My thoughts are with the people of Christchurch in New Zealand today. It is a great city with warm friendly people and a fantastic cafe scene. There have been deaths and injuries today as a result of the latest earthquakes to hit.
I know a few people over there - I hope they are ok but communications are not great at present and the government is asking people not to call on the phone as the phone system is required for emergencies.
ABC news24 has live streaming coverage of the quake and has lifted the usual geographic block of the ABC News24 service so that people can access information.
Once again twitter seems to be one of the more reliable ways to access information fast: http://canterburyearthquake.org.nz/
Hashtags to use are: #eqnz and #chch
Best wishes to all those who have friends and family and Christchurch.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Random Coffee Googlings
I play with numbers quite a bit and this morning as a warm-up exercise for some serious number play I did a comparison of various search terms including the word coffee.
The world loves coffee far more than it hates coffee.
But we already knew that.
Click to embiggen!
The world loves coffee far more than it hates coffee.
But we already knew that.
Click to embiggen!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The wine fridge
Keeps KokoBlack chocolates at an utterly perfect temperature. Mine is sit to about 14 degrees in summer and that seems to be just the right temperature to get the full flavours.
I discovered this by accident when trying to find somewhere cool and dry yesterday when it was 40 degrees. Unfortunately several truffles did not make it into the cooler. They were eaten while trying to escape.
Yum.
I discovered this by accident when trying to find somewhere cool and dry yesterday when it was 40 degrees. Unfortunately several truffles did not make it into the cooler. They were eaten while trying to escape.
Yum.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Koko! (again - this time with a surprise)
I know that the West Australian postal time has some lag in it so there is no way the Koko Black crew read my post before they dispatched these to me...
Not all truffles appeal to all people - some flavour combinations may not necessarily appeal to you if you get a chance to try these - and from this small and very welcome sample I already have a favourite, but the quality is unquestionable and will be much appreciated by Perth foodies.
The samples came with an invitation to attend the press opening of Koko Black - on March 21, 2011. This of course means that Koko Black will be open to the public on March 22!
You can count on some photos of live-blogging from that event!
I may need a pack of finger wet-wipes though...
Thank you Koko Black for the delightful surprise - I would love to see if there is a distinct preference for some truffles over others once the Claremont store opens and how this profile compares with Melbourne consumers.
Not all truffles appeal to all people - some flavour combinations may not necessarily appeal to you if you get a chance to try these - and from this small and very welcome sample I already have a favourite, but the quality is unquestionable and will be much appreciated by Perth foodies.
The samples came with an invitation to attend the press opening of Koko Black - on March 21, 2011. This of course means that Koko Black will be open to the public on March 22!
You can count on some photos of live-blogging from that event!
I may need a pack of finger wet-wipes though...
Thank you Koko Black for the delightful surprise - I would love to see if there is a distinct preference for some truffles over others once the Claremont store opens and how this profile compares with Melbourne consumers.
The Approaching Dark...
Dark Chocolate that is!
My colleagues – most of whom have visited Melbourne and the Koko Black stores there, have been teasing me with details of the delectable truffles they purchased on their last visit – none of which (oddly enough) made it into our office for morning tea.
However, I can forgive this lapse since we are now less than a month from the opening of the Claremont store. I asked the Koko Black Communications Manager, Marian, if I could have a little detail about the chocolatier they are sending to Perth.
We are to host Kim Linssen – originally from Reuver, in Holland. Now part of the municipality of Reuver is the village of Leeuwin - ‘lioness’ in Dutch. Leeuwin is a name very familiar to Western Australians as the name of the very first ship to chart the South West coastline. We have landmarks (an entire cape!), parks and wines named for the ship, which may itself have been named for the little village near Reuver from which Koko Black’s Claremont store chocolatier originates.
If fact, little is known of the ship, or her origins, or her voyage in 1622 for which the ship’s log has been lost, but it is nice to imagine that such a connection exists.
Not that it really matters – in the end, what most people are interested in is “what can we expect?”
The background research I have been doing suggests that Koko Black are very keep on producing a quality product that will challenge the sugar-and-milk-coated palates of most West Australians. Quality chocolate is something that has been hard to come by and the need to meet market expectations has driven many producers towards the creamier sweeter milk varieties that would be considered confection rather than chocolate in many countries.
