Your Guide for Craft Coffee
One has to be careful when asking for a coffee shop recommendation in Amsterdam. But there’s a lot more to the Dutch capital than just legal weed and the red light district. A growing number of local roasters and cafés are making Amsterdam a premier European coffee destination. One of the microroasteries leading the way is White Label Coffee. …
Recently, I traveled to Istanbul, Turkey to take the Q Grader Exam. I expected to be challenged in my coffee knowledge and abilities as well as make a few new friends in the Turkish coffee scene. I didn’t anticipate meeting a dynamic young coffee professional from Tehran, Iran. Reza Kosar quickly impressed me with acute sense of smell, thorough knowledge of SCAA cupping protocols, and his enthusiasm for all things specialty coffee. By the end of the week he proved to be Iran’s first Q Grader, a feet which involves passing 20 very difficult exams. We caught up with Reza to ask him what it means to be Iran’s first Q grader and what’s next for him.
Well, I’m 24. I work at Sam Cafe as a manager of R&D and the director of coffee. …
Not that many years ago, few visitors would have wandered the backstreets of Balat, Istanbul’s old Jewish quarter. The mass exodus of Turkey’s religious minorities in the early 20th century left the area vacant and in disrepair. But the neighborhood has “good bones” and in an booming megacity like Istanbul it’s only a matter of time before a craft coffee shop pops up on some unexpected backstreet. Enter the Coffee Department….
