Expobar Update

So, I know I said I would have pictures.

And I do, but I didn't want to post them just yet.

The Pulser has a leak. A pretty severe leak. A length of John Guest tubing kept bursting under pressure, so I'm waiting for some replacement tubing before I try to reassemble it.

It should be here sometime this week... I hope.

The espresso was good, but I'm having a hard time with the frothing on this thing.

Replacement tip, here I come!

Massive Update

I'm back. Actually, I've been back, but haven't spent the time to update.

The Barista Jam in Tucson, AZ was an absolute blast. Everyone there was so passionate about what they do. So many people asking questions from anyone they can to learn whatever they can in order to advance their craft. It was extremely refreshing.

I shared a hotel room with Larry Jones and Edwin Martinez, which was pretty interesting. In the room we had: A Rocky doserless, a Chemex, a French Press, about 8 or so different coffees, and three coffee nerds.



Edwin and I woke up every morning to the words "There's a Chemex going over there for ya". What a way to start the day.



I met a whole lot of people. I really doubt I'd even begin to be able to remember all of their names. I met the crew from Cabin Coffee, and they seemed to be the most eager passionate group there. At least, that was my perspective.

Reid Hickman was there to give a presentation on Latte Art, which was extremely well received. It was quite the popular event. Rightfully so, considering the fact that he's won the Millrock Latte Art contest... twice.

I met Gene Lemos of Vanelli's and talked to him quite a bit. It was interesting to be proverbially slapped around a bit by someone who's been in the industry for longer than I've been alive. I learned alot. He was there to give a presentation on home espresso machines which were demoed during the Home Barista shin-dig following the end of Day 1 of the Jam.

Edwin gave his Seed-to-cup presentation, which was a bit more refined and interactive than what I remember in San Antonio. It was also streamlined quite a bit to fit the time frame that was partly taken up when Edwin had everyone introduce themselves. A good idea for sure.

Bill Brodberg gave a presentation on espresso machine maintenance for the working barista. As far as The Coffee Vein is concerned, he is the ONLY espresso equipment technician in Tucson. He had some examples of what can happen if you don't use softened water, if you don't clean out your portafilters, and other little gems that should never grace the counter of a good shop. I was amazed by some of it. You hear alot about it, but how often do you see a 1/4" cake of "black" crack and knock out of a portafilter than had never been cleaned? Yeah... seriously. Gross stuff.

Larry and Gene were scheduled to give a presentation entitled "Advanced Espresso Techniques". Seeing that training is what I do, I figured I would offer to help them outline it. They almost suckered me into doing the whole thing on my own. I could have, but I didn't feel right about it. I was there as a part of the audience, in theory, and I really would not have felt right about taking it on entirely. So, they decided that I should cover distribution techniques. Of course, once I started talking, I had a hard time shutting up, but oh well. I think it went over pretty well. There were some good questions, and a lot of people walking up to me afterwards with various questions.

Mike Trevino did one hell of a job organizing this thing and keeping it on track. It never would have gone as smoothly as it did without him.

Chris(aka Psyd) was there in the background doing all of the grunt-work to make this thing carry through without a hitch. Changing out 5gallon water bottles, washing milk pitchers, setting up, tearing down, cleaning up, and so on. I asked him about it in a light-hearted manner, and he told me his purpose for doing all of that was to make sure that The Vein maintained a great reputation so that it would always be there so he could get a shot when he didn't feel like pulling one on his 2-group Astoria in his small kitchen. (I saw pictures.. it's nuts) The Vein has at least one seriously dedicated customer. I always wished for customers who I could talk coffee with. It's a rare thing.

There was a latte art contest and a signature drink contest. I didn't enter either. I was having way too much fun talking to people about coffee.


That just about wraps up the AZ Barista jam.

I was supposed to go to Tyler, TX to train a shop, but that was called off at the last minute. Joy!

I guess it's okay, though, because it gave me some time to figure out my schooling for this upcoming semester. (going back at it.. need to finish)

I also launched, but have not yet gone public with, www.espressotrainer.com . It is still under construction, but I think it's starting to come together... slowly.

I've gotten positive feedback from people about Texas Coffee People.(http://txcp.wordpress.com). Everyone seems to want to help pull the Texas coffee community together. It's a beautiful thing, and I hope I can help make it happen.

Last, but certainly not least, the Expobar Pulser arrived equipped with a PID and Manometer. Woohoo! HX > 2.5oz. single boiler. It had a leak when it arrived, which I believe to now be fixed. I need to replace the water level safety switch, but I think I can bypass it in the mean time.

Pictures to come.

The New Project

I am proud to announce the beginning of what could be a huge change for the community of coffee fans and enthusiasts in Texas, much like what arizona-coffee.com has done for the coffee community in Arizona.

It's called Texas Coffee People, named for Aaron Blanco's title for those who are genuinely passionate about coffee, and the Lone Star State.

Take a look.
TXCP

The AZ Barista Jam

I leave for Phoenix, AZ tomorrow afternoon. Larry is going to get me from the airport, and we'll put around Phoenix for part of the day, at least. I'm not sure if we're driving down to Tucson that night, or the next morning.

