Of sites and feeds to trips and such

Simply put, there are a lot of coffee sites and few of them update regularly. It's hard keeping track and you can easily say I hardly participate in the forums much anymore. At this point, there's a lot of work to be done rather than the 'joy' of debate in forums.

Get on a feed reader people. If you aren't already, it makes life so much easier to track all these blogs. Get updates delivered when they update rather then going to each site and checking for updates.

I'm headed out to Bellingham Friday. Kaminsky is already in Seattle now while Silas, Judson and I leave tomorrow. It's highly likely to prove more difficult than we wanted. Getting the butane burner to Seattle proved not possible for Kaminsky.

Hopefully, I will have better luck with it or we have to find something as an alternative quick. Ben C. is staying behind for varied reasons, polishing some new stuff and working on an experiment and using the saved cash for a new special toy.

Speaking of things that wowed me. I had a really bad shot the other day that tasted like salty baguette. I kid you not, it was a medium-light roast Brazil blend (from one farm) that tasted bready at 8.5bars but when upped over 9.5bars, it was salty and bready. I would laugh but it was straight up disgusting.

Honestly though, that was one of a dozen shots lately that have underwhelmed me with blah. It's not that there is no good coffee but a myriad of reasons has left me with some pretty average to blah espresso lately. I don't even do espresso when I go out simply because coffee is work right now and I need to unwind with out being too critical of what is being offered.

Speaking of which, I find it odd how people take our blog and attach it to a roaster or to a shop as if we were following some grand scheme someone else laid out. More or less, we float from thing to thing in search of a great cup. We borrow, question, research, critique, and generally are completely disloyal to following any one roaster's ideals. We got burned by that before and won't do it again. That's a narrow path I'd rather not travel. There is no plan, no standard, no rules and strangely I am content with that. 'I know this is not how you thought it would be, no whips, no chains just tasting, tasting, tasting...'(CYHSY reference sorry;-)

Which reminds me that as a site like this grows, you have a few options as to direction. We are still mulling ours. Then again, I am happy with where it is and the content that we put up however not as frequent these days due to travel.

Speaking of which, looking forward to:
The next B-Mag;-)
Spending time with Eddie, Gabe, Richard, the Scott family and maybe meeting some new friends or putting a face to some people in the business.
Writing about the whole experience for print, probably Kaminsky and/or Silas will get Barismo duty for details on this B-Ham Jam puppy.
My B-Spec tamper with a touch up addition and new finish possible logo'd.
Bringing vac pots in tow and looking to spring some Simon style coffee on these guys on the west coast.

Thoughts on coffee, things are busy, the barismo blog is trimmed up for those not on feed readers who click through and can see it. A bit cleaner, like the way I like my coffee.

Cupping coffee and the stinky bean

Stinkers: Stinker beans are generally caused as a result of over-fermentation, and due to improper cleaning of fermentation tanks and washing channels. Beans adhering to the pulper vats, if not cleaned meticulously, become stinkers. Stinker beans, when crushed or cut, emanate a very unpleasant odor. They taint the liquor, producing an unpleasant taste in the cup, and give a flavor described as 'over-fermented', 'unclean' or even 'foul'. One or two stinker beans can contaminate and spoil a whole batch of coffee. See also 'Discoloured', under 'Defects – Appearance / Coloration', above. - coffee-ota.org

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There are times when coffee is fun and there are times when it is a lot of work. Cupping through slight roast variances from one single coffee roasted several times that when charted out look almost identical is definitely work.

I ran across this one thing that was just disgusting. A stinky bean (or two). Out of a dozen roasts and multiple bags, this showed up in two cups only.

Dry aroma, Skunk. Wet aroma like body odor. Taste was like 'someone brewed the coffee with toenail clippings.' Completely disgusting and foul. Out of six cups, two had this and I suspect it was because they were ground one after another.

I have never really cupped this before and yet this was so distinct in those two cups alone that it led me to realize why it is so essential to cup 3-6 cups of every coffee evaluated on a table.

Ouch!

The B-Ham Jam

Bellingham, WA: The Barista Jam
Event's from 9 AM to 3 PM, though if anyone wants to volunteer they are welcome - they'll be starting setup at 8 AM and need to be out by 5 PM. Ten bucks gets you in, and you get to keep five of those bucks if you present BGA or Roaster's Guild membership at the door.

Any questions can be forwarded to bhambjam@gmail.com

Confirmed exhibitions from La Marzocco, Synesso, Nuova Simonelli, and Espressoparts - Possible Clover. Coffees (including but not limited to) 49th Parallel, Hines, Victrola, and Ecco - chances are good that some Victrola peeps will be running our extra-fancy cupping plaza (you'll understand when you see it). A possible showing of Black Gold and afterparty.

FROM I-5 SOUTH: take the Lakeway exit (number 253). At the stopsign at the end of the offramp, take a right. You'll run into Lakeway Drive - take a right onto Lakeway.

FROM I-5 NORTH: take the Lakeway exit (number 253). Take a right onto Lakeway Drive.

ONCE YOU'RE ON LAKEWAY DRIVE: travel a few blocks; at a big intersection, Lakeway will turn into Holly Street. Keep going on Holly down the hill - this will take you into downtown Bellingham. Take a left onto Railroad (you'll see a Starbucks on that corner). Once you're on Railroad, the Depot Market Square is just two blocks away on the left. It's a big gray building. Feel free to use the covered parking lot; it's free!

Boston barista contingent of Silas, Judson, Kaminsky, and Jaime(me) will be attending this great event this weekend. Any west coast peeps out there must come and join us. Rumor is that Simon in Taiwan will have coffees shipped to this event as well as some of us Barismo guys enlisted to run vac pots at the cupping station. We will see. Should be interesting.

Informal Tea Cupping

If you happen to be around Simon's in Cambridge MA Saturday Apr. 7th after 5pm, drop by and say Hi and taste some teas. Silas and I will be tasting a few teas with friends. Short notice cause it's informal like that!

Minor (roaster) upgrade

What? You think I am going to leave my toys un-moded?! ;-)

After some discussions with Simon, it was felt that this is the best thing I can do right now to improve the consistency of my roasts. Onto the next level...

UPDATE (4/9/07):

Did a whole bunch of roasts this weekend. This mod has turn out to be a pivotal point of my roasting experiment. I now truly have control over the profile and roasts are so consistent that the curves are practically on top of each other. Getting the profile is also much easier than before. The fun begins....

- Ben C.