Carlin

This guy was a hero of mine. Truly. He will be missed.

God damn it.

We have a Sunday tradition, in where I get up  early and make some coffee and breakfast for my wife. She takes care of me the rest of the week, so it really is the least I can do. We head over to the market, get the Sunday Times and I make coffee and breakfast for her to enjoy. We then lounge around and do nothing, which is fucking great!

This Sunday I decided to buy some Brioche and make some french toast, with some 30+ year Ron Zacapa that I purchased during my trip with my homie Tony K. to Guatemala. Oh My God that shit was delicious, because I also made handwhipped whipped cream with vanilla and some more rum, and for the healthy fruit component we added strawberries from the market. So so so good. 

For the coffee, we Chemexed some Kenya Wango Estate Peaberry roasted on the lucky day of Friday the 13th by our friends at Barefoot Roasters and brought by hand by Tony Serrano. That shit was delicious. Fruity, smooth as hell, toasty, (not roasty) and some good ass savory notes to it. I like it a lot. Some sweet roasted tomato in there too a bit. It was a great breakfast.

I was talking to my buddy Baca about my upbringin’ as a latino working class/blue collar kid and how we were never foodies in our house. I have become much more of a foodie due to coffee (same for him). Had I made this breakfast for my mother, she would have called it too fancy schmancy, but for me, it’s fun and delicious and honestly not that difficult to make. Now if she had made us lunch, it would have been so fucking delicious, and definitely tougher to put together and yet, she wouldn’t think it was fancy schmancy. Puerto Rican food, heavy on grease, pork, beans, rice, steak and amarillos (swet fried plantains) is fucking fancy. but it is such a staple, that we never think of our food that way. our food is blue collar to the bone, and yet so hard to make taste of that authenticity. It’s amazing, what food brings to the table (no pun intended). it brings culture, upbringing, politics, tastes, personality, abilities…all together to be consumed.

Damn, I must be feeling that rum.

My wife and I are going to go camping for my 30th (on June 1st), somewhere in Humboldt County. When we got married, believe it or not, we spent out honeymoon in Portland, OR (which is what Andrew Barnett did too, and stayed in the SAME hotel we stayed in!). We loved it, it was beautiful, environmentally conscious, great food, great beer, trees, rivers, parks, roses, and COFFEE. We ended up moving there a few months after that, and decided to move back down to SF because it just felt more like home. There is a strange nostalgia though, that she (my wife) feels when she thinks of Portland. If I can get my head outside the coffee box, I feel it rather strongly too. The drive up there is beautiful. Like nothing you will ever experience again. It’s amazing, and I am looking forward to taking it again to find a 200+ year old tree and camp at it’s base with a six pack cooler, a book and my wife beside me. I’m very very excited not only to go camping, but about turning 30 in a such a beautiful spot in the country.

We are moving east. And still, we have no idea where really. It’s the first time that shit is up in the air for me, and I am not freaking out about it. I’m open to suggestions and conversations, but the reality is that I need to do some deep soul searching after my trip to Guatemala and find out what it is I really want to do with my life.

This next section is only a personal comment, my own belief for myself, not what I think of other people…you have been warned.

I cannot do retail for a paycheck much longer, being behind a bar for 6+ hours cranking drink after drink has been tough to manage for almost 6 years. Roasting is where it’s at for me, but most importantly working with coffee. My dream is to be a certified Q grader and eventually own and run my own small coffee farm in Puerto Rico (no, seriously). After my trip to Guatemala, I swear to god (my wife can attest to this) I have all of a sudden become a green thumb. I want to work as closely with coffee as possible, and I have to thank Slow Food for that trip. It completely changed my life and perspective. We owe it to the farmers to help them grow better coffee, to help them build a sustainable business structure, to be there for the tough times and the good. We owe it to them to tell them what we know of their coffee at a cupping, suggest what needs to happen to make it better, take the coffee they grew, and roast it right, and sell it right and keep giving back to them so that they can teach their kids how to grow this beautiful coffee and that somewhere in this sometimes dark world, good comes from hard work, communication and labors of love on both ends.

