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Going to Paty Perez’s farm is always such an uplifting experience. Paty and her mom, Auri, have been living in their house for over 40 years (before Paty was born). They love their land, their trees and their coffee plants. They are generous, gracious and always looking for ways to improve their coffee practices.
It’s been four years and eight harvests since we began buying coffee from the Guzman brothers, and maintaining a healthy coffee buying relationship is much like maintaining a good relationship. It requires strong communication and a deep understanding of your partners’ needs. I visited the Guzmans this past week knowing that it was important for all of us to talk openly, discuss what’s working, share our goals and file our grievances.
It was a long weekend in the GTA for the Phil & Sebastian team at the Canadian National Barista Championship but oh, was it ever worth it.
When the air gets crisp and leaves start to fall, a certain vim and vigor permeates our being, calling us to a certain annual challenge. The challenge you ask? The Canadian National Barista Championship. And we’re ready to answer with gusto.
It’s with great pleasure that we announce the much anticipated (at least by me) launch of our fresh crop Kenyans. Gachatha AB and Karinga AA are both powerhouses with big flavours, acidity and body, while still showing elegance and grace. I’m so pleased with the way they’re performing, and in truth, quite relieved.
This week, we’re launching a new series of spotlights on some of our outstanding wholesale cafes that we partner with. First up is Gravity Espresso & Wine Bar, which happens to be only 5 minutes from our office and roasterie.
In order to make every drink we serve as good as it can possibly be we have changed the way we pull shots for milk drinks and Americanos at Phil & Sebastian. We now pull smaller and shorter espresso shots for all of our milk based drinks and Americanos. Our new target parameter for these shots is a 25g output +/‐3g.
In October, two of our baristas, Benjamin Put and Megan Feniak, qualified and competed in the 2013 Canadian National Barista Championship in Vancouver.
We are extremely excited about sponsoring one of the coffee bars at this year’s TED Conference in Vancouver as organized by World Coffee Events. Over the last few years, TED has teamed up with some of the top coffee professionals around the world to provide a coffee experience capturing the spirit and philosophy of TED. The purpose of this was, and is, to share the amazing stories in coffee with those attending TED.
We are very excited to announce our 5th annual in-house barista competition, this Sunday, August 11, @ 6:30pm at our Roasterie location, #23, 2701, 16th St. SE.
Over the past few years, you may have noticed a Costa Rican coffee called “Manuel Arce” on our menu. We have been working with Manuel “Macho” Arce for the past three harvests. Macho is a committed coffee producer from the Llano Bonito de Naranjo sub region of the West Valley of Costa Rica. Macho does not process his coffee at his farm, instead he has partnered with the famous Helsar de Zarcero mill. Helsar works with a select number of coffee producers in the area and is known for producing some of the best quality in Costa Rica. We also have been working for the past three harvests with Helsar, specifically Ricardo Perez, who is one of the owners.