I suspect – and I am looking forward to having this confirmed, that the philosophy of the chocolatier team at Koko Black, and of Kim Linssen in particular leans rather more towards creating a vehicle to showcase the individual characteristics of to cocoa beans they are using as the basis for their expressions of chocolaty goodness.
Not that it is all hard, dark blocks of complexity – the truffles they create look amazing and I am going to spend a week or so research the best approach to photographing these to show them to best effect when I finally get to meet the tasty morsels in person.
The store opens in March – I’ll have more details shortly, and in the meanwhile I’ll be reading up on the cocoa origins for the beans used by Koko Black. Like coffee, I was late in coming to my appreciation of good chocolate, due in a large part to the total lack of availability of the same when I was growing up. Choice was “Cadbury or Nestle” and I remember being astounded when a third option arrived in the form of Milka from Germany, which was, to be honest, a little smoother in texture than Cadbury, but otherwise sweet, milky and bland.
Everything I think, that Koko Black will be not.
My colleagues – most of whom have visited Melbourne and the Koko Black stores there, have been teasing me with details of the delectable truffles they purchased on their last visit – none of which (oddly enough) made it into our office for morning tea.
However, I can forgive this lapse since we are now less than a month from the opening of the Claremont store. I asked the Koko Black Communications Manager, Marian, if I could have a little detail about the chocolatier they are sending to Perth.
We are to host Kim Linssen – originally from Reuver, in Holland. Now part of the municipality of Reuver is the village of Leeuwin - ‘lioness’ in Dutch. Leeuwin is a name very familiar to Western Australians as the name of the very first ship to chart the South West coastline. We have landmarks (an entire cape!), parks and wines named for the ship, which may itself have been named for the little village near Reuver from which Koko Black’s Claremont store chocolatier originates.
If fact, little is known of the ship, or her origins, or her voyage in 1622 for which the ship’s log has been lost, but it is nice to imagine that such a connection exists.
Not that it really matters – in the end, what most people are interested in is “what can we expect?”
The background research I have been doing suggests that Koko Black are very keep on producing a quality product that will challenge the sugar-and-milk-coated palates of most West Australians. Quality chocolate is something that has been hard to come by and the need to meet market expectations has driven many producers towards the creamier sweeter milk varieties that would be considered confection rather than chocolate in many countries.
I suspect – and I am looking forward to having this confirmed, that the philosophy of the chocolatier team at Koko Black, and of Kim Linssen in particular leans rather more towards creating a vehicle to showcase the individual characteristics of to cocoa beans they are using as the basis for their expressions of chocolaty goodness.
Not that it is all hard, dark blocks of complexity – the truffles they create look amazing and I am going to spend a week or so research the best approach to photographing these to show them to best effect when I finally get to meet the tasty morsels in person.
The store opens in March – I’ll have more details shortly, and in the meanwhile I’ll be reading up on the cocoa origins for the beans used by Koko Black. Like coffee, I was late in coming to my appreciation of good chocolate, due in a large part to the total lack of availability of the same when I was growing up. Choice was “Cadbury or Nestle” and I remember being astounded when a third option arrived in the form of Milka from Germany, which was, to be honest, a little smoother in texture than Cadbury, but otherwise sweet, milky and bland.
Everything I think, that Koko Black will be not.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Original Recipe
For Coca Cola - or so it is alleged. I have my doubts.
Good luck funding the coca extract though! Unless you live in Boliva...
Good luck funding the coca extract though! Unless you live in Boliva...
- Fluid extract of coca 3 drams
- Citric acid 3oz
- Caffeine 1oz
- Sugar 30 (quantity not known)
- Water 2.5 gal
- Lime juice 2 pints 1 qrt
- Vanilla 1oz
- Caramel 1.5oz or more to colour
- Merchandise 7X flavour (use 2oz of flavour to 5 gals syrup):
- Alcohol 8oz
- Orange oil 20 drops
- Lemon oil 30 drops
- Nutmeg oil 10 drops
- Coriander oil 5 drops
- Neroli oil 10 drops
- Cinnamon oil 10 drops
Seriously Coffee
There are some mornings when you've had enough of nuance and just want the caffeine equivalent of a headbutt.
Now you could go down the patch of using robusta in the blend to boost the caffeiene level, but for those who do not like the burnt-rubber aftertaste of the lesser robustas that dominate the market then you have to find an arabica (or arabicas) with some Oooomph.
