affected countries. The is a very interesting and thoughtful article here which merits reading for the curious and concerned. The pic is what it looks like. Our coffees were all produced and harvested prior to this outbreak and we have our collective roasting fingers crossed that the blight is successfully dealt with in the next year.

Coffee rust pic.jpg (49.19 kb)

Mid-April arrivals, Kenyas finally and a surprise addition

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:27:00 -0700

Bang-bang! is the only way to describe the trade of Kenya auction coffees some years, both in Nairobi and here in the 'states Most of what arrived and cleared customs yesterday, April 11, was cupped today and sold immediately, so we were able to procure a couple interesting & super-yum Riuru-district Peaberry offerings, Oaklands and Reura. Will be arriving next week at the roastery for immediate disbursement! Also a fantastic Ruvuma AA from Tanzania which rivals the Kenyas in cup profile. Also more inventory of the exceptionally good Honduran lot we recently took in from the Beneficio (mill) Santa Rosa. Honduras will be appearing on the upcoming Market of Choice 'Savories' special in all 8 Oregon locations.

watch out when you drink the swill

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:53:00 -0700

This trade paper reprint about Vietnam's coffee consuming and production has raised a few eyebrows about the world's #2 producer by volume (pretty much all of it Robusta, an inferior species to Arabica, which by nature contains twice the caffeine as Arabica) isn't as surprising as it is kinda tragic. One of the reasons we don't ever touch the stuff, although in fairness some relatively-if-barely drinkable Robusta is still produced in India, Africa and Brazil). But when you buy some rank, jacked-up brown liquid you can be some the roaster has used some Robusta in the blend. Worth avoiding!

Honduras Santa Rosa in and delish

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 15:54:00 -0700

This sweet, caramelly coffee from Honduras's Beneficio Santa Rosa is a great find...Honduras has been off my radar for too long, apparently! The two distinct lots I took in are ever-so-slightly different..#115 has a little more Nutella and cacao in the palate. Might even put through the espresso machine this coming week, as it is lower in acidity than most of my Centrals.

Hot off the Coffee Press, some possible relief from the worries of the Southern Hemisphere

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:30:00 -0700

While remaining personally cautiously optimistic...."the coffee rust" fungus is going to devastate a large percentage of the crop in Central America and Mexico....some possible ray of hope from the powerhouses in South America. This reported thus

Brazil and Colombia Seen by ICO Making Up for Coffee Rust Losses

By Isis Almeida - Mar 6, 2013 3:00 AM PT

Coffee output in Brazil and Colombia, the largest arabica producers, will probably make up for leaf rust losses in Central America and Mexico for now, according to the International Coffee Organization.

Brazil, the largest producer, will help make up for losses due to large crops and biggerstockpiles, Mauricio Galindo, head of operations at the ICO, said in an interview in London yesterday. Colombia will have a bigger crop, he said.

Brazil “has pretty consistent supply” because it has been able to minimize production changes from one year to the next in its two-year coffee cycle, Galindo, former head of agricultural commodities research at JPMorgan Chase & Co., said. “The fact that Colombia has gone to replant 70 percent of trees by now, it should start increasing productivity substantially already in this crop year. Certainly the big jump we will see is in 2013-14.”

Arabica coffee futures have dropped 2.1 percent this year as new harvests added to global stockpiles. Inventories in warehouses monitored by ICE Futures U.S. in New York climbed 1 million bags last year and are up another 135,937 bags in 2013.