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!

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.

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!

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.

Sundays are for Lab Work

I do love to play. Today, following an inspiring evening on Wednesday with the guys at European Foods at Bar 399, I decided to play with signature drinks and coffee cocktails.

Like most good science the afternoon was a series of failed combinations each of which led me towards two successes.

The cocktail success was achieved using Ethiopian Limu that I roasted myself using bean from Fiori. It was roasted only just to second crack so it is very bright and lemony. An espresso shot of this was paired with Stones Green Ginger Wine (reserve) and a dash of tabasco sauce for extra kick. Lots of fun. About 30ml of espresso to the same of green ginger wine. Stir in the tabasco and then take the whole lot into your mouth. DO NOT SWALLOW! Hold it till the heat builds then let it trickle down your throat.

The second success was born of what seemed like total failure. I was using truffle butter as the 'trick' but had trouble pairing it with other flavours. In the end what worked was warming a minute amount of truffle butter in about a tablespoon of Bannister Downs milk, pouring a shot of espresso into this and then a teaspoon of maple syrup.

I don't like coffee

As much as I like people.

That realization has been with me for some time now. I do like coffee, a lot. But the real reason I have maintained an interest in coffee, and a connection with those in the business of providing it, is that I like the human contact, the kaleidoscope of a fluid industry, the characters from the roasting floor through to the cafe and the vide of people engaged in small but much valued daily interactions.

From time to time I have felt weary about maintaining a blog just about coffee. It is neither my primary interest nor my source of income. I have blogged as an outlet, because my work cannot be blogged in any detail and because coffee was something accessible yet diverse.

I have not learned anywhere near as much as I would like to about coffee, and I know just enough to understand how what I know represents such a very small part of the whole, but the learning is fun, and the people for the most part, warm, generous and open.

There are some great coffee stories in Perth, just start talking to Kamran and Louise at Fiori, or John and Catherine at European Foods, or Dean at Five Senses, Pete at Pranzo, Garrett at Pony Expresso, Emanuele at Ristretto, Jonny and Justin at Elixir, Jackson at Zekka, Clare at Tiger Tiger - the list is almost endless and I could quite literally fill several pages with just the names interesting people I have come to value over the last four years. People with diverse values, views and opinions but all of whom are worth knowing and who enrich the lives of those around them each day.

I've often wondered if this blog needs to have a sunset clause, and end date, a best-before, use-by or termination clause. But I don't think it needs that. I do have to ease off in the frequency of posting (and already have), but I still enjoy the outlet, the contact and the capacity to share information, plus this has become a handy way to keep in touch and to stretch my mind on some coffee issues.

Work has cranked up and we shall see what the remainder of 2010 delivers in our cups, both real and metaphoric. I may not blog as often, but I do hope they will be quality posts!

Tomorrow is an important day for Australia, so arm yourselves with an early coffee and please, please vote for someone who will put the Nation's interests above their own personal convictions, no matter how similar they may be to your own.

Probably that rules out most the major parties, still, I hear the Australian Sex Party has a few candidates running this year. At least their primary policy is rooted in practicality.

Sorry, could not resist that...

Unstated obligations

I've been grappling with the ideas behind this post for two weeks now and find that I still cannot frame the ideas as well as I would like. I took two semesters of sociology (20 years ago) and find that this brief introduction is totally inadequate to even provide some basic guidance as to where to take this for a more structured discussion (all advice welcome!) - but here goes anyway.

It seems to me that an unstated obligation can exist between a person, or persons (entity A) who create something or advance ideas and those who benefit from that creation or idea (entity B). The obligation is not a situation of debt as such - in fact almost always explicitly not, but more likely requiring acknowledgement that the obligation exists and that an expression of thanks is appropriate.

The situation I am specifically considering is that of coffee roasting in Western Australia. It has been suggested that Perth is in a 'golden age' of coffee, which might seem like hyperbole but we have not had such choice before so in that respect I agree that 'we have never had it so good'.

A lot of this is due to the fantastic local roasters (and we have a good number now) that promote good coffee in Perth. While standing at the the deli counter of the Leederville Re store last week I was looking at the montage above the counter that showed some historical images of the Re and Ferrari families. In one photo, a shop window bore the words "Good Coffee is Fresh Coffee" and I was reminded once again that these families have been roasting coffee in Perth for nearly 80 years. I suspect that at times they may have been the ONLY local roaster in Perth.

