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    • We bought a roaster.
      •   It’s often said that coffee roasting is part art, part science. This is true now more than ever with recent advances in technology allowing roasters access to more empirical data about each roast than ever before.   Where a traditional coffee roaster would look at, and smell beans, and listen for distinctive ‘pops’ during a roast, we are now able to track temperature changes in real-time and calculate Rate of Rise and development time percentage on the fly. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means – what’s important is they are better indicators of roast quality than just feeling it out.   We’ve just upgraded our roaster to what is fast becoming the industry standard for consistency and repeatability – Loring.   Our old roaster, Betty (a Probat UG-22), has served us well over the last 6 years and has pumped out almost 25,000 batches of coffee during her tenure. Sadly, time has caught up with her, and it’s time for her to go and live on a farm where we can’t visit her.   Happily, this means that our new roaster, a Loring S70 Peregrine (name TBC), has the space to move in. We didn’t take the decision to replace Betty lightly and we’d like to share with you our decision making.   The first advantage of the Loring is its size. It’s considerably bigger that Betty – a 70kg capacity vs a 22kg capacity. We’re now able to roast around 3 times as much coffee. This means we can meet our weekly quota of roasted coffee with less manpower.   The second advantage is control and repeatability of roast. As great as Betty was, her gas controls were imprecise and difficult to manage – two valves controlling gas flow to three banks of burners, one valve leading to one bank, the other to two. The Loring gives us the ability to make precise adjustments to burner percentage through a computer and repeat them consistently - roast after roast. There’s even the option to go fully automatic once you’ve decided on your approach.   The other big improvement that this upgrade makes is the Loring is much more environmentally friendly. Its unique design means that it consumes approximately 25% of the gas of a traditional drum roaster. In addition to this, we’re now able to burn off more smoke, producing less emissions than before.   Of course, all of this would be for nothing if it didn’t also improve the flavour of the coffee. We’ve already found roasts to be cleaner and sweeter across the board. We’re excited to be working on the Loring moving forward as it gives us the ability to truly highlight each coffee’s unique characteristics better than ever before.  

    • Flight Loves JOCO
      • Today’s blog post is about our partnership with JOCO where we became the New Zealand distributor of these incredibly good lookin’ and environmentally friendly reusable cups. As consumers are becoming more eco-conscious, we’ve seen more and more manufacturers producing reusable cups, which is great for keeping paper cups out of the landfill.What really excited us about working with JOCO was the fact that just like us, they love drinking great coffee. Based in the Australian state of Victoria, not too far from Melbourne, they definitely have a lot of experience with coffee and have designed their cups with not just customers in mind, but baristas as well. Made out of high quality, borosilicate glass, with a BPA, lead and cadmium free silicone lid, JOCO cups show the coffee at its best, unaffected by the taste of plastic or paper. Having the opportunity to offer our customers the best experience possible from our coffee when they don’t have time to hang was a massive motivator for us.JOCO’s approach to prioritising sustainability also aligns with our own values. Annually 2.25 billion paper cups are used worldwide according to JOCO’s informative website, which is insane! If there is any reason to use one of these cups, reducing that number by any amount for us seems like a damn good idea. Consumers of takeaway coffee are starting to realise the impact disposable paper cups are having on the environment and we see this reflected in the growing number of companies producing reusable cups. We already use fully compostable takeaway cups (lids included) in our flagship store, the Flight Coffee Hangar, supplied by the team at Ecoware, as well as supplying them to many of our wholesale accounts around the country. So, for us the next logical move was to get on board with the JOCO team and encourage people to help out the environment.JOCO loves nature and nature loves JOCO. Chelsea from the Flight Coffee Hangar is also a bit of a fan of JOCO.The great thing about JOCO is that while taste and helping out the environment are important to these guys, their functionality doesn’t get in the way of them looking great either. The team at JOCO know what they are doing when it comes to design, which can be seen in the sleek aesthetics of the JOCO cup. The range of vibrant colours these cups come in suit any style, any season and any time of the day. They have also released a new line of vintage colours in the 12oz and 16oz sizes. We’ll be getting the 12oz colours in soon so if you like to keep it old school we’ve got you covered.Keep looking sharp with the new range of vintage colours. Recognising the growing popularity of reusable cups, The Guardian compared five brands, with JOCO ending up as the chosen favourite. With eco-conscious consumption in mind as well as taste and style, it’s easy to see why we are so stoked to be working with JOCO and supplying their great line of reusable cups.You can get yours online or in many of the cafés we supply, including the Flight Coffee Hangar. Keep an eye out on social media for the new range as well; coming soon!

    • The Road to Seattle and Gothenburg
      • Well team, just on two weeks ago now, the whole crew at Flight Coffee got involved in the Caffeination trade show, which played host to four coffee competitions over the short space of a single weekend; it was definitely a full on couple of days. The four competitions held at the event were the Cup Taster’s Cup, Latte Art Championship, Brewer’s Cup and of course the Barista Championship. We had our ever lovely and talented head roaster, Megan Wyper as well as the charming and good looking, Addison Dale from Café Pure Co. using Flight Coffee competing in the Barista Champs, and yours truly competing in the Brewer’s for a second year. Flight was definitely well represented! On the first day of the event was the Brewer’s Cup, held for the first time in conjunction with the Barista Championships. Once again I had the opportunity to compete, with the added pressure of defending my title. Instead of using an Aeropress this time, I was after something that produced a cleaner cup, so I opted for a Gino Dripper. Some things just don’t change though and I was lucky enough to once again use an exceptionally tasty washed Colombian coffee from the Huila region, this time from Pedro Trujillo farms El Jardin. In the cup this coffee was all about the malic acidity and it just screamed crisp green apples. Balanced out with brown sugar like sweetness and pink grapefruit in the aftertaste. I absolutely loved working with this coffee and I will have the amazing opportunity to take it with me to represent New Zealand at the World Brewer’s Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden in June. My beautiful coach, Sarah, who will coincidently be visiting friends and family in Copenhagen will also accompany me. Looks like I’ll be meeting her parents too… not nervous! Me, brewing up some coffee's on the Gino Dripper for some coffee'd-out judges.  At the same time the Barista Champ heats were getting underway. This is always an exciting time, with the calibre of competitors ramping up every year; this year was definitely no exception. Not to mention the championship being MC’d by a few coffee superstars: 2013 New Zealand Barista Champion, our very own Nick Clark, current World Barista Champion, Hidenori Izaki and multiple times UK Barista Champion, John Gordon. Needless to say the banter between these three was totally outrageous.Hidenori Izaki left, John Gordon top and a cow in the centre at the NZ Latte Art Championships.Meg used a coffee produced by Elkin Guzman, a Colombian farmer producing in the Huila region. Elkin produced his coffee using an interesting technique he calls the “coffee-cake” method, which involves mixing in the second days harvest in with the first days harvest to ferment, while the first day is already fermenting. The mix of both days’ harvests is then washed and dried. The result was a very balanced and bright espresso with notes of ginger bread, cocoa nib and sugar cane. The overarching theme of Meg’s performance was “curiosity”; curiosity that made Elkin try a new processing method with his coffee and curiosity that made Meg want to get the best out of it. Even though Meg didn’t take it out this time, her performance definitely had an important message to share, with relevance to our industry as a whole. Meg looking super excited to be competing! Recently coming on board with Flight last year, using our coffee in his cafes in Christchurch, Addison has been a regular competitor for the past three years of the barista champs and this year achieving the title of New Zealand’s Barista Champion. As I write this blog post Addison is getting to compete in Seattle with his coach Nick Clark, Richard – who will be judging the champs overseas – and his lovely lady, Jennifer, and show the world what he’s made of at the 2015 World Barista Championships. Addison will be taking the El Recuerdo, produced by Carlos Gaumanga, another Colombian from the Huila region. The El Recuerdo is a washed processed coffee, with notes of pink grapefruit, panella sugar, baker’s cocoa and a silky body. Competing on the 9th of April (Seattle time), Addison has only had a few weeks preparation time before he has to compete with champions representing over 50 countries, but we know he’ll kick some serious coffee butt and at the very least have one hell of a good time! Addison getting his signature drink ready while charming the judges. The man who played a vital role sourcing the three championship Colombian coffees, Tyler Youngblood of Azahar Coffee was in New Zealand for the first time and was able to see the coffees in action. He also provided vital feedback –particularly for myself – in the preparation happening in the week leading up to the competitions. He’s also a really fun guy, so hanging out we definitely had some laughs!Tyler in the centre, pulling the classic "Arnie pose".  This year the rest of the team at Flight got seriously involved in the competitions; if not competing, then doing their bit to help out with the vital tasks that allow these events to happen. Nick and Trev MCing up a storm, Richard and Sarah judging the Barista Champs, Matt taught a class and everyone else sat in on run-throughs, helped polish and organise competition gear, and were just an overall great support crew. It was great to see and there was a real team vibe of everyone pulling together. It was definitely an awesome couple of days. If you want to watch Addison compete in Seattle but can’t afford the plain ticket, the competition is streamed live, so keep an eye on our Facebook page where we’ll be providing regular updates: running times, etc. We’ll definitely all be watching here at Flight! You’ll also be able to see me compete at the World Brewer’s Cup later in the year, so keep an eye out. And you can get a Gino Dripper off our website if you want to try out some coffee made with the same brewer I used to win the Brewer’s Cup.  - Nic Rapp,2015 New Zealand Brewer’s Cup Champion.    

    • Nic Rapp Takes On The Gino
      •     Alright team, what we've got for you today is something just a little bit different. I'm going to be breaking down the Gino Dripper from notNeutral. What on earth is a Gino Dripper? Developed by the same team that are renowned for their sleekly designed range of ceramics, which have been popping up more and more, particularly in the North American specialty coffee scene, these simply designed brewers combine elegance with the ability to produce some day-um tasty coffee. With consistent results from these slick brewers and a reasonable price tag, we knew we had to get on board with these guys. Getting ready. Similar to the Japanese designed Kalita Wave, it uses a waved filter paper to hold the water away from the sides of the brewer preventing water from running down the sides. It also has a flat bottom with 3 holes to restrict flow for an increased contact time with the grounds and an even extraction. Increasing the contact time of the water to the coffee grounds results in more flavour development in the cup, as opposed to a traditional pour-over brew method, which allows the water to pass through more quickly. The team at notNuetral definitely had baristas in mind when designing this brewer as it is super functional and it looks slick! The Gino was also used in the World Brewer's Cup in Rimini, Italy by several competitors. The Italian champion, Ruebens Gardelli even used the Gino to get second place. It also received SCAA Best New Product 2014 in its category. Anyway, it's about time we got in to what you really want to know about it and that's how we brewed our coffee on this sucker.We used: Gino Dripper notNuetral ServerWave FilterScalesTimer15 grams of coffee ground the same as for an Aeropress or Chemex (roughly two heaped tablespoons if you don't have any scales). 220mls of water just off boiling (between 93-96 C)And the coffee we used was our Ethiopian Sidama. First off: place your wave filter in the Gino and thoroughly rinse with your hot water; pouring in to the centre as the fragile paper can fold in on itself when water is poured directly on it. Once your paper is good and wet, put the coffee grounds in the filter paper, giving a slight shake to even out the bed. The coffee. Then pour a small amount of water, just enough to cover the grounds (roughly 30mls), and allow to drip through for around 30 seconds. This just allows the naturally occurring gasses in the coffee to be released and allow for a more even extraction. This stage of the brew is often referred to as a 'bloom'. The bloom. After the bloom slowly pour your water in to the centre of the coffee in small circles about the size of a 20c piece until you've poured the full 220mls. By pouring in to the centre, you will avoid touching the sides of the paper, forcing the water down the sides of the paper and missing the ground coffee all together. If you want to geek out a little bit like I did and have some digital scales, you can keep an eye on how fast your pouring, aiming to finish the pour at one minute and 30 seconds. This will allow for the optimum amount of contact time of the water with the coffee grounds to get that sweet sweet balance of flavours in the cup. The pour. This might sound a bit tricky, but the easiest way to check how fast you are pouring is with some basic indicators. So: you should have poured roughly 110mls by 50 seconds, 130mls by one minute, 180 grams by one minute and 15 seconds, ending up with 220mls at 1 minute and 30 seconds. With the Sidama brewed this way, we got full on jasmine and bergamot in the aroma, lots of juicy peach sweetness and a blast of citrus to round the whole thing off. This brewer is definitely worth checking out if you want to experience full flavoured, clean and balanced coffee and it's even a bit of a show-piece in the home. So, if you want to get a hold of one these gems of coffee design, you can get it through us on our website. The serve. Enjoy this brewer guys, you've been great, I've been Nic Rapp. Enjoy mysteriously. 

