Last Mazzer Super Jolly I picked up for $100, no lids, no hopper and broken 'timer' switch - had to hold it on. Still a right good deal. Just scored an old SJ that purrs beautifully, has the old off/on/start switch I want (to re-wire on/off for plugging into Gralab timer), broken hopper (who cares), doser in good shape for a cool $60. They were asking $50, but I talked them up to $60 to have it delivered and save me time:-)
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Posted by Alun Evans on October 29, 2009 at 9:30pm
I must admit that it has been a long time since I last visited the Javanese highland city of Malang, 11 years to the day to be exact. My recollections of the place were pretty blurred. I spent an evening there in transit while traveling from Bali to Yogyakarta. Over the last decade I have been pretty much everywhere else in Indonesia, but never back to Malang.A few weeks back one of my big corporate clients ordered a 2 group machine for their new cafe in the University sector of the city. On a whim I decided to go myself and do the installation rather than send one of my technicians from Jakarta.As is always the case in Indonesia, the adventure begins when you step outside your door- rather than when you arrive at the destination. This trip was no exception. The Air conditioning at Jakarta's Soekarno Hatta airport had broken down, the plane was 35 minutes late and the passengers were left roasting in a boarding hall that must have been 110 degrees or more. Boarding the plane was like the usual cattle rush, although Garuda had introduced a new color coded boarding system that should have at least worked in some small way. On board the...air conditioning was not working. Sweat was pouring off even the most hardened brow. The plane then missed its place in the take-off que and we were left waiting a further 30 minutes on the tarmac.Arriving in Surabaya the plane doors were opened to...heat. Again, the air conditioning at the air bridge was off. It must have been national no AC day. Surabaya was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit HOTTER than Jakarta, the heat on the connector from the plane to the terminal rippled and seared all around the passengers as they made their way off the 737.I was meet at the domestic lounge by my clients and we made our way to the car, which had faulty AC! Arrived at their Surabaya store to check on the installation of a machine there. Surabaya is Java's second city, a sprawling metropolis of around 9 million, it must be one of the warmest city scapes in Indonesia. It is located between several large volcanos (including Mt Bromo) and the Java Sea. The flat plains all around are conducive to rice farming, the volcanic slopes inland for coffee, tobacco and other types of agriculture. The Dutch used the city as a major port for export and since independence the commercial importance of Surabaya has grown even more.One thing the Dutch were very good at was town planning. It is unfortunate the Indonesians are polar opposites.While the old towns in every major Indonesian city are typified by shady, cool and wide Avenues and Boulevards, the Indonesian contribution is chaotic and shambolic roading systems. It took us almost 90 minutes to crawl our way over 12km to the cafe. The car was like a Norwegian Spa, but in all the worst possible ways. Puddles of water were forming on the seats, it was like sitting in a very leaky boat.A quick check of the cafe and we bid Surabaya farewell. 1 hour later we were still bidding Surabaya farewell. Then we broke free and hit the toll road. Indonesia has some great toll roads, the one out of Surabaya is no exception. 3 lanes, well sealed. Nice. Traffic flowed smoothly until we hit what is now known as Indonesia's greatest natural disaster, the Sidoarjo Mudflow (or AKA Lapindo's mistake).About three years back oil exploration ended in disaster when the drilling crews hit a subterranean mud pool about the size of Texas. Depending on who you listen to the disaster either was man made or created by an earthquake that conveniently (or inconveniently) coincided with the drilling. It is pretty much accepted that the former is more likely. Since then millions of cubic meters of mud have erupted from below- around 100,000m a day is still oozing out. The extent of the damage is monumental. A lake of smelly, sulphur tainted mud has now devoured several large villages. The once thriving town of Porong is almost