You oughta know #38
In this issue: Funk or sustainability?; The best coffee for your teeth; Auckland homeless man finds home in coffee.
Nau mai hoki mai - welcome back to You Oughta Know, your somewhat regular coffee news hit to the veins.
It’s been a while between issues of YOK, but that doesn’t mean the coffee world hasn’t been churning out the goodness.
On the global stage, we’ve had Kiwis fly the flag at the World Barista Champs and the Cuppers Champs and do exceptionally well. Locally we’ve seen the Wellington coffee scene doco start filming and news that Atomic won’t be hosting this year’s NZ AeroPress Champs (who will?).
And there’s more and more and more to wrap your mouf around - so kick back with your favourite coffee and enjoy this issue of YOK.
In this issue: Funk or sustainability?; The best coffee for your teeth; Auckland homeless man finds home in coffee.
Coffee Intelligence: Specialty’s obsession with novelty is compromising its commitment to coffee producers.
This little nugget of a yarn popped up literally as I was drinking a banana and wine yeast fermented Colombian coffee. It smells as funky as it sounds, leaving the house filled with the aroma of overripe bananas and cannabis (yeah - it’s super funk) for days - tasty but extreme.
This desire for new and funky innovative coffees might actually be harming the industry as a whole. As Coffee Intelligence explores, the need for new is diverting resources from long-term, sustainable high quality coffee production and relationships.
The article notes:
An interesting read.
Sprudge: Which type of coffee is worse for your teeth?
We’ve all thought it - are my teeth brown because of the coffee and should I do something about it?
Sprudge reports on an article in Inverse that looks at the different types of coffee and the impact on your teeth.
Turns out that enamel doesn’t love acid, and coffee is basically a big cup of it. But not all coffee stain in the same way. The higher the pH, the less impact it’ll have on your teeth. Cold brews and milky coffees have a higher pH, that is they are less acidic, than hot brewed black coffee. Lighter roasted coffees are worse than darker roasted coffees due to the roasting process.
If you’re super concerned, the Huffington Post reported back in 2022 that you should be brushing your teeth before drinking coffee - as the brushing removes any plaque build up that coffee stains stick to. They also report that brushing your teeth too soon after drinking coffee can actually damage your teeth.
As Sprudge summaries, Ultimately, it comes down to what you value more in life. Do you want white teeth or would you rather get to experience joy on a daily basis?
I choose joy.
Auckland homeless man become coffee sensation
Tiktok has about a gillion downsides, but from time to time it can be a tool for good.
Jon Low became homeless in 2023 after a marriage break up. He had been living in his car and doing Uber deliveries, until his car got stolen. For a number of months, he was living in a central Auckland car park.
He found a coffee cart in the City and had the idea of selling cheap, hot instant coffee to his fellow homeless community.
Someone posted this on Tiktok and it went viral, launching Jon and ‘Patchy’s Coffee’ into the stratosphere.
Huge media coverage followed, with Stuff, Breakfast, NZ Herald and more covering the story.
On the back of this, someone set up a give a little to kick start a business and now Jon has a store front where he sells instant coffee for $1.50, a soup and bun combo for $2.20 and sells digital advertising.
It hasn’t been plain sailing for Patchy’s coffee, with issues around council permits and the likes, but it looks like it’s starting to go really well for Jon. There’s even a documentary being filmed by AUT students that is coming out in a few weeks.
I’m hoping to catch up with Jon to have a yarn for TMR - he’s a tough man to tie down but hopefully we’ll see something in a few weeks.
Coming up on The Magic Roast
Bean of the Month - Rich Coffee Roasters, Wellington
Coffee for the 9 to 5
If it’s not Fair Trade(TM), is it fairly traded?
A review of the Orea V3 brewer.
Running is very hard - a stuttering start to the road to 50.