Archive | Coffee RSS feed for this section

Comparative Cupping (with some interesting roast dates)

21 Oct

This blog post is long, long overdue (and also really, really long). In fact I did this cupping way back in July. Almost two long ago to really write about seriously, although I did take extensive notes on the cupping and a whole bunch of pictures too. The reason why I want to revisit it though is because it was really fun, and really targeted. I had four coffees on the table, two Yemeni and two Costa Rican. I had been wanting to compare the two Yemens back to back for quite a while, and the Costa Ricans interested me, same farm, same process, different roasters and very different roast dates. I’ll get into that a bit mor later.

I wanted to mix things up a bit, take a comparative perspective and openly compare the similar coffees to each other (normally my cupping tables at home are random affairs, with very different origins, varietals and processes). Another reason was that three out of the four coffees were pretty old, all over six weeks and the fourth just about two weeks. I wanted to think more about the impact of post-roast ageing on profiles, as it was something I had been thinking about a good bit in my preparation for the Brewer’s Cup. A very extreme example and not very scientific, but aimed a palette training, it was an interesting exercise none the less.

(more…)

Digressions in Coffee

19 Oct

Some of you out there may have noticed that I posted a new video on Vimeo during the course of the week. Initially when I started to think about filming, it was meant to be a short 3-4 minute brew guide for the v60, perhaps set to some fun music and with text on screen to explain what was going on. But the more I thought about what I was doing, the more it felt wrong to present my brew recipe in this manner.

For me, brewing coffee is a fun and engaging experience, at least as much so as the imbibing of the final product. I have spent (far too much) time over the past year thinking about brewing methods and techniques, keeping diaries and logs of my brew variables and recording the sensory results of these endeavours. On a personal level, this culminated in my participation in this years Brewer’s Cup at both national and international levels. After the competition had ended and I returned home, highly caffinated and exhausted, I was left wondering. What next?

For me, coffee was never going to be a career. It was and is still a hobby for me. I love the freedom of brewing at home and the potential for experimenting and messing about with parameters and extractions. And besides, my eyes are currently set on finishing up my doctorate in international politics, entering the world of academia and disappearing forever.

But coming back from my week in Maastricht, a week spent surrounded by various parts of the industry (interesting and not), I found myself realising that I was going to miss the level of engagement I had achieved over the previous few months. But I wasn’t sure how I could keep up that engagement, or even contribute something, and I sort of stumbled around feeling a bit lost (figuratively speaking) for a few months.

Since the Brewer’s Cup, I had gotten a good few requests from friends and acquaintances to knock together a few brew recipes and such based on my experience in the competition, and some others after I did a little ‘Ghetfecta’ video when I was sitting at home bored one Sunday afternoon. I kept managing to put off blogging about these recipes, for the most part as I wasn’t sure how well I could put down my thoughts and procedures on paper. Committing my thoughts and routine to paper seemed very final and specific and the last thing I wanted to do was present people with specific instructions for brewing coffee.

My own experiences had thought me that regardless of how much we strive for scientific precision in our brewing, an unbelievable number of factors and variables remain uncontrolled within the brewing process from person to person. This starts with very basic things such as peoples pouring speed and patterns, freshness of beans and water temperature to more specifics such as burr wear on grinders, the specific grinders themselves and the way they are dialled in, to minute details such as water composition and pH.

When I got my first aeropress and then swiftly followed it with my chemex, I spent hours browsing online, looking up brew recipes and guides and attempting to make sense of the many contradictory instructions and pieces of advice that were available. Very few of them worked well, and even fewer in a sustainable and consistent manner. This is not to say that all of the advice was useless or bad, but rather different people approaching the issue of brewing coffee differently, these different starting points (in a very Quinean manner) resulted in different conclusions, each tailored to different tastes.

That was the point at which I took matters into my own hands and started to note down parameters for all my brews. Everything from dose to the number of times stirred during the brew. I then appended sensory notes to each brew, noting when flavours felt under and over extracted, when I hit the nail on the head and other times when it simply was alright. After about six weeks of doing this three times a day, my technique was forming and was growing in consistency and I had finally broken through into an area when I was confident I could brew really good coffee most of the time.

