Soho Espresso "Best of Five" giveaway

[HB]

Update: I split off some of the entries to make them easier to find in the future, and encourage follow-on discussion.

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HB is all about the love of espresso, sharing knowledge, and having fun. It's especially fun to combine these with a little swag, as we did for past "Best of Three" product giveaways for Pallo Coffee Tool and Grindz Grinder Cleaner, or tongue-in-cheek contests like Sink Shots.

Andrew contacted me a couple months back to tell me about his new site:

(Click to read the full list of coffee roasters)

The idea is simple: One stop shopping of the best roasters in the country. You can combine the offerings from several roasters and only pay shipping once. Andrew elaborates below:

SohoEspresso.com has the largest selection of quality espresso on the web - over 50 blends and nearly 20 roasters. Our coffee is fresh. On average, we ship one week after roasting, and within a day of receiving an order. Don't forget to take advantage of our special offer: Free shipping during the month of October! Let us know that you heard of us on home-barista.com, and we'll throw in an 8-ounce sample of some of our finest espresso.

To familiarize the HB readership with Soho Espresso's offerings, I recommended this "best of five" contest. The rules are simple.

Post to this thread and you're automatically entered to win! The topic can be anything related to espresso. I will select the best from the day's new posts to this thread or at least five posts, whichever occurs first (i.e., a winner is declared for every day there are at least five posts, or if there are not, the day that the fifth entry is posted; posts asking about the rules, questions to the giveaway sponsor, comments on other posts, etc. are excluded).

Your entry can be a short-and-sweet hint, a espresso-related photograph, an organized collection of your favorite links, your "signature drink" espresso recipe, best modification, recent discovery on the web, ... really anything you like espresso-related, as long as it's interesting, helpful, thought-provoking, or just plain fun. Check out winning entries from previous "best of" contests:

• Rocky Mods - How to turn it into an uber grinder
• Learn from the Pros
• Find the man in the coffee beans!
• Thermometry for the Home Barista
• Espresso as Dessert

Soho Espresso is sponsoring three prizes of two pounds of coffee. Below are just some of the coffee roasters you can choose from:

PS: Soho Espresso welcomes questions about his new venture and customer feedback.

FINE PRINT: To participate in the above (the "Contest"), you must be at least 18 years old and a U.S. resident of the 48 lower states (due to shipping costs). Home-Barista.com ("HB") moderators, sponsors, judges, and members of their immediate families are not eligible to enter. Void where prohibited. With regard to an entry ("written work") you submit as part of the Contest, you grant HB a worldwide, perpetual, fully paid-up, non-exclusive license to publish, redistribute, create derivative works, or sell the written work, including any images or photographs. The entry must be an original work by the entrant. Entries containing any plagiarized text will be void and ineligible. Any images or photos must be the entrant's own creation; any copyrighted materials included in an entry will render it void and ineligible. Prize winners will be determined by a designated judge; said judge's decision is final. If you are selected as a contest winner, you agree that HB may publicize your name and the written work you did to win the contest. Apart from the prizes associated with being selected as a winner, HB shall not be obligated to compensate you in any way for such publicity. Each entrant shall indemnify, defend, and hold HB harmless from any third party claims arising from or related to that entrant's participation in the Contest. In no event shall HB be liable to an entrant for acts or omissions arising out of or related to the Contest or that entrant's participation in the Contest. Odds of winning depend on the number and quality of entries received. There must be a minimum of five entries before judging begins. No prize substitution is permitted. Winner(s) may be required to verify their entry.

[peacecup]

I wish I had time to post for this great offer, but I'm swamped for the next several weeks. Can I enter my spring lever video "A Little Blonde"?



PC

[HB]

Oh, this is a hard one. I like the simplicity of Rob's message: Prominent convex piston for better singles. Dave was clearly inspired for his (non-eligible) coffee origins entry and mocha chocolate chip recipe. "A Little Blonde" was also a winner - if it were a first time post. Sorry PC.

But clearly Mike set the pace with his flurry of dessert espresso ideas. Congratulations, you are the first Soho Espresso winner! Please contact Andrew Fair to claim your prize. We'll want to hear what you select and what you think of the coffees.

A new round starts for the next prize of your choice of two pounds of coffee from Soho Espresso...

[IMAWriter]

I demand a recount!!!

[miKe mcKoffee]

We'll want to hear what you select and what you think of the coffees.

Was exceedingly tough to decide but went with Zoka Paladino and Intelligentsia Black Cat. In truth I was and still am a bit skeptical of Soho's business model. Specifically stocking from other Roasters for re-shipment.

"Our coffee is fresh. On average, we ship one week after roasting, and within a day of receiving an order."

