smellslikekenya

ahem

2006-01-30T01:16:00.000-05:00

Been awhile, huh? :o/

Catching up would be nearly impossible, but I think the following cheat sheet to Irenaland Ver. 06 should be all you need to decipher the forthcoming entries:

1) Simon's - the coffeeshop where I've been part-timing since October
2) Intersession - the weeklong limbo inbetween first and second semesters; the reason I've started blogging agian
3) REUs - summer research programs for undergrads; I'm in the midst of applying to like 20 of these right now (see also: huge bitch)
4) MARBC - Mid-Atlantic Regional Barista Championships; I'll probably be volunteering, and Peter's gonna be a judge. Road trip!!

Ok, I think that was a sufficiently unambitious post. Expectations low enough now?

good :o)

oh right! this is a coffee blog...

2005-08-29T00:17:00.000-04:00

This week (technically 8/19-8/28) in coffee:

8/19: Received 2 mystery central americans and 1 production roast Yirg from Peter (of Terroir). Here are my notes from (blind-)tasting the centrals:

A: From the smell of the beans and the taste of the coffee, it definitely reminded me of a Kenya. It was really acidic, but simultaneously sweet, and I think I also identified 'beef' for the first time ever. Maybe some faint vanilla or sasparilla thrown in the mix. I had a hard time dissecting the flavors in this one...

B:  Strawberries.  And spinach/sencha tea.

So it turns out A was their new crop COE Honduras Mira Valle and B their 2004 Panama Jaramillo (<--as compelling a reason for green-freezing as any pf rant). The Panama is no longer for sale, but I cannot recommend the Honduras enough. If only those silly Actonites would stop dragging their heels and come out with the 2005 new crops already *cough* As for the Yirg, Peter seemed to think this batch was too mild, but I really enjoyed it. It was just really, uh, Yirg-y...clean lemon taste, delicate cane-sugar sweetness, etc. etc.

8/26: Last day of my internship!! Celebrated by meeting Steve at Intelly after work. I told him I would get there at 5, but arrived half an hour late because I got off at the wrong El station, starting walking in entirely the wrong direction, and then had to backtrack :o(. Sorry, Steve! Anyway, we talked there til around 6 about his plans to go to Seattle & Portland next month and other geeky things, and then I had to order my beans (1/2 lb Los Delirios) and run to catch the train. Ah yes, and he also kindly gave me a latte bowl to practice my art on. Pics of the bowl and my rudimentary art to come...

8/26 upon arriving home: I received a shipment of homeroast from Jon R! I've been playing with it this weekend, and . Since I'm more of a light/medium-bodied caramel-fruit-bomb (copyright Chris Tacy 2005) type, this heavy-bodied bittersweet nutty espresso (which I believe contains Yemen, Brazil, Malabar, Uganda) is taking quite a bit of getting used to as a straight shot. I do enjoy it a lot in short milk drinks, though, because its chocolatiness and sweetness cut through milk so well. When I made cappas for my parents, they both independently asked if I'd made them mochas.

Oh, and this new batch of Los Delirios? Not so good :o/...I think it was overroasted or something. The SOS's I've pulled of it can't compare with the ones I was getting last week, and it exhibited a distracting bitterness every time I french-pressed it.

*****

Oh, and I've finally decided on which classes to shop next semester:
-Math 122: Abstract Algebra - Group Theory and Vector Spaces
-Math 124: Number Theory
-Math 131: Topology
-Econ 1011a: Macroeconomic Thry (mv calc-based)
-Comparative Lit 151: the faust legend in literature
-Comparative Lit 164: the 20th century postrealist novel in east europe
-Philosophy 172: Modern Moral Philosophy
-Science B: you know

Right now, I'm thinking I'll probably end up with 122, 124, 1011a, 164, and maybe 91r.

clint eastwood: overrated

2005-08-28T00:41:00.000-04:00

Sorry guys, but it's time for yet another unsolicited movie rant:

Here are 3 things you could do with 132 minutes:
-Listen to the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto (1st mvt) 7.something times
-Make 33 cappuccinos
-Count 7920 sheep
-etc.
Whatever you do, do NOT waste those precious seconds watching the movie Million Dollar Baby. Were there really so few good movies last year that they had to give 'Best Picture' to this vehemently misguided POS? As you probably know, the second half of this movie revolves around the issue of assisted suicide. And, really, the first half (the boxing half) is just a very elaborate build-up of motive for what's to come, of a reason (for murder) that's ultimately summed up withMorgan Freedman's character saying something like, "...at least if she dies tonight, she'll die knowing that 'she did alright'."
Alright at what? "...the world championship," he adds.
Of what? Women's. Boxing.
Sorry, I don't mean to come across as having something against Women's Boxing. Actually, she could have 'done alright' at the _________ of ________, and the message of the movie would still have been this: a person's life is only meaningful and worthwhile when lived in pursuit of his/her one, individual, self(ishly)-proclaimed life's purpose. On top of this, some of the symbolism in the movie even seems to insinuate that Eastwood's character has birthed Swank into some kind of second life, and that he is therefore entitled--nay, obligated--to bring her out of it when he sees fit...which is so crazy that I think it speaks for itself.