a ghost town. The Toll Road was also engulfed, so our nice run ended and we joined the long rows of trucks, buses, motorbikes, rickshaws, bicycles and other conveyances jockeying for position on the narrow road that leads from the mudflow towards Malang. Two hours later, well after the sun had set into a dusty, mud red sky, we arrived.The new cafe location was chosen because it is close to several Universities. Malang's motto is it is the “City of Education”, although I think Yogyakarta, with its 85 recognised Universities, might dispute that. .Never mind, opening the door of the car I was greeted by a cool, fragrant evening. The air was clean and almost crisp, a very nice change from the cities of lowland Java. The cafe itself was coming along nicely. Hip, modern Indo designs melded with some more traditional batiks and Mataram period artwork. 30 minutes later, machine installed and espresso flowing like beer at an Irish country pub.I decided to spend the evening in Malang rather than torment myself with the 3 hour return trip to SBY. A quick check on TripAdvisor had identified an interesting place called “Spendid Inn”. Reviews describing the place as being lost in the 1920's kind of appealed to me, so thought I would give it a go.The Spendid Inn has a primo location next to the Dutch Era Town Hall, and across the road from a large park. Next door is the splendid Hotel Tugu- reknown for its elegance, design and (of course) hefty room rates. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, indeed, the Splendid Inn was really living in the past. I had booked the equivalent of the Presidential Suite- the “Colonial Room” all for the princely sum of $22 (including breakfast). The room was huge, the bathroom alone the size of a large hotel room in a more modern hotel. The fittings, front desk, bar area and lobby indeed were a bit dated, but charming. The staff were also nice- although they insisted on calling me “Tuan”, which is how the Dutch insisted on being called by the unruly natives when they called the Dutch East Indies home.The mosque woke me at around 4.30am. 11 years here and I am pretty deaf now to to the early am call to worship. This Imam was different. The speakers came on with a supercharged crackle and then Michale Jackson blared out “No difference if you are Black or White” for a good 5 minutes before the Imam came on. A cunning ploy I reckon, without the late-great MJ's vocal screetches I would have slept through it all. Not being able to get back to sleep I was surprised to find that it was quite light outside already, so got up and decided to do some walking before breakfast. I was dying to find some coffee and even at such an early hour was in luck. The Tugu Hotel cafe was open and I enjoyed a pot of freshly brewed and fairly freshly roasted Java Robusta. I am no fan of Robusta, but the Java variety is fairly solid, with excellent chocolate tones in the cup. Being freshly roasted was a plus- and drinking the coffee in a shop surrounded by antique colonial furniture and newspaper adverts was quite an experience.From the Tugu made my way past Java Dancer Coffee, across the river where the locals were bathing and/or defecating, up the hill to another Malang Cafe classic- Oen Cafe and Ice cream depot. Oen opened in 1930. Today the great grandchildren still run the place as well as a sister cafe in the Central Java administrative capital of Semarang. The place, like the Splendid Inn, is firmly rooted in a by-gone era. Waiters in waist coats and bow ties serve ice cream and coffee with the panache you would expect to find in Italy or Holland.Bandung has for a long time carried the mantle as being the most Colonial European city in Indonesia. In colonial times it was called “The Paris of the East”, although Saigon and I believe Vientiane also had similar tittles back then. I like Bandung, but for the share volume of old buildings, churches, movie theaters and houses- Malang surely takes the cake for being in the best shape as a reminder of Indonesia's links to its former Colonial past. The number of Art Deco buildings is surprising- most are now being used as cafes or Ice Cream shops. Another big plus is the friendliness of the locals. East Java gets a very bad rap by other Indonesians and foreigners alike for the people being quite rough and loud. This maybe true in Surabaya- who can blame them with the unpleasant heat and humidity. Malang(ians) are really very pleasant