coffee fest 2008 - washington dc

I attended my first Specialty Coffee trade show yesterday. Washington hosted a Coffee Fest trade show for coffee industry folks, and I was able to make my way in and mingle with some pretty important folks in the worldwide coffee scene. In addition to chatting with equipment suppliers & manufacturers, I was able to watch world-class baristas do their thing in both latte art competitions and while making drinks for the attendees.

I tasted coffees roasted by the top names in the country, and made on the most elaborate & best espresso machines on the planet. I was extremely pleased to find out that the coffee I roast & brew at home (whether on my Bunn ES-1A espresso machine, Cory vacuum pot, French Press, or whatever) is right on the mark with the best of the best (in my humble opinion!) I had espresso shots from Counter Culture Coffee, Intelligencia and the like. The only shot of espresso that stopped me dead in my tracks was from Zoka of Seattle - their coffee was ‘best in show’ in my book. It was a real standout, and I know where the bar is set now.

I finally got to meet someone I have known for almost 2 years through online forums & correspondences. Reinaldo Miguel (aka Michael or Kuban111) is a home coffee roaster & in-house barista like me, and we finally got to shake hands in person & spend the afternoon checking out the show’s exhibits together. Michael, his lovely wife Ale, their acquaintance Andrey and I walked & talked (and drank, of course) coffees & espresso shots from around the world together.

I can’t wait for Coffee Fest 2009!

roasting goldfish

With unseasonably high temperatures in the 70s yesterday, I roasted a pound of coffee yesterday out on my deck. I was accompanied by my usual assistant-roastmaster Peter. His list of expected duties is small;

1. don’t touch anything… it’s all very hot
2. enjoy your Pepperidge Farm Goldfish

Really, there is never any need to lecture about rule #1. If there are Goldfish in hand, there will be nothing else touched. PERIOD.

carrot - egg - coffee / a life lesson from the kitchen

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee…You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what you see.”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma The daughter then asked, “What does it mean, mother?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water , they had changed the water.

“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can’t go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.

Live your life so at the end, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

*anonymous author

getting up first

I set an alarm every day. If I can be out of bed and down to our main level before anyone else, I can maybe get to enjoy one of these:

If I don’t win the race, I will start my day with one of these:

Alarm set!

bunn of steel

I frequently follow all types of espresso equipment on eBay. On occasion, I will place a bid – one that is laughably low. On very rare occasions, these items receive only a few bids, but my low bids are routinely left at the starting gate. About 2 years ago, I (somehow) won a Cunill “Full Metal” espresso grinder as the lone, low bidder, and lightening struck again recently.

I bid on a Bunn ES-1A Espresso machine. I was not the lone bidder, but I WAS the winning bidder. The ES-1A is no longer made. It carries a Bunn badge, but is actually a Gaggia Espagnol (a.k.a. Futurmat) espresso machine. It sports a single E-61 group with electronic dosing, heat exchanger, 4 liter boiler, 110 volts, and a rotary pump. Water & drain plumbing is required. Wow! This thing is REAL!

I had never touched an HX machine before, and have absolutely no experience in repairing or troubleshooting one. It was perhaps a foolish thing to bid/win this device, but I honestly never expected to win it, and knew that it could simply be too broken or too complicated for me to bring to life in my kitchen. I gambled, and brought a 90 lb. box into my home the next week.

While contemplating bidding, I researched the machine online extensively. One name came up continually – Robert Harmon. Mr. Harmon lives in Texas, and has this exact espresso machine in his home. He bought his on eBay a year prior, and documented his process & progress online. I contacted him via email to see if he would be willing to advise me in my journey, and he was not only willing – he was enthusiastic. We emailed digital photos back and forth, annotated with arrows & circles – all to educate me on my new machine. He is knowledgeable & patient, and has been simply wonderful in his mentoring. I did not know the difference between a thermostat and a pressurestat last month. I do now. I had never used a multimeter before. Mr. Harmon walked me through each process patiently. Thanks to Robert (“Tex” on coffeegeek.com forums), the Bunn ES-1A is running beautifully in my kitchen, and simply makes the best espresso I have ever had, be it from a Seattle, Paris or Florence café.

