Archive for August, 2004

Posted on August 24, 2004 - by deCadmus

Gillies Coffee… now with more bits!

I just have to break my self-imposed Silence of the LANs to note that Gillies coffee —the oldest continuously operated coffee company in these here United States— has just launched a new web site. [Woot!]

Don Schoenholt, Gillies’ proprietor, is a genuine coffeeman… having learned the trade at his papa’s knee. He’s also one of specialty coffee’s luminaries and a genuinely swell guy all ’round.

The web geek within finds it deeply satisfying that this grand old company is gettin’ thoroughly digitized. So go visit and buy something, already!

Posted on August 18, 2004 - by deCadmus

Bon Appetit, Julia

Too busy, perhaps, getting ready for a site launch I have only now found news that Julia Child has been… er, whisked away.

What an amazing, rewarding, rich and full life she led! She threw herself into her work — foibles and all — and we all eat better for it. Just as the American foodie world has long heralded James Beard as its grandfather, I do hope that Julia is given her proper plaudits as the grand damme of American cuisine; she well deserves it.

Soon, very soon, I’ll cook up something appropriate in her honor… which, as I understand, should have me employ every pot, pan and saucier in my kitchen. [Herself might tell you I can do that even on less than special occasions.]

But first… back to work!

Posted on August 14, 2004 - by deCadmus

Phish swimmin’ in mud…

The drive home from work last night found me swimming against a traffic tidepool… part of the sea of Phish fans heading for Coventry.

While it’s bright, sunny and beautiful in Vermont today, it’s rained most every day this week, so the phishies are gonna be so many mudpuppies. Seeing as how there’s no local simulcast of the concert [I guess if you're actually in Vermont, you're supposed to be at the concert site] I’ll just have to make do with Live Phish Radio. No mud, no bugs, and the only jams are of the musical variety.

I can deal with that.

Posted on August 9, 2004 - by deCadmus

Nicaragua: A Vintage Classic

Busy, busy, busy building the new site that will live at this web address. Meanwhile…

Ken Davids has his August reviews online, this time its a barrelfull of beans from Nicaragua. Nic’s on the way up, says Ken…

“…a fairly consistent Nicaragua flavor profile has emerged: sweet, balanced, rich, often full-bodied, with more emphasis on the low-toned chocolate and apricot/papaya side of the fruit sensation than on the higher-toned, floral, citrus side.”

Ken sagely notes the contribution of Thanksgiving Coffee’s Paul Katzeff, who has been an tireless promoter and supporter of Nicaraguan coffees for most of his career. Good on him. Really.

Nicaraguan coffees came up as a point of a lengthy and thoroughly engaging conversation with Lindsey Bolger last Friday. [I suspect Lindsey has forgotten more about coffee than I've learned yet... and I don't think she's forgotten much.] While Green Mountain does not today offer a single-origin Nic, it sources a number of Fair Trade Organics from Nicaraguan coops for its blends. It’d be nifty to source a single-origin bean, but it’s not always about what we want… it’s about what’s in the cup.

Learned from Lindsey: Nicaragua’s vintage Bourbon varietals have survived the country’s political tumult… perhaps they’ve survived because of it. In either case, Nicaragua was never planted with the high-yield hybrids that have become the bane of Central coffees — the Catimors and their ilk — and as a result, their seedstock is something of an heirloom gene pool.

Here’s hoping nobody pees in that pool…

Posted on August 9, 2004 - by deCadmus

Don’t Panic

If only Douglas were still ’round to see his creation finally brought to life on the silver screen.

I suppose I could watch it twice: once for me, and once for…

Posted on August 5, 2004 - by deCadmus

Seeing the Forest for the [Coffee] Trees

Researchers at Stanford report that growing coffee in proximity to tropical forests has a measurable, positive impact on crop performance…

“Higher rates of pollination by bees that live in the forest led to a 20 percent increase in coffee yields in the two nearest plots. In addition, the plants closer to the tropical forest had 27 percent fewer peaberries, or misshapen seeds, which resulted in higher quality coffee.”

While there’s no question that fewer peaberries nets a higher yield, I’m not certain I’d call these lovely little round coffee seeds misshapen. [!] But it offers an intriguing clue that might help solve the puzzle of why some regions produce so many peaberry beans… fewer or no bees!

More coverage at Nature, too.

Posted on August 5, 2004 - by deCadmus

What’s in those Supermarket Coffee Cans?

How would you like your coffee — good, pure, great or specialty? If you’re buying canned coffee from a supermarket, the correct answer is none of the above. Don’t miss Fortune’s recent posts on just what’s in those supermarket coffee cans…

Posted on August 2, 2004 - by deCadmus

Bodum eSantos: A Lovely Mess

A recent conversation in the kitchen of chez Cadmus…

“It’s cool!”
“It’s a mess.”
“It’s caffeinated performance art!”
“You’re cleaning it.”
“It’s good coffee, though…”
“Well… yes. But it’s a mess.”

We are of two minds — my wife and I — over the relative merits of the Bodum Santos electric vacuum coffee pot. I see an evocative design that’s equal parts mad-scientist chemistry set and Frank Gehry angular assemblage. Herself sees… a mess.

Granted, the eSantos doesn’t have the drop-dead convenience of one of those push-button pod machines. And it’s not the grinding, measuring and filling thing… we’re more than used to that. It’s the post-brew mess that herself frowns at.

Like a great many vacuum pots, the eSantos has a permanent filter. [Okay... semi permanent. Bodum recommends replacing it every so often.] This filter is a very fine mesh screen; it allows dissolved coffee solids and oils through, making for an exceptionally flavorful cup with lots of body, and it does so without choking on coffee finings, a problem that I nearly always experienced with my Vintage Cory glass vacuum pot and its permanent glass filter rod.

The net effect is — of course — a mess. No denying it. There’s no paper filter to toss in the trash bin [or compost heap, if you're of the composty ilk]. Instead, after the brewer has cooled it’s necessary to rinse the coffee grounds out of the brew globe, and then to wash it. Yes, wash it. By hand, no less. Matter of fact, if you’ve brewed especially fresh coffee that wasn’t roasted to death [and you are, aren't you?] you’ll find a lovely, oily frothy mess left behind.

Want convenience? Get one of those push-button things. But if you want really great coffee it’s hard to beat a vacuum pot. Bodum’s update on the classic vac is about as good as it gets.