After much pining and whining, our lovely weekend is almost here! Whoopie!
What are your plans for the weekend? Well, if you haven’t had anything planned, I’ve a humble suggestion for you.
How about sipping freshly brewed coffee while conserving the rainforest? Sounds like a plan? Read on to find out more!
Even though I think coffee is the most delicious drink in the world, I’ve never been a follower of the popular beverage due to its physical ramifications such as heart palpitations and unsightly teeth stains.
But a meeting with Delphine, the Sales and Marketing Manager of Puro Fairtrade Coffee two weeks ago changed my perception of coffee forever.
Of course I’m still hyper and still afraid of teeth stains after coffee but I no longer avoid it like the plague.
Here’s the story.
Two weeks ago, I was invited by Street Directory to attend a Coffee Appreciation Workshop at Puro Fairtrade Coffee which is located at 22 Sin Ming Lane, #04-77 Midview City.
I arrived at the Puro Coffee showroom and was immediately greeted by a classy green Puro signage, Puro environmental awareness posters, delightful laughter of our enthusiastic presenter and barista of the afternoon, Delphine, and of course, the alluring aroma of coffee.
Before we began the workshop, Delphine decided to win us over with Puro’s aromatic coffee and her latte art.
Here are Delphine’s creations.
The coffee tasted as good as it looked – full of flavor and not too bitter. Surprisingly, I thought it beats coffee from other local incumbents (of coffee) hands down.
Apart from stunning art creations on coffee, Delphine also showed off her over the top art skills with this exquisite crane motif on a cup of hot chocolate.
We were definitely caught off-guard by the ornate crane motif and skill-intensive leaf designs. Honestly, I was only expecting a simple heart shape. Haha!
I was certainly also impressed by the young barista’s craft in coffee-making.
I guess it is evident by now that Delphine is more than just a Marketing Manager of a coffee company, she also has a strong passion for her coffee beans and clearly, she would like to further her coffee agenda – to educate people about coffee and the importance of fair trade via her appointment at Puro Coffee.
Delphine’s coffee journey began when she attended a barista crash course organized by Puro Coffee in Belgium a year ago. Her experience in Belgium ignited her interest in coffee and made her fall head over heels with coffee-making. So she decided to pursue her passion by approaching Ryan Tan (two-time Singapore National Barista Championship winner and 2nd Runner up in the World Latte Championship) to show her the ropes of coffee-making and latte art.
Besides learning from the great master of coffee, she also worked hard at honing her barista skills by doing her own research online, practicing on the coffee machines in the office and serving her colleagues good ol’ ‘Delphine Coffee‘ everyday.
The research online paid off. Here’s one of her best finds from the internet – theoatmeal.com.
The poster summarized everything you need to know about coffee from the history, fun facts and defining characteristics of each type of coffee (Espresso, Americano, Capuccino, etc).
This is my key takeaway from this poster.
So now you know there are no differences in the beans really. The types of coffee differ by the amount of milk, water and foam. You can see the contents of the poster here.
I also learnt that the perfect temperature to make coffee is between 88 to 94 degrees. A temperature higher than 94 degrees will affect the coffee’s flavor profile.
However, what intrigued me the most was Puro Coffee’s noble agenda of saving the rainforest and producing organic fair trade coffee.
Puro Fairtrade Coffee functions like a social enterprise in that it buys and protects our precious rainforests with the proceeds from the sale of their products. They also ensure that their suppliers and farmers get a fair and sustainable deal.
In case you’re wondering… Fair Trade is an organized movement that aims to help producers in promoting better trading conditions and sustainability. The movement encourages higher payments to exporters in coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers, and gold. By getting higher prices, it encourages the exporters to be more responsible with the environment when producing their goods.
Watch this video and you’ll get the full picture of Puro Coffee’s fair trade and sustainability movement.
Great video isn’t it?
Now we take a look at Puro Coffee’s products!
Puro Fairtrade Flavored Teas
Fairtrade Coffee Machines
The coffee beans
Cookies
These bags contain the best hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted!
Puro Hot Chocolate Drink
As founder of Regua Rainforest Reserve, Nicholas Locke has put it in the Puro Coffee video -‘Conservation is about the integration of man (the communities that live here) with the nature that surrounds them.’ Puro Coffee steps up their green agenda by offering to recycle their customers’ coffee bean packaging and turn them into useful shopping bags.
Then it was our turn to create some Java art! 😀
And I’m done!
It’s a heart. Can you tell?
I know my ‘heart’ wasn’t exactly perfect. Okay okay… You can barely see the curves of the heart but…
… I’m a latte art noob remember??!!
Now let’s watch the expert demonstrate how the perfect heart is created on the latte.
Wow.
Another crane from Delphine.
By the end of the latte art session, we’ve made enough coffee to serve the entire office.
After the enlightening session, we were each given a goodie bag with the following goodies…
Puro Fairtrade coffee is also renowned for their selection of tea. Here’s the complete list of flavored teas on their menu.
The goodie bag also included this mystery gift. Guess what it was?
It was a box of traditional European games! How refreshing!
I had a great time at Puro Fairtrade Coffee’s showroom. Thanks Delphine and Puro Coffee for your gracious hospitality!
From left to right: Me, Karen, Delphine and Joycelyn
Puro coffee provides the full coffee experience, offering coffee machines and products for homes, restaurants and hotels, as well as providing mobile cart services for events.
If you would like to try Puro Coffee too, I highly recommend this particular coffee stall at Tekka Market that offers pocket-friendly delectable pastries and Cappucinos that are made from Puro coffee beans.
They are located at 328 Cafe Tekka Market #01-328.
If you would like to find out more about Puro Fairtrade Coffee and their full array of services, visit their website at purocoffee.com.sg or their showroom (by appointment only) at
22 Sin Ming Lane, #04-77 Midview City Singapore 573969.
Call them at +65 6659 8233 to book an appointment. They are open from 10am to 5pm on weekdays.
Alright, I’m off to enjoy my Puro Fairtrade cuppa! Have a great weekend!
Your friend,
Juliana
Disclaimer: Please be rest assured that even though the products were sponsored, it does not have any bearing on the content of this post. Opinions stated are objective and genuine.