Monday, November 3

A Quick Update, Some Good News, And Are HasBean Truely As Good As Everybody Claims They Are?...

Well, here you go. I promised you something good, and now you're getting it. But I'll come to that soon. A few quick things I want to get out of the way first. To kick off, I'd like to say well done to Chris Weaver for getting through what I hear were some pretty shit times, and for getting stuck back into the podcast where lesser men may have just given up. Good on 'ya mate, and good luck. Can't wait for the next episode. You can visit his site and listen to the podcast at http://www.commongrind.co.uk/.

Secondly, I'd like to thank everyone who has kept checking back to sew if anything has been posted. I've been really busy lately with work, this latte art evening I'm trying to organise, and the novel I've been trying to write for three years now. Yeah, it's true, I'm a crap novelist as well. Hopefully Third Wave should be getting back to normal soon, and I ask that you'll bear with me for now.

Some good news! Third Wave makes a difference! I recently received an e-mail (that was for Dane, but was sent to the ThirdWave hotmail account) from Jon Hassall, from Operations and Development for AMT Coffee. It read as follows:

"Dear Dane,

I am very sorry to have read you had a bad coffee at our newly opened unit in Manchester.

I am personally going to visit the location next week and review all the equipment and training as we pride ourselves on great coffee.

Separately we are opening a second unit in Manchester, this time in the Arndale next Friday, I trust you will take a visit next time you are up there and we are heading to Newcastle very soon as well.

Best wishes,
Jon Hassall
Operations and Development"

This, frankly, gave me a huge ego boost, that people actually took notice of what two coffee lovers think. It also made me very proud to think that the quality of training and hopefully the quality of the coffee will be improved due to our review of their establishment. In this respect I wish them the best of luck, as they obviously care about their coffee enough to want to impress two young upstarts such as Dane and myself. The news of a Newcastle also excites me; I always love a new coffee bar to try. So, thank you Jon, and please do keep in touch.

Anyway, onto the main event. I decided in late September that it was time I locked horns with the powerhouse of British Roasting, Steve Leighton. A year in the business and I had never tried a HasBean coffee. So, I e-mailed the man himself and asked for his recommendations. To my utter shock he asked for a delivery address and promptly sent out four of the very best coffees I have ever had in my house. Brazil Cachoeira Canario 2007-2008, El Salvador La Fany Bourbon, Kenya Gethumbwini, and El Salvador La Ilusion COE number 1. I received the box, opened it, and my jaw dropped. So let me begin this by saying a f*****g HUGE thank you to Steve.

All the bags were foil bags with a single-way valve. Nothing out the ordinary there. Each was presented in pure white, with a deep maroon/red stripe and the HasBean logo, along with a sticker which declared the name of the coffee, any special notes about the coffee, what the coffee tastes like, and the roasting date. This last detail is what impressed m most. Even Union doesn't put a roast date on their 250g bags. What really impressed me however was the actual roast date itself. I was delivered these coffees on the ninth of October, literally the day after they were roasted! So, I left them for two weeks to let them mature, then got on with the cupping...

And that is where I'm going to leave you for now! Firstly because it's 1am, I'm tired and have work tomorrow, secondly because I feel that this post is getting long, and that the cupping should take pride of place. So I will write that up in full tomorrow.

Anyway, cheers, and hope you can survive till the next post!
Seamus.

5 comments:

Dane McGreevy said...

I'm a bit jealous Seamus of the hasbean roasts!

Seamus McFlurry said...

The COE was amazing. But I'll get to that tonight :p

Anonymous said...

Awwww Thanks man :)

Anonymous said...

ahhh sounds like Steve has got his big guns out, I'm looking forward to seeing what you think of these, as I cupped the same coffees and a few more VERY recently!

Chris, Common Grind

Seamus McFlurry said...

I'm worried now :s lol

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Hey y'all. Welcome to the Third Wave UK speciality coffee blog. Whether you're a coffee profesional, home barista, or just interested in speciality coffee or the speciality coffee scene in the UK, this blog will hopefully have something for you. Cheers, Seamus McFlurry

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