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The story of the Todra

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Have you heard of the Café Todra? It’s a coffee like a Latte but in a glass 2 thirds the size. Same amount of coffee as a latte just less milk. Basically the same flavour just a little stronger. It’s my coffee of choice. I drink it as a Soy Todra. It’s a coffee that any coffee maker could stumble upon but the name Todra has a small story behind it.

The story actually starts years before Urban Grind when I worked for another cafe that served a long standing coffee in the same size glass but they were over extracting the coffee by half filling the glass with expresso before topping up with milk. It seems that many cafés do not understand what ‘espresso based’ coffee means. For me it is 25-30mls of coffee poured over 20-25 seconds. Those numbers can vary depending on the coffee and the preferred method of the coffee maker but all good coffee makers will agree that there is a point where there is nothing more to extract from the grind. To continue pouring is to simply pour dirty water over good coffee. So I started pouring true espresso based coffee and put an end to the over extraction. I know I was onto something when a customer walked in and said, “I have been ordering the same coffee from this shop for 14 years and that was the best ________ that I have ever had.” It became my coffee of choice then.

Jump to the first week of Urban Grind opening and some climbing friends drop in from an overseas trip to play chess and drink coffee. I asked them what they would like and they ask me to make them what ever I drink. I return with 2 coffees to find amazed looks on their faces as they quickly explain to me how for the last 3 months they have been rock climbing in a place called Todra Gorge in Morocco drinking the very same coffee every morning before climbing. The name Todra was adopted. Though we don’t use it anymore, the phrase ‘Please do not ask for Decafe as refusal may offend.” was coined 5 minutes later when one of the climbers made the joke. He said I could use it, and I did until Nestlé said I couldn’t.

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Have a sit in coffee like Curly would.

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

I was recently emailed this wonderful letter that turns out to be from one of Michael Leunig’s books called The Curly Pyjama Letters. The short version goes like this:

“What is worth doing and what is worth having?” asks Vasco of his friend Mr. Curly.

“It is worth doing nothing and it is worth having a rest”, advises the sagacious Mr. Curly. “In spite of all the difficulty it may cause, you MUST rest Vasco – otherwise you will become RESTLESS!”

For me this translates into sitting down and drinking your coffee in house. Take-away is so popular these days as we are all in such a hurry to get to work etc, but surely we all deserve at least 20 minutes to sit, think about our day (or not), enjoy your coffee and rest. If I can’t convince you I am sure Mr. Curly will…

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who on earth cares at Christmas time?

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

‘who on earth cares’ that’s who.

I just got an email from the Australian Conservation Foundation with 5 tips for a sustainable festive season. As I really liked the idea behind tip number one I thought I might post the tips here for everyone.

1. Buy a service, not a product:
To reduce embodied carbon pollution and water consumption, think about buying someone a service – say a voucher for a massage, rather than a massaging appliance. Vouchers for other services, (such as gardening or housecleaning) or film and theatre tickets are also good.

2. Buy gifts that give twice:
Give your friends and family membership to charities, overseas aid groups or environment organisations – such as the Australian Conservation Foundation!
Get someone an ACF membership, see Karma Currency for charity gift voucher ideas or visit Oxfam Unwrapped.

3. Buy carbon offsets:
You can choose the amount you want to spend and offset someone’s car travel, household energy use or airline travel, once-off or for a year. A great gift for people coming from interstate to celebrate the festive season!

4. Get a really green Christmas tree:
Go for an Australian native tree in a pot which you can use year after year, or can plant in the garden after Christmas. Tip: Support the campaign to revive the native Wollemi Pine, an endangered Australian native which makes a great Christmas tree!

5. If you’re organising a get-together with family or friends, check out what you can do to make your event more sustainable here.

Read the rest of the email here.

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Pecha Kucha Brisbane

Friday, December 5th, 2008

I had a great night last night at Pecha Kucha Brisbane. It was my third time and they are just getting better and better. It was such an inspiring evening to see what the creative people of Brisbane are getting up to and dreaming about.

Adam Sebastian West was the reason this week that I made a special effort not to go to bed instead. I have known about Creative Commons for a while and totally love it but it was great to hear the story again and Elliott Bledsoe gave a really good presentation. I have never really been interested in fashion (I can hear you saying, “Yes, we can tell!”) but the stuff that George Wu does is outstanding. And last but not least I really enjoyed Tanya Ruxton’s talk. If I understood correctly, she is the founder of Blanket Magazine.

So check out Pecha Kucha, it’s a great night at a great venue.

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Amy is back! But for a limited time only.

Friday, November 28th, 2008

Finally I am having a couple of days off. The lovely Amy is coming back this weekend so that I can spend some time with Oscar, get a massage and maybe even read a couple of pages of my book before I fall asleep over and over again. So if you would like to catch up remember that we close at midday both Saturday and Sunday now and open at 7 on Saturday and 8 on Sunday. If you don’t get a chance to visit Amy maybe you can use the comments here to leave her a message and say hello. Have a great weekend. Morgs.

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