Prodigal Writer Returns

Yes, it is true, it is actually Poul writing this blog post. I know, I know, it has been many moons since my last post (penance - drink four espressos and get thee to the roaster!). It has been a crazy busy summer, especially on a personal level. What with helping my mom sell her acreage and buy a condo in Edmonton, to our trip to Europe and then two months of renovations in our house, there hasn't been time for much writing. So, I thought I should get something on the blog, now that school is back in and we have some news to tell.

Firstly, we are excited to announce that Finca Vista Hermosa is back in stock, and will be for the foreseeable future. We have arranged to buy 100 bags of one of our favourite coffees from Edwin Martinez and his family, and wanted you all to know. It is available both as a single origin coffee offering, and I believe it is now part of our espresso blend as well. For all of you who are on our subscription list, you will be receiving a bag this month, and we also just released a video blog featuring Mr. Martinez (which we filmed in April of this year). While this most recent video blog is a bit more low key, I think it is a great conversation which highlights the importance of relationship (or direct trade) coffee.

Let's see, what else is new. We are currently negotiating with a potential new landlord as we are desperately needing to move the roastery to accommodate both the accumulating green coffee and house the new - but old - UG22 which is currently being refurbished for us at Giesen's workshop in the Netherlands. Stay tuned for more news on this later, but we hope to have the new equipment and space up and running for early November.

Finally, we are excited to be hosting the first ever Canadian Cup Tasters Championship to be held on Canadian soil. This event will take place in Toronto at the Canadian Coffee and Tea Show, and will pit 16 tasters against each other for the chance to represent Canada at the next world championship. Oh and one more thing. We are happy to announce the addition of Ben Put (current PRBC 2010 Champion) to our ranks, who will be working with Transcend full time in the area of training and quality control. OK, enough news for now. Watch for another blog post soon where I chat about our business model and the difference between buying certified coffees vs buying relationship coffees.