After watching this movie, I couldn't help contrasting it with Amenabar's similarly-themed 'The Sea Inside.' (For some weird reason, I've seen like 4 euthenasia-themed movies this summer.) With only a simple plot, it was able to address more about suicide and the Sisyphean nature of life than Million Dollar Baby was able to do with a sprawling two-part storyline, dozens of readymade sports cliches, better lead actors, AND Morgan Freedman's sexy voice. So, so disappointed.

Ah, 8/16...

2005-08-17T00:17:00.000-04:00

...a refreshing change from the 12-hr-workday uncaffeinated hell that was yesterday. I got a few more projects to work on for the rest of my time at AI, all of which seem pretty interesting and nontrivial.

U of I's schoolyear is starting up again soon, so I'm doing a lot of seeing-people-off this week. This evening, I went out with Justin (who's inexplicably gone all 'sergeant pepper' on me over the summer...) We had dinner at Joy Yee's (MSG-ed!!*), after which we saw Must Love Dogs (saccharin/e in every sense of the word: artificial & sickeningly-sweet)
Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun. 'Twas good seeing that he's still as weird as ever.

p.s.: read this <--most satisfying "oh snap!" moment in pitchfork history

*******

Oh, and I have some informal tasting notes on the espressi I've been trying lately (all from Intelly):

Kid O: creamy, slightly lighter body than Black Cat, very smooth (in fact, so smooth that I thought I was missing something...) I also found it kind of nutty, but not as overwhelmingly chocolaty as some have reported.

Organic Nicaragua Los Delirios: So good!! Viscous and caramelly, peachy (or, more precisely, a slightly musty fruit flavor), some chocolate? And the shots had an appearance to match: tight, plentiful crema with a monochrome reddish-gold sheen.

I also tried Guatemala El Cuervo as a single origin: twice as espresso and once as an americano. I know Matt Riddle recommended it as a source for SOS's on HB, but it's way too acidic for my tastes. The americano was pleasant and had a nice candyish aftertaste, but was rather uninteresting. Then again, I haven't had an americano in about 3 months; maybe I just don't like them anymore...

*brownie points to the first person who tells me where that's from

drunk post redux

2005-08-13T01:00:00.000-04:00

'Be always drunken. Nothing else matters: that is the only question. If you would not feel the horrible burden of Time weighing on your shoulders and crushing you to the earth, be drunken continually.
Drunken with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will. But be drunken.
And if sometimes, on the stairs of a palace, or on the green side of a ditch, or in the dreary solitude of your own room, you should awaken and the drunkenness be half or wholly slipped away from you, ask of the wind, or of the star, or of the bird, or of the clock, of whatever flies, or sighs, or rocks, or sings, or speaks, ask what hour it is; and the wind, wave, star, bird, clock, will answer you: 'It is the hour to be drunken! Be drunken, if you would not be martyred slaves of Time; be drunken continually! With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will.'

-Baudelaire

Today would have been exhausting/boring/utterly disappointing if I weren't so blissfully drunk on Los Delirios espressi and the last act of 'Long Day's Journey into Night'...

all the (geeky) girls go to the city (do d-do d-do)

2005-07-29T23:01:00.000-04:00

My coffee stash has been running critically low and, having just realized (stupid, stupid) that Monadnock is only a 36 min El ride from my workplace, I made a trip to Intelly after work to buy some beans. Ended up getting 1/3 lbs of both Kid O and El Cuervo. I also got some Los Inmortales drip, which was pretty good, but real astringent...maybe because they gave me the dregs... Awell, I can't complain---they also didn't charge me ;o).

Can't say anything about this batch of Kid O yet, but the El Cuervo is very, very good. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I *believe* it's the newly-arrived 2005 crop. In any case, it's definitely a very clean cup. Real light-bodied. Very sweet, mild acidity ("swash-buckling acidity"? err...), toasty/chocolate aroma. As Michelle says: Pre-tty!

Oh, and finally: a shoutout to my coffee buddy, Ben, through whom I've been vicariously geeking out lately. He just finished some heavy-duty modding on his Isomac Rituale:

Anyway, it's inspired me to do a similar mod of my own (hopefully before the summer is over). Since my Expobar's group isn't a true E61 w/ preinfusion, though, (I think?) I'm going to stick my probe up above the showerhead rather than in the preinfusion chamber. Seeing as I suck at anything applied/practical/useful, though, I'm really just hoping not to get electrocuted...

Oh, and the picture above is of the best band in the world.
(Spoon)
Kenya:Coffee::Britt Daniel:Music

chicago

2005-07-23T08:47:00.000-04:00

Before my report on Chicago, an irrelevant story:

In the car yesterday, my dad was listening to this CD of really bad Chinese 80s rock (?). I was sleepy and wasn't paying too much mind to it at first, but after a while, I noticed something strange: the song playing was undeniably Rudie Can't Fail (or at least a really schmoozy version of it, with different lyrics and sung in Chinese)! And the next one? Jimmy Jazz. So after we got home, I took out London Calling, went back and forth between the two, and found that just about every song on the Chinese album was some warped cover of a Clash song. OK, so maybe I have too much time...still rather pleased with myself, though. :o)

After that, I practiced violin and did some Bulgarian math problems for about 2 hrs, then started dialing in the Kid O espresso I got yesterday.

