going after exceptional coffee
I have a habit of pulling beans during the roast process, breaking them open to see how evenly it is progressing. Not an absolute indicator, by any means, but still better than glancing into the roaster and looking at the outsides only.
This one taken about 1rst crack… give or take 30sec. I don’t quite remember.
Here’s a little slideshow of the new roaster. I’m planning to take some more details this weekend and will post those as well.
cheers
Qishr - tea from coffee husks.
A traditional tea in Yemen made from coffee husks. I mean, yeah! okay, I’m gonna try it - purely out of curiosity. So I got a 1/2 pound of qishr from sweetmarias when I saw it available - no expectations of what it was other than Tom’s description (good, not great. Rosehips. Ginger Tea). But what the hell. I’ve paid more for a cup of coffee that was awful, so at worst, I am better informed and out 5 bucks.
Well, i don’t know if I will actually make it through the entire 1/2 pound I bought. Not that it is all bad, actually, and there are some very interesting things going on in the tea, but it left a pretty acrid and biter finish that was not at all to my liking. And it lasted for a long long time.
Unsealing the bag released powerful aroma of apple, clover, the Portland Rose Gardens in full bloom - an intensity like standing under a magnolia tree in full bloom, but not quite the same syrupy depth. It’s actually very beautiful to see - looking to me a lot like a certain cinnamon and honey encrusted pistachio shells.
Them being husks, I fully expected it to be earthy, spicy, and, well, husky - but that was just not there in the aroma. Just intense fruit like I was sticking my nose in a vat of juiced apples. Maybe all the earth was in the brew?
After that… mildly tea-like, but more like mild, thin good coffee - traces from that same aroma, hints of the sweet rose flavor. Overall, nice.. And then I sat and worked for a while, and then it started showing itself. Bitter. Astringency. Acridity. And it went on for a while.
It was pleasant until that. That harsh acrid overtone - pasting itself across my tongue. Rough, harsh and started killing my buzz. I don’t want to go back to that. It was worse than poorly toasted black tea. Worse than
I think I might try putting some in the oil over a tea light and let it fill the room with its smell. Dim the lights & spin some Tosca. I Want Some Honey. Loud.
Patience, grasshopper.
I just got news that my roaster from Pinhalense is…
Okay, it’s not heading on the water, but by air - and it currently is being held in Chicago - but I love this image. Much more exciting than a plane, don’t you think?
(thanks o lawatt for the cargo ship.. Here’s the original link.)
So.
March 18th, totally unknown to me, the Brazilian customs agents went on strike.. with a vote of 98% in favor of striking…
Sounds like they are still striking.
update Found this which states in part that only live stock, perishables, explosives and flammable cargo, and medicines are being allowed through port.
Awww shit.
update 2I did trade emails with the exporter for Pinhalense, who assured me that things are indeed moving through customs and that they are working to get the roasters they have at the airport on their way…
I hope that the strike is resolved soon, though.
I can hardly stand the slowness that designing and building this roaster is. I know that it is my doing, but that doesn’t make it any easier not being able to really control my roasts. And it’s becoming increasingly painful as I become ever more eager to sink deep into cupping coffee and reaching balance with a roast. I’m not currently exploring as I know I am able… and truly return to my craft.
Well, In fact I couldn’t let this go any longer, and so purchased a sample roaster from Pinhalense.. I just got word at the end of last week that it is essentially ready in the factory as of tomorrow, so all it needs is some crating, an airplane, one long flight from Sao Paulo to Portland. Some gentle customs agents, and a van to get it home. If all goes well, by next weekend, I should be tearing through some junky green that I’ve been stashing away over the past couple months to get it nice and seasoned.
One thing I meant to write but forgot to add at the end of that last post was, was that the griping that is abounding all over the place only shows that what what the inventors, developers, marketers have all created is not just their own thing. It has taken on a life of it’s own, and the people who have participated in it’s life so far feel (deservedly) attached to that. And that does mean that the idea has a life of its own. Beyond Starbucks… beyond clover…
So even though it sucks right now, and is going to impact the course of specialty coffee - how exactly I am not certain - they had the right to do what they did. And good for them. So, but probably, in a way no one is seeing at the moment (well, 1 person is, but he or she is diligently working in secret, at an accelerated pace…) it will eventually be good for everyone. Remember that Starbucks is at least indirectly responsible for George Howell’s founding of the Cup of Excellence program. And that is a greater deal for specialty coffee than 1000+ Coffee Connections were ever going to be.
Starbucks and Clover, a revisit…
The two things that trouble me the most about Starbucks purchasing the Coffee Equipment Company are that the system is now proprietary to Starbucks and that Schultz is pretty hazy when it comes to defining quality coffee.