They still continue today and I know they have kept roasting logs for decades - a wealth of knowledge and a source of learning for new generations of roasters. They also have a collection of equipment and a record of coffee purchases that would provide a wonderful track of coffee consumption in Perth's cafes.

The family remains involved in Perth's coffee scene and Catherine Natale (Winner of the Australian Cupping Championship) and her brother John Ferrari were judges at last year's WA Barista Championships and backed the effort with the resources of their company, European Foods.

In a very real sense the European Foods family have been a consistent presence in Perth coffee and have helped keep the idea and practice of local roasting alive in Perth long enough for it to diversify and gain in popularity and professionalism. In that sense I think I can acknowledge the unstated obligation that I as a coffee hobbiest have to the Ferrari and Re families and I would like to thank them for their generations of effort in making coffee available to Western Australians and to contributing to the development of Perth's coffee scene.

I know I have other 'unstated obligations' as far as coffee is concerned to a great number of people across the Perth coffee scene who have taught me a lot about coffee - most of them are roasters or baristas who I have met, but a lot are also just coffee lovers rather than coffee professionals. As I run into them over the next few months I am going to try and remember to say thank you - because sometimes obligations may be unstated, but should be acknowledged.

Not much about coffee

You may have noticed that I have not posted much here about coffee of late - which is a shame as there is a lot going on in Perth that deserves to be celebrated and crowed about.

It is not for want of coffee either - I have been privileged over the last two months to try some extraordinary coffees in local cafes from a variety of origins and roasters.

I have however been quite overworked and have arrived home with little energy for the internet in general. April will still be busy but I also want to make a determined effort to reconnect with some of the cafes I have been to in the past and also visit some new ones with my camera and try and show them in all there glory.

I also turn 40 in April - I'm not sure what that means or even what I should do to celebrate it as I am somewhat introverted and not very good and social events. Still I should probably mark it in some way and I think coffee should have something to do with it as the people associated with coffee in Perth have had a profound influence on me over the last decade.

Which brings up the other milestone - 10 years in Western Australia, and really, 10 years since I first really became interested in what makes one coffee taste better than another and started this whole rolling journey through the land of the bean.

So - resolutions for April: write more about coffee, redesign the writing space, visit cafes (including ones like Zekka, Vinyl, Cafe 54 and Tiger Tiger that I have not been to for a while) and most of all start getting around to some of the great new cafes that have opened over the last 6 month or so as there are some real gems in Perth right now.

So G'day, my name is Grendel and I love coffee.

Caffeine induced thoughts

While I love roasting my own coffee, the home coffee roaster with just a jury-rigged setup is always at a disadvantage when roasting compared to a skilled craftsperson using professional roasting equipment.

This isn’t to suggest I am about to stop roasting, far from it, but the variables involved in creating a fine end product are many, and it is a natural consequence of the process at home that it is more difficult to control these in a more casual process.

This weekend I roasted six batches of Santa Cruz de León Cortés, a Costa Rican coffee. Each batch has a slightly different profile and no matter how well I watched the time or the temperature I was never going to have each looking or tasting exactly like the other.

I have no doubt they will all taste good, but some may well be better than others. There is not much I can do other than control what variables I can and maintain a zen-like acceptance of the transient nature of each roast, enjoying its unique and oh-so-brief existence.

I friend of mine has recently purchased a lovely drum roaster and I wish him the joy of it as I think he will quickly master it and produce some wonderful coffee. My own ambitions are somewhat smaller and I hope over the next year to build a larger roaster capable of more consistent product.

Most weeks I do wonder why I roast at all – there is so much good coffee out there on the market that I don’t need to roast it myself. I know one of the reasons that I persist is that roasting help me learn more about coffee. Yes, I many not be able to roast as well as any of the Master Roasters we have in Perth, but I can’t learn as well from only drinking their coffee as I can from roasting myself. I am finding it a good idea to try their roast of the same bean that I am roasting if at all possible. This helps me calibrate my expectations of how the coffee should be and from time to time I manage to surprise myself with my own roasts.

