November 2010
Roaster Restoration – Part 3
Faversham & Felixstowe, Oh My!
When I was hired by Coffee Bean International in 1982, my first job was as a brand manager for ‘Jericho America’, our line of imported coffee and tea equipment – both commercial (we directly imported and distributed commercial coffee grinders) and household (similarly, we directly imported and distributed container-loads of French presses, airpots, filter-papers, brew cones, and so forth). As a small Pacific Northwest specialty roaster in those very early years, we were chronically rich in great ideas but short of money, so I wound up learning to do most of the complicated work of running an import business on the fly, and on a shoestring – I think I could have written ‘Managing Letters of Credit, CIF Price Quotes, Freight Consolidators, and Customs Brokers for Dummies’!
Kilimanjaro Day 7
My final day in Tanzania! Little did I know it would be such an adventurous one, but more on that at the end. Read more »
Kilimanjaro Day 5
Day 5 was spent touring Tudeley Estate’s farms, Kibo and Kikafu. Jackson Matenge was my tour guide for the day-- Tudeley Estate’s acting general manager
Kibo Estate: Read more »
Kilimanjaro Day 4
There has been a mosquito haunting me all day. I woke up this morning at 4:45 am to him buzzing in my ear. Taunting me, letting me know that he outsmarted my mosquito net and will soon be feasting on my ankles. I managed to avoid him all morning, slapping my ears like a mad woman whenever he ventured too close. He finally drove me out of bed at 5:30, when I decided to take a walk in the hazy morning light and attempt to spot a glimpse of the looming Mt Kilimanjaro. Read more »
Kilimanjaro Day 3
Today we spent the day in the city of Moshi, jumping off point for Mt. Kilimanjaro treks as well as the coffee center of Tanzania. Annabel and I first visited the office of Tudeley Estates in Moshi, where a very kind Eric showed us Tudeley’s cupping lap and sample roasting facilities. Although I wasn’t able to snap a photo, I was shocked to see that their sample roaster was the same Probat model as ours at Coffee Bean International, although with 6 drums instead of 3. Read more »
Kilimanjaro Day 2
Today I woke up to the sound of buzzing crickets and many other unidentified insects. The sounds of Africa. Looking out the window is breathtaking, all of the dark shadows I saw last night driving to Kibo Estates from Kilimanjaro airport have revealed themselves to be colorful flowers, tall, spindly trees, and the vast, towering Mt. Kilimanjaro. Read more »
Kilimanjaro, Day 1
Things I discovered today:
- Tanzania is really far from Portland.
- The Sahara desert looks amazing from an airplane