Zeke's Serious Coffee

We just noticed a complete lack of stuff appeared here during 2009… I guess there are reasons for that.

Our roasting schedule for 2010 will be something like:

• Mondays - Howler Monkey
• Tuesdays - Bonga Banana Frog
• Wednesays - Howler Monkey

The Maned Three Toed Sloth is being roasted “periodically” which means about once a month or so… orders for this will be accumulated until the roast.

the first few weeks in 2010 will be roasted once a week usually on the Sunday or Monday depending on our travel plans, the “normal” schedule above will kick in around the 18th of January.

As always, if you have any questions or suchlike just call or email!

We are currently (December 18th) having telephone problems, and cannot receive calls. If you want coffee from Sunday’s roast, which will be the last until 4th January 2010, please email us instead.

Christmas Greetings to all our friends and customers. (and to Telecom too if they get their act together and fix our phone).

(edit - it all appears to be working now!)

Richard (our web guru, coffee addict and friend) hosts our website and was hosting our email as well. I was moaning about the spam when he suggested we move the email across to gmail and use their spam filtering… so we have… and it appears to be working well.

I think we have everyone listed as “not a spammer” but if you send an email and don’t get a reply or coffee, use the web order form and follow up via there, as that definitely gets through.

For those who wonder “why do I keep repeating the same information everytime I order, surely there is a better way” there is - just identify yourself on the web order form and in the box type “the usual” or some equally informative indication that says you want the same again, and as long as we can identify you (name, email etc are pretty useful) then that is all we need… do highl;ight to us changes of address, as Brent tends to just do same again without thinking - we need a bigger baseball bat for training him…

OK, not exactly new, as we have had the option for some time, but you can pay us via pago if you want, we searched hard for a really hard acocunt name, and in the end, whilst there were some great options available we settled on “COFFEE”. One we didn’t think would be to obvious.

So if you want to pay by pago, go for it. Even better if you just want somewhere to send money whilst practising how to send money, COFFEE is a great account to test on. And no we won’t return your multitueds of gifts…

This was held over the weekend (6 - 8th June) at the Alinghi base at the Viaduct.

We won the Gold Award for the Best NZ Espresso!

We are thrilled with the result - this is the third time the Howler Monkey has won an award in this category - so you could say about time!

Other events included the Latte Art competition - and it was cool that our 12 year old entered an impromptu blind pouring competition - and in our humble opinion showed up some very good baristas in the process (she didn’t spill a drop, unlike others who seemed to completely miss the cup)

So a great weekend, and looking forward to the next competition and festival!

We would also like to thank those of you who have continued to support our little venture over the years - Thanks!

so much for the “new, more logical pricing in proportion system for all standard domestic mail” it would appear that the cost to us to send coffee to RD addresses has approxiamately doubled. We are still trying to work this out, and see if there is a less expensive option, but it would appear that we will probably have to pass on around $1 per order for postage. If you really dislike this, please talk to us, and also to NZ Post, as the logic that our stuff was filling the posties bags up is wrong, as those of you on RD will know, it all goes in a car…

We have had a bit of a stockpile of old priced NZ Post stuff for the RD stuff we do.

This is running out, and NZ Post now has a “new, more logical pricing in proportion system for all standard domestic mail”

What this means is that we have no idea how it all works, and for the life of us can’t see how it’s saving us money. Rather on the surface of it it appears to have doubled the cost for us.

So, this is the warning, unless our super efficient (not!) NZ Post rep can work something out we will need to pass some of the increase on. Until we work out the actual cost we will leave things as they are, but expect some changes in relation to RD deliveries.

Our computer keeps breaking.

We (Brent) came up with a cunning plan, and secured an excellent ex lease corporate PC - recycling, as we don’t need a super dooper new pooter.

This brilliant execution of a cunning plan was working fine, up until the “new” computer crashed as well. (Brent is getting very good at backing up). One of those things, all resolved, and things should improve on the access to email front etc

So if you sent something, and didn’t get a reply - this could be the reason… sorry.

Is being held at the Alinghi base in the Viaduct Harbour in Auckland again this year - June 6th to 8th…. information at the festival website

Nikau Cave have built a cafe as well. (not in the actual cave, but we are suggesting that as well!)

