back from a long hiatus writing on this page, I've got a new employer, a fresh perspective on coffee and the producers who make it great, and a fresh new batch of countries I get to see.
New countries I've visited so far in my job with la Minita include Honduras and Brazil. Old countries I have continued to enjoy include Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Colombia. My Spanish speaking skills? Eh, I'm slowly getting there. I do have an upcoming return to Africa - a November trip to Kenya and Ethiopia that I am looking forward to.
Anyway, stay tuned and I'll try and keep this page updated with posts on my trips as I can.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Monday, March 2, 2009
that's a wrap
Thanks for coming along, I appreciated all the comments as I you posted them, and I hope you enjoyed the slim taste of pictures and notes I was able to get up here.
I'm home now, trying to readjust to west coast time, and really appreciating the fresh air and rain!
Now comes even more work - I've got all my photos to comb through (I took over 1800!) and presentations to prepare for. If you're in Olympia, I think I'm set up to do a trip slideshow at the downtown coffeehouse next week. Once I get the date I can put it up here and/or e-mail anyone close enough to show up. I am going to try and get something done with Forrest too to get more of my pictures available either through the Batdorf website, the batdorf/dancing goats blog site, or maybe just uploaded on my picasaweb page. I'll let you know.
This was fun for me - I hope to be able to re-use this site for future trips (I can re-title it any time I want) and share more of my travels with you.
peace
I'm home now, trying to readjust to west coast time, and really appreciating the fresh air and rain!
Now comes even more work - I've got all my photos to comb through (I took over 1800!) and presentations to prepare for. If you're in Olympia, I think I'm set up to do a trip slideshow at the downtown coffeehouse next week. Once I get the date I can put it up here and/or e-mail anyone close enough to show up. I am going to try and get something done with Forrest too to get more of my pictures available either through the Batdorf website, the batdorf/dancing goats blog site, or maybe just uploaded on my picasaweb page. I'll let you know.
This was fun for me - I hope to be able to re-use this site for future trips (I can re-title it any time I want) and share more of my travels with you.
peace
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Is that the sound of the wheels falling off?
Addis is hot and smelly, I'm wearing clothes I've been swapping on my body for two weeks in sweaty conditions, I'm sitting with a group of guys who, despite the fact that they are nice guys, I've been with nonstop for, like, eleven days. This group of guys includes my boss, who seems to be duplicating my job wherever we go. The crowd has thinned to five. Four of us are on the same KLM flight this evening, so we'll get to ride to the airport together, and sit (for hours) in Amsterdam together - Yippee!!
And through the magic that is Facebook chat I just learned that E-Taylor will be transiting through Addis the same time I'll be there tonight. So I'll get to see him!
Ethiopia has been a great experience, but its time for me to get home, or at least onto the plane where I can put my earbuds in and close my eyes so people quit talking to me.
And through the magic that is Facebook chat I just learned that E-Taylor will be transiting through Addis the same time I'll be there tonight. So I'll get to see him!
Ethiopia has been a great experience, but its time for me to get home, or at least onto the plane where I can put my earbuds in and close my eyes so people quit talking to me.
Friday, February 27, 2009
boundaries
I've spent almost two weeks straight with the same batch of seven to ten people, and It finally got to me last night. I skipped dinner with the crowd to hole up and read, catch up on some news, and begin packing for the trip home. I always appreciate having a group like this to travel with, because you get new people to bounce ideas off, share problems with, and generally commiserate and find comfort in the fact that other people in your line of work face all the same issues as you.
One of the things we've talked about is staying connected. On a trip like this, halfway around the world, and with the technology most of us now own, where do you stand on calling home, checking e-mails, and generally keeping your life in motion? There is one end of the spectrum that argues when you're gone you're gone, and you simply can't be reached. The older guys usually fall into this camp. The other end is someone who has cell service wherever you are, sending and receiving calls, texts and e-mails at close to the same speed as usual, and loves getting back into the city so he can really get down to business with a high speed internet connection. Everyone sits somewhere between these two extremes, and I think maybe it's becoming a generational thing.
