coffee a-ha holiday moment

Posted by Theo at 1:41 pm Misc. No Responses »
Dec 312011
coffee a-ha holiday moment

Christmas gifts.. a new eight cup french press, a new three cup french press. Courtney gets a fancy-pants Technivorm. Holiday get togethers. Terrible coffee in general that you have to choke down. .. A few days at Di’s with the mega-big container of C-Grade coffee (that’s old & stale C-Grade coffee). Making the best of what’s put in front of me and trying to not look down on the cup that was so generously offered. Then the realization that coffee like most foods has morphed into something more convenient and mass produced. And, like the [... click to continue reading]

Hurricane Irene, No Power & Out of Chemex Pourover Coffee Filters

Posted by Theo at 9:12 am Misc. No Responses »
Aug 302011
Hurricane Irene, No Power & Out of Chemex Pourover Coffee Filters

Sitting out Hurricane Irene wasn’t so bad and with all the initial talk about a Category Two Hurricane passing right through Boston’s North Shore area .. got motivated. Cut down this dead tree out front that had these white mushroom looking things growing out of it … and so the neighbors are pleased. Drainage pipes installed etc., and of course, the all important food and coffee situation. Gabe got a new twenty-two pound bag of dog food so he was good and I got the coffee preground so that when the power went out, no worries. Pound cake, oatmeal, [... click to continue reading]

Rainy Day, Cup of Coffee

Posted by Theo at 5:07 pm Misc. 3 Responses »
Aug 152011
Rainy Day, Cup of Coffee

Monday … Had a good and bad sort of weekend. A little birthday thing for Di. She came over and headed about 40 min up the coast to Ogunquit, Maine. Really an awesome place with this walkway above the rocks called the Marginal Way. Here’s a link to the town if you’re interested. So it was good, some really nice, fresh lobster rolls and all. Then on the other side of the coin I had to make another trip to my parent’s house which is being sold. Brought Gabe and loaded the tuck with some lumber that [... click to continue reading]

Coffee Green Bean Review: Brazil Cerrado DP Fazenda Aurea from Sweet Maria’s Coffee

Posted by Theo at 12:27 pm Misc. No Responses »
Aug 112011
Coffee Green Bean Review: Brazil Cerrado DP Fazenda Aurea from Sweet Maria's Coffee

  As coffee prices continue to skyrocket upwards we’re looking for value and quality in green coffee beans for home roasting. And we found one that’s on the radar and will become a staple to be used in blends. Here’s the deal .. we have a handful of green coffees that we use individually and as blends to keep things good, changing and interesting. Sort of like a cupboard of ingredients that we can play with, combine and roast in different ways. Keeps things new and interesting. .. Anyway so what’s the deal with this Brazilian? [... click to continue reading]

Coffee Storage For Green Beans And Roasted Coffee

Posted by Theo at 9:26 pm Misc. 2 Responses »
Jun 222011
Coffee Storage For Green Beans And Roasted Coffee

  Coffee as you know is one of those delicate things that can’t be consumed too fresh (typically a day after roasting .. please). But once this peak has been reached it’s all downhill from there, and it’s not a pretty thing. Your beautiful coffee becomes this flat old grouch who takes up space and works to make your life miserable. The enemy here is time. Specifically time and oxygen …then never ending chemical reactions within the coffee bean will have it’s way no matter what we do. Anyway, here’s my setup. Unroasted green coffee beans,and [... click to continue reading]

Coffee Review: Sweet Maria’s Sumatra Grade 1 Mandheling Green Coffee Beans

Posted by Theo at 11:49 am Misc. No Responses »
Jun 062011
Coffee Review: Sweet Maria's Sumatra Grade 1 Mandheling Green Coffee Beans

We roasted some Sumatra Coffee from Sweet Maria’s at a few levels and found their recommendation of finishing in a range of a Full City to a Vienna to be pretty spot-on. And, in line with our previous experience with Sweet Maria’s we found their order entry and fulfillment to be totally seamless and drama-free. The cost for five pounds of this Sumatra Grade 1 Mandheling coffee was $29.88 or just $5.98/ lb plus shipping … Now for the beans. There was a lot of skin there and more than a few fibers hopefully from the burlap bags. So as you [... click to continue reading]

A Coffee Pairing Good Enough For Specialty Coffee

Posted by Theo at 9:34 am Misc. No Responses »
May 262011
A Coffee Pairing Good Enough For Specialty Coffee

I was at a specialty coffee shop the other day and paid $3.00 for this cranberry scone that was just sitting in the case looking Soo Good. Settled in, nice seat by the window looking out at all the boats, sip of the coffee, then a bite of the scone. … Now you all know what happened because we’ve all been there before. The cafe food letdown. Disappointment with a touch of sadness at what should have been but isn’t. Specifically the scone was Lousy.. Dry. Dead. .. All looks but no inner goodness. A complete poser. [... click to continue reading]

Coffee “Love The One You’re With” but “Living on Borrowed Time”

Posted by Theo at 7:50 am Misc. No Responses »
Apr 212011
Coffee

  I recently had the chance to visit with Courtney & Chris x2 in the Washington DC area and had an absolute ball. The coffee at Courtney’s was Chemex Pourover from some home-roasted coffee beans… Somalian? I don’t think I asked. But unlike the previous trip that included a visit to the Counter Culture Coffee Cupping in DC (link to post below) and a wonderful cafe, this trip was lighter on the coffee and more about other experiences (sorry Elizabeth but will hit the cafe mentioned in your blog next time I’m in town, maybe [... click to continue reading]

Cafe Review: Dottie’s Coffee Lounge

Posted by Theo at 4:22 pm Misc. No Responses »
Mar 292011
Cafe Review: Dottie's Coffee Lounge

The level of coffee to be found in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts continues to improve as evidenced by a recent trip made to Dottie’s Coffee Lounge in Pittsfield MA. I happened to be there in order to help out Diane, who had this knee thing going on … And was a very pleasantly surprised to learn that there was a cafe in town that could possibly pull a reasonable shot of espresso. Well, you walk into this place and the first thing that strikes you about it is the old-school high tin ceiling and a choice of different flavors of  areas for [... click to continue reading]

Coffee Micro Roasters 2 of 2 After Roasting

Posted by Theo at 3:29 pm Misc. 4 Responses »
Mar 122011
Coffee Micro Roasters 2 of 2 After Roasting

Coffee beans just from roasting and still smoking. The beans are then agitated to maximize contact with the ambient air and to prevent the beans below from retaining heat and baking. Close up of the hot coffee beans under agitation. After packaging the cooled roasted coffee. The Agitator. The brushes to handle the chaff. Related Posts: Coffee Micro Roasters 1 of 2 Roasting Coffee Review: Sweet Maria’s Sumatra Classic Mandheling Green Coffee Is Insurance During A Nor’easter Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it [... click to continue reading]

Older Entries