Much of the technique was drawn from the sources I had found online, but each had been adapted in its own way to fit my particular circumstances. What was important at the end of the day was that I could now enjoy great coffee at home, it ceased being the big scary zombie elephant in the room and I began to relax and experiment, rather than getting down if something didn’t work.

So this is what essentially held me back when people asked me for brew recipes, I simply was not sure I could articulate the recipe in such a way as to be of any use. Actually blogging a recipe had been off the books with me since August and I had been toying with the idea of video brew guides since then, so when I finally sat down to do so, I had the face the issue of articulating th brew recipe in such a way as to inform, to entertain and most of all to portray the recipe in an open manner, open to criticism, critique, exploration and change.

This was about the stage when I decided to do a videocast type guide rather than a music video with some nice textual information. I could talk directly with the viewer, present more information on what I was doing, explain why I was doing what I was doing and essentially talk people through my own brew method. It would have to be informal, formality has its place but in the context of a guide could come across as too prescriptive, I wanted it to feel like a chat, a brief explanation between two friends sharing a coffee. And past that, I wanted it to be useful. Anything else was frosting.

Initially I had planned it to be a once off, get something people had been asking me for out there and be done with it. But I did have a lot of fun doing it and by the time I had finished editing and encoding, I was curious about perhaps doing some more with different brew methods/approaches. I said I would see how the first video went and then make a decision. I received an awful lot of really great feedback (thanks a million really), alot of it surprisingly flattering. So I am sitting here at the moment working through plans for a second episode and trying to decide what I want to do next.

I won’t be knocking them out every week. I am reluctant to commit to more than one a month, university will be getting very busy for me over the next few months, but I hope to knock one out every four weeks or so. I hope to keep them as informal and light hearted as the first one. I honestly believe that brewing great coffee at home is a very simple and accessible exercise and one that should be enjoyable rather than a chore. My goal if anything is to highlight this.

So anyway, that’s about it from me for now, I’m off to do something I actually get paid to think about.

The Espro Press – Because I Can!

2 Jul

So the guys at Espro were nice enough to put up an Espro Press as a prize for each of the first round competitors in the World Brewer’s Cup in Maastricht. Having heard about these briefly a few weeks back, I was intrigued and really interested in getting my hands on one. To put it bluntly, I would have walked away happy there and then if I never made the final, sometimes the nerd in me is far too strong. I had a few brews from it at the brew bar on the Friday, among the most interesting was a brew of Johan & Nystrom’s Kenya Gethumbwini, which we brewed up simultaneously in the press and my Chemex. Needless to say I got very excited after the comparison tasting and was impatient to get home and mess around with it.

The Espro Press - How Could You Not Want One?

For me personally it came at a really good time. I have been wanting to go back to my press pots for quite a while now, my current aversion to manual agitation has me wanting to redo my old brew recipes without the need to stir, so this gave me the opportunity to mess around and have a bit of fun. In the process taking out my new refractometer for a proper test run and thinking a bit more scientifically about what I was doing (don’t worry, I am not neglecting the importance of taste here, we shall see by the time I reach my conclusions). I had some interesting results which I will share below, in all their numeric glory and some interesting observations on taste to accompany. Currently I am a firm believer in the virtue of this little piece of kit.

So first off, aesthetics. I am in love with it, all shiny and stainless. It reminds me of those lovely shiny presses you encounter every now and again in restaurants, except this one produces a spectacularly clean cup and with the right coffee is downright mouth-watering. It is a very substantial piece of kit, double walled stainless steel gives it a good bit of heft. I like this in a brewer, I love my Hario kit, but seriously if you were not being so careful not to drop Hario glass, you wouldn’t even know it was in your hand. This feels big, bold and present, rather like the coffee it produces, but more on that later.

So what makes this little thing special? It is in essence a French press after all, people have played with better mesh filters and all before, with some nice results but nothing amazing. I myself have resorted to using aeropress filters sandwiched between the filter mesh and the stem on my old Bodum in an effort to produce a cleaner cup, with good but not amazing results. The aeropress in itself, when used for brewed coffee (rather than the faux espresso of its manual) does something similar to the good old press pot and produces a lovely sweet and clean cup. Yet I always find myself frustrated by the plunge and the “puck”, and I have always felt it more akin to a pourover cup profile than the richness and depth of traditional full immersion brewing.

