Coffee Stout

Probably the single tastiest beer I have ever had. I'll give you one guess why...

The Oatmeal Stout was a fantastic beer on its own, but now that it has been paired up with Espresso 700 from Kaldi's, Schlafly really looks to be going places. What a great idea!

Why aren't more brewers doing this? From what I can tell, this is a beer perfectly crafted for the professional barista.  Most baristas I know really love beer, especially stouts- probably because they have so much in common with coffee, as far a taste profiles go. I'll be looking for more of this soon. Schlafly has some truly great seasonal beers- very inventive. Their regular beers are alright too. Kaldi's also has some great seasonal coffees products, a couple worth mentioning in particular: Fair Trade Rwanda COOPAC and Costa Rica Helsar de Zarcero are both sublime. But, relevant to this post in particular, Espresso 700, which often-times gets overshadowed by its flashier cousins, the single-origin rock stars mentioned above.  Want to treat yourself this Christmas season? Have yourself a merry little 6 pack of Schlafly Coffee Stout and pound of Kaldi's Coffee.

Lord, thank You for such great flavor experiences. I pray for more of the same. Keep my head deflated and on straight. Here we go.

cleanhotdry: Roasting

This is such a beautiful video on roasting, I felt compelled to repost this here. You will enjoy this video.


Roasting from John Giannakos on Vimeo.

Everything from cleanhotdry is always really well done. Some opinions expressed there are a bit different than mine, but I have never seen a blog with better presentation.

Lord, thank You for beauty and the ability to appreciate it. Keep my head deflated and on straight. Here we go. 

Cupping Burundi Kayanza Bwayi

A Preview

It was about time that I cupped this fantastic coffee. But, if I was going to cup it, I might as well do a bit of investigative sampling at the same time. So, I roasted this same varietal four different ways, do different roast levels: Full City @ 4'25", City+ @ 4', City @3'45", and City- @ 3'30". Pictures can be found on my Facebook page. I apologize for not posting the pictures here, but if you have terrible internet speed you feel my pain and share my burden. 


What's to come:

A first for me, both for roasting and tasting. India's seem to be very rare.

This is another first. Tanzania's are almost always sold as pea-berry, but there is no reason that a "flat-bean" cannot be equally exceptional. This ought to be a great learning experience. 

A solid varietal here. There are very few ways to lose with this coffee. This will be a sure thing in the midst of the other two "exotic" coffees. 

For those of you waiting for my capstone paper in the History department of the University of Missouri, I'll be posting that in the next month. Its title: The 17th Century British Coffee-House: "Penny Universities" or "Seminaries of Sedition"?


Lord, thank You for the great coffee and the ability to purchase and consume it. Bless those that have worked so hard to propagate this coffee and make it available for me. Keep my head deflated and on straight. Here we go. 

Halloween

pure terror

I wasn't going to participate.  I know, I know, it's a terrible thought.  I'm swamped with school work as it is, so why distract myself with something like Halloween and the pursuit of the right costume?  I had good intentions, but after speaking with my uncle, I was forced to change my mind.  He called me a "Fuddy-duddy."  What else could I do?!  You can't just get called a fuddy-duddy and take it!  I did make him help me brainstorm costume ideas.  His best help was, "What frightens you more than anything else in the world"?  That little bit of advice was all it took.

I dressed up as a cup of decaffeinated Starbucks Pike Place Roast, literally the most terrifying material item I can conceive of.  The problem with this sort of a costume is that even if you add subtleties like a coffee sleeve with special boxes checked off "disgusting," "terrifying," "lava hot," and "decaf," people still think you're a fan.  Take a look for yourself:

close-up of the front of the sleeve

reverse side of the parody sleeve

my thoughts, just for good measure

 As you can see, the costume was made to look very much like an actual Starbucks cup. Even with all of these small details clearly making the costume obviously anti-Starbucks in nature, I received at least 100, "Yeah! I love Starbucks!", to which I replied, "I hate you."

Overall, I'd say the festive evening went well.  Part of the agreement you have to sign before you can take your newborns home from the hospital is that you dress your entire family in a set of costumes that coordinate.  So, in order to bring the rest of the family in on the action, my daughter was a Sweet 'n Low and my son was an Equal packet.  My wife, Micalah, was the orchestrator of the coffee horror show, she was a Starbucks "barista." More photographic evidence:

too cute

Equal

without baby bodies inside...

coffee family of HORROR!

I figure, if we have any more kids for next year, he or she would take the role of raw sugar.  The costumes were a hit, even if for the wrong reason.  The Missourian newspaper snapped a couple shots of the family for their online publication of the best costumes in Missouri, so that's cool.  Plus, I won second prize in the church's chili cook-off (lost to the guy who has cooked for all the mission trips for longer than I've been alive).

Lord, thank You for the time to hang out with my family and extended family in Christ.  I'm sorry for inadvertently advertising for the supreme heresy, Starbucks. Forgive me of my ignorance. Keep my head deflated and on straight. Here we go.

My Review of Guatemala San Pedro La Laguna

Originally submitted at Coffee Review

Produced in the spectacular mountain basin surrounding Guatemala's Lake Atitlan by small-holding producers from trees of the Bourbon, Caturra and Typica varieties. Founded in 1994, Kaldi's Coffee is a quality-oriented small-batch roaster with several cafes throughout Missouri. Visit or cal...