Fresh is relative of course but seems will be receiving them well over a week from roast, likely on the downhill side of peak. I'll be interested to see if they come roast dated. Figure I'll need to vacumm seal and freeze as soon as it arrives to get the most out of it's remaining short life.

[sohoespresso]

Hi Mike,

Congrats on winning! The Black Cat we sent was roasted on October 5, which is well under a week. For Zoka's Paladino, which is vacuum sealed and nitrogen flushed, we are receiving a fresh shipment from Zoka on Friday, and are sending it using 2-day delivery. All of these bags have roast dates on them, and you will have more than enough time to enjoy these beans while they are fresh. We have worked very closely with all of our roasters to ensure that the coffee we ship meets their strictest freshness standards.

We just bought some fresh rosemary last night, and are looking forward to trying out your Indonesian White Rose recipe.

Andrew

[miKe mcKoffee]

Hi Mike,

Congrats on winning! The Black Cat we are sending was roasted on October 5, which is well under a week. Furthermore, we are seperately shipping to you a bag of Zoka Paladino, which has been vacuum sealed and nitrogen flushed. We are receiving that shipment from Zoka on Friday, and are sending it using 2-day delivery to make sure you get it as fresh as possible. All of these bags have roast dates on them, and you should have more than enough time to enjoy these beans while they are fresh.

We just bought some fresh rosemary last night, and are looking forward to trying out your Indonesian White Rose recipe.

Andrew

Received your email and was about to post the same (impressive) split shipping information.

I'll answer your email questions here. Being almost exclusively a home roaster the past 6 years no I haven't tried Black Cat. Since it's an oft suggested blend figured it would be a good choice. I'm from the same State as Zoka but they're a good 3 hours plus away and haven't visited them. I've only had Paladino once while visiting Phuong Tran's Lava Java Cafe where she used it for her USBC specialty drinks she served us and haven't had it straight. (Her shop doesn't use Paladino as their usual espresso blend but rather Stumptown's Hairbender.)

BTW, do the coffees come with suggested dosage, shot pressure and shot temps. Wait, that was a different forum thread

[HB]

In truth I was and still am a bit skeptical of Soho's business model. Specifically stocking from other Roasters for re-shipment.

That was my first comment when Soho Espresso contacted me, but they do offer a unique service: Combining roasters' offerings for one shipping price. I've thought of trying some of the far flung roasters on the west coast, but the shipping costs always keep me hemming and hawing. Combining orders would take the edge off the price.

This contest is a no-cost way of trying out their service and judging the freshness for yourself. For those who are curious and prefer spending money to writing a good post , Soho is offering free shipping for the month of October. With a combination purchase of two roasters' coffees, it's an unbeatable price compared to ordering from two roasters separately.

[miKe mcKoffee]

That was my first comment when Soho Espresso contacted me, but they do offer a unique service: Combining roasters' offerings for one shipping price. I've thought of trying some of the far flung roasters on the west coast, but the shipping costs always keep me hemming and hawing. Combining orders would take the edge off the price.

This contest is a no-cost way of trying out their service and judging the freshness for yourself. For those who are curious and prefer spending money to writing a good post , Soho is offering free shipping for the month of October. With a combination purchase of two roasters' coffees, it's an unbeatable price compared to ordering from two roasters separately.

Very true. And I'm definitely not complaining. I mean their Oct free shipping offer is great, and a couple pounds espresso blends of your choice free for writing up espresso tidbits even better

[miKe mcKoffee]

Simple tip on reducing coffee waste needed for post detergent back flush seasoning shot and grinder flush post quick cleaning with Grindz (or Minute Rice or Oatmeal or whatever). Such a no brainer yet something that was not part of my regular cleaning routine for years. Consequently sometimes the grinder wouldn't get cleaned for a month or more. Do your espresso machine back flush, PF and basket soak, and grinder quick cleaning at the same time and use the grinder bean flush for the seasoning shot. I do them all weekly now.

After back flushing rinse, scrubbing and rinsing the PF and basket(s) and brushing and or vacuuming out as much grinder flush agent as possible now use the grinder bean flush for the seasoning shot (or shots if more than one basket involved). When I thought to implement this routine it was like duh

[HB]

Thanks Mike for the reminder to use "waste" coffee to season the group after a chemical backflush; I've needlessly used good coffee in the past, until I figured out that the pile that's gathered beneath the doser is good enough. Psyd's "keep it squeaky" entry is good advice, pointing out that infrequent use doesn't mean infrequent cleaning. The journey recounted in jesawdy's "A Home-Barista is born" mirrors many of our own experience, and gives me the excuse to share this joke (again):

"
"Blue or Red Pill?" from BentTV Productions (humor)

This quip was on the Resources page for awhile:

"After this there is no turning back to local cafes. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe about coffee. You take the red pill, you stay in Espresso Wonderland, and I'll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes... Remember, all I'm offering is the chance of a godshot, nothing more."