It's exciting for me. I'll get to put a face to all these people I've been in contact with for quite some time now thanks to Arizona Coffee.

I know Mike "call me Trevino" Trevino has been putting a lot of work into organizing this thing, which is taking place at The Coffee Vein.

Here is an abbreviated schedule of events - (times subject to change - but unlikely)

Sunday 1/7

10am- "Making the perfect Mocha"

11am- "From seed to cup" presentation; by Edwin Martinez, Finca Vista Hermosa, Guatemala

12:00- Lunch Break (free time)

1pm- Pacific Foods "Latte Art Contest"

2:30pm- Latte Art Technique

3:30pm- "Importance of water quality" presentation - David Beeman, Cirqua Water Systems

5pm- Advanced Espresso Extraction

6pm - 9pm- Home Barista Espresso Fest, sponsored by Vaneli's

Monday 1/8

10am- "Espresso Machine Maintenance" - Bill Brodberg, Espresso Wrench

11am- "Comparative Cupping" - Larry Jones, Rocket Coffee Roasters

12:00- Lunch Break (free time)

1pm- Artista Signature Drink Competition

2:30pm- Advanced Brewing Methods- Edwin Martinez

3:30pm- "What's on your drink menu?" Alternative drink options- Red Rock Foods

4:30pm "Open Jam" time on espresso machines


So, there you have it. I'm hoping to get a lot of pictures from this one. I may or may not enter the sig drink contest. I don't feel I'm prepared. I just haven't had time to play with my ideas yet, but hopefully, soon.

The Art of the Bean

I just discovered this film on HB.

I never knew it existed. (or maybe I did, but just don't remember)




Enjoy.

Merry Christmas / Happy New Year

It's been a busy season for me. Fun, but busy.


I know that the tiny blurb in the current issue of Barista Magazine has already been read by now, but...

I think it's high time for an update on my take of the first annual TX Barista Jam.

I was surprised by how many people showed up. Where are all these TX coffee people hiding? Most of them aren't active online, it seems. It's difficult to know your community when you don't have any contact with the people within it.

It was pretty nifty to see a Clover in person. LOTS of different coffees were run through the Clover. Not one of them were dialed in. I think the merits of the Clover would have been better displayed had the time been taken (or notes been followed) to properly adjust the brew parameters for each individual coffee. This may have happened later on in the Jam, as I left during the Lunch break to spend time with my girlfriend, and to see San Antonio. (we walked the entire riverwalk, including the entire riverwalk mall.. just for kicks. We saw the Alamo, and took a boat ride.. it was a lot of fun).

It was good to finally meet Mike McKim in person. I didn't have much time to talk with him, but things happen, I suppose.

The crew from Medici seemed to kind of stick together. None seemed to talk too much. I hope they had fun. I had a hard time telling. Maybe none of them talked to ME, but they talked to others. Who knows.

Edwin Martinez gave a fascinating presentation on the growing and processing of coffee. I learned a heck of a lot, but it was hard to hear. Luckily for me, he's going to give the same presentation in Tucson at the AZ Barista Jam. It'll be good to see him again. He's definitley "coffee people". (in the words of Aaron Blanco)

I have to give a lot of credit to Aaron for putting all of this together in such a short amount of time. Aaron is most definitely "coffee people". If you want to just talk coffee, these are the kind of people you want to get with.

I say that, because for a meeting of coffee people, I had a really hard time finding opportunities to talk about coffee with people. It seemed like there was a lot of focus on the demo equipment itself, and not so much on the coffee being run through it. Fair enough, I suppose, considering it was the first time a Clover had ever been seen in the Lone Star State. It was also the first time I had a La Marzocco GB/5 at my disposal, courtesy of Mike. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, but I think maybe I should have messed with it a bit more. I didn't think I would get much from it while using a blend I was unfamiliar with. It makes it hard to reference differences compared to machines I HAVE had experience with.

An interesting fact about this jam is that it was hosted by Ruta Maya Riverwalk Coffee House. Yeah.. not interesting yet. The interesting part is that they were open for business throughout the entire jam, and continuing on long after it was over.

This is where it got interesting. My workshop was to take place behind the bar of the shop, on their equipment, while they were open. That's right... I was teaching milk frothing to a group of people while on a live bar. It was a bit awkward, I have to say. I felt like I really didn't know my audience, which made it really difficult to put something together. Not everyone was at the same level, and I think the most enthusiastic people at the jam were the on-duty baristi at Ruta Maya. I havent' seen that kind of enthusiasm in someone else at any other shop, ever. It was quite refreshing to see, coming from a place where no-one seems to care at all.

To the mentioned baristi: if you guys are reading this, you guys rock. the heart outweighs the skill any day of the week. Skills can be developed, but the passion is inherent. Keep it up.