Me, I like to stay connected on a trip like this. This is my job, not a vacation, and while I'm spending a good twelve to eighteen hours each day pretty much living work, I figure checking e-mails and dealing with work stuff is just another part of the gig. Larry argues its important to disconnect so people learn to deal with their work problems without you. I've got a whole different view of that, even when I'm at work, so it has absolutely no relevance to where I am in the world - I trust people to deal with their problems without me even when I'm sitting in the next chair.
On the other hand, I happen to be someone who can completely disconnect on the weekend and evenings. The same guys who say they never call home or check e-mails on trips are the guys who go in to work on Saturday, send e-mails on Sunday, and call your cell at night. This I don't get. And I also happen to subscribe to the notion that just because someone is trying to reach you doesn't mean you have to answer. In the world of e-mail, texts, facebook and twitter you've got a reliable connection to the world, but you still have the right to interface with it on your own terms. I think it's important to learn to find comfort and balance between knowing what's going on to stay informed and actually getting buried underneath a bunch of useless crap. It seems like most people end up buried, and I think that's too bad.
In the end, it's your life, right?
One of the things we've talked about is staying connected. On a trip like this, halfway around the world, and with the technology most of us now own, where do you stand on calling home, checking e-mails, and generally keeping your life in motion? There is one end of the spectrum that argues when you're gone you're gone, and you simply can't be reached. The older guys usually fall into this camp. The other end is someone who has cell service wherever you are, sending and receiving calls, texts and e-mails at close to the same speed as usual, and loves getting back into the city so he can really get down to business with a high speed internet connection. Everyone sits somewhere between these two extremes, and I think maybe it's becoming a generational thing.
Me, I like to stay connected on a trip like this. This is my job, not a vacation, and while I'm spending a good twelve to eighteen hours each day pretty much living work, I figure checking e-mails and dealing with work stuff is just another part of the gig. Larry argues its important to disconnect so people learn to deal with their work problems without you. I've got a whole different view of that, even when I'm at work, so it has absolutely no relevance to where I am in the world - I trust people to deal with their problems without me even when I'm sitting in the next chair.
On the other hand, I happen to be someone who can completely disconnect on the weekend and evenings. The same guys who say they never call home or check e-mails on trips are the guys who go in to work on Saturday, send e-mails on Sunday, and call your cell at night. This I don't get. And I also happen to subscribe to the notion that just because someone is trying to reach you doesn't mean you have to answer. In the world of e-mail, texts, facebook and twitter you've got a reliable connection to the world, but you still have the right to interface with it on your own terms. I think it's important to learn to find comfort and balance between knowing what's going on to stay informed and actually getting buried underneath a bunch of useless crap. It seems like most people end up buried, and I think that's too bad.
In the end, it's your life, right?
FInal cupping at Trabocca
Cupped eighteen samples today at the Trabocca office in Addis. Both washed and naturals, much of which was picked up as we drove round and round to all the co-ops they do business with. Winners? Eh. There were a few good coffees. I liked two Shilcho coffees, a washed and a natural. (this natural Shilcho was a coffee I bought in the second eCafe auction in 2006 but rejected it once it came in - it didn't get to the US until four months after the auction and the arrival sample was total garbage.)
Anyway, I requested a few samples be shipped to me at home so I can take another look at the ones I found interesting. I've got a ton of work to do also to figure out which importers are working with which exporters, and who can get their hands on coffees from these co-ops.
Cupping today was tough. Power was out at the office until around noon, so we had to kill time until it came back on and they could get everything roasted. Then we cupped coffees that had been roasted only hours before, many of which were still early samples and will undoubtedly settle as they rest a little more. There were a number of assumptions I had to make about these coffees regarding their true character. I am, of course, a professional, and have all confidence I didn't throw out anything worthwhile.
Anyway, I requested a few samples be shipped to me at home so I can take another look at the ones I found interesting. I've got a ton of work to do also to figure out which importers are working with which exporters, and who can get their hands on coffees from these co-ops.
Cupping today was tough. Power was out at the office until around noon, so we had to kill time until it came back on and they could get everything roasted. Then we cupped coffees that had been roasted only hours before, many of which were still early samples and will undoubtedly settle as they rest a little more. There were a number of assumptions I had to make about these coffees regarding their true character. I am, of course, a professional, and have all confidence I didn't throw out anything worthwhile.
my good travel stuff
I love my new duffel bag. REI. Sixty bucks, baby, with wheels, a sturdy handle, and compression straps. It eats up my stuff and there are no pockets to lose things in, except the front pouch that has become my dirty laundry slot. It will hold 36" rod tubes. It is definitely my new suitcase for fishing excursions or long trips, especially when paired with this next item.
