had what i felt was an amazing origin espresso today. a wonderful Yirgacheffe 3 days out of the roaster. wonderfully sweet, with a medium body and lovely milk chocolate notes. people noticed hints of musk and some grapefruit rind as well. fantastic aromatics - a really delicate and polished coffee with shocking balance.
lovely!
3.31.2005
3.30.2005
don't be a chimp
sometimes it takes forever for observations and opinions to slowly crystalize into something i can express. at other times, things just snap into focus all of a sudden.
i've been exchanging emails with Andrew Barnett for the last few days and today i had one of those moments of clarity.
most of us in the coffee world are learning on a very basic, lower brain stem, trial and error basis. we mimic the actions of methods of people we respect. we try and adopt or discard. but we don't understand. or perhaps more accurately, we don't try to understand first, and then formulate a tactical plan based on our understanding.
let me try and clarify what i mean with an example.
most of us talk about the importance of tamping. most of us talk about tamping level, about tamping with at least 30lbs of pressure. but what is the goal of tamping? not only do we not talk about what the goal is - most of us don't think about the goal. honestly, i doubt must of us have ever tried to understand what the goal is. if we were to think about the goal - then all of a sudden we would be able to evaluate methodologies for achieving that goal and it would be obvious what would work and what would not. so... what is the goal of tamping? well, if we understand espresso as well as we can, we can reach the conclusion that the primary goals of tamping are: preservation of distribution and elimination of paths of least resistance. okay, so we have to understand a little deeper to see why this is so. an understanding of hydrodynamics makes it clear that an even and optimized extraction of coffee depends on an even density and resistence in the coffee bed. so... understanding this requires an understanding of hydrodynamics as well as coffee extraction. understanding coffee extraction requires an understanding of coffee at a physical and chemical level.
do all of us go through the kind of process that i've reverse engineered in this example? do we try to understand espresso?
or do we just pick up a stick and poke it into a termite mound because we saw another chimp do it?
i've been exchanging emails with Andrew Barnett for the last few days and today i had one of those moments of clarity.
most of us in the coffee world are learning on a very basic, lower brain stem, trial and error basis. we mimic the actions of methods of people we respect. we try and adopt or discard. but we don't understand. or perhaps more accurately, we don't try to understand first, and then formulate a tactical plan based on our understanding.
let me try and clarify what i mean with an example.
most of us talk about the importance of tamping. most of us talk about tamping level, about tamping with at least 30lbs of pressure. but what is the goal of tamping? not only do we not talk about what the goal is - most of us don't think about the goal. honestly, i doubt must of us have ever tried to understand what the goal is. if we were to think about the goal - then all of a sudden we would be able to evaluate methodologies for achieving that goal and it would be obvious what would work and what would not. so... what is the goal of tamping? well, if we understand espresso as well as we can, we can reach the conclusion that the primary goals of tamping are: preservation of distribution and elimination of paths of least resistance. okay, so we have to understand a little deeper to see why this is so. an understanding of hydrodynamics makes it clear that an even and optimized extraction of coffee depends on an even density and resistence in the coffee bed. so... understanding this requires an understanding of hydrodynamics as well as coffee extraction. understanding coffee extraction requires an understanding of coffee at a physical and chemical level.
do all of us go through the kind of process that i've reverse engineered in this example? do we try to understand espresso?
or do we just pick up a stick and poke it into a termite mound because we saw another chimp do it?
we've been frantically cupping coffees of late. nothing like what Duane and those folks experience in the CoE judging (6 and more flights a day) but still enough to make me jittery even if i spit.
general thoughts from the cuppings... while we're seeing some really amazing coffees on the table, there are still far too many samples that show defect. in one flight we found that 2/3 of the cups had defect. given that we're only buying the top coffees and only working with the top farms, co-ops and importers and given that we have a reputation for being willing to pay for top coffees but only being interested in top coffees... i don't understand how this happens.
on the other hand, there have been some really outrageous coffees. standouts have included our current Yirgacheffe, a sample Guat or two, a sample Harar and our current Mandheling.
we've also been pulling a bunch of different coffees as single origin espressos to see how they're evolving. it's been very interesting. i'm sure there are some lessons and conclusions but right now it's all too complicated in my brain for me to parse.
i've been really focusing on understanding taste and flavour of late. it's an incredibly interesting and important topic. it shocks me how little we all know about this.
general thoughts from the cuppings... while we're seeing some really amazing coffees on the table, there are still far too many samples that show defect. in one flight we found that 2/3 of the cups had defect. given that we're only buying the top coffees and only working with the top farms, co-ops and importers and given that we have a reputation for being willing to pay for top coffees but only being interested in top coffees... i don't understand how this happens.
on the other hand, there have been some really outrageous coffees. standouts have included our current Yirgacheffe, a sample Guat or two, a sample Harar and our current Mandheling.
we've also been pulling a bunch of different coffees as single origin espressos to see how they're evolving. it's been very interesting. i'm sure there are some lessons and conclusions but right now it's all too complicated in my brain for me to parse.
i've been really focusing on understanding taste and flavour of late. it's an incredibly interesting and important topic. it shocks me how little we all know about this.