    • The Flight Coffee Fifth Year That Was
      • Another year has passed for us at Flight Coffee and once again it has been off-the-chain! It definitely could not have been as incredible a year without the support of friends, family, the cafes we supply to and of course you guys! Anyway, before we get too emotional, it's time we embark on the journey of the Flight Coffee Fifth Year That Was (cue flashback sound effects and blurry scene change). With more and more people wanting a taste of the sweet stuff we all love and know so well, we welcomed the newest member to the roasting and dispatch team, Paddy. He's our dispatch extraordinaire, roastery DJ, rap poet, hat designer and Trev's new bestie.    Obviously something's funny. The Hangar has had quite a few additions over the past year, notably the new kitchen replacing the roasting space at the back of the shop. Naturally we needed a head chef that shared the same passion for food as we have for coffee and then it happened... we meet our food soul, Lisa. She's helped the Hangar evolve not only with a new banging day menu but recently created a completely different evening menu, which now includes fried pickles (please wipe the droll off your chin) and many other delights!  Lisa getting her chef on.  One of the star players on the new night menu, the mighty Meatball Sub. Our superstar lady Twyla was promoted to General Manager at the beginning of the year and as we farewelled Jake and Corey from the bar, with our latest American import, Kristina running the bar side of things with Kris. With Kris being involved in the bar our Scandinavian import, Sarah has stepped in as head barista and with her comes a tonne of experience and her unquenchable thirst for knowledge... and coffee. The lovely (not scary) GM of The Hangar, Twyla Bell (soon to be Twyla Gillan!)Kris shaking up some excellent Bloody Mary's   Sarah getting ready to take the head barista role by the reins. In March the New Zealand Barista Champs rocked around again and our very own Nick Clark stepped up to the plate to compete against fellow industry heavy weights. Once again competitors exceeded expectations to prove themselves and claim the title of New Zealand Barista Champion, earning the right to represent our country at the World Barista Championships. Placing second only to Hanna Teramoto, Nick just missed out on going to the worlds for a second time in a row, but it was still a great result! The Corn-Dog himself, Richard Corney and Megan Wyper (formerly Barker, that's right she got htiched!) also 'repped us on the judging panel.   Nick setting up a couple of components for his signature drink. Richard contemplating his score sheet.   Megan judging up a storm. Our young gun and new roasting apprentice, Nic Rapp competed in the New Zealand Brewer's Cup and won the inaugural title, 2 weeks later he landed in Rimini, Italy where he represented New Zealand at the World Brewer's Cup. He also took the chance to compete in World Aeropress Championships which might we add, was on the beach and in the sun! Even though he didn't place this time he's rather determined to get though next year.  Nic wasn't the only Fly Boy in Rimini this year, Richard stopped by Rimini on his way home from Colombia to take a seat on his second judging panel at the World Barista Champs which also included judging in the final round.  Nic Rapp, calling time at the end of his routine in Rimini, Italy. Richard judging the judges as Ghost Judge for the World Barista Championship in Rimini. The epic trip Richard took to Colombia before making his way to Italy, taking him and Matt all over Colombia, meeting farmers and tasting over a hundred coffees in 6 short days. Farmers they met included the group we fondly know as the "Honey Dozen" who produced one of the first en mass honey processed coffees to come out of Colombia. They also met the farmers of the Antioquia Cooperative, who produced the Betulia which we use in Bomber, and had the opportunity to give the farmers their quality based premiums for their coffees at a value of over $25,000.00 USD. This was distributed proportionately over the 30 families who contributed to the lot (needless to say there were definitely some emotions from both parties).  Richard, Matt and the boys of Azahar Coffee hanging out with the farmers of the Antioquia Cooperative. Later on in the year Richard went back to Colombia to scout out new coffees, which will be arriving in a matter of weeks from now, while Matt and Nick went to Seoul, South Korea so Nick could compete in the World Coffee Events All Stars. Going up against South Korean champions as well as other industry heavy weights, including Matt Perger (who placed second at last year's World Barista Championship) and James Hoffman (of Square Mile Coffee in London). These guys are all legends in the field, we were incredibly honoured and humbled to be asked to attend. On the way back to NZ, Nick and Matt stopped via Indonesia to further build our green buying network and get to know the industry over there a little better.Matt and Nick looking really... cool.Wandering through a stunning Indonesian forest. This year also saw the revamp of our brand. We have been working very closely with the radically talented and annoyingly attractive people of Inject design and are so pumped with the outcome thus far. In the new year we will be revealing a few more wee tidbits and a brand new website, so watch this space!   Our newly branded takeaway cups; almost as good looking as the team that designed them!  We have also spent a bit of time updating our coffee brewing offerings and have welcomed the Gino dripper and the mighty stainless steel coffee plunger. We love new toys and when they have been designed to look this good and brew so well, we can't help but get overwhelmed with excitement! Our Brew School also got a new identity: Hello Flight School!   The Gino looking sexy on top of a Flight Coffee mug.   Reinventing classics, the new French Press shows us how its done. Towards the end of the year we did a co-lab with the A-team of beer brewing, Garage project and with them created a coffee beer to rival all coffee beers (dream come true!). We got the guys around to the roastery to cup a selection of our coffees with, of which picking the Moreninha Formosa, Brazil for the coffee component of the beer. After a final tasting at the brewery we were pretty excited if not a little tipsy, well Meg was. We threw a small launch party at The Hangar at the start of the month which in the end resulted in a couple of long queues, such a great night!  The poster for the coffee beer, Louisiana Voodoo Queen, displayed in all her glory at The Hangar.   Trev definitely keen for a cheeky beverage.  We have had such a busy, exciting and massive year and are super pumped to go even larger next year! A massive thanks to everyone for your support and love over the past 12 months,Love and thanks from The Hangar Crew and team Flight Coffee 

    • We're getting older!
      • Hey guys! It’s that time of year again we all experience pretty regularly; that’s right, our birthday! On the sixteenth of September Flight Coffee turned five, while the little brother to Flight, The Flight Coffee Hangar turned two on the tenth! Five years is a bit of a milestone for us: we’re older, wiser, a bit cooler and we’re still the same fun loving gang you guys have come to know, but now we’ve got a bit more experience under our belts. Alongside our growth as a roastery, The Hangar has grown and developed with us. Being our flagship café, The Hangar represents our values and us as a company and it has been super exciting to see what it has become. They’ve had some seriously cool people come and go – they lost Shea to the States and in return got the very talented Lisa from New York to pimp up the menu, keeping the emphasis on sourcing high quality ingredients to make outstanding food. And as always, as well as providing amazing food, our goal has always been to provide outstanding coffee and over the past year we feel like we’ve just got even better at making the good stuff!  Our chef, Lisa, all the way from 'Murica.  The menu has been killing it and complimenting our coffee menu, which has been super exciting. With great responses from food critics, culture reviewers and customers, we’ve been taking on as much of the awesome feedback as possible. With one hell of a review from local legend, David Burton at the beginning of the year it just kept getting better with a mention by CNN and most recently appearing in Vogue Australia’s guide to a perfect day in Wellington; I guess we’re not just world famous in New Zealand now. With our spring menu currently going through the development stages (involving a lot of “tasting” of good food), we’re just about set to blow even more minds with the new spread. Continuing on our mission to blow as many minds as possible, we also rolled out some more options in which to try our coffee. With our Flight of Flat Whites, Flight of Espressos and Coffee Three Way, you can have three flat whites made with three different coffees, the same for espresso or you can have a single coffee done three different ways. It’s a lot of coffee, but is also a great way to get an overview of Flight Coffee all in one go, as well as getting a healthy caffeine buzz going. With the introduction of the Fecto batch brewing system we’ve also got another filter option for those of you who are in a hurry or even just want to try filter coffee but don’t know where to start. Flight of Flat Whites and Coffee Three Way.  Teaming up with the talented crew at the Wellington Chocolate Factory, whose approach to chocolate definitely aligns with our treatment of coffee, we’ve also started offering a single origin hot chocolate, using their cocoa from the Dominican Republic. With a 70% cocoa base, the cocoa itself is what the show is all about. Single origin hot chocolate. On top of all these awesome developments Nick Clark came second in the New Zealand Barista Championship and Nic Rapp won the New Zealand Brewer’s Cup, landing him in Italy to compete in the World Brewer’s Cup and World Aeropress Championship, with the help of his coach, Sarah, kicking his ass in to gear. To finish the year off with a bang we also had some physical developments in the form of a new brew bar – beer taps included, to serve other brews besides just coffee – and all new table tops, making the space we’re in look even slicker than before. New beer taps. All in all it’s been one hell of a year so far and it’s not even October yet, so we’re definitely pumped to see what the new year will bring! We’ve always got something new in the works, so you’ll have to keep tabs on us, or you might just miss it, so come on down, get a coffee, some food and swag out with us.  

