While I was a visiting professor last month in Copenhagen, I (and my family) made my/our first stop Coffee Collective, the "home" of Klaus Thomsen, World Barista Champion of 2006. He is a co-owner of CC along with Peter Dupont, Casper Engel Rasmussen and Linus Torsater. See http://www.coffeecollective.dk/index.htm.





One of the striking physical features of CC is the fact that no bar separates the Barista, the equipment, and the coffee enthusiast. This is done expressly to encourage interaction and dialogue.
Klaus was most hospitable, and gave me a tour of the La Marzocco, with my first drink as a ristretto made of CC's espresso blend: Daterra Sweet Collection, Brazil, Finca Vista Hermosa, Guatemala, and Kiawamururu, Kenya AA Top. With aromas of marzipan and chocolate, notes of blackcurrant and gooseberries, and good acidity, it rose to one of my favorite blends.




After a very smooth and light cappuccino, Klaus asked if I had ever had coffee from an Aeropress. We tried the Kiawamururu Kenya AA Top. Although the notes of blackcurrant and gooseberry are present, I found that especially the plum, and a slight aroma of chocolate, came through with clarity. Moreover, one does not get the grittiness with the Aeropress that frequents a French Press. We liked it so much, and it is so portable, that we purchased one. Here is a link to CC's updated instructions for the "inverted" method of the Areopress: http://coffeecollective.blogspot.com/20...chive.html.

(As an aside, the children loved his killer hot chocolates made with Valrhona chocolate.)

On another visit I began with a ristretto, but then learned a couple new drinks. While others are probably familiar with these drinks, I was not, so it was a great pleasure to learn them. The first new one was a "shakerato." It is made with a double ristretto, a dash of simple syrup (easily made with boiling water and sugar), and ice cubes in the shaker. Shake well and serve. It is refreshing and just the thing for a hot day—although when I tried it, it was below freezing outside—hum. I also found that the shakerato tended to bring out the floral aroma of the Kenyan. (My shaker and jigger just arrived, and I have already made several for my friends and students here in the warmer climes of Southern Illinois.)

(I don't have a picture of the one I had in CC, but here is one of mine. It is already starting to settle a bit.)




The other drink I learned was a "cortado," which is essentially espresso and microfoam; it has less foam than a macchiato, but more milk, much creamier, and as Klaus observes, more balanced (thanks Klaus).



Other forays to CC were equally enjoyable, with tastes of the Idido, Aricha Microlots, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe with the Areopress (bringing out the strawberry and hint of bergamot). The roaster, Casper Engel Rasmussen, was a constant, informative, and welcoming presence.




My stay in Copenhagen was punctuated with visits to CC, and I tended not to stray not only because I was not impressed with other locales, but also because CC was so endearing and of superior quality.
When we arrived on our (sadly) last visit to CC, I was surprised to find Scottie Callaghan (all the way from Australia) filling out notes from his cupping of coffees at CC. I was also most happy to meet AnneStine Bae, who was at the bar that day and shared her knowledge of coffee. She pulled a ristretto with the Finca Vista Hermosa for me, an Aeropress with the Yirgacheffe, and a beautiful cap.




AnneStine is currently preparing for her Barista competition in April. Wishing you the best of luck, Anne; you will be great!

Finally, aside from the shared interest in coffee, everyone I spoke with also rode fixed .



Anthony

The Coffee Collective is an amazing place. To me it is pretty much a combination of everything I love about coffee and coffee people: the coffee is fantastic and made by people who love what they do.

Klaus and TCC was also recently given the following recommendation by by Chris Tacy (http://godshot.blogspot.com/2010/02/baristas-espressos.html):

Well... it looks to me like the best options for understanding what espresso can and should taste like would be for you to do something like go to:
Copenhagen and have Klaus Thomsen pull you some shots of espresso from The Coffee Collective, [...]

Anthony wrote:Here is a link to CC's updated instructions for the "inverted" method of the Areopress: http://coffeecollective.blogspot.com/20...chive.html.

Thanks for the enjoyable trip report. However, these Aeropress instructions sound like a classic recipe for updosed and underextracted coffee:

16 grams of coffee
Ground somewhere between a filter grind and french press - leaning to the coarser side.
170 ml. water of 92-95° Celcius
Steeping time 2 minutes

The Aeropress does not seem to perform best at the classic SCAA brew ratio of 17 parts water to 1 part coffee. The CC recipe's ratio is 11 to 1, using about 60% more coffee than the "gold cup" standard. Others have noted this as well.

another_jim wrote:I thought they had lost their marbles when they mentioned they liked aeropress; but the inverted method is yet another way of cleaning up FP coffee.

A valid analogy, but I've always found (inverted) Aeropress results to be distinctly different from post-filtering FP brew through a paper filter. I'm still not sure why.