Most coffee drinkers respond with a, "Why Bother?" when we talk about decaf. While our regular coffees offer the most flavor due to less processing before roasting, we take our decaf drinkers seriously because, let's face it, decaf coffee drinkers obviously like coffee. They're not in it for the caffeine, but purely the flavors coffee offers. We were honored to have our Fair Trade Organic Water Processed Terra Linda be ranked as the highest scoring decaf coffee in the January/February issue of Imbibe Magazine. Take a peek at the article below by clicking on the pictures.

Both Colombia Monserrate Micro-lot coffees are now available at all Kaldi's Coffeehouses and some of our fine wholesale accounts. We are proud to offer these two coffees as the latest addition to our line of Kaldi's Relationship Coffees.

Tyler Zimmer and I traveled to Monserrate in August to participate in the judging panel of the co-op's 59 micro-lots. Each micro-lot is farmed and processed by a different family along Monserrate's luscious ridge. The differences in processing and geographic placement of farms along each side of the ridge lead to a diverse selection of micro-lots in the cupping competition.

These two micro-lots were our favorite of the 59 and will be available for a very limited time due to the small lot size.

Lo Mejor de Monserrate, the 2009 cupping competition winner, was produced by Oscar Fernando Medina. We purchased his entire harvest of coffee, which equals roughly 1,000 pounds of green, unroasted coffee. The coffee has dazzling acidity reminiscent of mango, bergamot, and green apple. It is easily confused for an outstanding washed Ethiopian coffee.

The 4he place cupping competition winner was produced by Gustavo Quintero. We purchased his entire tasty and unique harvest that yielded roughly 550 pounds of green, unroasted coffee. Spice, cocoa, and dark fruit dominate the nose of this micro-lot, while flavors of peach, cream, and molasses delight the palate.

In addition to these two fantastic micro-lots, we also purchased a nice amount of the community blend, which is made up of the 6th-59th place micro-lots. We have cupped the samples and are incredibly impressed by the outstanding quality and diversity found in this community lot. The community lot will be sold as "Colombia Monserrate" and will be available in the coming weeks. We'll soon have more to offer in terms of taste description and information on this coffee.

above right, label for "Lo Mejor de Monserrate"

above left, label for "Colombia Monerrate Cupping Competition 4th Place"

Santa dropped off his presents to Kaldi's a day early - 11 bags of highly-anticipated Colombia Monserrate Microlot Competition Lots.

After a week in Colombia, four months of giddy anticipation, graphic work, trade presentations, and interviews, the coffee has arrived! You'll start to see it right after the new year in our Coffeehouses. The bags will also be available to all of our wholesale customers, so you may see it at other fine retailers and cafes around the city.

This is the second year we have bought coffee from the Monserrate Cupping Competition. This year we will offer both the first (purple 12oz bag) and fourth (white 12oz bag) place micro-lots, as well as the Colombia Monserrate community blend (standard bag) of the 6th-59th place micro-lots.

We'll have more information coming soon on our travel to Monserrate and this year's delicious offerings.

Last night, St. Louis saw it's first trace of snow, and that got me in the mood for something warm before going to bed. My wife and I decided we'd split a small 12 fl. oz. French Press of the new Kaldi's Holiday Roast. After five minutes of nerdy brewing perfection, we sat down to the semi-finals of Top Chef and enjoyed our brew.

As the coffee cooled in my cup, the aroma was overwhelmingly enticing – warm grape juice is the best way I can describe it. And once the coffee cooled a bit, the tastes exceeded the aroma. A sweet chocolaty body is complimented by notes of bergamot and a touch of spice. It was one of those brews that reminded me why I'm still working in coffee.

Our 2009 Holiday Roast consists of an Organic Ethiopia Yirgacheffe from the Gedeo sub region. Usually, we are well into our crop of Yirgacheffe by this time of year, but changes in Ethiopia's Commodity Exchange gummed up their exports this year.

We snagged a small amount of Gedeo's offering just in time for the holidays, but it won't last long. Our current supply will only produce around 300 limited edition bags of coffee – 12oz each. It will be available at our Kaldi's Coffeehouse locations in Clayton (Demun), Clayton (Downtown), Chesterfield, Kirkwood and Columbia, Mo. later this week.

Get some while you can, and let us know how it tastes. If folks like it, we'll try to find some more and bring it in for the new year.

Since the holidays have arrived, we thought it would be wise to pass on some always-timely home brewing advice. With these simple tips, you can make any cup of coffee (hopefully from Kaldi's beans) better. So, take them as a new venture or a refresher for your home brew.