I have a feeling that I'm going to be another Kid O convert. First off, the beans: they smell amazing, seem to be of good quality, and are much closer to my preferred roast level (unlike BC, they show no hint of oil). And last night, after a couple garbage shots, I got 2 quite good ones which both confirmed that Kid O is much sweeter and chocolatier than BC. It also has a slightly thinner body and is roasted lightly enough that it retains a slight fruity note (all good things.) I'll post more detailed notes about taste and how I'm pulling the shots after the weekend.

Now sufficiently caffeinated, I headed to Barnes and Nobles downtown to browse for an hour or two. Ended up spending the entire stay reading Bukowski's Slouching Towards Nirvana, which was so worth it. To be honest, I'm not sure how good a poet he really is; the 'poems' are more like rhythmically-conscious prose. But it doesn't even matter, because they ring so true and unexpectedly wise, and are so deliciously infused with cynical/boozy/dirty-old-man ness (surprisingly, also all good things.) <--someone told me that the convention is to put the period outside the parentheses now. true/false?

****

Chicago

I ended up going to the Art Institute with a friend from work. We left around 3:30, got on the Blue Line around 3:40 ... somehow *missed* downtown chicago because we were talking and ended up taking the train to the end of the line, took another one back, and finally arrived in the loop around 5:20. Luckily, the station was right across the street from Monadnock, so we stopped there for some quick drinks.

When Peter and I went to Intelly a few weeks ago (this is not entirely non sequitor) and when we were cupping at Jim Schulman's house, he always did this thing where he stuck his entire nose into the cup before sniffing it. So, when I got my double at Monadnock, I decided to try the same thing. Well, first I sniffed it gingerly. Then, I stuck my nose really close to the espresso, sniffed...a little too enthusiastically, and ended up snorting my demitasse of black cat. It stung really bad. I ran over to the napkins as discreetly as possible, but one of the guys behind the counter had already come over to ask if I'd broken my nose (huh??). He kindly offered to make me another espresso, which was much better than the first ;o). After I finished it, I also ordered a half-lb of Kid O and a capp to go. Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that during all this hoopla, Carrie was enjoying her first real latte (w/ very pretty latte art) ever. A new coffeegeek is born? We'll see...

(have to run right now; i'll finish up the chicago post later)

sarasate etc.

2005-07-20T01:32:00.000-04:00

It's back-- my violin hickey is back with a vengeance now that I've finally gotten off my ass and started practicing for HRO auditions. BUT :o( the frowney face is because I let half the summer pass before realizing that my audition piece this year (Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen) is by the same composer as my piece last year (Carmen Fantasy). Sure hope Dr. Y doesn't keep records...

Btw, for those of you in the Cambridge area, here's our tentative program for next year:

1st concert: Lincoln Portrait, Rite of Spring,
2nd: Fidelio, Verleih uns Frieden, Te Deum, Beethoven 9th
3rd: Pines of Rome, Dvorak 7th, Something Mozart
4th aka 'death by sappiness': Tristan & Isolde, Brahms Violin, Swan Lake

(...the Dvorak Cello was cut, sadly)

****

I've been enjoying Terroir's Huehue and new crop Kenya lately.

The Huehue is quite fruity, kind of caramelly/nutty, and moderately acidic. The Kenya (Tegu) isn't offered yet on the site, but *definitely* keep an eye out for it. It's arguably the best Kenya I've ever had...plush, sharply acidic, sweet...
I bring the coffee to work with me every day, so its smell has already saturated my bookbag and now I think it's eyeing my entire office. Oh well...I can't complain ;o)

****

Also, I'm going to Chicago after work on Thursday to see the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the Art Institute and (of course) to visit Intelly. I've been itching to try Kid O and Oromo, so I want to pick up half-lbs of those.
I'll prob leave work around 4, arrive at the museum at 5ish, stay for an hour or so, and arrive at (the Broadway) Intelly around 7. If any Chicago geeks would like to join me, let me know :o)!

out from hiding

2005-07-16T15:11:00.000-04:00

Perhaps you're wondering why I've been pretty quiet in the online coffee world lately (perhaps you aren't). Lots of reasons, I guess. There are the usual excuses of work being busy (I'm averaging 11+ hrs of work+transit every day) and my non-coffee activities like math and friends and such being time-consuming (been slacking on the violin, though). There's the fact that I've been growing increasingly weary of all the petty infighting and ego-tripping on CG and, by association, most of the coffee internet. And then there's the awkwardness of writing about certain things, now that __. I'm pretty sure no one else actually gives a shit whether or not I have a conflict of interests, but it nevertheless gives me pause (or worse) whenever I feel like blogging.

