Too Much Coffee

For a short while there was talk of organising an alt.coffee gettogether in London (or Glasgow... tsk). Would this be of any interest to any of you? If so, I may want to become pro-active and arrange something.

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

Well Eward you had my thoughts on the subject. You & I are the only ones in London during the day, and I have to travel back to Wiltshire so I never like to leave Town too late.

Raf is in Brussels and busy making his place habitable, Steve is in Stafford getting his roastery sorted, Hugh lives in Hampshire and probably has no other reason to be in London, and John is in Faro so he's unlikely to get over.

Meet you at Starbucks again?

I was/am going to invite you guys all to the roastery to have a play with the new roaster and little get to know you. You are all welcome, and I was thinking in the next couple of weeks, whats everyones availability like ? I understand that seas may stop some of but the invite is there

This Saturday (11th) I'm helping my other friend Steve (the falconer) out by ferreting for him, and the following Saturday (18th) I'm going to a British Falconer's field meeting, but I'm free both Sundays. After that I'm away for the next two weekends, trying to pretend I'm not an ageing old geezer!

I'm really keen to see your place and to see you again Steve, so I hope that you can arrange the meet for a time that I can manage.

First of all I have a preference for a Saturday, but Sunday could do as well.

Weekend of 11th is a no-no. 18 and 25 Oct are fine with me. 1 Nov works too. The rest of the year is filled with holidays, birthdays and business trips.

I'm pretty definitely in for this. I could make Stafford or London. London's a lot easier but visiting a roastery at Stafford would be worth the journey. Almost all days are OK given a few days notice - we tend not to make definite plans much in advance.
If a short SQL Server/ASP contract is agreed in the next 2 weeks (fingers crossed : would be enough spare money for a Wega, a new PC and more but I need to know where the next job's coming from before I can spend it - damn!) I've promised nearly all my time for a month but I can sneak off for a day during that time.

Cheers,

Hugh

Why not come down to the Algarve? The coffee is terrible, but the weather is great!

Much as I'd like to see your roastery, Steve, I'm afraid I have neither time nor money for such a trip. Algarve sounds nice, though!

Of course, you meant "John," right?

Er, yes and no: I was talking about Steve's offer to see the roaster, and about your offer about the Algarve. Man, for someone who writes for a living I sure can be unclear sometimes ;^)

Neku wrote:Man, for someone who writes for a living I sure can be unclear sometimes ;^)

And for somebody with a college degree in Sociology, my observational skills can sure lack sometimes. I was wondering if there had been a misunderstanding, since I don't have a roastery yet (but am planning on getting something started, which is what I thought you were referring to).

No problem . By the way, did you find the espresso setup you were talking about earlier? Have you decided yet on a model? And a grinder?

You won't believe we we're going to do. I'm getting a drum built, and we're going to do it on a gas grill. It's the perfect setup for rural Portugal, with fairs and street festivals.

Don't have a grinder yet. I'd rather not use one and sell whole bean only, but then, not everybody will have one at their house.

DrZeus wrote:Don't have a grinder yet. I'd rather not use one and sell whole bean only, but then, not everybody will have one at their house.

What about you - don't you and your wife drink coffee yourselves? Speaking for myself, this is what I always thought you wanted the equipment for.

Ah...now I see What Neku was referring to. I saw "espresso" and thought "coffee bean." Seems I haven't been able to comprehend much lately.

I've been asking about so many different kinds of equipment, from roasting to brewing to grinding to packaging that I don't know my head from my arse right now. Sorry...no, we don't have an espresso maker yet. My wife and I love coffee...we're passionate about coffee (duh!)...but we make coffee at home with a Moka pot and I'll occasionally make a cap with a hand frother and a microwave.

Not much of a setup, but it beats going to one of the cafe's here. I'd love to get my hands on a used pump-driven espresso machine for my home, but we're really trying to watch what we spend our money on right now.