I got mine!
Visiting the happy sacks of green beans at Fiori Coffee last week I was shown a bag full of Mysore Nuggets - but peaberry nuggets and told that if I blended these with a certain Balinese bean then it would be a robust, unsubtle but enjoyable brew...
= Brief pause while I make coffee =
...and yes, it is unsubtle, but tasty to the last drop.
As a brief aside, when blogging I am never sure whether to include a moment of interruption like the above or not. As I was writing this post, a colleague came by and asked if I wanted to share in a Clever Coffee Dripper of coffee with her. We discussed the merits of the dripper as a highly functional piece of coffee equipment, we ground the blend I mention above, and made a dripper each to take back to our desks.
Coffee is enormously a social thing wherever it is made, even if that interraction is brief, The one thing (and perhaps the only thing) that Nestle have got right over the years is their understanding that the marketing of coffee should highlight the social aspect of the drink. Unfortunately their idea of marketing is rather saccerine and about on a part with the powedered beverage they sell. Fitting really.
Back to the good stuff...
This blend has an up front bitterness that screams caffeine, but an underlying sweetness that allows the coffee to flow over your tongue and retrieve your senses from their initial resistance to that first taste.
It is just what I needed to kick my brain into motion and I like it.
Now you could go down the patch of using robusta in the blend to boost the caffeiene level, but for those who do not like the burnt-rubber aftertaste of the lesser robustas that dominate the market then you have to find an arabica (or arabicas) with some Oooomph.
I got mine!
Visiting the happy sacks of green beans at Fiori Coffee last week I was shown a bag full of Mysore Nuggets - but peaberry nuggets and told that if I blended these with a certain Balinese bean then it would be a robust, unsubtle but enjoyable brew...
= Brief pause while I make coffee =
...and yes, it is unsubtle, but tasty to the last drop.
As a brief aside, when blogging I am never sure whether to include a moment of interruption like the above or not. As I was writing this post, a colleague came by and asked if I wanted to share in a Clever Coffee Dripper of coffee with her. We discussed the merits of the dripper as a highly functional piece of coffee equipment, we ground the blend I mention above, and made a dripper each to take back to our desks.
Coffee is enormously a social thing wherever it is made, even if that interraction is brief, The one thing (and perhaps the only thing) that Nestle have got right over the years is their understanding that the marketing of coffee should highlight the social aspect of the drink. Unfortunately their idea of marketing is rather saccerine and about on a part with the powedered beverage they sell. Fitting really.
Back to the good stuff...
This blend has an up front bitterness that screams caffeine, but an underlying sweetness that allows the coffee to flow over your tongue and retrieve your senses from their initial resistance to that first taste.
It is just what I needed to kick my brain into motion and I like it.
Monday, February 14, 2011
PR disaster!
Looking at the twitter feeds and the comments on the ABC story on the Business Council of Australia's proposal to cut the disability pension I am rapidly getting the feeling that the BCA have made a significant tactical error. It isn't just the fact that they haven't proposed anything substantial to help people with disabilities enter the workforce, but the manifest inequity of the billions in subsidies that their own membership receives.
If they had offered to surrender these first then maybe we could take them seriously.
Http://www.BCA.com.au visit their website and tell them just how much they suck.
If they had offered to surrender these first then maybe we could take them seriously.
Http://www.BCA.com.au visit their website and tell them just how much they suck.
Strong Language
I am not normally given to strong language on this blog, so please, if such language offends you, you may wish to consider self-censorship while reading the next paragraph.
In my opinion, and if what the ABC are reporting is accurate, then the Business Council are a bunch of fuckwits. They are total dickwads, arseholes and appear to care for a dollar more than a person.
Council President Graham Bradley is reported as saying that all current Disability pension spending must be reviewed - I don't really have a problem with that except to remark that at the individual level there are constant reviews of eligibility for disability pension funding.
The ABC reports that he then went on to remark that "disability pensions may not be the most effective use of government money"
In my view, bailing out businesses who fail to plan well or who need to be continually propped up in order to survive is a far worse use of government money, but he is free to represent a differing opinion in his constituency of the top 100 companies.