***

I'm noticing recently (and perhaps this also extends to other forms of geekdom) that coffee people (consciously or unconsciously) seem to have constructed their own independent morality. It sounds (like I'm) crazy when put in such explicit terms, but haven't you ever noticed how, in our insular little world, "for the good of the coffee" has become almost an end in itself, and taste has become completely acceptible justification? How there are coffee-specific virtues now, like throwing out any shot/cup/batch that's less than perfect? I dunno...maybe it can all be written off as good old protestant work ethic, but sometimes I think it seems more akin to astheticism...
Ugh, I'm still straightening this out in my own head, so you'll have to settle for these muddled thoughts for the time being. Perhaps more to come...

camera: fixed / various photos

2005-06-25T14:48:00.000-04:00

:o)

I learned how to make zhong zi today:

(inside are glutinous rice, salted pork, and duck eggs)

And here's a semirandom sampling of pictures from the past week:

my little corner at work,

a deceptively yummy-looking black cat shot,

and um...a call for help :o)?

rime

2005-06-23T01:53:00.000-04:00

coffee, coffee everywhere/and not a drop to drink
- not Coleridge

Well, no albatrosses were harmed in my recent coffee-ing, but I did seem to be cursed with a spell of bad espresso this week. Probably jinxed myself saying that the shots I was pulling at home were like the ones I had at Intelly...
Anyway, every night, I've been experimenting with my new bag of black cat (roasted the 17th, I think) at different pressures/temperatures/dosages and, every night, I've gotten consistently undrinkable shots: woodsy, bitter, petrol-y, ugh. Last night, I finally found the right pressure; perhaps today, I'll actually be able to drink a straight shot. (little steps)

Work is...still work. It's gotten a bit more interesting this week because I've learned to actively seek out good projects (rather than wait for collating jobs and flowchart-making assignments to come to me.) Attended a client meeting on Wednesday and got to meet the biggest asshole at Discover Financial...(woohoo :o)

In other news, I'm going to be having dinner at another_jim's house next weekend when Peter comes to Chicago. It should be, I think, the highest coffeegeekness/foot^2 I'll have experienced since last April. *squeal*

bored@work

2005-06-16T16:50:00.000-04:00

Sorry for being away for a while. Work obligations, beginning to prepare for Putnam, and other random drama have been conspiring against my coffeegeeking as of late.

But life is returning to normal again. Today, we had some clients from Discover, Direct TV, etc. come over for a massive modelling presentation that went from 9 am to around 3:30. Now, in celebration of having completed it, everyone (else) in the office is in the meeting room getting a head start on happy hour. I mean, "having a wine tasting"...
Anyway, that leaves me here in an empty office with nothing to do. Well, nothing if you exclude listening to prokofiev and drinking the last of my terroir yirg while updating me beloved blog. (note in the interest of full disclosure/industry transparency/and all that: the author has a highly unprofessional crush on terroir's roaster. This message will self-destruct at midnight.)

My trip to Intelly on Tuesday was one of the highlights of my week. Best experience at a cafe thus far. Watching the baristas' technique, I realized 2 things: 1) My milk steaming skills are terrible. Forget latte art! I need to learn how to make microfoam... 2) OTOH, my shots taste pretty close to what's being served at the cafe :o), although their shots seem to have more clarity (the citrus, chocolate, caramel are much more clearly distinguishable) than mine do. Also, since Intelly uses triple baskets (the barista measured 22.4 g) to pull doubles, there was understandably some difference in body as well.

Anyway, gonna wrap this up kind of abruptly. I have some emails to send out before the workday is officially over.

use mozilla

2005-06-12T23:02:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note:
While viewing slk on my old computer today, I noticed that Internet Explorer (haha I just unintentionally typed "Expobar") doesn't view the blog properly. For some reason, my profile appears at the very bottom of the page.
Now, I'm not saying you're one of those silly people still using IE, but should you have a friend still stuck in the web browser dark ages, tell them to download Mozilla Firefox immediately!

^^click^^

It's far more secure, has a cool tabbing feature (you'll see), no popups, and views my blog correctly. Oh, and it's also color-coordinated with my template. Mysterious, no?

That's all. Good night.

****
BTW, for every time you don't comment, Howard Schultz kills a Kenyan coffee tree. Or something. Say hi :o)

boo hiss

2005-06-12T18:04:00.000-04:00

06/12/2005 sucks pretty hard.

So I was out running this morning, and just as I reached the midpoint of the path I usually take, I got this really sharp cramp. Tried ignoring it for a while, but it kept getting worse, so I decided to run straight home. No, make that walk. Reeally slowly. Boring story short: once I finally got home, it totally felt like I was dying. I was about ready to go to the ER when it finally started getting better.

Still not too sure what it was...maybe my appendix burst and I haven't taken it out yet? heh. heh.

Sorry that had nothing to do with smelling or kenya. And, speaking vaguely of my favorite potable, I haven't had a drop of coffee (or anything else) today. :o(

::edit::

good news: I scored a black cat demitasse & saucer for having the scariest story in the HB sinks shots contest, which I'm going to pick up when I stop by Intelly Tuesday evening. :o)

tgif

2005-06-10T19:07:00.000-04:00

...Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations, performed by cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, along with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Herbert von Karajan.

Lots to do at work today, but I like being kept busy. What is it that idleness breeds again? Probably something to do with blogging and coffeegeek browsing... For lunch, I went out with some coworkers to Oberweis for a nice square meal of dulce de leche ice cream. Well, nice at the time, since I'll probably wake up with a pound of excess fat tomorrow.

