Hasta La Ideas

North American roasters get crafty with South American and African beans

Thanks coffee culture spreading far and wide—from Portland’s Stumptown to Chicago’s Intelligentsia—the appeal of independent micro-roasters over corporate coffee houses is starting to catch on not just among connoisseurs but mainstream America as well. To survey the latest, we’ve dedicated our morning—and afternoon and evening—cups of coffee to finding the best artisinal purveyors in the States. Below is a selection of seven cups of black gold that will not only keep you moving, but taste good too.

Earning the coveted title of coffee partners with the cycling gurus at Rapha, San Francisco’s own Four Barrel serves up one of the best cups of Joe around. We imported a beautiful bag of their Kenyan Muranga Theri and fell in love. This sweet coffee has a delicate citric acidity with a bold bitter end—available for $20 per 12-ounce bag at their Valencia Street shop and on their website.

A Northeastern favorite, Gorilla Coffee hails “from a little town called Brooklyn.” The coffee is bold and strong, just as one would expect from the city that never sleeps. We found the Kenyan Fairview Estate to be nothing fancy, just a good solid coffee perfect for every day drinking. The buttery brew sells at Gorilla’s webshop for $15 per 12-ounce bag.

Operating from their lone shop in Topeka, KS since 1993, PT’s Coffee Roasting roasts over 100 tons of specialty coffee a year. We got our hands on a half pound of the Organic Guatemala Finca Santa Isabel blend. Shortly after the first sip we noticed a subtle—almost floral—flavor that lingered even after the cup was gone. This smooth coffee sells for $15 per 12-ounce bag through their website.

Founded by a former Starbucks exec, Roasting Plant roasts a wide variety of beans on site every single day to offer the absolute freshest coffee possible. We snagged a bag of the Roasting Plant Blend, described by one CH taster as “how you imagine coffee should be” and the aromatic blend quickly became one of our favorites. Look to either of their two NYC locations or their online store where $22 will get you 16-ounce bag of premium beans.

Located in the Hudson Valley just outside of NYC, Irving Farm roasts daily to achieve a “farm fresh” quality. As fans of their Flying Donkey espresso, we were eager to taste a few coffee bean selections, and found the Gotham Blend to have the most enticing full flavor. The dark smokiness really came through with each sip, resulting in a “luscious, powerful and strong” cup of coffee. Available at Irving Farm’s website for $14 per 12-ounce bag.

Portland‘s Heart Coffee Roasters roasts twice weekly in-store to ensure consistent quality from each batch of season-specific beans. We tried the Guatemala El Limonar, a soft-hitting coffee with a slight nutty flavor, accented by notes of citrus. Heart’s lightly roasted coffees sell from $14 to $20 per 12-ounce bag throughout the Rose City as well as online.

After fifteen years of research and experimentation, the brains behind Seattle’s Espresso Vivace think they’ve found just the right way to roast their espresso beans. After many rounds of voluntary sampling we agree. Described by Vivace as being ideal for drip coffee and French presses, the Espresso Vita is a delightful blend that we found to be light and flavorful with a “classic” and “lovely” disposition. Available through Vivace’s webshop for around $16 per 16-ounce bag.

Tasty treats from San Francisco’s incubator kitchen for culinary entrepreneurs

San Francisco’s La Cocina is an entrepreneurial experiment offering low-income food startups commercial space to develop and cultivate their culinary talents into creating viable products. Creators say this incubator kitchen idea concept comes from the myriad of food vendors in the city’s Mission District where people had the know-how but not the wherewithal to make the leap from cottage industry to commercial manufacturer.

La Cocina has a convenient stand in San Francisco’s Ferry Building where they sell many of the products they help produce and we brought several back to CH HQ to sample.

Biting into a Clairesquares Flapjack feels like a classy granola bar. Rich in butter and caramel, this oat bar was light and flaky though satisfyingly rich in butter. Dipped in Belgian milk chocolate reaffirmed this is no health bar but a consummate dessert.

Powdered-sugar mustaches were an easy way to identify those who enjoyed the Alfajores from Sabores del Sur (“flavors from the south”). The mastermind is Chilean catering chef Guisell Osorio whose website features many testimonials. These delicate shortbread cookies sandwich a not-too-overpowering dulce de leche caramel filling, and the lot is sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Another favorite was Neococoa‘s spherical lime zest truffles, a simple mixture of ganache, cocoa and lime zest have a deep citrus flavor that act as a counterweight to the rich cocoa powder. The toasted almond butter truffles are also balanced between sweet and savory thanks to a light coat of sea salt.

It’s great to know there are organizations like La Cocina that help talented and hardworking chefs overcome the high barriers to entry that exist in the food industry—from the expense of commercial kitchen space to the local, state and federal sanitary laws and regulations that must be followed to make, package and distribute edible artwork. You can support La Cocina and their producers by purchasing from the La Cocina online store, from vendor sites, or from their stand in San Francisco’s Ferry Building.

