The Elephants Danced

The inaugural Bold Brew Roasting Co "house blend" is called "The Elephants Danced".

Now, let's be clear, coffee at its finest should be enjoyed from a single estate. After all, you wouldn't expect Bill Harlan to blend his fine Oakville wine with a crop of grapes from the Russian River. People don't pay $1000 for a bottle of Harlan Estate wine to get a hodge-podge of grapes. They want the terrior that Mr. Harlan has carefully cultivated on the slopes there in ol' Napa Valley.

In fact, perhaps my favorite cup of coffee is a pure batch of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. Wow, what a wake-up call! It is pure brightness, light in the mouth, full of citrus and orange spice, with an acute nutty chocolate finish. I'll gladly chill the left overs, pour it cold and naked into a glass at the end of the day, and get a rush of refreshing goodness that would beat the best cup of tea. Holy cow.

But alas, on the path to #drinkcoffeenaked, most folks like a heartier blend that is not so pronounced in one direction. Complex is the Yirgacheffe, but perhaps to distinctive for all.

So, we blend. And to be frank, blending is best for espresso where you need a certain "pow" for the coffee to not be overpowered by our friend, milk. In the espresso-based drink, the last thing you want is a milky, coffee-weak contraption that requires a shot (or 4) of hazelnut to make it drinkable (not speaking from experience of course).

So what is "The Elephants Danced"? It is a blend grounded in the Yirga -- so light & flavorful, I can imagine the sun rising over East Africa & all the creatures dancing at the thought of their bright morning cupping. And why the elephant -- well, they are a signature of Africa of course. But you say, "they are far from light & elegant & bright - they are heavy, saggy, plodding, and dull". Well exactly Sherlock. If you add a bit of weight to the Yirga, you give it a bit more weight, punch, and earthy goodness from the likes of Brazil or Indonesia. And to give it a splash of the tweeners, you toss in for good measure a dash of Central Am or Rwandan. Enough punch to be an elephant, but still enough Yirga to make even a 5 ton elephant dance a little ditty.

And there you go.

Of course, you can always request a single origin. Your choice.

For more on blending, here is a fun page to read from Sweet Marias.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Drink coffee naked -- its liberating.
Yours truly,
Cream & Sugar

cream & sugar need a vacation

a letter to friends announcing the start of something small, but hopefully significant...

----------------------------------------------------------------

friends,

3 years ago I spent time in Guatemala working with coffee farmers, and what had been a passion for exquisite coffee morphed into a bigger idea to one day merge that passion with my desire to impact the world -- particularly the disadvantaged. And as (RED), fair trade campaigns, & most recently Starbucks like to remind us, coffee farmers are disadvantaged.

After talking a big game in the last 3 - 4 years about impact, the world, coffee, etc ... I figured it was time to put up or to shut up and I think I'm ready to start exploring what this looks like. This is not a new niche and I still don't know what this dream / this concept will become. I'm not quitting my day job anytime soon (& perhaps never will) -- because I really do enjoy it & I also think Wells Fargo would like me to honor my mortgage ;).

I'm writing you for three reasons:

1) Each of you have encouraged me over the years. Thank you!

2) I've ordered a real-deal coffee roaster that I'd like to pay for, and if you want to be a test case for the Bold Brew Roasting Co, I'll be happy to offer you a hand roasted pound of coffee:

- $10 / lb in my signature (& eco-friendly reusable) Ball jars
- $8 / lb in a plastic bag
- You pick the blend & the roast
- I cover shipping on your first order (for out of towners)
- For taking a chance on these early days, if this ever goes anywhere & I reach the ideal price point of $13 - 15 / lb, I'll lock you into $10 in perpetuity.
- If you ever don't like a batch, its on the house.
- I'm always happy to send small tasters if you're not yet interested in a full pound or giving up your Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, or otherwise mediocre coffee ;).

3) I hope we each step out of our comfort zone and try one idea that's peculating in our heads.

As I perfect the product, build a brand & customer base, & improve distribution, the goal would be to directly trade with specific farmers. And one day I hope to create a physical space in urban areas that draws conversation, ideas, art, personal exchange, and culture in the way that Paris' Left Bank saw in the early 20th century. One day...

As for the subject line...the coffee I've been roasting these last 9 months has converted me from a "cream & sugar guy" to "drinking coffee naked". I figured that my old friends cream & sugar were happy I discovered such good coffee -- they've worked hard for me (& you) all these years & needed a vacation.

I invite you into this exciting step but more importantly hope that we can push each other to take our own personal leaps.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

drink coffee naked - its liberating.
your truly,
cream & sugar

BoldBrew Fall Mix volume 1

1. The Hardest Part / Postcards From Far Away. Coldplay. LeftRightLeftRightLeft.
2. Swept Away (Sentimental Version). The Avett Brothers. Mignonette.
3. So Here We Are. Bloc Party. Silent Alarm.
4. The Sun Also Sets. Ryan Adams. Easy Tiger.
5. Secret Meeting. The National. Alligator.
6. Song About a Man. Deer Tick. Born on Flag Day.
7. To Ohio. The Low Anthem. Oh My God Charlie Darwin.
8. Babylon II. David Gray. White Ladder.
9. The Perfect Space. The Avett Brothers. I And Love And You.
10. About Today. The National. Cherry Tree.
11. The Way That He Sings. My Morning Jacket. At Dawn.
12. Sweet Li'l Thing. Eels. Blinking Lights And Other Revelations.
13. Orange Sky. Alexi Murdoch. Time Without Consequence.
14. Falling At Your Feet. Bono & Daniel Lanois. The Million Dollar Hotel.
15. What a Wonderful World. Innocence Mission. Now The Day is Over.
16. With My Eyes Closed. The Raveonettes. Lust Lust Lust.

