La Prima and Aldo Coffee

I’m excited about two places in Pittsburgh. The first is La Prima. I haven’t had their coffee yet, but I’ve read many good reviews. They give a tour of their roasting plant the first Saturday of the month at 10:00AM. I’ve already signed up for December 6th. I heard that we’ll actually see them roast coffee and get samples. The tour is just $10.

Aldo Coffee is in Mt. Lebanon. They give two coffee tasting classes a month. By chance their next beginners’ class is also December 6th at 1:00PM. I’ve made my reservation. By the way it’s free! We should be tasting coffee from different countries.

I’m anxious for December 6 to come.

Crazy Mocha

Thursday, 11/20/2008, I got a medium light roast from Crazy Mocha, within walking distance from my lab at the University of Pittsburgh. Better than Kiva Han, but a little too weak. My coworkers who also got coffee ended up throwing their cups into the microwave to heat them up. Again, sorry for the brutal honesty.

disclaimer: I’m no expert. Just an average coffee consumer.

Kiva Han

I had a medium light roast from Kiva Han Coffee in Oakland, PA on Wednesday, 11/19/2008. Sorry to be brutally honest – it was a terrible cup. Weak and watery. The service was great. But not good coffee.

disclaimer: I’m no expert. Just an average coffee consumer.

Slumming It with Maxwell House

Maxwell House in the French Press

Maxwell House in the French Press

So this past week (even as I write this) I’ve been slummin it with Maxwell House. Made up a cup of Maxwell House Master Blend in my French Press – Mmm, look at that rich foam floating on top. Made it the same way as my 8 O’ Clock or my Kona -

boil water

let it cool for 45sec

pour the water into the Frech press

set the timer for 4 min.

mix it at the 3min mark

wait for the timer to go off

press and pour

With the first sip Maxwell House bites you back like no self-respecting Arabica bean would never do. Then the caffeine just burns in your gut. Nothing to savor or enjoy – just the well expected caffeine buzz. Well, a bad taste is left in the mouth too.

You know what? There is something appealing about this type of coffee. Kind of like the macho attitude that you have to take when drinking cowboy coffee that burned and burned over the fire, until all that’s left is caffeine in the black mud. Why try to fix this up with flavors, milk and sugar? Take it like a real man! It’s extra strength Drano doing its thing! Ok, ok. It does really taste bad. My friend’s recommendation was to just throw it away.

(BTW the french press in the picture is now my own. I found it advertised on Craigslist by someone in Philadelphia. She was very accommodating and sent it to me for $10 including shipping and handling. I really appreciated it. So I have returned the french press the belonged to my friend. My french press is smaller, enough for one mugful. One thing I noticed, don’t know if it is because of the smaller size or not, when I pour the coffee into my mug, I get less foam than from my friends’ larger french press. In the past I would always slurp up the foam as my first taste.)

Coffee Tasting 101: Vocabulary (2)

I got a nice email from Stephen Leighton. He gave me some very encouraging words. I like meeting good people. He, by the way, has a Coffee 101 course. I signed up.

I made 8 O’ Clock French Roast in the French Press today. Still can’t put words to the five categories: fragrance,  acidity, body, flavor, finish. Let’s go a little more in depth. What follows is from Mark Prince on CoffeeGeek.com.

Acidity: This can be described as the pleasing brightness or sharpness in the coffee. It is through the acidity that many of the most intriguing fruit and floral flavors are delivered, and is usually the most scrutinized characteristic of the coffee. Acidity can be intense or mild, round or edgy, elegant or wild, and everything in between. Usually the acidity is best evaluated once the coffee has cooled slightly to a warm/lukewarm temperature. Tasting a coffee from Sumatra next to one from Kenya is a good way to begin to understand acidity.

Body: This is sometimes referred to as “mouthfeel”. The body is the sense of weight or heaviness that the coffee exerts in the mouth, and can be very difficult for beginning cuppers to identify. It is useful to think about the viscosity or thickness of the coffee, and concentrate on degree to which the coffee has a physical presence. Cupping a Sulawesi versus a Mexican coffee can illustrate the range of body quite clearly.

Sweetness: One of the most important elements in coffee, sweetness often separates the great from the good. Even the most intensely acidic coffees are lush and refreshing when there is enough sweetness to provide balance and ease the finish. Think of lemonade…starting with just water and lemon juice, one can add sugar until the level of sweetness achieves harmony with the tart citric flavor. It is the same with coffee, the sweetness is critical to allowing the other tastes to flourish and be appreciated.

Finish: While first impressions are powerful, it is often the last impression that has the most impact. With coffee the finish (or aftertaste) is of great importance to the overall quality of the tasting experience, as it will linger long after the coffee has been swallowed. Like a great story, a great cup of coffee needs a purposeful resolution. The ideal finish to me is one that is clean (free of distraction), sweet, and refreshing with enough endurance to carry the flavor for 10-15 seconds after swallowing. A champion finish will affirm with great clarity the principal flavor of the coffee, holding it aloft with grace and confidence like a singer carries the final note of a song and then trailing off into a serene silence.

Mark differs from Stephen by not including fragrance. But the comments seem very helpful. I think the only to way to learn is to actually buy some Sumatra, Kenya,  Sulawesi, and Mexican beans and taste them. Just can’t teach the taste buds from  a book or the web. Life is so difficult sometimes=).