The proprietary thing. Oh where to start. It’s not clear if Starbucks will sell to other roasters or cafes that don’t use their coffee, but given their track record, I doubt it pretty heavily. So that means that all the smaller roasters and cafes who are truly at the forefront of coffee - that were either using to planning on using the clover to bring customers along that exploration with them while respecting the pace that the majority of customers keep while honoring the things we know about serving coffee the best it can be - are going to be put on serious hold. There just isn’t another device like it that I am aware of.
That said, I don’t believe that the Clover was/is the magic pill. By all accounts, it is a finicky beast to get set right, differnt for each coffee, manual attention. Sound familiar?. And without a doubt, it simply won’t make mediocre coffee better than it is - and I think that I remember a post on http://godshot.blogspot.com/search?q=clover that stated that it actually highlighted it’s problems due to it’s clarity. Vacuum pot coffee does this.
A lot of the discussion I am seeing has talked about how the clover will no longer be a point of differentation to cafes who have them - and obviously it won’t be an avenue for any other independent cafes. I don’t really want to get into a branding discussion, partly because my interest in the clover was more altruistic and educational than differentiation from other cafes.
Simply put, it was the best way to offer a variety of coffees and educate customers on how to perceive various coffee flavor profiles with a low entry point. Only the most expensive coffee broke $10/cup. But exquisite coffees that retail around $50/lb end up being $3-5 for a cup. An easy entrance with little risk and large payoff in loyalty and engagement with my customers.
And this is where I think that Schultz is caught in a confusion between “returning to Starbucks roots” and actually regaining (sic) any integrity in third wave speciatly coffee. He’s speaking marketing, not coffee. Check this out:
“This acquisition will provide us with an opportunity to give customers individually brewed cups of some of Starbucks most exotic coffees,” said Schultz. “In my over 25 years with Starbucks, the Clover machine unequivocally delivers the best cup of brewed coffee I have ever tasted.”
and this:
Starbucks challenged its coffee and roasting teams to create the world’s most exceptional coffee blends. The result of those efforts is the new Pike Place Roast. Beginning in mid-April, this unique new coffee will be brewed in every U.S. company-operated store every day, giving customers a unique, consistent and fresh brewed coffee experience.
Within the same speech, he is pushing individually brewed exotic coffees and and a concept of “the perfect” cup. An idealized notion of coffee that doesn’t jive with the reality of the best coffees available. In fact, as people on the edge are learning more, as growers are getting better and better, we are realizing that what we thought was an origin profile doesn’t stick. Minas Gerais is not the same as coffees from the Cerrado. Huehuetenango is not the same as a Coban.
But that is what Howard does. He and his company romance the idea of coffee. The idea of the cafe experience. But in the end, I have no confidence in their true desire to actually develop those experiences. They want to craft the experience in your mind before you even enter the store so that
And yeah, that’s something that we all do. Stumptown does it quite well. Intelligentsia does it too. Ritual, Blue Bottle, Ecco, Victrola… and cafes do it. The thing about the places I mentioned is that they actually back up the image they provide. They put an enormous amount of effort into carrying out what they say they do - as opposed to crafting their words to make it seem like they do - with enough effort so it isn’t obvious how much bloat in in their organization.
And that is the thing that is the most disappointing about this sale. With everything I know, the clover isn’t going to the mechanism that it could have been in the progression of consumer coffee. It will be this beautiful thing that is caring an okay product. Form and content won’t be in sync. And it will be half-baked. Granted, it will at least bring the notion of individual coffees to a hugely broader public. But I just don’t see Starbucks being able to communicate much about them, their history, or anything. That just isn’t really core to their brand identity. The unveiling of their new mark (co-initiated with Conservation International - who should be able to do a great amount of good with this partnership, btw) is an indication of that.
Oh, and the announcement of their new espresso machine, something like a uber-super automatic… and they still don’t have very interesting espresso. I mean, when was the last time you really wanted to get a double in an starbucks? Is brewed coffee going to be any different in their culture?
That’s pretty much all I wanted to say.
First I read this. And I thought, well, if Starbucks wants to put Clovers in their stores, then, I support that. it puts money into a company that deserves to expand. It puts a machine that can be used to help educate people to the variations of different origins, estates, lots, etc in a huge number of stores. Places where asking what an origin is (to the barista) is just a return of blank stares. I am fully aware that it isn’t going to change the mediocrity of their coffee, just as (re)training their baristas for 3 hours isn’t going to turn their shops into a place to go for an exquisite ristretto mean to be savored. But Starbucks isn’t the bottom of the barrel, either.
But then I read the link he pointed to. And my heart sank. Oh shit. Starbucks didn’t purchase a bunch of clovers - which would likely have pushed the price down, making it more reachable to the micro-level, third-wave (insert term of choice) specialty roasters and cafes that really really lust after these things for the sole purpose of being able to present amazing coffees better. They went out and fucking bought the company. I agree with Tom. This is a sad day for specialty coffee.
I guess we all have to start saving for something like blue bottle’s siphon bar.
