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Kanye says most latte artists are great but mike made one if the greatest coffees of all time!

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This is great.

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I packaged coffee at work today & it was an incredible learning experience.

Jared spoke about our coffee & how we roast, where each coffee comes from, different factors of each roast, etc etc. I got to try different types of coffee beans & compare the different roasts.

I wish I would of taken a before and after picture but the shelf was empty this morning at 9 and 8 hours later, boom! COFFEE GALORE!

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Intelligentsia: Eko Java, Indonesia - NeedCaffeine.com

With notes of Dates, Apples, and Lemon, Eko Java is a light-bodied coffee with a fruit-quenching essence. If you like sweet and sour candies or enjoy a tart lemonade, Eko Java might be calling your name. 

Sour candies, lemonade & coffee? I enjoy all those things. MUST. TRY. BLEND.

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Chemex Brewer, Chemex Filters, Hario Skerton Hand Grinder all for $60. I also bought the kenyan 'kia ora' single origin to experiment brewing with.

Christmas came early this year. Jared, the owner of Noble, sold me the gear for the price he bought it for  instead of retail which tells me a) I have the best job because not only am I working for a company that cares about everything they do & always want to do the right thing but b) Noble Coffee is an educational environment where all of us are constantly seeking to improve in everything we do.

My plan is brew & taste all of Noble Coffee blends that we sell at the coffeeshop & then start buying coffee online to try new blends. I will be posting my discoveries/experiments on here.

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I love my job. 

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If you live in Ashland or on a trip make sure to visit The Spice & Tea Exchange. The people who own the shop are extremely knowledgable and are amazing at what they do. The Espresso Meat Rub was the first thing that caught my eye. Rich & deep flavor without the expected strong coffee taste? They know how to sell it. They had large stock of deliciously scented teas as well. If I wasn't flat out broke I would of bought half the store but I told the nice lady to expect a visit from me soon. Paycheck comes in this Friday!

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Cesar and I went to Case Coffee this morning. There’s nothing like a cappuccino to start off your morning.

I was talking with Eric, the barista at Case Coffee and he happen to mention something that I thought was interesting. He made a point to say that baristas from other coffeeshops in town rarely bother to explore. They get stuck and I completely agree with Eric. We all love our coffee and take pride in what we do but it’s important to see what others shops are doing and how it compares to your cup. We all love coffee and we should learn from eachother.

On a separate note, I was riding my bike home and came up with a fun idea (like I always do on my rides) I’m going to start interviews with local baristas around town and posting the interviews here on my blog.

I will be holding an interview with Case Coffee soon. Stick around to read more about their coffee & what they do.

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The Case for Drinking as Much Coffee as You Like

Every reason to justify it

Those delicious antioxidants at work.

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These guys are awesome! Streamer Coffee Company in Tokyo, Japan. Owner, Hiroshi Sawada, came to Seattle to compete in the Millrock Latte Art Championships. Hiroshi ended up winning the Latte Art competition with a three leaf pour.

Read more about Streamer Coffee Company here.

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Noble training was a blast. Jared and Peter are huge coffee geeks and it was such a cool experience having them teach us what they know. I have a small notebook filled with endless notes from brewing techniques to pulling the perfect espresso shots and a lot more.

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As of today I'm officially a full-time employee at Noble Coffee Roasting in Ashland, OR.

How did I get here? What happened? I'm not sure. It all kind of came together and the timing worked out perfectly.

I can't explain how anxious I am to start working in the coffee industry. This was the first mocha I had at Noble and what flared my newly found enthusiasm for coffee.

I will be posting more pictures later of my Noble training & anything I stumble upon as the days go by.

Cheers!

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Coffee Creatures

The Coffee Creatures are coming! A full color hardcover book collecting the coffee & watercolor paintings of illustrator Cody Vrosh.

Rad.