Tomorrow is Independence day for Indonesia. 17th August, 1945- 64 years since the country unified and gained independence from the Dutch. As a visitor I have been privileged to have lived in the country and seen how progress has been embraced in many cases, rejected in others. The coffee revolution, or specialty coffee revolution to be more exact, is a fairly recent development in the scheme of things. Coffee was one of the harsher plantation systems the Dutch practiced during the Colonial period. Cultivation was forced upon many of the Javanese in particular. Paying “taxation” in coffee crop enriched the plantation owners, impoverished the locals. As a result after independence there was a stalling and general stagnation in the coffee sector. Even today most of the coffee exports are still done by brokers who have simply taken the place of the old Colonial masters. The sector has so much promise, yet it is very slow and somewhat reluctant in embracing the changes that are sweeping the coffee world.My wish for Independence Day, Hari Kemerdekaan, is that the small-holder awakening will continue. Farming communities are rejecting the traditions of 400 years. The future after 64 years is bright, although the struggle to free farmers from the traditional binds will continue for decades to come. Happy Independence day Indonesia. Merdeka!
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Vi har nu flyttat in i butiken på Kaplansbacken 5 på Kungsholmen. Nu är frågan vilken typ av maskin man ska ha på kontoret. Än så länge har vi bara en vanlig kaffebryggare, en Mocca Master som vi har släpat med ett tag. Det blir ok med vissa kaffesorter och det är den typ där man brygger rakt ned i en termos vilket ju är guld. Men rent allmänt föredrar jag vatten rakt genom en gammal Melitta-hållare.Men en Clover som de har på da Matteo vore riktigt coolt. Jag vet inte om man kan få tag på en sådan om man inte är ett café. Någonstans bör ju det gå.Sedan ska vi fundera kring en expressomaskin också.
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Yet another quick note to say how awesome these folks are:Mazzer Super Jolly hopper ordered, sadly, slightly damaged during transit.Replaced without question and received TODAY! that's a one day turn around for getting my hopper back on the grinder.Thanks again, guys.I really appreciate the excellent service.Andrew R. Tucker
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With the start of the 6th season of the infamous Celebrity Big Brother, the popular UK Chanel 4 reality television spectacular is sure to gain headlines in all the tabloids for possibly all the wrong reasons. Hoping that his past doesn’t catch up with him is industry raconteur and international playboy – Sweetbird.In a statement released to the press he has reaffirmed his commitment to bringing the other housemates 2 portions of fruit from their five a day. “I have been in this house before and know that I will be able to not only bring love, laughter and possibly a small feathery shoulder to cry upon but also ensure that the other contestants will gain 2 portions of their five a day with each bottle of ethically sourced real fruit Sweetbird smoothies. I also hope that this time in the Big Brother house will help to ignite my singing career; as I will be releasing my first self penned album entitled ‘Smooth as Syrup’ a collection of prog-rock love ballads, once I leave the house.”Sweetbird Ethically Sourced Real Fruit Smoothies will also be joined by UK baked Byron Bay Cookies in the house for this year’s collection of ‘celebrities’ and models to enjoy during the 3 weeks of the shows run. Both Sweetbird Smoothies and Byron Bay Cookies went down a treat with last year’s 9th season housemates including the self proclaimed cookie lover Kathreya.Celebrity contestants will be sampling the all new Sweetbird 100% Fruit Smoothie that was launched in April 2008, over the next few weeks. The three, ethically sourced ambient storage 100% fruit smoothies will ensure that housemates will get at least 2 of their recommended 5 a day along with their daily helping of gruel. The flavours include Mango & Orange, Blackberry & Blueberry and Pineapple and Passion fruit. The ambient storage 330ml bottles are a perfect addition to all retail locations.For more information about Sweetbird products please visit www.heysweetbird.com
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Does any one know of or have a recommendation for some type of alarm or notification system that will let you know if there was a power outage and its duration? Last night we had a power outage and it got me thinking about how I would know if my shop experienced one as well. Thanks in advance for any recommendations or suggestions.
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The Roasters Guild retreat kicks off today but instead of heading east I'm heading north. Finances are especially tight right now while working to open my 2nd coffeehouse (at my Roastery location) so it's just not in the cards. The cost of attending had to go to greens resupply, which I'm heading north to pick-up as soon as I quit playing around online. I may just make the hour or so drive east and crash the retreat this weekend and see if I can just hang out a few hours without paying registration...