• Store your coffee in an air-tight, opaque container. Whole bean will keep the best.
• Grind your beans right before you brew. If you don't have a grinder at home, only buy a small amount at a time from a reputable place (like Kaldi's!) - enough for 1 week
• Grind your beans to the correct particle size - this should correlate to your brewing method. Always remember, the longer the steep time the coarser the grind should be
• Usually, espresso is a very fine grind, drip brewers are medium, and presses are coarse
• If you have a blade grinder, shake the entire unit while you grind. This prevents fines from getting stuck on the bottom of the grind chamber.
• Use a burr grinder if you can afford one! A burr grinder will grind the beans to a consistent size without any need to shake or guess.
• Use filtered water when you brew.
• Use the correct amount of coffee! We suggest 10g coffee for every 6 fl. oz of water. 10g is around 1.5 Tbs for most coffees, but weighing the coffee out is the most accurate way to brew.
• Preheat all your brewing tools with hot water.
• If you're using a manual method (french press, chemex), try to get that water right around 200 F before brewing. (if you use an automatic brewer, you're at the mercy of the heating element in the brewer - most home brewers don't get the water hot enough before brewing leaving the coffee underextracted).
• Avoid reheating the coffee after it has brewed or keeping it on a burner/warmer. This will cook the dissolved solids in the cup and taint the flavor. Pour extra coffee into a preheated thermal carafe instead.
• Clean your brewing equipment well after brewing using hot water and a mild soap if necessary. Urnex makes great coffee-geared cleaners if you're serious about your gear.
• Have fun!
• Enjoy the coffee.

In case anyone was wondering, we will be streaming the Midwest Regional Barista Competition Live. Follow the link to find the video stream and schedule of events.

Join the Barista Guild for a brisk bike ride through St. Louis' historic Forest Park. We'll stop at some of the best cafés in town for free coffee and finish at Velocity Café where we'll be joined by anyone with a love for coffee at the Barista Guild's MWRBC welcome party - food + beer + barista throwdown. Don't miss out!

Occasionally, the Friday-afternoon cupping at Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Facility takes on a bit of a twist. Last month, that twist was a blind, triangulation cupping - an event we try to do every couple of months to test our palette skills.

What surprised me last month wasn’t that I identified five out of five inconsistent cups (booya!), but that I did not identify the correct coffee estates/farms in any of the sets (un-booya!). I have always pontificated the importance of regular cupping to our staff, and to have lost touch with the identity of our coffees was a bit embarrassing.

It is very easy to spend one week cupping every day, and then spend the next week or two not visiting the cupping table at all. Work schedules are tight, and having proper water, scales, coffee, and grinder to conduct a cupping takes a lot of time and the right location. To lose touch with your coffees, however, isn’t acceptable. So, with this thought in mind, I urge baristas to adopt a weekly cupping mandate!

Cupping weekly has several, often profitable, outcomes:

1. Increased palette ability and vocabulary: Cupping on a weekly basis will allow you to be a better consumer of coffee. Notes in the coffee will make themselves more obvious. Coffees will change over time and you will get to know that change. Cupping with others (especially from other companies) will help to expand your cupping vocabulary, which can later translate to your customers by helping them select the correct coffees.
2. Become an honest salesperson: It’s not too hard to sell coffee if you use the words “smooth” or “chocolate,” but do you really know what is behind these words? If you are a frequent cupper of your own coffees, you can find something interesting about each coffee and share that with your customers. Even better, coffees that are exciting and interesting to you will be at the top of your recommendation list, which will easily improve your coffee bean sales. Without an honest coffee knowledge, we’re going to stay stuck on the system of selling, “Light, medium, and dark” coffees.
3. Allow yourself to be surprised: I didn’t incorrectly identify those coffees because I didn’t know what they tasted like, but because they tasted unique. Specialty coffees can no longer be identified by regional stereotypes. Our Burundi Kinyovu had caramel and slightly acidic notes, much like a typical Central American stereotype, while our Costa Rica Helsar de Zarcero had bright orange and creamy notes like an East African stereotype. Cupping often will help you taste the whole of coffee - similarities and differences across the world – and not just the words on the label.

If you believe me and want to become a more honest and profitable barista, take the mandate! Cup every week.

We eagerly invite all coffee lovers to the 2009-2010 Midwest Regional Barista Competition. The event will again be held in St. Louis, Missouri from October 29 - November 1, 2009.

Kaldi’s Coffee will host the event at the historic Soulard Preservation Hall. Over the past few years, the Midwest has built a solid coffee reputation by sending baristas to the USBC finals the past three years.

We invite and seek competitors, judges, and volunteers - be you a coffeehouse operator, an avid home roaster, a restaurateur, or coffee hobbyist - please join us in the region's greatest coffee event. To sign up for any of these positions, visit: http://members.scaa.org/train/rbc/midwest/default.aspx

from Tyler....

Mike and I visited Colombia at the end of August to continue our ongoing relationship with the small Coop, Monserrate in Huila, Colombia. This is a very special project that one of out importers, Atlas Coffee, has been a part of for about 5 years now.

Mike and I participated as judges in the Second Annual Lo Mejor de Monserrate Cupping Competition. We judged 59 samples from each family in the coop and are proud to announce that Kaldi’s has purchased the #1 lot from this years competition! This very special lot is very small, so it won’t last long when it arrives in December.

Please join us this Friday at 2 pm as Mike and I share more about our trip to Colombia.