    • The Quindio Honey Project
      • There’s a great number of exciting things happening with coffee in Colombia at the moment; the emergence of the speciality coffee market and its potential to do well for producers and farmers has seen some exciting developments made in the areas of coffee processing. The Colombian Coffee Federation has maintained strict control over the exportation of all coffee for the last 60 years, permitting only washed coffees to be exported, however increasing demand from the international market for semi washed and natural processed coffees has meant that in some instances non washed coffees have been given the green light for export. Honey processed parchment coffee drying on beds at Finca Polo (foreground) with fully washed parchment drying in the back ground. One such instance is the Quindio Honey Project or Project Honey, the resulting 4 sacks (240kg) from the initial trials have made their way to Wellington and with it, a New Zealand exclusive offering and an all new profile for the flavour of Colombian speciality coffee as we’ve known it. The feedback provided from this initial trial has meant that the project has refined certain aspects of the processing and from this initial trail an additional 2100kg have been processed and is ready for roasting. This has meant that the producers who contributed to this have been remunerated according to the cup quality and in recognition to the significant effort they’ve put toward this new method of processing. Gloria Pino of Finca Polo posing an epic Arnie pose. Gloria contributed to the Quindio Honey Project in both the trial and the secondary production.  Made up by 10 participating producers, across 13 farms from the smallest department in Colombia of Quindio, the coffee for this project was first laid down in November 2013. The results in the cup show great promise for future semi washed and natural coffees for Colombia. Scoring an impressive 87/100 for the first attempt, the coffee has a blackberry like aroma, a citrus acidity, with flavour notes green apple and grape with an orange sweetness. This coffee is a blend of different honey processed coffees including yellow, red and black and gives a complexity and unique flavour to the cup. Honey processed parchment on the left verses fully washed dried parchment on the right. Honey gets its name from the sticky tacky-like nature the mucilage becomes during the drying process; it becomes like 'honey'. The varying degrees of honey process get its name from the colour the parchment turns during drying. Smaller amounts of mucilage left on the coffee before drying means the parchment will become either white-ish or yellow, the more mucilage left on the parchment means more fermentation can take place and the resulting colour will become darker, eg Red or Black and the more winey the flavour will become. In Risaralda, the Helena crew have been working on processing full naturals, of which we also cupped and the results are showing great promise, we’re also trailing full sundried naturals from friends of Helena and if the whopping 89/100 that our initial cupping is anything to go by, there’s some huge promise for these coffees. This project was made possible through the passion, inspiration and direction of Jason Galvis, the Director of Quality of our export partner Azahar Coffee in Colombia – Chur bro! Our dear friend Jason Galvis from Azahar getting ready to lay prostrate before the coffee gods. For any further questions please feel free to comment or email me richard@flightcoffee.co.nz Have fun! Richard.

    • Quality Premiums - Antioquia Cooperative, Colombia
      • It is the second year we’ve purchased from the Antioquia (‘Anti-o-kea’) Cooperative and there's a remarkable the difference in quality from this shipment compared to last year. We asked our cooperative partners (Coopertiva de Caficultores de Salgar) if it was possible to have a coffee from the farmers they represent that had a cupping score of 85 and had a defect rating of 0 primary and no more than 20 secondary defects per kilo of green coffee. What we asked from them was in effect a speciality grade coffee suitable as a delicious single origin or as a high quality coffee for our blends. While most producers in Colombia own farms that are less than a hectare in size, it’s important to remember that most coffee farmers are very small producers. The 17 ton shipment from Antioquia comes from 30 families surrounding the beautiful town of Betulia and all the coffee that we purchased from these farmers has to be first picked, then processed at their own small mills and once dry is passed onto the cooperative for sorting and hulling. In an attempt to keep this brief, it’s important to point out that the coffee has passed through many hands prior to it reaching our shores and the quality and value added steps begin with the farmer. The township of Betulia in Antioquia Department Only ripe coffee can be picked, if it’s not then it needs to be separated, coffee then needs to be processed. If a wet mill is not clean for example, coffee can become contaminated during the de-pulping process, which could potentially affect the flavour during fermentation. Producers need to ferment their coffee in order to remove the mucilage from the cherry but this needs to be done within certain parameters otherwise under or over fermenting could drastically affect the flavour of the coffee. It then needs be dried within a set time to prevent mould or any other drying defects. Multiply this process across 30 contributing farmers and you can begin to see that producing quality coffee en mass is not something easily achieved and the variables are great. A farmer needs to invest significant amounts effort in order to attain this quality. Once the coffee reached the cooperative, Leon Velasquez the coop’s head cupper roasted and cupped each farmer’s coffee to make sure there were no defects or taints and once it passed stage it went for hulling and bagging. We had our friends and export partners Azahar Coffee cross check the samples and send them on to us here in NZ in order to approve the sample. An example of a very clean and well looked after small wet mill in Valle de Cauca - Richard Corney from Flight Coffee, Torsten Hahn from Good Karma Coffee and Miguel Farjardo from Helena. It’s all very good and well asking a cooperative and farmers to produce quality coffee, but when coffee farmers are subject to the volatile commodity market that coffee is traditionally sold through, it can be very hard at times to provide incentives to producers because of the volatility of what is normal market conditions. When the market is up, it’s up, but when it’s down and more often than not it is, farmers can make very little money on their harvest and in some instances they’ll be forced to sell below the cost of production. We offered a premium above the market rate if the farmers could achieve the desired quality we were after. The coop went out to the farmers and told them that we were prepared to pay more for better quality coffee, some didn’t want to participate and others did. Matt Graylee from Flight Coffee, Torsten Hahn from Good Karma Coffee, Richard Corney from Flight Coffee and Tyler Youngblood from Azahar Coffee with Hernando de Jesus Restrepo, cooperative manager of the Antiouqia Cooperative talking to the 30 farmers in Betulia. It was by absolute coincidence that the day we visited Betuila in May this year that Hernando de Jesus Restrepo, the cooperative manager and the cooperative committee had all 30 farmers present in Betulia to present them their premiums. Hernando asked us if we could present the farmers with their cheques, we of course gladly obliged and what followed was one of the most remarkable experiences I’ve ever had in coffee. Over all, we paid a little over $25,000 USD in quality premiums in addition to the market rate to our farmers, it was paid out proportionate to the amount of coffee the farmer contributed and were a little over double the Fairtrade premium at the time. Leocadio Posada Correa contributed 7 ton to the lot, the single largest contributor, and he received a cheque for over 20,000,000 Colombian Pesos, that is equivalent to $12,200.00 NZD. To put this in perspective, the average annual wage in Colombia in 2012 was a little under 16,000,000 COP. Leocadio received 125% of the average wage in one cheque, which was purely incentivised by quality.   It was the first time that some farmers had met a coffee roaster and when I asked what they’d spend their premiums on, common replies were servicing debt and buying fertilizer. We are using this coffee in Bomber, every cup or kg you buy is actually helping make a difference to families and after the response we got from them in May this year, I can certainly thank you on their behalf if you’re supporting them by purchasing our Bomber blend. The 30 farmers who contributed to the Betulia Lot with their cheques. We need to acknowledge that this achievement would not have been made possible without the commitment of each farmer and the Coopertiva de Caficultores de Salgar alike. The passion that Hernando, Himay and the cooperative team have for the sustainability of the people they represent is truly inspiring.  If you have any questions about this post, please feel free to email me at richard@flightcoffee.co.nz or matt@flightcoffee.co.nz. Have fun and happy coffee drinking, Richard.

    • Is the Price Right?
      • Alright guys, let's get in to it. There has been a lot of debate around the topic of the rising price of coffee, particularly in the media, so I thought I would try and shed at least some light on the issue. The price we charge for our coffee in our cafes has a lot to do with a few things. There's the staff costs, rent of the cafe space and other costs associated with running a cafe. There's also the extra cost of staff training to effectively deliver a high quality product and service. These end costs are only the tip of the iceberg though and definitely do not reflect the full price of producing a sweet cup of deliciousness.  The crew at our flagship shop, The Hangar.  Probably the most significant cost associated with making a cup of coffee is the way we buy the coffee from the farmers and the pay structure involved. Instead of buying through Fair Trade, Flight Coffee works directly with farmers to produce a higher quality coffee and ensure the investment we make goes directly to benefiting the farmers and their families. It all started with the Helena farm transformation project, which many of you will know about. Matt, Richard and Tyler giving the farmers of Betulia the first payment for their coffee. By becoming a partner in Helena, we were able to help the farm move out of the commodity market – with it's low and incredibly unstable prices, which sometimes don't even cover the cost of production to farmers – and in to the specialty market where farmers are ensured a base rate of just under twice the cost of production, plus a pay matrix based on quality. With an incentive structure based on quality, we can ensure that the farmers we buy from receive enough to live off as well as encourage them to work with us and invest in their own farms, which helps with the continued increase in the quality of the coffee and the sustainability of the industry. Alfredo Baos unsurprisingly looking stoked about his truly incredible coffee.   As Matt Graylee said in an article to Stuff.co.nz, "When the NZ media normally talks about the price of coffee to consumers, it is often with the assumption that all coffee is the same. That is like saying a 99c hamburger from McDonalds is the same thing as a Wellington on a Plate award winning burger from Ti Kouka". At Flight, we offer a high quality product with high standards of service, as well as doing our best to make producing coffee a viable means of income for farmers, upping the quality the whole way. We know that we're not the choice for all consumers in the market and we definitely don't try to be. For those that do decide to experience our coffee and way of doing things, we aim to offer a high quality service and product produced in a sustainable way.

    • World Brewer's Cup!
      • Hey guys!  For any of you who have been wondering where this irascible young scamp has been, the answer is simply... Italy! After competing for the first time ever in the New Zealand Brewer's Cup and coming in first place, I packed my bags and took off around the world to compete on the world stage at the World of Coffee event in Rimini, Italy. For those of you who don't know, the Brewer's Cup is a coffee competition comprised of two rounds. The first round is the "compulsory service" where competitors are all given the same coffee and they have to make 3 brews through any brewing device they want, so long as it isn't an espresso machine. The second round is the "open service", which is where competitors use their own coffee and deliver a presentation to the judges based around their coffee and their brew method; similar to the Barista Championships, but with filter coffee instead of espresso.  We made it!   Being my first time overseas to the big wide world, basically everything was a new experience for me; travelling, experiencing a totally different culture, competing on the world stage, drinking Italian wine in Italy, seeing Dustin Hoffman on the plane, everything. Going over to Italy with judges: Emma Markland Webster, David Green, Chris White and Kim Boyd as well as the New Zealand Barista Champion, Hanna Termamoto, New Zealand was definitely 'repping. Finally getting over to Rimini, a few Swiss Golds in LAX and 36 hours later, we caught up with Flight's very own Richard Corney, who ended up judging the finals round of the World Barista Champs.  Rimini! The bridge is over 2000 years old! After getting settled in and over jet-lag, the evening before the Brewer's Cup got under way I competed in the World Aerorpess Championship, which was held on the beach in true Rimini style. The sun was beating down on singlet clad and barefoot competitors, with the most bizarre setup on a beach you'll ever see. Coffee grinders, hot water towers and Aeropresses were set up among spectators and confused looking locals. Like the "compulsory round" of the Brewer's Cup, competitors from around the world all made Aeropresses with a given coffee, provided by Cafe Imports; the winner: a very stunned looking Aerorpess Champion of Japan. Shortly after the competition the beach turned from a competition arena into one of a series of epic beach parties hosted by espresso manufacturer, La Marzocco.  On the beach competing at the World Aerorpess Championship. The following day was the first day of the Brewer's Cup, which was held at the World of Coffee event along with the Barista Champs. Despite the atmosphere backstage being slightly tense with everyone getting ready for the competition, all the competitors were incredibly supportive of each other and just seemed super excited to be competing at worlds; so a great atmosphere to be competing in. For my "open service" round, I used the Los Arboles from Colombia again – a coffee I'm starting to feel a bit sentimental towards – through the Aeropress, just like at the national competition. The main difference in my brew method was brewing the coffee for significantly longer and double-plunging the brew through a second Aeropress. What?! Double-plunging?! That's right! After brewing the coffee, I plunged it on top of another Aeropress – effectively creating an Aeropress Tower, with the second Aeropress having a cut to size V60 filter in the bottom. The main reason for this was so I could brew the coffee for longer, bringing out the sweetness, while having a relatively clean cup.  Taking the plunge. All in all the level of professionalism of the competitors was amazing and there were so many amazing coffees in one place, it was something truly eye-opening for me. In the end the winner was Stefanos Domatiotis from Greece, with second and third place going to Ruebens Gardelli of Italy and Asli Yaman of Turkey. Even though I didn't place this time around, it was an amazing experience in general and I met a lot of amazing people, all just as passionate about coffee as I am. My mind was blown constantly over the course of the event, and I'll definitely be doing my best to get to Sweden, for the next World Brewer's Cup. Mic'd up and read to go. I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who made it possible and all the support I've had along the way. Thanks to the New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association for funding me over to Italy, as well as the team at Flight Coffee for encouraging me, providing me with coffee and gear, as well as all the effort they've put in to helping me know more about one my passions. Also thank you to Meg, who once again roasted my coffee, which tasted amazing! And to Sarah, who coached me, burned the midnight oil with me and supported me the whole way.  Once again thanks everyone!  Nic "New Zealand Brewer's Cup Champion" Rapp Chow!