I also got some slightly lighter-roasted Rwanda today, which I decided to (finger quotes) cup along with the one from last thursday. So, as soon as I get home, I print out the cupping-for-dummies guide from CG, get my cups ready, figure out what level corresponds to exactly 6.5 oz, measure out 12 g of beans from each sampl...wait, I smell something. Something nasty. Something a lot like really strong 3 molar acetic acid. Cue mom, stage left: walks in with a huge red bucket and mop to let me know that she thought today would be a good day to wipe down the hardwood floor with vinegar. Cue shoulders: droop. Anyhoo, it was a pretty nice evening, so I took my stuff outside and resumed cupping. The new beans have more acidity, of course, and this other taste that I couldn't really put my finger. I think "assam tea" is close. More later.

Now this next part I hesitate to post because it's kind of...what's the word...meta-something (not to mention gauche) to talk about someone who reads your blog. But I have bad judgment and, hey, this thing -is- ostensibly about coffee, so I'll do it anyway. So, someone who works for Intelligentsia (one of the best specialty roaster/cafes in the country) saw some stuff I wrote online and took pity on me...emails/calls were exchanged...and now I'm going to meet him this coming Tuesday to "talk shop"! *sigh* Yes, I know I'm lame. But man am I psyched :o)

******
::edit::
Btw, if you are a Home-Barista member, be sure to vote for my story! And if you have taste buds, be sure to avoid Cafe Pamplona. And read this; it's funny.

playing ketchup

2005-06-09T00:06:00.000-04:00

So here, debatably, is the biggest change since my last update: After a thoroughly unsuccessful and demoralizing search for a barista job, I've given in and begun working for the Man. Yup, I'm a market analysis intern. But it's not quite as bad as you think. My (generally friendly) coworkers all appear to have souls intact, plus I'm being assigned some interesting, non-trivial (and highly confidential ;o) projects. On the other hand, some small part of me wishes I were just a typical useless intern. (You want coffee? I'll make you coffee!!) ::grin::

Yesterday saw the beginning of my summer musical education um, program...thing. SMEPT. I checked out a bunch of CDs to play during the ride to and from work (and to afterwards burn ;o). As a side effect, while listening to Rach 3 this morning, I came up with an idea for a radio show next year: "The Cadenza." We could showcase well-accepted cadenzas like Joachim's cadenza for the Brahms violin, improvised cadenzas, cadenzas written by the composer vs those written by someone else... I could say ca-den-za a lot (so much fun). Oh, just thinking about it almost makes me want to go back to Cambridge.

I ordered a bunch of coffee from Terroir last Thursday, and it all arrived yesterday. As you might remember from an earlier posting, I have been -dying- for some good old regular coffee. And Terroir's (new crop) Yirg and Rwanda have more than fit the bill:

Rwanda Karaba
Nuts and ripe apples. Maybe also some grape as the coffee cools. A nuanced, balanced, pretty coffee.

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe
I definitely prefer drinking this coffee after it's cooled for a bit. Obviously, this amplifies the lemon-peel, but it also seems to highlight the cane-sugar sweetness. I'm usually pretty suspicious of bag copy, but this truly is an elegant coffee.

My only concern is that these two coffees both seem to exhibit a common nutty (almond?) taste. It's certainly pleasant enough, but should Yirg ("the world's most floral coffee...[similar to] Darjeeling tea") really be nutty?

******

Sorry for not having real pictures :o( Still can't seem to find the charger for my camera battery, and may well have to order a new one.

::snicker::

2005-06-04T12:41:00.000-04:00

grinder mods

2005-06-01T17:22:00.000-04:00

Dosers and OCD do NOT mix. Today, I finally got tired of cleaning out the dosing chamber with a tiny little brush every time I wanted to pull a shot, and just took the whole thing out. I'm planning to screw the clear plastic? viewing ring of the chamber directly onto the grinder body, attach a funnel to the bottom, and cap it with a fortuitously sized tupperware cover. (real pictures to come once I unpack my battery charger)

In other news, I also figured out how to adjust the pressurestat on my expobar today. Too bad I won't be able to play around with it til my grinder is rebuilt.

::edit::
3 loosely related notes:
1)The grinder is finished, at least for the time being. I changed my mind about the funnel/plastic cylinder idea and decided instead on a tupperware container w/ a hole bored through the bottom (my wonderful dad did this for me :o). It's not a very smart design--I still have to manually sweep a lot of the grounds out through the hole--but at least it doesn't trap stale coffee.

2)I've started flushing more deliberately using a chart that I found on CG. I must have been brewing rather hot (202ish) earlier, because black cat's been exhibiting fruity (esp peachy) notes today that definitely weren't there before.

3)Somewhere in Logan Airport is a jar of Kenya Muthiani that I had to leave behind because I was over quota. Too bad, because I really miss regular coffee. I'm ordering some Rwanda today, but it's unlikely to get here til after the weekend. *sigh*

60563

2005-06-01T01:29:00.000-04:00

The past few days have been pretty eventful, but eventful in ways that weren't terribly conducive to blogging...