What the Espro press has done is replace the filter mesh from the traditional french press with a microfilter basket and an airtight rubber seal (see image below). The rubber seal prevents fines migrating upwards along the side of the pot as the plunger is pressed down and the filter basket effectively double filters the brew. As you plunge, the brew initially enters the basket through the microfilter mesh on the sides and is then pushed up through another microfilter mesh on the top of the basket into the main chamber. The result is an incredibly clean (if not completely free of fines) brew. For those of you that hate the taste of paper from filters, the silt that is often typical of metal filters or even the pain in the ass that is cleaning cloth filters, this is a really nifty little trick and well worth looking into.

As I said it is not a completely fine free cup, but it is mighty damn close and virtually unnoticeable unless you leave it sit for half an hour or want to put a sample through a refractometer. While I am talking about the press itself, it is also incredibly easy to clean, the mechanism is far easy to rinse out than a traditional press and the basket simply pops off the end, no messy fiddling with 4-5 piece filters like in traditional presses. Pretty damn handy and certainly makes for less of a chore. How the mesh holds up overtime I am unsure, but I will update over time with cleaning and maintenance advice.

The Espro Press Filter Basket - Simple and Effective

Experimentation and numbers after the break…

(more…)

Brewer’s Cup 2011 – In Review

28 Jun

I feel a bit awkward writing this post. Not being in coffee as a profession leaves me feel like I’m standing with one foot in and one foot out half the time. I feel it is important to say that this is not the fault of anyone within coffee, but just a personal hangup, the result of still not knowing a lot of people outside of my local crowd and only knowing more through blogs and twitter. But I feel that as I was there and as I participated (I even wore the t-shirt) that I should at least give some sort of broad feedback on what I thought about the first year of the competition.

Another clarification (I fear this post may be riddled with them) is that many of the opinions expressed here (certainly only my own etc…) were all formulated before I even took part in the Irish heat, here I refer specifically to the structure of the competition as a whole. The only recent opinions are those which relate specifically to problems that arose over the weekend. Also if I sound like I am stepping on people’s toes, I apologise, that is certainly not the purpose of this post. I did as a whole enjoy the experience over the weekend and I do understand the difficulties and surprises that are thrown at people over the course of an event. We can only learn and move on from these problems, regretting them is somewhat pointless.

I am a bit fearful that the opinions here will be unpopular, especially after hearing people’s thoughts on the competition over the past but they are mine. But having participated in the event and invested a lot of work and time to preparation over the past two months, I feel it is my right to do so. I have also directed events (not quite so large, but of 700-800 people) so have some idea of the issues that can arise and potential ways of solving them. So anyway, page break here so you can get out while you still can.

(more…)

Honour and Debt – An Epilogue to the World Brewer’s Cup 2011

26 Jun

I don’t really know how to start this post, there is so much that I want to say, and so many people who I want to say it to. I will miss someone out in what follows so I do apologise in advance, it’s not you, it’s me (and a week of distraction, sleep deprivation and adrenaline).

First off, I feel honoured to have had the chance to meet each and every one of the competitors at the Brewer’s Cup. There was so much amazing coffee flying around over the few days that it was hard to keep up with everything. And seriously, the first round was so, so close. It really was anybody’s game. Everyone that was there, deserved to be there, hands down. I learned far more than I ever expected talking to people around the bar over the three days and discovered a new-found respect for some methods that have fallen out of favour with me in the last few months (mainly due to my constant focus on the Chemex). If I didn’t see you at the after party to say goodbye, I hope to see you all again soon, maybe even have more of a chance to sit down and share a proper cup together, not just a sample sip from a paper cup. If anyone makes it to Dublin in the future, let me know and I would be more than happy to show you around.

Secondly, hats off to the prize sponsors for the event. After the first round prizes (a Kalitta Wave and an Espro French press) I would have gladly walked away a happy, happy man. After the prizes for the final (an amazing serving set from Lucky i Cremas and an Aeropress) I would have walked away ecstatic. After the prizes for the top three (a grinder courtesy of Marco I believe) I would have walked away in awe. But seriously, the prizes for top spot (A Trifecta brewer and grinder courtesy of Bunn, a free massage courtesy of Natvia not to mention a VST refractometer for first and second place) I hardly know what to say. I don’t remember all of the prize sponsors or the specifics, I can hardly recall any of the few minutes leading up to the announcement, so if anyone reading this has the specifics please feel free to pass them along and I will gladly edit them into the post. Seriously though, thank you to every one of the sponsors, even if in my stupidity I forgot to list you. I am overcome by the generosity of the prizes.

