2012 We review David Lynch coffee and Ridgelyne Jamaica Blue Mountain · Monday February 20, 2012 by colin newell
I get lots of coffees to sample in the course of a year – a lot of it I buy myself… some of it makes its way here after an offer to taste is received in the e-mail.
In 2012 I hope to write up more of the beans that I have been sampling.
So let’s jump in with David Lynch’s Signature coffee; his house coffee and his espresso.
Not going to call them a blend because I believe that they are single origin Oaxacan coffees from a single farm in Mexico.
I brewed David Lynch’s signature coffee – seemingly sourced and roasted for drip coffee. Like most of Lynch’s work, the coffee, brewed as drip, is immediately challenging – This is not your average single origin Mexican coffee and it has some odd flavors in the cup that are off putting but at the same time kind of persuasive.
There is a lot of chocolate in the cup but also subtle hints of rubber, resin and pine solvent… deep, deep in the mix.
Thankfully, my brain tuned most of the nasty stuff (which was way down in the mix – playing it honest here…) the chocolate and sugar came through.
A second brew cycle came through a little better (ran a Hario paper filter on the 2nd brew) and it offered a little bit more clarity with less “industry” in the cup.
It is said that Mister Lynch drinks upwards of 15 cups of this brew a day.
I could do two. It is not a bad coffee. Is moderately interesting and upon closer inspection is roasted by Allegro coffee. The one problem with branding coffee in this way is that most people are more surprised that an edgy movie director would put his name on a bag of coffee. It’s an odd juxtaposition.
From our new friends at Simple Industries Inc. in Ottawa, Ontario comes a couple of bags of their 100% Ridgelyne Jamaica Blue Mountain.
Now this is something I can relate to: A cup of coffee that is all fruit, a bit of chocolate and not a hint of bitter or imbalance.
One of the minor challenges of sourcing JBM is (and I am going to get spam comments in no time…) is getting it fresh (meaning out of the roaster and to my door within a week or so…) – for most of us, it is almost impossible UNLESS it is bought green and roasted locally or regionally. Ridgelyne is roasted in Jamaica and shipped to Ottawa and then shipped from there. Risky. That said, my samples had only hints of staling – likely out of the roaster 2 or 3 weeks. For most people (normal folks that do not obsess about subtlety in the cup), this is not that much of a problem.
The Ridgelyne JBM has lots of fruit in the cup; plum by and large, a mild side that Andrea thought was “Kona like” – I did not taste that. I got lots of balance, no bitterness and a very full body that was all fruit and flowers with few chocolate or cocoa notes in the cup. The website offers it for around $35/pound (down from $50/pound elsewhere…) and refers to it as the most coveted cup of coffee on the Planet. Yes, for most people, JBM is associated as old school luxury coffee – and for good reason. It tastes great.
In the rest if this blog (tomorrow likely…) I will go over some more of the details of the JBM (all good) and get back to the David Lynch coffee to talk about his signature espresso.
2012 In the belly of the brewing beast Bonavita blog chapter 1 · Sunday February 12, 2012 by colin newell
The Bonavita drip brewer – lucky to have one to play with. Thanks to Theresa at Supramatic in Ontario and Todd Larrabee for being part in dreaming up this thing.
The Bonavita is something of a “port” on the Dutch made coffee wunderkind, the Technivorm – as much great coffee maker as it is Rube Goldberg brewing machine – for my taste, spot on brewing numbers but one too many moving parts.
The Bonavita strips away all the nonsense and leaves us with a 1400 watt engine and a sound and righteous water heating tower, a Melitta #4 filter holder and a volume rich glass carafe. The on/off switch pretty completes the complement. Shuts itself off in 15 minutes if you forget. Brews a full pot of perfectly hewn joe java in less than 6 minutes – all at the unflinchingly perfect brew temp. of 197 degrees (F)
Going to do a full review on this great, and affordable brewer in a day or two!
Click on any of the three pictures for a larger view – Picture a: Temperature observations of the carafe and brew basket
Picture b: Keeping time with the triple glass timer from Silk Road Tea
Picture c: The Bonavita tower mated with a Hario V64 ceramic holder and a Hario glass carafe.
