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Showing posts with label Caffeine Cowboy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caffeine Cowboy. Show all posts

Wednesday

cowboy poetry

see me?

jbblocker

i always wear a hat.

i often
have ideas
that are 
much bigger than my brain.

who knows
if my hat
 keeps 
any of them
from escaping .
i just know that plenty stay inside.

i can feel them 
bouncing around.
looking for the doorway to reality.

if i didn’t wear a hat
i’d be scratching my head 
all the time.
 
- J.B. Blocker is a media consultant based in Collin County in North Texas.

Saturday

Great Chefs and Coffee


Romancing the Bean Series
by Caffeine Cowboy

 Chefs Werner Vogeli and Karl Haas share childhood memories.
Tales from the Old County
  I count among my friends and mentors some venerable and highly respected chefs and hospitality specialist.  These gentlemen are revered in the Dallas culinary community. They are iconic.
  Many learned their craft in the shadows of WWII. Swiss, Austrian, French, and German influences ignited their love of exquisite dining that they eventually brought to a booming Dallas of the 70’s. It was time of great hotels and the explosion of fine dining in downtown Dallas that brought these adventurous young chefs that changed the image of dining and brought European luxury and elegance to the table.
  I always felt that they liked me, but after the research for this story I realized that my charm my have been secondary to my devotion and accessibility to great coffees! 
Chefs Karl Haas and Peter Klaus Curley 
  Many thanks to Chef Karl Haas and to the late great men Chef Werner Vogeli and the consummate G.M. Helmut Frenzen who as a team, made the 69th floor City Club in Dallas a legendary experience. 
  My 1st Dallas account as the Caffeine Cowboy was the City Club. I would tell people, "the closest coffee to heaven in Dallas was mine!"
  They shared pieces of their personal memories of coffee in their post war youth with me.  jb

Wednesday

I always wear a hat!



 
'jelly beans' i always wear a hat! jb

                                                                   i often
                                                               have ideas
                                                                 that are
                                                 much bigger than my brain.
                                                               who knows
                                                                 if my hat
                                                                   keeps
                                                              any of them
                                                            from escaping.
                                            i just know that plenty stay inside.
                                                            i can feel them.
                                                         bouncing around.
                                               multi- colored, multi-flavored
                                                              jelly beans!
                                                    wantin out of their box.
                                              lookin for a  doorway to reality.
                                                              if i didn’t
                                                            wear a hat,
                                                i’d be scratching my head
                                                           all the time.




Thursday

Coffee, News, Interesting People, and Tasty Treats

Romancing the Bean Series
by Caffeine Cowboy

Tales from the Old Country

Coffee Cantata by Johan Sebastian Bach


  “No daughter of mine will drink coffee!” declares Schlendrian. (Stuffy in German)  “­­But father, if I don’t have at least three small cups a day, I’ll soon be as dried-out as an un-basted roast!”

  Cleverly, Schlendrian proposes, “Fine, then make your choice, a husband or coffee!”  His willful daughter seemingly demurs to her father's restriction but with a stage whisper tells the audience, “Any man who wishes to win my hand must first promise to supply all of the coffee I want!”

  Amused by the Parisian fad for coffee, Bach asked the famed poet and satirist Picador to write a libretto with coffee as its theme.  The story mirrored the attitude of the German elite toward women and the middle class. Coffee was too special for the commoner and coffeehouses were no place for a lady!


  Before public music halls existed in Germany, cafés attracted music lovers by sponsoring performances by collegia musica (the association of private musicians).

  From 1720 to1740, Bach performed for the public and experimented with new pieces at Zimmerman’s Kaffeehaus in Leipzig.  The Coffee Cantata was first performed there in 1734.  It was a musical and community success.

