Complicated Coffee: Do You Do It? - Page 2 - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Baraka_Guru · 07-13-2010, 12:29 PM

Thanks for that, TK. I'mma gonna try that sometime.

telekinetic · 07-13-2010, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

Thanks for that, TK. I'mma gonna try that sometime.

I have found it easier to just order the two shots in a cup of ice and also a peligrino rather than try to get them to make it for you.

However, the upside of putting up with the confusion of getting them to make it for you is that it is so unique that there doesn't seem to be an "add shot to pelligrino" button, and 4 out of the 7 times I ordered it (at various starbucks) it ended up just costing me $1.60 for the water, rather than $3-something with the shots.

Baraka_Guru · 07-13-2010, 01:47 PM

That's hilarious.

But I think I'm just going to make this at home.

Jetée · 07-16-2010, 02:03 PM

I'm smiling right now because I just serendipitously reminded myself of a misplaced new creative commons idea.

Other than that... for those interested, and with the ample ingredients and know-how, I'll leave this here:

The Perfect Pour

snowy · 07-28-2010, 05:59 PM

I heard this piece on The Splendid Table this last weekend.

The Splendid Table

And it introduced me to this wonderful coffee website, Sweet Maria's: Home Coffee Roasting Supplies - Sweet Maria's

Baraka_Guru · 07-28-2010, 06:15 PM

I finally tried out the new coffee bar Aroma down the street from me. I've been there a couple of times now. It's a chain based in Israel, and it's apparently the reason why Starbucks hasn't expanded there yet.

They now have locations in New York City and Toronto, and a few overseas outside of Israel.

A big part of their success is based on their incredible beverage menu. But then there is so much more.

Oh, did I mention that their coffee comes with a little piece of chocolate?

Daka · 08-01-2010, 07:26 AM

Here in South Fl...it's Cuban Coffee, Colada (?) Not the thimble full, but the whole little cup, Think strong espresso with a LOT of sugar...it's like a kick in the chest...(but not after about 3PM (or you be up all night)

snowy · 02-20-2011, 10:03 AM

More complicated coffee reading! This article talks about coffee culture in Japan. It really seems like the Japanese try to bring a little bit of chadō (the Way of Tea)to coffee drinking too. I'm finicky about how I prepare my coffee, but I'm not that finicky. I am a bit more finicky when making pour-over coffee, though.

from: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/ma...ood-t-000.html

Quote:

Coffee’s Slow Dance
By OLIVER STRAND

A few years ago, I mothballed the fantasy of getting a professional-grade espresso machine and setting it up in the kitchen next to the meat slicer. In part, I gave up because of cost. It turns out a starter machine runs about $600, and if I wanted to own the same technology and firepower as what’s on the counter of the coffee bar around the corner, the price jumped to $6,500. Thermal-stable dual-boiler systems, assembled by hand in Italy, don’t come cheaply.

But the craving faded when I began to pay attention to how I make coffee at home. Which meant paying attention to the professionals, the vanguard of the coffee nuts driven by a sense that whatever they brew could probably be brewed better. I understand that some of you are put off by proselytizing — you want coffee, not a sermon — but where others perceive smugness and superiority, I see enthusiasm and curiosity, which is what we ask of our chefs: cooking isn’t stuck in 1990, or we would still be sitting down to menus with honey-mustard glaze and sun-dried tomatoes. Why should coffee be any different?

Really, the question is, why do so many people think coffee is Italian? Or French? Or Turkish? Why fixate on a notion of authenticity so tied to a particular country that nothing else could measure up? I thought about this when I followed the lead of the professionals and started buying gear — a grinder, a drip cone, a pouring kettle — that was simple, functional and beautiful. They were low-tech, high-fidelity gadgets that cost $15 to $50 and changed how I make coffee. For the most part, the key components came from Japan.

Yes, Japan.