The remarks were made in the pre-budget submission of the BCA to the Commonwealth Government (a full copy of which can be obtained here: BCA Submission PDF. Like many of these documents, it represents the views of the Business Council, and thus the interests of big business, that many or may not be consistent with the interests of most Australians. Also like most such documents, some elements have been well researched, and others just slapped in without much supporting material, or at least with little apparent supporting material. In the case of the disability pension the rationale seems to have been that because the UK government is in slash-and-burn mode and have made cuts to disability pensions, then so should we.
A note to the Business Council - there are substantial differences between the state of the UK economy and our own, I'm sure you have noticed but perhaps you should consider that their policies may not be beneficial here...
The reason they give for declaring disability pension to be a risk to the economy is that the provide a disincentive to people returning to work. Now keep in mind that this is the disability pension under discussion, not the unemployment benefit.
The Business Council's remarks refer to 'recovery' which appears to ignore the reality that for many people with disability the disability is not a temporary 'health' issue at all, and certainly among those with severe or profound disability there is almost no likelihood that they will ever 'recover'.
People on the disability pension usually have substantially higher costs of living than others and there are barriers to accessing the community ad well as the workforce. There have been several economic reports in recent years that detail this, and it is disappointing that the Business Council does not appear to have discovered these before announcing this particular policy direction.
Encouraging people with disability to enter the workforce is great, having a workforce that welcomes people with a disability and provides a working environment that is fully accessible is something that the Business Council could be doing far more than they are to bring about.
Until they do they forfeit the the right to snipe at those who don't have a lot of other options.
My apologies once again for being a) off the topic of coffee, and b) the use of expletives, but such unthinking disdain for others makes me incandescent with rage.
In my opinion, and if what the ABC are reporting is accurate, then the Business Council are a bunch of fuckwits. They are total dickwads, arseholes and appear to care for a dollar more than a person.
Council President Graham Bradley is reported as saying that all current Disability pension spending must be reviewed - I don't really have a problem with that except to remark that at the individual level there are constant reviews of eligibility for disability pension funding.
The ABC reports that he then went on to remark that "disability pensions may not be the most effective use of government money"
In my view, bailing out businesses who fail to plan well or who need to be continually propped up in order to survive is a far worse use of government money, but he is free to represent a differing opinion in his constituency of the top 100 companies.
The remarks were made in the pre-budget submission of the BCA to the Commonwealth Government (a full copy of which can be obtained here: BCA Submission PDF. Like many of these documents, it represents the views of the Business Council, and thus the interests of big business, that many or may not be consistent with the interests of most Australians. Also like most such documents, some elements have been well researched, and others just slapped in without much supporting material, or at least with little apparent supporting material. In the case of the disability pension the rationale seems to have been that because the UK government is in slash-and-burn mode and have made cuts to disability pensions, then so should we.
A note to the Business Council - there are substantial differences between the state of the UK economy and our own, I'm sure you have noticed but perhaps you should consider that their policies may not be beneficial here...
The reason they give for declaring disability pension to be a risk to the economy is that the provide a disincentive to people returning to work. Now keep in mind that this is the disability pension under discussion, not the unemployment benefit.
The Business Council's remarks refer to 'recovery' which appears to ignore the reality that for many people with disability the disability is not a temporary 'health' issue at all, and certainly among those with severe or profound disability there is almost no likelihood that they will ever 'recover'.
People on the disability pension usually have substantially higher costs of living than others and there are barriers to accessing the community ad well as the workforce. There have been several economic reports in recent years that detail this, and it is disappointing that the Business Council does not appear to have discovered these before announcing this particular policy direction.
Encouraging people with disability to enter the workforce is great, having a workforce that welcomes people with a disability and provides a working environment that is fully accessible is something that the Business Council could be doing far more than they are to bring about.
Until they do they forfeit the the right to snipe at those who don't have a lot of other options.
My apologies once again for being a) off the topic of coffee, and b) the use of expletives, but such unthinking disdain for others makes me incandescent with rage.
Friday, February 11, 2011
A Pandan in Perth
I am the proud owner of a Pandan plant that I bought some years ago from a Perth propagator of prime potted pandan plants. I have nursed it through a rough recovery from a winter that left it on the edge of total destruction and now having learned how to care for it properly it is finally "pupping" a series of tiny shoots from the soils around the base.
Pandan is a culinary plant used throughout south-east Asia to flavor a variety of dishes. You can buy the frozen leaves is Asian grocery stores, but naturally there is nothing like fresh pandan leaf to achieve the best results.