I roast single origins and drink single origins almost to the exclusion of blends, not because I don’t like blends, but more because I need to understand each coffee better than I do now before I can really consider how best to blend it.

Also at the moment I am using a pour-over, a plunger or the Clever Coffee Dripper to make my coffee as my espresso machine is down hard with a bung pump. Single Origins seem to be nicely responsive to the hands on treatment of the espresso-less side of coffee making and I’m happy enough drinking other-than-espresso for a while.

I do have some interesting experiments coming up over summer that I will share with people, including some that might be quite interesting as part of a signature drink for competitions.

It does rely on some equipment I don’t have yet, but should have shortly. I will tell more when there is more to tell!

Coffee Bias

The history of coffee is a complex web of human interractions around a mild drug that is popular the world over and affordable to most people.

Like most commodities, the coffee market has been used to influence and oppress, to change governments and shape trade relationships.

Usually this has gone against the grower and favoured the trading behemoths in Europe and the United States.

This is changing and while the large companies such as Nestle and Sara Lee hold tight rein over some aspects of the industry still there is a growing understanding among consumers that quality coffee comes from the specialty end of the coffee market.

The internet has played an important role in providing a source of information to consumers about coffee and in helping promote specialty coffee. This has included the rise of groups such as CoffeeSnobs and CoffeeGeek where there is a concentration of all things coffee. CoffeeSnobs is a distinctly Australian expression of the coffee passion and caters for home roasters by being a source of green beans - unroasted coffee.

For many people stumbling across the website of CoffeeSnobs is a revelation, and the number of 'Snobs' is growing rapidly and now approaching 10,000. When I joined in 2006 there were just about 1500 members. It is now a mature organisation with ongoing corporate sponsors and its very own foreign aid program "Faircrack" that has been delivering on its promise of assisting coffee growers in the developing world and so far has purchased milling and other equipment to help growers improve the price they get for their coffee.

It struck me this morning that most of the people that I know are people who are passionate about coffee - not everyone, but most of them, and that includes the people I work with (not in the coffee industry). I have observed what appears to be an increasing trend towards better coffee and in the last three years in my office there has been a proliferation of plungers, pour overs and even grinders and consumption from the the big bad brown tin of doom has decreased considerably.

I've also noticed a fantastic range of coffee being selected, mostly from local roasters of specialty coffee rather than the big supermarket brands. Is this shift towards selecting specialty coffee a general trend? or are my observations a form of confirmation bias? Am I just noticing it more because I am looking for it, in the same way as you start seeing a certain model of car everywhere once you buy one or think about buying one?

Memory Bread

It was my turn for bread run tonight (our local collect and distribute from Brumbies unsold bread) and I was loading the bread into the Ikea bags we use to transport the bread.

The variety of bread now available even from franchise stores such as Brumbies is amazing - from light crusty breads through to rich dark rye and sourdoughs.

I love bread - the smell the feel and the texture. There is something earthy and elemental about it and wherever I have travelled I have enjoyed the local bread as a reliable, cheap and filling food.

I particularly remember the long sheets of lavash piled high in the markets in Kirovikan in Armenia. It was sold by weight - I think at the time around 240 Roubles per kilo, which was high, even when you factor in the inflation rate at that time. This was about 40 cents to us so we could afford to by a lot of bread if we needed to.

Armenia was also the place in which I learned to love coffee and yet I cannot once recall seeing it in the markets - I remember what I did see, the fruit, the eggs, the enormous mounds of cabbages and potatoes, the bread and the few vendors with dried sausages - at exorbitant prices. The great thing about the sausages though was that they could be shaved very thinly and used to flavour soups or thinly layered in lavash with the local cheese that was in the form of a long dried stringy rope – and very tasty.

Fruit was expensive – up to 1200 Roubles a kilo at one point. It was all brought in small loads across the border from Georgia – you’d call it smuggling except that it was carried fairly openly which was not a problem as long as you had the correct bribe for the border guards.

I have no idea where they got their coffee from!

This irritates me now, I should have paid attention, but as I knew little about coffee and was only in the process of being initiated into the local social rituals about the drinking of coffee I guess I just didn’t ‘see’ what I was looking at.

A 'Snow Grendel' testing his barefoot-in-the-snow endurance (a wussy 32.3 seconds I think)