Archive for July, 2004

Posted on July 21, 2004 - by deCadmus

Takin’ the Sizzle out of Summer

Summer’s here, and livin’ is breezy… at least it is here in Vermont. Were I still in Kansas City I’d be sweating my tucus off right about now.

If you’re suffering Summer’s swelter in your neck of the woods, you might turn to one of those iced frappy ‘ccino concoctions, or even a simple iced coffee [which is always tastiest when the coffee has been cold-brewed in a coffee toddy.]

If the urge for an adult beverage strikes, there’s the coffee martini. There’s a lot of sickly-sweet dirty martinis out there, so have a care what you order. Or, take matters in to your own hands and make your own, with this handy guide from the folks at I Need Coffee.

This recipe, in particular, is on your author’s short list:

• 1 shot: Classic Italian Espresso blend
• 1 shot: Kaluah
• 1 shot: Stoli Coffee
• 1 shot: Stoli Vanilla

Served in a chilled martini glass, shaken or stirred. I’d be inclined to double the espresso and maybe just wave the Stoli Vanilla in the general direction of the ice-cold martini glass… but that’s just me.

Posted on July 20, 2004 - by deCadmus

Can coffee can make you forgetful?

I was going to post some commentary here, but I forgot what I was going to say.

Posted on July 20, 2004 - by deCadmus

Bloggers Are the Sizzle, Not the Steak

Quotes the L.A. Times:

“But make no mistake, this moment of blogging legitimization and temporary press credentials doesn’t turn bloggers into journalists. “

Given the current state of journalism, I consider this quite the complement.

Posted on July 19, 2004 - by deCadmus

Roasting the Mocha-Java of Yore

I’ve been working my way through the Green Mountain line of coffees, making myself familiar with the flavors and roast styles that the folks here in Vermont bring to bear. [You can find tasting notes here, and here and here.] Next in the coffee larder: Mocha Java. 
 
I’ve sampled so many variations on a theme of a Mocha-Java blend over the years that what I’ll find in this blend is anybody’s guess. Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking back to comments from the esteemed Don Schoenholdt of Gillies Coffee, ’bout what the Mocha-Java blend of yore might have been like… Let’s play coffee anthropologist for a moment.
 
Imagine, if you will, the ancient port of Mocha…
 
Here, very near the birthplace of coffee [just a stone's throw thataway in Ethiopia], coffees from the steep, dry hills surrounding the port city are made ready for shipment. Simply getting from hilltop to port has already proved an arduous overland trip. 
 
These are some wild beans… small, dense and scrappy-looking: all of them dry-processed, and probably a great many of them simply allowed to dry on the trees. The resulting coffee is bright, winey, and remarkable for its chocolate flavors. The mocha/chocolate connection? Here it is! Or was, long ago. 
 
And Olde Brown Java — almost no brightness to this one at all — and its syrupy body has taken on a dusky, musty buzz from it’s long sea voyage as the coffee swells and pales in the damp sea air. The Dutch East Indies are on the other side of the world, after all! While the seedstock here is at most a generation or three from it’s grandfather’s line in Yemen, the resulting coffees could hardly be less alike… a tastable testament to the influence of climate and terrain.
 
So, how to recreate the Mocha-Java of yore?
 
I started with what Don Schoenholdt suggests is the most likely contemporary candidate to match the Java of yesteryear… Monsooned Malabar from India. Monsooned coffees — swollen and pale from their exposure the moisture-laden winds of the Arabian Sea — are completely devoid of acidity, and nearly boundless in body.
 
To this base, I added some of the most curious Yemen beans I have at-hand, a past-crop sample that I liberated from Barry Jarrett’s stash. Barry consistently sources the most flavorful and amazing Yemen coffees I’ve yet found… with flavors that have ranged from a wicked cinnamon, to sweet strawberries!  I chose these particular beans for their fairly pronounced dark chocolate aroma and complex, piquant flavors. 
 