The machine did not function when I first unpacked it. Once I was able to get the pump to move water through the system, I was unable to get the boiler to “light”. I bought my first digital multimeter, made jumper cords, and successfully isolated the problem thermostat. Valves were soaked & scrubbed, and parts that didn’t mate properly due to corrosion & crud were polished to seat properly. I replaced the group gasket (stone-hard) and will still need to replace the anti-siphon valve, which intermittently still quietly hisses as a minute amount of vapor escapes. The machine is not yet plumbed to water mains or drainage, but is pulling temporarily from a 3 gallon water bottle & drains to my kitchen sink.

This is simply an amazing machine. It is not so large that it will take over a kitchen, but rather seems quite understated in its appearance. It does not look like today’s prosumer gleaming stainless machines, nor does it look like an intimidating full-size café machine. With very good direction (you’re the best, Tex!), I was able to work on this machine myself. It simply makes great espresso & froths milk like a champ.

my roasting assistant

I roasted 2 pounds of coffee this afternoon. There is talk of another ice storm tonight, so I chose to take advantage of the afternoon’s sunshine. The first roast was an “Ethiopian Harrar Horse”, and the second was an espresso blend. I set both batches on the kitchen counter while I put my roaster away. My son Peter climbed up on a stool to check out the action. He looked into the bowls, took a whiff, and proudly proclaimed his findings:

“Coffee”

He is my son.

sunday coffee roasting

I just received a new shipment of green coffee - a Peruvian, Organic, Rainforrest Alliance coffee and an Ethopian Yirgacheffe Peaberry. The weather is nice, so I roasted a pound of the Peruvian this afternoon. My roaster of choice is the hybrid UFO / Turbo Oven hybrid. Recent modifications / improvements to this system include the mounting of a digital thermometer probe in the “roast chamber” and a silicone tube which acts as a seal where the Turbo Oven sits on the spacer ring.

The freshly-roasted coffee is “resting”. Tonight I get to sample a cup of the freshest coffee around! Something to look forward to, for sure!

Here is a video of this home-fashioned roaster in action.

 

oswald’s scoop

I have never been very big on conspiracy theories. Lee Harvey Oswald may have simply been a crack-pot & a lucky shot (complete with self-guided magic bullet) - we’ll never know.

My new finding, however, may make the Kennedy assassination look insignificant. You see, I bought a coffee scoop at Starbucks a few years ago. It was marked as being exactly a 2 tablespoon measuring scoop. I have used this same scoop for maybe 3 years, and it has never failed me. (OK, OK… it’s not gonna suffer any mechanical breakdown for the next 3,000 years - it’s a metal spoon, for crying out loud). A few weeks ago, I wanted to give my sister-in-law a batch of my home-roasted coffee. In order for Mary to be able to enjoy the coffee fully, I knew she would need a coffee grinder to grind the beans minutes before brewing. I found a nice blade grinder & picked it up. I also reflected on how nicely my Starbucks 2-Tablespoon scoop worked, so I decided to pass on the cheap-o scoop that was offered with the grinder, and would make a side-trip to Starbucks to buy Mary her own official 2-tablespoon coffee scoop - complete with the word “STARBUCKS” stamped on the handle (along with the words “2 TABLESPOONS”).

Starbucks had a whole batch of coffee scoops - on sale too! These scoops didn’t have mererly the straight shiny metal handle - no, these handles flared to a nice, ergonomic rubberized handle-tip. I immediately came down with a severe case of “I want one of THESE“. They were reduced in price sufficiently enough for me to buy two - one for Mary & one for me.

Mary received her freshly-roasted beans, coffee grinder and 2-tablespoon scoop. She raves about my coffee, and for this I am tickled. Mary has no idea that she was unknowingly dragged into a conspiracy of monumental proportions - for God’s sake - it’s freaking COFFEE!

