Thank you !

Now we´re slowly catching up again and we hope everbody made it safely home.

We want to direct a big thank you to everbody during a fantastic coffee week in Copenhagen. We saw so many nice people and had so many interesting discussions that we want to express an enormous gratitude to everyone.

Thank you.

Clips and stuff from the past week

Yes, it's been a great week! We're all a little exhausted, but we will definitely post about our experiences during the whole Wonderful Cofffee SCAE event as soon as possible.

Meanwhile you can watch Casper's cupping here:


There's also a short clip on TV2 Lorry and an article (in Danish) here and here.

We'll try to update the list if anything else pops up. And meanwhile we just discovered this article from a couple of months ago (also in Danish).

Award for Coffee Excellence

In the evening Saturday 21st we were awarded with the SCAE prize for Coffee Excellence in the category of Young Entrepreneurs!

We are very proud to get this award from the SCAE after just being in business for less than 1 year! It gives us comfort that we are on the right track (and yes we will make sure to keep our feets on the earth;-)!



Thanks to everyone who's supported us in this beginning, to our families and friends and to the farmers we have been so fortunate to work together with.

Casper is World Cup Tasting Champion!

Casper has just won the Cup Tasting Championship!
He aced the first round in 1 minute 19 seconds, had one incorrect in the semi-finale and then in in the finals he probably set a new record for speed with all 8 correct in around 1:46! The other two finalists had 4 out of 8, so with two cups still to be lifted it was already clear that Casper had won.

CONGRATS TO CASPER FROM THE REST OF THE COLLECTIVE!


Billede af Roed - EspressoBar

WBC days

What are the collective doing during WBC and SCAE Wonderful Coffee?

Well, the coffee shop is open as usual except on Sunday where we'll be closing down the shop during the finals of the WBC. We've had a great many of our international coffee friends visiting us and look forward to welcoming even more.

As an official sponsor of the World Barista Championship our espresso blend will be available at the WBC Charity Café located right next to the WBC competition area (booth 191).

On Thursday Klaus will be at the Astoria booth (#188) making coffees on their new machine. Linus will take over on friday and saturday. Swing by for a collective espresso!

Thursday at 12.22 Søren Stiller Markussen will represent Denmark as competitor number 3. His prep-time starts at 12.04 and we suggest to get there in good time as there will no doubt be plenty Danish people to cheer him on. We're proud to have Søren use our coffee for his presentation and wish him the best of luck.

On friday around 1300 hours the SCAE Danish Chapter has organized a tour of Copenhagen Coffee Spots that will come to visit us on Jægersborggade. At the SCAE Denmark stand (booth #10) in the corner opposite the WBC area it will be possible to sign up for the tour. At the same stand you can also taste coffee from several Danish roasteries including ourselves and meet last years Danish champion Lene Hyldahl, who competed in Tokyo.


Saturday is the big World Cup Tasting Championship day. Casper is competing on behalf of Denmark (see here for his win of the Danish championship - that was before he grew a mustache). The competition starts around 9.30 - Casper don't know yet what time he is competing, so make sure to be there from the early morning with Danish flags, horns and lots of cheering-spirit!

Saturday evening we will be attending the SCAE Awards Dinner. Place still to be announced (or else we just couldn't find it anywhere. If you know where it is drop us a comment!). We're nominated for the SCAE Young Entrepeneurs Award, so please, cross your fingers for us.

Sunday, as mentioned, we'll close down the shop and go watch the WBC finals. Who will be there? We're not even gonna speculate on names, since there's SO many great baristas in the WBC this year. Good luck to all!

To wrap up the WBC the barista party on Sunday night at Café Europa will be a not-to-miss event. By then you can probably find us all lying in the Storkespringvandet with a beer in hand :-)


We look forward to a great WBC and to see everyone we know!

Lots of visitors and the FVH event.

Lots of visitors in town = busy busy coffee shop.

Yesterday was amazing. We had so many visitors from all over the world through our little space. People from Australia, Russia, Japan, Ireland, USA, Belgium, Poland, New Zealand and many more countries paid us a visit.




David Makin got on bar in the morning and pulled some fantastic shots for the collectivists. At the same time we were roasting several batches of coffee and trying to pack it all. It's difficult to pay attention to your tasks when people you haven't seen in a year keeps coming in the door.