One of the most important coffee markets in the world, Japan imports more than 930 million pounds of it each year — more than France, less than Italy. It’s not a fad. There are coffee shops in Japan that date to at least the 1940s and traditions that reach back even further; it’s a culture that prizes brewed coffee over espresso (although that’s changing) and clarity over body. Coffee is as Japanese as baseball and beer.

Until just a few years ago, much of the coffee gear that made it to the United States from Japan was brought here in suitcases. It wasn’t contraband, just obscure, a trickle of kettles and cones picked up by coffee obsessives or their well-traveled friends who didn’t mind lugging the extra bulk.

One adopter — and importer — of Japanese gear was James Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee in Oakland, San Francisco and now Brooklyn. Freeman and his wife, the pastry chef Caitlin Williams Freeman, recounted a visit to Chatei Hatou, a Tokyo coffee shop where brewing coffee isn’t exactly a ceremony but is ceremonious. They said beans were weighed, ground, emptied into a filter and preinfused with a little bit of water that let the coffee bloom and release carbon dioxide. Cups and saucers were warmed, a slice of chiffon cake was set in the fridge to firm up. Only then was the coffee brewed, slowly.

“They’re going for a mastery of technique, then a mastery over all the important details of service,” Freeman said. “It adds up to an incredibly elusive experience. It’s hard to manufacture splendidness. It seems as though they have something very difficult figured out.”

In 2007, Freeman started paying close attention to the swan-neck kettles used for filter coffee. The narrow spout produces a thin, precise stream, and the handle brings your hand into a naturally balanced position — instead of flooding the filter and letting it drip, you deliver a measured amount of water over a period of several minutes. It might sound precious or tedious, but the control is enthralling. It’s like picking up a drafting pen after only writing with Magic Markers. More important, the coffee tastes different. The flavors can be distinctive and bright, even sweet. A “bean” is really the fermented seed of a cherrylike shrub, and if coffee is roasted carefully and brewed correctly, you can taste the flower and the fruit.

By 2009, pouring kettles and other gear were stocked by Blue Bottle Coffee and other independent shops like Ritual Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, Intelligentsia in Chicago and Los Angeles and Barismo in Arlington, Mass. The supply was inconsistent — unlike the planned scarcity of limited-edition sneakers. If store ran out of what you wanted, you went back until a shipment came in. It took commitment to join the club. Owning something made by Hario, Kalita or Bonmac was proof of membership.

That all changed in the fall of 2010. Williams-Sonoma started to carry a selection of specialty brewing equipment and accessories from Hario, a glass-manufacturing giant that’s the Pyrex of Japan. Not only does Williams-Sonoma sell a pouring kettle, grinder and filter cone, it also carries the more unusual slow drippers and woodnecks. The rollout was nationwide. The Japanese coffee gear is stocked at most of the company’s stores, more than 250 locations in all, and on williams-sonoma.com. Now picking up a pouring kettle is as easy as swinging through the Mall at Green Hills in Nashville.

The kettle is the “pour” part of “pour over,” which these days is the accepted term for the technique, although Jaime van Schyndel, one of the owners of Barismo, prefers “hand pour,” which may describe it better: coffee made by hand, usually one cup at a time. To be frank, it’s not for everybody. Some will enjoy the ritual. But others will always consider coffee a convenience, a button to push or, once you learn how to set the timer, one that clicks on automatically. I have no doubt that countless pouring kettles and slow drippers will be used three or four times, then boxed back up and put on a high shelf, the fondue sets of our day.

But the sudden rise and widening acceptance of what was unfamiliar marks a permanent shift. The hierarchy has been shattered. Already, a few of the same people who once traveled to Tokyo and Kyoto are now talking and posting on Twitter about a country that draws on a variety of traditions, an emerging coffee culture that might also have something to teach us: Korea.

Oliver Strand contributes regularly to the Dining section. He is writing a book on coffee, which will be published next year by HarperCollins.

Would you buy Japanese coffee paraphernalia? I'm kind of drooling, to be honest.

