120 pounds of coffee · Friday May 12, 2006 by colin newell
Spent 4 hours at EveryDay Gourmet Coffee Roasters at the historic St. Lawrence Market – Front street Toronto.
I roasted 120 pounds of coffee in 3 1/2 hours.
Did mostly single-origins; Ethiopian Harrar, Sidamo, Sumatra, Ethiopian Decaf, Celebes, etc
Did the house espresso and the bar espresso blends.
This is somewhat different that roasting coffee in those little 4 ounce electric jobbies. This is the real thing.
15 to 20 pound batches.
Timing is everything.
Did a lot of Q&A as well. People seem to be drawn to coffee roasters. When there is a batch of coffee cooling in the tray, it seems to have a hypnotic effect.
There are always lots of questions, good ones. I did my best to answer them all correctly.
Cannot wait to do this again.
As Sara says: “The Roasters life is the best life!”
No kidding!
Introducing better coffee in Victoria... and beyond · Saturday March 4, 2006 by colin newell
Adam Tindale and I visited Discovery Coffee today. For the coffee, yes – but also, for the Clover coffee maker. And some.
A little lead-in:
Discovery Coffee is on Discovery Street (on the North-west side of the corners) 2 or 3 doors down from Douglas street in Victoria, B.C. Canada. It is about a ten minute walk North of the downtown
Okay – Something exciting is happening in the Victoria, B.C. coffee marketplace and it is an all-good message for the consumers.
Not surprising, people like Sam Jones, his partners and crew at Discovery Coffee, are helping make this happen.
Okay – so it take a little more than a single coffee brewer to make the difference in Victoria’s vibrant and dynamic coffee community.
In fact, Discovery Coffee is, in some ways, a lab and showcase of all the right tools that any cafe could possibly need for the best cups.
- mahlkoenig coffee grinder
- mazzer coffee grinders
- synesso 3-group espresso machine
- clover coffee brewer
- good filtered water
Did I mention that it’s the people as well as the tools?
The baristi at Discovery Coffee wear Chef’s uniforms. Seriously.
Back to the Clover introduction. The Clover Coffee maker is a single-cup (12 ounce thereabouts) single coffee brewer that retails for 8000 U.S. smackers. Eight Thousand. That is a big coin for a coffee maker. Single cup. Seriously. What about it?
Here is Victrola’s take on the beast.
Well – there is, like, continuous temperature settings from 180 – 210 ºF, Cup sizes 6 – 16 fluid ounces, brew time 10 seconds – 5 minutes with a standard interchangeable filter 70 micron.
Enough tech already. what does it taste like?
The clover is transparent. All you taste is coffee. You taste sharply focused berry notes that are just perceptible with the most diligent home drip preparation (under perfect conditions). With slight variations in roast signature, with the same bean and grind, we tasted remarkable variations in prevalent taste spectrum.
It tasted good. You have to try it yourself. Clover coffee… at Discovery Coffee – Discovery at Douglas Street – Victoria.
Derek and Gena (and their team of beautiful coffee people) at Buon Amici’s feel, it’s in the ambiance… and in the food… and in the physical space. Truth be told, Buon Amici’s wins hands down in the physical space category. Why? Go there and find out. Some of the Buon Amici magic defies a word description. Trust me.
On the way to Discovery Coffee, on Saturday morning, Adam and I stopped by the Mirage Cafe (corner of Government Street and Broughton). They have a bright street corner space with 2 Eagle-Elektra espresso machines – they look like hood ornaments for one of those Earth moving catepillar graders (you know the ones – tires the size of a 2 story building)
Anyway.
The espresso coffee was spot on (their coffee is roasted at the Blanshard and View location) and the food complimenting the java was fresh and appealing. Top marks!
So, what does this all mean? It means there are more choices and more good coffee people in the Victoria cafe biz. This is a serious up-tick folks. I have no idea about how long it will last or whether it will keep getting better out there.
The overall message (from me) is: If you have not been to a cafe recently or the last cafe-cappuccino you had was at the Contempo Cafe in 1979 (a real place) then you really need to get out there now and see what is going on. Seriously!
Looking for another excuse? You know that pretty girl or guy you have had your eye on for a while? Coffee is the fuel of love… and the fuel has never been more pure!
Go on – Ask her(him) out. It is, after all, the Spring! almost.
For the CoffeeCrew.Com Blog, I am Colin Newell
The friday from left field... · Friday February 24, 2006 by colin newell
This has been one of those (beg your pardon) I didn’t see this coming kind of weeks.
One of those weeks when there is more going on (or falling into your lap) than you would normally get in your average month.
My life is normally pretty routine. Like anyone else. Get up, shower, eat, work, come home, cook, read, write, floss, sleep, repeat.
Sound familiar?
Except this week (and parts of week previous) were, somehow, different.
Dharma.
Huh? Yea. Dharma. Explanation later.
Someone wants to put my name on a billboard – visible by 50,000 people a day. Okay. Why?
A high-end prototype coffee grinder arrived on my door-step this week. Fine.
A swiss made coffee maker arrived today (for testing and yes it is going back in 7 days or less). Have to write a review.
I received an Aeropress coffee maker in the mail a couple of weeks ago from one of the rock stars of the coffee-biz: Reg James at EspressoTec.Com
Okay – that is old news.
Today the inventor phoned me… on the telephone. Sort of out of the blue. More on this later…
Dharma – yea, I’m getting to this.
I have had a flurry of e-mail from the lovely and talented baroness of the New York coffee-scene: Fortune Elkins
I sort of saw this one coming – I e-mailed her first. Still, I wasn’t expecting an enthusiastic reply – I mean, this is Fortune after all. Her work on Bread-Coffee-Chocolate-Yoga is legendary. Anyway – more chatter on the merits of the Aeropress coffee maker, coffee, life, universe, etc. I expect to have a continuing dialogue. There is a lot for me to learn here.
Alan Adler of Aerobie.Com called today – the inventor of the Aeropress coffee maker. Right. One of those days. Note to self: Call him back when I have some half intelligent questions for him. Alan is a smart guy. 40 patents under his belt. That is 40 more than me. Visit his website.
Dharma – I do not entirely understand what this means. Spiritually, I am not that deep. What I do get is sometimes clusters of things happen for reasons beyond human comprehension. Sometimes coincidence is just that – a random series of events seemingly unrelated unravelling as they will. At this moment in time, I am not entirely sure.
On a day like today... · Tuesday January 24, 2006 by colin newell
A photo gallery from a past San Francisco trip!
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