My Eagle creek folding shirt pack. It would probably hold twenty folded shirts, and in about two weeks on this trip it's kept everything relatively wrinkle free and contained. Beautiful.
ipod. duh. Do you have any idea how many hours I've spent on airplanes and in cars since February 14th? My favorites on this trip: 6 hours of the first season of the Ricky Gervais podcast, and Jenny Lewis and the Watson twins.
Gerber paraframe pocketknife. I can't fly standby anyway with my big duffel bag on a long trip like this, so I figured I'd bring this along. I've used the hell out of it, and flicking it open and closed under the table is a wonderful nervous habit that works in lectures, meetings, you name it.
Alka Seltzer. My magic cure-all. When people find out you have some, they will bum these off you to no end. I carry a lot.
High speed 8 GB SD card. How can something smaller than a square inch possibly make life so much easier on a guy? You can go days of snapping 300+ photos without downloading, and once you do they move in a flash.
My Eagle creek folding shirt pack. It would probably hold twenty folded shirts, and in about two weeks on this trip it's kept everything relatively wrinkle free and contained. Beautiful.
ipod. duh. Do you have any idea how many hours I've spent on airplanes and in cars since February 14th? My favorites on this trip: 6 hours of the first season of the Ricky Gervais podcast, and Jenny Lewis and the Watson twins.
Gerber paraframe pocketknife. I can't fly standby anyway with my big duffel bag on a long trip like this, so I figured I'd bring this along. I've used the hell out of it, and flicking it open and closed under the table is a wonderful nervous habit that works in lectures, meetings, you name it.
Alka Seltzer. My magic cure-all. When people find out you have some, they will bum these off you to no end. I carry a lot.
High speed 8 GB SD card. How can something smaller than a square inch possibly make life so much easier on a guy? You can go days of snapping 300+ photos without downloading, and once you do they move in a flash.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Forrest warned me against slipping into journal-mode when I write. I noticed that the notes I've been taking and the snippets I've been getting down into word before constructing these posts have been just that. So instead of simple reporting, and giving you a chump list of what I did today on the coffee tour, I'm going free-form.
I'm back in Addis now, and the last of this trip's work ought to be completed today - we will be cupping all the samples we've collected in the last four days of driving all over hell and gone Sidamo. It was an amazing experience for me to be able to bask in this glorious and storied coffee region; I will never forget what I've seen here. But long trips have a way of screwing up your sense of what you've accomplished, and having the Sidamo and Yirgacheffe tour fresh in my mind, it makes Harar and the conference seem like last year's news.
I've learned a massive amount of stuff about Ethiopian coffee, much of which has solidified things I'd suspected or had only fuzzy notions about. I'm bound to be a better buyer of Ethiopian coffees because of what I've been able to piece together, and I can be a much better contributor to our marketing efforts when we present what I've bought to our customers. I've taken over sixteen hundred photos of Ethiopia that we can use on the website and on printed materials. I've made numerous new industry connections both in Harar and in Sidamo, as well as in Addis, not to mention made a few new U.S. roaster friends.
So, overall, very much a worthwhile trip.
I'm back in Addis now, and the last of this trip's work ought to be completed today - we will be cupping all the samples we've collected in the last four days of driving all over hell and gone Sidamo. It was an amazing experience for me to be able to bask in this glorious and storied coffee region; I will never forget what I've seen here. But long trips have a way of screwing up your sense of what you've accomplished, and having the Sidamo and Yirgacheffe tour fresh in my mind, it makes Harar and the conference seem like last year's news.
I've learned a massive amount of stuff about Ethiopian coffee, much of which has solidified things I'd suspected or had only fuzzy notions about. I'm bound to be a better buyer of Ethiopian coffees because of what I've been able to piece together, and I can be a much better contributor to our marketing efforts when we present what I've bought to our customers. I've taken over sixteen hundred photos of Ethiopia that we can use on the website and on printed materials. I've made numerous new industry connections both in Harar and in Sidamo, as well as in Addis, not to mention made a few new U.S. roaster friends.
So, overall, very much a worthwhile trip.
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