people.By 7am I was ready for my Spendid Breakfast, so made my way back. It seemed that I was the only guest at the hotel, which I am sure is not true. I had the dinning room to myself to enjoy coffee, 3 slices of toast, scrambled egg, jam, strong coffee and orange juice. The staff left me alone to enjoy what must me described as a truly colonial atmosphere.With time to spare before my return to the searing heat of Surabaya, I decided to pay a visit to the bird market which straddles both sides of the river running through Malang. Bird markets are not exclusively Indonesian, however I have found that the conditions found in such places is generally indicative of the civic pride and general cleanliness of the cities they are in. Malang's bird market is quite clean and orderly. The smells, odors- make that the stench of sweating birds, stagnant water and animal waste that typify other Javanese cities, is no where to be found. Worth a visit I would say.The consequence of spending the evening in Malang was that the return trip the next day was by “Travel”. This is the term Indonesians use for the private mini bus fleets that link the cities around Java. Travel means hours crammed into a mini bus sans AC. Look I know how many times I have mentioned lack of AC in this posting and maybe I am getting soft with age. There was a time when I spent 28 hours in a bus, with 60 people, 3 goats, 8 chickens- windows welded shut- everyone smoking- and no AC...but that is another story and I digress. This mini bus had suspension that crazy trucks die for. Rock hard springs keeping the van firmly on the road, the passengers permanently suspended between the seats and the roof. The fan blowing out warm air and clouds of sweet, sticky kretek cigarette smoke. Being very experienced in using travel, I had plastered an entire stick of Rexona 24hr protection guaranteed deodorant on my armpits in the morning. 30 minutes into the trip I began writing a mental memo complaining to the company about false advertising. My shirt was wet, but at least the melting deodorant masked the smell of other sweating bodies.The Travel made its way at break-neck speed down the sweaty alspalt road back towards Surabaya. The countryside going by at a blur as the well worn springs in the seat dug viciously into my butt.with every bounce the van made. Swinging wildly from one side of the road to other is not the recommended best way of getting from point a to B. For some reason Bruce's rough, crooning lyrics kept replaying themselves in my head - “highway littered with broken heros, on a last chance power drive...” I did recently read in the Jakarta Post that 17,000 people died on Indonesia,s roads last year....hmmmHaving traveled the Archipelago over, the density of the population in even rural Java is a surprise. Commerce- roadside warungs, tireshops, motorbike dealers, fruit stalls, chemists, Wartels, massage joints and cafes block out the green and gold of the rice paddies.Having only side swiped 2 motorbikes on the way (one laden down with 100kg of grass), almost rear ended 3 container trucks and having avoided any head on collisions (just) meant the trip was fairly successful- at least for the driver. For us, dripping with sweat and tired after 5 hours in the Travel mini van, we were just glad to be back in Surabaya. I cant believe I just wrote that. Now, sitting at the airport plane delayed again, this most recent trip is over.
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Posted by Eyal Rosen on October 29, 2009 at 3:00am
"Quality in the cup is not just by coincidence. Those of you that have been delighted by a cup of coffee might know that a proper preparation for a good cup of coffee is not easy. Same goes for is processing coffee. All of Guatemala coffee, from lower to higher altitudes, is handpicked, washed in mills and sun dried or a combination of sun and dryers. " ...Click here to read more of Gabriela Cordón's Guatemala coffee blogEyal /ROASTe.com
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Given enough coffee, I could rule the world.I like my coffee like my women: hot, strong, steamyCoffee and tobacco are complete reposeBehind every successful woman is a substantial amount of coffeeI never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoonCoffee smells like freshly ground heaven.Caffeine isn't a drug, it's a vitamin!A morning without coffee is like sleepCoffee is the best thing to douse the sunrise with.