I found my new coffee scoop yesterday (it was hidden under other coffee junk since the day it came into my house) and thought that this would be a rite-of-passage - the old coffee scoop will finally get some well-deserved time off, and the new kid will have to get into the game. As I plunged the new scoop into the super-fresh coffee, it hit me like a ton of bricks - THIS SCOOP IS TOO SMALL TO HOLD 2 TABLESPOONS! I measured the capacity of the new scoop - it holds only 4 teaspoons (1.5 tablespoons). The old one measured exactly 2 tablespoons.

Those crafty bastards! They want me to make weak coffee at home so I will come to their store & pay $4.00 for a “proper” cup of coffee! This will all come out to the general public once the Warren Commission reconvenes. They will not get away with this - no sir!

My apologies, Mary - I didn’t know. I swear. Wait… there’s a knock on the door… oh no - it’s the Cubans… gotta run out the back door.

mr. gaggia, mr. bodum, mr. cory - who’s ready to go to work?

I have a small army of coffee brewing equipment. They sit on a corner of my kitchen counter. Each one makes an excellent coffee drink for me, but no two work alike. My Aeropress is definitely a 21st century contraption that makes an exceptionally smooth coffee drink - one mug at a time. My Cory vacuum coffee pot is based on an 19th century principle. This particular model dates from the 1940s, and is made without the highly-conserved rubber gasket of the time (WW2). The beauty of the coffee it prepares is that the coffee grounds and the water never touch any material but glass - the coffee is a pure product, unaffected by bleached filter paper or contact with metal. When my brain asks for espresso, the Gaggia Classic is put into action. Heavy with brass, steel and copper, the Gaggia prepares espresso just as a barista would in a cafe in Europe (not like Starbucks - they use a super-automatic machine that only asks the operator to press the right button - no grinding, dosing, tamping and watched extraction required). My Cunill “Full Metal” grinder is required to grind the fresh coffee beans fine enough for real espresso. Oh, lets not forget the more standard methods to make nice coffee - I have those abilities too. The Bodum french press and the KitchenAid drip coffee maker get their turn to show their stuff too.

My current mood dictates which device is used. Sometimes, I really want an Americano, so the Gaggia is put to work. Company coming over? Full pot of drip works best. Coffee for blog writing? hmmmmm…

roastmaster general

For the first time in many days, it is in the low 90s - where’s my down parka? Taking advantage of the heat-wave’s intermission, I grabbed my coffee roasting paraphernalia & headed out to the back deck. Today’s featured selection is a Brazil Daterra Farm Reserve Espresso. These raw coffee beans were purchased recently form the Green Coffee Cooperative. I order the beans in 5 lb. increments - having never tried this crop, I ordered the minimal 5 pounds. The coop is a true coop - the distributors are in it for satisfaction and to help others, not money. Their dedication allows people like me to buy green coffees from around the world at very reasonable cost. On-line discussion forums are also available to learn from other’s roasting experiences. Another great resource all about coffee is Coffeegeek.com. (I’m dmankin on their forums - I learned nearly all of this from their forums.)

The green coffee beans are tossed into a 500 degree, preheated home-made roaster (the marriage of a popcorn popper and a convection oven… really!) The popper’s stirring action keeps the beans moving constantly as the oven cranks out serious BTUs. After 18 minutes, decided on by the smell, sound (they pop & snap) and look of the now brown coffee beans, the coffee is moved to my home-made coffee bean cool (another appliance marriage - this time a fan and a colander!)

The coffee needs to “de-gas” for a day or so - the freshly roasted beans give off carbon dioxide in abundance at first, slowing considerably in the coming hours. Tomorrow morning, I will grind the fresh beans & brew a pot of, what I am hoping will be, fabulous coffee.

I have been roasting my own coffee for just 6 months, therefore officially still a newby. In my humble Virginia-based castle, I am the “Roastmaster General”. Swing on by - grab a mug. Enjoy.