Sharing my coffee experiences on The Blog
The Coffee Collective #04: Reading can damage your ignorance
After my little rant in the previous newsletter about not reading, I took it upon myself to read every moment I got, every free time I had, especially every time I pulled out my phone to browse social media. In this week’s newsletter, I cover my Substack recommendations, Below Zero Beans by Blacksmith, the ultimate coffee + pastry pairing experience in Dubai, Exploring Flavor Wheel Workshop with Irina Sharipova and much more.
Processing can make or break coffee
Imagine this: One origin. One farm. One coffee. Processed 20 different ways. This is exactly what coffee professionals implemented during their trip to Ethiopia earlier this year, a processing adventure at Daye Bensa’s Gatta Washing Station. My finding: CQI - Q Processing Level 2 Professional course is no joke.
The most awaited opening: Things Specialty Coffee Concept Store
The most awaited cafe opening this year single handedly goes to Things. Spoiler alert: my expectations were surpassed and much more. Imagine a space where every element within it is a representation of your persona. Some would say that in a real world such a place would not exist; duplication, imitation and replication is the norm these days.
Rosetta Roastery: The Best from Cape Town
Last year, the Financial Times listed Rosetta Roastery as one of The Best Independent Coffeeshops in the World and won the Coffee Magazine's "South African Coffee Roastery of the Year" in 2018 and 2019. A thoughtful gift by Andy — coffee from the best roastery in Cape Town. This article sums up my thoughts on the three origins roasted by Rosetta Roastery.
Triangulating my coffee palate
I have always been fascinated with developing my palate. I don’t know about you but the ability to identify different aromas and notes are rewarding. I found myself triangulating coffee recently with the Grandmother team. It was humbling to know that I am not very good in identifying defects, but on the plus side, it was a great learning experience.
The Best of Colombia by 85+ Specialty Coffee
85+ Specialty Coffee was founded in 2020 by Nooran Amer and Mohammed Seif. The co-founding siblings had one focus in mind: the quality of their coffee was too important to settle for anything less.
The Third Place: between your work and home
Ray Oldenburg, the famous sociologist, refers to the ‘first place’ as home and ‘second place’ as work — these two being the place where people spend most of their time. He describes the third place as “the heart of a community’s social vitality”. The Third Place for me is the transition between the two.
The Need for Coffee turns one
What lead me to start The Need for Coffee was an idea planted in my head by Lameen, a dear friend who has been writing about coffee on From Coffee With Love for more than a decade. I didn’t give it much thought and jumped on it straight away.
The man behind FLTR Magazine
I’m going to talk about two things in this blog post. First is about mentorship and why you need to take up a mentor, it can be in any aspect of your life. Who, that’s for you to decide. Second, I’ll tell you my who and why.