Willravel · 02-20-2011, 10:14 AM

GORGEOUS design, but perhaps a bit too persnickety. I've graduated from a Keurig machine with those little cups to a Mr. Coffee and a basic grinder and now to a French press. I'm pretty happy with the French press, though I'd be willing to try some fascinating contraption like that just to see what the result is.

Charlatan · 02-20-2011, 04:15 PM

I don't like a lot of crap in my coffee.

If I know the coffee is good, I am content with an espresso with a little bit of sugar.

I am also happy with a good, strong latte (like the ones Leto mentioned from Jet Fuel) or cappuccino.

The local coffee here is a fine grind of coffee, roasted with butter and spices. It's then put in a cloth filter and water is poured over it. It makes a very strong, thick brew that is typically mixed with sweetened condensed milk. Kopi is cheap and good.

Other than that, I am okay with drip coffee with milk and sugar.

At home, I mostly use my stove-top Moka pot.

07-13-2010, 12:29 PM	#41 (permalink)
Baraka_Guru warrior bodhisattva Super Moderator Location: East-central Canada	Thanks for that, TK. I'mma gonna try that sometime. __________________ Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

07-13-2010, 01:47 PM	#43 (permalink)
Baraka_Guru warrior bodhisattva Super Moderator Location: East-central Canada	That's hilarious. But I think I'm just going to make this at home. __________________ Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

07-16-2010, 02:03 PM	#44 (permalink)
Jetée The Reforms Location: Rarely, if ever, here or there, but always in transition	I'm smiling right now because I just serendipitously reminded myself of a misplaced new creative commons idea. Other than that... for those interested, and with the ample ingredients and know-how, I'll leave this here: The Perfect Pour __________________ As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi

07-28-2010, 05:59 PM	#45 (permalink)
snowy Kick Ass Kunoichi Location: Oregon	I heard this piece on The Splendid Table this last weekend. The Splendid Table And it introduced me to this wonderful coffee website, Sweet Maria's: Home Coffee Roasting Supplies - Sweet Maria's __________________ If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

07-28-2010, 06:15 PM	#46 (permalink)
Baraka_Guru warrior bodhisattva Super Moderator Location: East-central Canada	I finally tried out the new coffee bar Aroma down the street from me. I've been there a couple of times now. It's a chain based in Israel, and it's apparently the reason why Starbucks hasn't expanded there yet. They now have locations in New York City and Toronto, and a few overseas outside of Israel. A big part of their success is based on their incredible beverage menu. But then there is so much more. Oh, did I mention that their coffee comes with a little piece of chocolate? __________________ Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

08-01-2010, 07:26 AM	#47 (permalink)
Daka Tilted Location: Fort Lauderdale	Here in South Fl...it's Cuban Coffee, Colada (?) Not the thimble full, but the whole little cup, Think strong espresso with a LOT of sugar...it's like a kick in the chest...(but not after about 3PM (or you be up all night)

02-20-2011, 10:14 AM	#49 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	GORGEOUS design, but perhaps a bit too persnickety. I've graduated from a Keurig machine with those little cups to a Mr. Coffee and a basic grinder and now to a French press. I'm pretty happy with the French press, though I'd be willing to try some fascinating contraption like that just to see what the result is.

02-20-2011, 04:15 PM	#50 (permalink)
Charlatan Getting it. Super Moderator Location: Lion City	I don't like a lot of crap in my coffee. If I know the coffee is good, I am content with an espresso with a little bit of sugar. I am also happy with a good, strong latte (like the ones Leto mentioned from Jet Fuel) or cappuccino. The local coffee here is a fine grind of coffee, roasted with butter and spices. It's then put in a cloth filter and water is poured over it. It makes a very strong, thick brew that is typically mixed with sweetened condensed milk. Kopi is cheap and good. Other than that, I am okay with drip coffee with milk and sugar. At home, I mostly use my stove-top Moka pot. __________________ "My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars." - Old Man Luedecke