Alas it was "More from Nicaragua," which shares a segment of the work behind the bean's journey to our kitchens, that stayed with me. Although there's technically one more entry possible for this round, I'll call it right now: Congratulations Chris, you are the second Soho Espresso winner! Please contact Andrew Fair to claim your prize. We'll want to hear what you select and what you think of the coffees.

Only one more prize of two pounds of coffee to give away...

[OkcEspresso]

Wow fantastic!

Thanks Dan and Soho. I selected:

Batdorf & Bronson Omar's Organic Blend and Barefoot Sweetness! Espresso. Why not start with the "B"s. I have never tried beans from either of these roasters so I am looking forward to the novelty and will report back with reviews of both.

C.

PS Now I have to finish that dang post

[hbuchtel]

If you're in the habit of tamping lightly and dosing so your puck meets the dispersion screen when locking the PF in, first give the dispersion screen a quick swipe or two with a towel to remove any moisture. This will likely help you get more even extractions!

Folks who like to up-dose might want to do this as well.

Henry

ps: careful, a damp towel transmits heat very well!

[HB]

Nick Cho began his presentation at the last SCAA Southeastern Region Barista Competition with an important ritual of coffee enjoyment -- cupping. Thinking about it later, I realized how rarely I brew coffee in a French press or vacuum pot. Since I traditionally reserve late September for "mid-year" resolutions as a conscious effort to attain my New Year's resolutions before December, I decided to add brewed / non-espresso coffee to my regular rotation:



Intelligentsia conveniently sells half-pound bags. I think it will be a good exercise to better focus my taste acuity on subtler flavors and aromas. Chris mentions this same point in Exercises for tuning your barista techniques:

Taste, taste and taste some more. Taste espresso, cup coffee, taste wine...

That thread is among one of my favorites and goes well with my mid-year resolutions mindset.

PS: Only three more entries to close out the final round of Soho Espresso's Best of Five contest...

[miKe mcKoffee]

Nick Cho began his presentation at the last SCAA Southeastern Region Barista Competition with an important ritual of coffee enjoyment -- cupping. Thinking about it later, I realized how rarely I brew coffee in a French press or vacuum pot.

This is something I've been thinking about lately too. Here's part of a post I made on SM List this morning:

After discussing the operations of the Clover was asked if I'd like to try a cup. Now had to choose which of a half dozen or so SO's plus a couple of blends to try. (I had no worries about quality of greens or roast knowing Stumptown is quality focused from dirt to cup often partnering with Tom on special lot buys and Probat roasts daily) Decided on Guat' El Injerto. She weighed out 21gr, yes they weigh the beans and grind for each cup. (They've settled on 21gr, 8oz, 204f, 40sec infusion as their Clover "standard" setting.) Prior to the brewing I first deeply inhaled the fragrance from the large glass bean canister of Guat' and munched a couple of the beautifully Probat City+ roasted beans. So far promised to be excellent. Now the cup. Aroma smelled great. First sip and no wow, more like what's this watery brown liquid with hints of Guatemalen! I continued taking sips, concentrating of tasting the flavor nuances and yes I could find wonderful Guatemalen character and flavor. But the cup seemed almost totally lacking body, much less than press and maybe even less than vac'. And the flavors seemed thin. But 21gr for an 8oz cup of coffee seeming weak? Does not compute! But then I reminded myself Guats are not known for body anyway and tried to enjoy the cup. Yes tasted good, but just didn't cut it, for me. Just seemed to be missing something. Ended up not finishing the cup. So made today's first cup of the morning a Guat' Antigua Peaberry Especial Americano I happened to have roasted to be rest ready for the weekend, that's more like it!

Which segues to is my palate broken? A week or two ago there was a Kona discussion on CG. Coffeekid (Mark Prince) prefers vac' or Clover type brewing for a delicate coffee like Kona while I prefer Americano. He contends espresso extraction tends to obliterate delicate flavors while amplifying subtle flavors. Delicate and subtle tastes being different things to Mark. While I currently seem to believe without espresso extraction cups are missing emulsified oils yielding an incomplete tasting cup. Have years using Silvia and now the Bricoletta impaired my palate or simply differing taste preferences? Is my palate just undeveloped not making a distinction between delicate and subtle tastes? Been years, guess I just need to do a head to head Americano/vac comparison again but haven't gotten around to it.