Sunday, the day I came home, Oscar went missing. We spent most of the afternoon and some of the evening unsuccessfully looking for him all over the neighborhood. I can't tell you how relieved I was when we found him waiting on the front step the next morning. Here's a picture of the little fellow :o)

Monday night, the Jennys came over for a sleepover. We did geeky things like playing text-twist (apparently as popular at MIT as it is in Canaday B24), watched Alfie (doable lead, unwatchable movie) & In Good Company (cute lead, great movie), talked about nothing in particular... This morning, I made a mocha so sweet that I could barely detect the coffee base anymore. Jenny said she still preferred Frappuccinos. ::sniff::

I've spent most of today reading and getting acquainted with my new setup. Got about 2/3 of the way through Dubliners and read a bit of Rimbaud. I'm not sure if I'll read any more of the latter...I don't remember/know enough French to understand the original text, and it feels kind of like cheating (or at best pointless) to read translations. Right now, I'm just finishing up random books that I started at school but, one of these days, I'll have to draw up a list of stuff I want to read this summer. And a list of classical pieces I need to be familiar with by next year. And maybe some other stuff, too. I love lists.

The new espresso setup has proved to be a bigger challenge than I originally expected. It's really difficult figuring out what to adjust with two new and unfamiliar variables; in hindsight, I probably should have dialed in the mazzer with the gaggia, and then switched the expobar for the gaggia. Anyway, it's a moot point, because I've been pounding out decent-to-good shots since Monday evening.

I'm currently using black cat, the only fresh blend available at our local Whole Foods. As you might know (if you are one of two particular people on the face of this earth), I've never once pulled a really good straight shot of Black Cat before, at least on my Gaggia. Yet somehow, I really like the way this blend is coming through on my Expobar... (weird, cuz I can't imagine that this is one of those finicky blends chris tacy was talking about on his most recent post)

Brief notes on Intelligentsia's roast-dating system:
It's idiotic. Their bags display roast date in terms of the nth day of the year. For instance, February 2nd 2003 = 03 033. I can understand why Starbucks or Folgers might want to obscure their roast date, but Intelligentsia?!

Brief tasting notes: Intelligentsia Black Cat (on an Expobar Pulsar), 17 g double
Roasted 05 147
I don't enjoy (nor have I ever enjoyed) the first sip of a Black Cat shot. It's too intensely and one-dimensionally spicy. What follows, though, is "abundant recompense." (no, that's a lie. I just wanted to say "abundant recompense." Again. Can you guess what it's from?) The crema is golden-brown, dense, composing maybe 50% of the shot. After that, lots of semisweet chocolate, punctuated with vanilla and anise. The aftertaste, which lasts for a good 30 minutes after the last sip, is sweeter than the shot itself and reminiscent of kettle corn & butterscotch.

my hot new nuova point cups (identical, i think, to the original la marz's)

Moving

2005-05-28T15:03:00.000-04:00

Hauled all my shit to Pfoho today: three 20x20x20 boxes put in storage. By the time I started moving, dollies were nowhere to be found: I had to intercept one outside the science center before it was returned, lug the boxes to Johnston gate, take a taxi to the quad, give the taxi driver $10 to wait for me while I found a building that still had some empty storage space, drive there, carry all the boxes downstairs. I'm kinda pooped. The lesson? Next year, I will not be the last one to leave.
::sniff:: also said goodbye to Ben's rocky today. If you read this, Ben, thanks so much!! I think I would have given up espresso if I'd kept using that dinky little capresso infinity til now.

There's literally nothing left to keep me in my dorm room tonight, so I'll probably go out to Diesel or something. Hopefully, I won't run into any unsavory characters (ex)

****

reasons why tomorrow > today:
home > canaday b
oscar > jen
my own shower > the one cicely & her boytoy christened
sj > rocky
expobar > gaggia
...chicago ? boston

coming soon: the \suki & \espro superblog, life in chiyork

stale v aged

2005-05-26T14:08:00.000-04:00

Last night, I dug up some ancient espresso and tried to see if I could pull good shots with it.

As it turns out, I didn't have to try very hard. The results were spectacular; the 2 Ambrosia ristrettos I pulled (only had enough beans for that much) were among the best I've ever gotten out of that blend and the same went for the Ecco (echo)

Brief tasting notes on Ecco & Ambrosia:

::Caffe Fresco Ambrosia, roasted 5/4 (14 g double ristretto)::

>75% of the shot consisted of dense, reddish crema even after I took all these pictures. Sweet like candied fruit, medium-heavy body, nice sweet/buttery aftertaste

ambrosia pull

ambrosia shot

::Ecco N. Italian, roasted 4/18! (18 g double espresso)::

loads of crema (very light stuff, in both body and color), slightly salty, smooth with a spicy accent that I never detected in this blend before. There's a word for the aftertaste in Chinese, xiang, but I can't seem to find a suitable English translation for it (don't worry, whitey...it's a good thing :o)

ecco pull

ecco shot

ecco after :o)

p.s.: how hot is the demitasse??
p.p.s.: If it's not evident from the post, both these blends are very very good. The Ecco, in particular, is the most distinctive blend I've ever tasted. It's made w/ superpremium brazils, monsooned malabar, and...i'm not sure what else...fairy dust? Try it if you have a chance (they don't offer online ordering, but you can email Andrew Barnett: eccocaffe@earthlink.net)

YES

2005-05-25T15:58:00.000-04:00

Freshman year is officially over.

