Fabulous Portland Oregon, home of Barista Magazine and the amazing Trail Blazers among other terrific things, is receiving some national attention once again for its coffee scene as the New York Times reports here.
And the story’s money quote has to be this from Mr. Matt Milletto:
Coffee, Mr. Milletto said, “is a sexy beverage.”
(this picture is from two days ago - the steps are now completely covered)
So we’ve been a bit remiss on the ol’ blog posting lately, but, we have very good reasons, or a very good reason: Snow! On average, here in Portland we have maybe a couple inches of snow a year. It’s not uncommon, though, to go all year without any snow.
Because of the scarcity of snowfall, the city does not function well when it snows. And when it snows, and then an ice storm hits, and then it snows again, well, that may not be a big deal in Minneapolis or Stockholm, but here, it’s pretty much a Christmastime apocalypse (unless you’re one of my nephews who no doubt is enjoying the Christmas break of a lifetime as they’ve been out of school for weeks now with weeks still to go.)
See last week we had a couple of inches of snow, not much admittedly, but enough to slow the daily grind of city life to a standstill and make everyone a little nervous about going out. Schools were closed and many businesses shut down. But looking back at it now, last week was like a trip to the Bahamas. Snow was a novelty. Snowmen were made, snowballs were thrown, laughter was heard. Today, however, it’s a bit different.
(that lump to the left of the house used to be our car.)
Last night we had five inches of snow. Before that we had 10 inches. Between those two days, we had a sheet of ice covering everything. The highway to Hood River and beyond (the major East-West thoroughfare for the state) has been closed for three days now. Christmas shopping and shipping have been put on hold. The airport has been open but most flights have been canceled. Christmas plans have been hijacked all by the snow. Luckily we’ve only lost power for a few hours, many other folks haven’t had power since the ice storm, and we hope for their sake’s the lights are on again soon.
But, we will have a White Christmas, just probably not with friends and family (unless we arrange a teleconference).
We do wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, and someday the snow will stop and things will get back to normal. Ah, for it to be forty degrees and raining! Perfect weather for this time of year.
(Someday we’ll see our friend the little Buddha again, but for now this was the last glimpse before the snow got him too.)
Sure, you’ve seen the coffee-on-a-napkin art, but what’s the status in the art world of the process of making coffee itself? And what about the artistry of the barista? Well a new installation at the Guggenheim in New York is celebrating the work in performance, creation and consumption of coffee, to bring to people’s attention just how much art is involved in what most people simply assume is nothing more than a daily routine.
It’s not surprising that illy is deeply involved in the project. “Our idea is to make this coffee experience polysensual,” said Andrea Illy, the chief executive of Illy, whose coffee is being distributed as part of the installation. “It’s as if we are functioning in an installation. There is a practical function to this installation.”
And to me, the Guggenheim really is a perfect match for the installation. I mean, doesn’t the building sort of remind you of a stack of to-go cups or lids? Anyway, it’s damn cool to see coffee, baristas and their work getting this kind of respect.
You can read all about it here.
I love this photo of Jon, which I took when I was in Idaho visiting him and reporting on him for the August/September 2007 cover feature in Barista Magazine. It’s taken at the precarious dock outside of the barn in which he and his friend, Malcolm, roasted coffee for their company, Bumper Crop.
It’s hard to imagine Jon and his wife, Kendall, living anywhere besides their charming little house with the ducks and the vegetable gardens on a quiet street in Coeur d’Alene, but it’s true, and for a great reason: Jon has accepted a job at the Cup of Excellence home office in Missoula, Montana.
As soon as I read about the news on Jon’s blog, I emailed to ask him for details. “I’ll get to be a part of how CoE will grow and evolve. I think you know that they want to somehow engage CoE with the barista movement… I’m excited to see how that will play out,” he responded. Personally, I can’t think of a more dynamic person to join the CoE team than Jon. He’s passionate about everything that has to do with coffee, and has a gentle, humble way of communicating his ideas and listening to those of others. He is one of the absolute best examples of a professional barista. But he is a humanitarian first and foremost, and this combination is a winning one for the CoE organization.
Best of luck to you, Jon!
I don’t know if you can get it in time for Christmas, but there’s a new book out about the coffee community in the Land Down Under, and based on the synopsis, I think readers of Barista Magazine would get a kick out of it.
It’s called Café Republic of Australia, and you can read about it on Foodweek Online here.
This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while (of course the Blazers’ six-game win streak has been pretty great too, but this is work-related!).
From the New York Times, it’s an illustrated editorial of one man’s personal history with coffee. Artist and author Christoph Niemann illustrates his story using coffee on napkins as his medium. Very, very cool and funny to boot!
Just skimming through our local alt. weekly here in Portland, and I saw this “I, Anonymous,” which for some reason (Ok, not just any reason, but the well publicized long back-and-forth from this summer between Nick and his dissatisfied customer) my friend from Northern Virginia sprang instantly to mind.
Note: beware the link will bring you some crude language.
We’re still coming out of our Thanksgiving feast food coma today, Friday, which is why we’re late in saying happy Thanksgiving! I am especially thankful for Kyle because he used his mad cooking skillz to create an insanely good Thanksgiving duck, which was just one of the (perhaps too many) dishes we prepared yesterday. I am also incredibly thankful to Ken for doing an insane amount of dishes.
We hope you and yours had a wonderful day and are enjoying the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving! And happy leftovers!
Ok, this is pretty cool though not very coffee related. In a move sure to further our planet’s slide toward a more Tron-like future, the new website Typealyzer reads your blog and determines your personality type after just a few seconds. As many of our readers have their own blogs, it’s certainly something that you may want to try.
Here at pasteboard when we had our blog analyzed, we received this response:
ESTP - The Doers
The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.
The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.
Eerily accurate, no? I especially like the picture. Talk about hitting the mark. I mean who else wears number 7 and plays basketball?
Maybe this guy?
Yes! Barista Magazine is the Brandon Roy of coffee mags. The internets say so, it must be true!
From the NY Times blog, Freakonomics, comes another round of the (Internet) age-old discussion, is offering free wi-fi a good thing for cafés?
It’s a lively discussion, and it’s spurred on by the strategy of a café in Holland which offers free wi-fi, but frequently changes the name of its wireless network to such things as the title of this post. You can read the post and the rest of the discussion here. I think that’s a clever way to remind customers that when you’re offering them something as a benefit for their patronage, they need to particpate in the transaction too. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
