Coffee, Cake & Kink Forums

Columbia

2008-04-24T10:43:21+00:00

The Monmouth Coffee Company says…

Country : Columbia
Farm : Grupo Asociativo Quebrandon
Region : Palstina – Huila Region
Flavour : Medium roast – fresh red fruit with medium body and bright acidity.
Dark roast – jammy fruit with medium body and soft acidity.

We have been buying coffee from Grupo Asociativo Quebradon for five years. As well as growing high quality coffee with a distinctive flavour profile, the cooperative’s 40 members produce yucca, maize, plantain and livestock. The objectives of the association are to continue improving the quality of its coffee, raising the standard of living of its members and investing in their children’s future. In July 2007 we welcomed Don Julio, Don Felix and Don Fabio from Quebradon, who visited us and London for the first time. We spent a day together in our Covent Garden, Park Street, and Borough Market shops, where we tasted the Quebradon and showed them how we make filter coffee and espresso. It was wonderful to be able to show them how their coffee is roasted, sampled and sold in London. We have just met (April 2008) with Don Julio and the members of the group at the Quebradon school to discuss the upcoming mitaca (small mid-year crop) and have organised two more visits during the main crop in November this year and January 2009. Since our last visit there have been quite a few developments at Quebradon. There have been weddings, farms have been bought and sold, and there is a new cover being built over the play-ground of the Quebradon school, as well as an internet connection! During the rainy season at Palestina rainfall is extremely heavy and lasts for quite a few hours. Up until now the children have had to stay in the classrooms during their breaks, but with the new structure they can go outside and get some fresh air, without getting soaked to the skin in the downpours.

The French Press v Expresso based drinks

2008-04-26T16:45:21+00:00

We serve our coffee in the french press, which is fast becoming the world’s most popular coffee-making method. It is also one of the most challenging and unforgiving ones.

Professional cuppers use the French press to brew coffee samples they’re going to judge. With no milk, additives or syrups to disguise any potential flaws, only the very best beans are good enough, So that’s what we buy.

At CCK, we are devoted to bringing you a truly unique coffee experience. We make sure our equipment is in working order. We heat up the kettle and the right amount of coarsely ground beans.

Just off the boil, we gently pour hot water down the side of the pot and allow the bloom to take shape. The bloom is a sign of freshly roasted coffee. It is the Co2 trapped in the bean during roasting that gives the coffee pot a good head while escaping.

We add more water and gently stir the grinds to let the aromatic oils blend well. We then place the plunger/filter lid on and bring the press to the table for you to enjoy.

The longer you wait before you plunge, the stronger your coffee is going to be. It is best left a couple of minutes before pouring into our sexy large cup(s).

Indonesia / Sumatra

2008-04-24T10:48:15+00:00

The Monmouth Coffee Company says…

Country : Indonesia
Farm : Kilang Blangele Sumatra
Region : Blanggele Area, Aceh Sarimakmur PT
Flavour : Notes of dry tobacco and black tea.

This is the second Sumatran coffee that we have bought from Sarimakmur. We tasted it in January and were impressed with its complex combination of flavours and clean, sweet profile. The coffee is collected by Haji Abdul Karim from farms around the collecting station in Blanggele. Blanggele is close to Takengon in Aceh and this area is sometimes referred to as Mandheling. Lake Tawar, in the basin of this area, is very large and beautiful. From Lake Tawar it is a steep climb up the surrounding hills to find the coffee farms. The farms here are comparatively small (one or two hectares) and one collecting station can buy from over 170 farms around the town or village. The coffee moves from Takengon to Sarimakmur in Medan where it is processed, milled and graded. Sarimakmur employ over 800 people in their Medan facility and the coffee is graded to exacting standards. Consequently the coffee that arrives to us is well presented and produces a clean and sweet cup.

Guatamala

2008-04-24T10:46:17+00:00

The Monmouth Coffee Company says…

Country : Guatamala
Farm : Finca El Bosque
Region : Amatitlan
Flavour : Subtle cooked fruit notes with a chocolate finish and medium body.

Finca El Bosque has been family owned for three generations. In the first generation the coffee was sold to local buyers in cherry form. The third generation – Julio, Jose, Francisco and Mario – now sell their coffee in parchment. The grandchildren of the original owner – Julian Flores – have built a beneficio (micro mill) and process the coffee from cherry to parchment covered bean. The farm is located in Amatitlan, which is near the capital Guatemala City. The area is fast developing and we hope that the Flores family will continue to grow coffee and not get caught up in the urban sprawl. The brothers dedicate a lot of time and resources looking after the farm and the 40 farm workers that call El Bosque home. Each family has an additional plot of land where they can cultivate their own crops (corn, beans, tomatoes, etc) in addition to working the avocado, roses and lemons that El Bosque grows for the local markets. The brothers also take great care with the local environment, reusing and recycling the by-products of the coffee processing. The skin of the cherry is used for mulching, the water used in the processing is recycled for irrigation and the woodlands have been preserved. We last visited El Bosque in January 2007 and we will return in May 2008. During our time in Guatemala we will be visiting all of the farms from which we buy.

Please check post on a regular basis formore information about their trip.

Peru

2008-04-24T10:44:14+00:00

The Monmouth Coffee Company says…

Country : Peru
Farm : El Guabo
Region : Cajamarca
Flavour : Milk chocolate and lemon notes with medium body and acidity (certified organic).