After studying all night in Helen's vacated room (which starts to look uncannily mental-institutionish after 4 hrs) I took my last final this morning. For math 25, it seemed surprisingly easy, but I'll say no more...don't want to jinx myself.

After a looong cathartic shower, I went to the station to do Pete's 1-3 shift of the Kempff plays Beethoven orgy (he's moving today, I think.) All in all, twas a good shift; I happened to get the shift with the quasi fantasia and moonlight sonatas, and also had a few happy listeners call in. This is the first time I've ever heard Kempff, and it is gorgeous stuff: he's got this sort of ingenuous style, very clean and unembellished, which is supposed to recall Beethoven's own improvisational style.

****

On the coffee front, I got some funny little ACF cups yesterday (pictures to come.) They're shaped a little like the horn of a grammophone...think ACF tulips blown cartoonishly out of proportion.
The most incredible thing about these cups, though, is how much they improve the tasting experience. These past few months, I've been drinking exclusively out of cheap little bodums and measuring shotglasses, just to get feedback on crema production and stuff, but...WOW...forget that. I realize part of the difference is heat stability (the ACFs are quite thick), but methinks the flared-out top perhaps also facilitates tasting by making the espresso fall in a thinner stream.

Inventory: have about 4 oz. of Code Brown left, and after that I'll have to pull out some very old Ecco...spare miracle, anyone?

this post . my next exam = 0

2005-05-15T23:33:00.000-04:00

(
Scroll down! I've edited some of the previous posts to include related pictures.

And here's what turned out to be a very yummy (caffe fresco ambrosia) ristretto:

and (finally) a pic of my setup: :o)

)*i

(
\suki,
congrats on your first producing session!
\espro
)*j

and now, back to the impending doom of finals...

5/13

2005-05-13T02:54:00.000-04:00

Location: Computer Lab in the Science Center Basement
Writing: my (would-be) 12-page FC84 paper on the history of coffee-serving in Tokyo
Being distracted by: the very tired guy in front of me who's trying to stay up by overdosing on Frappuccinos
Drinking: Tea (i know i know...but coffee doesn't keep)

something tells me this scene is ripe with irony; unfortunately, I haven't the time to figure out why...

drunk post

2005-05-11T00:11:00.000-04:00

Hi, Karen is counting backwards from 180 to 0 as I'm typing, so I have to do this quickly. So, tonight, we went to te WHRB initation party, where we had 1 shot per station (11 stations total). Karen and I both had like 8 shots total, (actually, only I had 8 shots...Karen is much better off than me). We've managed to stumble back to Canaday after being humiliated with various initaiton stunts, but we're gonn anow back to seduce karen's now.
bye
asldjf;lasjf

::edit:: took "obligatory" off the title. because I didn't have to post this at all...
:o)

5/8 update & the most oblique espresso review ever

2005-05-08T03:43:00.000-04:00

I had a 3-hr shift at whrb today, where I kicked off the Cesar Cui portion of our Mighty 5 Orgy. Here's a miniature graph of announcing quality vs. time:

Lots of screwups at the beginning (a contender for the lowest-brow one is when I mispronounced the name of a famous conductor who just passed away last month...), got more or less comfortable, then everything went downhill after darius showed up to prep for his chicago hip hop orgy and started distracting me. hmm...come to think of it, his orgy is still playing right now---hurry up and go to whrb.org! you only have 1.5 hrs left)

Friday afternoon, Karen and I took over the canaday kitchen for a while to...mmm, whatever it's called when you make beaded jewelry and roast coffee beans simultaneously. "bean-ding"?

::my franken-roaster!::

::the finished products::

Anyway, it was the inaugural roast on my franken-popcorn-popper, and while the beans won't have degassed enough to cup (Harar & Guat) til tomorrow, they smell & look pretty good. I also weighed the beans before and after roast this time, and discovered that, what with water loss and stupid loss (spillage, pouring-and-missing, etc.) and all, I'm getting 75 to 80% yield (in mass), >>expectations. Oh, and in other coffee news:
1) This week, I tried the much-talked-about Code Brown on Ben's machine. It's a really forgiving blend that, rather than going sour or bitter in response to temp/tamp variations, just changes flavor profiles. During our tasting, we got (in this order): a really well-balanced & smooth shot, a rich chocolaty one, a sweet/fruity one, and some mixture of 2&3.
2) Bought 2 new espressos from Caffe Fresco. I still need to do some serious dialing-in for the Luna Nuova decaf (first double came gushing out in like 10 seconds) and minor tweaking on the Ambrosia. While all the Ambrosia shots I've had so far have been majorly flawed (read: no tasting notes yet), they hint at good things to come...

Hmm...can't quite decide what to do next--not for any lack of things that urgently need to be done; just a lack of motivation to do them.

