08.01.07
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 5:09 pm by Alchemist
For years, I have stowed a disparate
assortment of brewers and grinders in my
luggage to maintain the coffee loop when
away from the roastery. Packing the french
press was always a challenge. Travelling
overseas required a search for appropriate
adaptors never mind the inextricable puzzle
of voltage differences. Still, I lugged.
Lately, however, I realised how things had gotten wonderfully simple - no more plug problems, no more breakage anxieties, and a lighter load off the turnstile. The coffee? Amazing!
In true coffee fashion (read: hello serendipity), this new evolution happened when I forgot to pack the french press. With only fresh-off-the-tray Holy Hildegard! and a hand grinder in tow, the most obvious brewing option was a conventional cupping.
True cupping is far more complex, but for travelling, cupping goes like this:
> turn kettle on
> while the kettle’s going, start grinding (a heaped tablespoon gives me roughly 8g, perfect)
> let kettle sit off the boil for a few seconds
> warm cup with hot water, discard
> put grinds in cup
> pour hot water over coffee making sure all grounds are wetted
> let infuse for 3-5 minutes
> break the crust (smell!)
> skim surface of residual grinds
> drink (slowly)…
…watch borders fade and timezones shrivel the strange becomes home to a well-known ritual.
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30.12.06
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 6:15 pm by The Coffee Alchemist
Working in a team for the TransTasman competition, I am reminded of a phenomenon uniqe to the environment of a barista team - the barista language.
Inevitably, during the course of working closely together, depending on each other for a smooth workflow while maintaining the veneer of professionalism, language evolves within barista colonies. Acutely attuned members of some colonies even reach the wordless, signless, heights of telepathic cooperation.
The following are some experienced and observed situations and their translations:
Barista rushes to the kitchen
“Quick, hide! It’s the very-weak-dry-foam-only-cappuccino-with-choc-sauce-lattice-topping woman again!”
Barista sighs at milk jug
“Poor cows, not happy.”
Barista rushes to grab a group handle
“Goody! It’s the doppio ristretto piccolo coffeegeek again.”
Barista A (shooter) hands over the cappuccino cup to Barista B (steamer). Barista B smiles.
“Great shot, dude.”
Barista stares unusually long and hard at an order docket
“WTF…decaf chai?!”
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01.11.06
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 10:10 am by The Coffee Alchemist
Reward for all the toiling and troubling at the cauldron. Judges agree with all you who are enamored by Holy Hildegard!, she just reaped the Gold for the Filter Coffee category of the Golden Bean roaster awards. We also garnered a Silver for Retail Filter, and two Bronze for Espresso and Organic Espresso.
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13.06.06
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 12:46 pm by The Coffee Alchemist
With compulsive fervour every morning I have coffee by the carafe courtesy of my Bodum vacuum brewer. I so look forward to it everyday especially if I’ve lined up a treat for myself like a fruity Ethiopian, a berryful Kenya, a really plummy Indonesian, or a sweet Central American.
Sometimes I dream about it the night before.
A lot of folks have wine with their dinner, and the pairing of wine and food is always a promise. It can get quite involved. It can yield dinner table alchemy or a convolution of gastro interruptus.
Sadly no romantic rigmarole exists for the humble breakfast. Which isn’t quite right. After all it IS the first meal of the day, and the promise of a perfect match between breakfast and coffee can be just as fascinating.
To take a few examples (I refuse to get all wanky about this, but I won’t stop those who want to invoke creme fraiche, beurre and satsuma):
- Toasted english muffins drizzled with fresh honey - becomes a treat when washed down with some light roast Kenya. The currants in the Kenya play with the musky accents of the honey.
- Baked beans on toast - a stodgy favourite gets some slick with a floral Ethiopia Yirgacheffe. Uplifting jasmine or coffee blossom lifts the stodge and give the beans a measure of sophistication. Is it a contrast? Or a complement? Lines are blurred and I don’t care. It’s nice.
- Pancakes with maple syrup - now this has to be citrus territory. A snappy Strictly High Grown Nicaragua with overtones of either lemon or orange peel makes the pancakes more than just a sweet treat. Just imagine the heavy eggy steam of the pancakes and the deep woody sweetness of maple syrup, now underscore this with wafts of citrus peel from the Nicaragua…life is good!
- Plain toast - is this a challenge? Not necessarily. It can be a blank canvas to splash whatever hue one feels like throwing. Excellent for a powerful solo act. Enter an Indonesian, Kenyan, Ethiopian, Guatemalan, or a Papua New Guinean. Long live the toast!
I live a stone’s throw away from Vietnamese convenient shops and they always have these freshly made coconut sticky rice and bean pudding. I wonder which coffee I can have with this…
It’s also winter time and sometimes I’ve a hankering for good ol’ porridge. Now, what shall I roast up for a porridge match…
Hmmm…
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26.05.06
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 3:44 pm by Alchemist
I hope it never stops coming. I hope it never ends - the fact that there’s always something new about coffee. And then there are gizmos, gadgetry, other gobsmacking coffee goodies being manufactured as I write. The Aeropress landed on my lap a few months ago. I’ve brewed quite a few cups with it since, but I’ve only now gathered all my thoughts and findings on it.