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Saturday I posted about meeting with my Angel Sunday. Sunday morning I arrived to open my cafe and find the front door glass smashed and door unlocked. Got burglarized, but fortunately the place wasn't trashed. Register emptied excelpt for pennies, dimes and nickles and back up change cash box gone. No signs of anything else missing. Called the police and started pre-open stuff after cleaning up the broken glass. Then it hit me, no way to make change! Had a few ones & fives in the deposit bag and about $3 in quarters in my rig. After the officer arrived and did his thing and left realizded the $600 I reported stolen wasn't all of it. Friday's and Saturday's cash receipts were in the cash box too. Called today to amend the report. Thought I had a very bare bones insurance policy figuring I was simply out well over a grand. Ouch.Later Sunday met with my Angel at noon at my existing just burglarized Paradise Cafe. Then we drove over to the Roastery and Coffeehouse build-out in progress. She was impressed. In part how I didn't let being robbed get me down. Papers signed and check in hand.Beth (my Angel) went home and I returned to Paradise Cafe, which turned out to have a good solid day at the register. Even had enough change with what came in to not have to give customers bizarre change.Emotional roller coaster of a day to be sure. What lesson was to be learned? For one thing for sure I needed to tighten up my cash handling procedures! Especially moving forward with multiple locations. Done. To be trusting is one thing, to be foolishly careless and or lax is another. The sad reality is there are those who listen to the voice of evil over good, negative force instead of positive, Yin and Yang, whatever you want to call it it's real.And today is another day. While I thought I had a bare bones insurance policy after calling my agent come to find out quite the contrary, have a fairly comprehensive policy including up to $5k on premises cash theft with relatively low $250 deductible! The only thing not covered was the broken glass.And then this evening find a score on Craigslist I've been watching to find for months. 4ft wide refridgerated deli case in good working condition for a cool $300.Life is indeed a bed roses. It's all in how you deal with the thorns. And always give thanks where thanks is due, the Man upstairs. As the old saying goes the good Lord giveth, and the good Lord taketh away. Tests and trials are a part of life, a part of growing, which never stops.
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Dear Friends,I would like to share my latest research with you. I hope you enjoy it.If you have any suggestion please let me know. I would like to hear you.Best RegardsHassanWhat is Coffee Science Source?The National Coffee Association's Coffee Science Source is a convenient, one-stop compendium of breaking news, facts and figures about the world's favorite beverage. Nearly 8 in 10 Americans drink coffee, and new, coffee-related information emerges from wide-ranging sources every day. On CSS, consumers, researchers, coffee aficionados, journalists, Web crawlers and others can find the most up-to-date information on coffee, caffeine and health - from history and brewing techniques to chemical properties and breaking scientific research.CSS brings you this broad array of coffee-related information in features on new discoveries and developments, fact-filled sections on coffee from bean to beverage, and source material on new scientific inquiry, including abstracts of relevant studies. The information is collected from scientific journals, industry reports, top-notch publications and other respected sources. All of the material posted on CSS is carefully and fully reviewed by coffee authorities, epidemiologists, chemists, health professionals, and other experts.The National Coffee Association of U.S.A. (NCA), established in 1911, is the leading trade organization for the coffee industry in the United States. Its members, who conduct nearly 90% of the business of the U.S. coffee market; include importers, roasters and retailers, as well as growers, exporters and suppliers.“Moderate coffee consumption may be associated with a reduction in the risk of certain diseases,” food scientist says.New York, NY – The good news about coffee and health keeps getting better, according to a food science expert who spoke at a symposium here. According to James Coughlin Ph.D., toxicologist and consultant in food safety, “The preponderance of scientific evidence suggests that moderate coffee consumption – that is three to five cups a day – may be associated with a reduction in the risk of certain diseases.”The symposium, Nutrigenomics: The New Science of Genes, Nutrition, and Health, was held here to introduce science writers to nutrigenomics, the new study of how foods affect our genes and how individual genetic differences affect the way we respond to nutrients in foods.Dr. Coughlin told the group that habitual consumption of five or more cups of coffee a day has been associated with improved glucose regulation and a marked lower risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes. That means that