The never ending Journey continues...

[miKe mcKoffee]

Black Cat arrived today, shipped 10/10 USPS Priority as promised. (NY to WA State) BC pkg labeled roasted 10/5 so now 9 days post roast. Immediately transferred part to qt. mason jar, vac sealed and to the freezer. That left about 6oz to play with the next couple days, also transferred to 1.5pt mason jar and vac'd.

Only attempted one shot so far. Decided on pulling ~201f start of HX shot (5 count flash-flush-n-go). Guesstimated on grind, built double LM ridged basket slightly overdosed (triple tapped before Stockfleth), tared empty PF yielding 18gr actual dry puck. Excellent aroma. Missed the grind for a standard shot and ended up with a gorgeous 1.25oz 35sec ristretto. No sign of blonding but didn't want to push it. And no sign of staling yielding deep reddish brown near 95% crema end of shot with beautiful Guinnessing. Great fragrance and smooth creamy sweet lightly bright full taste. Very nice blend. Don't want to spoil the great ristretto linger so will pull a standard shot later.

If I didn't have a FoodSaver so I could vac and freeze I wouldn't want to be receiving 9 day post roast but it's not over the hill yet by any means and I've been a FoodSaver user for over a decade so no biggy. Though vac and freezing sooner after roast would be preferably. Being an admittedly freshness extremist I highly doubt this is the type of service I'd be interested in using. But that's one reason I primarily home roast

I must say from just the fragrance, aroma and one ristretto of the Black Cat agree it is very good as many have said many times. Good to compare other espresso blends and roasts. Really the only professionally roasted espresso blends I've previously tried at home are Stumptown Hairbender and Monkey Blend Tom Probat roasted. Maybe I'll start ordering a different pound here and there every few months. But if only ordering a pound, which is what it would be, in truth I likely wouldn't order through Soho but rather directly from the roaster so it would be fresher. Just being honest.

After all this typing think I'm ready to go pull for a Normale even though the linger isn't gone yet.

[miKe mcKoffee]

It's Sunday morning and I was sitting here drinking my first cup of the morning Americano (decided to try the Black Cat coffee strength, very good this way too) dinking around on the computer and UPSP knocks on the door. Soho shipped the 2nd free pound Express (Zoka Paladino that they got in Friday 10/13, roasted 10/10)! Definitely not complaining receiving it 5 days post roast, but let's get real. No way is it a sustainable business model shipping 1# coffee @$18 their cost free postage! And actually cost them more than the $18 postage to ship since didn't use USPS box. If this contest was supposed to be a way to sample what Soho has to offer, which to me includes sampling their normal business practices, gotta wonder. Even if a customer had paid for the pound coffee would have lost money. Even if a customer had paid for the pound coffee and a standard shipping charge like USPS Priority Flat Rate would have lost money!

Again not complaining just evaluating. And I do really appreciate receiving the Paladino right at 5 days perfect time to start using rest ready.

[sohoespresso]

Hi Mike,

We had promised your coffee would be received within 2 days of shipping, and it was. Although we don't use this shipping for every order, our freshness guarantee is important to us, and we are willing to go out of our way to make sure that our customers receive the freshest coffee we can send.

[miKe mcKoffee]

We had promised your coffee would be received within 2 days of shipping, and it was. Although we don't use this shipping for every order, our freshness guarantee is important to us, and we are willing to go out of our way to make sure that our customers receive the freshest coffee we can send.

And I understand and appreciated it!

What I'm curious is for future point of reference. Let's use an example. Customer X decides to order four pounds, each from a different roaster and chooses USPS Priority shipping as a compromise between speed-cost-tracking capability. X orders on a Sunday afternoon. Monday comes around and the order is processed. Two of the four are in stock with roast dates 4 & 5 days previous, pound three is scheduled re-stock to arrive your location Wednesday, and the fourth not until Friday. (For the sake of example that fourth one was just received in stock the previous Friday but you received a bunch of orders over the weekend ahead of customer X and not enough to fill all the orders)

Customer X pays a single ~$11 s/h for USPS Priority for all four pounds. How and when would they ship in your normal course of business?

[sohoespresso]

Coffee will typically be in stock and fresh when someone places an order, shipping out within 24 hours.

However, in your scenario, we would do the following:

The first two pounds would be shipped immediately and we would inform the customer of when Soho Espresso would be receiving the other two beans. We would also offer to ship the additional 2 pounds on Friday, when the second pound arrives, at no additional cost, using USPS priority.

Similar scenarios have arisen in the past, and although we will often lose money on such an order, our customers appreciate our attention to freshness and prompt shipping, making such a policy both helpful and profitable in the long-run.