Maine odor patrol smells the coffee

Boston Globe Staff / February 15, 2008

ROCKLAND, Maine - This is a place that takes smells seriously. Twenty years ago, residents rebelled against the almost unbearable stench of a plant that processed fish waste on its waterfront.

The plant shut down, the city enacted rules against foul odors, and Rockland underwent a transformation, from blue-collar backwater to vibrant, upscale arts mecca.

Lately, another smell has sparked complaints to the city's overseers of malodorous emanations. Only this time, the offending aroma is the smell of roasting coffee.

The business under fire, Rock City Coffee Roasters, is widely credited with having kindled a downtown renaissance when it opened its first store in 1992, back when Rockland's Main Street, now studded with galleries, was still checkered with boarded-up storefronts.

Now, the city's three-member odor committee has found the small, gourmet coffee roasting operation in violation of the local odor ordinance and ordered it to come up with a solution by today or risk fines of up to $2,500 per day.

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The Culinary Institute of America's Coffee Program

Counter Culture Coffee & The Culinary Institute of America Partner in Landmark Coffee Education Program

Durham, NC – Counter Culture Coffee has announced an exciting new partnership with The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York, to develop a cutting-edge coffee curriculum for the world’s premier culinary college’s baking and pastry arts program. Initial components of the partnership include the launch of a new espresso and single-origin French press program for the CIA’s Apple Pie Bakery Café; a coffee lecture series featuring Counter Culture and specialty coffee industry experts; and the implementation of a new, intensive coffee education curriculum for the school.

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Newsletter of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association

We are the new voice of the Kona Coffee Farmer and will carry your issues to the Legislature and support you in your farming activities.

Our mission is to promote and protect Kona farmers’ economic interests in 100% Kona coffee, to protect the Kona coffee heritage, and to seek greater legal protection of the Kona coffee name.

We will accept as voting members all Kona coffee farmers who subscribe to the purposes of the organization. We offer nonvoting membership to those who support the promotion and protection of 100% Kona coffee.

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For the February 2008 issue of the KCFA Newsletter, CLICK HERE to download PDF file.

Cooking and pairing food with coffee seen as a coming culinary trend

The Canadian Press

Cooking with coffee isn't new. But with all the varieties now available in the marketplace, using coffee as a food, along with pairing different coffees with specific foods, is undergoing a resurgence in popularity.

"My 93-year-old grandmother in her generation cooked with coffee a lot," says Trish Magwood, owner-operator of Dish, a Toronto cooking school and culinary centre. "Her original recipe for Mocha Mousse, which I refined a little (for this story), was made with instant coffee."

She's right. In Kate Aitken's "Canadian Cook Book" first published in 1945, and then reprinted by Whitecap in 2004, there was a Coffee Custard recipe. And Edna Staebler's Coffee Almond Tarts appeared in her "More Food That Really Schmecks" (McClelland and Stewart) in 1979.

The use of coffee as food goes back to its earliest history. Coffee is a fruit of an evergreen bush, and it resembles a bitter cherry. Among the tribes of Ethiopia, where coffee originates, coffee was often eaten rather than drunk, according to Antony Wild's "Coffee: A Dark History." Coffee is now widely grown in high-altitude tropical regions.

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