When I opened the box I immediately thought this is perfect for camping. Sturdy, simple, light.
Brewing is easy. I fitted one filter on to the black cap and screwed the cap on to the brewing chamber.
Then I ground some freshly roasted Colombia Pensilvania on a drip filter grind setting and, using the scoop supplied, dosed 2 level scoops of coffee into the brewing chamber.
As I was intending to make strong brewed coffee, I filled the plunger part - which doubles up as a water measuring tube - up to the top of the #2 oval (later on I measured how much this is in millilitres and it’s 150ml).
As the instructions were insistent on the unusual brewing temperature of 80C, I waited a while to get my water temp down before I poured the water into the main brewing chamber and stirred.
Plunge away!
Minutes earlier I tried a pretend plunge with the plunger and was surprised at how taut it was. Now with filter, coffee and water providing even more resistance, the plunge was a muscle job even with a moistened rubber seal. The cup underneath really need to be made of stern stuff!
(Note: I later brewed with a much coarser grind, and it still required some elbow grease.)
The cup was surprisingly smooth, balanced with a bit of acidity, and some back palate oomph. Mid-palate is paved with a nutty sweetness that is typical of this coffee. There’s undoubtedly body there as the brew fills my mouth and resists my tongue, but I need to compare it with my vacpot brew.
I read the instructions further and it said that I should dilute the brew with hot water. What for? I already like this stuff. More work? Nyah.
BUT IS IT ESPRESSO?
I can be downright dismissive and say no way can that contraption make espresso. But I’ll never know for sure until I’ve tried. I’ve worked long enough with coffee to know it hides a lot of surprises.
So using the same coffee and the same amount, I brewed this time with 70 mls of 80C water.
Ack! First of all it had diddlysquat crema and the cup was shudderingly sharp with overbearing metallic, iodine-like flavours.
I immediately poured the whole beans into my grinder hopper and made myself espressos with the Linea. With much relief, it tasted like how it should taste: full, viscous, coating, syrupy, sweet, short with some fruit and nuts on the nose and a crema that clung to the cup’s bottom. Now this is espresso. The Aeropress brew is not.
(L) Aeropress espresso (not) ; (R) Nice puck
Now, for some cupping comparisons (out of 5):
Aeropress Vacpot
Aroma 3 4
Acidity 3.5 4
Body 2.5 3
Flavour 4 4
Aftertaste 4 4
Conclusion:
I like Aeropress. It’s novel but simple. It makes great coffee, but will I trade in my vacpot for it? No. But at least I now have something I can take with me when I travel or go camping.
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30.04.06
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 4:06 pm by The Coffee Alchemist
Another round of competition is over. Another season passes.
I like how as a barista, my seasons are marked by competitions.
As competition time begins bean inventories take place, beans are picked and primed. The fires are stoked and the cauldron seasoned for a special burning. Then, like winter, a season passes hunched in front of the fire, while blending maps are drawn and redrawn, formulas pored over, tables groaned under the weight of stained demitasses. Nights passed with the rhythm of the brew switch flicks and the drone of grinders.
After the day of reckoning, the season passes. Cups, trays, and competition oddities are packed and stored. A spring clean reveals the floor is blue after all. The calendar fills with errands and appointments long overdue.
As I fly with the spring wind, I look back and I smile:
- that Kenya’s tamed; in summer it’s really nice to suck on ice cubes made with brewed Kenya coffee
- music is a lot more like espresso than I can ever imagine
- espresso blends like structure, and I like the structure of this one
- I need to do something about that grinder static
- it will help if one of my hands can transform into a shopvac or some kind of wet’ndry suckerupper
- almonds go well with blackcurrants
- fizz is good for the nose
- I got to make beautiful music with two very different espresso instruments, explore discord and resonate the harmonics
- the dose is much like a volume dial, some sounds register better soft while some are better loud (and some folks are deaf)
- my mazzer major screams like a slasher survivor.
A new blend blinks at me fresh and startled like a dragon hatchling…
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09.04.06
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 4:09 pm by The Coffee Alchemist
Extracting espresso has never been a matter of estimation.
It is a matter of utmost precision.
It is no surprise that those who take espresso seriously are also very familiar with a myriad of measuring instruments like manometers, thermometers, scales, tds meters, ph meters, moisture meters, hygrometers, gas spectrometers…the list goes ever on, and these are only for quantitave data.
For qualitative data, tools of assessment abound. There’s the SCAA Flavour Wheel, the Le Nez du Cafe scent kits, cupping protocols, tongue maps…this list also goes ever on.
In the exciting world of specialty coffee, the path seems to go ever on with regards to technology and standards being developed and adopted. Just as you thought you’re finally getting a hang of something then some newfangled technology pops up offering novel and exciting perspectives.
So it is with great surprise and consternation that I’ve come across many commercial espresso machines, on the bench and working, that had not encountered any calibration since they were installed. Twice I’ve seen the espresso steam up the spouts coming out at goodness knows what scalding degree even after flushing an insane amount. The times I’ve felt comfortable enough to whip out my temperature probe I measured temps ranging from 97°C - 101°C at the group head. Yikes!
