I thought I knew about coffee. Yeah, it comes from a plant and then it’s roasted. Not rocket science. Definitely not interesting. That is, because I didn’t really know anything about coffee. I had no clue about how it was really made. I had no clue where the coffee that I drank came from. Until this event (which was really educational considering the tasty samples the Gimme Coffee speakers brought).

The process was amazing- it all starts with collecting the coffee from a small farmer in Colombia. I had no clue that this company focused on providing only organic coffee. This farmer took much care to make sure that his coffee was hand picked for the best flavor while still being organic. Then there was a procedure to prepare the coffee from consumption.

Here at Cornell, I drink the Hazelnut and French Vanilla flavors. Little did I know that these flavors were completely artificial and usually consisted of a much lower quality of coffee – usually not Arabica coffee. At Gimme Coffee, their coffee is 100% Arabica. There were so many natural flavors embedded in each coffee sample – choclatey and berry were my favorite. These flavors were conceived naturally by letting the plant ferment with the fruit for a longer period of time.

From now on I have a new appreciation for coffee – it is not easy to come across some quality coffee. It seems that Gimme Coffee knows just how to do that.

I have never given much thought to my coffee. As long as it contains caffeine, I’m happy. On Saturday November 14^th I attended a coffee presentation and tasting by Gimme! Coffee. Previously my only exposure to the details of coffee making was a rather unexpected encounter with a barista while traveling, while in Ithaca I consistently order the same drink for simplicity.

I was appreciative of how open the presenters were to questions; which ranged from how coffee was decaffeinated to the push for more sustainable crops. We tasted three or four different types of coffee, from beans we were able to examine before they were ground. I was particular interested in the company’s push for sustainably grown and fair traded beans. Such practices increase the quality of life for their suppliers and minimize the impact coffee plantations have on such biologically diverse forests, though also inevitably add costs to the final product, which, given their success, their customers are willing to accept.

Another point of interest was the processing of the beans from plant to cup. The presenters guided us through each stage of processing; from picking and washing, to roasting and grinding, all while explaining how variations at different stages change the characteristics of the final product. I hadn’t realized how particular artisanal coffee was from the plant to the cup, which made the experience pretty eye opening, seeing, as previously stated, I’m content as long as its not decaffeinated.

Last weekend I went to the Gimme coffee presentation at Rose. As an engineer, I have a severe caffeine/ coffee addiction, and I’ve always liked Gimme coffee more than any of the other coffee places on campus. I never venture far from my usual caramel latte, but I have also never been unimpressed by their seasonal specialties. So when I heard that they would be giving a presentation and coffee samples I was really excited.

I never really drink black coffee, I find it’s too bitter and strong for my sweet tooth. But I was very surprised by the coffee samples that they provided. Not only did the coffee not taste totally bitter, you could actually taste distinct flavor notes, and each of the samples smelled and tasted different.

I was surprised to learn about all the steps involved in making coffee and especially how changes in the process can make specialty coffees so much higher quality than large commercial coffee companies. The coffee making process at Gimme involves hand picking cherries, and wet or dry washing followed by roasting, and different washing methods and roast time and temperatures can heavily influence the coffee’s flavor.

I was also happy to hear about their growers, and particularly their relationship coffees, which is where they develop a professional relationship with a grower to ensure top quality and well treated workers. It is important to me to be aware of what you are supporting with your purchase power, and it makes me feel good to know that Gimme is a responsible company.

I used to hate coffee, until I became a barista and had to work around it all the time. I was pretty ironic at first, a barista who hated coffee.

Anyways, I found gimme! coffee’s presentation to be extremely thorough and informative. Coffee is a luxury that we are lucky to have, and we tend to not think about that on our morning Starbucks runs. As a barista, I’m always really sad when we have to pour coffee down the drain when we remake it every two hours.

It was cool to learn some history and background about the stuff that I make for customers on a daily basis. I had never really thought about the history of coffee before, and I was really into the presentation. We even got to try coffee straight from Ethiopia (if I recall correctly), which tasted waaaaay different from your typical cup of Starbucks. Unfortunately, Starbucks is a huge multinational corporation, so they have to sacrifice quality for low costs.

