News articles tagged with 'travel'
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On the road
Some of you may be aware that each year, coffee tragics from around the globe gather somewhere in the US for the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s annual expo. This is the biggest event on the specialty coffee calendar and this year, the expo was even bigger, as it was combined with the World Barista Championship. The host city this year was Atlanta, Georgia.
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From cup to origin — part 1
Five Senses’ own Ben Bicknell has been on an epic adventure from the cafes of Montreal, to the rigorous challenges of a week’s training at Coffee Lab International and the exhilaration of judging at the World Barista Championships in Atlanta. Here’s a peek at his adventures, couched in an inimitable Ben-style …
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From cup to origin — part II
We finally touch down in Guatemala City and catch a cab straight to Antigua (a city in the central Highlands of Guatemala), where we base ourselves for the next eight days. The last couple of weeks were great, but the change of scenery is timed perfectly, as we’ve pretty much had our fill of courses, conferences, parties and stuffy hotels. Since this is our first trip to Central America, we’ve come without much of an agenda. The real idea of this impromptu visit is to go with the flow and establish some footing in a region we know so well in theory, but so little in practice.
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Training in paradise
We added a new dimension to our annual harvest trip to Bali this year by doing some barista training in our base town of Ubud. A speculative email to the good people at Casa Luna got the process started. With a posse of Australia’s best baristas in the group, I thought it would be great to do some training between our trips out to Kintamani to work with the growers. It kills me that so many origin countries don’t use their own coffee, and import stale product from far off Mediterranean countries.
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An Australian bean counter in Bali
When you are an accountant and you tell someone that you work for a coffee roaster, you are usually greeted with the same joke every time. “Oh, so you’re a BEAN counter”. Ha Ha. Not funny. Trust me, when you hear this joke for the 5,000th time, it’s incredibly unfunny.
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Bali baristas in town
It’s no secret to anyone who follows our stories and blogs that the people and culture of Bali hold a special place in our hearts. We first ventured up to Bali in 2007 and since then, we’ve taken many trips to build upon the direct trade relationship that we started with the farmers on that first visit.
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PNG coffee gardens
Mount Elimbari, the highest mountain in the Chauve region of Simbu, is very significant to Five Senses. It was here that we purchased our very first bag of coffee, but most importantly, it represents the strong and growing relationship we have always had with PNG coffees.
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On the road with Gwilym Davies
Last year’s World Barista Champion, Gwilym Davies, was in Australia recently, and Brad Nixon from our Melbourne roastery went to Queensland and NSW to attend Gwilym’s seminar. Here’s Brad’s diary of his travels…
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Bali: Back to our roots
Direct trade is a well known term by now, branded on coffee blends to attract a consumer with high taste and ethical standards. But what does it mean to the farmers at the source? Or to the coffee companies they deal with? On my first trip to Bali, I was eager to find out.
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What is ethical coffee?
How can you be sure that you’re buying a coffee that doesn’t exploit the people who grew it? The good news is that it’s actually easy to support the farmer who has laboured for many hours to grow and process your coffee.
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Colombian Coffee First Hand
Jen and Dean spent a couple weeks in Colombia during the coffee harvest earlier this year. The idea was to see firsthand what goes on behind the scenes with one of our most popular origin offerings. Jen brings us an account of their time in the Colombian Andes.
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Talking Coffee in Tanzania
When I found out that Sustainable Harvest’s ’Let’s Talk Coffee’ conference was being held in Moshi immediately following the Rwandan COE, I managed to extend my trip to East Africa and make my way to Tanzania.
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Gems of Araku
I’ve just come back from two weeks of intensive coffee travel in South India and now I’m finding myself completely re-thinking everything I thought I knew about Indian coffee. My trip had a twofold purpose. The first week was dedicated to the Gems of Araku cupping competition, where we focused on a non-traditional, but emerging coffee growing region in South India. Week two…
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Licence to Judge
My entry into the judging world at barista competitions initially came because I was sick of lugging all the competition equipment, place settings, cups and coffee across to the other side of the country as a competitor. I thought, ‘Stuff this!’ – I’ll save on the excess baggage fees and give judging a spin instead.
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