Cupping a Cuppa

June 13, 2014 by GoingPlaces Can-Do Zero Waste 7 Comments

Having recently moved to Oregon, we are happily finding that we are on many of our friends’ summer vacation itineraries.  We take our job as host of the Rankin B&B seriously and try to thoughtfully plan our visitors’ time here to not only show highlights of the area but match those destinations with our friend’s  interests and hobbies.

We have a family coming soon who has no interest in tasting wine or any of the other alcoholic beverages this region offers.  That set me back for a moment or two but I polled my local friends and added their suggestions to my list of locally prepared foods with tasting rooms.  I am now sure we will have more places to visit than we will have time when they arrive!

One friend who lives in Newport told me that one of the local roasters runs their business a bit differently. On Fridays at 9:30am Caravan Coffee offers the opportunity to blind taste two coffees in their weekly public cupping activity.  We were offered to first smell the freshly prepared grounds and describe what nuances we could sense. Then the hot water was poured over the grounds and we waited a few minutes for the grounds to release their flavor.  Finally, a third table had been set up with see if we could distinguish between the two coffees.

We were given the opportunity to taste coffee from Brazil and another new one from Thailand. The distributor was there and told us how the Thai government had recently restricted cutting of the teak forest, which the locals had been doing to sell the wood as well as clear the land for rice planting. By introducing shade grown coffee his organization is helping to stimulate the local economy.

Caravan Coffee is one of many coffee roasters in the Northwest but their statement of sourcing is a bit different than most:

• A member of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (Since 1998).
• 100% Arabica coffee.
• Only source Specialty Coffees.
• Certified Quality Grader & Certified level 1 & 2 Roasters Guild whom only chooses ethically sourced coffee for our roasting.
• We have direct-relationships with some of our farmers and are actively pursuing more.
• Certified Fair-Trade coffee.
• Certified Organic Coffee by USDA.
• The Proprietor and Roastmaster have personally visited several farms from which their coffees are sourced.

The coffee is available at the shop and tasting room at 2750 East 9th Street in Newberg and online individually or as a member of the Coffee Club.  If you are a serious coffee drinker, this may be worth your time checking out!

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