Posted by TheShot on 16 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Café Society, Foreign Brew, Starbucks
It had been eleven years since I last visited the Azores. A remote archipelago of Portugal, this small group of volcanic islands — isolated in the middle of the Atlantic — is the very verdant-but-austere birthplace of my in-laws. Since my last visit, Portugal converted from the escudo to the Euro, tying the country more [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 14 Oct 2010 | Tagged as: Barista, Beans, Fair Trade
Particularly since the late 1980s, the plight of the coffee farmer has not been a pleasant one. Public awareness of this major problem gave rise to mitigation strategies such as Fair Trade and Direct Trade. A couple months ago, you may have seen the press releases for Traceable Coffee.org — a project of Pachamama, a [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 30 Sep 2010 | Tagged as: Consumer Trends, Foreign Brew, Machine, Quality Issues
It wasn’t long ago that the word obsession conjured up much more negative connotations in society. Today obsession is practically treated like a virtue — something to aspire to — and it can apply to something as neurotically trivial as the cup of coffee you drink when you are traveling. Case and point with an [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 16 Jul 2010 | Tagged as: Add Milk, Consumer Trends, Foreign Brew, Quality Issues, Starbucks
One of the most important, and most tragic, stories of human history since the age of the Portuguese explorers is the story of Colonialism. Today the vestiges of Colonialism are apparent everywhere from globalization to the impact of slavery and race relations around the world. For example, to look at the history of Cape Town, [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 28 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Beans, Foreign Brew, Quality Issues
We’re a little slow on the discovery of this great article on the coffee in Portugal from earlier this month: Portugal’s Coffee: A Sumptuous and Delectible Treat – Catavino. Catavino is primarily a European wine blog that focuses on the growing regions of the Iberian peninsula (i.e., Spain and Portugal), but they often get into [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 24 Mar 2007 | Tagged as: Café Society, Foreign Brew
The travel section in today’s New York Times featured an article on Rio de Janeiro coffee bars: Coffee Bars in Rio de Janeiro – Travel – New York Times. Brazilian botequins — sort of café/lunch counter/bistro combinations — can sometimes be pretty awful. Despite Brazil’s esteemed coffee status — this is a nation where the [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 30 Nov 2006 | Tagged as: Café Society, Consumer Trends, Foreign Brew, Starbucks
Today the Associated Press reported that Starbucks entered the Brazilian market with two cafés in São Paulo: Starbucks enters competitive Brazilian coffee market with 2 Sao Paulo stores – Business – International Herald Tribune. Starbucks demonstrated success at establishing over 100 cafés in Mexico, which is generally not known as a coffee-drinking (let alone espresso-drinking) [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 13 Nov 2006 | Tagged as: Foreign Brew
Back in July we reported on Illy‘s strategy for opening licensed Illy Espressamente cafés across Europe. During my travels in Portugal last month, I had the pleasure of encountering my first one in the unlikeliest of places. In the perimeter wall of the recently remodelled Praça de Touros do Campo Pequeno bullfighting arena, this fully [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 10 Nov 2006 | Tagged as: Café Society, Foreign Brew, Quality Issues
In my last post on espresso in Portugal, I reviewed a handful of notable cafés in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon. For this installment, I review notable cafés in other parts of Portugal. Namely, futher north … where I generally found the espresso to be even better than that in Lisbon. Name Address City Espresso [info] Cafe [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 08 Nov 2006 | Tagged as: Café Society, Foreign Brew, Restaurant Coffee
In a previous post, I noted some generalizations about the espresso in Portugal. For this post, I’ve selected a few notable cafés to review in Portugal’s political and cultural capital, Lisbon. Name Address Neighborhood Espresso [info] Cafe [info] Overall [info] A Brasileira Rua Garrett, 120 Chiado 6.60 7.00 6.800 Café Nicola Rua 1° Dezembro, 20 [...]
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