Classes and updated brew guides

Classes are online for signup. Class size will be limited so sign up before they fill.

We will also be updating our list of brew guides and expanding our education section to include video materials and illustrated guides. Keep an eye on it or bookmark it as it grows.

Class updates and new espresso options

Kagumoini has been roasted as espresso for our S3 and S4 blends for some time. Recently at Hi Rise on Brattle Street, they requested it as a SOE. We obliged and have since had great feedback on this particular espresso. Where the Kiamabara is big and holds up even through short milk with unique fruitiness, the Kagumoini is best enjoy as a delicate but intensely sweet and delicious shot.

To get ahead of new coffees coming in and have creative diversity in our lineup of espresso, we are starting a new series. Where the Sonata series is built for consistent yet still quality results, this series will be about creativity and will change frequently. The staff and sometimes accounts will make unique sugestions for pairings we will explore for short timelines. The focus will be not on balance, but on asymmetry and finding beauty in what is essentially a work in progress. To express the beauty, impermanence, and the uniqueness of this series, we decided to give a nod to the term Wabi-sabi.

Next week's Wabi-sabi series will be codenamed 'Doppleganger' and will consist of two Kenyas, the Kagumoini and Kiamabara espresso paired together.

February classes are up online and ready for registration. We expect the classes to be informative and we recommend checking them out. Like all things barismo, the materials will be hands on, technical, and thorough.

A few things

Classes: We will be hosting a few formal classes on site outside of our normal brew demos and tastings. The first being a basic coffee class through the nonprofit Arlington Community Education Center and you can download the catalog to get more info. The other classes will be for students of CSCA and is not open to the public but is noteworthy because both classes will be held on site at our lab later in the spring.

The blog: It has moved, for those who watch the front page, and it will stay that way as we focus more on the shop. I had been mulling this for some time and decided enough already. We want to be more focused on the locals with the blog, much to the chagrin of our large professional audience.

The next week will be busy but I will update with a post when Nik does his final competition run through. The general public is invited to attend. We hope some locals will be willing to show up and be judges or fill out the audience. Bags of Poker Face are on sale online only through the weekend as we head into the days before competition.