Today, I'd like to introduce you to cascara.
It's not a kind of make-up.
It's not a sequence of waterfalls.
It's a byproduct of the coffee producing process, which most people in these shores haven't heard of. Yet in the coffee producing regions it is turned into a drink in its own right.
Meet: Cascara
For those who don't know, a Hot Top is a home coffee roaster that operates a bit like a miniature version of the commercial roasters. It roasts in a perforated steel drum that rotates while the air temperature around it ramps up to the right temperature. When the beans are roasted, they are ejected into a cooling tray where ambient air is blown through the beans that are stirred with a paddle. The whole thing takes 20-25 minutes.
Steve Leighton, proprietor of Has Bean Coffee, has been on a trip to Kenya.
Naturally, this is doubly close to my heart, and so it was interesting to read his thoughts on his return.
There's an encouraging twist in there that we can expect some good Kenyan coffees to land in the UK in a few months time as a result of his trip.
I've just tried Ethiopia Kerbal Konga Washed for the first time. Absolutely blows you away.
Sadly, I tried it first and then looked at the price - not the cheapest coffee you could get.
But it truly is worth every penny.
It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Has Bean Coffee. From time to time, I'm asked about whether their coffees are "fair trade". In this day and age when information is so much more freely available, there's a welcome movement - which Christians have been at the forefront of - to make sure that we shop in ethical ways. The price we pay for goods matters; the way workers are treated matters.
Steve, over at Has Bean Coffee has just launched a new blend.
All of the previous blends, launched 18-12 months ago, were designed for espresso. That's all well and good, but not everybody has an espresso machine or chooses to brew their daily coffee that way.
Steve Leighton has a fascinating post about Day 3 of his recent trip to Machacarmarca farm in Bolivia. That was the day he spent picking coffee with the other farm workers, and seeing first-hand how the methods used on this farm result in the quality you get in the cup.
Last week, I was contacted by a new micro-roaster, Coffee Bean Shop, asking if I'd be interested in a free sample of some of their beans to try. I didn't have to think long about gift-horses before deciding that wouldn't be a bad idea.
Steve Leighton, of Has Bean Coffee has launched a simple new website, called Coffee 101. Want to learn a bit more about coffee? Here's what the site says about itself:
The first half of the book of Leviticus describes many different kinds of sacrifices and offerings that the people were to make in Old Testament times. It describes circumstances under which they were to be offered. Who was to offer them. Exactly how it had to be done. And so on.
Here are a few quotations.
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