We would recommend that you go through this cave - you will get wet, it’s OK, and worth it. We managed to take our 4 year old through, so it isn’t overly hard.

The cafe is using a lot of stuff grown onsite, and is very nice, and they have great coffee as well.

For more information on Nikau Cave visit their website or call them on 09 233 3005 to arrange going through the cave…

BioBlitz is on again - 3pm Friday 4th — 3pm Saturday 5th April at Smith’s Bush on Northcote Rd over on the North Shore.

Should be interesting (again) and we are supplying coffee for the volunteers (again)

There is a lot of debate about Aspartame out there. Here is an article to start you thinking. Use the web to research and draw your own conclusion, at Zeke’s we are taking the cautious approach of avoiding it.

We have a daughter with severe allergies, and the whole ingredients thing has been an interesting learning curve for us over the last few years. There are a lot of big words included in an amazing array of staple foods! Aspartame was of particualr concern, and hence why we have in the absence of conclusive evidence decided it isn’t worth the risk.

Welcome to 2008

This year, we are planning to try and simplify our roast schedule.

So, the current plan is to mainly roast at the beginning of the week, a couple of big batches to cover all the orders, and a smaller midweek roast to tidy up.

as always, if you are running short - let us know, we normally have something spare.

Well we entered again, and this year picked up two more awards!

A Bronze for the Howler Monkey in the Espresso Section - a second award for the Howler Monkey in the Espresso section - a brilliant result!

We also got a Bronze for the Pygmy Marmoset in the Plunger section.

These results were great - given that the roasts were our standard roast, roasted on our new 15 Kg roaster (we got it running about two weeks before we roasted the coffee for the awards!)

Our congratulations go to our Friend Chris who won the supreme award - well done!

Also to Andrew Feldon, who won the Latte Art Competition, and $2,000, well done! (It was his third(?) competition) 

Er we commissioned a 15 Kg roaster… we are seriously running out of space in the roastery

Once again, the NZ Coffee Festival is looming near.

This time it is at the Alinghi base at the Viaduct in Auckland. Must make sure I have a clean Team NZ shirt to wear…

Details are at the festival website and it’s being held August 17-19.

Just some prior warning…

We have some family business to attend to in early July - and so the second of July (Monday) will see all coffee for the week going out, with the next shipment being probably the Monday following.

It’s family stuff, we didn’t plan it, don’t blame us etc etc etc…

Coming soon - as soon as we can agree with our web designer on how we do it…

Coffee equipment! Thats right, while we have always had access to it, we also now have the ability to finance gear for you as well. Minimums apply of course, but it may make it easier for you to get the right gear at a good price.

Once we have pricing sorted, you will be able to see the gear, and we will be able to give indicative repayment details.

Of course, if you want to pay cash you will save a whole heap of interest!

Equipment you can currently get from us include Vibiemme coffee machines (for home through to cafes), Rancilio coffee equipment (machines and grinders) and Mazzer grinders.

Stuff like cleaners and cups and other stuff we can also get for you if you need it.

Just a sort of wee note to explain how we are doing stuff…

One of the important things for us is that we send you coffee that is fresh.

To achieve this, we roast and pack the coffee more or less to order, and as a rule we don’t normally roast after a Wednesday. This means we roast usually Sunday through to Wednesday.

So when you order from us, we put your order into the next roast, which may be that day, maybe in a few days time. The one exception - if you are desperate let us know, as we often have some left over (conveniently enough we usually get through this ourselves progressively over a few days as we test it for, er, testing purposes) so we can normally “shore up your supplies”

Our standard roasting includes the Howler Monkey and the Bonga Banana Frog blends, all other blends or origins are available as we roast them (yes tell us what you want and magically it will turn up when we roast it!) The exception to this is our decaf the Maned Three Toed Sloth, which is roasted regularly, so if you want it, just let us know, and we will add your order to the next roast.

If you have any questions or want something specific, ask us! For special non standard stuff minimums will apply

Finally! Denise has opened Natures Grace which is on the State Highway 75 at Duvauchelle in the old Post Office(that’s on the way to Akaroa)

Natures Grace is specialising in organic products, as well as a cafe.

You can find Natures Grace here or call them on 03 3048053 

Natures Grace obviously has great coffee, yummy food, and possibly the best view to enjoy it from you will find for a cafe in NZ… 

We stumbled across this great little film, OK it appears to be Australian, but don’t let that stop you.

