First Crack Podcast with Garrick Van Buren

Jonathan Dahl and I discuss his latest project -
Tumblon.com - a parenting website focused on development milestones and easy sharing with friends and family.

Listen to Tumblon.com’s Jonathan Dahl [9 min].

A more detailed write-up and some screenshots over at Minnov8.com

This is the third in the monthly coffee review series at the First Crack Podcast.

This month, I’m reviewing Miguel Moreno Leiva - El Filo as roasted by 49th Parallel Roasters.

It’s a very subtle and floral cup with powerful aroma off the grind. Andrew described it to me as, “technically good.” I quite agree. It’s a perfect example of a good cup of coffee.

As always, special thanks to Andrew Kopplin at Kopplin’s Coffee for putting this Cup of Excellence on my table and resetting my coffee judgement scale.

Listen to Coffee Review - Honduras: El Filo [9 min].

Thomas Bohmbach and I discuss DJ Edna, his open source project empowering musicians, and other artists, to take control of the sales and distribution of their creative work online.

DJ Edna - Open Source Website for Musicians [33 min].

This is the second in the monthly coffee review series at the First Crack Podcast.

This month, I’m reviewing George Howell’s Terroir Coffee: El Salvador: Finca La Montaña

The 2007 Cup of Excellence winner that was completely devastated by near hurricane-strength winds in January. Pushing the next harvest out to 2010. In response to this tragedy, George Howell doubled the price of his last 70lbs and sent all the proceeds to aid the farms recovery:

“This is a farm which won 5th place, then 4th place, then 1st place in succession over the last three years in Cup of Excellence. Preliminary estimates indicate he will not have a crop until 2010! How does a farmer with less than 14 acres survive? The 3rd place and 4th place winners of last year’s Cup of Excellence are his neighbors, and all three use the same mill to strip their fruit and dry their beans. We have yet to hear about them. We want to help in a meaningful manner.”

“La Montaña is scheduled to be roasted on Monday, January 28. We will be offering this coffee, which in my opinion is the purest coffee expression we have, bar none, at $50 for eight ounces (versus the usual $27.95). Terroir Coffee will donate the entire price to Mr. Ochoa primarily and to the mill, his critical support, which may also be facing very bad times from these events. Not a penny will be spent on any bureaucracy. We have approximately 70 pounds of his coffee left. $50 dollars per half-pound would result in $7,700, if all is sold.”

Special thanks to Andrew Kopplin at Kopplin’s Coffee for putting this Cup of Excellence on my table and connecting the world economy.

Listen to Coffee Review - El Salvador: Finca La Montaña [9 min].

Elsewhere:
Cup of Excellence Winning Farm 2007: Raúl Ochoa Hernández - La Montaña
CoffeeReview.com: El Salvador La Montaña - 93 points

This podcast kicks off a new monthly coffee review series at the First Crack Podcast.

This month, I’m reviewing: George Howell’s Terroir Coffee: Kenya Mamuto Kirinyaga

First, it took me a while to tweak the grinder back for a good press pot. In that time, the time was ticking on the coffee itself. Lesson learned for February.

This is a great bean, Andrew called it his favorite bean in the past 3 months. In the press pot I tasted heavy blueberry and banana notes with a trace of cherry and just a whiff of cocoa.

In the Mocha Brew, the cup was sharp and thin, very little flavor or mouthfeel. So, while I had two cups in front of me, I avoided that one.

Special thanks to my wife and Andrew Kopplin at Kopplin’s Coffee for inspiring this series and selecting this month’s coffee.

Listen to Coffee Review - Grand Cru Kenya: Mamuto, Kirinyaga [7 min].

Elsewhere:
CoffeeReview.com: Kenya Mamuto Kirinyaga - 96 points

I was forced out of my podcasting hiatus by the The Moustache Rangers, a highly-entertaining, improv’ed, space-comedy duo. Aric (also of MakeMeWatchTV and LeastDangerousGame fame) and Cory share the backstory of the Rangers, the mythos of the Great Moustache, and the emotional power of guacomole.

If like me, you’re a fan of Teknikal Diffikulties, you’ll probably dig TMR. It’s a great mix of improv, parody, and low tech.

The Moustache Rangers will be performing live at the Brave New Workshop’s Improv-a-go-go on Sunday, November 18, 8pm. $1.

Listen to The Moustache Rangers on a Podcast [30 min].

AJ gave me call today wondering when there was going to be another First Crack podcast. Thanks AJ!

The answer - Soon. I hope. I’ve been working on a new podcast receiver app, which is eating up all my podcast production time.

Then there’s the bit about needing some new inspiration. There’s something new fermenting. I’m excited about it, but more excited about what I’m calling a ‘feed curator’.

Until then, I’ll be posting at garrickvanburen.com and on Twitter.

A gentle reminder to add your name to the PodcampMN 2007 attendee list wiki.

Thanks to Johnee Bee from Mostly Trivial and Boned for the great capture-the-flag-at-summer-camp logo.

See you there.

Yes, it’s official.

PodcampMN, August 25th, the Saturday before Labor Day, at the Flat Earth Brewery in St. Paul.

The goal is to try to accomplish some real, dirty, uncomfortable work… as Eric Rice describes it.

If you haven’t yet, add your name and other things you’d like to both share and learn about to the wiki:
http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/PodCampMinnesota

Thanks to Philip from WhatAlesThee.com and Jeff @ Flat Earth for making this happen.

From FlatEarthBrewing.com:

“Flat Earth is sponsoring 10 hours of awesome bands and we will release our next and long awaited beer named Angry Planet, an American pale ale made with organic ingredients.”

From AcadiaCafe.com:

Flat Earth Brewing & Acadia Cafe Present
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Time: 2:00 PM to 12:00 AM
Cover Charge: $5.00
Ages: All Ages

Flat Earth Revival
All Day Music Fest and Flat Earth Brewery Organic Ale release
!!!!$1 Organic Ale Pints with admission!!!!

lineup:
2pm Roe Family Singers
3:15pm Steve Kaul (Brass Kings mystery appearance?)
4:30pm Carl Johnson (The Non Brothers Johnson)
5:45pm John Wills
7:00pm Anthony Newes
8:45pm Painted Saints
10:30pm Night in the Box