Season of Goodwill

I've decided to set myself a couple of challenges for the month of December.

Over the past year I have discovered that the more I learn about coffee the more critical I can be about the cup that I am served at a cafe. Sometimes that has come out in my blog posts, but most of the time it's been in my head...or said to my long-suffering wife. The flip side of this knowledge is, of course, a greater appreciation of a cup of coffee when it is well produced.

However, for the next few weeks I'm going to try my best to simply enjoy the whole experience of coffee even if what I am served isn't that great - the location or the people I talk to or the thoughts in my head might be instead.

The other thing that I am going to do is impose on myself a 10% charity tax on any coffee I drink during December. I'm doing this in response to my thoughts about yesterday's post. So the more coffee I drink, the bigger the donation will be to Christian Aid.

What if I didn't drink coffee?

Representing my church I attended the AGM today of Christian Aid (Ireland). The event was held at Bewley's Hotel near Dublin Airport. For those outside of Ireland, Bewley's is a well established and historical purveyor of tea and coffee in Ireland. I guess they also purvey guest rooms too. But it's not Bewley's that I want to talk about - though it is coffee related.

Christian Aid is an international development organisation who raise funds and help local churches connect with vital projects in the developing world. I noted down what the Chairperson said was the driving motivation behind Christian Aid: "To eradicate absolute poverty because absolute poverty is an affront to God."

One speaker highlighted a recent trip to Ethiopia - the home of coffee. His presentation included the story of a small group of women who pooled some money in order to give micro-loans to the local residents in order for them to develop some sort of livelihood. The way this collective of about a dozen women initially raised some capital was through coffee. Actually through not drinking coffee.

Part of the tradition for many in rural Ethiopia is the drinking of coffee in a ritualized way. Typically this coffee ritual takes place three times a day. However, these ladies for-goed one ritual each day and pooled the saved money instead - about five cents each. Five cents!!

You and I wouldn't think twice about such a trivial amount of money, but once enough had been collected fair loans could be made. So the story continued:

A woman takes out a small loan from the group and buys a large bag of corn and a large can of kerosene. These then she decants into small vessels and sells on to others at a small profit. From that profit she buys a goat which she milks for extra income. Her newly earned money is then used to buy another goat which she breeds with the original and several months later the goat gives birth to two more. These new goats are sold for a decent enough amount of money to start to give hope for this woman and her life is transformed. All for just skipping a coffee and investing five cents. It was a powerful lesson and one that, as I write this now, causes me to think about what I could do if I skipped the occasional coffee and did something else with the money.

Costa Coffee in Ireland???

Wandering around Dublin city centre on a cold, wet, windy Saturday morning is not really my idea of fun. Especially when accompanied with three under-5 children, one of whom had had a high temperature the night before. Still, a bit of fresh air and exercise never killed anyone. Probably.

However, my morning was brightened up when I noticed a Costa Coffee store on a busy corner of Dawson Street just up the road from my favourite toy shop - all 50 sq. meters of it (if that) packed form floor to ceiling with classy toys! So while the kids were peering in through the toy shop window I headed into Costa for some coffee and the low-down on their arrival in Dublin.

Costa Coffee have been brewing up a pretty decent cup in the UK for years, and as a chain store over there would have been the biggest rivals to Starbucks - with probably a couple of hundred more outlets than the mermaid. What I have always liked about Costa is their support of Fairtrade long before it started becoming trendy and certainly long before their biggest rival did. That and they do a nice selection of pastries.

I return from my recon trip with a vanilla latte for my wife and a regular latte for me, plus a chocolate mini yule log. (I can't believe I bought something so Christmasy already...but I guess we were in the process of helping out Santa).

"Get this," said I to herself. "Costa have been in Ireland for ages and I never knew it! And they have 27 cafés across the country!!"

"Let me stop you right there," says she, nipping in the bud any thoughts of an another pilgrimage....

Coffee Diagrams

A while ago someone asked me if I would explain what the differences are between the various styles of coffee. So, going on the premise that a picture is worth a thousand words I shan't bore you with intricate details......even though I might find it interesting. Instead, here's a great picture I came across:



(Designed by Lokesh Dhakar)

Why would you do that????

My mother-in-law from America has been over for the last couple of weeks. Although living in Ohio for many years her family history is from the South. Every now and then she will give me a little insight in to some of the customs of that part of the country - like what they serve for breakfast: biscuits and red-eye gravy.

The "biscuits" I can cope with. Think a lighter, fluffy/flaky bread roll, a bit like a plain scone but less dense. (Nothing like a chocolate digestive biscuit). Served with the biscuit is some bacon. Ok so far. All this is topped with red-eye gravy. Here's how that is made: after frying the bacon remove the meat from the pan, but leave the fat and juices behind. Then add to the pan......my goodness I can hardly bring myself to say it......then add to the pan............coffee!!!!! And you got yer gravy.

Please, anyone from the Southern States, can you confirm this abomination is true?

That said, I did take my m-i-l to Temple Bar market last weekend where we sampled chocolate covered bacon.

Farewell to Starbucks

I wasn't planning on going to Starbucks in Ranelagh today, I just happened to go past it. Actually to be more precise I happened to go past where it was! I wound up doing a double-take and thinking, 'Wow! Starbucks has closed.'

The door was open so I peered around inside the empty store, save for a display of coffee packets and a few bits of unsold merchandise. I found someone to explain what had happened. Apparently this wasn't the only Irish store to close. Five of them closed on Friday!

Unfortunately the grounds ran out for Starbucks cafes in Ranelagh, Dundrum, Tallaght, Swords and Dalkey. I can't help feeling the people of Dalkey may be feeling a little bit smug right now.

