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One afternoon; three speciality coffee shops

Posted by Cafédirect, May 16th, 2012, Comments (0)

…It’s all in a day’s work for Cafédirect’s marketing team! Portland, Oregon is the spiritual home of the specialty coffee shop, just 175 miles from Seattle it lives and breathes coffee and this year it was the host city for the largest coffee event in the world: the Specialty Coffee … Read more

A storm in a coffee cup…

Posted by Cafédirect, May 14th, 2012, Comments (0)

We’re often reminded that climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face globally today. And yet sometimes we can get lost in the overwhelming scale of the problem. But, if like us, one of the highlights of your day is a great cup of coffee, then the challenges … Read more

The Kilimanjaro coffee journey: the final chapter

Posted by Paul, April 13th, 2012, Comments (0)

Jambo sana and karibu Kilimanjaro! My trip to the mountain. As I mentioned in my previous blog I’m writing these lines from the slopes of Kilimanjaro after concluding a visit to KNCU, our producer partner and supplier of Kilimanjaro Gourmet Coffee. The week was amazing, visiting some of our partners … Read more

The Kilimanjaro Journey: the coffee beans reach Europe!

Posted by Paul, April 3rd, 2012, Comments (0)

Kilimanjaro...this way! Hay Festival 2010

When you have a cup of coffee in your hands, you probably don’t think about the incredible journey that the beans have taken from their origin to your favourite supermarket or café, so I have been writing a series of blogs to explain this amazing process. Perhaps next time you … Read more

A Sense of Place

Posted by Emily, March 16th, 2012, Comments (0)

You know that wonderful feeling you get when you savour a drink that is just brimming with character – the one where it transports you to another place through the intensity of flavour alone? Whether it’s a glass of fine wine, a Nicaraguan coffee or a cup of Kenyan tea, … Read more

Landslides and coffee: our first Producer Conference of 2012

Posted by Cafédirect, March 7th, 2012, Comments (0)

Each year Cafédirect holds producer partner update meetings in three corners of the globe: Latin America, Central America and Africa. They are always a great opportunity for those of us based in London to meet with representatives from of each of the cooperatives and really understand what’s going on with … Read more

L’atelier des Chefs adopts coffee matching principles in its cookery courses!

Posted by Emily, February 22nd, 2012, Comments (0)

We’re really excited to announce that, following on from our coffee matching event, celebrated London cookery school, L’atelier des Chefs has been experimenting with the winning recipe during their innovative lunchtime cookery classes. Head Chef at L’atelier and judge of our recent coffee and dessert matching competition, was so impressed … Read more

Award-winning decaff

Posted by Emily, January 3rd, 2012, Comments (0)

What do Alex and Fatima, left, have in common with your New Year health kick? They are some of the fine Latin American producers whose carefully selected beans go into making our award-winning decaff roast & ground coffee. Alex and Fatima work in the quality control department of Prodecoop … Read more

Matching coffee with food – Cafédirect Machu Picchu

Posted by Thierry, December 21st, 2011, Comments (0)

This might be the last in the series profiling our single-origin coffees, but it is by no means the least. We have the saved the Peruvian Machu Picchu Organic coffee for the festive season because it is the most versatile of the single origin coffees, matching a whole host of … Read more

Coffee matching champion announced

Posted by Emily, December 6th, 2011, Comments (0)

Cardamom chocolate mousse on an amaretti biscuit base

What a whirlwind of tasting and baking we’ve had here at Cafedirect recently! Ever since the coffee and dessert matching competition closed we’ve been busy whittling down a shortlist of recipes that match perfectly to a specified single origin coffee from our range and working with the judges (Andre Dupin … Read more

The Kilimanjaro Journey: harvest arrives in Tanzania

Posted by Paul, December 5th, 2011, Comments (0)

In this latest post in our Kilimanjaro Journey series, Paul takes a look at how the harvest is shaping up in Tanzania and the challenges farmers at Kilimanjaro are currently facing. The harvest in Tanzania has now begun and it’s time for coffee collection! Between now and January individual farmers … Read more

Matching coffee and food – Cloud Forest beans

Posted by Thierry, November 18th, 2011, Comments (0)

Following on from the food and coffee matching event we held last month, we are continuing our journey into profiling Cafedirect single-origin coffees to help you select your coffee and dessert combination with confidence – in much the same way as you would do with wine. Today we are heading … Read more

The Kilimanjaro journey: the tradition of coffee in Tanzania

Posted by Paul, November 11th, 2011, Comments (0)

Part 2 Welcome to the second installment in the blog series following the journey of our Kilimanjaro coffee from the bean to your cup. In order to have a full appreciation of this wonderful coffee, it is important to understand the history behind it. Next time I will bring you … Read more

Top baking tips

Posted by Cafédirect, November 10th, 2011, Comments (0)

Last month we hosted an evening of coffee and recipe matching in the fantastic L’atelier des Chefs kitchens in London and April Harris, aka 21st Century Housewife, and April Carter (Rhubarb & Rose) were the winners with their delicious Spiced Vanilla Honey Cake (which was deemed the … Read more

Win £500 of cookery vouchers

Posted by Cafédirect, November 4th, 2011, Comments (0)

Just as certain wines match well with certain foods, so the same is true for coffee. With this in mind we are looking for the best coffee and dessert matches and are asking for your help! If you have a favourite recipe that never fails to please dinner guests, then … Read more

The Kilimanjaro journey: from the volcano to your coffee cup

Posted by Paul, October 24th, 2011, Comments (0)

Part 1 Welcome to a new series of blog posts following the journey of one of our gourmet coffees all the way from the tree to your cup. If you are a follower of the Cafedirect Blog, you have probably read Thierry Akroman’s posts about matching coffee and food – … Read more

An evening of food and coffee matching

Posted by Emily, October 14th, 2011, Comments (1)

Last night we held a food and coffee matching event with a difference. We invited some members of London’s thriving and knowledgeable food blogging community along, as well as the winner from our recent Facebook competition, and set them the challenging task of creating (and making) a dessert to match … Read more

WIN a Coffee Matching Masterclass at London’s L’atelier des Chefs!

Posted by Cafédirect, October 11th, 2011, Comments (0)

This Thursday evening (13th October), Cafédirect will be taking over the kitchens of famous London cookery school L’atelier de Chefs for a coffee matching masterclass with a twist! And we’re offering you and a friend the chance to win two places at this exclusive event. It’s well-known that wine has different characteristics according to origin … Read more

Matching coffee and food – Kilimanjaro Roast & Ground

Posted by Thierry, October 10th, 2011, Comments (0)

Welcome again to our coffee matching journey where we profile one of Cafedirect award-winning single origin coffees and we explain why a specific coffee compliments certain foods in a similar way to wine. Do you remember the following words – fragrance/Aroma, acidity, flavour, body after-taste and balance? If not, these are the … Read more

Guest post from Cafedirect Producers’ Foundation

Posted by Cafédirect, October 3rd, 2011, Comments (0)

Today we have a guest post from Kenny at the Cafédirect Producers’ Foundation updating us on one of the projects at origin. As some of you may know, we not only pay growers a fair price for their crop (as per fairtrade regulations), but in addition, we also fund a programme of … Read more

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