In any case, I can't say I was effective at instructing for latte art. The cups available to me for use were 6.5oz. Nuova Point cappuccino cups. This doesn't sound so bad, right? Except, that I had never used the type of cup before. The shape is drastically different than anything else I had ever used. Strange as it may seem. My first 5 or so practice attempts were beautiful. During the workshop, however, I had the hardest time focusing while trying to leave room for people to watch, and explain what is going on while doing it. It was a little ridiculous, and definitely a new experience for me. Something I'll have to work on for the SCRBC.

Some of the Medici folks came in with the ability to already create microfoam, and some were able to pour art. I really felt bad, and unprepared, because I didn't have a lot to offer them while including those who did not already have the training to do either. I really didn't feel too good about my performance. I felt like I disappointed some people who had paid to come to the event. I can, however, say that I am pretty certain that every single person left the workshop with the ability to create beautiful microfoam. The shop's Futurmat's steam wands made microfoam nearly effortless. Seriously, it was the easiest time I have ever had in creating velvety microfoam with minimal effort.

Mike gave his workshop on espresso while I was doing the milk workshop, so I never really got to see what he has to say on general espresso theory. I would have liked to see that one. I didn't hear a whole lot about it either, so I don't have anything to report there, really. He IS our regional BGA chapter rep, so I'd imagine him to have presented a pretty solid workshop.

Aaron hosted a comparitive cupping session focused on flavor differences between varying (3) degrees of roast. It was pretty interesting to taste them side by side. I already knew that there was a huge difference, but that was the first time I had ever cupped the same coffee at different levels in the same session like that. The difference is more extreme than I gave credit for.

At the end of the day, I had fears of losing some items I had left available for use while I was gone. (synesso filterbaskets, microfibers, my tamper), but I got it all back, safe and sound. I can't say enough about this industry. I have yet to meet a single dishonest serious coffee person. I have not met a single one who I would not trust almost immediately to do the right thing at any given moment in time. Every time I attend a coffee get-together, I always feel right at home, even if everyone is a complete stranger. It's a beautiful thing.

I found it a bit interesting when David (of Clover equipment) asked what sort of rag I lent him. Apparently, the world of car detailing has something to give to the world of the Clover. The miracle known as Microfiber.

________________________________________________

Up next is the AZ Barista Jam. Almost immediately afterwards, it looks like I'll be traveling to Tyler, TX to help train a new shop opened in a hospital.

Coming soon: an upgrade to an HX machine... 'bout time.
Soon afterwards: an upgrade to a better grinder.. hopefully a MACAP M4 Stepless. (fingers crossed)

El Salvadore CoE #4 Santa Sofia

From Rocket Coffee Roasters.

Drip - this is one well-balanced coffee with lots of flavor. Black Currant, a hint of milk chocolate, just a little cashew, and what I would describe as "green cavendish banana".. as in, under-ripe.

There is a bit of juiciness just before it goes down.

I have not yet cupped this coffee, but so far, it is very good.

more to come.

Texas Barista Jam, Nov. 11

San Antonio, TX.

Be there, or be square.



Texas Barista Jam 2006
Schedule of Events
Time Event
7–8a Registration, networking, coffee and pastries

8a Introductions and Announcements

8:30a Group Cupping: “How Roast Affects Flavor”

9a Ideas Exchange: “Sustainability in Coffee”
Angel Mena, Ruta Maya Riverwalk Coffeehouse, San
Antonio, TX

9:45a Equipment Demo: Clover 1S
David Latourell, Coffee Equipment Co., Seattle, Wa

10-10:30a/10:35-11a
Skills Workshop: “Espresso 101 and 201"
Mike McKim, Cuvee Coffee Roasting Co., Spring, TX

10-10:30a/10:35-11a
Skills Workshop: “Milk Stuff 101 and 201”
Jason Haeger, Mangia Bevanda Coffeehouse, Lubbock, TX

11a Coffee Break

11:15a Ideas Exchange: “Seed to Cup: The Story of Finca
Vista Hermosa”
Edwin Martinez, Finca Vista Hermosa, Huehuetenango,
Guatemala

12p Lunch On Your Own

1p Free Time On Machines

1:30p Group Cupping: “Geography As Flavor”

2-2:30p/2:35-3p
Skills Workshop: “How To Brew Anything”
Aaron Blanco, The Brown Coffee Co., San Antonio, TX

2-2:30p/2:35-3p
Skills Workshop: “Fixing What Goes Wrong”
Mike McKim, Cuvee Coffee Roasting Co., Spring, TX

3:05p Espresso Break

3:05p Free Time ON Machines

4:45p Wrap Up; Door Prizes; Clean Up

5p Good-Byes


Registration/check-in: $25 at door–cash, check, visa, mastercard. (Coffee provided by the brown coffee company. Pastries
provided by cappuccino paradise.)
Introductions/announcements: Aaron Blanco. Sponsor thank you’s; layout agenda; each participant introduce themselves
Cupping #1: ‘How Roast Affects Flavor’ Aaron Blanco facilitates. Two coffees (six total) cupped side by side at city, full city,
viennese roast to see how roasting changes a coffee’s cup characteristics. (Coffees on Clover provided by The Brown Coffee Co.)
Ideas Exchange #1: ‘Sustainability in Coffee’ Angel Mena. Key points on social and environmental agendas that help coffee
growers such as organics, fair trade, shade grown, etc. 35 min’s with 10 min’s Q & A.
Equipment Demo: Clover 1S David Latourell. 15 (or so) minutes on the Clover, its attributes and parameters for brewing coffee.
(Coffees on Clover provided by The Brown Coffee Co., Counter Culture Coffee Co., Cuvee Coffee Roasting Co., Ruta Maya)
Note: All Workshops will be run twice at approximately 30 min’s each with 5+ min’s for Q & A. Participants will be split into two groups with each group participating in one or the other session first, then switching to the other workshop.

