1,001 hits!

Posted on Posted in career, Coffee, job, life, Olympia Coffee Roasting Company, Portland, Seattle Coffee SocietyTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Whoa I really can’t believe there are so many readers! Thanks to everyone who reads the blog you give me a good push to keep current things up here.

_Panda

Bunn visits EP, magic.

Posted on Posted in career, Coffee, Espresso Parts Lab, job, lifeTagged , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Thursday Rusty from Bunn visited the Espresso Parts lab to demo the Trifecta.  We had coffee from Dillanos as well as Batdorf & Bronson to play with.  To show us the inner workings Rusty removed the cover and back splash panel which was very easy to do.  There is a 20 oz boiler on the bottom right side of the machine as well as pumps for the turbulence/press out air.  The drain is in the cup support, you must make sure to keep the drain tube clear of grounds.  We had a bit of a build-up and had to hit it with some Puro Caff to clear the line.

We adressed my issue about the screen not coming out, the trick is to push a lot harder than you think you should.  Unfortunately the Trifecta does not have the ability to have a hot water rinse, there are ways around this.  What you can do to get a hot rinse is to set your brewing parameters to just fill and press out.  We learned Pre-wet is cold water although the manual says to use it for coffee, it is only for tea preparation. I was really happy with the turnout and I feel like Rusty did a great job showing us the ins and outs of the Trifecta.  After all the technical stuff we started to brew.  I’ve attatched our initial notes from dialing in the Nicaragua Finca Los Milagros.  We brewed around three pounds total, cleaning the machine was a breeze and we were able to brew a lot very fast.  FYI a Coava Disk fits in the Trifecta handle…just sayin’.  The EP lab was full, the coffee was tasty and fun was had.

My day with the Trifecta.

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The Bunn Trifecta is here to fill the void the Clover has left in cafe’s across the country.  Until today I had only seen it a couple of times once at Coffee Fest and another at Seattle Coffee Works.  Magically a Bunn Trifecta appeared in the EP lab this week.  I decided to put Sunday afternoon aside for some lab time.

First off thanks to @BUNN for sending me a great link to all the Trifecta manuals and tasting sheet.  I read the manual to help in the process.  Changing the settings is fairly easy once you get used to the layout of the controls.  For fun I changed the name for the brew cycle and found it to be easy to do.  A normal 120v outlet will do, connect the brewer to a cold water system capable of 20-90 psi from a 1/2″ or larger line.  The brewer does not have a drain tray standard, you do have the option of installing one on your own.  The Trifecta’s design is rigid and somewhat cold, it’s grey and black.  The handle is all plastic with silver at the end of it, I want it to more substantial it feels a little light also an aluminum cap at the end of the handle would look way better than painted silver over plastic.  I tried to disassemble the handle as instructed from the manual and was unable to get the screen out.  The other components cam out easily the spray-head which is at the top of the brew chamber came out easy but because there isn’t much room it’s hard to get it back on.  The parts are easy to clean when brewing if you have a pitcher rinser from EP it’s a breeze.

Now let’s talk about the brewing.  I used the parameters from the Trifecta site as a start for dialing in the brew.  I used Costa Rica Tarrazu Shb El Indio from Batdorf & Bronson.  My parameters were as followed: 28g water 8oz 203° #8 on a Mahlkonig Guatemala grinder.  The brewing cycle was set to:3 second pre-wet, 10% pre-infusion, 2 second fill pause, 43 second brew time, 8 seconds of turbulence, 10 seconds turbulence off, turbulence was set to 6, press out power was 7, 35 second press out time.  There was a lot of honey sweetness a macadamia nuttiness with a creamy finish.  I burned through half of a pound during my lab time I went from a setting of 4-15 ending up with #8.  To open the brewing chamber you pull the lever at the top of the machine up and the chamber will release from the handle, add your freshly ground coffee to the handle slide it back into the holder and pull lever down.  to initiate the brewing cycle there is a small button with the picture of a cup of coffee.  It’s fun to watch the brewing cycle of the Trifecta, the chamber is filled from the bottom and some from the top, after the pre-wet/infusion the remaining brew water is added and the turbulence starts.  Air is used to agitate the ground coffee which adds a nice touch to the show.  One problem I ran into was after I changed the brew settings the press out time I selected was not long enough and there was water left in the filter handle.  I was not able to figure out how to purge the brewing chamber without starting another cycle.  Last but not least the rinse cycle is cold, I would like to be able to choose between cold and hot.

I really enjoyed my time with the Trifecta it was easy and fun to use, it was able to brew a quality cup in a short amount of time and the clean up is very easy. The Trifecta would definitely be something I would use in my own cafe(hopefully one day).  There is also a grinder that is being marketed with the Trifecta it’s the G2.  I have very limited experience with the grinder from regionals and coffee fest but did find it easy to use.

http://www.trifectaexperience.com/


Michael Fernandez

Posted on Posted in CoffeeTagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

Michael Fernandez. Please help send me to Bogota for the WBC.  If you select my name it will take you to a website where you can vote for me.  All they require is you give them you e-mail to vote.  If i get the most votes I get to go to Bogota.  Thank you so much for helping.

Coffee shizz.

Posted on Posted in lifeLeave a comment

I will be starting a new series of coffee updates for this blog! Next weekend will be the first entry in which I’ll be sharing my experience with the Bunn Trifecta we have in the lab. There will be sexxy pictures some video and lots of info. I am looking for guest bloggers for future posts so hit me up if you wanna be a part of some great coffee times!

