Tableya: Hot Chocolate with a Cause

Two weeks ago, I visited Askinosie Chocolate Factory on Commercial Street for their free Tableya tasting event. After hearing the story behind the product, I am just so excited to share this story with everyone. It is such a neat process.

First of all, Askinosie Chocolate Factory is a factory in Springfield, Mo., that is trying to make a difference in the chocolate industry by making direct trade relationships with the farmers and giving them a portion of the profits. Every bar has a photo and autograph of the lead farmer of that specific cacao farm. I just heart their mission!

Their newest product, Tableya, is a traditional Filipino hot chocolate drink and means “tablet.” They source cacao beans in a town called Davao, and they started noticing a malnutrition problem at a nearby elementary school, so they brainstormed a way to help.

The PTA of the elementary school creates these tablets from the cacao beans and sells them to Shawn Askinosie for $1. Shawn sells in the US for $10. The $9 profit is ALL given to Convoy of Hope, a local non-profit that focuses on feeding initiatives and disaster relief all over the world—including the Philippines, which funds the food program at the elementary school.

So the parents have a “stake in the outcome” of their child’s health, and the program is dependent on the sales of product instead of donations. There are over 500 students at this elementary school, and they are measuring the students overall health to see the success of the program.

I am just so excited for this brilliant idea that is win, win for everyone! I am pretty sure that many people in my life are going to this in their stockings this year for Christmas! Who doesn’t love yummy hot chocolate that helps give Filipino children the nutrition they need to survive?!

-Beth

Bloom: A New Coffee Brewing App

I have some exciting news in the world of coffee!

Recently, a new iPhone app was released called Bloom, which aids manual coffee brewing. It is essentially a glorified timer that is customizable. 

The opening screen looks like this:

It comes with basic specs for the most common manual coffee brewers: Beehouse, Chemex, Clever, French Press, Siphon and V60. So when you click on one of the brewers, it gives you how much coffee and water to use and how much time to let the water be with the coffee. 

It even dings when your coffee is done brewing!

What sets Bloom apart from other coffee brewing apps is that it is customizable. You can change the basic settings to whatever you like. You can also add extra settings. So maybe you like to use 24 grams of coffee with your favorite coffee from El Salvador, but for your Sumatra coffee you like 25 grams. 

It is all up to YOU! 

I love this new app because it satisfies the needs of a coffee explorer, who does not know what do yet with their new coffee toys, and the needs of a coffee scientist, who likes to experiment various ways to make coffee. AND you can store any notes you want to remind the you that is not fully awake because you have not had your coffee yet.

I also love this app because Jeremy Boles, a Coffee Ethic regular and spouse of a Coffee Ethic employee, designed it. Yeah, for awesome Springfield people making stuff happen!

If you want to download the app, check it out in the iTunes store, and if this sounds like a foreign language, feel free to shoot me any questions! :)

My at home coffee station

Happy coffee making!

-Beth

Pumpkins, Birthdays & Flash Mobs

This past weekend was my birthday!

And two of my lovely friends from high school and my friend from SBU and her husband came to visit me for the weekend.

It was perfect!

We caught up, ate at my favorite restaurant, Nonna's, drank lots of coffee, carved pumpkins, watched a Thriller Flash Mob, went vintage shopping, toured Askinosie Chocolate Factory, took pictures in a creep book store and ate cupcakes.

Probably the highlight of the entire weekend was my friend Whitney joining the Thriller Flash Mob on C-Street. She knew the dance, and Travis and Suzie convinced her to join the encore.

Here is the video for your enjoyment:

Happy Belated Halloween from Daphne!