Kenya coffee and fruit

+

=

So, I've been a bit delinquent in keeping this thing updated

A few things to report.

I have been informed today that I have acquired yet ANOTHER nickname.

"The coffee Don".. apparently I should take on a Brooklyn accent and wear a large tacky ring. Maybe I should keep a collection of these. "Waterboy of coffee" "The coffee Don"

I wonder what's next.

In other news, I've had the great pleasure of tasting a few different coffees lately. A HUGE thank-you goes out to Jaime Van Schyndel for setting me up with all of this, and another HUGE thank-you to Andrew at Ecco, and to the folks at Terroir for setting me up with an extra bag of coffee that was not in the initial order.

I want to comment on a couple of these coffees.

First, I had the pleasure of sampling (a full pound and a half!) of Ecco Reserve.


My first impressions were that I had to be missing something. It's a very light coffee, in that it doesn't hit you hard like most espressos I've tried do. The body isn't the kicker in this one. What really stood out to me is how delicate and sophisticated this espresso really is. The flavors are subtle, and the mouthfeel is extremely soft, and very delicate. Even with these characteristics, the espresso comes through in milk (6oz. capp) The chocolate is very subtle, but definitely present. There is a slight nuttiness (almond, I'd say), with a caramel sweetness hidden beneath.

The mouthfeel is extremely smooth.. and extremely "light". I know this is the wrong descriptor category, but it "goes down easy". The aftertaste as just as balanced and delicate as the initial flavor. This was a bit unexpected, but it really attests to the quality of this coffee. Most definitely worth trying at least once.

The second coffee I want to talk about is Terroir's Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Addis Ketema. I know Jaime has posted about this over at Barismo.com, and I know Chris Owens has given a brief opinion at ShotZombies.blogspot and I guess now it's my turn.

Cupped, this coffee tasted remarkably similar to Darjeeling tea, with just a touch of unsweetened lemon, and a subtley sweet aftertaste.

This coffee is intended to be enjoyed as a Single Origin Espresso, and considering as such, I did exactly that.

After talking to Jaime for a couple of minutes on the phone, he suggested I try it at a very small (volumetrically) dose.. but a very normal weight. This is some DENSE coffee. 16 grams left some extremely generous head-space. I could not use my index finger to distribute the grounds, as they only came up maybe 2/3-3/4 in the filterbasket BEFORE tamping. Jaime suggested I start with a 16 gram dose to pull ~1.25 oz. in about 28 seconds. I tried this, and I found that I liked it.. quite a bit. The flavors were intense, the sweetness was heightened, and the tea was.. diminished? Something wasn't right. The dominant flavor characteristic in the cupping was that of black Darjeeling tea. Why were my espresso experiences so drastically different? I tried again.. temperature surfing higher, lower, but still.. while the unique individual flavors were heightened, the basic element was drastically diminished.

Change of plan. I tried dosing by volume, as I normally do, just to full, and leveled, with no volumetric updosing. I temp-surfed for temperature stability, but not an increase or decrease in the standard temperature for my Gaggia(yes, I know.. I REALLY need an upgrade on my home setup). This shot.. my God. This was heaven in a demitasse. The tea was back.. in full force, but smoother, stronger, sweeter, and the lemon flavor was exactly as balanced as during the cupping, with the body and mouthfeel being much MUCH smoother than I would have anticipated for such a bright coffee and an aftertaste that highlights the sweetness of the tea flavor.. LONG after it's gone. A sip of water about a minute after consuming, and the sweetness in the back of the throat is quite obvious. Beautiful.

Try it again, but this time temp surf a little higher. The flavors are heightened, especially the sweetness.. but again, the tea is diminished. The individual flavors absolutley POP, but the identity (as I knew it from cupping) seemed to be hidden, or rather, too quiet to be tasted through all of the shouting.

With so many different ways to enjoy this as an espresso, and with so many different flavors of great intensity, and pleasure, this is one I'll have to try again.. and possibly again after that.

This is absolutely the best single origin espresso I have ever tried. Period. The flavor is so clean, I can actually taste the "quality" Jaime talks so much about. There is a HUGE difference between this, and a lesser quality coffee. By lesser, I don't mean commercial grade.. I mean specialty grade, high-end coffees. If you've never understood the idea of an absolute definition of quality, try this coffee. It will all become clear.

Moving on, the shop has begun using my coffee. Pretty cool, I guess. I can't help but feel like it's not that huge of a deal, but still... I guess I should be proud.

