Wednesday morning coffee

Interesting how with a title like drinks like fish my first post is actually about coffee.

I decided today was going to be a “stay in pajamas” day which means making myself coffee as opposed to going out and getting it (which is hard to deny being a good Canadian and all and Roll up the Rim still going). After a few years of buying a monthly/bi-monthly coffee delivery for my brother and sister-in-law I bought one for myself after Q was born.

I can’t remember how I found Birds & Beans (http://www.birdsandbeans.ca/) in the first place but they’ve done a great job with sending coffee out to PEI and now, with some confusion on my part, to BC (to my sister-in-law).  You basically sign up as a customer and then order away. You can order ½ pound, 1 pound and 5 pounds of most beans as one off orders. There’s a great little description of each offering and a bit about it’s pedigree (i.e. “100% Rainforest Alliance Certified”, or “Organic and Bird Friendly Certified”)

There’s two “coffee of the month” options – a bird friendly and a regular. It’s important to note that it doesn’t have to be every month. I LOVE coffee but I’m not a connoisseur, honestly, Tim’s is fine for me most of the time. I drink my coffee black – no flavours, no milk, no sugar. I figured anything “special” would be lost on me. So as an introduction I signed up for a pound of coffee to be delivered but every OTHER month.

I’m just finishing my first pound (which is good ‘cause the second one should be here any day now!) It’s from Costa Rica and called La Amistad.  (https://secure.birdsandbeans.ca/4DAction/wShowCoffee/COS-LA) It’s nice to read a little about where the coffee comes from. Turns out La Amistad is also the name of a national park in Costa Rica. Because I’m a geek of course I’ve now got to go to Google Maps and look up exactly where Costa Rica is (Central America between Nicaragua and Panama). According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica) it’s one of the greenest countries in the world. Hmmm maybe somewhere to visit when Q is older? Have you ever been?

Oh and just as an aside, my brother and sister-in-law used to live in Kensington PEI. The town has a population of about 1300-1400. The high school my brother and I went to in Toronto had about 1500 students. Just so you know. When the coffee arrived at the post office in Kensington, they all knew. Apparently the post office employees loved the way it made the place smell. My sister-in-law commented that she knew the stuff was recently roasted before shipping out because it would still taste great when they were finishing off the pound of beans.

 

Oh and a second aside I guess. I have a decent, okay just barely passable coffee maker. It supposedly makes 8 cups of coffee. Now I know it’s a proper cup of coffee which I think is only 150mL/5 ounces but I make half a pot and I get one mug out of it. Mind you this is my mug:

(and just for completeness sake, you can also buy unroasted beans, chocolate and accessories at Birds and Beans)