We are taking a little time to rest and spend time with family and friends, but we also know that in past years some of our dedicated customers were starting to feel some caffeine withdrawal a few days after Christmas, so we're re-openeing earlier than in past years.

Argyll Holiday Hours (9869 - 62 Avenue)
December 24: 7:30 am – 2 pm 
December 25 – 29: closed 
December 30: 7:30 am – 5:30 pm 
December 31: 7:30 am – 2 pm 
January 1: closed

Garneau Holiday Hours (8708-109 Street)
December 24: 7:30 am – 3:30 pm 
December 25 & 26: closed 
December 27 – 30: 7:30 am – 8 pm 
December 31: 7:30 am – 5:30 pm 
January 1: 10 am – 5 pm

Have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Christmas, indeed, for the most part it is that wonderful time of year, and as a retailer, it is hard to complain about the festive shopping season. But all that shopping takes its toll on the amazing folk who work at Transcend. Kudos have to go out to Chad, Kate and Barb at the roastery, who have been working long hours and keeping up with the unrelenting demand of coffee pouring out the door.  Our staff at Argyle have been keeping up with the never ending line going out the door, and more than that, doing it with a smile and in the Transcend tradition of making everyone feel like they are at home.  Zack and Josh worked tirelessly yesterday to get our extremely delayed Technivorm brewers out the door and into a Purolator truck so that they could arrive at people's homes for Christmas (oh the joys of international shipping and customs). Garneau has been busy too, and is starting to make inroads into the Garneau community as the place to go for great coffee. All in all, it is hard to complain; but all the hustle and bustle does take its toll on everyone. In short, we are all looking forward to a few days off, where everyone can take a breath, and enjoy some down-time with friends and family.

At the end of 2010, everyone at Transcend would like to thank all of our faithful customers for their continued support and patronage and wish all of you a very merry Christmas, and an amazing new year. We could not do what we do without you. We are busily moving into our new roastery, and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newish UG22 roaster. The offices have moved and now all that is left is the installation of the vintage orange Probat UG22.

2010 has been an amazing year in so many ways. It has seen the most staggering growth of Transcend since its inception in 2006, with the opening of our second location in the historic Garneau Theatre building. We have traveled more this year than ever, sending folks to Brazil twice, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica and El Salvador. This travel has laid the ground work for even better coffee arriving on our doorsteps in 2011, which looks to be even more exciting than the year before. Look for a coffee eco-tourism trip in mid-March (only 12 spots available on this inaugural Transcend trip) to Costa Rica. Then in May watch for a meet the producer dinner to be held in Edmonton, where you will not only eat amazing dishes paired with coffee, but get a chance to meet the actual farmers who grow the coffee. Over the winter we will fit out a new mobile espresso unit, which will enable us to deliver great coffee - guerilla  style - all over Edmonton. We will retrofit the back of Argyle into a bakery, and start to offer in-house amazing bakery and other fine food offerings made with local ingredients. Watch for some exciting new offerings at Garneau in the spring (Feb - March) where our hours will be extended with new products on the menu.

All in all, this past year has been amazing, a blur, but a fun and crazy ride, and this next year will only be that much more intense. A special thanks has to go out to all the amazing staff at Transcend 1 and 2 for without them, we couldn't do what we do. So to everyone who enjoys great coffee, we want to wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

While in El Salvador in late November, Poul had the rare opportunity to interview the one and only Aida Batlle, from the legendary Finca Kilimanjaro about her success as an award winning coffee farmer and the somewhat controversial topic of zero defect coffee.

If you're hoping to have some delicious Transcend Coffee in the brewer over Christmas, or need a last minute gift for aunt Nancy or cousin Andy, then the time is now.

In order to ensure delivery on or before December 24, please order by Monday December 20.

Orders placed after Monday Dec. 20 may still arrive before Christmas, especially if shipping to Western Canada, but we cannot guarantee it.