there is a 35% to 75% lower risk of developing the disease as shown in studies in the United States, Japan and Europe. Even drinking three to four cups of coffee a day will lower an individual’s diabetes risk. The protection afforded by coffee exists whether one drinks caffeine-containing or decaffeinated coffees; this positive effect may be the result of coffee’s natural polyphenolic antioxidants, magnesium and lignans.Liver disease is also affected positively by drinking coffee. The toxicologist said, “Coffee consumption has been associated with a clinically significant reduced risk of liver cancer and cirrhosis.” He said there are data that suggest the reduced risk of alcohol cirrhosis could be associated with the phenolics and related substances in coffee.The scientist told the science writers that coffee might play a role in cancer protection, also due to its naturally occurring poly phenolic antioxidants as well as heat-produced antioxidants. He said that there are studies from a number of countries that have shown that coffee is the major single source of dietary antioxidants – far more than tea, wine, chocolate, and individual fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, some coffee components can induce the expression of carcinogen-detoxifying enzymes, he noted.Coffee seems to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease, according to epidemiological studies. Dr. Coughlin said, “Some research in neuropharmacology suggests that only one cup of coffee a day – that amounts to 80 to 140 mg of caffeine – can halve the risk of getting Parkinson’s disease. This might be because caffeine’s adenosine-blocking power may be one mechanism through which the brain cells in Parkinson’s disease are protected or conserved.”Dr. Coughlin told the attendees, “Numerous other studies have shown that drinking coffee increases your mental alertness, cognitive functions, physical stamina and wakefulness. It has also been shown to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, gallstones, kidney stones, depression and suicide.“There is a long established history of the safe use of coffee, and the newest detailed studies and re-examinations of old issues have been quite reassuring,” Dr. Coughlin noted. “Coffee and caffeine should already be recognized for their positive health benefits and potential functional food attributes. You can forget about coffee being bad for you, it’s actually good for you.”
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Posted by Lon LaFlamme on October 26, 2009 at 5:26am
Your New Mission:It seems like yesterday that the American barista stepped out from that ocean of green aprons to prepare and declare themselves true professionals in the art of coffee education and preparation.Now owners of independent retail specilaty coffee businesses desperately need you again...as marketing associates to help them, and you, survive and thrive.Taste EVERYTHING your coffee house sells your precious customers. Pick a favorite. If it doesn't taste great, immediately tell your owner, until it meets the same high standards your set for your coffee.Once you are as proud of ALL the beverages and food your place serves, your new mission begins:Every time an order is placed, inspire-not require- that added on sell by mentioning your favorite breakfast, lunch, pastry, gelato or any other item that compliments the time of day and order.Lon LaFlammewww.thebrandcoaches.comRead more…
hi everybodyi am a fine art photography owner in stone town zanzibar tanzania africa and we want to make in our gallery a coffee bar. I love coffee for at least 25 years and make my own with a machine for 25 years. Well I can say I am a coffee lover so I want to make a coffee bar in the gallery. We have a nice place furniture is not the problem but my questions this is africa so nobody do the repairs at the machine we most do our self, what machine we must go to buy and why you can read my blog thebeautifuleyes.wordpress.com and know more what happens.hans agterdenbos--fine art photography gallery THE BEAUTIFUL EYESP.O.Box 3164 shangani Stone town ZanzibarBlog: thebeautifuleyes.wordpress.comBlog: stonetownphotowalk.wordpress.comcell hans:+255776716084
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Posted by Jason Dominy on October 26, 2009 at 3:00am
So, I haven't blogged here in quite some time, and when you wear like a dozen hats in your job, sometimes you get too busy for this kinda thing, but I wanted to let you know what's coming up, and how freaking awesome this is gonna be. For the second year in a row, I had a wild hair up my butt to host another SCAA Skill Building Workshop. The things are just so much fun, and so beneficial to the coffee and barista community as a whole! They are great ways to get baristas and shop owners started on the right foot, and eliminate bad habits from the beginning.Another cool thing about these events is that you offer classes that count towards the BGA Certification. I can't emphasize how important the BGA Certification will be in the future, I think as we work harder to make "barista" a seriously taken profession, a certification like this will be vital, plus the benefit of a better quality coffee culture