Finally, another podcast! It has been a while since the last one simply because I’ve been quite busy. In fact I’d been trying to record an interview with Tim for about 3 weeks and we kept struggling to find a time. So when we ended up in Florence together, it seemed like a good opportunity and I grabbed my little audio recorder and we sat down and …

I really hope people enjoy this one – because I really, really enjoyed the conversation I had with Peter. Â We’d planned to talk about some fermentation experiments he’d been working on, but we cover a range of things. Listening back it seems like we planned this more than we had – this wasn’t the case, it was just a little serendipitous. In this p…

Very pleased I could grab Mike for a little while to have a chat about stuff. I’ll confess that I decided to edit this one down quite a bit. I said from the beginning that I wanted these to be about 30 minutes, and I want to stick to that. In this episode: – What he’s been up to this year – Barista training – Arguing about espresso brewing – Just a…

I’m really proud of this particular episode, which actually seems a bit wrong considering Colin is the one saying all the interesting stuff. I think there is some incredibly important stuff covered in this, for baristas and for business owners. Things we talk about: – A great way to think about quality, and quality control – A definition of innovat…

Thanks to everyone who downloaded the first episode – there were a lot more of you than I expected. I plan to jump around quite a lot with the guests, though there is a little thematic continuation from the last episode with Stephen. Â It was great to get into a bit more detail about coffee research, as it is something most people are extremely int…

I’ve decided to start a little podcast. Â Be kind, it is my first venture into such things… The idea is, as I explain, pretty simple – call up a coffee person and talk about coffee stuff for a little while. I promise a few things for subsequent shows – they will be a little shorter (the first is a touch over 40 minutes) and that I will get the audi…

Back in 2007, as I was preparing for the WBC, I decided I wanted to do something interesting with the music. I’m guessing a few of you have probably heard the music I ended up with but I thought I’d post up something else. I have a weak spot for a childish mashup, and so I got in touch with a DJ whose mixes I like and asked him for 15 minutes of m…

I’ve known about Broca (coffee berry borers) for a little while but in truth didn’t know that much about them. Broca attacking the coffee For the coffee plant they are insect evil. If they ruin coffee by laying their young inside the fruit who then devour the bean. Not so good for a crop. Elliott’s article is a worthwhile read and I don’t have enou…

I’ve had a load of e-mails from people asking about the music that was playing in the background during my WBC performance. So, for one week only – or until I get in trouble and have to take them down, whichever happens first – here are the tracks in order: 1. Midlake – Roscoe (Erol Alkan Remix) 2. Chipset Rockswell – 50 Ways to Leave your Lover 3.…

A while ago some people rang up and asked Anette if she wanted to cup some supermarket and branded FairTrade and Organic coffees for a short tv item. She said no and passed them on to me, and for some reason I said yes. Cafe Direct had heavy involvement and the other cupper who I would be tasting with was Thierry from TWIN (who source for Cafe Dire…