Guatemala San Pedro La Laguna

Guatemala San Pedro la Laguna

By The Espresso Vein from Columbia, MO on 10/17/2010

 

3out of 5

Pros: Balanced Acidity, Unaggressive and simple, Not Bitter, Smooth Taste

Cons: Roasted Too Light, Mild aroma above 190 F, Tea-like body, Thin Or Watery Mouthfeel/Body

Best Uses: French Press, Slow-brew only, V60 unfit for this coffee, Chemex or Clever approved, Automatic Drip/Filter

Describe Yourself: Home Roaster, Shop Consultant, Barista Trainer

I almost always brew with pour-overs because I like the clean mouthfeel of filtered coffees. At first, I used the Hario V60-01 on this coffee, but found it to brew too quickly and leave the coffee too light bodied and tea-like. Therefore, I tried again with a 6 cup Chemex, which has a significantly longer brew time (about 3.5-4.5 minutes). After the second round, the results were more favorable, but not outstanding. If I were judging for the Coffee Review, and I am not, I would give this coffee an 88 or 89, mostly for lack of body. Please note though, other brew methods such as French Press, or even automatic drip may have differing results. For those wanting a laid-back, Sunday afternoon brew, this may be a good choice.

(legalese)

Grind Size, of Course. But What About Dose?

Maybe it's just me, but I have been having a lot of trouble with my brewed coffee lately. Part of the problem comes from heightened awareness of the particulars in the process of brewing. I am a perfectionist when it comes to coffee, especially when I am the one "behind the bar." The other part of my problem comes from a lack of information/thought on the issue at hand.

When brewing with a pour-over, the general consensus on the coffee weight to volume of water ratio is about 2 grams per ounce. I generally agree with this assessment.  Another often talked about factor is water temperature, which is expected to be within the small window of 195-204 degrees. Here, I agree as well. Grind size is of course, paramount. Everyone knows this and adjusts accordingly (for pour overs, somewhere between "espresso" and "drip" is expected).  But after following all the guidelines and suggested measures, I still find myself disappointed with some brews.

Maybe some of the coffees I use just suck? This is possible, but not likely. I roast my own to my own taste (usually around the city to city+ range, a standard roast  level for the American taste bud). If  I'm not drinking my own, I'm drinking Kaldi's Coffee or Northwest Coffee, both artisan roasters in St. Louis. Though artisan, their coffees are very different. Kaldi's roasts lighter, Northwest, darker (around a full-city).

When I use these same coffees in pour-over brews, I am almost always disappointed with the Northwest brews. This is the coffee the most unlike mine or Kaldi's, so some taste difference is expected.  My disappointment goes beyond taste though, it is almost always linked to its characteristics affected by brewing.

The Northwest Coffee seems sharp, biting, and aggressive- way too intense for such dark roasts.  I am beginning to think that using the same brewing parameters for coffees with different Agtron ratings should not be done. If we adjust grind size for roast level (I have heard this suggested many times, most recently from a link posted by Tim Wendelboe, by Dr. Brew from Bunn) why not also dose?

I have decreased the grams/ounce to 1.7g/oz when using these darker-roasted coffees, even coffees of my own. So far, the change has been fairly noticeable.  In my coffees, the brew seems under-extracted, but the body seems to be just where I like it.  Here, my problem is trying to manipulate body when I shouldn't. When brewing Northwest coffees, everything checks out just like it should.  So, therefore, I do think there is something to changing the dose, and grind size, for significantly darker than average roasts.

Check back soon for my post assessment of Kaldi's Coffee's newly cupped and rated coffee Guatemala  San Pedro La Laguna, a 91 by the Coffee Review!  Even though I don't agree with such subjective rating systems, I do appreciate the chance to try an excellent coffee.

Lord, thank you for this beautiful Sunday morning. Bless the ministers around the world as they bring Your Word. Keep my head deflated and on straight. Here we go.

Coffee Capstone

I just couldn't help myself. There's been just too much news in my coffee world to keep my blog silent through it all. First off, my mother surprised me the other day with a gift she bought for 25 CENTS!!! from a garage sale.

4 cup Chemex w/ glass lid

Wow, what a great surprise. Could my month get any better? Well, yes it could. I'm completing my undergraduate degree in History from Mizzou this fall, and to do so requires me to complete a 30-40 page research paper on (this semester's topic) the British Empire. Good news is that I can choose (with approval from the directing professor) any topic I want. I'll give you one guess as to what topic I wanted... No, silly, not the downfall of Mercantilism for a Free Trade economic system. Coffee! Today I presented this idea of researching the development of coffee as a commodity trade item within the British Empire to my directing professor. He likes it! So, now I've got the task of narrowing down my research on the topic. We'll see where it goes. Here is a little sampling of my research materials thus far:

The book to the left was published in 1881. New scholarship is desperately needed.

What's more, I've had a professor of mine express interest in looking into specialty coffee. He's invited me to share with him suggestions about supplies and techniques. I don't think he has any idea the ramifications of his requests.

So, it's been a good week for yours truly. We'll see what next week brings. I pray Vida Coffee Co. gets started up soon (a mere two and a half years after I started that coffee shop project). That will be my next post most likely. Lord, thank You for Your many blessings, not least among them, a great mom. Keep my head deflated and on straight. Here we go.