First Crack 106. Coffee Review – El Salvador: Finca La Montaña

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 …

First Crack 105. Coffee Review – Grand Cru Kenya: Mamuto, Kirinyaga

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 …

First Crack 104. The Moustache Rangers on a Podcast

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 …

First Crack 103. Lunch with Minneapoliscast, How Was The Show, LocalTone and MinnieIndie.com

I bought Tony Thomas from Minneapoliscast, Andrea Meyers from HowWasTheShow.com, and Justin Grammens from LocalTone.com, and Brian McDonough from MinnieIndie.com lunch to talk about the Minneapolis music scene. We cover the goal of each of their sites, the challenges of finding good independent music, and Brian makes some band recommendations. Listen to Lunch with Minneapoliscast, …

First Crack 102. Measuring Carbon Footprints with Tyler Patterson

Tyler Patterson just finished up a Masters Thesis project investigating adding all the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ campus energy sources into the Chicago Climate Exchange. In this numbers and stats intensive conversation, we discuss: The methodology of the measuring the campus’ carbon footprint The economics of the carbon trading and energy efficiency The trade-offs …

First Crack 101. Time Traveling Journalism with Matt Thompson

Matt Thompson (Snarkmarket, vita.mn) and I discuss one of Matt’s most compelling memes – telling stories over time. via: The rise and fall of monoculture Newspaper circulation – 1967 to 1991 Future of journalism and the power of hyperlinks Joshua Micah Marshall vs. Trent Lott Google Finance Listen to Time Traveling Journalism with Matt Thompson …

First Crack 99. Jeremy Raths and the Search for Extraordinary Coffee

We catch up with Twin Cities coffee legend Jeremy Raths and talk about: Moving The Roastery from a coffee shop in the middle of St. Paul to delivering coffee from an abandon convent. The history of the speciality coffee market – nationally and locally. How the coffee market is changing to benefit the small, local, …

First Crack 100. How to Cup Coffee with Jeremy Raths

Jeremy Raths, from The Roastery, teaches us how to cup – the traditional process for tasting and choosing coffee. He walks through: The cupping process How he teaches others how to cup The need to be emotionally self-aware when cupping How to get the cupping experience at home The responsibility and integrity of a good …

Daily Catch: Beer, Dr. Who, and the First Crack Podcast

Donavan Hall recently said some very nice things about the First Crack Podcast in his Daily Catch podcast. (After popping by and saying ‘thanks’ last fall, this episode finally came up on shuffle.) He covers the new Dr. Who in the same episode and talks about some of the same issues I have with the …