#beanbuffs

[beanbuffs]

Recap: 6th Coffee Satsang

I will remember the anniversary celebrations for three reasons.

One, the obvious milestone of a year of coffee geeking.

Two, we've launched CoffeeSatsang on Demand - COD

Three, YOU. With every subsequent workshop I get more hopeful that there are so many out there who appreciate a great cup of coffee. More the better. 

Thanks a lot for gracing the event. 

[beanbuffs]

1st Anniversary: Congratulations Beanbuffs!

Update: 6th Coffee Satsang on 21st ( Lets celebrate the anniversary)

Road Ahead: 

 As Beanbuffs completed a year of existence and five and a half Coffee Satsangs I took a step backwards and thought about its future and its purpose. Last month few coffee nuts got together and discussed where Beanbuffs can go and how it can include more and more people in its journey. I thank Aharnish, Manideep, Kishore, Souvik and Kapil. They have been a constant source of encouragement and suggestions. Thanks again guys. 

Few Suggestions and Ideas

I had suggested a model where we will hold Coffee Satsang once in two months, while Kishore and Souvik suggested that we should carry on with the current model. Aharnish and Manideep suggested that with the current set-up coffee enthusiasts are unable to graduate to the next level, which is learn finer things about the world of coffee. I had also suggested a concept called Coffee Satsang on Demand, which is for the more serious coffee lovers. I will explain it in detail in the next post.

Finally: Coffee Satsang stays a monthly event while we also introduce Coffee Satsang on Demand or simply COD

Therefore, we will remain a platform which will evangelise good coffee, people who are roasting good coffee like Blue Tokai, Finca Coffee, Indian Bean and Coffee Coach & great places to have good coffee ( we start a weekly series with suggestions about where to have great coffee and some exceptional food). 

6th Coffee Satsang and Anniversary Celebrations

As I type I am already thinking about ideas about how to celebrate the first anniversary, yet we are a couple of weeks away from the Coffee Satsang. Please send in your suggestions. In the meanwhile I have been practicing baking. Therefore, I will bake probably the best coffee walnut cake you have ever had and delicious coconut macaroons. Here is a preview. 

I am looking forward to the best Coffee Satsang ever! What say?

[beanbuffs]

A fortnight in the life of Beanbuffs

[beanbuffs]

A Week in The Life of a Beanbuff

The past few days were great as we ordered coffees from four independent roasters, which in our view is a great thing for the Indian Coffee World. Ten years ago one could only get to drink specialty coffee either at CCDs or Barista, which was really good then. Other than that one could get their hands on freshly roasted coffee, but not artisanal or gourmet coffee. Thankfully independent roasters have come up with their offerings and with time it will only get better. 

One of the things which we observe is that the trend is towards pitching the offering on the lines of third wave coffee companies in the US and Europe, such as Stumptown, Blue Bottle, Ritual, Counter Culture, Peets etc. Therefore, the focus is on storytelling about the fairness of the deal and the single origin coffees. Just that we should keep in mind that one, Indians have not been drinking specialty coffee for long ; and two, the education about speciality coffee is necessary. 

Once we are done with cupping and brewing coffees with different brew methods, we will share a detailed post. Till then enjoy our past week in pictures. 

[beanbuffs]

Anthony Mangieri is one our inspirations. He has set the benchmarks for perfection, dedication and passion for what one does. He leads it by example and arguably prepares the best pizzas in the world. Salute to him!

NATURALLY RISEN from michael evans on Vimeo.

[beanbuffs]

Coffee Satsang: Image by Aharnish Mishra

Friends and coffee lovers. We apologise for the delay in posting the roundup for 2nd Coffee Satsang. But, then we have been working on your suggestions and patting ourselves for learning to beat the heat by swirling coffee, ice-cream, ice, milk and flavours together. 

2nd 

Thanks so much for gracing the event and allowing us to share the coffee-love. We are grateful to coffee-lovers who not only made it to the jungles of Shahpurjat, but offered suggestions to make Satsang better. Let us assure you that we have already started working on them. In fact, we are taking this opportunity to announce two new initiatives based on your suggestions. 

