Archive for the 'Coffee' Category
So I’ve been brewing a lot of coffee with my Chemex lately. One of the toughest things to do with the Chemex is to pour the water correctly. You don’t want to pour right on the circumference where the filter meets the coffee, as the water will just flow out the sides and leave a watered down mess below. Also, you want to pour lightly so you don’t “blow up” the coffee and again have the water reach the bottom of the filter too quickly. Either situation creates “channelling” where the water is allowed to exit the brewing area too quickly by following a path of lesser resistance.
Many pour-over gurus recommend pouring in a spiral pattern continuously, taking care to keep the water level stable. These folks use a special kettle with a long spout that ensures a smooth controllable flow of water. We’ll be getting those in sometime this year, but most of us at home are using either an electric kettle or a regular kettle off a stovetop. The’re great for heating/boiling the water but not always the best for pouring. That first pour can be a bit splashy.
Anyway, I wanted to pass along something that’s been working for me in this situation… after you level the coffee in the filter dig a little divot in the center with your finger and start your pour there. Once the coffee is blooming you can more easily add water without blowing up the grounds. Then you can pour around in a spiral pattern… not quite all the way out to the edge though.
Just remember if you boil the water to let it cool with the lid off for about a minute- otherwise it’s going to be too hot and you’ll burn your coffee.
Black Cat is the espresso blend from our roaster Intelligentsia that we use to make all of our espresso based drinks. The Black Cat Project is a formal effort by our roaster to continually improve upon and refine their signature blend based on the very best in season coffees they can get their hands on. It is also an effort to bring delicious single origin coffees to market for espresso brewing. We had a couple glimpses of what was to come earlier this year, but I’ve been waiting for an update ever since we pulled the last shots of that single origin El Salvador months ago. Anyway, I just got this email from Intelli regarding the status of the Black Cat Project. I’m pretty excited about it and wanted to share it…
Hi,
Black Cat will soon become Black Cat Classic, why? Because when the Black Cat Project goes live everything will be Black Cat….Black Cat is essentially becoming a mark like Tres Santos, or Inmortales - and there will be variations of the blend and single origins flown under the Black Cat flag. (Kid O will eventually become Organic Black Cat Blend…)
The bigger and more exciting news is that the Black Cat you’ll get this week is Direct Trade!
Some info from our buyers:
The blend currently consists of two coffees. It is :
- Brazil Fazenda Santa Alina 80% (100% Yellow Bourbon)
- El Salvador Los Inmortales “El Borbollon” 20% (100% Bourbon)Fazenda Santa Alina
Santa Alina is located in the Grama Valley outside Pocos de Caldas in Minas Gerais. Volcanic soil, good latitude, shade and decent altitude combine to yield consistently very sweet coffees. This coffee is actually grown at 1200m, after which it is pulped and dried on a raised, ventilated bed, a patio and finally a mechanical dryer.
Santa Alina is bordered by numerous other well known coffee farms, including Fazenda Cachoeira, Fazenda Rainha and Fazenda Barreiro (Map).
As far as flavor notes, you can look for some big cherry sweetness, strong citrus and a syrupy chocolate support. Enjoy!
I’m a big fan of the changes made to the blend over the past year. Intelligentsia is the kind of company I like working with- always pursuing a better way and never resting on their laurels. I like the brightness and sweetness we’ve been getting from the Black Cat- it’s just so darned tasty. I love that all of the coffees are going to the direct trade model and that they’re releasing the components of the blend. Finally I’m looking forward to the near future when we’ll be able to offer a single origin espresso menu to go along with our brewed coffee menu. Good stuff indeed!
Ever since we started carrying coffee syphons, aka vacuum coffee makers, in our shop, we have been asked what the heck it is roughly 4-6 times per day.
Some joke that it resembles drug paraphernalia, but I wouldn’t know because I’m not into that sort of thing. (As an aside, please do not make stupid jokes about our stuff and then get a glazed over/disinterested look when we make an honest effort to explain something to you in a friendly and helpful manner but you really didn’t care and wanted to be a funny guy- pet peeve). Anyway, yes it looks cool and has a certain laboratory chic, but this type of coffee maker has been around since the 1830’s because it can be used to make great coffee. Vacuum coffee makers had been popular in this country up until around 1960 or so, but faded into anonymity for a while. With discerning customers demanding higher quality in the cup we’re also witnessing a renewed interest in time honored, manual brewing methods- like the French Press or Chemex. The Syphon is making a comeback, but don’t call it a comeback…. it’s been here for years.
Any coffee maker can be broken down as to how it addresses the following variables: brewing time, water temperature, how the water contacts the coffee during the brew cycle, and finally how we extract the drinkable coffee from the brew. The Syphon, along with a timer/temperature probe, can be carefully regulated to a precise brew time and temperature. It uses total immersion brewing (coffee and water are together during the entire brew cycle) to get a thorough extraction, and uses a vacuum to quickly (and crystal-cleanly) extract your coffee from the brew chamber. It’s definitely the most “engaging” coffee making experience around as it requires your total attention throughout the brew cycle, so this isn’t for the folks that want to set a timer the night before to turn on their Mr. Coffee. If you want something good you’re just going to have to learn how it works and pay attention to the details… or pay us to make coffee for you. Without knowing much about the development of the Clover, I’d have to say that the Syphon had a heavy influence on it’s design and there are many similarities between how we use the Clover at the shop and how I use my syphon at home.
The fine folks over at Barismo.com have posted an updated Syphon primer- a very detailed “how-to” based on Taiwanese Syphon Master Simon Hsieh’s techniques. Most syphon coffee makers include the more traditional and time honoroed instructions as explained here in great detail, but after trying both I’ve become a big fan of Mr. Hsieh’s method. I feel like I have much more control over the coffee/water contact time and there isn’t additional (& hard to quantify) brewing going on while we’re waiting for the water to ramp up or draw down. I feel that I can affect the flavor profile of the coffee more precisely with this method- and bring out what I like best in a given coffee. Your results may vary so pick one up, try both methods, and make up your own mind. Oh yeah and watch this video…
Not to be confused with a kids menu… ladies and gents here are your coffees and teas.
The El Salvador coffee from the Los Inmortales project is here. We’ll be dialing it in tomorrow morning. By the way, Intelli’s roast of the Esmeralda was voted one of the world’s best coffees by Saveur Magazine. I think you should take the day off, come on down to the Strip, and drink some coffee. The weather is supposed to be great all week.