I think it’s important to learn the history behind foods and drinks that we consume all the time, which we tend not to even think about. I’ll definitely be thinking about the history of coffee every time I brew it now.

Growing up, I never enjoyed the taste of coffee. But it seems that I am unable to go a day without it now. Being a new found coffee lover, I was excited to be able to learn about the different kinds of coffee and how they are each made and processed. This presentation was very interesting as far as learning where the coffee comes from and the impact it has on the environment.
The main point I learned from this presentation was that gimme! Coffee does not just worry about getting the best coffee. Instead, they worry about the impact they have on everyone and everything around them. Some main concerns are the environment and the effect their farming has on it. Instead of using huge machines like some more mainstream companies, they make sure their coffee cherries are picked by hand. The machines cause unnecessary things to fall out of the trees, such as branches and unripe cherries while the hand pickers are able to get exactly what they need without damaging the trees. In addition to caring about the environment, they get their beans from one farm and make sure that they are able to support this farm and all of its processes. Another thing I found very interesting were the competitions they were talking about. There is apparently a huge coffee community/ Baristas can compete in competitions making their own specialty drinks. They can showcase the coffee they chose to brew or create something extremely out of the ordinary. I think it would be really cool to see the kind of things they come up with. Overall, I enjoyed learning about the different ways coffee can be produced and used.

On November 14th, two representatives from Gimmie! Coffee gave a very thorough and informative presentation on the specifics of all processes that go in to making a great cup of coffee. With four locations in New York, including one in Ithaca, they are known for great quality, fair trading practices, and their support for local environmental causes. To insure superior quality and therefore taste, they aim to conduct business directly with the grower instead of with a manager or distributor company in the middle. They also provided our group with taste tests of expertly brewed fresh coffee.

As a huge coffee fan and drinker, I very much enjoyed the presentation and the new interesting facts that we were presented with, such as the fact that added flavors such as french vanilla are just chemicals sprayed on to coffee beans as well as the fact that the decaffeination process is equally or possibly even more unglamorous. Although it seems like common sense, I previously did not realize the huge amount of effort and resources it truly takes for us to be able to go to a Starbucks or other coffee shop and order a cup of coffee on the spot in any fancy or simple way we desire. Especially as a college student, I’m very grateful for the easy availability of caffeine for long study sessions. I’m also glad that Gimmie! Coffee only purchases fair trade coffee beans to better support both the farmers themselves and the farmers’ families. Their sourcing of only organic coffee is also a huge plus, as synthetic pesticides and fertilizers can cause immense long-term environmental disturbances. In this way, Gimmie! Coffee supports both the farmers as well as the land the farmers rely on, creating a seemingly sustainable production system of great quality coffee for the residents of New York State.

Coffee. The lifeblood of the American undergrad. Seeing as I drink it every morning without fail, I thought it was only fitting for me to go to this Saturday’s Gimme! Coffee presentation.

What I found most interesting about this presentation was how they described their work with growers to be relationship-based as opposed to Fair Trade or Certified Organic. This structure stems from the idea that many small growers simply do not have the resources to  get certified, putting them at a disadvantage when marketing to potential buyers.

I personally really, really like this idea. Just as “organic” is putting small farms out of business, “Fair Trade Certified” can easily result in the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. I believe that there is more going into a product than just time and money, and that we need to make more conscious decisions about who we support when consuming goods. It has no real effect on the quality of the product, but at the same time, our money should be going to someone who we know is going to do good things with it. As we would say in my economics class, we vote with our dollars, and I want to vote for the upstanding individuals who put in the extra effort to be decent human beings.