The website is at www.onecupthefilm.com and you can download the film from there and watch it.

This compliments Black Gold the movie really well.

www.zekescoffee.com !!!

It’s a small world. This is a small coffee company in America, yes we are planning on swapping some coffee (as you would expect) 

…is coming.

If you have any special requirements, please be aware that our last roast for the year will happen on boxing day, with the coffee on the courier on the 27th December.

The plan is that we will roast again on the second of January, and after that we will be back in to our normal roasting schedule.

If you have any questions - just let us know!

Well it’s bean and gone. We missed out on an award this year, but it was still great to be involved!

We met John Doyle from Coffee Traning Centre in Sydney, and got his book “Barista Techniques” - let us know if you need a copy.

Our congratulations to Carl Sara who won the NZ Barista Competition!

Thanks to Chris at Food Marketing who tried our coffee and then raved about it on the BBC Worldservice (on 810 am in Auckland) during one of their breakouts.

looks like we are onto a solution…

From our investigations, it would appear that if we use FastPost for our bags of coffee, instead of CourierPost the delivery times will be the same, but the cost to us will be similar to what it used to be before CourierPost decided they wanted to charge for delivering to rural addresses.

We will still use CourierPost if requested to send to a rural delivery address, however the cost of the Rural Delivery surcharge will be passed on at cost.

Our order information page is in the process of being updated to reflect this change.

We are having a few issues with CourierPost at present. I am sure we will get it all resolved.

In brief - for customers on Rural Delivery - we will be probably changing the way we send coffee to you, ironically it will probably take the same time, using the same vehicle, but a different bag, oh well! On the flip side, it will mean that there will continue to be no surcharge for rural delivery.

Missing deliveries, well after shipping countless parcels over the last three years with CourierPost, we have had a string of problems. The most serious being two shipments that dropped off the face of the earth. Unfortunately the response from CourierPost has been :

• We have lost your parcel, please put a claim in (OK fair enough stuff happens)
• We have received your claim (Interestingly I haven’t lodged it yet!)
• Your claim is denied because it is coffee which is perishable (which is why we courier it!) so sorry bad luck.

So it would appear that even though they have completely lost our parcels, they do not seem to be liable. Being reasonable, we have thus far said, fair enough you won’t pay for delayed shipment, please return the package to us.

Of course, they can’t return it, personally I suspect someone at CourierPost is developing a habit…

I guess we should mention that we added / upgraded this news bit of the website. There are still some loose ends to fix, but it’s getting there.

Next step is some changes to information, and even pictures of coffee equipment that you definitely may want to get.

This is being held in Auckland this year (I preferred Taupo as a location)

Dates are November 10 - 12 at the North Harbour Stadium - more information is at the festival website.

We are involved again this year, and looking forward to catching up with others in the coffee business, and in any case it should be fun!

(And fun is surely what it’s meant to be about?!?)

Once again we have agreed to supply coffee for the production team at the Trash to Fashion Awards to be held at the Waitakere Stadium 10th and 11th of November 2006.

Is Maladict’s Fix opening again this summer?

People are starting to loiter, and ask the question re Maladict’s.

When we opened Maladict’s it was a bit of an experiment - we had to do something with the space, and so a cafe it was, with some space for roasting in.

Well, as it transpires, we have added a second larger roaster to the roastery, and have a lot more sacks of green coffee, and have run out of room to put customers in as well. So at this stage the roastery is just that, and we will not be operating the cafe this summer. We plan on enjoying some time on the beach as opposed to just looking at it.

For our coffee customers - the welcome mat is always out, and we can always usually make you a coffee if you are heading our way - just check we are going to be around before you come out! We are here!

Of course we are still running out of space to store sacks of coffee, but thats a whole different problem!

Kevin and Ana started Leap Frog Cafe in Rotorua, and were at a number of places and events. All of a sudden they leapt to Wellington, and in the process of leaping, the trailer broke.

Last word is it’s nearly operational again, so look out for them around Wellington.

As a rule we don’t get much into blogs, but www.jimseven.com is worth a read.

