Newfangled Dad

Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the second annual Coffee Con here in the Chicago area...one of the only coffee conventions around for consumers, not a trade show for those in the industry. I was there at the first-ever (free) version last year and enjoyed myself greatly. Even got a chance to hear the great Geoff Watts of Intelligentsia. (More about another coffee buyer shortly.) I debated in my head whether I wanted to go this year. It's about a 30 minute drive from our front door and there was a ticket price this time around. I got a lot of good info last year in brewing, grinding, and other seminars so I wasn't sure how much more I "need" to know. But, fortunately, I Tweeted my hesitation and received a free ticket code in my Direct Messages as persuasion. After all, I was in the market for a quality coffeemaker. What better opportunity? I've been thinking a lot lately about being educated...in any field. I'm not talking "beyond expert"...

As I write, we're in the middle of our largest snowfall of the year in Chicago. Some parts of the area will get 10 inches--though we're never the most because we live too close to the city. * * * Yesterday, Cole was playing in the dining-room-turned-playroom...which was covered in toys...and he turned to me and said, "this place is a mess." Ok then. After I got done laughing in my head, I said, "should we clean up a little?" His response was to grab the toy vacuum we got Leda for Christmas and pretend clean while saying over and over, "it's a mess!" in delighted tone. No clue where he got this from though I think is speaks volumes about how our household works. lol * * * My first night of my first ever triathlon training plan was a little bit of a letdown...because, basically, it was the same workout I've been doing for weeks. A short swim. But tonight's workout will finally be something a little different. A bike! Thank g...

Why is it so easy to find bad coffee? Because it's really difficult to make good coffee.  Don't get me wrong, if you like bad coffee keep drinking it. I'm the first one to say you should drink your coffee your way. This is not a coffee snob thing. I like mine drip with cream and sugar. But...I beg you...ditch the Keurig. Or, at the very least, know that you can get a cheaper, better quality cup of coffee than what Starbucks has to offer.  Coffee has more flavor compounds that wine. It's greatly influenced by growing conditions, processing, and ultimately how you brew it. So when I sat down to think about writing up a short guide it hit me that it's actually a lot easier to tell you how to avoid a bad cup than how to get a good cup. I'm still searching for the perfect cup. I've come close. But that's the tricky part...you can never quite get the same cup of coffee the way you can never step into the same river twice. So, with that in mind, here a f...

I just got a new shipment of some beans in that I'm super excited about...I can't decide what to roast first! Note: these are for my private stash, but I know a few people have expressed interest in buying. I'd be happy to discuss what to re-order. * * * Ethiopia--Saris Abaya This is a dry process coffee where the whole cherry is laid out on beds after harvest. It received a cupping score of 90.1 Tasting notes are: peach tea, berries, nuts, cocoa, creamy mouthfeel and very intense. My take: Not sure what to think yet about this one. I either screwed up or it's (as advertised) a very unusual coffee. The beans are very small...tiny enough to fall through to the hottest parts of the roaster. Being dry process, the aroma is very earthy and tough to judge doneness. And going by sound, it was a very slow first crack (spread out)...and I think some of the fallen beans started second crack and scorching which made me stop the roast a little shorter than I wanted. What ...

I've had a metal tin of coffee from Target sitting in our kitchen since before Christmas. It's been waiting for an online review next to our empty wine bottles (wine reviews are Kelly's area). So I've had a week to think about my opinion here. And I need to say upfront that I'm now officially a roaster myself--thanks to Kelly's amazing Christmas surprise for me of a drum roaster--so that colors my review now that I've had time to roast several batches to get my own experience mixed up in all of it. And I still have a very mixed opinion of this 10oz bag of Columbia La Floresta. It retailed at our local Super Target for about $15 and comes in the usual vacuum bag but with a fancy outer metal canister and a notecard explaining Cup of Excellence and about the farm. First off, I think it's great that Target is trying to expose the general coffee public in their grocery aisle to quality coffee. That said, I find little else to praise. The labeling says 2...

