W.A.S.T.E.
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Jul 27, 2013
Atlas Coffee Visit
Read more →We took a trip up to Atlas Coffee this morning in Seattle (thanks Craig, Gil, and Judy). Up at 5:30 and got some road pastries at you-know-where, then onto I5 northbound. We got through the traffic and got to the cupping a few minutes late. Atlas's lab was f-ing amazing - the tables, the roasters, the equipment, the meticulous methodology. Just jaw dropping. I got super-schooled on the cupping procedure, and then we went through 6 samples: Brazil, Sumatra, Colombia, Honduras, Rwanda, and Ethiopia (Sidamo). It was a great experience to be able to taste these sequentially and I ended...
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Jul 18, 2013
Cold Brew
Read more →So, Cold brew coffee is delicious and a great treat during these hot summer months. However, I have a cupboard full of coffee paraphernalia, and I don't have room to accommodate yet another coffee gadget. The cold brew toddy makers are very reasonably priced (under $30), but I wanted to develop a work-around using materials many coffee lovers might already have. So here is what you'll need: - a french press or any 32oz+ glass container. Maybe a funnel and a paper or metal coffee filter from your drip machine.- coffee (6 oz, very coarsely ground - think percolator rather...
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Jun 24, 2013
Huehuetenango
Read more →We roasted some excellent Guatemalan coffee from Huehuetenango this weekend. Get it at TwentySix cafe or here.
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Jun 16, 2013
Gracias a los padres.
Read more →Roasting the delicious Colombian from Finca La Fragua and this year's new crop of a Mexican coffee from Chiapas for father's day. Get dad something that will say "I love you" all week long.
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Jun 09, 2013
Variations
Read more →Guatemalan coffees can be very versatile, able to take a wide range of roasts. I'm excited this week to be drinking and comparing two roasts of our Huehuetenango. No bets on which will excel, as I think they'll both be delicious, but I am eager for Monday morning.
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Jun 09, 2013
Mice in the Wheat Silos (Why Buy Hand-Roasted, Small-Batch Coffee?)
Read more →This morning, I did my usual quality control on the beans once they were cooling. Occasionally, a green bean or two will get lodged somewhere in the roaster and fall into the roasted beans as you cool them. I decided to keep what I found today. In the foreground are the 5 rocks that I recovered, while in the background, you can see all the green beans that snuck into the roasted beans. Coffee is picked, processed, milled, and graded largely by hand. Mechanization has made its way into the industry some ways, yet in other ways it is still...
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Mar 17, 2013
First Batch of Blended Beans
Read more →So last week I roasted a batch of beans that were specifically blended for espresso. I may reveal my ignorance of wine here, but I imagine that this is similar to what the french do for, say, a rhone blend. Select percentages of different grapes to impart different aspects to achieve a final flavor profile that is greater than the sum of the ingredients. Blends serve a second purpose in coffee; as different beans move out of season or become unavailable, marketing a blend lets you choose a substitute bean with a similar flavor. The labeling doesn't change, but the...
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Mar 17, 2013
Seasonal, Not Local
Read more →I've been thinking about selling our roasted coffee at a farmer's market. Strange, as I'm not a farmer. Coffee is a funny thing. It isn't local. I can buy local wine, local cabbage, local beef, local honey, local fish, local soap. But Mexico is the closest coffee I can get. I understand the principles behind the movement to eat locally, and I generally support them, but I buy wine from Chile, and cheese from Spain, and lentils from India, and peppers from Peru. Basically, you can't get great D.O. foods locally. So what is coffee? The green beans are an...
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Feb 11, 2013
Caramelo
Read more →This morning we roasted a batch from Chiapas, Mexico for one of our cafes and then a small batch of Guatemalan for our direct customers. The truck and kitchen, as you can imagine, smelled like heaven. I continue to be fascinated with these geographically close regions (though I acknowledge how varied the climates, terrains, and terroires are of each - Vast and Varied, a much better movie title than fast and furious. Vast and Various sounds better, but lacks grammatical symmetry). Years ago (two thousand and I feel old), I spent some time traveling around Chiapas and Oaxaca. Visiting the...