Thursday, November 16, 2006

Brazil

I had a great time in Brazil. I was sorry I had to miss the NW regional Barista competition and Coffeefest but, oh well. Thank you Bruno and Neto for inviting me. I was down there for a cupping coffee for a new coffee auction for coffees in the state of Minas Gerais. I was in country for nine days plus two full days of travel. We visited three farms and a place where they cachaca (a cane alcohol). I will write in more detail later.

Friday, November 10, 2006

New coffee pickers

Because of high labor costs many Brazilian farmers are starting to train monkeys to pick their coffee. One of the unexpected side benefits of this is that the monkeys have begun to eat some of the coffee and the beans that have gone through the monkeys digestive system are fetching prices that are close to the prices of Kopi Luwak. Sometimes the monkeys eat them twice and these are called double pooped and demand a even higher price. We were able to try some while in Brazil and I must say that it is good Crap.