tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90384823668961564602011-09-28T19:24:00.175-05:00A journal of our coffee explorations at Cafe Verde, Lima PeruK.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-83627371555639841302011-01-17T11:12:00.002-05:002011-01-17T11:16:21.735-05:00

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-66611867166563224512010-12-28T11:13:00.002-05:002010-12-28T11:13:38.832-05:00

Productores:             Familia AnchiracioLote Selecto:              92 kilos Café Oro Exportable  Variedades:                Caturra y TypicaCaserillo:                    Agua de NieveDistrito:                      MonobambaProvincia:                   JaujaDepartamento:          JuninAltura:                        1750 msnm Notas del Catador: ·         Sabor inicial de limón dulce·        

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-60833572081497158222010-12-28T11:09:00.000-05:002010-12-28T11:09:23.072-05:00

Productores:             400 productores del PROCOYES en Alianza con HVC ExportacionesProducción 2010:     4 Contenedores: 72,000 kilos en oroDestinos:                    Japón, Inglaterra, Taiwán, Chile y EEUUVariedades:                TípicaDistrito:                      Quebrada HondaProvincia:                   YanitileDepartamento:          CuscoAltura:                        1400+ msnm

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-883181716123539492010-12-28T10:48:00.004-05:002010-12-28T11:01:47.803-05:00

(A bit old, but a solid 2004/05 overview of Peruvian Coffee Production. There has been no updated national survey since the 2003/04 agricultural census. The only hard data since the census is national export data)   Altitude/Microclimate Description: Extremely varied within each region, with sub-climate studies yet to be compiled, and sub-regions yet to be defined. Some regions have farms over

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-75036944084193151542010-04-22T20:45:00.007-05:002010-12-27T23:02:34.633-05:00

A los amigos y fanaticos apasionados del Cafe Peruano, una pequena aclaracion sobre las noticias del SCAA. Oficialmente el mejor cafe del anno 2010 (Coffeees of the year) en la feria de Cafes Especiales de las Americas (SCAA) es de Colombia. El Cafe Peruano se ha representado muy bien con el cafe de Puno/CECOVASA, con una muestra de 10 libras ganando como la mejor muestra Peruana. Se puede

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-835319886999917442009-12-01T13:28:00.005-05:002010-12-27T21:22:47.744-05:00

Otra razon mas

jonathan landahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491472864203730899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-12949504281986738172009-11-12T15:15:00.001-05:002009-11-23T15:51:44.266-05:00

La tercera razón... temperatura incorrecta

jonathan landahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491472864203730899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-31435301572361437732009-11-09T14:46:00.000-05:002009-11-23T14:47:45.058-05:00

La segunda razón de pq tu espresso es tan feo

jonathan landahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491472864203730899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-18496277708639038712009-11-06T10:18:00.000-05:002009-11-23T14:49:22.437-05:00

Because... espresso NO tiene que ser feo!

jonathan landahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491472864203730899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-70893619617458072862009-11-02T18:30:00.003-05:002009-11-03T00:40:42.788-05:00

Espresso No Tiene que ser Feo from jon landa on Vimeo.Download: episode00: ¿Por qué tu espresso es tan feo?

jonathan landahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491472864203730899noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-78098547237463132182009-07-21T10:43:00.012-05:002010-12-28T09:19:24.942-05:00

This is the most active time of year for the Peruvian coffee industry. The harvest is approximately 1/2 way through, high altitude coffee harvest has began, exports are ramping up, and buying trips begin. So what is a Buying Trip? Buying trip to Quillabamba Cusco, June 2009 Green Coffee Buyers (exporters, importers and roasters) have the elusive job of discovering, developing and preserving

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-54146531064597574932009-07-09T14:28:00.010-05:002010-12-28T09:19:00.888-05:00

Last month I had the privilege to visit Cafe Ole in Arequipa. I have lived and worked in Peru since 1997, yet this was my first time to the renowned "white city". Misti, the volcano which overlooks the city, was out in full glory. The purpose of my time was to understand the needs of Cafe Ole as our customer, and give a short training. I was supper impressed by the team there, very

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-3996849582564536702009-04-14T20:12:00.003-05:002010-12-27T23:19:10.918-05:00

How is Quality Coffee Produced? What are the importance of each step in the chain? What steps in the chain are most important for us to invest in to get quality results? How can we assure quality production from a given set of farmers? These are the questions I've wrestled with ever since my business partner and I began to put our life savings on the line in 2000. Early on we identified

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-10087571144571913792009-04-14T19:44:00.002-05:002010-12-28T09:21:37.294-05:00

Transparency Contract ©: Mea$uring Your Relationships (Originally Published in Roast Magazine September 2007) Transparency = The full, accurate, and timely disclosure of information. Contract = A binding agreement between two or more persons that is enforceable by law. Relationship = A state of connectedness between people (especially an emotional connection). Connections to people motivate

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-28628862377992014952009-04-14T17:50:00.002-05:002010-12-28T09:22:56.422-05:00

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable;

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-77784958503336734362009-03-30T23:41:00.010-05:002010-12-27T21:47:12.455-05:00

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-71021626872017720032009-03-04T13:12:00.011-05:002010-12-28T09:23:59.843-05:00

Here it comes . . . tiny cup, nice crema, intense coffee aroma and then BAMB!! Charcoal in the mouth and down the hatch. The intense bitterness and lime bolts wake you up more than the caffeine! That's the espresso experience right? or can there be more? Espresso tasting is fleeting and escapes (or tramples) most of us. We usually walk away with a simple wow/ugh opinion and an intense