From time to time I hear from people who ask if it is possible to get a pandan plant in Perth, and if you do how to keep it alive.
Yes, there are few around - I recommend the Daley's plant forum as a starting point, but I have seen several people in Perth providing potted pandan plants. One day my baby plants may be large enough to repot, but until then I thought a photo of the kind of healthy plant that is possible might be good to post up for encouragement.
Pandan is a culinary plant used throughout south-east Asia to flavor a variety of dishes. You can buy the frozen leaves is Asian grocery stores, but naturally there is nothing like fresh pandan leaf to achieve the best results.
From time to time I hear from people who ask if it is possible to get a pandan plant in Perth, and if you do how to keep it alive.
Yes, there are few around - I recommend the Daley's plant forum as a starting point, but I have seen several people in Perth providing potted pandan plants. One day my baby plants may be large enough to repot, but until then I thought a photo of the kind of healthy plant that is possible might be good to post up for encouragement.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Sweet Coffee
I roasted this weekend, finishing the last of my Ethiopian Limmu, and the Ugandan Bugisu from Mt Elgon. A colleague at work loves acidic coffee so I roasted a special batch of the Bugisu just for her. I took it to first crack and then a touch more until there was an even colour to most of the beans - but still very light.
We made a pour-over this morning and I had expectations of something quite tart given the colour of the beans.
But it was sweet, smooth and silky.
As it cooled I found the balance between acid and sweet more obvious but even so the sugar was more dominant than the sour and it had a very warm spicy thing happening somewhere towards the back of the palate.
Later, while sitting in a meeting the aftertaste was still with me - burnt fig, quite distinct and as clear as if Maggie Beer herself had been char-grilling the figs.
It was not at all what I expected, but very welcome.
Ugandan coffee has been improving in recent years and we are seeing more of it - the result of better shipping than anything else in many cases but the volcanic slopes on which the coffee grows support a range of cash and food crops and are intensively farmed.
This Google Earth generatred view from the Butiriku crater towards Mt Elgon (in the distant background) shows that even on the steep slopes of the crater, cultivation covers the sides with a patchwork of produce. The floor of the crater is at 1400 metres and rises to 1800 metres (in the centre-right of the photo).
This is certainly good coffee altitude and the area all around Mt Elgon supports a large number of villages and coffee is the main cash crop for most people in the region so it is great to see an improvement in quality and quantity from so many small producers.
And it was a fascinating coffee!
We made a pour-over this morning and I had expectations of something quite tart given the colour of the beans.
But it was sweet, smooth and silky.
As it cooled I found the balance between acid and sweet more obvious but even so the sugar was more dominant than the sour and it had a very warm spicy thing happening somewhere towards the back of the palate.
Later, while sitting in a meeting the aftertaste was still with me - burnt fig, quite distinct and as clear as if Maggie Beer herself had been char-grilling the figs.
It was not at all what I expected, but very welcome.
Ugandan coffee has been improving in recent years and we are seeing more of it - the result of better shipping than anything else in many cases but the volcanic slopes on which the coffee grows support a range of cash and food crops and are intensively farmed.
This Google Earth generatred view from the Butiriku crater towards Mt Elgon (in the distant background) shows that even on the steep slopes of the crater, cultivation covers the sides with a patchwork of produce. The floor of the crater is at 1400 metres and rises to 1800 metres (in the centre-right of the photo).
This is certainly good coffee altitude and the area all around Mt Elgon supports a large number of villages and coffee is the main cash crop for most people in the region so it is great to see an improvement in quality and quantity from so many small producers.
And it was a fascinating coffee!
Thursday, February 03, 2011
God hates bananas
Or else why would it always be the banana growing towns that get hit by cyclones?
And don't give me that rubbish about cyclones being largely a tropical storm - surely an omnipotent being could smash further south into New South Wales or Victoria once in a while. Both are notably more full of sinners than Queensland...
I see that Catch The Fire Ministries are once again blaming natural disasters on the 'atheist' PM and Bob Brown, leader of the Greens - because he is gay.
Note to the almighty - Brown lives in Tasmania and the PM lives in Victoria. Your aim is off.
Alternatively Danny Nalliah might just be a total dick.