The most famous coffee snob:

Wednesday

The Bucket List Coffee



Sumatran Kopi Luwak
By the Caffeine Cowboy

  I had an entertaining few days with some plantation owners from Indonesia at the Seattle Specialty Coffee Association Convention. I made friends with several gentlemen who produced Kopi Luwak along with their traditional coffee crop.
  Their plantations are large and secluded. Their crops are highly graded coffees even without the help of the wild civet cats that raid their fruit.
  They gather enough from their own surrounding forest to be considered a significant amount. Because of this, they can guarantee the coffee from the cherry to sellable beans.



 This is not the same all over. There are thousands of small batch growers who only gather enough to sell to a cooperative buyer.  In this case, the seeds are not uniform, they come from various varieties of coffee, and all ranges of ripeness.
  These co-ops make up the largest suppliers for this prized coffee processed by a nocturnal Raccoon-like, Lemur related fruit-eating machine, the Luwak.
  I would not call this a bad product but it’s certainly the second tier to the purist. 

Sumatran Batak Kopi Luwak will take you to my direct source.
  The purist wants to know where the bean was grown, what altitude it grew at, what was the seed stock, how does the base crop rate out, and who is accountable. 
  
 Third tier Luwak would be that coffee produced by feeding caged Luwaks with only cherries during harvest and forcing out as much product as they can during the growing season. 
  This is a prominent and growing practice in some countries and Robusta cherries are used to turn a coffee that is the cheapest on the market into the most expensive! The coffee is infinitely inferior.
  How many other crops if any, can you feed to birds or beast and make a fortune by selling the by-product!  They should at least put those animals up in luxury digs! Consider this: that Robusta might have normally have sold for $1 per lb! However, as much as can be eaten by Luwaks and discharged now might bring from $50 to $100 to unsuspecting buyers.
  The final and lowest tiers are those that only use a small amount of the true Luwak coffee and blend it with whatever they want to create a profile.

As I bring you great coffees from around the world, I don’t know which ones you will love, not care for, or truly enjoy for specific pairings or occasions. Try Flor de Colombia, or Pearls of Sheba, or Mystical Blue Maui.  Who am I to know what flavors, character, and content rings your bells. 
What I can do is purchase clean distinguished coffees that can be compared and enjoyed like fine wines.
You might absolutely love Kopi Luwak. It is truly special. I can promise that if you are a coffee lover, you will appreciate the big body, depth, and range of delicate flavors. I know that our Kopi will be a distinguishing and adventurous taste of coffee at its best.
Check this culinary treat off your personal Bucket List. Sharing it with your coffee loving friends will send them off with a singularly memorable experience.
One of my great pleasures has become sharing this coffee and its story!
Good Luwak, Bad Luwak? 
Very few places sell Luwak in the U.S. But because of social media culinarians and many world travelers, the experience is demanding attention. Selling for averages of up to $30-$50 per cup at the most exclusive restaurants and hotels, it is truly a Bucket List item for the coffee/wine enthusiast. If you are going to pay for the most expensive, exotic, and exclusive coffee in the world, you really want to know where it was grown when it was roasted, who roasted it, packed it, and delivered it to you.

Naugan Simanungkalit, Bean Broker
The Caffeine Cowboy solemnly swear that I will:
Buy private stock of Kopi Luwak from certified plantations growing only the highest grade of Arabica.
I will personally attend the manicure, roast, and packaging. I will sell only to direct consumers with limited purchase ceilings for all
Because of the rarity I must impose maximums per month, per customer including restaurants and other food services.
  
  Kopi Luwak is a delicately balanced mixture of the same coffee varietal bean. The certified beans are flown directly to Dallas from Sumatra. We hand manicure the beans before and after roasting.
  The roasting process includes a combination of specific roasting temperatures and timing to bring you a memorable and symphonic experience. No filler coffees will be used to dilute your adventure nor my reputation!
  We only have a limited allotment each year for U.S. consumption.

- J.B. Blocker is a media consultant based in Collin County in North Texas. Advertise with J.B. by calling 469-334-9962.