***

a gem from mcsweeneys: 4 ways in which my life is just like pac-man's

1. Ever-present wail of sirens
2. Relentlessly pursued by ghosts
3. Four special pills daily keep ghosts at bay
4. Occasionally eat some fruit

4/28

2005-04-28T19:13:00.000-04:00

a bit of good news:
...so lately, I've been cranking out applications for part-time barista jobs at the rate of like 0.4285714 a night, and until today, all I've had to show for it was 1 patronizingly saccharine rejection letter from Metropolis.
But guess what? I just my first response :o). Last night, I found out that Java n' Juice/Arbor Vitae, a small shop in my hometown, is actually a fairly established cafe and roastery. ...wrote them the usual spiel...waited...and around 7 tonight, the boss called my cell and asked me to come in to see them as soon as I finished w/ school. wheeeeeee...

***

00:30 til my studio competency test for WHRB. Considering the encyclopedia of what-not-to-dos that is my previous announcing history, there really is no chance of my passing this time around. Which means no pressure no pressure no pressure no... *Irena passes out...*

::edit::
matt, around 9:40: "that was very, very sketchy, but...(looks around)...i'm gonna pass you"

4/27

2005-04-27T01:45:00.000-04:00

I've changed my mind about annexing Karen's blog. We discussed the issue over 'steak' and 'sauteed' 'button' 'mushrooms' at dinner yesterday and, in the spirit of Plessy v Ferguson, have decided to maintain 'separate but equal' blogs (which really means mine is better...ha!).

Jenny and I mailed back all the sheet music from the last concert today. Who knew sheet music was so expensive? The Hindemith, Strauss, and Bernstein were all valued around $1600 each! Oh, and speaking of HRO, I've been thoroughly entertained with orchestra gossip in the last few days. All I have to say is: so many manwhores! ...so little time (to talk about them, that is)

****

Tasting notes on the Ecco Caffe Northern Italian Espresso:
Before this espresso arrived, I did some research on what other people had to say about it and was more than a little alarmed at how frequently 'salty' appeared in their descriptions. After making a few shots, I have to agree...the Ecco does have a distinct saltiness. It's a good saltiness, though, which combined with the creamy body and bakey, dry chocolatiness of the espresso make it taste a bit like ... hmm ...let's say "fresh baguette." I'm also getting some almond notes, especially in the aftertaste, which is just amazing and lingers on forever. The beans are roasted relatively lightly (but darker than Terroir's N. Italian), so Andrew Barnett recommends a 203.5 F brewing temp. He also told me to use 18 g for a double (compare that to the recommended 13 g for Terroir's!), which in my limited experience w/the blend has worked pretty well. Also of note: even at 8-days-old, the Ecco produces a hell of a lot of dense crema (...b/c of the monsooned malabar?), which plays very well with its 'baked bread' character.
In milk...well, all my shots have looked too good to be diluted with milk. Cleo had an Ecco macchiato, so you can ask her how it was.

****

"I laugh jealousy in the face!"
-Karen "Keats" Feng

4/26

2005-04-26T14:34:00.000-04:00

Just returned from turning in my p-set (take that, Yan #1 :o). I stopped by the mail center on the way back, so I come bearing coffee goodies:

first: barista magazine has arrived! The content seems pretty basic this time around; it covers freshness issues, barista tools, barista competitions, etc, which of course is perfectly appropriate for a first issue. The June/July one is supposed to go into detail on stuff like water hardness & signature drinks ^_^ exciting stuff! On the down side, it does have a few too many ads, but at $15/yr, I'm not gonna complain.

second: The long-overdue-and-probably-stale Ecco N. Italian espresso also arrived today. The roast-dated brown paper bag reads "APR 18"...well, maybe the "superpremium brazils" have staved off the evil minions of staleness. You know. The dark reaches of...air exposure. In any case, I'll find out very soon.

Plans for today:

Practicing the Ellington
Do the 138 pset
Read the Keats
Dial in the Ecco
Complete my plan of study (hah!)

4/26 early morning

2005-04-26T05:44:00.000-04:00

I have been wide awake since 10 o'clock yesterday morning. For this I thank my coffee and blame my 25b p-set. It's almost done though...just Yan's #1 and 3 to go.

I had several espressos today, all SO shots of Stumptown Harar. Only about 1/3 turned out to be any good...the others were too finely ground, I think, and/or brewed at too high a temperature. My palate is still pathetically untrained. The only flavors I have a firm grasp of at the moment are sweet, bitter, sour, chocolaty, creamy, spicy...wouldn't be able to identify "woodsy" "nippy" "asparagus" etc if they hit me in the face.

Other notable news: Raj came over today for a capp and to catch up with me (I don't think we've talked since the beginning of the semester.) The capp was terrible...milk was too hot and microfoam nonexistant, but getting to see him was nice. Apparently, Raj is now half of a very cute couple (Leung 12:03.) The other big news of the day is that my wonderful roomie Karen (i luh-you Karen!) got fed up with me using her computer all the time and took my broken laptop to the science center. It took them all of 10 min to fix it. *sigh* and to think of all the nights I could have been browsing CG in my room instead of in the computer lab...

currently stuck in head: "good vibrations" with unnaturally loud theremin

***
obligatory introductory note:
While this blog is technically a documentation of my coffee/espresso education, it's inevitably bound to become a general journal about my life. For one, coffee as a ritual accountss for much of the structure of my life anyway. For another thing...well, I'm just too lazy to maintain multiple blogs simultaneously.