2012 Picture report from Hawaii number 2 and 3 · Wednesday January 11, 2012 by colin newell
A typical day in Kona Hawaii almost always involves a cup of great coffee to start your day – a swim at one of many great sandy beaches – often with shore break capable of breaking your neck – so show respect…
And the people! The people of the Island of Hawaii love their life and they love their guests.
What better gig than to live and work here – Like Dr. Shawn Steiman (photo below to the right of yours truly — the visitor…)
Shawn is doing some work with the local coffee community and we are catching up over coffee at Kona de Pele Coffee on Alii Drive, Kona. Arguably some of the best coffee to be drinking – brewed right – Hario pour over – measured and brewed to precision.
Next photo: Typical sunset off of our lanai off of Alii Drive in Kona Hawaii – this is what we look at, day after day – if you have never seen a sunset like this, you owe yourself the pleasure of the visit.
The Tim Hortons Starbucks McCafe Battle Royal Brewing · Monday November 14, 2011 by colin newell
Had an interview with 9 CBC-1 regional stations this morning… starting at 4 AM My time – on the Wet Coast.
Talking to Sydney, Nova Scotia, Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Charlottetown, P.E.I. – Yellowknife in the North West Territories, Whitehorse in the Yukon, and 3 wonderful spots in B.C.; Kelowna, Vancouver and Victoria. Let’s not forget Calgary’ Alberta!
Which means I was up at 3:30 AM prepping after a fairly full 4 hours of sleep. Who needs a coffee? I do, I do!
So let’s get down to the skinny cappuccino on this issue shall we?
The big question in the news today is: Venerable Canadian coffee and doughnut icon to unveil espresso and specialty coffee service to double-double take-out java junkies nationwide – starting in Ontario today… So why now!
Excellent question. Here is the deal: Tim Hortons has a throttle hold on drip coffee take out in Canada… 80% of the market share. That is something like 1 billion cups of java in one year. But it is a flat market place. And they have virtually no stake in the lucrative and growing specialty coffee sector… which accounts for upwards of 3% growth annually.
Oh yea… and McDonalds is doing it as well with their 2nd or 3rd time rebooted McCafe series of gourmet coffee kiosks – often and in almost all cases located within many standard McDonalds franchise locations.
You have heard the joke about the Starbucks located within the Starbucks? Well, this is the real deal. And here is the kick: The espresso coffee service at the McCafe is not half bad. I say that because I have had it. And for some in the industry, this might be scary… but I will explain why there is nothing to worry about.
How are existing Tim Hortons customers going to respond?
Well, this is not the end of the world. Truth be told, Timmy’s customers are a loyal lot and, if I may be blunt… Put it in the menu and they will eat it or drink it. Tim’s is constantly rolling out new ideas, and although I might not be a big fan of their drip coffee (which I described as miserable in a recent Financial Post article) nor their greasy little Tim doughnut morsels (manufactured and frozen in Ontario only to be shipped nationwide only to be reanimated.) – I do enjoy the occasional sandwich or bowl of Chicken Noodle soup while I am on the road.
If they put espresso and cappuccino on the menu, someone is going to try it – particularly the up and coming next generation of coffee consumers… whomever they might be.
I guess I know coffee – so what am I expecting personally?
Tims drip coffee service is 1950’s old school miserable; poorly blended arabica coffee brewed in old school gravity brewers into glass urns where bitterness is given an open invitation to the caffeine party within minutes of the pots being put out on the hot plates!
Even McDonalds has joined us in the 21st Century with sealed air pots and professionally sourced 100% Arabica blends that taste, well, like coffee… and often good coffee at that.
How will Tim’s fair? It really depends on how motivated the Horton mother ship is. At McDonald’s McCafe kiosk, they use Franke Swiss made machines that are more reliable than gravity and unflinching in their coffee brewing precision. These machines are upwards of 30G a pop and in skilled hands are capable of producing a winning double tall skinny latte. They will not win any barista throw downs but they will satisfy the commuter in a hurry. Time will tell, readers… Time will tell.
Does Starbucks or the independents have anything to worry about?
