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- 3/30/2009
Not long ago, it would have been obscene for ritzy restaurant menus to name-drop their brand of coffee. But that's happening around here all the time now — especially when the coffee being used is Denver-based Novo Coffee. And that makes sense, since the family-owned Novo crafts coffee like other boutique outfits craft great wine or beer, seeking out the best beans around the world, roasting them in their Larimer Street facility and obsessively instructing their customers and clients on the best way to extract nuanced nectars from the grounds. The results have been named some of the best in the country, and Novo's main coffee bar, across the street from the Denver Art Museum's Hamilton Building, has become a caffeine-fanatic mecca. Isn't it time you took a sip of perfection? . . . read more |
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- 10/1/2008
The weather is definitely changing for the colder in parts of the United States and it's a good time to talk about coffee. A brilliant cup of coffee can be your best friend on chilly days.
We've looked all over the country for these best friends and came up with the 21 best cups of coffee in America.
Twenty-one is an arbitrary number, but the picks are not. We did stay clear of big coffee chains like Starbucks, Seattle's Best and Dunkin' Donuts. It's not that we think we're too cool to be caught in these cookie cutter coffeeterias, but everyone knows what they're getting with a chain cup of coffee.
The cups on this list are special and unique in their own way and most focus on hand-crafted processes and socially aware practices. . . . read more |
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- 10/1/2008
Sip on a cup of Novo Coffee. In a world overrun by Starbucks, this Denver-based specialty coffee company stands as an oasis. We could wax rhapsodic about single-origin beans from La Concordia, Colombia, or the caramelized flavors of Ojo de Agua from Volcan, Panama, or you can just try it. You will taste a difference. . . . read more |
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- 4/8/2008
The rushed business traveler rarely has to worry about where to find a cup of coffee. That's because Starbucks is now ever-present in most cities. Add to the mix thousands of McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts locations now serving improved brews and the options are endless.
What's more difficult to find is the unique cup: the single-origin espresso or freshly roasted French press. Even though Starbucks (nasdaq: SBUX - news - people ), in its fight to retain customers, today unveiled a new brewing strategy and an inaugural blend called Pike Place Roast, most coffee snobs argue that the best java is found at small cafes where each cup is painstakingly crafted. Often tucked away in neighborhoods outside of a city's financial district, these shops can be difficult to get to for a business traveler, but aficionados say it's a worthwhile trip. . . . read more |
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- 2/1/2008
ow does someone go from a career as a full-time soccer player and occasional coffee roaster, to the leading force behind Novo Coffee? Jake Brodsky is described as a quiet leader with extraordinary attention to detail – a scientist of coffee operations. . . . read more |
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- 3/29/2007
NOVO Coffee doesn't actually brew your cup of joe in giant iPods, but its stylized metallic coffee machines, called Clovers, resemble them. They have the same modish aura, as if they, too, promise to change the way we do things. You can find the Clovers in action at the residential complex next door to the Denver Art Museum's Hamilton Building. NOVO's methodology is to treat coffee like wine, serving it by varietals and preparing one cup at a time, never letting the elixirs spoil in a carafe. The operation is so cool you'll want a Clover for yourself, but considering that the machine costs more than a small car, you may want to stick with the $3 coffee. . . . read more |
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- 8/1/2006
A Denver man's quest for the perfect cup of coffee has taken him around the globe. . . . read more |
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- 2/1/2006
Our Vitoria roaster looks like a locomotive, and with the changing color and aroma of coffee in the tryer, the operator often finds himself in the passenger car, riding back along the paths our coffees travel. With my eyes on the warm brown of Owena Cooperative coffee turning in the cooling pan, memories return from the wildest origin trip I've yet taken. . . . read more |
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- 6/1/2005
The sound of 17 cuppers slurping coffee resounded in Ethiopia’s Central Liquoring Lab. Through the cacophony, one deep, slow slurp resonated and caught my attention. “Too fast and you can’t catch the depth of the flavor,” Abraham Begashaw, head of the Ethiopian Coffee Authority and masterful cupper, would later say. “Fast is for defects. If you slow down, your senses will capture the completeness of an exemplary cup.”
I had accepted an invitation to be a judge in the first Ethiopian Cooperative Coffees Competition in Addis Ababa, held in March. Cooperatives from Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Nekempte, Harar, Limu, Jimma and Kafa Forest (coffee’s birthplace) had put meticulous effort into preparing their finest 20-bag lots of coffee. Some entered lots in both washed and unwashed categories.
I cupped on the same table as Phyllis Johnson, a friend and importer specializing in African coffees, during the competition’s first . . . read more |
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