Sooke Scoop Merchants Series:
STICK IN THE MUD
DE STIC LIVER K IN TO: T T Eus he Mai HE MU tace n Tr D u Rd. , So nk TEL o E k e B. (250 PHON C. )642 E -563 C 5 S OFF TIC KIN EE@ THE MUD
March 2015
Issue No. One
David Evans and the Alchemy of the Coffee Bean: the Esmeralda
stickinthemud.ca
Arresting aromas: Stick in the Mud's roastoreum is the alchemist's lab where coffee beans are transformed into liquid gold...
FROM BOQUETE PANAMA TO SOOKE B.C. THE STORY BEHIND MESMERIZING ESMERALDA
Unbeknownst to many 'Outlanders', the little sea-side polis of Sooke is undergoing its own renaissance. From the plethora of artists and artisans, to singers, sailors and seamstresses, Sooke and Juan de Fuca are a veritable beehive of cultural flowering. If I had to point to where Sooke's 'pumping heart' of culture resides I would have to go with Eustace road: home to the Community Hall and the Legion. And in a tightly tucked away corner of Eustace, an oasis of coffee, community and culture resides a deceptively small space which houses its own coffee-house re-birth, David Evans' Stick in the Mud. Every renaissance has its cadre of alchemists fine-tuning their magical Elixirs of Life, and Evans is no exception to this rule. His own brand of alchemical gold is the coffee bean of course.
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Fortune tellers have long practiced an art of reading coffee grinds residing at the bottom of a finished cup of coffee to divine the past, present and future of the coffee querent called tasseography.
Quality control, bean by bean
Roastoreum
The Olfactory Test
Muchos Pesos: The Esmeralda once fetched the outrageous price of $350 a pound!!
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ESMERALDA: FATE AND FORTUNA
David weaves together the narrative threads of a superb coffee across a continent. What does this have to do with Fate & Fortuna?
DAVID TELLS THE STORY OF THE ESMERALDA
While this specific form of divination may or may not hold the key to providential revelations, the art itself lies in the crafting of a good story that resonates with soothsaying satisfaction. Evans weaves together a satisfying yarn that goes to the origins of a coffee-growing family. THE PETERSON FAMILY
The story begins with the Peterson Family. Recently, they visited Sooke in April 2014, meeting up with Evans and the Stick in the Mud crew, telling their own story. The family has owned the Hacienda la Esmeralda coffee farm in Panama, for the last 40 years. Close to Sooke's "sister town", Boquete Panama, they also purchased the 'Esmerelda Jaramillo'. It was here on this farm that the wonderful Esmeralda Special trees were discovered and cultivated. COAL HARBOUR AND THE END OF AN ERA
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In the 1950's, the patriarch of the family, Price Peterson, worked in Coal Harbour, near Holberg, in Quatsino Sound, at British Columbia's last whaling station. He was working with the station's chief marine
biologist at the time, Eric Diedrich, studying a parasitic animal found in whales and the pilings of docks. Eric's son, Stephan Diedrich, strangely enough, has a direct connecting thread to Evans because he built the Stick's coffee roasters. PETERSONS WORK WITH THE NGÖBE–BUGLÉ
Price returned to Panama to 'beef up' the family farm by introducing first beef, then dairy cattle. He was reluctant to go into coffee because of the labour situation with the Ngöbe–Buglé that live in the highlands of Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí Province. In a racist climate, the Ngöbe–Buglé people are looked down upon by the Hispanics and European descendents. It is the aboriginals that pick all of the coffee. Price reasoned that if he had to rely on this small group of natives and they organized, they could ruin him and every other coffee grower in Panama. But that never happened. Peterson decided to grow and experiment with coffee. What Price soon realized, was that the Ngöbe–Buglé had no hierarchical structure in their social makeup. It is a tightly knit family-based society.
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What do the coffee grinds divine?
Is it possible to read someone's fortune at the bottom of a coffee cup? Tasseography, the fortune-telling art of reading coffee grinds or tea leaves at the bottom of a cup through an intuitive interpretation of synchronistic events. Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fortune and luck was also associated with Fate: the personification of chance events was closely tied to virtue of character.
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STICK IN THE MUD DISCOVERS A MAGIC BEAN
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Pinpointing the best coffee: Coffea arabica variety geisha While this might lend itself to exploitation of the natives, it seemed good for coffee growers. So as not to exploit the situation with the natives, the Peterson's wanted to build a school, community kitchen, and do what they could for the Ngöbe–Buglé. The Peterson's constructed it all in the early 70's, started growing coffee slowly, and yet...no one went to the schools. After having been exploited for generations by Europeans, the aboriginals didn't trust them with their children. While they worked there, got paid, and appreciated it, they didn't want the Europeans tampering with their children. The school went fallow. When some missionaries arrived they thought they would put on some classes at the school. Eventually, the Ngöbe–Buglé parents started sending their kids because they felt these missionaries were not there to take advantage of them, but were serving a higher purpose. While we may question the motives of these missionaries, the natives felt at the time that these people were very different from the people who had exploited them for so long. COFFEA ARABICA VARIETY GEISHA
And so it all slowly began to work. Over a few years they were selling good coffee. Not great coffee, but pretty darn good. Soon they bought another farm across the road. Suddenly, they noticed all of their coffee tasted a little bit better. Up to that point, all the coffee beans were blended together.