will benefit all of us in the future as we work to make sure our niche industry is sustainable long term. Especially when I think of all the lives and mouths on the other end of our chain. All of the classes that we're hosting that weekend will count towards the BGA Certification, and will again feature both cupping classes and espresso classes, as I think it's important for all baristas to have a deep understanding of coffees, their flavors, and growing regional differences.We are also co-hosting the BGA's Southeast Regional Jam, which will feature varying classes all weekend, and include the BGA Customer Service class needed for Level One certification, and the BGA's Level One Certification test, as well as workshops on espresso methods, competition prep, brewing methods, and a community roundtable discussion on the state of coffee in the Southeast, and how we can become more successful through hosting events, and building a better coffee community. As expected, we will also be throwing the biggest barista bash and latte art throwdown you've seen. Huge spread of foods, drinks, open bar, latte art throwdown, and a unique city vs. city throwdown, and DJing by the freaking amazing Lem Butler, who again will be manning the two turntables and a microphone. Also, we're expecting a very special guest MC.As you see, I am so stoked about this weekend. One of the things I love most about my career and life is the community element of coffee, and this weekend will be a perfect snapshot of that. So many friends, fellow baristas, shop owners, and coffeegeeks, so much love. We'll have some cool machines to play with, too. So, that's what I have going on. Lots, to make this event the biggest and best, so we can see a better coffee and espresso community in the Southeast. I look at how far we've come in the past few years, and how far we will come in the next few years, and it's exciting stuff. I've seen the caliber of barista stepped up many notches, culminating with the amazingness of Danielle Glasky winning last year's Southeast Regional Barista Competition in a blaze of glory with a level of barista perfection that set a new bar round these parts.Info on both events can be found here: http://www.scaa.org/PDF/SESBW.pdfhttp://southeastregion.wordpress.com/Also, I need some help with the Skill Building Workshop. Wanna help as a Station Instructor, Porter, or Runner, please send a message to Melissa Bula at mbula@scaa.org. This is a great way to interact and learn from these classes and help your fellow barista and coffee community at the same time. I can't say enough how cool it is, and how important it is for all of us to help pass down what we ourselves have been passed down....
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Posted by Jesse Bladyka on October 24, 2009 at 5:16pm
The following has been copied from my blogspot photos are available there, http://banditthebarista.blogspot.com/ :I thought this blogging thing was going to be easy to keep up with, but I guess I'm busier than I thought. This month has been an exciting progression for the Coal Creek Roastery. We're awaiting the arrival of a new roaster, a Deidrich HR-1 (ours is black), which will allow us to roast samples to the same exacting standards that we roast for production. It will also allow us to experiment with different profiles and roasts without risking the loss of product. All in all, it is going to be excellent and I'm looking forward to it.We've begun to get together at the roastery for weekly Coal Creek Jams, pouring latte art, drinking beer, talking about the upcoming competition season and having a grand time. I think it's great to provide some of our newer baristi with an appreciation for how hard we work and how much fun that can be. Everyone is having a great time and it's happening most Thursday nights. If you're coming through Laramie, stop by!Excuse the lengthy preamble, the core of this blog concerns a very special cup of coffee that I've been privileged enough to consume. Hacienda La Esmeralda is a coffee farm located in the province of Chiriqui, in Southwestern Panama. They have recently revived the Geisha cultivar and have made it quite popular. Michaele Weissman chose the title of her book God In A Cup based on a description of this coffee. Each year, the farm holds an auction for the top lots of its coveted Geisha crop. This year, the top lot sold for $117.50 per pound (keep in mind it hasn't been roasted yet and there should be at least a three times margin above the green price). I did not get to taste this. I did however get to taste a lot purchased and roasted by Intelligentsia, titans of the third wave of Specialty Coffee. John was gracious enough to agree to spending $100 of the company's money on two 1/2 lb. bags of the Geisha that Intelligentsia roasts only once per week. I figured it was worth a Saturday at work to taste this stuff. I brought Emma to take some photographs and I fired up our halogen beam heater to see how the coffee fared on with a siphon extraction. The beans were beautiful, Geisha is a long, thin, canoe shaped bean, which I imagine is very difficult to roast. The roast I received was fairly consistent, with only a few discernible tips