3.28.2005
more lever action
we spent some more time with the La Pavoni before folks took off. it was super fun.
Bronwen got to pull some shots of Nicaragua Segovia and pulled two nice shots (one of which was really good indeed).
it's not an easy machine to use - to say the least.
on the other hand, when you get it right the shots have a buttery mouthfeel that is amazing. they seem a bit less "fuzzy" than good shots from pump machines.
and the best shots i've had from this machine are as good as anything i've had from any machine (La Marzocco, Mistral, Synesso, whatever).
Bronwen got to pull some shots of Nicaragua Segovia and pulled two nice shots (one of which was really good indeed).
it's not an easy machine to use - to say the least.
on the other hand, when you get it right the shots have a buttery mouthfeel that is amazing. they seem a bit less "fuzzy" than good shots from pump machines.
and the best shots i've had from this machine are as good as anything i've had from any machine (La Marzocco, Mistral, Synesso, whatever).
3.27.2005
fun with levers
i had an excellent time this morning making espresso drinks for valerie and bronwen on the La Pavoni. a good macchiato for Bronwen, a good cappuccino for Valerie and a nice shot of espresso for me.
it's a pain, it's a lot of work, there are all sorts of tricks and hijinks... but the resulting drink quality is pretty amazing for a home machine.
i really like the mouthfeel i'm getting with a good shot from this machine.
with the Hairbender i'm getting very nice buttery sweetness (a sort of butterscotch note) and some dutch processed cocoa in the finish when pulled on the Pavoni.
i'm going to try pulling some shots of the Rwanda Karaba as well as the Nicaragua Segovia. i think we should see interesting results.
as a general rule, i'm finding that accuracy of grind is incredibly important on this machine - more so that with any other machine i've used. and there is a sequence of steps and techniques which does work - but variance from this optimal methodology results in issues (to say the least).
it's a pain, it's a lot of work, there are all sorts of tricks and hijinks... but the resulting drink quality is pretty amazing for a home machine.
i really like the mouthfeel i'm getting with a good shot from this machine.
with the Hairbender i'm getting very nice buttery sweetness (a sort of butterscotch note) and some dutch processed cocoa in the finish when pulled on the Pavoni.
i'm going to try pulling some shots of the Rwanda Karaba as well as the Nicaragua Segovia. i think we should see interesting results.
as a general rule, i'm finding that accuracy of grind is incredibly important on this machine - more so that with any other machine i've used. and there is a sequence of steps and techniques which does work - but variance from this optimal methodology results in issues (to say the least).
3.24.2005
Vancouver rules
Vancouver is now one of the only (or perhaps the only) place in the world where you can check out coffees from two of my favorite roasters.
Caffe Artigiano has long used coffees from Intelligentsia. This includes their crowd-favorite espresso blend Black Cat.
And now The Elysian Room is using coffees from The Stumptown (including our own favorite espresso - Hairbender).
I've always been a big fan of Vancouver. It's a beautiful city. There is some great food. People are incredibly nice. there is incredible access to the outdoors.
Between Artigiano, Elysian Room and the venerable JJ Bean it also has really good coffee.
I'm thinking I need to take a vacation soon...
Caffe Artigiano has long used coffees from Intelligentsia. This includes their crowd-favorite espresso blend Black Cat.
And now The Elysian Room is using coffees from The Stumptown (including our own favorite espresso - Hairbender).
I've always been a big fan of Vancouver. It's a beautiful city. There is some great food. People are incredibly nice. there is incredible access to the outdoors.
Between Artigiano, Elysian Room and the venerable JJ Bean it also has really good coffee.
I'm thinking I need to take a vacation soon...
i just returned from the doctor.
another good news bad news kind of day.
on the good side - i'm out of my cast and into an orthopedic boot air cast kind of robo thing. i can take it off to bathe (aaahhhh).
on the bad side - i'm still on the crutches for another 3 or so weeks. i've still got one vertical fracture that hasn't healed up.
but it looks like i might be able to walk a bit and stand and pull shots a bit (in the robo boot) at the SCAA show and i could well be back behind the bar with a few weeks after that.
another good news bad news kind of day.
on the good side - i'm out of my cast and into an orthopedic boot air cast kind of robo thing. i can take it off to bathe (aaahhhh).
on the bad side - i'm still on the crutches for another 3 or so weeks. i've still got one vertical fracture that hasn't healed up.
but it looks like i might be able to walk a bit and stand and pull shots a bit (in the robo boot) at the SCAA show and i could well be back behind the bar with a few weeks after that.
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