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A visit to the birthplace of coffee (and humanity).
Ethiopia holds a special place for many of us that work in speciality coffee. One of our industry leaders Peter Guiliano, now director of research for the Speciality Coffee Association , coined a phrase ‘Yirgacheffe moment’. That seminal moment when tasting a coffee turns your opinions and pre-conceptions about what ‘coffee’ tastes like on their head. He’s quoted to say that many baristas, roasters etc had their Yirgacheffe moment and it was then they fell in love with coffee. I had my Yirgac...
Read more2024 is a wrap
By way of tradition, here's the last newsletter of 2024 with a snapshot of our year, including the highs and lows and...
Read moreWhat’s in a profile ?
It’s very seldom a roaster gets to taste the same coffee roasted on the same (to all intense and purposes) machine by...
Read moreA decade of learning
If you read the last newsletter you'll know that I've just been away on a course called 'Plant to Port' in Colombia, ...
Read moreCosta Ri-ca-ca
I’ve just returned from visiting producers and cooperatives in Costa Rica with our import partner DR Wakefield Coffee...
Read more2023 wrap up
By way of tradition, here's the last post of 2023 with a review of our year, highs and lows and what's to come. New ...
Read moreJack's Colombia trip with Raw Material 2023
Colombia, a stunning country that produces stunning coffee. Thanks to Dave and Raw Material I headed out on my second...
Read moreOnce upon a time I wrote a post about a dream
That dream became reality back in 2019 when Crankhouse secured a 6 year lease for the basement level of an old indust...
Read moreWhy I didn't win the UK Roasting championships (or how many excuses can I come up with)
Recently I competed in the SCA roasting championships. It's the first time since 2019 that the SCA have run the event...
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