The new coffee & chocolate gift box, Sertão micro lot from Brazil, Sin Limites from Costa Rica, Hario V60 dripper, or the laser-engraved wooden Transcend Coffee gift box, are a few ideas if you're looking for that last minute item.

And remember, we always offer free shipping, anywhere in Canada for orders over $25.

Holiday Hours for Transcend Coffeebars

If you're in Edmonton and want to swing by the Garneau or Argyll coffeebar, you have considerably more time to get your gear or enjoy a delicious, warming latte. Here are our holiday hours for our two Edmonton locations.

Garneau coffeebar
December 24: 7:30 am – 3:30 pm
December 25 & 26: closed
December 27 – 30: 7:30 am – 8 pm
December 31: 7:30 am – 5:30 pm
January 1: 10 am – 5 pm

Argyll coffeebar (9869 - 62 Ave)
December 24: 7:30 am – 2 pm
December 25 – 29: closed
December 30: 7:30 am – 5:30 pm
December 31: 7:30 am – 2 pm
January 1: closed

When I first planned on going to Central America this past while, Costa Rica was my focus. We have developed some really great relationships there, and I am comfortable there. Despite a tough year for us with coffee from Costa Rica, I still think of it as one of my favourite coffee origin countries.

With that said, I also knew I needed to go to El Salvador, as I knew from my COE judging experience in 2009, that there is amazing coffee in El Salvador. But in honesty, I didn’t have the same connections in El Sal, as I have other places, or should I say, I didn’t have, but now do.

In El Salvador I was graciously hosted by Luis and Maria-Jose for most of the trip. And while I learned a lot from them, I have to say that my world will be forever altered because of one day with Aida Batlle.

The day I spent with Aida was great, for many reasons. We hit it off, and I found shared many similar perspectives and dreams in terms of specialty coffee. But there was one key area where we didn’t share the same values, that is at least at the beginning of our day together. You see, Aida is committed to quality at a whole different level than I thought even possible. I have lamented for the last 3 years about the quality of coffee we often receive as it simply hasn’t met my standards as “clean coffee”. I had simply resigned myself to the notion that clean coffee (a coffee free from defects) was not something that producers could achieve. In all honesty, my past 4.5 years in the specialty coffee industry have led me to conclude this based on my own experience. Sure we have had some amazing coffees, but I don’t think any of the coffees we have sold in the past 4.5 years have achieved the status of zero defect coffee.

This is where Aida changed my world view in terms of coffee. She was offering me Zero Defect coffee, and guaranteed it. At first I was incredulous, and seriously didn’t believe her. I was even more dubious after I found out that she has all of her coffee milled at J. Hill in El Salvador, which is a mill which I had written off before this trip as simply a commercial mill. Thankfully, my trip to El Salvador has changed my view and my expectations. I now know why Aida has such an amazing reputation in the international coffee community, and I am excited to sample the coffees she is preparing in March.

I also found out that Luis and Maria-Jose are equally committed to that same standard of preparation, and they all claim that it was the standard used by El Salvador before the war changed things. So let this little blog post serve as notice to other producers and exporters that work with us. I have a new standard in terms of preparation - one that is based in reality and not fiction - and that standard is zero defects. We will gladly pay for that standard, and in truth have paid premiums in the past and not received the standard we paid for. I am excited about this new standard, as it will enable Transcend to offer even better quality to our customers, and it will allow us to highlight the hard work of the producer, in the most important way, what is in the cup.

Thankfully my friends at Exclusive Coffee have also agreed to this new standard of zero defects, and I trust that all of our producing partners and mills will also agree to raise the bar, so that we can continue to raise coffee to a new level.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

After grabbing some breakfast at the hotel, Luis picked me up and we made our way to the region of Metapan, towards the North part of El Salvador, up near the Honduras border. This took us just over an hour of driving from San Salvador.