James Hoffman is the 2006 UK Barista Champ and on top of that seems to be a font of investigative knowledge when it comes to coffee…

 is a documentary movie about fair trade coffee which screened at the 2006 NZ International film festivals and was well worth making the effort to see. Black Gold follows in particular the Ethiopian Co-op of Oromia, which Zeke’s uses! Having seen the movie a few times now, feel free to ask us any questions, or visit the movie’s website or even click on the flier below.

We are hoping to be able to run some smaller screenings, with Q&A time after - let us know if you would like info, or would like to organise a screening. This will be dependant on the distribution arrangements for a general release, and agreement with the producers - so we aren’t promising anything!

On the corner of Great South Road and Beach Road in Papakura, is Coffee to Go.

During the week this is the spot to grab a coffee in South Auckland - sure if you are in Manukau it’s a few minutes extra, but it’s worth it.

While you are there you could book in a plumber to install a water and drain line for a home espresso setup, and we could then come and set you up with some really cool coffee gear…

You can find them on the map Here!

Geoff Watts of Intelligentsia Coffee in the US wrote a little email that appeared on this blog - well worth reading click here to read it…

Ti-Tree is in Haszard Street in Waihi.

They have our coffee (obviously!) and a really cool wood fired oven (they have a normal oven as well, but the wood fired one is cool)

Serving great food, and obviously great coffee, Ti-Tree is a great place to stop on your way through Waihi. Actually Ti-Tree is a great reason to go to Waihi.

Still lost? theres a map right Here!

You may have noticed that the labels on the bags have gotten bigger and better thanks to our new label printer - this now makes it even easier to add special messages on the bag when you are sending coffe to someone as a gift!

Bio Blitz is run by the nice people at Land Care Research, and is really cool to get involved with. This year Bio Blitz was held at the Corban Estate out in Henderson.

Bio Blitz is a great way to learn about the bugs, plants, animals etc around the city, talk to real scientists and learn stuff you didn’t know existed.

They have all sorts of cool gear to show stuff off with as well - we recommend you keep an eye out for the next Bio Blitz! We will post info here when we get it…

Oh, and we supplied coffee for the various volunteer staff at Bio Blitz. Really it was just an excuse to go there, and we will be doing the same again next time

We are pleased to announce the appointment of our newest staff member Giselle.

We are not entirely sure what she will be doing, but running the show will probably be part of her role initially.

We even caught her sleeping on the job inspecting green coffee - here’s a picture! 

Santa delivered!

Well actually, we had to go and pick it up but you get the idea.

We have installed and are now operating on a newer bigger roaster. The coffee is still the same, just we roast more at a time now.

The NZ Coffee Festival was held September 22 - 25 in Taupo.

We entered some new blends in the awards, and the Bonga Banana Frog won the silver award for the Best Flat White, a result we are thrilled with!

A full list of the awards is here

Maladict’s opened today!

You can find Maladict’s here!

(Note as at the end of summer 2005/06 Maladict’s Fix was closed to the public, freeing up space and resources to roast coffee )

The first NZ Coffee Festival was held in Taupo.

We were thrilled when Zeke’s Serious Coffee picked up the silver award for Best NZ Espresso. There was only a point between the top three espresso entries!

A full list of the awards is here

We have purchased a commercial property where we will be establishing a dedicated roastery.

The roastery is now in Clarks Beach.

Certifications - we have been assessing this actively of late, and have also found out our broker is about to launch a specialty certification rolling together the likes of fair or fairly traded coffee, organic and shade grown coffee, along with sustainable coffee - watch for details as we get them.

In short certification - be it organic, fair trade or whatever is a little more complex than putting a sticker on a bag.

Don’t get us wrong - we support the Fair Trade system, but see it as a minimum. It is also not the complete solution, so we are looking at what is out there, and trying to exceed the certification standards as we go in any case.

We are always happy to discuss Fair Trade, organics and the wider issues facing coffee farmers (and lets not forget cocoa and tea, along with sugar and other crops…)

Well it was going to be “press releases” which got us thinking about a french press, hence plunger. See, we have coffee on the brain!

…and as for that burning question as you read all this:

“Is this a blog I am reading?”

well technically yes our news page is managed through Wordpress a blog package, but we are working on removing the bloggyness of it… hacking takes time   - and if you think “woo hoo I could use that” then get in touch with Richard at Dramatic Design and get him to set it up for you!