Yes, I believe it is. We’ve had an amazing few weeks since we’ve relaunched Ashtanga Brighton. The response has been fantastic! We love the comments and feedback – so keep em coming! As I mentioned in my recent post Ashtanga Brighton reloaded our vision is:
“To inspire people to find freedom through practice.”
With this goal in mind we invited Louise to guest blog for us and she came up with this amazing post: Why I practice full intermediate. This post really sparked something in you, our readers and so far we’ve had 17 comments.
Louise is a devoted student of Nancy Gilgoff and after reading one particular comment Nancy decided to respond with a follow up post. Nancy Gilgoff responds is a moving and thoughtful post, a deep acknowledgement of parampara, wisdom and acceptance. So far 31 people have left comments… Would you like to add your voice? Please leave a comment.
Nancy really struck a chord with many of you and inspired Peg from Ashtanga Dispatch to write a moving and personal letter: To Nancy Gilgoff. Thanks Peg for sharing this!
It must be said that while our vision is clear, we don’t have all the answers (yes, its true!) so we invite you the readers to let us know: What are the important issues you face as a community of practitioners?
Send us a message on our Contact page or leave a comment on one of our posts – we’d love to hear from you. But now, what about that coffee break?
The best beans in Mysore
That heading got your attention, didn’t it? We’ve been in Mysore over 6 months and I’m happy to report that I’ve finally got my hands on some great beans!
Who to ignore
I am unashamedly a coffee snob and I hand grind my beans every morning.
In search of the genuine article I have tried and dismissed:
- Trupti Coffee AKA Chocolate Man
- Jois Coffee on G3 high street (Gokulam 3rd stage – not to be confused with 3G which is something else entirely!)
- and the other coffee shop at the top of Contour Road near High Tension Double road.
Only buy your coffee at one these 3 places if there is some kind of crisis. To give you a benchmark I’m comparing my coffee against the likes of artisan roasters, Monmouth and Square Mile.
Interestingly just a 2 hour drive from Mysore lies the coffee growing area of Coorg, so there really isn’t a good excuse for good coffee to be so hard to find!
Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters
Firstly, props must go out to my South African brother and Earth Loaf founder, David Belo for switching me on to Blue Tokai. While they’re not actually based in Mysore, you can order online and you should have your order within a week. They have a twice weekly roast cycle for guaranteed freshness.
Not sure where to start?
No problem, they do a handy little Medium Roast Sampler Pack which I tried first before finally settling on their MS Estate Dark Roast – these beans are incredible and have a beautiful shine to them and a heady bouche! I don’t often use fancy French words so these beans are special! If you’re after a medium roast (which most are) I can recommend Coorg’s Bibi Plantantion AA Arabica. You can also choose different grinds to suit your equipment or beans if you grind your own. One final tip: When ordering online go for the “pay on delivery option”. It costs just R70 and you don’t need to add your card details.
I am not such a coffee snob or even a expert but do like a good coffee and when in Gokulam, as a recommendation for those who like to make their own post practice plunge, I love buying my bags of coffee from Bay Leaf, the Spice Shop on the left on the way up the 1st Main, Gokulam Park Road. On the way up to Nalpak and the supermarket. Guru Prasad the owner is lovely and for being a regular you get a 5 rupee discount, so sweet. His coffee is called Prachina and comes ground or in beans and also comes from Coorg. I just wish I had bought more bags back to Australia as I just ran out. Boo.
Hey Gia, thanks for commenting and the tip. Will check Guru Prasad’s coffee out. Its great to hear of more Coorg coffee available in Gokulam!
I’m glad the spirit of Small Batch is alive and well in Mysore!
Hey Louise, hopefully we’ll catch up with you guys in Brighton at Small Batch soon. x
Thanks Gia 🙂 Glad that you liked the coffee available in Bay leaf. That is really encouraging.