And don't give me that rubbish about cyclones being largely a tropical storm - surely an omnipotent being could smash further south into New South Wales or Victoria once in a while. Both are notably more full of sinners than Queensland...
I see that Catch The Fire Ministries are once again blaming natural disasters on the 'atheist' PM and Bob Brown, leader of the Greens - because he is gay.
Note to the almighty - Brown lives in Tasmania and the PM lives in Victoria. Your aim is off.
Alternatively Danny Nalliah might just be a total dick.
Cyclones are bad - communities are good
While it is not over yet for North Queensland the information now available suggests that the damage, while extensive, has broken house, but not communities. There are already some amzing stories of how people worked together to survive the storm and help their neighbours. In Mission Beach winds hit 290 km/H - I can't even imagine that kind of wind speed, but there are a lot of people in Queensland right now who don't have to imagine it.
Of course there is now the quite bizarre circumstance of the large inland community of Mt Isa preparing for a category 2 cyclone - unheard of that far inland where the most they usually get is a dumping of rain from the tropical depression that was "ex-TC Something".
My old home of Airlie Beach apparently came through it all quite well - it was at the far Southern end of the storm and I'll give it a day or two before calling people there as most of them will be helping out further North.
The wind gusts in the parth of the cyclone are still high and for most it will be a long morning of waiting before they can assess the damage, but as yet there are no fatalities reported and plenty of reports of people taking care of each other.
Of course there is now the quite bizarre circumstance of the large inland community of Mt Isa preparing for a category 2 cyclone - unheard of that far inland where the most they usually get is a dumping of rain from the tropical depression that was "ex-TC Something".
My old home of Airlie Beach apparently came through it all quite well - it was at the far Southern end of the storm and I'll give it a day or two before calling people there as most of them will be helping out further North.
The wind gusts in the parth of the cyclone are still high and for most it will be a long morning of waiting before they can assess the damage, but as yet there are no fatalities reported and plenty of reports of people taking care of each other.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Queensland
My thoughts are with friends and family in Queensland today as they face the most appalling storm to hit the Australian coast in some time.
Having lived in North Queensland, and faced some minor cyclones you might think it would be possible to imagine the experience - but what they are facing at present is of a magnitude not seen in Queensland in living memory and I hope that people have taken what actions they can to keep themselves, their families and their neighbours safe.
Hunker down and stay safe my Queensland friends.
Having lived in North Queensland, and faced some minor cyclones you might think it would be possible to imagine the experience - but what they are facing at present is of a magnitude not seen in Queensland in living memory and I hope that people have taken what actions they can to keep themselves, their families and their neighbours safe.
Hunker down and stay safe my Queensland friends.
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Stovetop clarity
A while ago I posted a video of making stovetop espresso. With all my earlier stovetops the end product had been muddy and burnt but with the little Bialetti that Kam from Fiori gave me I have had much more success.
I have been in the habit of lifting the Bialetti from the flame almost as soon as the coffee starts to flow up the spout - I know that the result of this is a little less coffee, but I find that first fraction of the brew to be sweeter and substantially more mellow than if I maintain the heat and allow all of the water to boil through.
There is also substantially less sediment - to the point where the coffee is almost completely clear. I don't know just why this is - if I leave it a litle longer it certainly has a lot more sediment and I wonder if that last rush of water and steam is at a higher pressure and thus carries a little more sediment through with it.
I know that from a flavour persective some people prefer the full measure and body of the more muddy brew, but I have come to prefer the early lift and the clean taste - here below is my video again so that you can see the result of the method I am using. I'd love to hear any views on why it is that the first fraction has almost no sediment.
I have been in the habit of lifting the Bialetti from the flame almost as soon as the coffee starts to flow up the spout - I know that the result of this is a little less coffee, but I find that first fraction of the brew to be sweeter and substantially more mellow than if I maintain the heat and allow all of the water to boil through.
There is also substantially less sediment - to the point where the coffee is almost completely clear. I don't know just why this is - if I leave it a litle longer it certainly has a lot more sediment and I wonder if that last rush of water and steam is at a higher pressure and thus carries a little more sediment through with it.
I know that from a flavour persective some people prefer the full measure and body of the more muddy brew, but I have come to prefer the early lift and the clean taste - here below is my video again so that you can see the result of the method I am using. I'd love to hear any views on why it is that the first fraction has almost no sediment.
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