February 2010 Newsletter
The
massive earthquake that devastated Haiti has focussed the world's
attention on one of the poorest countries in the world, but Haiti has
had my attention for many years. Over ten years ago we imported a tiny
amount of Haitian coffee as part of a USA church-sponsored aid effort.
In the subsequent years my wife and I have been involved with sponsorship of a Haitian child via Plan Australia www.plan.org.au and other charitable efforts. Fortunately it appears that our current sponsored child lives well away from the earthquake area.
Problems
with the Haitian coffee industry, including weather, violent revolution
and massive corruption have meant that we haven't been able to repeat
our initial import. There has simply been no coffee available to us,
with the tiny amounts exported ending up mostly in the USA. Despite
this I have kept up a standing order with green coffee suppliers, more
or less on the basis "you get it, I'll buy it and worry about the price
later".
The
reason I was willing to make such an open-ended commitment was the
stunning quality of original shipment. It was a rich, sweet, full
bodied low acid coffee, in many ways similar to the Cuba but sweeter.
You
can imagine my surprise when my green supplier told me that some Haiti
coffee had arrived with my new pallet of Cuba! Fortunately the quality
appears to have held up in the intervening years. So this month's
special coffee will be:
Haiti Grand Cru de Beaumont
$45.00/kg

It
starts off with the sweetest aroma I have ever found, reminiscent of
treacle or golden syrup. The front palate taste is lively and complex,
blending into a full, smooth body, then finishing with an intense
chocolate aftertaste, and that's just in the syphon. It's a killer
single origin espresso!
Quantity limit will initially be 1.00kg per order, as I doubt we will see any more for many years to come.
Another
"old favourite" of more recent vintage has also joined our list of
espresso equipment this month. It's the Lelit PL041, the equivalent of
what used to be the Imat Junior, the Lelit machine without the built in
grinder.

The
arrival of the PL041 was timely because I have decided to discontinue
selling Sunbeam products. The "death" of the Bang Bang and their
somewhat cavalier attitude to their smaller retailers decided me.
As
part of introducing the PL041 I have updated my original comparison
between this type of machine and the Rancilio Silvia. Considering it is
$250.00 cheaper the PL041 stands up remarkably well. The internal
layout has changed a bit over the years and the build quality is much
better, using heavier grade stainless steel. Espresso and steam quality
are identical.
The
main difference now is that you can't "Hot Rod and Mod" the Lelit with
aftermarket components as some Silvia owners are wont to do.
Alan