The result…
 
Blended at one part Mocha to one and a half parts Monsooned Malabar, and roasted just to the cusp of second crack, the fragrance of this coffee is intense and complex; chocolate, sure, but such an assortment of spice notes I can’t hope to label them all. The best taste reference I can muster is a bottle of glogg [gløg? glög?] — an old-country Nordic mulled wine shared with friends one wintry evening a year or so back. 
 
More of the fragrance carries forward to the brewed coffee than I might expect… this is past-crop coffee after all. That fact also plays into the low acidity here. The cup is round. I’m surprised, really, by its balance. The bitter chocolate of the Mocha is softened by the slightly fuzzy body of the Malabar, like a warm sweater taking the bite out of a chill wind. As the cup cools, a single acidy note appears, something that’s akin to bergamot, or bitter orange.
 
So is this the flavor of ye olde Mocha Java of yore? It’s an impossible question, really. There wasn’t a single flavor profile way back then any more than there is one now… flavors change as crops change: there’s good years and bad years, and sun and rain and weather. But it’s tempting to think that flavors like these could seduce the Western world… just as coffee has for some 500 years now.

Posted on July 16, 2004 - by deCadmus

Are You Pod People?

The PR machinery is running full tilt! It’s single-cup coffee machines — or, pod machines — everywhere you look… Phillips’ Senseo, Melitta One, Black & Decker Home Cafe, and the Keurig Brewer, to name those most buzzed about at the moment.

The Senseo reigns at the top of the buzzheap by a large margin, and you can easily find reviews of all stripes, from the usual tech “news” flaks, to geeks with laser-guided temperature probes… even fellow coffee blogger Randy Glass gets in on the game with his own hands-on review.

Given the mass-marketed hype, and being a skeptic, I was fully prepared to dislike the Senseo. A lot.

Turns out, I don’t dislike it all that much. But keep reading.

The Senseo is a smartly-designed and smart-looking home coffee machine. It’s fabulously simple to use, and it appears to be built to stand up to frequent use [the same can not be said of some of its competitors].

I have lingering concerns about its brew temperature. While Randy notes a brew temp of a respectable 190 degrees F. the folks at GadgetMadness record brew temps of a mere 138 to 140 degrees F. which is nowhere near acceptable. I have no particular reason to doubt either report, so I’m left to wonder if there might be a really high temperature variance from machine to machine… that would be a serious problem.

Temperature issues aside, it’s not the machine I have a problem with at all. It’s the quality of the coffee — and the source of that coffee — that leaves a bitter taste.

Currently, the only coffee pods for the Senseo available in the U.S. are those made by Douwe Egberts [whom you may know better as Sarah Lee] which developed the machine with Phillips. Sarah Lee is one of the Big Four, and together with Kraft, Nestle and Proctor & Gamble, they buy and sell half the coffee in the world.

These organizations are not known for the caliber of their coffee, but instead for their volume, and, more unfortunately, for their collective efforts to reap the benefits of historically low coffee prices, further contributing to the continuing coffee crisis.

So far as I can tell, there are no Fair Trade coffee pods for the Senseo. No organics. No shade-grown coffees, either. If you’re considering the Senseo, and you also want to consider sustainability, you’re in a bit of a bind. You might try to make your own coffee pods, or buy a reusable coffee pod adapter.

If these devices take hold, there will certainly be a number of independent roasters who will produce pods for them… and it’s just as certain that some of those roasters will offer coffee that’s more palatable all ’round.

Meanwhile, if you want to brew a single cup at a time, try some fresh beans, a grinder, and a Melitta filter cone.

Author’s Update: You may also be interested in reading The Senseo Crema Mystery which explores some of the more finicky issues of pod coffee makers… and the Senseo in particular.

