The best coffee ever!

[bobroseman]

With apologies to Intelligensia, Counter Culture, Paradise Roaster, Caffe Fresco et. al., I am drinking the best tasting coffee that I have had in a long time. That's the good news! The bad news is that when it is gone, it is gone forever, never to be repeated. I roasted it weeks ago in my Hottop and because I had, for the moment, a surfeit of coffee, I vacuum sealed it and threw it into the freezer.

The other day, I had a friend over, we were pulling shots and playing with a new toy, the Aeropress. Running low on coffee, I went to the freezer and pulled out this bag. When I pulled the first shot from it on my S1, I knew that it was something special. We pulled a few shots at different temperatures and finally settled on 93 dC. I tried some in the Aeropress and it was great there as well. Not espresso, but really a great cup.

Man, I gotta make more of this, I thought. I got the freezer bag out of the trash. That's when the the full impact of my little tragedy struck me. My blend? My wonderful, nutty, fruity, taste? My rich aroma? My complex espresso shot that danced over every inch of my tongue and nasal passages? "Freebie blend" the bag said. These were coffees that I had picked up at the SCAA in a mad dash down aisle after aisle.

So, I'm sitting here kicking myself for not being more precise in my record keeping, but at the same time enjoying a second cup after my morning double shot. I've now had the equivalent to six shots of espresso, and so I ought to be ready for my first day back at work after 8 years of retirement. But that's another story.

Bob

[cannonfodder]

I hate it when that happens. I have had a couple of those magic miscellaneous blends when home roasting. You look in the stash and you have an ounce of this and a couple of that and half of another. You dump them all together; roast it up and it turns out to be one of those incredible espresso blends that can never be reproduced. Sure, you can try based on the beans, but they always end up being the tail end of last year's greens and the new crop is just not quite the same.

[bobroseman]

The sympathy takes some of the pain away. Thanks!

What makes matters worse is that at my new work place the engineering secretary (aka - engineering assistant) asked me if I liked coffee. "I love it", I said. She then introduced me to this - machine. You know the one I mean. You select the button with the picture of what you want - choosing from espresso, coffee in a mug, coffee in a paper cup, hot chocolate, hot water. Then this mechanical stuff behind the glass moves and you see the water container fill up and begin steeping something and then a valve opens and whoosh the coffee fills your cup.

The machine is a mechanical marvel but the coffee is crappy, stale and tobacco juice tasting. Good thing I live only 10 minutes from my new office, so I could make it home for a coffee fix. Tomorrow my Aeropress travels with me to the office.

Bob

[cannonfodder]

Those vending machines are interesting. I like the ones in Asia that dispense frozen meals. They take a frozen meal, open the carton; microwave and flash broil the food, return it to the carton and dispense it, all in under a minute if memory serves. Hot and crispy not soggy and stale.

You have my sympathy with the brown liquid of death dispenser. I work for a McDonald's distributor, all the McD coffee you can stand for free. Thankfully I have a real office (perk of being the IT manager) so I have a Mazzer Mini and Isomac Millennium in my office.

So what are you semi retiring back to? My dad retired from the Police Department after 25 years of service. He got bored after a year and got a part time job at ShopSmith. He has always enjoyed woodworking. Then retired for another couple of years, then went back to work, then retired again.

[bobroseman]

My old boss called me last week to say that he is now a senior VP of engineering with a company that makes sat. com. products and systems. He asked if I would be interested in coming out of retirement to help him out. He's a classy guy and it turns out that the office is about a mile from my house. So, I couldn't say no.

Maybe I'll be able to afford that La Marzocco G3 next year, after all.

Bob

[Bert]

We had one of those machines at work for a while. Since it went away, I assume that it didn't do so well. Much like the wheel of death, I avoid those things like the plague. At least they've finally moved to something that is drinkable in the drip machine, depending on who makes it.

Me, I prefer to make it at home - espresso or press pot, or let my hubby do it and take it with me. If we having something that is on the edge of going dead, like the period right after SCAA, we might even take some in to share with those lucky few at work that have figured out to follow Chris to the coffee pot.

I want to retire at a point that I still like what I do enough that I'm willing to go back just for the employer. Wonder if that will still happen ever when I get to that point.

Good luck with the job!

Bertie