Nice Collective opens a transportable military-inspired store in San Francisco

Quietly shaking up fashion with their utopian approach, San Francisco, CA-based label Nice Collective recently applied their forward-thinking ethos to a transportable storefront they call Mobile Supply Unit #1 or MSU. Together with Brand Director Riley Johndonnel, co-founders Joe Haller and Ian Hannula created an environment that encompasses everything from their quantum gravity theories to functional fashion and optimism—a place that feels as comfortable as it does foreign.

Completed in just eight weeks, MSU borrows heavily from military mobilization platforms that make it easy to “re-contextualize for a better use.” Nice Collective hopes their temporary home will strike a chord with customers and other designers alike, serving as a communication tool for progressive projects and events as it travels to each new destination.

Haller explains, “The intent was to transform the the core elements of Nice Collective’s soul into physical destinations where people could shop, experience and participate. The concept also required the units be quick and easy to assemble, adaptable to a multitude of geographical locations and most importantly, equipped with an efficient system for dismantling, transport, and installation in ever-changing new locations.”

The science theme falls in line with their Fall 2011 collection, which is a translation of their feelings on “the splitting of time and space, as well as ideas on how all known forces of the universe work together.” MSU will stock this line (for men and women later on) as well as pieces designed exclusively for the shop, experimental prototypes and a new lifestyle collection that will include pillows and home storage solutions.

The Nice Collection Mobile Supply Unit will remain in San Francisco until 10 September 2011, where it will then migrate on a mission to “facilitate social change” and create a sense of community wherever it goes.

MSU #1 is open daily from 12-9 pm, and through midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Tel: +1 415-824-6426

Color, materials and concepts in a three-artist show

While on first blush the three artists currently showing at San Francisco’s Altman Siegel gallery all appear to have different techniques and themes, the exhibit compares their “meticulous use of materials” and often witty conceptual works. The show includes paintings and mixed-media pieces by Chris Johanson, Matt Keegan and Charley Harper—a trio that collectively spans generations but possess a similar outlook on life’s curious moments and the human condition.

Harper, the most well-established of the three, laid the foundation for many modern graphic designers with his ability to deconstruct a complex image into simple geometric forms—a style he called “minimal realism.” While visually disparate, Keegan’s pared-down approach feels similar to Harper’s, with a no-frills use of text or boldly-emphasized shapes leading his style.

Like Keegan, Johanson’s subjects also tackle societal issues through text, but the Portland, OR-based artist uses a color palette that more closely resembles Harper’s vivid combinations. Alluring hues draw viewers in and, like both other artists in the show, his deliberate choice of materials is evident.

The group show runs through 5 February 2011 at Altman Siegel. See more images in the gallery below.

A nonprofit’s designs to solve developing nations’ problems

Catapult Design is a San Francisco-based consortium of engineers, designers and educators largely handpicked from the innovative hotbed of Silicon Valley to find simple, practical solutions to global problems faced by billions of people in the developing world. Around for less than two years their list of accomplishments is impressive from harnessing wind power in rural Central America to dealing with water scarcity in arid regions of Africa.

“We develop products for impoverished communities, working through clients who are primarily based in developing countries,” explains co-founder Heather Fleming.

Hatching a good idea isn’t enough. Getting it to the people who need it and finding a way to pay for it is critical lest a good idea languish on paper or stockpiled in warehouses where they are no good to anyone. Take BioLite for example. This Berkeley, California-based company has developed a clean-burning cookstove that generates electricity to charge small appliances like mobile phones. Millions of people are poisoned by toxic fumes from makeshift cookstoves and villagers living off-the-grid are unable to use telephones because they can’t charge the handsets even if the village itself is within the network.

Enter Catapult Design which conducted market research in India, one of the largest market countries and the outlook looks good for the fledging cookstoves.

Meanwhile in Guatemala villagers are harnessing windpower that would allow villagers to charge a car battery in conditions of about 15 mph of breeze. Catapult is helping develop this project to keep the cost relatively affordable at around $100, well within the reach of rural villages.

Scarcity of water is an endemic problem in the eastern African nation of Kenya. Households that eke by on $300 a year are also plagued with water shortages and often are forced to cut down trees which exacerbates the problem of dry weather. Catapult spent a week partnering with Komaza, an nongovernmental organization that helps East African farmers. Now in the works is a portable rainwater catchment system that will help individual farmers conserve rainwater to irrigate their crops.

Other projects in the works including super-efficient LED lamps to replace noxious kerosene lamps that exist in areas that lack electrification. The result is a prototype pedal-powered LED lamp that’s been distributed across Tanzania.