While I'm not really bothered about these stores closing down, I do feel sorry for the people who worked in them. I guess that even in a small country such as this the mighty Starbucks over-stretched itself. I'm glad I finished visiting them all when I did! It almost now gives my Starbucks coffee Odyssey an historical perspective.

Welcome to the 21st Century, Cosmo

I've never had my own laptop before...until today.

Now I'm sitting in a cafe, writing my blog, using wifi! I feel so free!!!!

I might even go out this week and get one of those telephone things with no wires coming out the end. Can you imagine? Phones without wires!


Oh, man. I'm more behind the times than Great Uncle Bulgaria.

My Next Door Neighbour

If I don't blog this right away I will forget,and it's too wonderful to be lost...


I just put the kettle on and made a cup of tea - the lazy way: just a tea bag in a cup. On going to the fridge for milk I discovered that we had none! Not one drop! So I went, with hot cup in hand, and knocked on my elderly neighbours door. She answered, still in a dressing gown and curlers in her hair. She's great craic. A real, old Irish woman who always has a story to tell and a quirky saying for every occasion. If chatting at the front door were an olympic sport she would win a gold medal.

Anyway, I explained my predicament and she was only too willing to oblige...and tell a story: Apparently she doesn't drink tea and always drank coffee, even as a young child. She was out the other day with her nephew and stopped for a coffee in "one of those Starbucks places", to which she added:

"Call that coffee?! My granny! It was bilge."

I literally LOL. And I don't even know what bilge is!

Square Mile Coffee - Autumn Espresso

I deliberated for a couple of weeks deciding whether or not to order a couple of bags of beans from Square Mile Coffee Roasters. This is not because I was unsure of what the quality would be. They are the people who roast for Flat White cafe. No, my hesitation was purely based on what it would cost to have the coffee sent to Ireland. But last week I decided to go ahead and order some beans, mainly for three reason plus and obvious fourth:

1) I had just run out of my stash of Flat White beans.
2) It would be cheaper than me flying to London.
3) They come in 350g bags as appose to the regular retail standard of 250g.
and 4) I was just curious!

Despite there being a postal strike in the UK my coffee arrived today - a seasonal short-run blend: Autumn Espresso - with a roasting date stamp of 28th September. One week for the beans to settle. Perfect.

I wasn't in a position to try them out straight away, but for the next couple of hours my mind was distracted from productive work just at the thought of running them through my machine. (Good grief! I really am starting to think I might have a problem.)

Eventually I got my chance! Cutting open the top of the bag I gave it a gentle shake and then stuck my nose in for a good sniff. Ahhhh, a wonderful nutty smell combined with the sweet aroma of warm buttered toast.

I was amazed at my first shot of espresso that I pulled. The pour was a delight to watch and the crema was incredibly thick - about half the volume of the shot itself. I was amazed that my little machine could get such a result. It proved to me what you achieve with fresh roasted, high quality beans and a grind seconds before pulling the shot.

And the taste? After sipping through that crema the flavour was warm and fairly sweet, kind of like dark chocolate. Then, a second or two after tasting, a fruity sharpness comes back and pokes you in the throat. Coffee is so multi-sensory. I love it!

I followed up my espresso with a double shot latte. The added milk made it caramely and really quite rich. Perhaps even too rich for my taste. I'll see what tomorrow brings.

Alas, I had to pull myself away and get on with the rest of the day; so maybe I don't have such a problem after all. That said, I have been thinking about the coffee a fair bit this evening...

Tir na nÓg Caife - St Anne's Park

I once came across a shocking statistic that there are more golf courses in greater Dublin then there are children's playgrounds! If I may take that further, I have come to discover over the last few years that there are no playgrounds that I know of that are located next to a cafe!!! I'm not sure why this is as I am sure they would do a cracking trade in take-away coffee. At the very least, as someone suggested to me last week, one of those travelling coffee wagons could do worse than to hang out around playground gates - especially as autumn draws in. (Coffee Angel, if you are listening, there is a market to be exploited).

Today, despite forecasts of possible rain, we ventured across to the other side of the city to collect conkers and go bike riding in St Anne's Park, Clontarf. Oh what a picturesque family scene, you're thinking. Yes it was......but we did get wet. I don't like being wet.

Anyway, there are two other features I like about the park. One is the Saturday farmers market at the Red Stables and the other is the playground which, although not right next to each other aren't too far apart. Within the market is the usual mix of organic fruit and veg, bread and baked goods, olives, flowers, crepe van, wool stall, cheeses, and a coffee stall. But I didn't get coffee from there.

Also located in the Red Stables is a cafe which is open everyday and recently under new management. It is Tir na nÓg Caife. But I didn't go there for coffee either. And here's why:

While having fun with the kids in the playground my mind wandered to the thought of enjoying the slab of M&M cookie bar that my wife had made and packed in her bag. Naturally it would be best enjoyed with a coffee so I began thinking of reasons why I should be the one to leave the three kids in the playground to fetch a couple of lattes. And then something wonderful happened...

Coming from out of the mists, somewhere from way beyond the west, two youthful figures strode into the chaos of the grounds, smartly dressed and donning green aprons. Did her name badge say Niamh? And I felt sure he was refered to as Oisin, but my caffeine withdrawal may have been playing tricks with my mind. Regardless, they came with wonderful greetings from Tir na nÓg and asked if I'd like to order anything from their menu. Within minutes they returned with two very good lattes.....and then they were gone.

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By the way, the Tir na nÓg is the mythical celtic Land of Eternal Youth. Find out a bit more about it here.