Image by Aharnish Mishra

1. Coffee Equipment and Coffee Beans:

We have started working on an extensive list of places, from where we can source coffee equipments and coffee beans. We at Beanbuffs will also start stocking a few coffee equipments and coffee beans from various roasters. We will cup and taste various beans for you and share reviews with you.

2. Coffee Satsang Format:

In our last Satsang we were told by our guests Souvik and Jyoti that we should also help guests to discern between good coffee and bad coffee. Therefore, in our next meet-up we will start by asking our guests to share their coffee experience and arrange the type of coffee they usually enjoy at home. Going ahead we shall help guest to prepare coffee using fresh coffee beans and new equipments, leaving them to decide if the new is better than the old or vice a versa. What do you say guys? Please send in your candidature for the next Satsang.

Image by Vivek

Quick Roundup:

Coffee and Tea are the two most consumed beverages on earth, and interestingly both can be consumed hot and cold. In our last workshop we showcased Frenchpress and Indian Filter Coffee to prepare flavourful hot coffees and then used the same equipments to prepare delicious iced and cold coffees. We are posting a compendious of Brewing Methods here for you to prepare coffees at home. 

A guest preparing coffee ( Image by Vivek)

We also asked our Guest Ginny to prepare coffee for us using the French Press method. Coffee turned out nice and tasted good. Well, we should not forget Supratim's contribution in grinding coffee manually. 

  Roastmaster becomes Barista:

Manideep guarding the cold coffee station.

Manideep donned the hat of a skilled barista and churned out variations of cold coffee with different flavours. He showcased the hidden power of blenders, lying hidden in our kitchens at home. Well now we know that we can start a new relationship with our blenders.

Cold Coffee Throwdown:

The very next day we visited Starbucks and ordered black coffee, milk based hot coffee and the obvious Frapuccino.

If you take our words, please start preparing coffees at home and you will not have to travel distances. We are not asking you not to visit your favourite cafes, but why not drink your favourite beverages , sitting comfortably in your homes. 

Shoutout: Lastly a big shout out to all the guests who came and specially to Kishore, Manideep, Aharnish, Abhiram,Vivek, Manoj and Kapil for their constant encouragement and presence. We hope that more people join our community, and we hope to meet more interesting people in the next episode of Coffee Satsang. 

Update: Beanbuff Souvik objected to his name being misspelt (https://twitter.com/souvikdg/status/325696855583387648) and we have acted:) . 

[beanbuffs]

Sitdownism!

Now we are glad that someone is trying to understand that coffee is just not about a beverage bought in a shiny place, it is more than that. That is exactly what , we at Beanbuffs are all about, which is good things around coffee.

Cafe Coffee Day and Creativeland Asia have come up with an interesting campaign focusing on sitting down and not all the razzmatazz , which most of the brands are trying to communicate. Our team recently took a 4000 km road trip and has covered good number of places to eat, drink coffee or tea and meet friends, which we will share with everyone.

In the meanwhile take a look at this great video espousing the cause of sitting down.

[beanbuffs]

Music: Experimental Soundtrack by ODESZA

We at Beanbuffs follow some of the greatest blogs on earth ever ( Pardon our iPhone5 launch lingo), and TFIG is definitely one of them. They showcase best of the best, and music is one of them. This is what they had to write about experimental pop band called Odesza.

"The Here at TFIB we’re big fans of the music of Catacombkid, the nom de plume of Harrison Mills. We’ve been following his musical career for a while now, first posting about his work back in 2010. Recently he released a collaborative album with his buddy BeachesBeaches under the name ODESZA, creating an “experimental pop record with hip hop influence.”

I’ve listened to the record a few times through and it’s great to work to. It’s upbeat and rhythmic, keeping my foot tapping and my Photo-shopping. It reminds me of Gold Panda a bit, I guess that’s the best comparison I can make. You can listen to the whole thing above, or if you prefer, you can download it from Mediafire by clicking here. "