In the meantime, I guess we can just keep enjoying really good cups of coffee. 🙂

I have to admit, I’ve never been a fan of coffee. Nothing against it, I just haven’t picked up the appreciation for that bitter taste. I’m trying really hard to keep it that way until grad school, if I can.  So needless to say, I didn’t exactly come for the tasting. And unfortunately, this post isn’t going to end with my perception of coffee being forever shifted by the revolutionary tastes and aromas of Gimme! Coffee. It pretty much tasted like all of the other coffees I’ve had. But again, my palate hasn’t developed to distinguish the finer differences in ground up bean dirt.

All that aside, I was very pleased with the presentation. They made a point to mention all of the efforts made by the company to not only be sustainable, but fair trade. They’re environmental efforts included shade growth providers, which is what I was really hoping to hear, as it’s a lot better for the environment than traditional growing methods. For anyone unfamiliar with the method, the coffee plant naturally grows in shadier conditions. Therefore, coffee plants can be planted under rows of other types of trees. Not only does this allow the soil to last longer, it also reduces the long-term impact on the surrounding ecosystems.

The other idea they really pushed was the idea of “relationship” coffee, which I had not heard of prior to this event. It carries the same ideas as fair-trade, but focuses on building a relationship between the farmers and distributors. It also differs in the idea of fair-trade that there is less pressure on the farmer to purchase expensive certifications, which limits many farms from being able to call themselves fair-trade.

Although for the foreseeable future I won’t be drinking coffee, I would still recommend it to a friend! Few people really look at the impact that such a heavy habit like coffee drinking has in the long-term, and responsible coffee companies like this are aiming to change that! So if you want to do your part, throw out that K-cup, and pick up a bag of Gimme! Coffee!

Or just throw out that K-cup. Seriously, those things are terrible.

54% of Americans over the age of eighteen consume an average of three cups of coffee per day.  I must admit that since coming to Cornell, I have fallen into this statistic.  In my daily struggle to wake-up and rush to Libe for a cup of coffee before class, I seldom consider the origin of my drink and the tedious and thorough process a single coffee bean must undergo before reaching my cup.  During last week’s Gimme! Coffee presentation, Lead Trainer Kevin Wilsea introduced the ins-and-outs of harvesting coffee cherries and discussed the sustainability and consumer-producer relationship missions that sets Gimme! Coffee apart from other coffeehouse chains.  Gimme! Coffee is particularly unique in its focus on forming bonds directly with the farmers who grow the coffee beans.  As part of this partnership, the farmer receives a substantial price premium that can be used to further develop operations.  The tight knit nature of this relationship enables the both sides to understand the resources of the local environment and to collaborate on techniques and scientific knowledge to grow the highest quality coffee without creating additional adverse effects on local agriculture.  From their valued sustainable growth model to their meticulous brew times and temperatures in local espresso bars, Gimme! Coffee produces coffee that tastes noticeably richer, stronger, fruitier and silkier than a standard cup of Starbucks coffee, ultimately forcing any coffee lover to instantly think, Gimme! more.               

I know very little about coffee but I do enjoy it greatly. Until this event I never realized just what goes into making a great cup of coffee. The people at gimme!coffee are artist who pride themselves on their coffee and judging from the samples I had they are doing a fantastic job. I did attend the event a bit late so I missed some important facts but the main thing that stuck out to me was the sheer amount joy that radiated from their words. I’m always impressed when someone truly loves what they are doing but these guys did what I thought was impossible and actually made me excited to hear about coffee. My curiosity has been peaked and now I feel the need to know even more about what makes coffee great.

A while ago I went to the gimme! coffee store in Brooklyn (on 5th or 6th street I believe) and I remember thinking that I’ll probably never buy coffee from this shop again. Why? Because I usually drink coffee when I’m in a rush and need to wake up, the coffee these guys make deserves to be enjoyed. I highly recommend stopping by one of their shops when you have some free time and simply enjoy your coffee for once. Then stop by a gas station, pick up another cup of coffee and I guarantee that you’ll realize the difference between good and great coffee.