I plug it to customers whenever I can. I know that it's the freshest offering we have, and usually, it's the better of the two coffees available. I prefer to highlight origin characteristics, while our coffee supplier seems to usually highlight the roast a bit more than I would prefer. Everything tastes like chocolate, it seems. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but to my mind, that's not the pinnacle of what coffee can be. That's also not to say that the origin characteristics are hidden by the roast.. this is not the case. It's just a factor I personally don't care to draw attention to at all. It's about the coffee, not the roast.

Move further along, I'm really REALLY excited about the Barista Jam coming up in January.

To be held at The Coffee Vein in Tucson, AZ. I'll be attending with Larry Jones under the Rocket Coffee Roasters name. Larry's giving me a ride down, and a place to stay while I'm in AZ. What's so exciting about this jam is that I'll be able to meet a lot of people in person who I've had lots of contact with online. Mike "call me Trevino" Trevino, Chris Tingom of Arizona-Coffee.com, Steve Kessler (a new face in the online coffee world, and more specifically, the AZ coffee world), and last but not least, Larry Jones. (sorry if I left you out.. Psyd)

There is to be a Latte art contest, and a signature drink contest. I'm going to be in the Latte art contest for sure.. the signature drink contest I'm not so sure about. Unless I can figure something out soon, I doubt I'll enter. In any case, GB/5's, Mazzers, a 2group Synesso, and a Lorenzato(sp) (Rancilio, from what I hear) to play on, as well as multiple other various brew methods. Let's not forget the coffee.. Rocket Coffee all around. Very exciting.

I'll try to update this thing more often.

Ascaso (Innova) i1

I had a chance to play around with this grinder (in this same color, actually) today. It was purchased for possible use on the espresso cart for the shop, but apparently they were having problems with it. I was asked if I would take it home, check it out, dial it in, etc..

Of course, I agreed. I love any opportunity I have to try something new pertaining to coffee.

My first impressions were that it was a glorified home coffee grinder. At first, it was not grinding.. at all. The burr was spinning, coffee was in the hopper, but nothing was coming out. It turns out that the space required for coffee to fit through to get to the burrs was quite small, and it was just jammed up. A quick poke around with a skewer, and it was grinding just fine.

The worm-gear adjustment is nice.. but I was not overly impressed with the construction of the interior. The burr carrier was machined from a block of aluminum.. which is fine.. for a home grinder. This grinder is advertised as a "professional grinder".. implying commercial. Don't be fooled.

The burrs are tiny.. really tiny. As in, smaller than my Gaggia MDF's.

Dialed it in, and the grind consistency left something to be desired from a visual perspective, but from a practical perspective, it wasn't half bad.

The doserless design means clumping.. which means that the distribution will be altered to never ben perfect unless the WDT is used.

After dialing the grinder in for a 30 second, 2oz. double, I timed the grinder as taking roughly 45-50 seconds to grind enough coffee for a double.. on my Gaggia's factory filterbasket (something like 15-16 grams, I believe).

In short, this grinder is going back to the vendor. Quite nice as a home grinder at just over a hundred dollars from certain vendors, but nothing that can hold up in a commercial environment (no big surprises there), and it was interesting to find that the grind quality, and overall utilitarian aspects of the Gaggia MDF are far superior to this doserless piece of espresso machinery eye-candy.

I would put it in the "good enough" category for home use, but the "to be avoided" category for commercial use. Again.. I'm not really surprised. I think the vendor marketed it as a commercial machine, but everything about the statitics, and everything else I've read indicated otherwise.

If you can swing for something better, please do. You won't be sorry.

Senseo Stats

Yeah.. I've been bored.

I took apart the Senseo to see what was going on under all the plastic.

I was quite surprised with what I found.

I found a 1450W boiler (tiny, though it may be.. It looks to be around 4 oz. or so)

I found an Ulka ER EP8R pump. Interesting.

The P in the EP8R stands for Plastic. Meaning, the water outlet is plastic, and thus, not all too durable for the long run.

This pump is also only capable of a maximum of 2.2 bar of pressure. Sad, isn't it? It's still a pressure brewer, and from what I can tell, that's a bit more pressure than a Moka pot.

Max flow is 650CC/Min.

Noise is 58db. (not that it much matters)

Here's the problem.

The solution of pre-heating the water is a BAD idea if the intention is to keep the machine alive for any length of time. The max temperature for the pump is 25C, or 77F. That's roughly room temerature. So much for that plan.

Another idea is to set up a pre-heating system. Maybe a copper tubing wrapped around the boiler taking water from behind the pump, and feeding it to the inlet on the boiler. This MIGHT help solve the problem, but it won't fix it entirely, and this would take more heat-up time than simply pre-heating the water.

What I'm not sure of is if the boiler's heating element remains active during the brewing cycle.

Still lots more tinkering to do with this thing before I'm satisfied.

Quote of the Day

So, I just arrived at work about an hour ago.

A regular who comes in daily was at the counter. He really enjoys verbal harrassment with those who he feels comfortable enough to be able to do so without insult or injury.

Anywho, on to the quote.

