Spore Event

Last night's tasting at Spore Infoshop was a success! We drank three types of 100% Colombian coffee (Kroger brand, Stauf's Colombia Supremo Bucaramanga, and an organic Sierra Nevada that I roasted at home) and tried to guess which was which. It wasn't too difficult and everyone who participated guessed correctly. What really made the event a success was that a lot of good information was shared (and not just by me, I learned some new things from several people) and that we raised $50 for Coffee Kids, a charitable group that works with coffee-growing communities and families. The turnout was pretty good, but if you missed it you can have a look at the packet I printed for participants by clicking the link below.

It is also worth mentioning that there are some changes in store for Columbus Coffee Review. Not huge changes, but changes that will, I hope, make the site a little more useful and interesting to all of us in the Columbus coffee scene. Stay tuned!

Colombia Packet
CoffeeKids.org

October Events

1: Columbus Coffee Review Colombian Coffee Tasting @ Spore Infoshop. Three coffees: Grocery Store, Local Specialty Roaster, and Home-Roasted organic. A blind tasting of each to test our palates while we discuss the ecological effects of the coffee trade. October 8th, 7pm. Free (suggested donation to Spore Infoshop and Coffee Kids). Link to Directions

OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Colombia
CAPITAL: Bogota
SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT: Unitary Multiparty Republic
AREA: 1,138,914 Sq Km (439,735 Sq Mi)
ESTIMATED 2000 POPULATION 38,324,400

Distance between Medellin and Columbus: 2,378 miles.
Distance between New York and San Francisco: 2,570 miles.

Time Zones: Midnight in Columbus, 11:00pm in Medellin.

In general, there are two main seasons, (1.) the wet season from March
to May and September to November with (2.) the dry season from
December to February and June to August.

From this climate, and over this distance, come coffee beans from
Colombia. Grown in the Equitorial highlands, the beans are roasted and
consumed in the United States where they are thrown away after a
single brewing. These grounds contain thousands of chemicals and are
rich in nutrients. Rather than be reused and reincorporated into the
local environment and, in a larger sense, global chemical cycles, they
are sequestered in sanitary landfills. Locked away for the foreseeable
future in Northern dumps and literal waste-lands are powerful organic
fertilizers of tropical origin. The goal of this talk and tasting are
to increase knowledge about coffee trade and efficient use of what is
around us; to increase our ability to get the most out of what we
consume in a way that profits not only the consumer but those chemical
aspects of the global ecology that are influenced by international
trade and agribusiness. And also to drink some amazing coffee and put
our palates to the test in guessing which coffees were traded fairly,
which not so fairly, and which were roasted locally or mass-produced.

2: The Columbus International Film + Video Festival presents "Strong Coffee", a film that tells the story of Café Femenino—a revolutionary idea that is helping people in need all over the world. Café Femenino beans are the first coffee beans grown entirely by women farmers. October 20th, 7pm @ Studio 35. $5 at the door.