    • Colombia - May 2014
      • During the intensive, but very fun seven-day trip through six of Colombia’s coffee producing departments, we cupped 107 coffees, visited 13 farms and travelled over 2500km. It was one of the most eye opening and educational adventures of my life and has typically left me with even more questions and curiosities about coffee. Travelling to origin for the first time had been described to me as somewhat of a pilgrimage for a coffee roaster, a lot of my perception of origin was based around a love affair and a romance with coffee that I had constructed in my own mind over the last 5 years. The Juan Valdez of Colombia and Kaldi the goat herder from Ethiopia – two fantastical characters which have become synonymous with their respective countries and which represent an idyllic picture of harmony and the origin of the coffee producing culture. The view from the old mill at Finca Helena, Risaralda, Colombia. In reality its far from romantic, it’s eye opening, shocking in some respects and very much helped me put my very lucky life into perspective. When you’re waiting for your morning coffee, spare a thought for the fact that the countries that produce the second largest traded commodity on the planet, are indeed developing countries, with challenges and issues that are as complex as they are varied, and that we are a very fortunate minority of the worlds population. This trip has been an appropriate reminder of how very comfortable we are at the bottom of our world.  Up until now my interpretation of coffee was one sided and to be fair quite naive, coming from a roasting and brewing perspective I had a limited view toward everything involved with producing coffee. It’s very much a case of ‘being there is everything’, understanding how things work conceptually verses how they work practically has been one of the biggest lessons I’ll take away from this trip. The vista behind shops in beautiful town Betulia, Antioquia, Colombia. Matt and I travelled with Chris Ammerman and Sam Langdon from Caravan Coffee Roasters in London, Torsten Hahn from Good Karma Coffee in Germany, Tyler Youngblood and Jayson Galvis from Azahar Coffee and our buddy Miguel Fajardo from Helena, all from Colombia. Our mission was to taste and experience Colombian coffee regionally with the intent to purchase quality coffee through a new model of trade developed by Matt and Tyler that ensures producers are paid a relative margin to what we make in our own cafes and is based around quality incentives and premiums that ensure our coffee producers have a sustainable and profitable business of their own, removing the volatility of the New York ‘C’ and giving them the assurance of an income they can rely on. One of many photos of the team pulling Arnie poses, this one's with the crew from the COOCAFISA Cooperative. This model is built around transparency and one that has been adapted by our social enterprise New Zealand Speciality Coffee Imports. It has its challenges as any new concept does, however the tenacity of Matt and his passion for the sustainability of our farmers is an inspiration that is truly infectious and something that we believe has a real potential in the years to come. The profits generated by NZSCI are put back into the company and reserved for development projects to help support, educate and incentivise the people we work with at origin and so much more. The people we’ve met on this trip are truly inspirational; Colombia is an amazing country, with beautiful people, striking vistas and has the potential to produce what I believe to be some of the best coffee in the world. Chris, from Caravan Coffee Roasters London, Tyler from Azahar Coffee Colombia and Richard from Flight Coffee New Zealand. This post serves as an intro for several posts to come about the experiences I’ve had on this trip and to share with you the awesome people we’ve met and what they’re up to, and what Matt has been up to with the ground work he and Tyler have laid for our preferred method of buying coffee. Feel free to direct any questions or queries for greater detail to me: richard@flightcoffee.co.nz or to Matt: matt@flightcoffee.co.nz. Have fun! Richard

    • The Road to Italy
      • Last Saturday, held at Coffee Supreme's roastery, was the Aeropress New Zealand Brewer's Cup. It was heated, and the coffees were off-the-chain! Competitors from around the country competed to find out who would earn the title as the New Zealand Brewer's Champion, as well as the chance to represent New Zealand at the World Brewer's Cup in Rimini, Italy! I even thought I would give it a go this time around, entering in to my first ever barista competition.  The competitors in their dazzling glory. Using a 100% Red Caturra from the Huila region in Colombia that Nick used at the New Zealand Barista Champs this year, I coupled this amazing coffee with my trusty Aeropress for the competition. Taking the coffee significantly lighter in the roast, almost to Scandinavian levels of light, it had amazing lime acidity and orange sweetness. These notes were matched with a grapefruit bitterness in the aftertaste, showing just how complex this coffee is and how much it just keeps on giving as it cools down; when done right. Dialling in the Aeropress. Believe me though, this coffee made me work for it. Trying a whole range of different brew methods, from Chemex to plunger, what I really wanted to do was bring out certain characteristics that got me super excited when I tasted this bad boy on the cupping table. Eventually we settled on the Aeropress, and even then it wasn't easy getting this coffee to taste how I wanted it to. Eventually it all came down to pouring the water slightly faster and the slightly longer brew time that brought out that orange sweetness. Overall this coffee reminded me heaps of marmalade.  Lightly agitating the coffee. The coffee I was using wasn't the only banging coffee brought to the competition. Both Aymon and Maddy used natural processed Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffees sourced through Ninety Plus Coffee which were both banging fruit bombs. Aymon brewed the coffees on V60's, while Maddy rocked out coffee drippers with drip control valves and metal mesh filters.  Aymon preparing his V60's.  Maddy and his kickass drippers.  Sam from Coffee Lab brought to the playing field a washed Kenyan coffee from the Nyeri region sourced through Nordic Approach, which had bright raspberry acidity and sweetness. Brewing the Kenyan coffee through the clever dripper, Sam used two different types of water at different stages of the brew to bring out those amazing characteristics she was after.  Sam getting her brew on.  All in all it was one hell of a competition and Nick was MCing so there was no way it was going to be a dull event. When Nick announced me as the brewer's cup champ I was more surprised than anyone else that I'd be going to Italy, but I definitely couldn't have done it without Meg and Richard roasting the banging coffee and Sarah being my coach, kicking my ass all the way leading up to the competition, so a massive thanks to them! And to Nick for pushing me in to competing in the first place.  Next stop, Italy!  Nic Rapp, New Zealand Brewer's Cup Champion Chur.  

    • Welcome to Brew School
      • Welcome class, to Meg's Marvellous Brew School. If you're ready to have your mind filled with the wonders of brewing filter coffee, Professor of Coffee, Megan Baker – soon to be Professor Megan Wyper –  will take you on an educational experience you won't forget. Having spent years in the coffee industry, competing in barista competitions and judging them too, on top of being a seasoned roaster, she is more than qualified to take you on this coffee journey.  Meg teaching the guys a thing or two.  Next class is in session on the 3rd of May.  After the introductions, Meg will kick the class off with a customary cupping to get things underway. Cupping is the method of tasting coffee used by coffee professionals, which allows them to taste the coffee as uniformly as possible. This way of tasting coffee is great for grading coffees and also sounds hilarious. In order to spray the coffee across your palate you need to slurp it, and the louder the slurp the better. A cupping is also a great way to break the ice and get some good banter going, as well as introduce people to thinking a bit differently about coffee. Two coffees will be cupped and Meg will walk you through scoring them on a basic version of a cupping sheet.  The cupping sheet placemat and brew gear.  Once the coffees have been cupped and scored the class will democratically decide on what coffee they want to brew with, and if a decision can't be reached, a duel is really the only way to resolve any difference of opinion. The class will then be taken through how to brew a coffee in the fabled Chemex. Invented in 1941 by Dr Peter Schlumbohm, this bad boy has been around awhile, without any major change in the design since its creation. Why? Because they are awesome! Super sleek and easy to use, they make a great brew, especially with lighter roasted coffee.  Chemexes and Clever Coffee Drippers set up and ready to go. Meg is so organised! Following the Chemex is a method of brewing just a little bit different. The Clever Coffee Dripper combines the best of pour-over paper filter extraction with full immersion brewing (i.e. French press). With a stopper valve in the bottom of the filter cone, so you have full control over the immersion time. The control over immersion time is one of the key differences to traditional pour-overs, like the Chemex and V60, which starts extracting as soon as you pour water over the coffee. The result is more development of flavour and body, as well as a very clean cup due to the paper filter. Man that's Clever!  Clever Coffee Drippers.  Once everyone has been clued up on how to make some banging brews, the class will finish off with a fun game of triangulation cupping. Using the coffees that were cupped at the beginning of the class, several sets of coffees will brewed. One coffee in every set of three will be different from the other two and the objective of the game being to pick the odd one out based on aroma and taste. Whoever can get the most coffees correct in the fastest time wins. Easy right? It might not be that easy if you're not used to it, but it is a great way of really getting to know the coffees.  Meg showing everyone how it's done at the New Zealand Cup Taster's Championship. After that the floor will be open to a bit of Q&A and everyone will get a bag of specialty coffee to take home.  Class dismissed!