Posted on July 16, 2004 - by deCadmus

At Ken David’s Coffee Review

Perhaps channeling Baba Budan, Ken David’s latest round of coffee reviews zooms in on coffees of India; from the subtly sweet Mysore Nuggets Extra Bold [can't help but giggle every time I read that] to the funky, fat and fuzzy flavors of Monsooned Malabars.
 
My own experience of roasting Indian coffees is mixed. I roasted up some of last year’s Mysore Nuggets and was left wanting: too subtle for me, I guess. Balanced, but not noteworthy. The Monsooned coffees are a lot of fun — ’specially when served to unsuspecting guests on Halloween — and they can add a bit of oomph to a blend that needs a little funk.

And one simply cannot talk about Indian coffees without mentioning the esteemed Dr. John, who’s Malabar Gold espresso blend is the undisputed champion of Indian coffees… find a ’spresso bar that serves it, and get a cappa. You’ll be amazed.

Posted on July 14, 2004 - by deCadmus

Coffee History Series: Drink of Patriots

It’s December 16th, 1773 on Union Street, in Boston’s north end. Here, in the heart of the city’s financial district, stands an imposing two-story building. Above its door swings a copper dragon, long since turned green in Boston’s salt air. This is the Green Dragon Tavern & Coffee House – meeting hall, gathering place, lodge house – and crucible for the American Revolution.

All evening long patrons have been entering under the sign of the dragon, and “Mohawks� – rebels carrying hatchets and clubs, faces painted with coal dust – have been furtively slipping out the back door into the night, en route to Griffin’s wharf. Tomorrow three shiploads of tea – despised both for its outrageous tax burden, and the monopoly granted the East India Tea Company by the British Parliament – are to be offloaded under the watchful eyes and guns of the British Admiral.

For weeks, patrons of the Green Dragon have been discussing tea, taxes and tyranny over their cups of coffee and rum. With passionate arguments led by Joseph Warren and Paul Revere, noted Sons of Liberty, the conversation becomes earnest… and swings from impassioned debate to a call for action.

Tonight, at Griffin’s wharf, the Mohawks answer that call. Boston Harbor becomes the largest teacup ever known as the entire tea consignment – all 90,000 pounds – is tossed overboard. Two thousand colonists watch as 150 Mohawks – men they know, despite their thin disguises, as pillars of their community – heave scores of smashed tea trunks into the harbor. In the morning, in a spectacular showing of fraternity, not one of the spectators would recall a single face.

It’s a defining event. In the years to follow, drinking tea in the American colonies would mark you as a British loyalist. Coffee – untaxed, and not subject to British monopoly – becomes on this fateful night in December, the drink of patriots.

Posted on July 13, 2004 - by deCadmus

Coffee in pop culture

From the coffee as icon department…

Alyson Ward says: “Ten years ago, coffee was an adult beverage, usually found in plastic-foam cups or commuter mugs. Today, though, some teens seem to carry a Starbucks cup everywhere they go. How did coffee become such a fashionable accessory? We think it’s the influence of TV and movies”

The author fails to note the profound influence of Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s “the Bronze”. Shame.

Posted on July 13, 2004 - by deCadmus

Have Roaster, Will Travel

It would probably surprise no one that, while I have furniture in complete disarray in every nook and cranny of my new home and boxes piled to the ceiling most everywhere you might look, I have managed nonetheless to set up my roasting bench, coffee roaster and essentials, and have baptized the new garage with the savory fragrance of roasting coffee.

It would also probably surprise no one that the first batch was pretty mediocre… it’s been a while since I’ve roasted.

The second though, is yummy, and hugely fragrant. It’s some of the very nice Sulawesi from Steve’s Two Loons Coffee… replete with that certain earthy, musky aroma that’s pretty unique to Indo coffees. Full-bodied and lush.

I’m home again.

Posted on July 7, 2004 - by deCadmus

Callin’ All Noo Yawkuz

Found on The Food Section…

It’s your last chance to catch the Chocolate, Coffee, Tea special exhibition at the Met. The exhibit runs through Sunday, July 11.