Just ordered some samples of some new coffees, including a couple "monsooned" coffees from Java and India. I also am trying a Kenya AA Maywal, which is supposed to have an intensely citrus taste.
I also picked up a Guatemalan Robusta to try in a stronger espresso blend. I have not been very pleased with my blends so far. My goal for the next couple weeks are to refine them and come up with something that will really knock your socks off.
Want to be a guinea pig? I'm toying with the idea of setting up a cupping and espresso tasting. Not sure where, but perhaps at the roaster in Dearborn Heights (yeah, its really just my old house, but the only thing left there is my roaster, so why not call it like it is??).
Dave!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Friday, November 09, 2007
America's liquid shortage.
Water is 99.9% of the contents of a cup of coffee. Because of this, (and other "basics of life", "ecosystem survival", and "fun to swim in" type reasons) having fresh water is a particular concern to me, so this quote from the Detroit Free Press caught my eye:
"I don't think I'm being too alarmist about this," said Rep. Candice Miller, a Harrison Township Republican. "Do not look to the Great Lakes to solve the nation's water problems."
Her Michigan colleague on the House subcommittee on water resources and environment, Grand Rapids Republican Vern Ehlers, predicted what might happen if anyone attempted a water grab.
"I would suspect we'd call up the militia and take up arms," Ehlers said. "We feel that serious about it."
Nope. That doesn't sound alarmist at all, but on a related note, perhaps I should buy a gun....
Dave!
"I don't think I'm being too alarmist about this," said Rep. Candice Miller, a Harrison Township Republican. "Do not look to the Great Lakes to solve the nation's water problems."
Her Michigan colleague on the House subcommittee on water resources and environment, Grand Rapids Republican Vern Ehlers, predicted what might happen if anyone attempted a water grab.
"I would suspect we'd call up the militia and take up arms," Ehlers said. "We feel that serious about it."
Nope. That doesn't sound alarmist at all, but on a related note, perhaps I should buy a gun....
Dave!
Costa Rica coffee plantation visit!
So, for those of you keeping track, I got married a couple weeks ago and Julie and I headed to Costa Rica for honeymoon. Costa Rica is a beautiful country and I'd go back in a second. The forests are wonderfully rich (hence the name, Costa Rica = "The Rich Coast") and the people are intensely friendly.
Anyway, I won't go into everything we saw (though we did see a volcano erupt and I talked to a monkey), but we did go explore a coffee plantation. Unfortunately, it's the wrong time of year for harvesting, but we did get to see some ripe cherries and we saw every step of the process.
Probably one of the most interesting parts was seeing the cultivation of new coffee plants. When you plant the seed, it pushes the seed up the plant out of the ground, so you have these big coffee beans on stems sticking out of the ground. The leaves fold out of the center of the coffee bean. These have to be kept from direct sunlight, but needs lots of water, so they are kept in the shade and watered often (not a problem in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica... lots of rain helps!).
Once the plants are planted, it takes about 3 years to produce fruit (the cherries that have the coffee inside). So, this isn't an instant gratification type project.... Once the plants bloom, they all bloom at the same time and last only for about a day, the blooms wilt and fall off, leaving you with the start of the cherries. Once the cherries turn a dark red, they are ready to be picked. The cherries, by the way, taste a lot like a red pepper.
There is no mechanical way to pick coffee, so its all done by hand. This is not pleasant work. First of all, coffee is only ripe for a short period (a couple days) before it goes bad, so when its picking season, you have to pick, rain or shine (and it's mostly rain in this part of the country). The plants draw all kinds of insects, including a type of ringworm. Coffee plants grow to about 5-6 feet high, so there's plenty of bending, stooping, and stretching. It truly looks like miserable work.
Once picked the coffee is dumped into a machine that shucks the bean out of the fruit. From there the bean is washed to remove outer layers and then spread on a big cement pad to dry... except, it rains a lot, so beans are often laid out on racks in a big greenhouse to dry. After 3 months (or so) of drying, they are run through another machine the breaks off the outer brown husk to reveal the green bean that we all know and love.
The plantation I visited grows several different varieties, though I did not end up buying any of their coffee. The coffee had a very hearty body, with strong fruity overtones (think strong Cabernet wine type flavor) but all of it was old at this point, and the flavor revealed this to some degree. I'd buy some year when its fresh again, but I really enjoyed meeting them and seeing the plantation. If I had to do it all over again (and hopefully, I will!), I'd definitely go a few months after harvest, so the coffee had enough time to dry and hit its peak.
Dave!
Anyway, I won't go into everything we saw (though we did see a volcano erupt and I talked to a monkey), but we did go explore a coffee plantation. Unfortunately, it's the wrong time of year for harvesting, but we did get to see some ripe cherries and we saw every step of the process.
Probably one of the most interesting parts was seeing the cultivation of new coffee plants. When you plant the seed, it pushes the seed up the plant out of the ground, so you have these big coffee beans on stems sticking out of the ground. The leaves fold out of the center of the coffee bean. These have to be kept from direct sunlight, but needs lots of water, so they are kept in the shade and watered often (not a problem in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica... lots of rain helps!).
Once the plants are planted, it takes about 3 years to produce fruit (the cherries that have the coffee inside). So, this isn't an instant gratification type project.... Once the plants bloom, they all bloom at the same time and last only for about a day, the blooms wilt and fall off, leaving you with the start of the cherries. Once the cherries turn a dark red, they are ready to be picked. The cherries, by the way, taste a lot like a red pepper.
There is no mechanical way to pick coffee, so its all done by hand. This is not pleasant work. First of all, coffee is only ripe for a short period (a couple days) before it goes bad, so when its picking season, you have to pick, rain or shine (and it's mostly rain in this part of the country). The plants draw all kinds of insects, including a type of ringworm. Coffee plants grow to about 5-6 feet high, so there's plenty of bending, stooping, and stretching. It truly looks like miserable work.
Once picked the coffee is dumped into a machine that shucks the bean out of the fruit. From there the bean is washed to remove outer layers and then spread on a big cement pad to dry... except, it rains a lot, so beans are often laid out on racks in a big greenhouse to dry. After 3 months (or so) of drying, they are run through another machine the breaks off the outer brown husk to reveal the green bean that we all know and love.
The plantation I visited grows several different varieties, though I did not end up buying any of their coffee. The coffee had a very hearty body, with strong fruity overtones (think strong Cabernet wine type flavor) but all of it was old at this point, and the flavor revealed this to some degree. I'd buy some year when its fresh again, but I really enjoyed meeting them and seeing the plantation. If I had to do it all over again (and hopefully, I will!), I'd definitely go a few months after harvest, so the coffee had enough time to dry and hit its peak.
Dave!
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