We were going to visit the mill and farms of Alejandro Valiente, as someone Luis thinks is moving towards the quality track in terms of specialty coffee that we are looking for. The mill, first off, is huge compared to the micro mills of Costa Rica. While many coffee producers in El Salvador still rely on larger regional mills, like El Bourbellion or J Hill, Alejandro has chosen to continue with the work of his father and maintain and expand the wet mill which was built in the 80’s, and next year will install a dry mill, which will give him more control over the entire milling process. While the scale is much larger than the micro mills in Costa Rica, I am excited about the prospect of producers in El Salvador working towards the same level of control over the process from seed to export ready coffee. This comes with the caveat that they understand the need for harvesting ripe cherries and can prepare clean coffee for export.

This is not to say that the larger mills aren’t doing a good job at processing coffee. After a great day with Alejandro and Luis, having a simple lunch that was accompanied by one of the most spectacular vistas of El Salvador (Alejandro’s front porch), I met up with Aida Batlle in Santa Ana (but more on that a bit later).

Alejandro, Luis and I spent the day visiting his farms. We first visited one of the lower planted farms - San Migel (800 - 950 masl) - where we saw Bourbon, Typica, Pacas, among other varietals growing, and being harvested. From what I understand, most of this coffee is sold to commercial buyers. Then we made our way up the curvy road to Buenos Aires, a much higher grown farm, to see more Bourbon and Pacamara. This farm extends from 1400 - 1550 masl. Obviously for us, this is a much more appealing elevation, and the coffee was for the most part still very green.

Before making our way back down to the wet mill, we stopped in to visit one of Alejandro’s neighbour’s farm. I was taken aback with this farm as it was unlike any others that I have seen in El Salvador. The trees were amply spaced (2 meters by 2 meters) and they were all planted on a very high elevation plateau. They were young tissue (4 -5 years) and they were healthy and full of fruit. The owner, Jose, said he is not into the traditional agronomy advice and wants to be more in touch with the earth and environment, which is why he planted the farm the way he did. Planted in an amongst the coffee were a variety of squash. I think one of the reasons why this farm excited me so much was that I firmly believe that in all aspects of coffee, when we want to focus on quality, less is more. When we strive for volume, we inevitably end up with a more average product. While I am not a farmer (yet) I think this “less is more” adage applies to the farms as well. Coffee trees need space to grow, and when the trees are crowded, they seem from my vantage not to be too happy.

Back to Santa Ana

I am excited to spend my Friday in El Salvador with Aida, as she has become a legend in her own time, when it comes to her passion and dedication towards quality. I was graciously put up at the guest house at J. Hill and spent a relaxing dinner with her and the mill manager Mario and his lovely wife. Aida has all of her coffee prepared at J. Hill, a mill which I have been two twice before, and erroneously, always assumed was simply a commercial mill. Obviously I was mistaken, and Aida described to me how Mario has been very supportive of her experiments, and allowing her to direct and control the preparation process in a smaller micro section of the mill. I will get a full tour of the facilities, as well as a chance to cup on Friday (btw, I am writing this post on Friday morning, as I was too tired on Thursday, and the guest house doesn’t yet have wi-fi).

If you have a coffee lover on your list this year, we have a few unique coffee gift ideas that might score big points this holiday season.

If you’ve never heard of it, the Aeropress is a rather unique single-cup brewing device. It resembles a large syringe, and is made by Aerobie, a company known mostly for making flying discs. This fact alone can make the Aeropress pretty easy to shrug off as a novelty, but that would be a mistake. I’ve been using the Aeropress for over a year and a half, and I now use it more frequently than I do any other brewer. I like the level of control that I have over so many parameters.

Like with the French Press (another full immersion brew method), I can directly control the time that the water and coffee are in contact with each other. Pressing the coffee through a filter adds a bit of pressure which speeds up the extraction and really cleans up the flavour profile of the drink. However, I don’t use the manufacturer’s instructions. It’s not that they’re wrong, but what you get from them is a really concentrated beverage that needs to be diluted with hot water. This is not the coffee I enjoy drinking, and I believe the Aeropress does a fantastic job of making brewed coffee if used differently.