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-84090954529057285342009-02-27T15:04:00.005-05:002010-12-28T09:25:06.078-05:00

Last week a customer asked this question. I wrestled to find a defined answer. "A coffee shop serves coffee." The conversation continued: "So is XXX a coffee shop?" "Well they are more of a bakery who also serve coffee beverages." "So is XXX a coffee shop?" "They serve lots of food, and have coffee. Probably not a coffee shop." "So is XXX a coffee shop?" "The owner is Italian, the shop

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-26380569888622044572009-02-14T09:41:00.005-05:002010-12-28T09:25:48.674-05:00

Barista Satrudays: the day my wife and I fill in barista shifts at Cafe Verde. After working many years on the back side of coffee (green coffee development and export), it's refreshing to finally be working at the moment that all the back side becomes specialty coffee. Our specialty coffee industry has many of interpretations of the definition of "specialty coffee", but I think the barista

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-74680786937481139212009-02-09T10:54:00.001-05:002010-12-28T09:26:16.365-05:00

Cafe Verde's new roaster is now up and running, and today is the first day of the espresso off the new machine! Cafe Verde green and black were the colors of choice. The paint is almost fully curred after a week of heating the machine while experimenting. Besides the paint job we've re-worked the gas and increased the airflow. It took some searching but we located the gas gage we were looking

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-35269318266607650602009-01-29T17:30:00.001-05:002010-12-27T21:36:12.594-05:00

Papered walls, paint dust through the building and funny fumes; The joy of painting has come.Here the roaster's base was just finished and was being prepped for highlights.Tomorrow I'll begin the assembly process; testing the new pieces on Monday. With all luck and a bit of help from my buddy Marty Curtis will have the stack installed and the roaster in the retail space by next week's end.

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-34360393305214131482009-01-15T09:57:00.001-05:002010-12-28T09:27:04.992-05:00

A week of elbow grease, sanding and white vinegar has brought the roaster re-build to the next step. The humidity of Lima (80-95% and at the same time a desert!?!)rusts anything metal, and after 50 years of existence the Otto Swadlo roaster drum wasn't an exception. I was puzzled with the question of how to get the residual rust dust and in crevasse rust without taking it to be dipped in acid,

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-1128316677891802742009-01-06T13:07:00.001-05:002010-12-28T09:27:54.961-05:00

Cafe Verde obtained this 5 Kilo Otto Swadlo "Victoria Werk" Viennese roaster yesterday. Apparently Mr. Otto Swadlo retired in the 60's and thus the end of Otto Swadlo roasters. Interesting historical note, during World War II his plant was taken over by the German's and he was forced to fabricate weapons, which he purposely produced at poor production quantities :) This machine was built in

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-46790160199215767632008-12-30T11:43:00.002-05:002010-12-28T09:28:28.433-05:00

With the barista staff on vacation Tati & I are taking the barista shifts, enjoying the experience of a mom & pop business. Taking turns caring for the little man (Baby Jeremiah) and then as baristas. A few things continue to impress me about coffee culture in Lima. After two hours of serving customers I've only served one Mocha Capuccino, the rest of the drinks have been espresso and

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-29770871652137362202008-12-19T10:06:00.003-05:002010-12-28T09:28:45.006-05:00

Willem Boot and I just returned from another hop to the coffee jungle. This time our travels took us to the San Martin Department, the birthplace of my coffee experiences 11 years ago. We spent two days with the Oro Verde Cooperative, in Llamas, discussing their development plans with the general manager Hiderico Volcan. Their project is interesting as more than half their coffee comes from the

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-22540009375164858442008-12-13T20:58:00.002-05:002010-12-28T09:29:05.468-05:00

The last few days I had the joy to travel to the upper Huallaga high jungle town of Tingo Maria. Willem Boot and I spent two days visiting the Divisoria Cooperative, which I first began to work with in 2003. It was great to see their 3 Q graders and new lab functioning well. Our discussions with the farmers was intriguing. We explored questions around quality coffee and quality prices (sales

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-71916197808883815402008-12-09T09:09:00.003-05:002010-12-28T09:29:27.191-05:00

It was my joy last night to witness the first award ceremony for Peruvian Q Graders. This was the culmination of a cupping school which started three years ago. After lots of hard work and educations from cuppers such Rolando Canas and Geoff Watts these professional cuppers have achieved the goal. This last week I had the privilege to co-lead the course with Kelly Amoroso from CQI. Ted Lingle,

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-60715725196748527142008-11-08T14:12:00.002-05:002010-12-28T09:29:47.017-05:00

My first attempt at putting images from a coffee buying trip into a video.

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-91240061707969918442008-10-14T15:37:00.000-05:002008-10-14T15:50:47.821-05:00

In warm humid Jaen coffee buying the lungs breath fresh air not found in Lima. Ahhh . . . I'm here with a good friend Tim Dominick of Sacred Grounds. Days like today are the heart and soul of my coffee experiences.This morning I had the privilege to interview three Micro-Lot (90 + cup quality) farmers who sell their coffee to Intelligentsia Coffee and Counter Culture. The entire visit was in the

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9038482366896156460.post-70513956298506148912008-09-29T03:15:00.000-05:002008-09-29T23:28:42.145-05:00

Greetings from Lima Peru and Cafe Verde. After 10 years of promoting and exporting Peruvian specialty coffee my wife and I have ventured into the challenging world of retailing fresh roasted specialty coffee. Cafe Verde is a coffee shop located in Miraflores Lima dedicated to serving the best Peruvian coffees here in Peru.Compared to our friends abroad (Intelligentisa, Counter Culture, Times

K.C. O'Keefehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16128835194053013394noreply@blogger.com1