This guy says to me:

"You are the Waterboy of coffee."

Funny, I guess.. except that his tone was not of humor. My boss then asks, "Do you have a donkey that wonders around your bedroom?"

*sigh*.. so much for no longer feeling like an island. The moon has shifted, and the ocean is once again surrounding me.

Senseo.. drinkable coffee?

Okay, so I've been playing with this Senseo coffee machine a bit, trying to get a decent cup.

I decided to go back to trying various tactics using ONLY the provided pods, since that's what most consumers will be using.

After discovering that the brew is nothing more than a hyped up cafe crema, I got to thinking.

What if the reason the brew temperature is so low is because the boiler is being filled with water from the resevoir as the water already heated in the boiler is being pumped out.. Wouldn't the new water mix with the old?

What's the solution? Start with hot water.

NOTE: There is a good chance that you will burn yourself trying this, so if you do, be careful. I am not responsible for your own self-inflicted injury.
NOTE pt.2: I have no idea how this affects the warranty. Mine was free, so I'm not too worried about it. I can make a cafe crema with my espresso machine if I REALLY wanted to. Damaging the equipment isn't much a concern in my case.

So, you heat some water on the stove. I used a tea kettle, and removed it before it began to boil. I only filled the resevoir about half way so I could hold onto the top part of it without burning my hands.

Pour the hot water into the resevoir, put the resevoir in place, and turn on the machine. Do a quick flush through the pod holder by pressing the single cup brew button, and as soon as you see water trickling, turn the machine off, and then immediately turn it back on. (note: I use this water to pre-heat my cup)

For 1 4oz. cup, use 2 standard pods. Thus, you should have pre-heated the 2cup pod holder in the step above.

Place the two pods in the holder and close the unit. Allow the machine to recover, and immediately press the single cup brew button.

Ignore the faux crema. Note that the color of the flowing liquid remains a dark to medium brown color. It does not go pale, or as we say in espresso, it does not go blond.

Good news so far.

The brew has an improved body, less sourness, a little less bitterness, and you can actually taste a little sweetness in the coffee itself.. slight chocolate notes.

I never would have guessed it.

I think I'll give this a try with home-roast and home-made pods, and then on to the ground coffee adapter to go in place of the pod holder.

Stay tuned.

Look! An Update!

That's right, an update. I have been fairly quiet lately, and I hate to say that the reason for that is that things have been pretty consistent lately. Nothing new or excited.. until yesterday.

Yesterday I received my free Philips Senseo pod machine.

My first impression based on the machine in stock form, using the provided "Medium Roast" pods, one per cup, in factory recommended directions:

This coffee is terrible. Flat out awful. There's no way around it.

It's a LITTLE better if using two pods for one 4oz. cup, but seriously.. this is a lousy brewing system.

The low water temperature and small dose of coffee results in a cup that tastes both underextracted while at the same time tasting over-extracted. It's ridiculously bad.

I tried making my own pods with fresh-roasted fresh-ground coffee. Better, but the pressure broke the seal, and it leaked everywhere. The coffee was stronger, flowed slower, but only tasted over AND under-extracted with more intensity.

The only way I can perceive to make this thing work is to increase the boiler temperature. I'm not even sure if this is possible to change.. all warranty issues aside.

That doesn't mean I won't try, but just as an fyi. Buying this machine for anyone is a BAD idea. It's a waste of money if ever I saw one. You'd be better off with a Presto Scandinavian that may potentially break 3 months after buying it.

You'd be better off with a coffee cup, a bunch of filters, and a pot to heat water in.

Let's just say it's not worth the time.

But if you happen to be among the few for whom this advice is received too late, I hereby vow to do everything I can to try to wrench a drinkable cup from this blasphemous machine.

For those who are not too familiar with how it works, it essentially makes a cafe crema.. and nothing else, but with gobs of faux crema that's faker than the handiwork of a Hollywood plastic sergion.

In other news:

As of today, it looks like I'll have a steady account for single origin roasted coffee with the shop I work for. Hurray? If nothing else, it'll keep me with a steady supply of new green to try out and offer to customers. It will also give me peace of mind that at least ONE coffee we're offering is less than two weeks past the roast date. No matter how hard we try, sometimes, it just lasts longer than we hope for.

Maybe it's time to start building a bigger roaster.

"Clamouring for espresso... "

On my trip to Dallas, I picked up 10 6oz. cappuccino cups for use at the shop.

After serving one to ever member of the staff, and explaining the difference, as well as donating my 12oz. pitcher (temporarily) to the shop for use, it's finally begun.

Read here.

It appears as though we are beginning to experience the same phenomenon. Someone ordered a cappuccino, and the barista at the time asked if they wanted a traditional cappuccino, or a foamy latte (not in those exact words, but the same effective products respectively). The regular customer decided to try out the traditional. They loved it.

They loved it so much, they came back and ordered a second. They have found their new favorite.

