2010-11 Edition of Open Eye Socks Now Available!

The new, one-of-a-kind Open Eye Cafe logo socks are available for the Holiday Season!
These state of the art socks from Defeet, a company out of Hildebrand, NC, are technologically advanced, but you don't need to know that to appreciate them!
Comfy and cool, they make for great gifts!
Get them while they last.

Scott Conary has been invited to Seoul, South Korea to Train judges & act as Head Judge at the Korean National Barista Championship - 11/25-28.

The Competition will take place during the 9th Seoul International Cafe Show. In his capacity as a member of the World Barista Training Committee, he will spend the day before the competition training judges to prepare them to properly evaluate the 30 competitiors signed up for this event. More info can be found at : http://www.cafeshow.co.kr/

Carrboro Coffee Roasters are Finalists in this years Good Food Awards !!!!

Carrboro Coffee Roasters are Finalists in this years Good Food Awards held in San Francisco, with Our Cup of Excellence from Honduras; Tomas Sosa Calderon's El Aguacate!!!! Boy are we in good company!!! Congrat's to all the other fine roasters!

The Good Food Awards were created through a collaboration of food producers, farmers, food journalists and independent grocers organized by Seedling Projects. The Good Food Awards recognize that truly good food - the kind that brings people together and builds strong, healthy communities - contains social and environmental responsibility, while celebrating flavor. The Awards take a comprehensive view, honoring people who make food that is delicious, respectful of the environment, and connected to communities and cultural traditions.

Big shout out to Carrboro's Farmers Daughter who has two finalists in the Preserves Category & one in Pickles!! Way to represent Carrboro!
See more info here: http://www.goodfoodawards.org/the-awards/finalists/

Grounds For Health Coffee Auction

Grounds For Health
Through Grounds for Health, women in coffee growing countries are receiving life saving cervical cancer screenings at an estimated materials cost of 23 cents each!

80% of cervical cancer cases are in the developing world and is the #1 cause of cancer death for women in low-resource settings, including coffee-growing communities. They simply do not have access to adequate screening and treatment facilities due to lack of resources. With Grounds for Health "Single Visit Approach," they are trying to resolve those key problem areas. In addition to the low cost approach that allow women to be screened and treated in the same day, the Grounds for Health program trains local medical personnel in order to continue the efforts of the program for years to come. The program is currently implemented in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Tanzania with a three-year commitment from the Grounds for Health organization.

Grounds for Health is making large strides involving the coffee industry and women in the farming communities, and we're proud to support their cause. To learn more, visit GroundsForHealth.org.


How Carrboro Coffee Roasters is Getting Involved
Through the Grounds for Health coffee auction, green coffee brokers and farmers donate a variety of high quality coffee beans. Roasters bid on the coffees and 100% of the proceeds go towards Grounds for Health programming. Over $100,000 was raised to continue the work of promoting life-saving health care for women in the coffee world. By bidding in the auction, Carrboro Coffee Roasters helped support cervical cancer screening and treatment and introduce sustainable medical practices to rural communities in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Tanzania. Carrboro Coffee is excited to offer this coffee bought through the Grounds for Health auction this year; Nicaragua Matagalpa from the CECOCAFEN Co-Op That will help buy supplies for thousands of women!

Coffee with Camels Milk

My recent travel has brought me back to Dubai in the UAE – ex-oil, newly found vacationland ( sorry Maine…). Not your average vacation of course. I describe it as Las Vegas X100. When the oil ran out, the economy had to re-focus. The reorientation was about high end, wonderland-like tourism. Who else would drive themselves into 12 billion dollars of debt to build islands shaped like palms ( I think they look more like horseshoe crabs) and the World ( want to buy and live on Scotland?)? The Hotel complex where the Championship & Convention was held is the longest in the world ( 1.4km), and all suites ( there are no ordinary ‘rooms’) faced the racetrack where the World Cup racing is held, and camels race as a warm up.
I was there for coffee.
I know what you are thinking.
In a city that was desert 20 years ago, it is hard to think of the hot beverage as being a hit. What is popular in Dubai is making money. The newest craze ( along with massive aquariums in every mall) is the coffeehouse feel and what I call Phase 1 of quality coffee consumption. These attempts are largely driven by larger corporations at this point; just for the sheer ability to cover all the newly built retail acreage, but also for the over-the-top slickness image needed. This is a place where all the top names in retail are the standard in malls – malls which are complexes with hotels, and self-sustaining with functions such as indoor water parks and ski slopes. There is a range of course, but nothing is shabby, and some areas feel like they cost you money just to look at them. Armani has a Café in one of these areas.
So you will see some slick Italian & Australian origin chains who are introducing folks to the first step in quality coffee – the lingo….and an OK cup from time to time. Consistent quality still eludes these players (and in some instances quality at all).
Enter Raw Coffee Company. A Café, that has recently entered the coffee roasting arena, attempting to further their control over the quality of their product.
The owners of this independent company have specifically shown their desire to succeed via quality over the past two years. Last year, at the First annual UAE Barista Championships ( for more info on competitions, see: www.worldbaristachampionship.com ), Owner Kim Thompson, a New Zealand Ex-Pat, took second place in her first attempt at the competition. This year she returned to certify as a judge for the competition and entered ( and trained) several employees on their way to success – her employee, Raja Muthusamy became the 2nd National Champion of the UAE.
The coffee made by these folks is the next phase in quality driven coffee by people who understand what it takes to make excellent coffee, not just money, and still succeed.
Look them up if you are tired of the poor quality coffee served at the Hotels ( sadly even the most expensive ones haven’t figured it out yet.), or have had enough cardamom and cinnamon in your overly sweet coffee. Tell Kim I said Hello. She’s full of energy & fun to talk to.
Oh, and for you foodies out there, camels milk is the most common form, and proclaimed to be the perfect food! I will let you decide for yourself. I found it rather savory/salty and really took over any coffee it was served with.