Chemex X KONE

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I recently purchased a Coava KONE from Espresso Parts in Oly. A couple of hours in the lab and I had made some solid cups of coffee. Luckily you can go to Coava’s website and watch a beautifully shot video on how to properly use the KONE. What resulted from using the KONE was interesting, I did get a lot of sweetness, the acidity was amplified and there was a lot of sediment. I love the KONE….you should buy one.

NWRBC score sheets!

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Here are my score sheets from my recent endeavor in the Barista competition world.

postaweek2011

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This year I will be participating in the post a week challenge.  My goal is to …..post one blog a week.  If I am feeling crazy I might post two a week.  I will also post more pictures with these damn posts. That’s all.

 

_Panda

33 cups of coffee

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My new favorite thing right now.

 

 

My O.C.D. thanks you.

This is the inside.  It is set up in a really easy to approach way.  I love the star rating.

 

You need to buy one of these.

http://www.33coffees.com/buy.php

Seattle Coffee Society/Cafe Crawl

Posted on Posted in career, Coffee, Herkimer Coffee, job, life, Neptune Coffee, Olympia Coffee Roasting Company, Seattle Coffee Society, Trabant Coffee & Chai2 Comments

I heard about The Seattle Coffee Society meeting from Sara Dooley about a week before it happened and decided I would attend.  I got the day off so i could go up to Seattle and do some coffee stuff before the meeting what follows is a summary of where I went and what I had.

First stop Neptune Coffee located in the greenwood neighborhood.  Dan has been coming into our shop(OlympiaCoffeeRoastingCo.) a lot lately so I thought I would show some love and stop by.  As you walk through the door you notice to the right there is a long bench with tables along it and chairs across from it.  In the rear is a ping-pong table that was being used and I liked to hear that in the background.  To the left of the entrance is an over-sized table covered in laptops being analog I opted for the bench.  I ordered a shot of their SOE Panama Boquete Volcancito, Lauren pulled a most excellent shot, it was about one and a half ounces had great flecking and a nice caramel aroma.  I was punched in the mouth with toffee a great chocolate body and caramel finish that left me with a smile on my face.  I picked up some semi washed Sumatra Lintong which turned out to be the most amazing Sumatran coffee I have ever had.  When I got back to my shop on Friday I ran it through the Clover 35g/12oz/40sec, SUPER clean, nice cedar and tobacco undertones and as it cools it gets a really nice berry quality.  I also picked up some El Salvador La Fany that I have yet to try.

Ten blocks south of Neptune is Herkimer Coffee.  Heads up: cash only.  I had a double of the espresso blend the barista wasn’t quite sure what it was made up of.  The shot was a little over one ounce very bright and had a sharp finish.  The inside of the cafe was low lit but had a lot of windows for natural light to come through.  Very nice location.

I hit the road to downtown Seattle for Seattle Coffee Works(SCW) and Trabant.  After realising I parked in the most expensive parking garage I possibly could I headed to SCW.  SCW has a great location, it sits where the old johnny rockets was across from Pike Place Market.  When you walk in you instantly feel welcome.  Because they have a lot more space you get more choices for seating, there are benches, chairs and table, couches and a nice area where the slow bar is.  The choices don’t end with seating, you can get a pour over, siphon pot, espresso, or french press.  I opted for a  shot of El Salvador Villa España.  It was around two ounces, milk chocolatey with a wine like body and a great roasted hazelnut finish.  This was one of my favorite stops this trip.

Last but certainly not least Trabant Coffee & Chai.  I have recently fallen in love with this space.  During coffee fest I attended the train wreck party and had a great time.  The shot of 49th Parallel’s Epic espresso was very nice.  Matthew the Barista explained to me that he has been tooling around with long shots all the way up to three ounces.  The shot I had was a little over two ounces, there was a pleasing acidity to it very light body and a burnt sugar finish.  The Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Koke really came out as the espresso cooled and the Honduras added a nice milk chocolate finish.  Like Neptune they have a large bench with tables and chairs along the left side of the cafe with a small area at the entrance that has tables and chairs.  There are really great quilts on the walls which I believe are from the next door gallery…..if I’m wrong please correct me, my favorite of which was a depiction of an ice cream cone with the words “yum factor 10” sewn on.  I picked up some of 49th Parallel’s Costa Rica Helsar micro lot and have yet to brew it at home.  I highly recommend this spot for great conversation with Baristas that like to geek out more than what I have experienced in other shops.

Now that I am fully caffeinated I head back to SCW for the inaugural meeting of the Seattle Coffee Society.  Daniel Humphries put this together to get more open discussion within the Seattle coffee scene.  Daniel had just come back from Puerto Rico doing some research on the soil there.  Being from Puerto Rican descent I found this very interesting.  The main gist is that P.R. has a high market price for their coffee…somewhere around $3.oo so form the producers P.O.V. there is no reason to change practices.  When he asked them to pick ripe cherries for testing he got back a bag of very green and bright red cherries.

What I got from this subject was with enough education and investment into the P.R. coffee industry we can see some really nice high quality coffee coming from here within the next 10 years.  Another thing that interested me was the practice of par roasting coffee to be sent to P.R. due to the fact that the importation of green coffee is forbidden.  So the coffee is roasted for about five minutes and sent to P.R. where they add green beans along with the par roasted beans to their roasters and the product is often inconsistent.  There is most likely going to be another meeting at the end of January if you have any suggestions hit up Dan.

This was one of the most fun and educational coffee days I have had in a long time.  I thank Daniel for putting together the meeting and SCW for hosting.  I also want to thank all the Baristas I interacted with Y’all made my day even better!