    • New Zealand Barista Championship Weekend and Caffeination
      • Last weekend was the weekend that we've all been waiting for and everything has been building up to. All the late nights training, drinking scotch and eating burgers was at an end and Nick was prepared to face some serious competition from his fellow baristas. Baristas from the around the country travelled to the coffee capital to earn the right to represent New Zealand at the World Barista Championship in Rimini Italy. Each year the competitors up their games, bringing better coffee, more refined presentations and more flare than the year before.The overall vibe over the weekend was awesome; heaps of support for the baristas, literally thousands of people through the doors, either watching the competition or attending the attached Caffeination trade show. The baristas were there, the spectators were there and everything was set for one hell of a competition.  Nick kicking things off and getting the crowd going.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with how the competition works I'll give a bit of a run through of the structure of the competition, before launching in to a commentary on how things went down. From two rounds of heats, 12 baristas battle it out in the semi-finals to see who makes up the top 6. In 15 minutes, baristas are required to produce 4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos and 4 signature drinks to a panel of 4 main judges, who are backed up with a whole team of technical and ghost judges. The baristas are judged on the quality of their coffee, quality of their drinks, their technical abilities as a barista, as well as their routines, which highlights not only their skills as coffee professionals, but as talented performers as well.  Could you say "no" to that face? Enough of the technicalities though, its time we launched in to the run through of Nick's routine and the highlights of the event. Nick's routine had an overall focus on Lucio – owner of Colombian farm Los Arboles and producer of Nick's coffee –  and the deliberate actions he took to alter the flavour of his coffee in a particular way. Scoring over 92 out of 100 on the cupping table this coffee is one serious player. With flavours of grapefruit citrus, sweet orange and beautiful cocoa, this coffee makes a banging espresso, resulting in a super balanced and delicate coffee. Nick's intention was to let the coffee do the talking and highlight the flavour notes of the coffee in his signature drink as well as applying the principles Lucio implements during the production of the coffee, keeping the focus on the deliberateness in his actions to control the flavour of his coffee. After extracting his espressos, Nick transferred them in to bigger tulip cups to introduce temperature change, increasing the sweetness, as well as achieving a more velvety mouth feel. Following the espressos was the cappuccinos, which required increasing the dose in order to develop the sweetness of the coffee and give it that push it needs to cut through the milk, resulting in flavour notes of ginger and hokey pokey. Nick's espressos served in nothing less than firetruck red demitasses.  After that things started to get super exciting. Moving in to the last few minutes of his presentation, Nick moved on to the signature drink section. Bringing out a charred American oak barrel and the two separate teas he prepared from the dried skins of coffee cherries and the chaff (husks) of roasted coffee beans, is what titillated my imagination – that's right, titillated – about the potential of Nick's coffee. Nick's intention was to highlight the different deliberate practices applied to the coffee from the seed to the cup. The tea made from the dried coffee cherries represents the growing process of the coffee and brings a unique sweet and sour aspect to the coffee. The tea brewed from the chaff collected from the roaster after roasting the coffee represents just that, the roasting process. It also brought a delicate bitterness to the drink. Nick brewing his coffee cherry and chaff teas. And out of the charred oak barrel was aged clover honey dissolved in water, which represented the fermentation time of the processing of the coffee beans before they were roasted, bringing an awesome bourbon like, honey sweetness to the drink.  The aged clover honey in the American oak barrel. So cool! And even though Nick didn't reclaim the title as New Zealand Barista Champion, his performance was still super slick, and his coffee doing what it was suppose to, which I think reflects the upping of everyone's game at the competition and shows off the coffee industry in New Zealand as a whole. Coming second to Hiroko Hanna Teramoto is also nothing to be ashamed of either. She gave a standout performance, demonstrating her professionalism and passion for coffee, on top of getting a bit creative as well. Creating a blend of the same coffee by painstakingly separating the longer coffee beans from the shorter and fatter ones, then roasting them each differently and blending them afterwards was something that really blew my mind. So a huge congratulations to her!  Hiroko Hanna preparing her signature drink.  Even though there was a strong focus on the New Zealand Barista Championships and Nick's performance the whole of Flight was involved in this massive weekend in one way or another. Both Meg and Richard were judges throughout the competition 'repping Flight in a huge way; Richard probably being one of the only judges to smile at the competitors – and what a smile it was! Richard on the panel judging Addison Dale.  Meg also did Flight proud by competing in the Cup Taster's Championship. The competition involves having to taste the different coffee in a set of three, of which two are the same. Competitors had 8 sets all up, and were judged on speed and accuracy. Slightly less formal than the barista champs, the Cup Taster's Championship is a great environment to have a few beers or wines and really get behind the competitors. Placing fifth, Meg did the Flight crew proud and it was a great night all around. Meg slurping her way through the different coffees.  On top of our awesome team competing over the weekend, Flight also did the grand unveiling of our Steam Punk! Matt, Trev and Francois were giving demos all weekend and showing it off in all its glory. Flight are now the New Zealand representatives for Alpha Dominche and the boys were rocking it all weekend. We also thought it would be a great idea to show off our new brand, which we think looks super bad ass; a huge thanks to the guys at Inject Design for all the work that went in to the brand.  The Steam Punk in all its glory. Isn't she a magnificent beast! So overall it was an eventful weekend. There were tears, there was anger, there was excitement, there was Richard, but most of all there was a banging good time had by everyone. A massive thanks to the Flight Coffee crew and everyone supporting Nick throughout the event. Also big thanks to Sarah from The Hangar as well for staying up late drinking scotch and whipping Nick's ass in to shape and to Kris as well for giving the Steam Punk its slick paint job.  Chur to the Chur!

    • Brew by Brew: Brew Demonstration at Red Rabbit
      • It was epic, it was heated, there was a lot of trash talk involved, but there was only one winner of this mighty contest of the best of the best, baddest of the baddest and toughest of the toughest brewers from around Wellington. And with the New Zealand Barista Champion Nick Clark getting his MC on, things were bound to get interesting.  Nick in a deep state of concentration.  The first challenger of the night was Steve from Red Rabbit Coffee Co. giving a run through on the very sexy and mysterious Spirit espresso machine. Brought all the way from the Netherlands, this piece of amazing design and engineering is truly an amazing sight and hearing about all it's features has got me drooling. Volumetrically controlled extraction, digital shot timers installed directly above each group and easily adjustable steam pressure, among other things, this machine definitely got a few coffee geeks more than a little bit excited.  So mysterious. Next up was Hadassah, also playing on Red Rabbit's team, but opting for a slightly less tech-heavy brew method. The humble plunger (or "french press" if you're feeling a bit fancy), is one of my personal favourites, so I was excited to see it being showed off in all its glory. This elegant and beautifully simple piece of brewing gear was chosen by Hadassah for its flavour profile being similar to that of cupping. Getting a lot more body through the metal filter than a paper filter, she also likes to have a relatively long brew time to maximise that badass body. Using an Ethiopian Heirloom varietal, her brew had bright blueberry sweetness and a buttery mouth feel.  The plunger demonstrating the height of elegance. And the two contenders representing Flight, brewing as a dynamic duo, was the Krazy Kris Gillan and Notorious Nick Clark. These two heavy weights came to the demo with the intent of blowing some minds. Rocking up with their spray painted yellow cold drip, these guys meant business, and blasting queen to really get people in the mood. With Queen in the background to get things pumping, it was only fitting that the cold drip they prepared earlier was served in a glass skull; in keeping with the tone of "badass". With the extra long extraction time - about 8 hours - a bit of movie magic was definitely required for people to be able to taste the end result of the cold drip demonstration. The drips on offer were the Ethiopian Sidama, which had a syrupy body and tangy fruit sweetness, and the La Cumbre from El Salvador had green apple tartness, with an awesome lime sourness cutting through the sweetness. Both of these drips had a full rounded sweetness and body to them with muted acidity, due to being brew with cold water instead of hot.  Kris setting up the cold drip. Cold drip... in a skull! After the dynamic duo of Nick and Kris, Baptiste stepped up to add a bit of French flare to the mix. Working at Caravan in London, where the legendary Steven "Doe-eyes" Hall formerly of Flight Coffee currently works, Baptiste is a serious player in the coffee game. Taking the stage with a V60, due to its consistency, and a Kenyan coffee roasted by Steve from Red Rabbit. Rinsing the paper filter before extraction to remove any paper flavour affecting the taste of the coffee, Baptiste blooms the Kenyan coffee for about 30-40 seconds. Instead of agitating with a spoon immediately after the bloom, he recommends letting the flow of the water do the agitation while pouring to reduce inconsistency. The resulting extraction has nice, well-rounded body and emphasises the awesome acidity typical of Kenyan coffees. Baptiste and two very interested looking ladies.  After Baptiste, Sarah the traitorous Dane, who has just joined the team at the Flight Coffee Hangar, decided to jump ship and use Steve's Ethiopian Heirloom – we still love her though. Wielding the mighty Aeropress in true Viking style, her goal being to conquer our taste buds with her take on this juicy coffee. Like Baptiste, she's after a consistently kick ass brew, which is one of the reasons she uses this cool little guy to avoid any discrepancy between brews. She also used the controversial "inverted method" to prevent extraction occurring before plunging. After plunging and extracting all the awesomeness out of the grinds, Sarah likes to let the brew sit for around twenty seconds to allow the brew to cool and develop its sweetness. Unsurprisingly having those blueberry notes that came through in Hadassah's brew of the same coffee, but with a more developed and balanced sweetness, and a silky body. Delish! Sarah starting the pour of betrayal.  Despite all the grief we gave her for betraying her one true coffee love (Flight!), by a show of hands from the audience she took out the bruel and was crowned Ultimate Brueler! And took home a Porlex hand grinder as well! We're super proud, but a little upset at the same time, and maybe even a little confused. That's what rematches are for! See you next time!  Chur. 

    • Introducing Jade
      • Right, ladies and gentlemen, I think it's about time to introduce you all to Jade, who you probably all recognise from all the photos at Helena, but might not necessarily be able to put the face to the name. Jade getting her cuddle on. Born and raised in good ole Wellington, she did what many Wellingtonians do and moved to Big Wellington across the ditch A.K.A Melbourne, after first doing a hospitality course in Adelaide. Melbourne is also where she met Alejandro - another face you would have seen plenty of. Interesting thing about Melbourne, which you will all probably know, is that the coffee scene is off the chain, mind blowing and super awesome, so being involved in hopso is a great way to get hooked on amazing coffee and be in constant contact with the super exciting happenings of specialty coffee.   Jade and Alejandro. Moving with Alejandro back to his home country of Colombia, they both realised the huge potential Alejandro's father's coffee farm had. However, due to the regulations imposed by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, many farmers were simply following the federation's set guidelines for growing coffee, which is good for consistent quality of coffee, but makes it difficult to unlock the full potential of a farm. So after hearing about Flight Coffee and doing a lot of Facebook stalking of Matt, the ball started rolling and the development of the farm got underway, which can now be tasted in the coffee, as well as seen at the farm. Bringing over the first shipment of Helena coffee early last year, was a huge step for Flight Coffee and it wouldn't have happened without Jade. The green coffee samples Jade brought with her on her visit back home stand as further testament to how much progress has been made at Helena, and one of the experiments with natural processed coffee - a rarity out of Colombia - was by far the most exciting coffee at the cupping table last week.  Jade with Matt and Nick, and Jack (front) All the developments at Helena so far have been a learning process for everyone involved and the potential is there to take what has been learnt at Helena and apply it to other farms, which is super exciting! Apart from getting stuck in with everyone else planting trees, training farmers and sorting coffee cherries, she is also the main port-of-call between Helena and the guys at Flight. This essential role ensures everyone is on the same page both here at Flight and in Helena, and that amazing coffee keeps coming out of Helena.  Alej, Jade, the farm and the back of Steve's head. As a bit of side project to keep them busy in the weekends, Jade and Alej also started a restaurant and cafe, the one and only: Helena Adentro. As it turns out it was awesome; so awesome, in fact, they had to extend the hours it was open to keep up with demand and now it is one of the coolest cafes in the area. Awesome live music, amazing food and featuring coffees from Helena and Azahar Coffee, Helena Adentro is one seriously cool spot.  Hopefully this blog post has helped put a face to the name, or name to a face, who you all would have heard about or seen in photos, as well as letting you know the deets of what she gets up to in Colombia. Unravelling mysteries is what I do best, and unravelling the mystery of Jade, while having some good chats and cuppings, has been mysterious, confusing, ponderous and enjoyable all at the same time. Chur to the Chur! Funny fact about Jade: Scared of snakes, and ironically, she's the only one that seems to stumble upon them at the farm. Day-um.