Carrboro Coffee Roasters President Scott Conary Becomes A Certified Instructor For Specialty Coffee Association Of America

Scott Conary, president of Carrboro Coffee Roasters; an artisan coffee roaster in NC, was recently re-certified as an instructor by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). Conary, Chair of the SCAA USBC Committee, participated in SCAA's most recent instructor development program workshop which was offered in Houston, Texas. The workshop trains participants to apply principles of adult learning, to design effective course materials, to plan for instruction, and to deliver professional instruction at SCAA events and/or at one's own company.
SCAA recognizes the 162 students who have completed this course as having earned the SCAA "Lead Instructor Credential."

Carrboro Coffee Roasters immersed in the entire coffee process from seed to cup!

Carrboro Coffee Roasters has one coffee tree in Carrboro, NC – you can find it in the sunlit window at the Open Eye Café. It may yield a few beans in a few years, maybe enough for one shot of espresso. This point highlights the fact that in the continental United States, coffee can't be a local product. It passes through many, many hands before reaching the barista in the U.S., and some knowledge of coffee's origins is potentially lost at each point along a complicated supply chain.

Carrboro Coffee Roasters support Fair Trade coffee because the certification helps guarantee that farmers receive a fair price for their crop. No certification, however, can replace the experience of traveling to ‘origin’, and working directly with a farmer to ensure that all is as it should be. This is the coffee equivalent of the local food movement. By meeting with farmers, an economic relationship can become a meaningful personal partnership of farmer, roaster, barista and customer. It is here that the true impact of this business reveals itself…the families who grow this treasured bean are impacted directly by what we do…Hence, "relationship coffee."

In March & May 2010, Carrboro Coffee Roaster President, Scott Conary traveled to Honduras to meet the families who grow, pick, sort and ship the coffees that we serve to our customers every day. Scott’s goal is always to develop professional and personal relationships with these farmers based on a shared commitment to high quality artisan coffee, and to study coffee as an agricultural product, as a crop subject to seasonality and intimately tied to the land.

In the mountainous Ocotepeque region of Honduras, Scott stopped in to visit with Saul Melara, whose aptly named PinaBetal (tall pine) farm is 1600 meters (~5,250 feet) above sea level. Carrboro Coffee Roasters, found and purchased Saul’s exceptional coffee through the Cup of Excellence program. Growing award-winning coffee requires paying attention to every detail of the process, including regular pruning and crop rotation. And nothing goes to waste: even the coffee fruit, once washed free from the bean, is composted and used for fertilizer.

In the Santa Barbara Region of Honduras (up from the Comayagua Valley), Scott visited El Aguacate, Tomas Sosa’s Family farm, where has observed firsthand the intricate process of picking coffee cherries.

Because cherries ripen at different times, pickers must pass by each coffee tree many times, meticulously selecting only the ripe ones each time. All this before the coffee is milled, washed and dried, producing the green coffee beans to be roasted.
Anyone who visits the origin of coffee returns home with an appreciation for the delicate, labor-intensive process of coffee production: the journey of "seed to cup."

Now, Scott’s task is to tell this story to whoever will listen. For many customers, knowing the source of coffee can offer a more meaningful experience, a daily level of engagement normally reserved for artisan cheese or wine, but equally as important. The folks at Carrboro Coffee Roasters, and the clients who buy their coffee, are proud to be working with this model of relationship coffee, where the customer can actually be introduced to the farmer!