Coffee Tasting 101: Vocabulary (1)

My coworker (same one who let me use his French Press) gave me a can of Maxwell House Master Blend. I made a cup with his French Press this morning. My taste buds are now much more aware, but I completely lack the vocabulary of coffee tasters. So let’s begin Coffee Tasting 101.

Coffee cupping is to coffee what wine tasting is to wine. I’m going to go as slow as I need to go. I am a bona fide novice myself – kindergartner with an epiphany remember? According to one article by Steve Leighton, there are five things to pay attention to when cupping coffee: 1) fragrance – both dry grounds and wet grounds, 2) acidity – the liveliness of the coffee, 3) body – the fullness and richness of the feel of the coffee in your mouth, 4) flavor, and 5) finish – the aftertaste.

Got it?

fragrance

acidity

body

flavor

finish

So what’s the verdict on the Maxwell House Master Blend? I thought 8 O’ Clock is better. Sorry, I can’t quite use coffee tasting vocabulary to describe the Master Blend. Maybe in a few weeks or months?

My Taste Buds had an Ephiphany!

I’ve been trying to pay attention to the taste of coffee. This conscious awareness is my preliminary training before embarking on some serious coffee cupping. My 8 O’ Clock coffee is my baseline in taste. It’s not bad – not bitter, not watery – but nothing to hoot or holler about.

A few of my coworkers like to go to Caribou Coffee in the morning. Since I’ve begun to pay attention to the coffee taste, I’ve had the realization one morning that the Caribou light roast was “brighter” than my 8 O’ Clock I had on the bus. Maybe that’s what the coffee people call acidity.

Today after my first sip of Caribou’s Organic Blend light roast, I had the sensation of a bouquet of flowers! This my taste bud’s epiphany! I felt like a kindergartener realizing that I just read a real word for the first time.

Vacuum/Syphon Coffee Maker – 8 O’ Clock dark roast

This morning I made myself a cup of coffee in the Bodum Santos Vacuum coffee maker. It is really cool to watch it brew.

1. Heated water in a kettle on the stove.

2. Ground coffee beans. Smelled it. Mmm.

3. Added grounds to the top vessel of coffee maker.

4. When the water was just about to boil, turned fire off.

5. Added the hot water to the bottom vessel.

6. Connected the top vessel to the bottom vessel.

7. Turned on heat – within seconds the bottom vessel began to boil and hot water filled the top vessel.

8. Stirred the coffee in the top vessel. Smelled it. Mmm.

9. Turned on the timer to 3min 30sec. Turned the fire down to a low simmer.

10. When the timer went off, removed the coffee maker from the stove and set it in the holder.

11. Watched the coffee empty from the top vessel to the bottom, as the water in the bottom vessel cooled.

12. Poured the coffee into my travel mug. Took a quick slurp to sample the taste.

13. Got on my bus to work.

Verdict: The Vacuum made coffee is cleaner than the French Press coffee. On a scale of 1-10 for the intensity of the taste, 4 for drip, 9 for French Press, Vacuum was a 7. The taste lingered like the French Press, but not with the same intensity. Still, much better than drip. I think I’m leaning towards the French Press for the attack-of-the-taste buds sensation.

Changing the Routine into Ritual and Even Ceremony

I think in most people’s lives, there is a positive place for the routine. The routine are the things we do without having to think. They give us a chance to wake up in the morning. For coffee drinkers, having that first cup is probably a routine of necessity.

The Routine into Ritual – After years of making myself coffee with Mr. Coffee and other similar drip coffee makers, my experience of making coffee with a French Press and now a Vacuum/Syphon Coffee Maker has allowed me to discover a certain sophistication that turns the routine into ritual. What am I talking about? Here is my definition: every step of the brewing process – grinding the beans, smelling the grounds, adding the hot water, stirring the coffee, smelling the brew, waiting in anticipation, pouring that cup to finally taste – is slowed down enough to stop, enjoy, and savor.

Ritual into Ceremony – To turn ritual into ceremony is to add one more dimension. I haven’t done this yet, but I long for the day — my ceremony would be to carry out my ritual with a number of fellow coffee lovers. Together we can stop, enjoy, and savor the aromas and wonderful flavors in a good cup of coffee. Do you smell it? Can you taste it? I do.

Why have life hum-drum, when a little bit of spice and sophistication can turn the routine into ritual and possibly even ceremony.

Vacuum/Syphon Coffee Maker

This past weekend my family and I visited my brother-in-law and his family in Rochester, NY. Before going I checked Craigslist to see if anyone in his area was selling a French Press or a burr coffee grinder. It turned out that someone in Buffalo (through which we travel on our way to Rochester) was selling a “Bodum Santos vacuum coffee maker” for $10. I immediately searched YouTube for vacuum coffee makers. It really looked like a cool way to make coffee. CoffeeGeek.com also had a really good article recommending the vacuum/syphon coffee maker and giving good step by step instructions on how to use it. So on our way back, adding an extra hour to our trip back home, I stopped to pick the coffee maker up. I made a cup of coffee in it this morning. Mmm, good coffee. Same impact of taste as the French Press, but without the grit.