We should be wearing tshirts with the farmers names on it. We should be down there helping them in every way we can, because it is a two way street after all…but I get the feeling, we sorta have it WAY easier up here. I think it’s important to truly build those relationships, not just fly down, demand 88 point coffees and higher, and sit up here and wait for the coffees to arrive and make sure they are what we bought. It ain’t that simple. A few companies are doing just that, putting boots on the ground and actually TALKING to the farmers, and keeping that relationship going, by not only becoming a business partner of sorts, but developing a long lasting relationship that benefits both parties financially and emotionally too…I would even say spiritually.

whoa, I have no idea where that rant came from. I was just thinking about trees, camping, nature, getting a little bit older and all of a sudden….

sorry about that. carry on.

In other news, I spent the day with my buddy Louie and his lovely wife Becky. We hit up Verve Coffee in Santa Cruz and rode the Giant Dipper. Yeah, we’re lame. It was amazing. Good people, good coffee, good talkin’ and good ride.

That’s right. Gabe finally got to go to origin. Thank you Slow Food! This is a post to be written when I have the time, and the patience and the zen mode turned on with a glass of Ron Zacapa 25+ year next to me. For now, a picture.

photo credit to Tonx.

I called Mae from Finca Agua Blanca at about 1800 meters? Tony? help me out here!

This trip if anything, taught me to take nothing for granted, and to be as aware a human being as possible of my actions and what I have. Also, never in my life have I felt more proud of my Latino heritage as the people I visited embraced me as their own. Made me miss my family back in PR. I learned a whole lot about the agricultural aspect of coffee, and the socio-economic political issues involved with coffee in Guatemala.

I’m hooked. For real this time. Anyone want to pay me to buy coffee for them in Latin America?

I am looking forward to going back with my wife, to show her what hard work, beautiful people, amazing food, humility, pride in their coffee and country looks like.

photo credit to sL (scott lucey!), Chicago 2007, Intelligentsia Roasting Works (GLRBC07)

This is what 798 points looks like.

Oh My, am I proud of him and DREW. If they were up against Ryan and I when WE competed, they would have whooped our asses.

congrats to all the competitors. tough ass muthafuckin region. jesus christ.

and also, god damn Intelly’s Rwandan coffee blew my mind as did Heather Perry’s espresso.

The subject line was inspired by this great restaurant that my wife M, and Ryan and Drew went to a long time ago…specifically Puerto Rican and Cuban food, like my aunts and mom make. Damn tasty. The place was called Frutilandia. Fucking weird joint, but good folks and good food. I am gonna miss the Mission…yeah I said it. I mean, I don’t miss living there, but I will miss the little weird joints with great food and no pretentiousness or tasting menus, or taster’s flights. Just good down home latino food with immense flavor and cheap napkins.

I have a lot going on in my life right now, so I decided to sit down and have a good fucking breakfast. New York Strip Top sirloin with caramelized onions, some garlic and of course tons of butter. Fried eggs with sea salt thrown together on a cheap white plate with some serious hot sauce. Jesus Christ, just what I needed. So simple. So fucking good! I really wanted to share that.

On the side is a slice of home made honey & coffee bread my wife made last night (the coffee was a bit of our delicious el Salvador Bella Vista CoE coffee) and some raspberry jam on top (with some more butter), and in a Ritual mug, Barefoot’s juicy Rwanada Humure Co-op coffee made in the french press I bought years ago from my first stint at gimme!coffee.

I am registering for the SCAA trade show. Lots of things to look out for and get excited about, besides the USBC. I am purchasing my ticket now for Minneapolis and they are cheaper than I expected. Now for the room…

I’m throwin all this down to say I love coffee. I love people even as a hardcore anti-socialite. I love the connection you make to other things you would have never found had it not been for coffee.

My wife and I are moving back east early spring /summer. Plans abound. But exciting.

white people

oh yeah. Grumpy has our beautiful Guatemala Cup of Excellence winner (#3) San Jose El Yalu brewing up in Chelsea. I am so excited about this. I love this coffee. Seriously delicious.
Good luck you guys! sell that Yalu goodness!!!

I am also excited because I love this company. Really, I do.

photo credit, Liz Clayton