During my shift this evening, a customer decided that he wanted to try something different. Most of the time, when this is the case, the patron orders the "Gen-X".. which is a spur-of-the-moment specialty drink custom-made and created on the fly by whoever happens to be the active barista at the time. (I love this drink.. It gives me a chance to experiment, and get the customer's feedback all at the same time.. brilliant) This guy, however, told me that he usually asks for a suggestion, rather than the Gen-X. Naturally, I suggested my personal preference in a milk-drink: a Traditional Cappuccino.

This guy came back about 5 minutes later. From the look on his face, I was worried that he didn't much like it. Boy was I wrong. He couldn't say enough about it. He, also, had found his new favorite. I then offered him a double espresso, compliments of the house, just to try it. Sure enough, he loved that too.

Now, here's the interesting thing. This customer is FROM Lubbock, the hub of West Texas. Now, most people FROM this region aren't big fans of specialty coffee. Heck, most of them refuse to recognize it as anything different from what you can get at a diner. I have realized something. This customer was rather young-ish. Probably still in High-school. I have realized that specialty coffee is cut out for the young and forward-thinking, almost exclusively. Not necessarily both, but one or the other, for sure.

The older folks who really enjoy all the great things about specialty coffee, are generally very motivated, forward-thinking individuals. This is not to say that this is always the case, of course. This just happens to be the majority of what I've noticed locally in my region.

All of our customers recognize us as the premier shop in town. Every single one of them have said that the best coffee they have ever had, ever, has come from our shop.

That's nice to hear. It doesnt' surprise me in the least, in fact it's something I was already aware of, but the fact that it is recognized by the customers gives me much hope for the development of specialty coffee in these parts, where life is stagnant, where growth is looked upon with untrusting eyes, and where there is no "brazilian, or ethiopian?".. only "regular".

The winds of change are blowing, and I am damn proud to be a significant player in the movement.

Philips Senseo?

First of all, I know this isn't a "real" coffee brewer. I know that pods aren't worth the paper their packaged in.

But when I saw an opportunity to get a free Senseo to try, I figured I'd try to make it work.. somehow.



So it appears as though I am eligible to receive a free Senseo. Apparently Phillips thinks that my word-of-mouth will provide them a bit of business.

I don't hope for much, but I try to keep an open mind in all things coffee. I figure that if I can find a way to use fresh-ground coffee in this thing, inexpensively, it'll be worthwhile. I'm not out to make home-made pods. I'm hoping to find a way around the pod system entirely, and make the most out of this machine that is generally overlooked by the quality coffee industry.

Have I gone off the deep end?


Perhaps, but I've been bored to tears, praying for something new to experience in coffee.

It looks like my answer came packaged as a marketing gimmick for the un-informed public.

I say, bring it on.

Nuova Simonelli's Cylindrical 4-hole tip

So, I know I've been stating that it's more about learning to work effectively with what you have than about the equipment itself. Almost in-line with Mark Prince's creed of "any machine, any grinder, any time", or something along those lines.

Of course, there are limitations, and I would freely admit that, but in a commercial atmosphere with commercial equipment, I was a firm believer that one should easily be able to adapt to what they have to create good, even great, results fairly consistently. I would say it's based on an understanding of one's equipment.

Well, I'm embarrassed to say that I've proven myself wrong. Great microfoam on the NS Mac series is difficult at best. I can consistently create froth capable of pouring art, but consistently creating froth that is truly great in flavor, texture, et al is something else.

The design of the factory steam tip is none-too encouraging in the realm of great frothing techniques. To top it off, the steam wand is terribly short, and does not bend outside of the drip-tray in terms of effective useable space.

My frothing has been a bit off, lately. It's either not enough froth, or overly large froth. Where's the balance? It's not an easy thing to achieve the sweet creamy texture we all love so well with this setup.

Considering that I am generally able to achieve perfect microfoam every time on my home Gaggia machine, I got back to frothing on my home setup to see if I could pinpoint the problem.

To sum it up, at home, I have 1 effective air-jet that doubles as the heating jet. This allows for mucho time to concentrate on the frothing before the milk reaches temperature. On the Nuova Simonelli, there is 1 effective air jet, and 3 effective heating steam jets during the frothing process. This makes things rather difficult. To top it off, it's nearly impossible to find an angled tip fit for the NS threads.


One of our steam wands recently broke. With the new nice-n-shiny chrome wand in place, we had a broken steam wand just lying around, and I got this bright idea of trying to modify the factory tip to be only two holes.

Cylindrical steam tip, meet J.B. Weld. I filled two of the four holes with JB-Weld, praying that it will be enough. We'll find it in.. (where'd that JB Weld package go..) 4 minutes? Okay, so I used JB-Kwik. I'll let it set over-night before testing it out.

We'll see how this goes.

UPDATE:

Well, the little trick worked like a charm. Looks almost like it still has 4 holes, until closer inspection, or until the steam is activated. It does what I hoped it would. It allows for more time, and more control for better results in microfrothing... especially for traditional cappuccinos when using a tiny 12oz. pitcher.

I highly recommend this to anyone using a Nuova Simonelli with the cylindrical 4-hole tip. Well worth the (total of) 10 minutes of work.

