Contrary to what you might think, we also like tea. A lot! Unfortunately, teapots tend to be shortlived items here. Whether made of porcelain, stoneware, or glass, teapots have parts that can and eventually will break. Often, it’s because the lid comes off, and falls to pieces.
We received two very stylish teapots from Zero Japan, the European distributor for Zero Japan Inc.. These are the classic style Zero Japan teapots.
The 2011 Middle East Coffee & Tea Convention, the only dedicated event for the Coffee and Tea industry in the Arab World, will be held at the Meydan Hotel, Dubai between 3rd – 5th November. The event is important for business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals within the HORECA sector as it offers an unprecedented networking opportunity and access to some of the leading national coffee and tea export associations, the world’s most respected coffee and tea professionals and a host of suppliers and services related to the industry.
30 of the country’s top baristas will compete to win the title of UAE Barista Champion, at an amazingly competitive event this year, with the winner going on to represent UAE at the World Barista Championship at Vienna in 2012.
From a European perspective, Kinto is more or less the Japanese equivalent of Bodum. Both are founded on the idea of affordable design. Both companies also enjoy a reputation for good quality home and kitchen products.
At the same time, the cultural backgrounds of these companies inevitably lead to differences in the product line-up, and different approaches in styling.
Whereas Bodum focuses primarily on press pots, we take a look at a special item by Kinto in part III of our series on drip coffee makers.
In recent years, Kinto launched a series of new drip coffee makes styled by the renown Japanese designer Kosei Shirotani. The series is named “Faro”, Italian for lighthouse, the obvious source of inspiration.
All parts of the Faro series are in a clean, form follows function style, without unnecessary decoration. We certainly appreciate that. The series consists of a coffee pot, a mug, and a cup. The cup is a double wall design that keeps the coffee hot, while still remaining cool on the outside.
The Kinto Faro Grande is a slightly larger derived version, available only as a cup set, or the slightly larger mug set. While the original Faro series is available only in white, the Faro Grande series is also available in stylish, toned-down blue and brown.
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It takes a lot of courage to follow ones passion, start a business, and work double jobs to make ends meet. The people from Hands-On are like that. Roastmaster Paul Travis and his wife Eloise started Hand-on Coffee Roasters, slowly building a circle of loyal customers.
There is no marketing department at Hands-On. For the most part, they’re relying on word of mouth advertising, hoping their coffee will speak for itself. We are happy to report that it most certainly does.
The Cornwall-based startup micro-roaster sent us a sample of their espresso blend “Lusty Glaze”. The name comes from a small, picturesque beach on Cornwall’s west coast, not from an oily dark roast.
The coffee from Hands-On Coffee Roasters comes in a plain paper bag with a roast date stamped on the back, so if you buy the coffee you will know how fresh it is. Few roasters bother to do this, so we are impressed on this point.
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Last week, I received a parcel kindly send by Ken Miura, my friend in Tokyo, containing among others an assortment of Japanese drip coffee makers. From left to right, a Kono TF-40, a Hario CFOD-1B Caféor permanent filter, a Donut dripper, and a ceramic Hario V60 VDC-02.
Check out Ken’s store on ebay for more interesting Japanese coffee stuff.
Fifteen years ago, if you had asked me about filter drip coffee makers, the only name that would have sprung to mind would have been Melitta. In Europe, filter coffee was virtually synonymous with Melitta.
There were also Chemex brewers, but in Europe these were little known, and had never acquired the same status as the Melitta filters.
For a while, it had seemed as if filter coffee was going the way of the dinosaurs. Espresso was the main interest for specialty coffee. For home use, single cup brewers with push button ease looked like the future of brewed coffee.
Somewhat unexpectedly, that changed in the past five years.
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