    • Light Roast vs Dark Roast
      • Lights, camera, action! That's right, we at Flight decided to get our film making on; this is Wellywood after all. With a few questions coming in about why we roast our coffee lighter than what some people are used to, we decided to make a short documentary to answer some of them, as well as give Richard his time in the spotlight. So while the documentary is being cut down from about an hour of giggling and bloopers to roughly one to two minutes of informative gold - plus the addition of lots of special effects - this blog post will act as a bit of useful supplementary reading.  Meg checking on her roast.  Richard and Meg cover the basics of the roasting process in the documentary and explain terms like "first crack" and a "Maillard reaction", contextualising them and providing insight as to why we roast lighter than some of the other coffee roasters around. But first of all I think I'd better introduce our big lady, the lovely UG22 Probat coffee roaster; you may call her Betty. She's a three burner, 22 kilo, drum roaster and also outrageously blue. Green coffee gets loaded in to her hopper at the top and the drum constantly turns for the duration of the roast to ensure the beans are roasted evenly, after which the beans spill out in to her cooling tray, completing the transformation from green to a chocolate brown.  They call her... Betty.  I think the easiest way to think about the whole roasting process is to compare it to baking bread. The browning of bread when it is baked or toasted is what is happening to the coffee beans as they turn from green to brown. The browning process is known as the Maillard reaction, which is a non-enzymatic reaction. I won't go in to what a non-enzymatic reaction is, to avoid getting too technical, but such a reaction is usually caused by heat, as opposed to enzymatic browning, which can be seen in the browning of bananas. This reaction starts to happen at around 150 degrees celsius and the longer the beans are being roasted the browner they get, like toast, except a lot tastier. Eventually when the roast reaches between 190 and 205 degrees celsius, the beans give off an audible crack, sounding a bit like popcorn, and is referred to as the "first crack".  Beans cool off in cooling tray after "first crack". At the first crack the distinct flavours of the bean start to develop and most specialty coffee roasters generally don't leave the beans in the roaster much longer than the first crack. The longer they are left in the caramelisation of the sugars starts to burn and roast out the individual characteristics of the coffee and introduce roast flavours such as: charcoal, carbon and tobacco. Somewhere after the first crack and before the second is the sweet spot that achieves the right balance between sweetness, acidity, body and bitterness, and all varies from origin to origin.  Fun Fact: the caffeine content in the bean actually decreases the darker it is roasted.  Meg lovingly looking over her coffee. Instead of roasting darker and having heavy roast characteristics in the coffee, Meg and Richard aim to roast in such a way that the specific flavours of the coffee's origin are highlighted and brought through in the cup. So when you have your daily dose of amazing, you won't even know Meg or Richard were there. 

    • Well Sensered Flight
      • We've got something super exciting for you guys this week, something to change things up with a bit of well crafted experimentation and collaboration. Approaching us and the team at The Hangar, Himesh Chhima, of Well Sensered Food in Melbourne, came up with the awesome idea of doing a bit of a coffee and food collaboration. After having a bit of a chat to Himesh and seeing what his ideas were, we were naturally super excited to have him onboard and keen to develop a bit of a teaser of what to expect when Himesh potentially comes back for Wellington On A Plate. The result of our creative energies is what we call a Coffee Three Way, which is not as erotic, but definitely as exciting as it sounds.  The man himself, Himesh Before I go in to the details of what the Coffee Three Way is, I thought I'd better give everyone who doesn't know Himesh the low down on who he is and what Well Sensered Food is all about. Originally from good ole Petone in Lower Hutt, Himesh started Well Sensered Food in Melbourne as a food movement, its main objective being to challenge conventional ways of thinking about food and flavours. Initially being an idea for the development of his own cookbook, Well Sensered Food as a food movement and business turned in to something a bit different. When you know where the name comes from it pretty much says it all: "the name embraces a closer connection with experience, hence the ‘sense’ part of ‘well sensered’, and a parodistic take on ‘well censored’ where it is in fact revealing and creating more layers of information about food rather than censoring it". Focusing on the essential flavours, textures and aromas of food Well Sensered Food pushes people to have an exciting, refreshing experience with food, which is why we were totally on board when he told us his idea.    When life gives you lemons... make mind blowing flavour combinations!  One of the other things that caught our attention was his collaboration with Proud Mary Coffee, specialty coffee roasters in Melbourne, who we at Flight have a huge amount of respect for. Following the same basic concept of doing classic coffee and cakes, but in a totally new light, the idea Himesh pitched to us involved working super closely with the flavours of our coffee, in his tailor-made approach.  Proud Mary and Well Sensered Food collaboration  Now that you know a bit about Himesh, I'll give you guys a bit of a walk through of how the Coffee Three Way was developed and what's going on flavour-wise, without revealing too much, which means you'll have to experience it for yourselves at The Hangar. The Coffee Three Way features Flight Coffee's Belle specialty blend in three different exciting ways, to take your tastebuds on a mind-blowing journey of flavour. The first contender and step in the journey is an espresso of the Belle, bringing to the table black currant and balanced acidity. After finishing the espresso we move on to some cold drip. The mellowness of the cold drip mellows out the acidity and brings in to focus the fruit notes and sweetness going on in the Belle.  Cold Drip of the Belle  Finally we finish with a gluten-free brownie, made with dark chocolate and Belle espresso, as well as a few other secret ingredients you'll have to try work out for yourselves. This brownie is then topped with a zesty lemon curd, mixed with black currant Raro; the Raro bit is super exciting for me, since I probably haven't had Raro since I was at least knee high to a grass hopper, maybe even smaller. Himesh's brownie finishes the journey, bringing together all the flavours in the coffee and the zesty lemon curd brings us full circle back to the start with the acidity of the espresso. Boom! Mind blown!  Brownie with black currant Raro lemon curd  So if you really want to challenge yourself and experience something truly awesome, go into The Hangar and ask one of the sexy staff for a Coffee Three Way, to which they'll wink and give you the ride of a lifetime.  Enjoy  Also if you want more info about Himesh and Well Sensered Food check out his blog.  Chur Chur  Flight Officer Nic Rapp, Taking you on journeys since 1993  

    • Processes!
      • Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think it's time we all learnt a thing or two about coffee processing methods. The lads - Matt and Nick - have just arrived back from their intrepid journey to Colombia with heaps of exciting news, ideas and the raw footage for a documentary about Flight Coffee's project at Helena. Proving, once again that Kiwis do in fact make the best movies, the documentary will help to give context to all the talk about Colombia and Helena, as well as put some faces to names for those of you who didn't get the chance to meet Miguel, Jade and Alejandro when they visited NZ earlier this year.  Happy family, from left: Nick, Alejandro, Matt, Jade, Miguel  The documentary, hopefully sporadically dotted with shots of Nick and Matt doing manly things, like swinging machetes and doing mad reps with sacks of coffee, will also shed some light on the production side of coffee most coffee drinkers don't get to see and give an appreciation for the importance of every step of the journey a coffee bean takes from the farm to your cup. Giving a bit of background information on how coffee is processed after its been picked will hopefully bring everyone up to speed on future posts about Helena and enable you to get more out of the documentary when it is released.  Nick showing off his ripped shoulders and arms while building drying patios Wet/Washed Process The wet process allows for more control over fermentation, making it easier to deliver consistently awesome coffee. The first step of this process is to take the picked cherries to a washing station, where it is put through a de-pulping machine to remove the outer layer of the cherry from the bean, leaving behind the mucilage, parchment and silver-skin surrounding the bean.  Waterless de-pulper We don't use a demucilager to take the fruit flesh off the coffee seed mechanically, but instead use fermentation to break down the mucilage. This is a key factor in our wet processed coffee's flavour profiles, with lighter body and crisp acidity. The coffee is left to ferment anywhere between 12 and 60 hours depending on the results the fermentation environment yields. After fermentation we wash the coffee to remove 100% of the mucilage, and lay it out on concrete patios or raised beds to dry. Finally the beans are milled to remove parchment and then they're ready to go to your local roaster to be turned into sweet goodness. Natural Process  The natural process is by far the most traditional method of processing coffee and involves very little or no water throughout the processing. Fermentation happens throughout the drying and for this reason natural processed coffees can contain a larger number of defects due to being more at the mercy of the weather, but the flavour profile of natural coffees can be stunning when done right. Matt's hands getting all sticky while laying out a honey/semi-washed process Instead of being pulped, fermented and washed, the cherries are put on raised beds, concrete patios, or mechanical drying silos, and the fermentation process occurs naturally in the cherry throughout drying. At the end of the drying process the cherry is stuck to the parchment surrounding the bean. As the beans are drying they are raked or turned by hand to ensure even drying and to prevent the development of mildew. Raised mesh drying beds Being the most important stage of the natural process, the moisture has to be at just the right level for the best quality green beans. Left drying for too long, the beans will become brittle and be prone to breaking when they are stored. And if the beans are not dry enough, they will be prone to deterioration. Ensuring the right moisture content of the bean is what makes natural processing so difficult to do well, but when it is, the results can be mind blowing. Once the cherries have reached the optimal moisture content, they are milled to remove all the outer layers of the cherry and parchment from the bean. Semi-Washed/Honey/Pulped Natural Process The last method of processing coffee I'll be giving you guys the low-down on is the semi-washed, or honey process, which is by far one of the newest processes to be commercially implemented. Being pulped, like washed coffees, the outermost layer of the cherry is removed, leaving the bean covered in mucilage and parchment. Skipping the fermentation and washing stages of washed coffees, the mucilage covered beans are then dried in a similar way to naturally processed coffees. When drying is complete the parchment has a mottled colouring varying from yellow to red/brown to black depending on how long the coffee has been dried for and much mucilage was left after pulping. The beans are then milled, as in the other processes. When done right the result in an intense sweetness, heightened mouthfeel and rounded acidity.  Honey processed coffee (on the left) next to washed coffee (on the right)  That brings us to the end of this short touch on coffee processing methods. Hopefully you've all learnt something new and maybe seen a different side to the production of coffee you haven't seen before. As the weeks unfold I'll keep you updated with the odd coffee educational piece, in the lead up to the new documentary, which will shed heaps of light on growing methods and processes. So, put on your sunglasses guys and girls and get ready for some awesomely fun coffee geekery!  Dr. Nic Professor of Coffee 

    • mmmm... Delicious
      • The new year is almost on us guys and it's the time of year that people start talking about New Years Resolutions; changing ourselves and changing our lives. I don't know about you, but I don't see why I should have to change myself for the world; if anything the world should have to change for me! And the only thing I'll be resolving to do is to be more myself, in more extreme and exciting ways than before! You better watch out world! ... I think I got a bit carried away there. Anyway, with New Years Eve parties just over the horizon comes a certain need for some excellent cocktails to celebrate the new year with; unfortunately the absence of the lads at The Hangar Bar means a bit of DIY is definitely going to come in handy. Corey and Jake reckon DIY is the way to go this New Years  So, we decided to lend a helping hand with a quick and easy recipe for a cocktail to spice up your night; using espresso of our Bomber blend and Angostura rum. What you'll need for this simple and delicious cocktail is: A short glass tumbler  Ice Soda water  15 ml sugar syrup  30ml shot Angostura Aged Rum  30ml shot Bomber espresso Orange peel, to garnish First things first, fill your tumbler to the top with ice. Then half fill the glass with soda water followed by 15mls of sugar syrup, which is roughly one part white sugar dissolved in three parts hot water. Then add your 30ml shot of rum over the top.  Its starting to come together  Next, it's time to prepare that 30ml shot of espresso and add it in over the top, followed by a gentle stir.  Action shot of espresso over the top of rum, soda water and sugar syrup That's the basis of the drink done, but if you want to be a bit fancy and bring all the flavours together, peel a couple of slivers off an orange, folding the first sliver to release the orange's natural oils and lightly dust the rim of the glass with the peel to get some orange fragrance as you drink. The subtle citrus fragrance will help balance out the bitterness of the espresso and compliment the sweetness of the rum. With the other sliver of orange peel, just give it a bit of a twist and finish the drink off with it as a garnish. Refreshing New Years cocktail, done.  That face says it all really With a couple of these babies to impress your friends and family I'm sure you'll all have an awesome New Years. Also, thanks to everyone reading these blogs, it's been a fun few weeks and I'll see you guys in the new year! You've been awesome, I've been Nic Rapp. 