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They deduced that one plot on the farm must be producing something special. Daniel Peterson, the son and farm manager triangulated all the different varieties of Coffea Arabica and found one small area that was growing Coffea arabica var. geisha. That variety, they realized, was spectacular. The Geisha was experimented with in particular because it was resistant to "rust" (roya disease) caused by a fungus that has decimated most of the crops in Roasting beans in a Diedrich coffee roaster is a fine art Central America. Also, at certain elevations of up to 1850 metres, it is outstanding. It is now grown all over the world. Since the Peterson's commanded the amazing price of $350.25 per pound at the Best of Panama AuctionInteresting thread: Naturals Category, making it the highest Stick in the Mud's price ever paid for green, unwashed coffee.
THE STICK IN THE MUD FINDS ITS WAY
Back to the Stick, and the threads of this narrative: David's mentor and coffee roaster was Sam Jones of 2% Jazz, another coffee Mecca on the South Island. David asked Sam if he could get five pounds of Esmeralda. It sold for $8, a small French pressed cup's worth at the Stick in the early days. "We got a lot of media coverage for that one. It really helped the Stick find it's way in the beginning, showing who we were and what we wanted to be " Evans said.
coffee roasters are built by Diedrich Roasters founded by Stephan Diedrich whose father worked as a marine biologist at Coal Harbour's last whaling station where he met Price Peterson, a biologist turned coffeefarmer extraordinaire...
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COFFEE, COMMUNITY, CHARITY
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How a sack of coffee and good fortune made their journey up North to the Stick Dave Bennett of Sooke factors into the story heavily" he added. Together with Dave Mallett, they approached Evans. Before they opened, the Stick was "this weedy, nasty, spray-painted loading bay" Evans recalled. The 'three Daves' cleaned up the courtyard, painted the place and helped jazz it up. D ave B e n n e t t h a d t r i e d s o m e Esmeralda with the Evans. He has a son living in Panama. While he was down there visiting him, he told anyone who could speak English that there was "this little coffee shop in Sooke, and they've got the world's best coffee and it's $8/cup...". Eventually he told someone at a Rotary Club meeting in Boquete, and they asked, "Is that the Esmerelda? That's our coffee!". And thus was the beginning of the Stick's relation with the Peterson's directly. It
was Bennet who introduced Evans to Price Peterson and a deal was struck to donate a sack of coffee to raise proceeds for charity and scholarships in Boquete. Peterson agreed and told Evans to come and pick it up (in Panama). David then reached out to a wo m a n h e h a d n eve r m e t fo r assistance. She agreed to help and brought the coffee as far North as Oakland California after hearing about the cause. On the next leg of the journey, Evans requested help from Hercules Trucking, to get the coffee up to Sooke. "No problem" was the prompt reply, but then the sack was hung up at the customs office, that wanted $120. David tried the story one more time, but customs held firm and he readily handed over the cash. In the end, he ended up paying .75/lbs,
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Dave prepares the Esmerelda for a tasting utilizing several brewing methods
roasted and sold it, raising nearly $2000 for scholarships in Boquete. This past year, the Stick and her customers raised another $2000 for charity. Half of it went to scholarships and the other half to the charity arm of the Sooke Firefighters training and assistance of the Boquete Pamana firefighters, Fraternidad de Bomberos. As the story draws to a close, Evans proudly proceeds to deliver the goods, brewing the Esmerelda with a variety of methods. Sipping the citrus and apricot accents (my impressions) I begin to rethink black coffee. The convoluted, synchronistic threads of how the Geisha Esmeralda made its way to my cup came to a close as I savour the liquid joy of two of my favourite things: a good flowing story, and a hot cup of Jo.
Stick in the Mud barista Andrew
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Sooke Scoop: Merchants
Jill enjoying a massive cup of coffee in the Stick in the Mud's colourful and welcoming courtyard.
If you enjoyed this story and wish to have your own business, art, craft, or services' story told, please contact me at: sookescoop@gmail. com There are a variety of marketing packages and budget ranges to choose from. By working together we will build a conscientious, community & help support independent media. Sincerely, Dante
SOOKE SCOOP .COM
FR O M : SO O K E SC OOP So ok eS co op .c om so ok es co op @ gm ai l. co
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February 2015
Issue No. One
CONTACT:
Sooke Scoop Sookescoop@gmail.com (250)642-4704 Sooke, British Columbia