Thursday

A New Years Story


The possibly true story of Juan Valdez

Romancing the Bean 
A Series Of Short Stories

By J. B. Blocker
the Caffeine Cowboy
  

 
  In a little over 1000 years, coffee has been elevated to the second most traded commodity after oil and is the most prepared beverage in the world. 
  Kaldi the Ethiopian goat herder is said to have discovered coffees kick and introduced it to monks who were able to chant and pray longer. A French Lieutenant stole a kiss and two coffee plants from Napoleon's garden and brought it to the New World. Stories abound!
   I’ve got a long list of these stories if you’re interested. Most of them are true! At least parts of them are!
   The story I am about to share may or may not be true. No matter, it is close to my heart and carries a modern-day lesson somewhere inside.

   Our story begins on New Year’s Eve. In a small community hospital in South Texas, two young couples await their firstborns. All the while the hospital staff anxiously anticipate the race for the first birth of the New Year. Two expectant fathers pace into the midnight hour. As the town clocks strike midnight, simultaneous declarations of triumph announce two births!
   It is a tie! For the hospital and even the state of Texas, the firstborn pair of the new year are named Juan and Josephine. 


Sunday

The Real Andy of Mayberry, Sheriff Booger Pruitt

 
  I started this 1200 mile plus road trip from Dallas to Amarillo and on to Dalhart in the far northwest corner of Texas. The return trip takes me back down west Texas before cutting east to DFW. I will pass through 37 of the 254 counties along the way and I try to fill my memory banks with identifiers for each of these counties.  
  On the way back from Dalhart and back to Dumas on the way to Amarillo I am seeing my home in a whole new way. I am thinking of bank robbers, cattle rustlers, and the evolution of the sheriffs of Texas all the way to it's modern day technology.
  I have sheriff friends all along the way, but I can't visit them all, I have to be in Garden City by morning for a very important interview.

Friday

A Real John Wayne, Congressman Sam Johnson

   He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice and walk. He is also known for his conservative political views.
 
 by J.B. Blocker
   In another time, John Wayne would have been the perfect actor to play Sam Johnson as the Fighter Pilot POW in "Captive Warriors." the Congressman’s autobiography. But Sam's heroics came during Vietnam and the Duke was finishing his career by then.


Tuesday

Gazpacho! You are welcome!



Gazpacho w/Shrimp
By J.B. Blocker
   I have been craving fresh veggies. Guess my constant pushups when I want a cigarette has something to do with it. When my eat healthy gene or sensibility kicks in I have a tendency to go on auto-pilot when I grocery shop around the fresh produce section.  
  That is when the spirit of my recently passed chef mentor, the great French Master Chef Jean La Font spoke to me.
  “Gazpacho”, he whispered!

Wednesday

I know where the beef is!

Estilo Gaucho Brazilian Steakhouse
  Take your friends and take your time! 
  This is not the time or place to be in a hurry.
   With over 40 items from the salad bar and 16 choices of beef, chicken, pork, and lamb, it will be hard to save room for desert!
   So sit back, relax, enjoy your company, and at least share the deserts.


Collin County's District Attorney came for the experience and left with the 7 Layer Chocolate Cake. 
 
  Looking for a place to enjoy a delicious and unhurried lunch or dinner?  Look no further than Frisco’s unique signature Brazilian Steakhouse, Estilo Gaucho.
  I arrived licking my chops, ever so ready for some tasty, open-fire roasted rib eye or bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin.  If you were with me as I was escorted to my table, you would have witnessed my surprise at  Estilo Gaucho’s breathtakingly big salad bar. 
   Among the 40+ choices were Chicken Stroganoff, Shitake Mushrooms, Cured Meats, Smoked Salmon, gourmet cheese selections, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, assorted soups and salads; you name it, and it was there.  
  They were beckoning even me, a stranger in a green land.
      I was jealously guarding space for my beloved meats. I chose only the Caprese Salad.  And boy was it good!  But was this some kind of trick?  Making a meat-lover like me pine for a second helping of salad?  
   I wondered, when would my true love arrive?  How long could I remain faithful and resist the surprising temptation of those whispering greens? 
   
GREEN MEANS GO 

Collin's GOP leadership is an All-American example of Coruption

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