    • Flight Coffee: A Year in Review
      • Hey guys! Only two more days till Christmas! Two more days till we all get to hang around with family and friends, get fat and have a bloody good time! This time of the year always makes me feel a bit sentimental and reminiscent, so I think it would be a great opportunity to reflect on what a huge year Flight and The Hangar have had. I'm getting all teary eyed just thinking about it!  First of all, to start the year off on a huge high-note, our resident dimpled dynamo, Nick Clark, for the first time, became the New Zealand Barista Champion and his new title catapulting him to stardom! All the months of preparation, late nights and cuddles with Steve and Richard all came down to one nail-biting moment and paid off!   Nick, looking cool and drinking espressos On top of the excitement of Nick becoming the New Zealand Barista Champ, a moment I dream about most nights, The Hangar also launched its menu and introduced a whole new dynamic to The Hangar. Instead of exclusively being a place for incredible coffee, it is now possible to get kickass food, completing the full culinary experience that is The Hangar. The menu has been super successful and has helped take The Hangar to new heights of awesomeness and kept the staff there well and truly busy. Mean looking Ploughman's Platter  The Corn-dog himself, Richard, also became a World Barista Championship certified judge. So when he went over to worlds in Melbourne, he wasn't just there to support Nick, he was also over there to be all judgey and terrify some poor baristas. As well as boosting Richard's ego, Richard's certification also helped to cement Flight's reputation as a major player in the international coffee scene.  Richard officially being judgy Another exciting edition to the Flight crew was the introduction of our new resident roaster, Meg. Being imported all the way from Scotland - though she doesn't sound it with her Kiwi accent - Meg's had heaps of roasting experience in the specialty coffee world of Scotland! Meg also roasted Nick's Kenyan French Mission Sun-dried he took to worlds; so put that in your pipe and smoke it... or in your Chemex and drink it.   Mentioning worlds... Nick became the fifth best barista in the world! It was a harrowing experience for everyone watching, but totally worth it to see our boy get so far, further cementing both Flight and New Zealand in general in the eyes of specialty coffee aficionados and baristas on an international scale, Boo-ya! Nick's success has also been a massive help in helping Flight Coffee take over the world; not just the coffee world either. In the early stages of this year we also had a bit of a mix up of the lovely people seen around The Hangar. Steve, whose doe-eyes could break the heart of even the coldest of ice queens, embarked on an intrepid trip around the world after accompanying Nick and Richard to the World Barista Champs, first stop Central America to visit the Helena farm in Colombia with Matt. Receiving the first shipment of Helena safe and sound marked a huge milestone for Flight, all the effort put in to the first of our farm transformation projects by Matt and the Helena family following through in to the cup.  Eye candy Kris also tapped out of The Hangar to go work some movie magic on the Hobbit, and his lovely lady Twyla tagged in to become the manager of The Hangar, and doing one hell of a job! Kris then decided to come back; both of them enjoying working at The Hangar so much they recently decided to move in upstairs. We also lost Portia to Peter Jackson, but deep down we know she'll be back.  Kris and Twyla enjoying some caffeinated beverages in the woods    Corey and Jake's love child, The Hangar Bar, was also born, which added a whole new dynamic to The Hangar. Backed up with years of experience at some of the best bars in Wellington, Corey and Jake's knowledge and professionalism is truly amazing to see put in to practice, and they're always up for a bit of banter as well, which adds to the awesome vibe of the bar.  Bar Boys  What a year it's been! With the other changes that you lovely people will have seen happening around the place - like the introduction of the new exciting roaster, Betty - next year is set to be just as phenomenal. So, Merry Christmas to you all, its time to be merry, eat some food and drink some drink, while we at Flight and The Hangar take a break and reflect on our awesome achievements, and how awesome we are, and great... and good looking too actually... Merry Christmas!  And I'm Nic Rapping it up.   

    • Nina's departure
      • What up team! It's that time of the week again and time to update ya'll on some more exciting changes, which are constantly in motion at the moment and seem to be snowballing into a giant mass of excitement and awesomesauce. The new kitchen at the Hangar is up and running (pictures coming soon), the roastery is chugging along, Matt and Nick are having an awesome time in Colombia chopping bamboo with machetes and filming an epic documentary, and the sun has actually decided to show its elusive face - just in time for Christmas rolling around.  There is however, both good and bad news that needs to be brought to everyone's attention. Our sassy dispatch queen, Nina...  ... is leaving us to focus on her growing jewellery business full time, which makes total sense for her, since you should always follow your passions if you have the opportunity, especially when the opportunity is as badass as what she's taking on. Since her move from sunny Nelson to slightly less sunny Wellington, Nina has expanded her collections to include some bold blang-blang, handcrafted and defined by glittering gold and silver. She even did a launch party at the Hangar, which pretty much packed the place wall to wall. Her collections have even managed to catch the eye of the talented singer, Ladi6, who she is currently collaborating with on a new collection to be released next year.  Ladi6 rocking Nina's jewellery, oh yeah! But now, if we could just wind the clock back a bit and do a bit of a Flash back (get it?) in words. Helping to counteract the high levels of testosterone at the Hangar and Flight with her flower arrangements, Nina has also helped to rein in a few of the lads' zany ideas. Being super awesome at making sure everyone's coffee, cups and things arrive when they are meant to, she has managed to make sure things did not hit the fan as well as being one of the first points of call for our wholesale customers.  It's been one hell of a year, with pretty much constant changes and Nina has been a huge help for keeping a bit of sanity around the place. So, even though we'll miss her, we know she'll basically take over the jewellery world. We also know that she'll be back.  Sha-wing!  Now to properly introduce our French-man-extraordinaire, Francois. Because so much new stuff is happening at Flight and the Hangar the work just keeps on getting piled on the boys and girls at the new roastery, the most logical decision was to get someone in specifically whose role focuses on wholesale customers and managing accounts. Having a dedicated business developer means that nothing should slip through the cracks and everyone continues to have strong feelings of affection for us, which Francois' smile is super good at! As well as being the business development manager of Harrington's for the past three years and has also worked at some serious restaurants around Wellington in his 8 years he's been in NZ. His background in the restaurant trade means he fits in with our philosophy of looking after customers and delivering high quality products. And when he's not looking after wholesale accounts, he generally likes long walks on the beach, enjoying the sea breeze in his beard and drinking French wine for breakfast and even Frencher wine in the evenings.  Francois with his morning bottle  That's enough from me though. I hope no one is stressing too much about Christmas presents, instead enjoying some beers topless on a sunny balcony and getting burned all on one side but not the other.  Chur. nicK Rapp  

    • The Low Down - The New Flight Coffee Roastery
      • Hey guys! Just another post from your new resident blogger on all things Flight, Hangar and coffee related!  With the new upgrades at the Hangar getting fully underway, which those of you visiting the beacon of coffee in a world of angry neighbours and sub-par T.V. shows will have seen, there have also been some exciting things happening behind the scenes. Probably the most exciting thing going down, is that after playing a dangerous game of seduction, Richard and Meg have managed to coax cooperation from our new lady, Betty. With production starting to crank along, not only can you see a peculiar glint in Richard's eye, but more of the good stuff will also be coming your way. The bigger size of the Probat UG22 (Betty), also means Meg can pump out beans even faster, with production capacity essentially doubling. The UG22 has also been fitted out with an air filter, instead of an after-burner, to more effectively filter out naturally occurring gases released from the roasting process. This is ultimately better for the environment and will hopefully stop any baby polar bears from crying.  Meg looking quietly confident As well as the sexy new roaster, with its clean, green attitude, the roastery will also be fitted out with a Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) certified cupping lab, which will be the first of its kind in New Zealand. With the whole process of tasting coffee by cupping being standardised, the results we get from the coffees we taste will be recognised internationally and will also be massive for education. After putting on some white lab coats and making lots of slurping sounds, everyone involved in the production of your coffee - including the ever irresistible baristas at the Hangar - will be all on the same page about how our coffees are tasting.  Matt cupping some coffees at the Cup of Excellence Brazil Along with the cupping lab, there will also be a general training space for the guys at the Hangar and the fly-girls and  fly-boys that work for wholesale customers Flight supplies, the ultimate goal being to get everyone selling Flight coffee clued-up and ready to deliver you guys a mind-blowing coffee experience. Meg will be doing a lot of the eduction, on top of roasting and to help her out she'll have Nick Clark - when he's not too busy being famous and signing 6x9s. Nick caught unaware by the paparazzi  Besides helping Meg with the education side of things and running from adoring fans, he'll also be charming wholesale customers and making sure everything is all good. Trev also gets to take care of customers as well as having a dedicated space to maintain the espresso machines that make it all happen, in between doing sets on the Flight Coffee Bench-Press and training up his Bro-tégés.  And exclusively helping out with wholesale customers, is our new resident Frenchman, Francois! While eating croissants and playing the accordion are his speciality, he is also super good with customers and doesn't mind too much if we bust out a couple of French cliches every now and then (all the time). He'll also get a proper introduction to everyone in a later blog post, which will cover the news of Nina's departure as well - we'll miss her sass talk and bling, but she'll be back.  Our new resident Frenchman, Francois The new site is also going to be the home base of New Zealand Specialty Coffee Imports and storage for heaps of badass green beans. Sourcing the green beans to keep Meg and Richard busy, is Matt, who is currently over in Colombia with the ever elusive Nick Clark. The boys are there to touch base with the farmers of Flight Coffee's Helena project - which you can read about on this site - and work with them to make sure everything's on the right track to more awesomeness. Exciting updates on what the guys are up to will also be happening whenever they have access to a decent internet connection, which is sometimes easier said than done in Colombia.  And last, but not least, I'll introduce the two good-looking media-moguls who make all these blogs possible...  The very talented Mia is in charge of just about all the visuals and pictures of people, places and other hilariousness. Her mad shot-setting-up and editing skills are the only reasons all the pictures don't look like a bunch of blurry, unfocused faces with weird things happening in the background, which is exactly what would happen if I was taking them all.  While Mia is in charge of making things look awesome, my primary prerogative is to craft sensuous sentences that are light-hearted and occasionally full of artistic alliteration, but also stick with you and caress you to sleep. You can also find me at The Hangar working with the sexy team their if you would like to engage in some witty repartee concerning just about anything.  Chur Chur! Rapp Master Nicholas - out. 

