I suppose most people that end up purchasing a (very reasonably priced) ticket for the CKUA raffle are hoping for the Harley Nightster. It's a nice looking bike.



But, if you're reading this blog, chances are you're a coffee fan. And if you're a coffee fan, trust me, the early bird prize is nothing to sneeze at.

Poul was talking to the folks at CKUA about an interesting, different way to get involved with their fundraising, and the idea of the ultimate coffee coffee connoisseur's package was formed. We pulled all the stops to create the home coffee set up. It doesn't get much better than this.

Coffee Connoisseur’s Dream Package:

• Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine (cups in image not included)


• Technivorn KBT741 Coffee Brewer with Swiss Gold Filter


• Reg Barber Custom tamper


• Baratza Grinder


• Dreamfarm Knock Box


• 12 month Transcend Coffee subscription


• two hour private espresso and brewing training session with Transcend's director of coffee, Josh Hockin


• Bodum 12 cup coffee press


• kitchen scale


• 6 Bodum double walled 12oz pavina coffee glasses

Because the coffee package is the early bird prize, you have to buy your tickets before January 24, 2010. So get on it. Support the great local radio we're so fortunate to have here in Edmonton, and you just might win that drool-worthy coffee set up. Or the motor bike.

Buy CKUA raffle tickets - only $10 each or three for $25

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Sorry to all of you who follow the Transcend Blog, that it has been so sparse lately.  Life has been pretty hectic lately, what with Christmas upon us, and all the details to work out on Transcend Garneau.

A quick update on T2:  we are going to be starting our improvements on the space on Monday.  This will include priming the walls, and hopefully getting the ceiling sprayed next week.  We will take photos and update you via the blog as we proceed.  We are still shooting for a March opening, but we will see how things progress.  Needless to say, the space will be awesome when completed; already stunning in its undone state with the original Terrazzo flooring and exposed brick wall.  The exterior of the building will also be amazing once Clarke is done with all of their improvements.  I don't think it is an understatement to say that the Garneau Theatre building will be a landmark building in Edmonton once completed, and we couldn't be more excited to be part of the project.  Kudos to John Day and his Partner for ensuring that this old historical building was preserved and restored properly.  A shout out needs to go out to Blair Boulay as well, who is the site supervisor at the Garneau.  He is one of the nicest guys I have met in the construction industry and we are lucky to have someone like him to work with.

Tastings: yesterday James and I had the honour of speaking to a group of folk who are in the marketing and research business in Edmonton.  We were the guys speaking to the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association at their annual Christmas luncheon yesterday at the Hotel MacDonald.  It is always such a blast to get to talk to a group of people who sit attentively and listen to me "evangelize" them for 90 minutes and the virtues of direct trade, fresh roasted quality coffee.  I really do enjoy the educational aspect of my chosen career path, and it is one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do.  I have so much information in my brain about coffee, and it is so fun to be able to do a brain dump every once and a while on unsuspecting folk who are often left overwhelmed but usually enthusiastic about the specialty coffee industry.

Christmas:  Just a reminder that Transcend will follow its tradition of closing during the week between Christmas and New Years.  We will be closed around 3 pm on Christmas Eve, and will re-open for business on the 2nd of January 2010.  Can you believe that another whole year has passed.  I need to do a summary post of 2009 as it has been one of those life altering years for me, where so much has happened.  Someone recently asked me if I am taking notes as I travel so I can write a book.  Interesting idea, but who has time to write a book, I barely have time to keep our blog updated, never mind even Twitter.

Twitter: On the Twitter front, please know that #transcendcoffee will now be a shop twitter account, and no longer my personal twitter account.  My own twitter account is at http://twitter.com/poulmark and I will try to be faithful over there too.  I will still post to the transcend coffee twitter account, but I want James and Josh to tweat too, as I find it hard to keep up.

James Hoffman:  Just a quick shout out to the Hoff in good ol' London towne, who is celebrating his 30th birthday today.  Can't believe the guy is so young, and so accomplished.  Happy Birthday James from the crew at Transcend Coffee!

We have some new goodies — yes, just in time for the holiday shopping.

Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of conducting my first official wine tasting.  A bunch of the crew at Transcend wanted me to do a wine tasting for them, and I consented.  We started off the night with a basic introduction of what comprises flavour and aroma in wines, and then moved onto a tasting based on my own systematic training as a level III WSET certified wine guy.  The feedback from the T-crew was universally positive, which was nice for me, but more importantly, it was a great opportunity to put all of my wine knowledge to good use.  More than that though, was the fun I had in moving from wine to coffee in terms of analogies and crossover.  As I was walking the crew through the wine tastings, it was just a natural perspective to shift to coffee, both in terms of tasting, aroma and agriculture.  So at the end of the evening, I was left with the distinct understanding that there is much which ties the two worlds together, and when it comes to tasting and deriving a systematic approach to evalutating both beverages, we can bridge the gap and talk a very similar language.  We will also be doing a wine tasting at Transcend on a monthly basis now, and I look forward to putting some of all of this info in my brain to good use.  It's Christmas, drink some great bottles of wine this holiday season with folks that are important to you.

Poul Mark and Chad Moss recently returned from Rosebud Arkansas where they attended Q-school. Poul discusses what they learned and the importance of this coffee certification in episode 13 of the podcast.