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Sweetbird likes his fruit smoothies and is rather proud of them, but many people have asked how Sweetbird has been able to make his smoothies so delicious but with such a long shelf life and no need for chilled storage?Well, the magic lies in how the smoothies are produced. They are made with concentrated fruit juice and purees from a number of fruit growing co-operatives around the world which are certified to international fair-trade standards. It’s not just the ethically sourced fruit, but also the most environmentally responsible method of production. Using concentrates and pulps results in a smoothie with a lower carbon footprint (around 37.5% less carbon is produced from smoothies using concentrates than those using fresh fruit).But that is just the start. Unlike many of Sweetbird’s competitors, each bottle is made on the same line as the filling process, all of which is contained within a sterile environment. This means the bottles are not stored therefore eliminating the risk of dust or bacteria entering the bottle before being filled.Like all fruit smoothies Sweetbird’s are flash pasteurised (heated to between 80oC – 90oC for around 20 seconds) which kills off any nasties and retains the nutrient content. Before being filled with smoothie, every bottle is gas flushed with Nitrogen to help prevent oxidisation of the smoothie and to prevent any dents appearing in the bottle. This is also the reason why you may here a ‘pppssscchh’ when you open the bottle - it is not a sign that the smoothie has started fermenting!Sweetbird likes to make sure that our smoothies start their life in the celebrity style that they deserve, so we take a picture of each bottle to make sure they meet his impeccable standards. Once this is done they are wrapped up and shipped out.So is that all that makes Sweetbird Smoothies great? Well not only are they made from ethically sourced fruit, have a lower carbon foot print of many traditional smoothies, use a 100% recyclable PET bottle, been approved by the Vegetarian Society and for vegan diets by Viva! but they’re also lip smackingly good.
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The Sweetbird range of syrups, sauces and smoothies was the first range to gain the use of the internationally recognised seedling symbol from the Vegetarian Society. This has helped it become a popular brand among those businesses looking to take advantage of the UK’s booming multi million pound ethical market.With the number of vegans in the UK increasing from 120,000 in 1994 to just over 1.3 million in 2007* and now accounts for almost 2.2% of the UK population with this figure expected to grow to around 5% within the next few years. As a result the Sweetbird range has had all its syrups, blended smoothies, ready to drink smoothies as well as the Sweetbird chocolate sauce approved by Bristol based international vegan group Viva! (www.viva.org.uk)“We are proud to have the world’s first range of Vegetarian and Vegan certified coffee shop and catering products that will reassure those consumers that are looking for ethical, animal free products that the syrup, sauce or smoothie that they are using meets their exacting standards. With this booming demographic showing no signs of abating; we are once again glad that Sweetbird is an innovator and leader in the catering supply field.” Enthused Paul Maxwell of Sweetbird.Sweetbird has been a popular brand since its launch in 2005, the ever popular full range of over 35 coffee syrups are all free of artificial colours, preservative, flavours and GMO free. The introduction at last year’s Caffé Culture Show of the all new ethically sourced, 100% real fruit ambient storage smoothie from Sweetbird also gained the brand further praise from those in the industry.“I’m delighted that the range of Sweetbird smoothies, syrups and sauces have made the grade and been approved to use the Viva! vegan symbol. Now customers can sit back and enjoy a tasty dash of syrup with their coffee, or enjoy a healthy drink on the go, safe in the knowledge that they’re free from hidden nasties!” commented Angie Greenaway, Sales & Promotions Manager, Viva!For more information about the newly approved vegan lines from Sweetbird please visit www.heysweetbird.com*DEFRA Public Attitudes and Behaviours toward the Environment 2007
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Take Fresh Cup Magazine’s syrup survey to receive $10 off at freshcup.com and be entered to win tuition for two to The American Barista and Coffee School!*www.freshcup.com*Travel and accommodations not included, subject to availability, no purchase necessary.