Heck no. Starbucks customers (like their McCafe and Independent counterparts) have fierce and unbending loyalty to their product and preferred fix. Certainly, the occasional java junkie will be enticed by the rock bottom prices – but they will only return if the product is stellar.
Some in the industry feel that this will set back all the ethical progress that has been made in the area of fair trade, direct trade, and online specialty coffee auctions. Not so fast. These markets are entirely different than the New York C markets that Starbucks, McDonalds and (ultimately) Tim’s will be pulling from. In fact, the real showdown here is between McDonalds and Tim Hortons. Starbucks is still a cafe and their priority remains, coffee for the masses.
Will I try it?
I regularly head into my local Tim Hortons in the interest of research… just as I pop into Starbucks and McDonalds. Tim’s coffee needs work. And it is a simple fix. Am I curious about what their “specialty coffee” service will taste like? You bet.
Will it stand the test of time?
McDonalds has made several attempts to enter the specialty coffee market – with limited results. We are still not sure now McCafe is going to look in the long term. Tim’s, like McDonalds has nothing but time. If it does not work now, they will certainly try again in the future.
Meantime, I am brewing a pot or two of Jamaica Blue Mountain Clifton Estate coffee… from a farm that has been in active production since 1770! Here is the thing about coffee: Coffee is recession proof. It stands the test of time. It’s here to stay. Imagine all the things that have come and gone since the 1700’s.
However you brew it, coffee is here for the long haul.
Colin Newell is a Victoria area resident and coffee expert – he has been studying the delicate brew since the late 70’s and offers his wisdom freely.
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Mad about Fall Chapter 2 Take a moment - appreciate your coffee · Saturday November 12, 2011 by colin newell
I was talking to a ham radio operator in New Jersey today… about the weather…
his weather.
And while I chatted I was brewing my first thermal carafe of organic Costa Rica coffee from Every Day Gourmet Coffee roasters – St. Lawrence Market, Toronto…
(And) That part of America has had rain, snow, floods, hurricanes and honest to goodness tornadoes…
and an earthquake.
Between sips of my Hario poured brew I noted that… Here it was gray. A normal shade of gray for Victoria this time of year. (With) A bit of wind. A bit of rain. And a steady temperature of around 10 degrees (Celcius) or 50 degrees on the (Far) scale.
My wife and I went downtown this afternoon to do a few chores. We walked outside in the rain – a rain that seemed to fall out of the sky and divert around us before striking a glistening sidewalk. Charming.
Looking around downtown Victoria (on the southern tip of Vancouver Island) one sees great coffee shops, eateries and attractions on every corner. Victoria, in fact, is a coffee lovers mecca where every form of brewed caffeinated enticements await the adventurous. I try not to take for granted that, per capita, we have more quality Joe joints per square mile than anywhere else in North America. Yea, Seattle and Portland are great – and so is San Francisco (and Vancouver) but that involves driving.
You do not need a car in Victoria to enjoy a broad variety of coffee consumption here.
You just need time, a fistful of dollars and a clear head – that will soon be buzzing with psycho activity after your first 2 or 3 beverages.
In Victoria you can get your java brewed; in a French press, in an Aeropress, in a vacuum brewer, in an air pot, in an espresso machine, with a Hario pour over… and in ways I am not even familiar with yet. Yup, just trying to keep up.
Victoria barista’s and their cafe owner associates are among the most informed, educated and passionate in the business – Our cafe experts in Victoria frequently go to the source or the place where the coffee is produced. They know the farmers. They care for the people that produce the raw materials. There is a direct and living connection between the coffee served in Victoria and the people that are caring for it.
You can taste it in the cup and feel it from the people that work the coffee here in the city.
On some level, it almost makes sense that Victoria has a land and real estate market that is virtually unattainable for virtually all of the folks that live here – because this place is so desirable.
And looking out into the wind and rain and subtle dampness… Well maybe, just maybe… this will be as bad as it gets.
A city with a mild rain and a great, great coffee scene – that keeps getting better and better…
I love it… and respect it for now…
Until I pack up in January and move from one paradise to another… on the Big Island of Hawaii (where we hang out for 1 month every year.)
More on that later!
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