on the verge of scorching. I carefully measured 26 grams of coffee, ground slightly finer than drip, about at the number six setting of our Mahlkonig EK-43. I used 15 ounces of water and a mingle time of 55 seconds, resulting in a total extraction time of just over two minutes. Emma and I split the siphon and chatted about how it presented itself. I have tasted plenty of coffees, few have been so delicate and complex. I felt that the best aromas and flavors were present when the coffee was very hot. Intelligentsia describes the flavors as Orange Marmalade and Toasted Marshmallows. I immediately picked up on the caramel, maple syrup and brown sugar sweetness, also present was a very mild pinon nut sweetness. The coffee presented an intense fragrance, floral and tea-like. A touch of lavender and bergamot, a delicate body like a clean, Sencha green tea. The acidity was very much like oranges and kumquats. As the coffee cooled I picked up a cucumber mouthfeel and the acidity turned more toward stewed tomatoes and celery, the body retained its delicacy and acquired a bit of a black tea, pleasantly bitter characteristic. A truly elegant cup, I look forward to cupping it Monday and preparing it on our Clover, to round out my experience of the bean. I'll keep you posted on these developments.I'm currently drinking a homemade Bloody Mary. If I learned one thing when living in Wisconsin, it was how to appreciate and prepare a proper Bloody Mary. Emma and I used to spend a fair amount of time at Genna's in Madison after the weekly farmers market. They made some serious Bloody Mary's, which came with unlimited access to their extensive garnish bar, including everything from the traditional olives and celery to pickled asparagus, cheese and dilly beans. It took some practice but since moving away from the readily available, I have figured out a reliable and quite delicious recipe.The basic rules are:Do not use anything from a can, tomato juice from a can tastes tinny, and in the same vein, lemon juice that is not fresh will add a tinny flavor to what should be one of the best cocktails on earth.Also, you need cheese. Bloody Mary's are completed by a very sharp Cheddar, I'm consuming a Cabot Private Stock from my lovely home state of Vermont. It gives balance to the spiciness of the drink and if you add some Wood's Cider Jelly, essentially a reduction of unpasteurized apple cider, it sweetens and adds complexity to the entire experience.Two words as important as "bloody" and "mary" are Garlic and Horseradish. There is nothing worse than a Bloody Mary with no spice. That being said, it's easy to overdo the garlic or add so much horseradish that you end up with shrimp cocktail sauce. I find one small clove of garlic and 1/2 tsp. of horseradish per serving is adequate.Infuse! I use Ketel One vodka, infused for at least a week with dried celeriac root. This thickens up the vodka and again steers you away from the metallic flavors that can come from the citrus, the tomato, or the vodka.Salt the rim. No excuses, even better is to grind some pepper into your rim salt and rim with salt and black pepper.Finally, BEER CHASER. There is nothing that can do as much for a Bloody Mary as a beer chaser. The drink was designed to bridge morning and afternoon, breakfast and lunch, and you must, must, must, accompany a Bloody Mary with a beer chaser. A mild amber ale will do, I'm using Fat Tire today, a pilsner also works quite well, many weekend mornings I'll crack a PBR to do this job.Thanks for humoring me and reading this, more to come soon!
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Meeting with my Angel tomorrow. Been skimping, scrimping, begging, borrowing and credit card "loan" advancing for months attempting to get my 2nd CoffeeHouse open at my Roastery. Few weeks ago during lunch Debi was chatting with Beth, a long time co-worker, and in passing mentioned the challenges I was having. Out of the blue Beth said she could probably loan us the money. Paperworks all done, we're signing tomorrow. The final sprint to opening begins in earnest! (Hence my Event announcement for NY Day:-)I've always believed if something was supposed to happen, and after you've put every ounce of effort you can muster into it to the point of exhaustion and beyond until the brink of a physical and emotional breakdown, the Man upstairs will do the rest. Lo and behold my Angel appeared when times were indeed becoming bleak. Gratitude and Joy fill my soul.And the first test shot this evening of my Flagship newly reformulated now Organic Delirium Blend while not a Godshot, was much better than I expected at 2 hours post roast EXTREMELY short rested! Really looking forward to how it develops over the next 2 weeks. Oh sure, expect it to need some tweaking which will come. That's what the 5 individual bags of the 5 roasts (of the 4 beans) pulled before post roast blending are for. And besides, roasts always need tweaking!Another 12 hour day and I'm rather tired, and I have to get up early tomorrow to open Paradise Cafe in the morning since Ben's been working so hard picking up the slack with Maria down with a broken wing giving him the morning off, then meet with Beth Noon, and life is good.