From some of the best beans you can get...to Target. I took a gamble in the coffee aisle this weekend with some of their Archer Farms brand beans. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Especially by the fact that they at least had the label out for some Cup of Excellence winners--none in stock, but still that is impressive that a discount huge chain has made an effort to stock quality coffee. Usually the grocery aisle depresses me. It's all pre-ground which essentially ruins coffee from the get-go. It's mostly blends, gimmicky cheap stuff. So you can imagine that I was setting the bar low for some Organic Fair Trade Guatemalan light roast. On paper it would have promise, but the proof is in the cup. The notes on the bag say, "bright and spicy aroma, mild body with floral and chocolate notes." Rarely does a coffee exactly live up to this profile. Especially good coffee usually has a bit more complexity. Bad coffee will taste flat. But I have to say that wha...

Today's coffee ain't estate-grown high end stuff. But it is teaching me that I generally enjoy coffees from Guatemala. I'm not saying those are the best, just my preference. Maybe something about the soil there? I'm currently in-between coffee sources...we'll get to more on that in a minute.  But my current selection is just some very decent Rainforest Alliance Certified Guatemala El Paraiso from Caribou. I enjoyed their Columbia last week as well, but to me this has more flavor complexity. It's a light roast that has cranberry and almond as the taste notes. I'm also getting a slight sugary/caramel in the whole bean smell and the flavor is a delicate, sweet, smooth first impression with no bitterness in the finish. It doesn't quite stay as perky as a higher end coffee, but I'm fairly impressed given it's something you get down at the chain coffee shop.  Back to my search. I've fallen out of love with my local source for roasted so I...

It's been awhile since I blogged coffee...today's roast is organic fair trade from Papua New Guinea..."syrupy body, very balanced" are the notes. It's decent but not my favorite from Blue Max Coffee. I tend to go for the lighter, more floral quality in the beans and this has a distinct sugary, thicker, heavier flavor that I don't mind. A decent roast from 10/31 though I'd probably return to one of my old standbys. It's less delicate and lacks a bit in the full spectrum that, say, their Guatemala or Kenya has. But the bigger issue for me this week was that the Blue Max raised their Tuesday special price from $10 to $11. They're still doing their Buy 10, Get 1 Free punch card program. As a coffee snob, however, I'm reaching a tipping point perhaps. They're a great place and I like supporting a small local business. The basic fact is that if you want truly great specialty coffee, you're going to have to spend more and go elsewhere. Blue...

I'm still playing around with ideas and this feature in particular may go through several incarnations. For now, it's just a frequent, tagged blog post you can (hopefully) easily find from the homepage. I'd love to make it a separate tab (along with marathon running) since it really isn't dad-related. But Blogger apparently doesn't want me blog-within-a-blogging. So then my other choice would be to just start a linked coffee blog. But that seems like a lot more difficult solution to an easy problem. I have a new grinder that I got before the marathon which sat in its box until I got back. But I've used it 3 days now and am quite happy with it. It's a very cheap burr mill for $15 from Target. Not anything the espresso crowd would use, but I'm a pretty solid drip-brew guy. It delivers a very consistent grind, all things considered. While we were in MN, I had the use of a Kitchen Aid blade grinder. Well-built, expensive, very nice. And it delivered a ve...

Welcome to the first edition of my semi-regular thoughts on coffee, the coffee industry, and coffee culture. (Thanks, Kelly, for the idea to write about my love...one day maybe it'll turn into something bigger, time will tell.) Today's take is on a micro-lot of Finca La Tina from Honduras roasted by Intelligentsia. Of the current selections of single-origin coffee on my kitchen counter--Ethiopia and Tanzania are the others--this one is the best. And I paid dearly for it. But good coffee is expensive. Why is the subject of perhaps other entries. It's about the difficulty finding good beans, those beans travelling a long way, being roasted and stored properly, then brewed correctly before they go bad. And that last part is my topic for today. But first, a word about the beans. What you drink when you walk into Starbucks or buy Maxwell House at the grocery...that's probably a blend. Meaning the beans from a given region or even worldwide as a commodity have been esse...