Early Tuesday morning, every manager, with morning hair and sleep in their eyes, was ready for a quick trip to Jutland. More specifically, Hjerm, Thise and Aarhus.
First stop, Hjerm: Packed tightly together in three cars, packed with good spirits and filter coffee, we arrived in the metropolis of Hjerm, where Birgitte from Thise Mejeriet welcomed us. In Hjerm there is a limestone cave where Thise (the dairy) stores and ages cheeses. The reason why cheeses are stored in a limestone mine is due to the constant temperature and high humidity in the cave year-round.
Dressed in the very fashionable dairy uniform, we were shown around and given answers to our more or less reasonable questions and told various robbery stories about the cave.
Second stop, Michael's farm: Enthralled, and a whole lot more knowledgeable about limestone caves, the whole group arrived at farmer Michael's farm. The familiar smell of the farm hit us like a wall when we greeted Michael in front of the barn. Michael is 30 years old, has a wife and 3 children, a huge farm and 100 Jersey cows.
Michael delivers milk to Thise Dairy, and each of his cows is milked 3 times a day, ending up delivering 30 liters each day.
The cows walk on lush pastures and enjoy life, with views of a fjord and the countryside.
Our English manager, Ross, had a natural talent for handling cows and they quickly flocked to him, and I wonder if Michael calls when help is needed on the farm.
We were also allowed to see the "milking station", which costs around a million DKK and where the cows themselves line up neatly (hehe) to step in and have their udders emptied.
The last note from the farm was 10 minutes of cuddling newborn calves.
Third stop, Thise Dairy: More impressed and much more knowledgeable about cows, we arrived at Thise Dairy.
The trip was described as "just around the corner", which translated from Jutland actually means a 30-35 minute drive.
The tour of the dairy was extremely exciting and featured, among other things, self-driving robots that delivered packaging for the newly produced products. Whether it was milk, cheese, skyr or something else, the robot is programmed to pick it up and deliver it to the packaging line.
We also witnessed a cheese inspection. This means that a gentleman named Hans Erik tasted every single badge of cheese produced at the dairy. It must be said that there are many, and with his experience he assessed whether the cheese met the requirements.
The tour also offered stories about Thise's different types of milk, a detailed overview of how to make cheese and how skyr is a "Copenhagen specialty".
Fourth stop, Aarhus: Enthralled and more knowledgeable about cheese, but very tired, we quickly went to bed after dinner together in Aarhus.
Before the rooster could open its eyes, we were on the road again. This time to visit two coffee shops in Aarhus: La Cabra and Stiller Coffee.
It's always exciting to visit other coffee shops, see how they work and taste their coffee. Maybe you could learn something, or be confirmed in how many skilled baristas there are behind the bar in OC.
After breakfast and coffee at La Cabra, we visited the many-time Danish barista and cupping champion at Stiller Coffee, Søren.
Here we were guided in a fascinating way through a cupping of different types of coffee, with different processing, roast profile and flavor nuances.
When we had tasted coffee brewed using the “Siphon” method, Søren showed us his own way of brewing an espresso.
Without hours on either the grinder or the espresso machine, Søren uses only his experience, eyes and intuition. That is, he estimates how many seconds he holds the bayonet based on how the grinder shoots the coffee. It was impressive how he hit his desired grams with very little difference.
The coffee tasted good, and it was a great learning experience for everyone to see and experience a very traditional approach to brewing espresso.
Well hyped up on caffeine and good experiences, we turned after our visit to Søren, heading towards Devil's Island. Of course, straight into OC and get "En Foss".
Written by Sebastian Lassen - Thank you for reading.
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