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Posted by Eyal Rosen on October 23, 2009 at 3:29am
"I was born and spent my pre-teen years on the island of Trinidad, in the Caribbean, and I have fond memories of coffee. Not the beans, the fruit.For some reason, we never had real coffee in the house. My mom drank something called POSTUM, which was a kind of fake substitute made from ground-up car tires, or something like that."...Read MoreEnjoy :-)Eyal /ROASTe.com
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I have a health inspector telling me that I have to place my bar rags in a sanitizing solution anytime they get wet. Since they get wet every time I prepare to froth milk, I'll always be wiping the wand with a rag wet in sanitizing solution. Have any of you had a similar experience with your health regulations?Since I use bleach as my sanitizing ingredient, what is the possibility that it will leave a taste of chlorine in the milk? Does anyone know how to answer such questions?
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Posted by Coffee Kids on October 21, 2009 at 5:44am
Coffee Kids was invited to participate on a panel at the Ross Net Impact Conference, "Markets with a Mission," at the University of Michigan on October 15-16.The discussion, “Deepening Fair Trade: Efforts in Coffee-farming Communities to Improve the Lives of Farmers and Their Families,” reviewed approaches to creating more sustainable communities in the coffee lands. Along with Kyle Freund of Coffee Kids, the panel members were Cate Baril of Transfair and Lubna Nabi of Root Capital (who couldn’t attend due to flight problems). Ted London of the William Davidson Institute at the university served as the panel moderator.The panel discussed life in coffee-farming communities and the associated problems, including poverty and hunger issues. The panel recognized that the majority of coffee-farming families cannot survive from coffee income alone and no one approach will address the full breadth of the problem.Fair Trade came about to ensure a more sustainable base price for coffee to help families withstand market volatility. It also gives consumers the option to become part of the solution. Root Capital plays an important role in the Fair Trade network by providing farmers and cooperatives with access to low-interest credit so they can benefit from Fair Trade prices. Root Capital has also introduced a program to provide financing for purchasing land.But even with Fair Trade and other price premiums, coffee is not enough. Fair Trade will always be a segment of overall trade in coffee and given the small parcels managed by many farmers, work must be done to create economically viable communities and reduce dependence on coffee for income. Coffee Kids works with local organizations in coffee-farming communities to address these problems and create alternatives to coffee.The presentation drove home the fact that no one approach will answer all of the needs of coffee-farming families. But by supporting a variety of alternatives, coffee companies and coffee-farming families can work together to ensure a healthier future.
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The panel discussed life in coffee-farming communities and the associated problems, including poverty and hunger issues. The panel recognized that the majority of coffee-farming families cannot survive from coffee income alone and no one approach will address the full breadth of the problem.Fair Trade came about to ensure a more sustainable base price for coffee to help families withstand market volatility. It also gives consumers the option to become part of the solution. Root Capital plays an important role in the Fair Trade network by providing farmers and cooperatives with access to low-interest credit so they can benefit from Fair Trade prices. Root Capital has also introduced a program to provide financing for purchasing land.But even with Fair Trade and other price premiums, coffee is not enough. Fair Trade will always be a segment of overall trade in coffee and given the small parcels managed by many farmers, work must be done to create economically viable communities and reduce dependence on coffee for income. Coffee Kids works with local organizations in coffee-farming communities to address these problems and create alternatives to coffee.The presentation drove home the fact that no one approach will answer all of the needs of coffee-farming families. But by supporting a variety of alternatives, coffee companies and coffee-farming families can work together to ensure a healthier future.
