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Friday January 28th Cupping

Today we cupped Serendipity Blend and French Roast Blend. These two are highly recomended.

Serendipity Blend is Tanzanian Peaberry and Ethiopian Yergacheff, two of Africa's finest coffees. Dry or wet the aromas of the grounds gave us Apricot and Fresh Butter. Fresh Butter aroma in coffee is one of the most delightful aromas one can experience when cupping. When we tasted the Serendipity, WOW immediately there was a burst of Tangerine citrus flavor and Fresh Butter coats your tongue along with a wonderful heavy body. This coffee had a floral coffee blossom finish. Everyone agreed this is our most unique and exciting coffee.

Next on the cupping table was our French Roast. This blend is Panamanian and Brazilian Santos, which leaves you breathless! Dry or wet the ground coffee aromas gave us a fragrance white chocolate. We had a bit of a debate over whether we tasted Milk Chocolate and Vanilla or White Chocolate. When tasted we noticed a flavor that took us by surprise, Basmati Rice. This coffee had a nice body, great flavors and a clean finish unlike most French Roast Coffees that leave an aftertaste. Our French Roast did not linger long after being tasted.

Enjoy!

Friday Cupping Session January 14, 2011

This morning we chose to cup Serendipity Blend and Tiffany Blend. The coffees in Serendipity Blend are primarily African and Tiffany Blend is comprised of Central and South American coffees, so we expected them to be very different.

When we smelled the freshly roasted Serendipity Blend, we got a very sweet fruity aroma, similar to blackberries. These aromas remained very similar when we added water to the grounds. Jeff, our production supervisor, said that the smells reminded him of a great after dinner coffee. When we finally tasted it, Irene, our sales manager, and Anthony tasted pink grapefruit with a hint of caramelized sugar. It had a heavy body and we got a distinct rose petal finish as it cooled.

The Tiffany Blend was very different from the Serendipity, but just as much of a pleasant experience. Caitlin immediately smelled a very spicy aroma, due to the Guatemalan that is part of Tiffany Blend. We also got very nutty and earthy smells. When we added water to the grounds, the smell didn’t change very much, but the taste was a different story. Amy got a very sweet, earthy taste, almost similar to garden peas. Irene tasted sweet red peppers and we all got a bit of a nutty flavor as well.

Serendipity is the latest featured coffee in our online store, so be sure to give that one a try!

2011 Farm Show PA Preferred® Reception

For the second consecutive year Cafe Excellence coffee was served at the 2011 Farm Show PA Preferred Reception. This was the kick off event for the Pennsylvania Farm Show 2011. Pennsylvania Agricultural industry is celebrated at this 95th annual Farm Show, which is being held through January 16, 2011. The show features livestock, cooking, and crafting skills from across the state of Pennsylvania.

Over 1 million visitors will see annual favorites such as the butter sculpture, the sheep to shawl contest, the celebrity cow milking, and the famed food court, which offers the best Pennsylvania Produced Products, including Café Excellence coffee, which is roasted in Pa. The food court also features celebrity chef's both from Pennsylvania and national Chefs from the Bravo food network.

Irene Satterwhite CE (left), Sarah Trujillo from Department of Agriculture (center left), Amy Reedel from CE (center), Cindy Combs from CE (center right) and Lela Reichart from the Department of Agriculture (right).

This was a great evning and Café Excellence was honored to be there and support Pennsylvania Agricultre.

Chefs Appearing During the 2011 Pennsylvania Farm Show

The following chefs are appearing on the Culinary Connection stage during the 2011 Pennsylvania Farm Show.

Celebrity Chef Tiffany Derry – Bravo food network, Top Chef D.C Finalist, Executive Chef Go Fish Ocean Club, Texas
Celebrity Chef Ed Cotton – Bravo Food Network, Executive Chef, Plein Sud, NYC
Chef Paul Niedermyer
Chef Paul Mach
Chef Mike Ditchfield – All Chef Instructors, PA College of Technology
Exec. Chef Jason Viscount – Bricco, Harrisburg, PA
Exec. Chef Darryl Harmon – The Waterworks Restaurant and Lounge, Philadelphia, PA
Chef Howard Helmer – the world’s fastest omelet maker
Exec. Chef Mark Pawlowski – Yorktown Hotel, York, PA
Chef Dan Brodeur – Chef Big Dan’s 11^th Street Deli, Media, PA
Exec. Chef Michael Brenflect – Taste of Excellence Winner, The Savory Grill, Macungie, PA
Chef Robert Iannaccone – Brookside Country Club, Macungie, PA
Exec. Chef Charlie Gipe – Hershey Entertainment Complex, Hershey, PA
Chef Brandi Pratt, Chef Kathy Wickert – Giant Foods, Camp Hill, PA
Chef Kathy Christopher – Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA
Exec. Chef John Reis – Harrisburg Hilton, Harrisburg, PA
Chef Instructor Dan D’Angelo – Art Institute of Philadelphia
Chef Dawson Flinchbaugh – Flinchys Steak and Seafood Restaurant, Camp Hill, PA
Chef Instructor Michael Finch – Community College, Harrisburg, PA

Friday Cupping session January 7, 2011

We have resumed our Friday morning cupping! This morning we cupped Venice Nights and Kona Blend.

We found the Venice Nights to have a slightly earthly smell, which is due to the Sumatra. When we added water to the grounds and broke the surface, we got a burst of sweet flowery/perfume smell. When we tasted it, it was very earthy with a fruity tart flavor, very acidic and had a light to medium body.

The Kona Blend was very different from the Venice Nights. It had a very sweet/chocolate aroma. There was also a hint of butterscotch. We got a very strong smell of chocolate (almost like hot cocoa) when we broke the surface of grounds. The flavor was a very strong lemon flavor and the body was medium to heavy.

Both of these coffees are favorites of our production staff and they are highly recommended!

Coffee Prices Rise

Wall Street Journal
Tight Markets Seen for Coffee, Sugar, Cotton
By Leslie Josephs, New York

A scarcity of commodities such as cotton, sugar and coffee that propelled prices to historic highs late in 2010 is expected to continue into 2011, and it could mean more prices increases for consumers.

Coffee prices, which hit their highest prices since mid 1997 this year, are also expected to stay high. The emergence of new coffee drinkers in Brazil and China and sustained demand in North America and Europe through the economic downturn were met with lower output from top producers of the prized, mild washed arabica beans. Torrential rain tore through and Central America this year.

Coffee futures rose 77% this year, ending 2010 at $2.4050 a pound.

The higher prices have led Starbucks Corp., Kraft Foods Inc. and Farmer Bros. Corp. to raise prices for some of their products this year, and more increases may be on the way for other companies.

"While many of our franchises have held their prices steady for more than three years, we expect that some may make modest adjustments to coffee prices in their restaurants," said a spokeswoman for Dunkin' Brands Inc., which owns Dunkin' Donuts. The company uses only arabica beans.

In December, consistently low supplies of arabica coffee prompted the Intercontinental Exchange Inc. to include arabica beans from Brazil, the world's top producer, on its list of grower nations for the benchmark "C" contract. The deal, one decade in the making, is expected to boost liquidity in the market and will take effect in March 2013.