volume II, aimed to be the uptempo companion to this decidedly laid back fare, is under construction and has been for weeks now. lacking chemistry. oh well.

music, 2008

i'm unabashedly ripping off a colleague's blog post here, but it was a splendid idea ... top ten list of music for 2008. the key here is albums, not songs. it would have been quite an easy task to list my top 10 best songs, but albums are a different beast altogether. to be a great album, you can't have sequential "skip over" songs. top to bottom, it has to be a record, you can hit play at 1 and enjoy it until it stops. it flows, it builds, it interweaves ... well, maybe always and not really, but the picture is fairly straigyou get the idea. with that in mind, here's my list. my one caveat is that these are CDs that i listened to for the first time in 2008 ... not released in 2008.

1. coldplay: viva la vida
eno took them to another level of grandeur. the suburban snob in me tried not to like them, but why resist? it was AWESOME from beginning to end. i bought it in El Paso on June 17 and I'm not sure I changed CDs until July.


2. band of horses: cease to begin
refreshing energy and sound. unique in a derivative world, and South Carolinians to boot.



3. andrew bird: armchair apocryphy
an odd bird, but feels like a cross between sufjan stevens and rufus wainwright. dig it.


4. bon iver: for emma, forever ago
this could have been a top three but not sure it has enduring quality. will revisit it from time to time but it is now more of a mood piece than an anytime, all the time kind of CD. made for a nice soundtrack in Cabo


5. jay-z & dj danger mouse: grey album
BOOM! goes the dynamite. a superb mash-up, phenomenal top to bottom, but as with #4, feels a bit more short term than long term. great for a drive, a run, and a saturday morning (until E can understand the words!). i'm sure i looked like a full air-drumming to this across campus







6. the myriad: with arrows, with poise
how can i not give props to my bro-in-law? the #1 video on MTV is a great song after all. the thoughtfulness of the music and the live performance in SF puts this on the list

7. horse feathers: house with no home honestly feels a bit derivative to some of the hot sounds right now like iron and wine, bon iver, etc, but this group been around almost as long as iron and wine, so perhaps they invented the sound. regardless, can listen to this CD any day, all day




8. ryan adams: heartbreaker
the guy puts out CDs like they are going out of style but this is an old classic that i finally got my hands on. it was a favorite of E's -- we'd dance to it. he rocks with soul like no one else


9. sun kil moon: tiny cities
another chill piece that sets a great mood. the guitar makes it. wonderfully done.



10. honorable mentions
strays don't sleep: self-titled
sigur ros: hvarf-heim
gotan project: lunatico

krugman calls me from sabbatical

i suppose i've been on something of a sabbatical from blogging. why not come out of hiding for a brief peak?

knowing my friedmanite tendencies, my father-in-law brought to my attention this article from Paul Krugman for a good email discussion. as we might expect, PK serves his usual dose of pro-government rhetoric.

the topic got me so inspired, that it brought me back to blogging. here is a general summation of my thoughts...

"interesting article. i find it intellectually dishonest on Krugman's part however to judge the Fed's liquidity actions a failure. economists know that there is a significant lag in the real economy catching up with both monetary and fiscal policy. His judgment on Bernanke's actions (at least the more drastic of the actions), which have only been in effect for less than 3 months seem a bit premature. [though] Krugman is an unapologetic Keynesian, his arguments certainly hold water on some fronts. Gov't action is likely needed, but as [we] discussed about racial progress [i.e. should the legislative focus be on quotas or on perhaps enabling opportunity through a more fundamental, albeit long term approach such as ensuring high quality K-12 education, building / encouraging social role models inside minority communities, something else, or a combination of all the above -- and over what time period], often gov't spending / action addresses the symptom versus the root. For example, in the current crisis, at least some of our national problem is that we need to re-educate our a significant portion of our populace. we need more people in the services industries, technicians, skilled labor -- essentially a move back to professional blue collar and less of the white collar back office functions that can now be largely outsourced. What if we focused money here -- on specific, targeted education programs? Injecting money into infrastructure projects will indeed provide immediate impact on crumbling roads, waterways, and bridges; however, these projects print money (threatening inflation) without structurally changing the economic landscape of America -- a landscape that is currently not optimized to support a 21st century growth strategy. If you want to get really philosophical, we could debate the question of not just "re-educating" our population but changing education altogether so that not all Americans have equal access to 4 year education. this question has bubbled up on the margin, being discussed in the editorial pages of influential papers such as the WSJ; however, it flies in the face of the opportunity of the "American dream". Even so, is this a more efficient way to reduce the tax burden and help people not overshoot their talent? Don't know, but worth a look perhaps."

Bottom line: come on Krug; i would have thought your Nobel prize would have qualified you to recognize that it takes time for the economy to integrate the full impacts of policy change. It is exactly the impatience of shrill voices like yours that leads our government to execute ill-fated actions and over-correct a necessary period of desert wandering which if allowed to run its course will force us to address the real questions of the hour.

hilarious

i'm a self-admitting big fan of tom cruise -- yeah yeah, his antics are weird and over the top, but he is an incredible actor and his movies are generally high quality entertainment. this cameo in a movie that i'm dying to see is no exception...

mini-blogging

well, blogging has tapered off with the addition of a job in my life :). however, i'm starting to mini-blog or micro-blog, if you will, at: http://twitter.com/theboldbrew

i will have to approve you; i'm locking down security on these more personal updates...otherwise, i would post my twitter updates here live.

will try to post here more often as well...