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Sweetbird has rigorous standards and will only give his seal of approval when he is sure that all the nasty bits have been removed. Nothing artificial, phony or fake goes into any of the Sweetbird syrups, which have been packed full of natural flavours to give a mouth watering aroma when used with hot or cold drinks. With 33 flavours to choose from it’s not difficult to see why that are becoming the must have syrup amongst European baristas and with each 1 litre bottle contains 66 two pump servings (that’s 15ml per serving) the natural flavours will work wonders in the drinks of your choice.The full Sweetbird Syrup range is completely animal free and offers your vegetarian & vegan customers a chance to add a little syrup love to their soy latte. All Sweetbird Syrups have been approved by the world’s oldest and most respected vegetarian society (www.vegsoc.org) and for vegan diets by Europe's largest vegan group Viva! (www.viva.org.uk) to reassure your customers.Commenting from his beach front villa in Antigua, Sweetbird wants to reassure all readers of Barista about his commitment to natural products “I don’t like fake things in my syrups or sauces as they bring me out in a nasty rash. As a result I have instructed my minions to remove all the nasty stuff and use the finest and naturalist ingredients possible. I personally consider Sweetbird syrups to be the best on the market and allow all talented and attractive Baristas to create superb hot and chilled drinks. Now if you don’t mind I have to work on my tan.”The 33 all natural flavours includes 17 hot syrups including Chocolate Mint, Vanilla, Toasted Marshmallow, English Toffee and White Chocolate; 12 chilled fruit syrups including Raspberry, Strawberry, Peach, passion Fruit and Cherry, 3 Iced Tea syrups and 1 Chai flavoured syrup. The full range of Sweetbird products can be seen at www.heysweetbird.com.
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Early Friday morning, my wife and I welcomed our fourth daughter into this world. Lindsey Cathryn is a beautiful little thing, but she has something none of my other girls had.She has a birthmark on her left arm that resembles a coffee bean!One of those things that makes you go, "Hmmmmmmm..."
Posted by Coffee Kids on August 10, 2009 at 7:49am
Coffee Kids' partners are going local! Read about how our partners are launching efforts to develop their local economies and bring services to their communities.Download our latest newsletter at http://xrl.us/be9d3p - (1.9mb pdf). If you have any questions or want to get involved in helping coffee-farming famlies, give us a call at 505-820-1443 or e-mail us at info@coffeekids.org.
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It’s one thing to claim that your Smoothies are the best; it’s another to have a national weekly magazine proclaim it to their 300,000 readers. More magazine is one of the UK's best selling woman’s titles on the market. With its band of loyal readers it has become the perfect way to reach the highly important 18-24 ABC Female demographic. When it proclaimed that Sweetbird Strawberry Blended Smoothies are one of the five best detox smoothies, Paul Maxwell from Sweetbird wasn’t surprised.“It’s a great to be validated by a national weekly magazine that everyone agrees the smoothies you are selling really are great! It is fantastic to get such a boost and just as the beginning of the summer season. Sweetbird Strawberry blended smoothies have seen increased sales since the article was published showing the power that independent reviews in magazines such as More have on driving product sales. We love Sweetbird Strawberry blended smoothies and now we know so do many thousands of More readers.”The full range of Sweetbird blended smoothies were first launched in 2006 and since become one of the biggest selling brands of blended smoothies in Europe. Specifically developed to have a mouth watering taste when blended with ice and water, these 99% fat free smoothies come in Strawberry, Banana, Wildberry, Peach, Mango and Strawberry & Banana and are the only blended smoothie range to be certified by the Vegetarian Society and for vegan diets by Viva!.For more information about Sweetbird products please visit www.heysweetbird.com.
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Hello coffee community!I'm hanging out in Anaheim, California this weekend at the Celebrity Food Show as a V.I.P. guest with the Seattle Barista Academy.It was a little crazy flying down at the last minute, but I made it, and am having a blast meeting new people and showing off my barista skills and knowledge.I've gotten 2 additional job offers just walking around talking to people about coffee and chocolate! I'm SO serious! I just thought I was being a good barista by being informed about how they process coffee, chocolate, and teas, but I guess a lot of people working with the actual products have a limited grasp of the processing and production involved with the products they sell.. Hmmm... Know your products is what I'm saying here! Which reminds me... I have some studying to do as far as product knowledge...There's a lot of famous celebrity chefs all over this place, and I've been showing off, ha! If they get to be all cool and famous, let me show you what Specialty Coffee is all about! I've been showing the crowds the differences in free-pour vs. etching, what my custom Reg Barber can do, and how similar it can be compared to each chef having their own set of knives.I borrowed some lavender sugar and made the 2 ladies from the lavender booth some beautiful lattes. They traded me sugar cookies and a brownie, yum!Tomorrow is going to be nuts! The film crew for the Food Network is supposedly going to be filming, and I'm excited!!!! I might be on television! Woot! I'll have another blog up soon with more in depth look at what we're doing in California and my role at the Seattle Barista Academy.Here are a few pictures of what I've been up to this last week. Enjoy, I'll talk to you soon!Read more…