El Guabo is a community of farmers in the Northern Peruvian highlands. The community consists of 120 farmers who each have a farm of three hectares on average. The community organised themselves into four growing committees with the help of the Perales Huancaruna SA (PERHUSA) organic program. PERHUSA advises the farmer communities on organic farming and systems as well as providing technical help with quality improvements. This is our first purchase of El Guabo for a few years and we are delighted with its clean citrus and milky chocolate notes. We hope to visit Peru later in the year to learn more about El Guabo and the development programs of PERHUSA.

Coffee currently available at Coffee Cake and Kink

2008-04-24T10:52:58+00:00

When we first opened five years ago, we got a surprise: one thing everybody found MOST exciting was not kink at all, but just HOW GOOD our coffee was! For some reason people thought that coffee and cake were just an excuse for all the kinky/sexy stuff… NOT SO!

All our coffee is freshly roasted by our friends at Monmouth Coffee Company, just round the corner. We don’t store coffee but order daily as required.

All our coffee is fairly traded. We pay for it 5 -7 times as much as the High Street chains and pass that on to the growers. Selecting and roasting coffee since 1978, Monmouth have built up direct trading links with farms and co-operatives around the globe.

They look for interesting coffees that reflect the flavour profile that each producing country is known for, as well as unique coffees that challenge our expectations, these are the coffee beans we have available at the present time :

Medium Roast

. Guatamala
. Peru

Dark Roast

. Rwanda
. Columbia Dark

Decafinated
. Indonisia Decafinated

CCK’s other drinks

2008-12-06T19:04:35+00:00

A thread, at Maxine’s request, where you can rave about the teas, hot chocolates and all the other liquid delights of CCK which don’t come under coffee.

Brazil Rodomunho

2008-04-24T10:41:42+00:00

The Monmouth Coffee Company says…

Country : Brasil
Farm : Fazenda Rodomunho
Region : Carrado – Minas Gerais
Flavour : Dark cocoa notes with medium to full body and soft acidity

Fazenda Rodomunho is a beautiful farm in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais. Coffee farmers moved north to the Cerrado in the 1970s to escape the danger of frost so it is a relatively new area in Brasil for coffee. Rodomunho was planted with the varietals Red Catuai, Acaia, and Yellow Icatu in 1986. The farm also sells avocados from the trees that function as wind breaks between the rows of coffee. We visited Cristiano and his father David for the first time at Rodomunho in November 2005 and were astonished at the abundance of butterflies, cicadas and birds living in the farm. In July 2006 we saw the farm in full harvest and went through the picking, pulping and processing of the coffee with Cristiano and David. For more information about the Ottoni farms please see their website http://www.bourboncoffees.com.br

Brasil Bourbon

2008-04-24T10:29:38+00:00

The Monmouth Coffee Company says…

Country : Brasil
Farm : Fazenda Barreiro
Region : Porcos de Caldas – Minas Gerais
Flavour : Fresh cherry fruit with medium body and acidity (bourbon varietal).

Fazenda Barreiro was planted with coffee at the end of the 19th Century by Agostinho Jose da Costa Junquira. For the last thirty years Agostinho’s great-grandson Francisco has managed the farm, continuing the great coffee growing traditions of the area in addition to trialling new methods and continually improving the quality of the coffee. We first visited this farm in November 2005 and returned in July 2006. We were impressed with the balance between the working farm and the preservation of local water sources and forest areas. There is a beautiful waterfall on the farm, and the river provides electricity and a great natural swimming pool for the children of the thirty families that live in the farm community.

Spill the beans - History of Coffee

2008-04-26T16:54:55+00:00

The origin of coffee is debated on a regular basis, but one of the many tales that is told is of a sixth century Ethopian named Kaldi.

His herd of goats were weary and tired of searching for greener pastures that they began eating the sweet red berries from strange bushes. The old billy goats started getting frisky with the prancing nannies. Kaldi tried the berries and was later spotted dancing with his goats by a group of monks. Soon the monks began to boil the bean themselves and use the liquid to stay awake during all-night ceremonies.

Consumption of coffee was outlawed in Mecca in 1511 and in Cairo in 1532 but in the face of the drink’s immense popularity, the decree was later rescinded. In 1554, the first coffeehouse in Istanbul opened.

The coffeehouse spread rapidly in Europe and America after that, with first coffeehouses opening in Boston in 1670 and in Paris in 1671. Largely through the efforts of the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company coffee became available in Europe in the 16th century.

The first coffeehouse in England was set up in Oxford in 1650 by Jacob, a Turkish Jew. The first coffeehouse in London was opened two years later in St. Michael’s Alley in Cornhill. By 1675, there were more than 3,000 coffeehouses in England.

Women were not allowed in coffeehouses, and in London, the anonymous 1674 “Women’s Petition Against Coffee” complained: “Öthe Excessive Use of that Newfangled, Abominable, Heathenish Liquor called COFFEE [Ö] has [Ö] Eunucht our Husbands, and Crippled our more kind Gallants, that they are become as Impotent, as Age. “ Needless to say, just the opposite has since been proven!

We have revived the Victorian tradition of coffee houses as places of dating and naughtiness. We have history & sociology students visiting us as part of their courses. We have also inspired the “Domme Café” drawing by Sardax (see below).