According to several people and bodies, brew head temps should read:
88°C ± 2°C - Italian Espresso National Institute;
90°C ± 5°C - Illy, Espresso: The Chemistry of Quality 1998, pp7;
90.5 - 96°C - The World Barista Championships.
Andueza et al writing on “The Influence of Extraction Temperature on the Final Quality of Espresso Coffee” in the Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture found that:
“…the contents of pyrazines were significantly increased with a water temperature of 96°C and these could be the origin of the highest burnt/roasty flavour…
The best profile of key odorants and flavour notes…were obtained for 92°C Arabica espresso coffee.” (pp245)
Sure, there are many parametres not considered in this experiment like the origin of coffees in the blend, the density of the beans, roast degrees, roast profiles etc. that affect the organoleptic properties of the espresso coffee, but 97°C + is slipping towards the too hot side.
At the other end, machines can also run too cool. Sometimes measurements are taken from a probe within the boiler without consideration for temperature loss as the water travels to the group head. My own machine suffers a 5°C discrepancy between boiler temps and temps at the brew head.
So I make adjustments. And what determines my adjustments? The cup! The cup! Always the cup!
The cup aided by a cheap device:
This
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18.01.06
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 3:59 pm by The Coffee Alchemist
Sorry it’s been a while since the last log. When one is in the throes of an illicit love affair, one can get carried away, just a bit.
Let me tell you more about this Kenya…
It languors between the end of first crack to a few seconds before second crack. As it cools in the tray a sample bean breaks into a resonant snappy tart blackcurrant. Think Ribena, only crunchy.
Within the first 24hours it is super tart and dry as if it only has its aromatic skin to offer. So one waits for its succulent flesh to fill out. But it hibernates for 5 days until the 6th day…hello gorgeous abundance!
I break into song. The hills are alive with splats of berries. I must show others…
“It’s great, I can see the berries, for sure, but it’s too bright,” say one.
“I can see why this bean is attractive but many out there will misconstrue the brightness as sour,” says another.
“Wow, it’s so clear, but for espresso, it’s not balanced.”
“Not balanced.”
Not balanced. That was the verdict. After endless superlatives, the caveat is flagged. It lacks balance.
Who the hell invited balance to this party?
Eventhough I am not attempting to achieve balance with this bean, and I make espresso in full awarenss of its berry brightness, unfortunately, apparently, an important aspect of espresso is balance - both in taste and tactile qualities.
Eventhough I would like to highlight the ashtonishing berry qualities per se as the main feature of this bean, it will not be appreciated for its lack of the other qualities that will deem it balanced.
The vacpot isn’t governed by such rules so I can take my Kenya there, but not to an espresso machine.
I look for the rule maker to lodge an appeal. No one owns up. The rule stands. And IT JUST IS.
So, excuse me, I’ll have to introduce myself to balance.
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23.11.05
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 9:01 pm by The Coffee Alchemist
It’s funny how certain rules, whether etched in stone or generally accepted conventions, can stop one from exploring certain paths eventhough they look mighty intriguing. A lot of the times rules are valid because they’ve been tried and proven true. A lot of rules are also established as idiot-proof measures against, well, idiots.
Rules rule the coffee world. A lot I follow especially those that I’ve tried and proven true to my circumstances. But curiosity always gets the better of me, and the path presented by a light roasted Kenya run through the La Marzocco Linea is just way too tempting. I give in.
What rules am I breaking here? Thou shalt not use beans roasted light years shy of second crack in espresso. Thou shalt not use the same light roasted beans as a single origin espresso. I see the espresso gods pacing nervously, their salivary glands in overdrive anticipating a face-crunching disgrace of a brew. It won’t work, it won’t work, they fret.
The path opened as sweet as the splat of something purple juicy oozing from the corners of my mouth. Succulent, yet tart. Bright but unbelievably smooth. Tingles and tickles but also soothes. A complexity replete with berries and currants carried by the subtlest of umami. A clean snappy finish.
I march to the sinbin smiling.
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28.10.05
Posted in @ the Cauldron at 10:04 am by The Coffee Alchemist
Everyday I cup. Whether I cup the coffee I roasted a few days ago, a blend, a single origin, I cup. Conventional, or espresso, I cup. It’s my job.
Then there are days when I’m looking at my bean inventory and I realise I need to go shopping. Woohoo! We’re going shopping baby! CHAARGE (it)!
Not that there’s anything wrong or boring about the coffees that end up on the everyday cupping table, but the gold, the elixir of life, could be lurking in that express post satchel of samples. Oh, the promise!
…and the despair, I remind myself, of fool’s gold. So be still, pay attention, be open to everything.
Peanuts! Says one. Something purple juicy! Says another. Lemon juice! Coffee!
Hmmm… not exactly the universe in a cup. But I can work with these. So I picked out the one that screamed peanuts, and the one that squirted something purple juicy.
I’m off for some cauldron trouble. Now, let’s see…
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