Last night Edwin Martinez of Finca Vista Hermosa gave a wonderful presentation on life at the farm in Guatemala. Edwin is a tremendously engaging speaker and not afraid to share his personal stories.

"You [the audience] know these specialty coffee roasters, who spend a large percentage of their finances to travel to origin, visit farms and outstanding coffees. I'm at the other end - trying to find someone good to buy and roast my coffee." Edwin explained.



Edwin showed pictures from the farm, including the farm house at 1600 masl. and the surrounding landscape. The steepness and altitude of the hill slopes makes the work on the coffee farm extremely difficult. Transportation of cherries from the different lots, through small pathways on slopes to the wet mill is such hard labour that Edwin says: "There's no bad coffee!" A reminder to respect the hard work that everyone that produce coffee undertakes.

In stead of getting deep into the technical details of making coffee Edwin told about the culture and history of the Guatemalan people - something that highlights FVH's approach to coffee; It's about the people! The high cup quality comes from the work the people there do, like pruning the trees.



During the two hours many interesting points came up. The importance of medical care at the farm. The new technology of cell phones allowing farmers to get information from Anacafe about the market price so the farmers can hold on to their coffee until the time where they can get the most from it. How they will only take the finished coffee down to the harbor until they absolutely need to, so it doesn't sit in the warm climate and wait for an unnecessary time. And much more than I could possibly list here.

We'd like to thank Edwin and his wife and mother for taking the time to share with us the stories from the farm.

Nordic Coffee Map

Our friend Jeppe (the boyfriend of the 2007 Danish Barista Champion Lene Hyldahl, and co-owner of Behag Din Smag in Ålborg) has created a Nordic Espresso Map for all you foreign people who will be visiting Scandinavia for the World Barista Championship.

Link to the Nordic Espresso Map

Zoom in on Copenhagen for more detailed view to find some places to get you daily cup while away from home.



We look forward to welcoming all the SCAE and WBC visitors from around the world to Copenhagen!

Nomination for SCAE Young Entrepeneur Award

We've been nominated for the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe's Awards for Coffee Excellence 2008 in the catagory Young Entrepeneurs.

We feel greatly honored to have been nominated in the first year of our business and now look forward to having an excuse to attend the SCAE party on the Saturday evening.

Past winners of the SCAE Coffee Excellence awards include amongst others Luis Pascoal (of Daterra), George Howell, Dr Ernesto Illy and many more prominent figures, so a nomination on its own is an honour to us.

Meet The Farmers

Quality coffee begins at the farm. The hard work that is done there is essential to the quality we - as a roaster - want to bring to our customers. In the days prior to the WBC we will get a visit from two of the farms we work with. Both have offered to come and give a talk about their farms. This will be a great chance to meet some of the people behind some incredible coffees and hear about the work they do.


June 17th *Sold Out*
19.00 - 21.00
Finca Vista Hermosa
Edwin Martinez

Edwin is the third generation on the Finca Vista Hermosa farm in the highland Huehuetenango region in north-west Guatemala. His granddad Don Felipe bought a coffee lot called Michicoy back in the 60's and in 1970 he bought his second parcel, Finca Vista Hermosa, where the wet milling is done. Edwin is a certified Q Grader and will represent United States in the Cup Tasting Championship this year.



June 18th *Sold Out*
19.00 - 21.00
Daterra
Isabela Pascoal & Andreza Elaine Marzarao

Daterra is located in Brazil's Cerrado region and has become legendary
in the specialty coffee world for their innovative and scientific approach to coffee.
Research in varieties specifically for espresso, the state of the art Penta Sorting system and special vacuum packing are just some of the things that have established the farm's excellent reputation. Isabela and Andreza will also be talking about their sustainability programme.



Attendance is limited to 20 people per event. Price is DKK 100,- per person which includes a 250 g. bag of coffee from the farm.

To sign up send an email to klaus (at) coffeecollective.dk and pay the DKK 100,- either at our coffee shop or through our webshop. *Both Events Now Sold Out*

The events take place at our roastery and coffee work shop
The Coffee Collective
Jægersborggade 10
2200 København N



Klaus together with 'Don Edwin' and young Edwin, who will be visiting us