A massive thanks goes out to Emma from the Brew Bar who did spectacularly well in single-handedly running the first round (correct me if I’m wrong, but I only saw her on duty at the time) and the bar in general for the weekend. Things would have been nowhere near as smooth if she wasn’t around and she did an amazing job.

Also thanks again to Marco for supplying some amazing equipment for the bar and the competition. Things would have been vastly harder without the amazing hardware and excellent support given my you lads. Thanks also to the other equipment suppliers and coffee suppliers for some amazing gear for the week. I had many stunning cups of coffee and learned so much on the bar it was incredible.

Big, huge thanks to all the judges for the weekend. You were all amazing, dedicated and far too kind on your score sheets. And from what I hear (and see from my own score sheet) you were almost impossibly in tune with each other and the scoring. It was an honour meeting you all and I hope I get the chance to sit down and share a proper cup, under more relaxing circumstances.

Before I get to more personal thanks, I would also love to thank the WCE, the SCAE and the various other regional bodies for getting this event off the ground. It is an amazing idea and an amazing prospect. And despite a number of growing pains, first year issues and bumps it went amazingly well. Here’s to the future.

Now’s the part where I get sappy, and if I didn’t know where to start before, I certainly don’t know where to start now. I owe so many people, for so many things so I hope I have you all covered here. If not, feel free to slap me when next you see me as you are people I see on an almost daily basis.

Firstly I would just like to say, it is all Colin Harmon’s fault. All joking and name dropping aside, I doubt I would even know what speciality coffee was if it wasn’t for him and that free cup of Mtaro AA that initially sucked me in and started me on the long slippery slope to obsession and competition participation. Since then he has been amazingly supportive, even if he did curse at me on his videocast with Steve Leighton (This is actually a highlight of my life). He even went so far as to supply me with Chemex for the competition, despite the fact I was standing there ready to hand him over €100-odd euro for gear. He took the time off to give me a run-through of my presentation the Friday before the competition, which was amazing and gave me some incredible advice and pointers…although I did blatantly ignore some of them on stage. I promise to spend more and accept less free samples from now on whilst in the shop…although please don’t hold me to it!

Speaking of 3FE, I really owe all of you guys in the shop a massive thanks, especially Monika, Jenn, Ger, Jordan and the two Pete’s. Passion for good coffee is far too easy to come by when involved with you lot and I owe a great deal of thanks for putting up with my sometimes excessive presence at the brew bar. I promise to bring much great coffee for you to try in future.

Words can hardly describe the next person on my list. In fact, I am not sure they can. Stephen Leighton, my roaster. None of this would have been possible without his amazing dedication to the pursuit of amazing coffee. If he had given up on my competition coffee when he first ran into problems with it in the mill in Bolivia, there is no way I could have done what I did. It is incredibly easy to feel passionate about such an amazing coffee, in particular one that has given me so much joy over the past three months. Coffees come and go, amazing coffees come and go even faster. Regardless, I will never forget Bolinda. Not only did Steve source it and bring it over here, he also roasted it, and he did it to perfection. When people tasted the coffee over the week the first thing they remarked on was the balance. This is due in no small part to the stunning roast profile. I have been honoured to use such an amazing coffee in competition and when stocks run out, it will be sorely missed.

Last but not least, most undoubtedly first in fact, I must thank Aoife, my fiancée for her almost superhuman patience with the obsession that has slowly taken over more than half the countertop space in our kitchen. I doubt I could find any stronger support anywhere and I am without doubt incredibly lucky to have her around, even if I am scared she will kill me if I bring any more coffee gear into the apartment.

This last week has been a roller coaster of both emotion and adrenaline. Winning the World Brewer’s Cup, no matter how small the honour, has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. It is something that I feel I have worked hard for and feel proud to have accomplished. It is something that I will hold dear always. It is something I will never forget.

To everyone, I am honoured to have met you and I owe you my thanks for such an incredible experience. Go raibh maith agat.

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 513 other followers