Sweetbird has been hitting the road all over the UK to promote the recently launched 100% real fruit smoothies. The Sweetbird-mobile, first seen at the Caffe Culture Show in London back in May has been winging its way around the country to attend some of the hottest events of the summer. The striking 1960’s VW camper van has also being doing a tour of cafes and coffee shops in the south west and plans are already underway to get further away from his nest.But it’s not just retailers who will get the Sweetbird experience, a national tour of Universities will be starting in September, to help promote the Sweetbird brand to a core smoothie consuming demographic. Sweetbird has already visited Glastonbury Festival, where they were offered at the VIP bar backstage at the Pyramid Stage to a host of celebrities such as Amy Winehouse, Neil Diamond, Beth Ditto of the Gossip and the living legend Shakin’ Stevens. Sweetbird was also at the world’s largest Vegan Festival, attended by over 11,000 people and internet gossip site, Popb*tch’s charity cricket match (at which we can neither confirm nor deny that ex-Eastenders heart throb Dean Gaffney indulged in Sweetbird 100% fruit smoothies and Byron Bay Cookies).“We will be heading to a town near you over the next few months to install a little love for our little feathered friend, Sweetbird. The response that we have been getting is phenomenal, people’s faces light up at the sight of the van and it causes quite a stir. It is a great way to build the brand to consumers and retailers alike.” Commented Paul Maxwell at Sweetbird.For more information on Sweetbird please visit www.hetsweetbird.com
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The WBC has drawn to a close for another year with a great win for Stephen Morrisey of Ireland; but thanks to Beyond the Bean and Sweetbird 100% Fruit Smoothies, it won’t be forgotten by the many families helped by Coffee Kids. As part of Beyond the Bean’s continuing programme of fundraising for numerous good causes around the world, the onsite cafe at the World Barista Championship worked in partnership with Beyond the Bean and Sweetbird over the weekend event to raise money for the international organisation Coffee Kids. £1 profit from every single bottle of Sweetbird 100% Fruit Smoothies sold at the event was donated to Coffee Kids to allow them to continue with the life enhancing work that they support in Central & South America.Coffee Kids, now in its 20th year, has worked in partnership with 12 different local groups that then work directly with coffee growing families to help improve the standard of living that they have and to enable them to develop new projects to benefit the local communities. Since its launch in 1988, over $4 million has been distributed to projects in many different regions of Central & South America which has help many coffee growing communities.“We are proud to be able to help fund the important work that Coffee Kids is doing and something that is so close to the hearts of the international barista community. We hope to be able to fundraise and promote Coffee Kids in the future. We would urge people in the coffee industry to look to support the vital work that Coffee Kids is undertaking.” Commented Helen Ostle, Marketing Manager for Sweetbird.For more information about the work of Coffee Kids please visit www.coffeekids.org. For more information about Sweetbird 100% Fruit Smoothies please visit www.heysweetbird.com
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With summer here, the annual freak-fest that is Big Brother is well underway. Joining the loons, freaks and other miscreants in the ‘car-crash’ TV stalwart is none other than Coffee Industry legend and self confirmed real fruit fanatic – Sweetbird.In a statement released through his publicist, Sweetbird has stated “I would like to make it clear that the resent lurid tabloid stories about me and a member of Girls Aloud are completely fictitious. I will be using my time in the Big Brother House instilling my love of everything pure, natural and 100% real fruit to all members of the house. I would also like to use this opportunity to tell all contestants of BB9 that at no point do I intend doing the washing up”A close personal friend of Mr Sweetbird (who for legal reasons can only be referred to as Helen X) has divulged his reasons for entering the house. “He is a driven bird, driven to make sure that everyone in the Big Brother House will get 100% pure fruit smoothies that haven’t had anything added or been mucked around with. He wants to build a better world filled with 100% real fruit smoothies that have been ethically sourced and cute little puppies. He will also be using this time to distance himself from a certain member of 80’s pop sensation T’pau.”Contestants will be sampling the all new Sweetbird 100% Fruit Smoothie that was launched a few months ago, over the next 13 weeks. The three, ethically sourced ambient storage 100% fruit smoothies will ensure that housemates will get at least 1 of their recommended 5 a day along with their daily helping of gruel. The flavours include Mango & Orange, Blackberry & Blueberry and Pineapple and Passion fruit. The ambient storage 330ml bottles are a perfect addition to all retail locations.
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