That Sour and bitter drink

[Mikado463]

That would be tragic.

back in June of '17 when I was in Scotland that bottle was one of five left in the world. It could have been had for 37,000 pounds sterling

 

[ryanosaur]

I believe the candy is where the name came from for that drink because that was in the image when I looked it up. I had it before in the midwest somewhere, Michicgan, St. Louis or Chicago I forget, and it was good.

It seems there is another, simpler one called the Cafe Toledo, which is coffee, coffee liqueur, Baileys and chocolate syrup w/whipped cream.

I think the throw-up in my mouth just threw up in my mouth.

 

[Mikado463]

in another coffee discussion over on Audiocircle this roaster came up and as a Sumatra fan, while not cheap I think I'll give it a try............

Sumatra Aceh Ketiara - Storehouse Coffee

www.storehousecoffee.com

 

[j_garcia]

I think the throw-up in my mouth just threw up in my mouth.

It was something to try. We joked about it, like drinking coffee after getting messed up in order to wake up, except already in one cup. Some comedian had that in his bit: "Do you REALLY want people buzzed AND wide awake?"

Back to coffee. These guys use my favorite beans and looks like they've opened up a few spots in Vegas. Even when I was in Oahu though, they only sold ground, not whole bean. I still bought it because that is my favorite coffee = Wialua Estate dark roast. I don't think they use the natural process version, which Wialua only make in small batches, but it still tastes amazing. I bought some when I was there a few months back and have since run out.

Home - Kono's Restaurants

Kono’s opened it’s doors 17 years ago in 2002 on the North Shore. For all those years we have continued to serve our growing ohana with the best kalua pig on the islands in the form of our award-winning breakfasts and plate lunches which are served alongside our hand-crafted milkshakes.

www.konosnorthshore.com

Whole bean cost from Wialua Estate isn't so bad, but shipping from Hawaii is the killer.

 

[cpp]

Anybody who roasts their own beans is one step away from prepping H for the needle!

I like good espresso and am a trained barista. No goat sacrifice involved, no virgin's blood...

Let's face it, though.

We humans are great at ritualizing just about anything.

That's for sure. I had thought about roasting, but heck, I can get my 2 day old roast in 2 days. Plus if its not "right" I call and they mail me another 1lb bag of freshly roasted beans. If I roasted and screwed it up at home, Well, I'm kinda out some beans LOL. Plus to be honest, at my age I'm too darn lazy.

 

[ryanosaur]

Well, I've been playing with it since the conversation the other day, spritzing my beans.



I think I may be a convert.

Single biggest change I noticed is in extraction. The Espresso is pulling nicer, with a richer flavor and mouthfeel. Visibly, my shots have always had good crema, yet now this manifests even more.

Yes, visually there is less clumping in my grind. It does not seem neater or les messy, though. More than anything, my grind has a much more "fluffy" character to it, and even though I do everything by weight my basket now runneth over.

A strange experience I'm having is that this also seems to affect the retention of my grinder. I am consistently getting more out than I put in. I do my grinder maintenance on the 1st, so after cleaning later this week, I'll have a better sense of what is happening in that area. Ordinarily, there is 3g of retention living in my grinder. If I continue to get .2-.5g overages, I would expect my grinder retention to drop to 0 and not have to clean it ever again! *scratches head quizzically

*shrugs

Regardless, the shot quality is my primary thing. I don't know how many poor to mediocre shots I've tolerated over the years, both at home or at cafes, but this little experiment has tipped the scale pretty consistently in favor of flavor. In fact today, day 5 of this experiment, is the first day I've had a mediocre pull. And by mediocre, telling a Barista in the cafe that you want them to redo this shot would start an argument! , as it is still a very decent shot.

So that's my 5-day follow up.

 

[highfigh]

in another coffee discussion over on Audiocircle this roaster came up and as a Sumatra fan, while not cheap I think I'll give it a try............

Sumatra Aceh Ketiara - Storehouse Coffee

www.storehousecoffee.com

Keep us posted- I think I posted that I started drinking Sumatra in 2014, in Prescott, AZ. Still on it unless the store is out, so I'll go with Guatamalan or Columbian, which are decent, as a change. I still prefer Sumatra, though.

Power went out two weeks ago because of a storm and I was able to have my coffee because I make 12 cups, so it was left over from the day before. I woke at 3AM, got out of bed at 4 and warmed it on the stove- I don't think I would have been a happy camper without it but overall, the storm and its effects didn't bother me.

 

[Mikado463]

Keep us posted-

I should have some this week, will do !

 

[ryanosaur]

Didn't get to clean my grinder and machine til yesterday.

Today is Day 12 of my Spritzing Experiment, Day 1 on a clean grinder.

I always do a sacrificial first shot just to make certain no cleaning residue is left behind. (Urnex Grindz is pretty innocuous and doesn't seem to hang out in the grinder afterwards, but Cafiza does like to leave a residue and while I rinse everything pretty thoroughly it is good practice to toss the first shot, jic.)

I know my grinder has 3g retention in the grind chamber when I don't spritz the beans. I always load 23g for this first shot.

Spritzing the beans with water resulted in only 1.8g retention on the first pass instead of the unspritzed 3g I am used to.

First Dose: 23g in, whole bean, 21.2g out, ground
Second Dose: 20g in, 20.8 out
Third Dose: 20g in, 20.3 out
Fourth Dose: 20g in, 20.6 out

Of that initial 1.8g retained in the grind chamber, after finishing 3 more shots, by weight I only should have .1g retention!
Before spritzing the beans, that initial 3g retention stayed there: whatever I put in, I got out.

In terms of the grinder mechanism and Burrs, the Spritzed Beans showed no unusual changes that I noticed when cleaning. No abnormal buildup was evidenced. My thought was perhaps the addition of some moisture could interact with the oils and fines to create an emulsion that might cake up in some parts of the chamber. I saw no evidence that this occurred.
To the contrary, by the end of today's Espresso Ritual, my grinder is surprisingly light on the retention of ground coffee left in the mechanism.

 

[highfigh]

I should have some this week, will do !

Before I was actually a 'coffee drinker' and worked for the stereo store I have mentioned, the previous time I had a cup was in about '81, when we had a huge sale at WI State Fair Park in one of the buildings, combined with a TV store. It was early and ridiculously cold inside because the heat hadn't kicked in and everyone was a bit rough from the night before. They made coffee and all we had was tin cups, so it went from nice & hot to stone cold in minutes and my second sip was the end of that. Also, it was some crap that came in a 3 pound can, so how good could it be, really?

I can drink Sumatra cold- it tastes just fine.