Death to the 'to-go' Cup!
by Chris Tacy (God Shot)

Seriously.

I think we can blame a lot of the problems in the US coffee market on the damn 'to-go' cup. People are not tasting their drinks, they're in a rush, they order those horrid 'extra-hot' drinks... the list goes on and on.

Bronwen makes a great point. Coffee bars are social centers in so many other parts of the world. And, in many cases, they were started to fulfill this same function in the US. But now we have people talking on their cell phone while grabbing a drink to take with them in the car.

There are so many things wrong with the picture, and regardless of whether or not 'to-go' cups are the cause - I have little doubt that killing them off would fix a whole bunch of the problems. And even if they only fixed a little bit - they are such a potent sign of what is wrong here that making them go away would send such a clear message it would be well worth it.

Death to the 'To-Go' Cup Now!

not so cinchy
by Trish Skeie (portafilter.net)

Okay, maybe you all won't want to read a lot of belly aching about the difficulties of making good coffees....not to mention great ones, but I feel the need to continue the discussion that Peter and Chris have been working on here.
Espresso blending and roasting - and marketing, for that matter- is not so cinchy.

A lot of folks I have worked with and admire greatly are constantly disillusioned by the effort. It's like our dirty little secret in the business and no one really wants to talk seriously about it. Yeah, I know. It is a bit of a downer to get into, but there are promising signs in our future.
Espresso components are damned hard to come by and the demand for them has grown umpteen fold. I don't care who you are or what your espresso reputation is, your blend is not consistent. Some of us can pull it off better than others, but espresso truly is what Nick Cho called the "bikini contest" of coffee. Your blend is a continuously moving target. I have made a point of tasting some highly touted blends dozens of times. Some of them have not rocked my world as was promised. This is not an indictment on them because I know that was just a moment in time. Others have reported godshots with these same blends and I believe them. Still others float above the fray, never coming in contact with our terrestrial espresso pitfalls...who the hell do these coffees think they are? God's gift? (Dammit I guess they are.)

It is nerve racking to go to a friend's shop and not be able to give them the thumbs up on the shot...and then they ask, "...really, what do you think?" All I can say is, "I think you haven't tasted it recently."
But you see, I *know*! I know what is happening. I have been there, we all have.

It's nerve racking to get a sample from an importer...tiny tiny these samples are. They need to know, like yesterday, if you want the coffee and how much. How can you test blends with these itty bitty samples? You need to trust that you understand how the crema will really perform after degassing....2 days, 4 days, 10 days? Who knows, but you don't really have the time needed to try it out, you have to act because the importer wants to sell it to someone today.

Enough poor me venting...can you hear my violins? Here comes the promising future for the big finish:

The conventional wisdom about espresso is now being examined and either accepted or debunked. In some case, both at the same time. Weird, huh? Just as we have religiously logged our roasts, some baristas are brewing everything all different ways. To me, it seems more than ever that the brewing will be matched to the coffee not the other way around. That means that there will be even more reason to say that espresso is anything you want it to be. If you have a hard time defining Third Wave, this would be one of its cornerstones: You can make coffee anything and any way you want to so long as it works. But that means we have a responsibility.
A little Star Wars symbolism...... Black= absence of all light
White is the presence of all light

Espresso-Specific Flavour Wheel
by Jimmy Oneschuk (espressolab.ca)

I've come to wonder, why do we continue to use the cupping flavour wheel for tasting espresso?

The cupping wheel is a wonderful resource - and I certainly relied on it during my tenure in BC. But if the sensory aspects of espresso and brewing differ, might be wise to develop something specifically for espresso? When was the last time you deconstructed aromas from your single origin shots?

The espresso process tends to highlight and make complex certain flavours where regular brewing does not. There are flavour 'families' that could be expanded upon. The family of defects could be reworked to reflect typical defects resulting from the wider array problems in the espresso process.

Of course, there will be those who won't need a revised wheel. Many professionals, especially those with significant cupping experience, possess an intuitive understanding of differences to be expected between each format. I wouldn't expect the wheel to be totally reworked; there are fundamentals to the wheel, but I wonder if the wider professional (ie: less experienced) world would not benefit from a specialized wheel?

First symptoms of upgrade fever
By Teemu Pihlatie (Espresso Passione)

A couple of things on the Rocky have recently started to annoy me. The beans that I use are not an overly dark roast or oily, but I occasionally experience them getting stuck. I then have take off the hopper lid and stir the beans to resume grind. Not good. I'd ideally like the Rocky to grind just a little bit quicker, too. On top of this, I've been bitten by the upgrade bug - and I've only had the Rocky for three months now! The Mazzer Mini E would be very tempting if it wasn't for the ridiculous price premium it has over the dosered Mini.

(cont'd)

HB wrote:Teme's blog is part practical guide, part reference, and part personal log of espress experience and experimentation. The entry below was especially noteworthy because it contrasts so sharply with one of the SwagFest contest entries, "Are we straying from the path of righteousness?" And what's this... the same author???

Well, I suppose that everyone has their moments of weakness.

we got your exit vortex right here
By Ben Szobody (Chemically Imbalanced)

holy mother of pete. if you mosey over to home-barista.com and check out the deliriously detailed breakdown of versalab's new uber-simple, insanely functional, rave-inducing grinder without the help of a seat back or drool pan, you could easily end up falling to the floor and drowning in pools of your own involuntarily deployed spittle.

and where achingly beautiful close-up photographs of conical burrs and exit vortexes amass, the way-nerdly nerds are sure to congregate. "bearing configs," "serial paths" and "ducting" are all discussed. go read. and then, go buy a boat on credit so you can mortgage it twice to fund the purchase of the m3!

of course, come up with to fix the problem? unbeeleevable.

UPDATE: this dude just had the audacity to ask, "What is the bearing configuration supporting the mainshaft (duplex pair? Angular contact W/preload?) And how stable is the burr from being moved off axis?"

this blog thinks that is pretty funny.

(cont'd)

Welcome to my quest
By Daryn Berlin (questforcoffee.com)

It started about four years ago when a friend from church gave me a small coffee plant. It floundered for a couple of years in my kitchen. I was never really sure how to care for it, but somehow managed to keep it alive... I have decided to share this little coffee journey with any coffee freak or geek who may care. I am going to explain the process by which my plant has started to flourish, and I hope anyone who has insights will share them with me. I really believe that one day I will be able to harvest my little crop, process and roast the spoils, and enjoy a spot of coffee with some friends. Coffee is my job, as well as a way of life for me and millions of others. Join me if you will on this, my

QUEST FOR COFFEE !!!