Back from Dallas

I haven't updated in awhile, and it's mostly because I've been in Dallas for the past week. I didn't really do much that was coffee related, but I did come across a shop that served up tasty microfoam with mediocre espresso in a 14 oz. cup sold as a Cappuccino.

The barista seemed interested in learning more. She got kind of excited when I mentioned the idea of latte art contests and barista contests while talking coffee (as I often do). In my opinion, if these folks just do a little research, they could be a shop worthy of visiting.

btw, it's called Java & Cha Co. in Plano, TX.

While there, I bought some cups. Pictures to come (possibly).

Espresso Puck Physics.. What Really happens?

Before I begin, I would like to say that this is in no way to be taken as anything conclusive, or as an "article" of sorts, but rather as more of a mode of thinking in text format.

I could be right, I could be close, or I could be in the wrong ballpark entirely.

I recently read that there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 540 pounds of pressure constantly pressing down on the bed of coffee in the portafilter during the 9bar extraction. What is this concept of extraction, really? Does the water absorb more solubles under the high pressure and high heat? Does the puck really SWELL under the weight of 540 pounds of water?

Honestly, I really think not. What does this say about pre-infusion? Does pre-infusion really "set" the puck to swell so it provides a more evenly distributed bed of coffee? Or does the pre-infusion force the puck to become wet more thoroughly and evenly throughout? Afer-all, "water is lazy". Water will go where water already is.

Additionally, does proportionally more water mean stronger extraction capabilities in the same pull? Why is it that more complexity is usually achieved from a lighter dose than that of a heavier dose with MORE coffee in the basket? Doesn't more coffee mean more coffee flavor?

Here's what I think. I think pre-infusion helps, not in that it swells the puck for an even extraction, but that it allows the water to find the niches and dense spots in the puck before the pressure hits at full force.

I think that the puck does not "swell" as a result of water contact. I think that the puck swells as a recoil from the pressure be forced upon it for 25-30 seconds. Under that kind of pressure, the cellular structure of the coffee particles have to be under some sort of tension, which would be released at once upon the release of pressure (a'la 3-way valve.. non-valve systems will react differently, I think).

So, we may have now established the physical shape behavior of the puck under pressure. What of the pressurized water's extraction properties?

It is my belief that rather than absorbing solubles, the highly pressurized water actually displaces many of the aromatic and flavor components within the bean structure. The high pressure forces them out.. the water does not extract, but rather pushes these components out of the cellular structure of the grind particles. A finer grind means more surface area which means more exposed components to be displaced. At the same time, this also means more resistance to the pressure, which results in a longer contact time.. resulting in components being absorbed, as well as displaced by the water. Too much contact time will result in flavor components most of us would really rather not have in our cup.

The combination of displaced solubles and absorbed solubles creates a balanced flavor. Too much of one or the other, and you end up with either a sour or bitter pull. Thankfully, much of this shift in "extracted" properties is easily seen with the naked eye.

It's not only about even pressure on (and within) the puck. It's also about even contact time with the coffee particles and the pressurized water. Dense spots will flow much more slowly than air pockets. Which brings me to my next, and final, idea.

At what point does the water become saturated with dissolved solids or solubles? Just like osmosis, less saturated water will absorb more quickly and readily than that of saturated water.

Enter: The science of the ristretto. Ristretto shots take more time. Sometimes a LOT more time. The result is a richer, more concentrated, lower volume shot of espresso. That is, the ratio of water to coffee is considerably reduced. There is no doubt that the longer contact time is absolutely essential to achieve such a result.

Here is where it gets interesting.

Wine tasters will swirl the wine in the glass to allow air to incorporate into the liquid, and "release aromatics" and allow the flavors to expand.

Beer afficionados will let a beer warm up to near, or at room temperature, and then pour it into a tapered glass that is wider on top to allow the flavors to expand.

What is the taste capacity of a single tastebud? Is it possible to cram too many flavor components into such a concentrated form that, while all flavor components are present, only a few are actually perceived by the taster?

Are the flavor components for a ristretto actually any different than those in an "under the line" normale, or are we just unable to perceive the dense culimnation of flavors in the ristretto when compared to the normale? Does the expansion of flavor components in the normale actually cause an increase in our ability to perceive more of the flavor components that are present in both, or is the coctail entirely different?

This thought process began last night. I couldn't wait to begin writing about it.

I'm sure there are many factors that a non-chemist and non-engineer and non-physicist like myself are not even aware of, but this still causes me to realize something on a very real and tangible level.

In the science and practice of espresso, we have such a very long way to go. We are nowhere near the pinnacle. On top of that, consider the science of coffee quality, and the concept of subjective opinion being brought into question by minds such as that of Jaime Van Schyndel.

Concepts and ideas such as these make me understand more and more how little we actually know. It makes me realize that we are still (after ~50 years) in the infancy of espresso theory.

I have not even begun to touch on the topic of tamping, polishing, how hard to tamp, temperature, etc.. etc.. So many factors.. so little comprehension in a single instance of time.

And now, to remind us of why we stress about these little details more than sanity would normally allow, a picture of some latte art at work earlier this evening.