Being able to talk about coffee among college students is the same as knowing how to talk about wine over dinner with 30-somethings. Kind of an important skill. This presentation gave me the vocabulary (a simple dark roast vs. ) and the historical/procedural knowledge of coffee that would give me a leg up at fancy dinner conversations. I honestly had no clue about anything about coffee- I didn’t drink start drinking it until college and my mom just had the regular Folger’s brew in the morning. I couldn’t afford to buy Starbucks when I was in high school like my friends, who went daily and had their super-tailored orders down, and I was always embarrassed that I didn’t understand the difference between a frap and a cap, or what made a macchiato a macchiato. The two Gimme! presenters were really knowledgeable and never got too pretentious about their high-quality coffee (except for the “Pumpkin Spice is inferior” line). I felt like I was given a crash course on everything about coffee

A few of things that were finally cleared up for me yesterday were:

• you would have to drink twice your body weight in coffee before you’d die from the caffeine amount, but you’d die of overhydration first anyway
• the coffee bean is a seed inside of the coffee cherry which is form the coffee plant
• first coffee plant from Ethiopia
• the current trend of coffee is from Ethiopia too (last year was Kenya)
• the trend a few years ago was Guatemalan coffee, but they’ve been hit by a coffee rust
• the plant takes 5 years to grow, which is why it’s so difficult to be a coffee plant farmer because you
• the reason why Americans like their coffee “like mud” or “earthy” is because we’ve gotten most of our coffee from Brazil, but Brazil has automated pickings (they use machines instead of people to pick the coffee) so when they shake the trees, twigs and dirt fall in with the coffee, which mixes into the taste.
• coffee isn’t earthy in taste, but is actually light and kind of fruity
• coffee shouldn’t be roasted past 15 minutes, then it reaches a point where all the flavor is taken out (this is what Dunkin Donuts/Starbucks does)
• all flavored coffee is coffee that’s over-roasted, then sprayed with chemicals (flavors) and isn’t every of good quality

A feeling that most Cornellians can relate to is the need for caffeine. Whether you need a cup of coffee in the morning to wake you up, a cup during that afternoon slump to cheer you up, several late night cups to keep you up, or all three, almost everyone here drinks coffee at some point, most of us daily. But to a lot of us, coffee is just what we use it for; something to wake/cheer/keep us up. Many of us slog through life, coffee cup in hand, never realizing the work and artisanship that goes into brewing our daily caffeine dose. Americans tend to like Brazilian, Colombian, and Ethiopian coffees because they are dark and strong. This has to do with how the beans, which come from coffee cherries, are harvested, dried/washed, roasted, and ground. We like our coffee strong enough to wake the dead, with deep, smoky, chocolaty notes. In other parts of the world, such as Eastern Asia, they like lighter roasts, with more acidic and tea-like flavours. Gimme! Coffee spoke with us about the differences in how they prepare their coffee from chains like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. They also spoke about how they source from individual farms, and how those types of relationships both get the farms more money and the company more coffee. I was also surprised to learn that both of our visitors had began as baristas. One of them, Ben, spoke on this, on how most people don’t associate being a barista with having a career and having somewhere to grow – but there are plenty of opportunities, especially at Gimme! Coffee, to rise to managerial positions and become new employee trainers and move up within the company. They were both definitely passionate about coffee and their jobs, and the samples they prepared were delicious. It was nice to try coffee not doused in cream and sugar like I usually have it when it’s from preground coffee sitting in a pot. They ground the beans at the table and brewed each type of coffee at different water temperatures. It was surprising the difference in taste that the individual beans could have. My favourite was the Ethiopian coffee – it was chocolaty and faintly fruity, and a little sweet, something I could drink black in the morning.

If I could buy a dripper and a coffee grinder and a kettle with adjustable temperatures and a server and bags of whole beans and filters, you could bet I’d be here in my room brewing gourmet cups of coffee. But the necessary tools are surprisingly expensive. The dripper alone is $40, and their coffee costs 3 or more times the amount per bag I would pay for a bag of my preferred home brew coffee, Starbucks’ Cafe Verona. So despite my plans for the future to be really fancy and have an espresso machine (which forces water through the coffee grounds with 6x atmospheric pressure!), for now I’ll stick to my Keurig.