There are alternate instructions posted all over the internet (you can see quite a few at http://www.brewmethods.com). I’ve tried a great deal of them, and I’ve found that they all yield slightly different results. I think this is the most remarkable aspect to Aeropress brewing: the degree of control you have over so many brew parameters means you can many different flavour profiles for a single coffee.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the number of variables you have control over, and if you’re new to Aeropress brewing then the following method will work very nicely.

What you’ll need

• Aeropress + Filter
• Timer
• Kettle
• Coffee
• Grinder
• Scoop that came with your Aeropress
• Cup to plunge your brew into

I use 210 mL of water and 14 g of coffee (about the same as one level scoop). The tricky part will be in measuring the water. The brewing chamber is quite small so 210 mL will fill up the whole chamber.

• Put water on to boil. While you’re waiting, measure and grind your coffee.  I like to grind just a little bit coarser than I would for a drip coffee machine.
• Place the plunger into the Aeropress just above the “4” mark. Place it upside down on the counter.
• Place a paper filter into the filter holder and rinse under the tap. Set this aside
• As your water reaches boiling, remove it from the heat and start your timer. Pour the ground coffee into the inverted Aeropress. Once the timer reaches 30 seconds, pour the water over the coffee, making sure to wet all the grinds. Don’t pour too quickly, or the slurry will bloom too vigorously. Stir the slurry down to make sure the coffee is wet evenly.
• Once the timer reaches 2 minutes 15 seconds (so the coffee has been steeping for 1 minute 45 seconds), put the cap on and carefully turn the Aeropress over onto a cup.
• Slowly press the plunger down.  This should take about 10 seconds.
• Enjoy!

I think this is a pretty solid method that can yield a tasty cup with just about any coffee. The rub is in figuring out a good grind size. A good starting point is to use the same grind size as you would for your drip brewer. If you follow the above method, and your coffee comes out kind of weak, then I would suggest grinding slightly finer. If, on the other hand, it’s too bitter, then coarsening it up might help. If you do that and find a brew that tastes great, then you’ve already managed to take control of one of the most important coffee brewing variables! I think it’s important to mention that while you’re tweaking one variable, it’s a good idea to leave everything else constant. If you feel ready for a new challenge, try altering how quickly you plunge the brew. I find it can really affect the mouthfeel of the resulting coffee, but I’d be interested to hear what other people think.

Happy Brewing!

When I visit Panama lately, I have to ask myself, am I some sort of weird "rain maker"? This is an odd question, but the last two times I have been here it has been unusually rainy, so it begs the question. Yesterday I hiked up Jose David's coffee farm and got completely soaked, and today, while visiting the Peterson's farm it was pouring. I was able to video some of the processing which you will see in a couple of weeks, and I witnessed first hand the woes of a coffee farmer. Today, I saw the Peterson's receive coffee which they normally wouldn't receive in terms of quality, but because it was raining like crazy, the pickers were pulling pintones off the trees, so that the 3/4 ripe cherries wouldn't fall to the floor and be wasted. It is not what Rachel or Daniel wanted to see harvested, but it is the reality of weird weather, and a harvest that is almost a month early.

I had an amazing lunch at the Peterson farm today, and talked with Rachel and Price for quite a while about a number of pertinent issues facing the specialty coffee industry. It is days like today which make all the hard work worthwhile. It is days like today which remind me why I am in this business, and why coffee relationships are so important. While my trip to Panama this year was very short, time with the folk here (Peterson's, Wilfred, Jose David, Serracin, etc) have made this trip very meaningful. I am excited to come back in the spring and cup the coffee which I am seeing being harvested right now. OK, a little sleep, and then off to El Salvador tomorrow to see some more friends.