Friends and Links
Here’s a few friends and contacts for the people who currently make my world go round. And a few blatant plugs for good measure.
First of all, things would be very different if I hadn’t discovered:
The Waste of the World Project at Sheffield
which is funded by the
From that, I met my two favourite Foodies:
Speaking of Food: (did I mention the blatant plugs?)
And then there’s all the kind, helpful and fascinating people who’ve agreed (a loose term) to participate in my research:
Coburg Coffee Company incorporating Langdon’s of London
Cecocafen – Coffee cooperative in northern Nicaragua
Selva Negra coffee estate, Matagalpa, Nicaragua
Cafe Britt coffee tours, Heredia, Costa Rica
Doka Estate Coffee Plantation, Costa Rica
The wonderful Ernie and Linda at Cafe Cristina farm, Paraiso, Costa Rica
And not forgetting of course, the lovely people at Building New Hope and the Jubilee House Community in Nicaragua.
For the best coffee-related gossip, please visit Barista Exchange:
View my page on Barista Exchange
Also, Stuart’s blog is great:
Mentness: coffee and espresso musings
Spilling the Beans (Research Journal) 
Mary Saunders
November 29, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Hello Bel,
Just got news from Alan (your pa) that you are ill with dengue fever!!!! I can only hope and trust that you are recovering and in safe and secure medical ‘hands’?
Of course your blog is fascinating about your arrival in Nicuagura – sorry about spelling cos I’m lazy and feeling tired right now – just got back from visit to my brother last week who lives just outside Ramsgate, Kent.
I will return to your info site and give you feed back. But just from skim reading through some of it – you certainly are in the thick of it and must have endless supplies of energy, as well as robust good health to manage all you do tirelessly and with such a wealth of detailed observations and actual practical knowledge from just ‘getting stuck in’ you are absolutely amazing!!!
It’s not long til Xmas and Carl will soon be supping tea or a ‘cappucino’ with you and giving you a well deserved bear hug. Many bear hugs from me but they won’t ever be like Carl’s….
Will reply to your pa who wants to know what I’m up to cos he and your ma will visit your gran at Xmas in Newhaven and will pop in to visit me and Ann in Brighton. He sent me your details ( I had them somewhere but only got to Brighton on 9 Nov and it was all a bit of a rush in the end moving from Sheffield no thanks to the slowest solicitor in the entire world slower then the fastest snail….
Take care of yourself much love Maryxx
Nicola
June 30, 2009 at 1:27 pm
I just wanted to say hi. I have just been reading some of your blog and I couldn’t agree more on many of the issues you raise about Caffe Nero, its systems, blends and quality of coffee.
I just happen to be the winner of this years caffe nero barista of the year competition. However, i did not win it through my caffe nero training, I also have a mobile coffee unit (similar the piaggio you mention, but a smart car, which I run in York) and work at Caffe Nero part time, to further my ‘education’ in the world of coffee.
Having also recently taken a tour round Coburg, I may be able to shed some light on some of your questions. Loss of quality – This is down to 2 main things at coburg and beyond – When I watched the beans being roasted, I could almost hear each little bean screaming! They roast them at high temperatures, very quickly – a huge shame in my opinion when so much effort, care and attention is taken to grow them by the farmer. Secondly, I asked the MD of coburg how long it took from a bean being roasted to getting to my store, answer? Well, the coffee is packed and sealed, so it has a years sell by on it…at which point I nearly fell over. If coffee is blast roasted then hangs and round in london for a few months, then is taken to the delivery companies store and held on to for a bit longer, before being delivered, is there any wonder quality is lost?
I have to say that my trip to head office and round coburg left me a little dissapointed, Caffe Nero has a lot of my respect for being good at business, they have great margins, suprisingly loyal staff considering the rates of pay and better espresso than the other large chains (in my opinion), but beans and roasting they pay other people to know about, but unfortunatly, how do you know the external company is good, if you know even less than them? Conclusion, comercially Caffe Nero are very sucessful, as experts in coffee?.. when you compare their coffee to coffee made at places like the UKBC – its just not in the same league.
Jessica
December 29, 2009 at 10:24 pm
‘Opting for fairtrade products is embedded in a wider set of lifestyle choices associated with an academically educated liberal middle class culture; it’s a lifestyle choice, not a realistic blueprint for poverty alleviation’. Discuss.
I am answering an essay on the question above and was wondering if you had gathered any information through your project that I might be able to use on things such as fairtrade and the current seeming conditions of coffee bean growers at the moment.
Many thanks,
Jessica
drcoffee
December 31, 2009 at 2:26 pm
FANTASTIC question…. now why couldn’t they have set stuff like that when I was writing essays??
Plenty of info on here – latest blog post is a rant against Fairtrade, also if you look back at an entry from June 2009 then my views are on there. (Called “debunking fairtrade again) November 08 has some experiences on a fairtrade farm in Nicaragua. Just have a read, see what you think. It’s all just my views – though I reckon I’m probably as “academically educated, liberal and middle class” as they come (not that that is necessarily a good thing!) Good luck! any more questions, just get in touch.