    • We are off to Colombia tomorrow
      • Hi everybody! Matt, Nick and Alan are off to Colombia tomorrow, to do many things: 1. Visit the Helena crew 2. Carry out semi-washed processing experiments 3. Visit some of the best farmers 4. Shoot a documentary about our social enterprise structure and the Colombian coffee crisis; having impact through market access and raising quality to specialty realms... ... and more! We'll keep you posted!

    • Ch-Ch-Changes!
      • Hey guys and girls, this is just a bit of an update on the whole sitch (situation) with the renovations many of you would have seen happening to The Hangar. Just a bit of a reminder… Betty, A.K.A the big blue Probat UG22 roaster, has been done up and is just as excited as the rest of us to start pumping out the good stuff. With a bit of coaxing from Richard and Meg things should be underway within the week; they both had a bit of a play on it up in Auckland the other week and they’re both bloody keen to get stuck in. Richard looking eager to get stuck in to the Roaster.  Betty being a bit larger than our old Probat, Gareth, which will be going to a new home, means that roasting will be moved to a new location slightly down the road and a whole heap of space has been freed-up to do some renovations to The Hangar, which is another ridiculously exciting bit of news. It does however mean that Meg and Nina have been banished to the new location Sightly-Down-The-Road, though it hasn’t stopped them from visiting us for some tasty coffee Betty being introduced to the lads.   One of the renovations the roaster being moved allows for is a sleek new kitchen, which I’m sure will be chromed all over. Basically The Hangar has the opportunity to develop its already awesome menu in to something even betterer. The new and improved menu also has the potential to continue on in to the night, paired up with some tantalizing cocktails and other alcoholic beverages, prepared by the equally tantalizing bar guys, Corey and Jake. So over the coming weeks, those of you visiting The Hangar might see a lot more strange gruff men, possibly with various forms of unkempt facial hair, and you might here some strange noises you don’t understand, but that’s ok, because it’ll just be the guys installing this new badass addition. The cranking bar soon to be more cranking. Something The Hangar is also getting, which I’m super excited about, is an Alpha Dominche Steampunk MOD 4.1. For those of you who don’t know what these incredible machines are they look like this… Matt and the new love of his life. And not only delivers a visually theatrical brewing process, they are also able to replicate the flavour profiles of a range of different brewing techniques from Chemex and V60 to Aeropress, as well as uncovering some flavour notes only possible with this awesome looking machine. Another thing the Steampunk allows for is consistency and efficiency of brews, which basically boils down to more awesome soft brews, delivered to you at a more awesome speed, in a super awesome way. The new kid on the block will also mean our beloved Slayer espresso machine will have to compete for everyone’s love and attention. The final thing I have to say is: this space – The Hangar – should indeed be watched as the masterminds behind the whole operation endeavour to transform it in to something stupendous, phenomenal, astounding, impressive, formidable, prodigious, sublime, miraculous, and of course: more awesome.  Nic Rappalotagus

    • Upgrades upgrades upgrades!
      • Hi guys, progress update time! Earlier this year we bought a rare, famous, very sought-after Probat UG22 (named Betty) to handle our increase in production. Currently she is being stripped down and rebuilt with brand new motors, bearings, wiring, the works. Betty will be joining our fleet at the beginning of November; however she won't be joining us at The Hangar… she’s just a little overweight and doesn't quite fit. Betty needs more room for activities, and so do we! Roasting on our current Probat, Gareth. So from the beginning of November Flight Coffee is upgrading to a larger space dedicated to roasting, production, training, and cupping. You'll find us located at the very end of Garret St in Wellington roasting some mighty fine coffee, there will be hammocks for sure, and this is also an opportunity to pimp out the Hangar.   The Hangar upgrades will bring New Zealand’s very first Alpha Dominche Steampunk alongside our special Slayer 2.0 espresso machine. This absolute innovation of brewing and design takes all that we love about soft brewing and steps it up to lab levels of perfection; we will be able to set very specific brew parameters for each cup, offering flavour profiles similar to those produced by a range of processes – from Aeropress to Chemex – while also uncovering new profiles only possible with the Steampunk. Richard cooking in the Hangar for Wellington on a Plate. NZ's first Alpha Dominche Steampunk coming to the Hangar Moving the roastery also means we get to build a bigger kitchen! So here comes an evening menu while the Hangar Bar is in swing, along with a complete revamp of our current cafe menu. Exciting times, we'll keep you in the loop as the upgrades happen!

    • Nick's final word on coming 5th in the world
      • Whoop! 5th place in the World Barista Championship Finals! To sum it up I'm pretty damn happy! Isn't it just insane?!! I'm so happy and proud to have represented New Zealand and Flight Coffee on the world stage! How we doing guys? I've finally got a minute and some energy after the WBC so I thought I'd write a quick summary for anyone who's interested. Also, here are some photos from the big world final shot by our friend Indigo :) So... Firstly I'd just like to acknowledge my fellow competitors - it takes some serious skill and some serious balls to get up on that stage and it's been an absolute privilege getting to meet and know you all - hats off to you guys. Nick on camera and all mic'd up Finals day was pretty intense and to be honest it still doesn't feel real. I literally had clips of last year’s finals (which I was watching online) going through my head, thinking to myself, "I can't actually believe we've made it this far, last year we were just watching these online joking about it!” I've never felt that kind of emotion or been in that headspace… when I walked out on stage for the first time it was literally packed like a sports stadium, just bazaar. I eased through my set up time as I'd had two previous set up times to perfect it so that was pretty smooth and then it was just waiting time for the judges to come out. I can't remember much about the 15 mins, but I know I was happy with my shots and was feeling as calm as you could for the situation at hand. Haha. Talking with the judges Everything ran pretty smoothly, my trusty coaches Steve Hall and Tash Kusel said it was my top performance of the three rounds so we were all pretty happy with that. We were under time, the coffee was 'popping' and my words were making sense. Afterwards in the debrief we got some really encouraging feedback from the judges which was awesome! So awesome that we're already getting excited about next year and have started tabling some ideas. So bam, 2014 here we come! Richard and Steve of Flight Coffee - chuffed I can't thank everyone enough for all the feedback, encouragement, cheers and messages wishing me luck and congrats! A big ups to Trev and the entire Flight Crew for keeping everything afloat while we've been busy training and away - you guys rule! Thanks to all the support that came over from NZ and cheered us on from the stands, especially my family, was so awesome to have you guys there! Thanks to Boyce and the Harries family back in Kenya who have done a superb job growing and processing the coffee. The biggest ups to Steve Hall, Richard Corney, Tash Kusel and Matt Graylee; my coaches, business partners, and overall GC's. Nick with the goods Anyway guys, there’s a video up of my finals along with the rest of the top six through this link, and there’s loads of pictures online and Facebook.  If you have any questions I'd be more than happy to chat and answer them, please email me at nick@flightcoffee.co.nz. We’re selling some of the coffee I used - The French Mission Sundried from Kenya - at the Hangar and on our online store. At this stage it's coming through our colourful slayer and on the brew bar. It's one of the nicest if not the nicest coffees we've had all year, don't miss out! Thanks guys, I hope I've made NZ proud and given us a good rep on the international stage. I look forward to whatever the future brings with WBC. Chur to the chur! Nick P.s. Youtube “Honey Badger” if you haven't already. Just do it.

    • Nick is in the WBC final round!
      • Good morning family, The sun has risen on the final day of the World Barista Championship 2013, and Nick has made it all the way to the top 6! Here are a few words from Nick as he found out he had made the final round last night: Dudes! I can't believe that we're in the top six of the world!!! Can't thank everyone enough for all the help and support, it's been insane and am so chuffed to have everyone cheering us on! Straight up guys, the coffee is tasting banging, I think we've got a pretty good shot at this (intended pun - you're welcome) and can't wait to hit it tomorrow! Special thanks to Richard, Matt, Steve, Trev, Tash and the entire Flight family - you guys are the reasons why we're here!!! Anyway, I need a beer so I'm off to "debrief" and get sorted for tomorrow. Many churs and much love from Nick You can watch Nick's performance and the award ceremony as it streams live from Melbourne today by clicking here. The final round schedule is here; Nick is on at 12:10 PM Melbourne time (that is 2:10 PM in NZ), and the awards announcement begins at 3:30 PM (that is 5:30 PM in NZ) CHUR!

    • The cupping and tasting notebooks have arrived!
      • Our cupping and tasting journals are here! We designed them for travelling at only 120mm X 90mm. I've used prototypes each day since conception, everywhere from Tanzania to Colombia, and in Boston each morning.  So here's the dealio: PRO COFFEE is a journal designed for cupping and tasting specialty coffees. This is the choice if you often order Chemex, syphon, Steampunk, espresso, just serious black coffees. In this tiny notebook you've got space for coffee name, date, roast date, brew method, origin, varietal, altitude, roaster, producer, cupping score, notes, and an experience wheel to judge the eight key elements we are looking for when cupping (based on COE and SCAA judging systems). If you are planning on rocking around town trying many cafes, drinking mainly cappuccinos and other espresso based beverages, then you are looking for our second journal; THE COFFEE THE COFFEE THE COFFEE. This edition is designed for jotting down details of your coffee journey with a focus on remembering awesome humans and great establishments. Unlike Pro Coffee with its cupping focus, in here all different coffees can be represented; flat whites to filter. There is space for cafe name, beverage type, date, barista, roaster, notes and a diverse experience wheel. Both versions are available in the The Hangar and online right here, with the option of including a handwritten note and a tiny ridiculous drawing if you are having them sent as a gift to your intense coffee loving friend ;) Have fun!

    • Flight Coffee Supports Marriage Equality. BOOM.
      • We support full marriage equality, because anything less is marginalising a group of our society, and that is not what policy and democratic government is there for. Looking back on this movement in years to come we will struggle to find reason that we took so long, and had to argue so much, for something so fundamental.  Debates surrounding the idea that one group of our people deserve fewer rights than another group has happened before. Like women being denied the right to vote. People fought against the notion of equal voting rights the whole way, always believing they had good reason, just like today with this issue. However now, looking back, can you think of a single acceptable reason the opposition may have had? It took until 1941 for women to win the right to be eligible for the appointment to the NZ Legislative Council. That is embarrassing, but at least, from there, we had a quick climb to full acceptance of women in roles of political importance. Did you know that until 1986... only 27 years ago... it was illegal for a man to be in a homosexual relationship in New Zealand, punishable by imprisonment or beating. Did you know that in order to change that law, that insane law, kiwis had to battle and argue for years, just like the women's suffrage movement, and just like this equal marriage rights movement. Our point is really simple: No group of people should ever be denied rights freely offered to others in New Zealand, and legislation should never be used to marginalise a group of our society. Our laws exist to empower our society, to provide framework for us to all live and add value to each other's lives, happily, as a group of necessarily different people. So there it is. The Flight Coffee crew supports marriage equality, including Nina who was absent from the photo (swimming lessons, also important), Danny (basking in the Napier sun), and Nick and Matt who are in Boston at the Specialty Coffee Association of America Symposium (they are eating rainbow corn chips while writing this though, solidarity). This law will pass, and we will all look back on this in 30 years pondering "what on earth took so long?".

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