I currently live in Olympia, WA and I’m originally from the south which means I’m inclined to re-purposing mason jars. I have a Baratza Maestro plus at home and when I need to dial in the grind for a certain brewing device I don’t waste new coffee I use old coffee. To keep the beans from getting too gross I keep them in an opaque jar covered in ColorTex by Design Master. It’s a spray adhesive that has bits of multi colored plastic in it. After I’ve covered the jar with the ColorTex I let it dry overnight. I noticed that the jar smelled of spray paint afterward so I covered it in two coats of Mod Podge. This helped cover the smell and give the jar a more glossy look. I really love how the jar looks!
Tag: Panda
tehCoffee review
I’ve been struggling with updating this blog more often. In an attempt to help with that I’ll also cross-post some things I feel like you guys might want to see. I just posted a review on a really great new site tehcoffee.com Dan Baumfeld dreamed this baby up and it’s been picking up speed. These reviews are done by industry professionals. People that actually work as judges for the SCAA & BGA, cafe owners, baristas and other active members in the Barista community. You can trust that these reviews and the places that are reviewed are quality. The next time you go out for coffee check tehCoffee!
Direct link to the review——-> http://tehcoffee.com/reviews/86
_Panda
Sorry…I kinda forgot I had a blog
We are a little over two weeks into the year and I haven’t posted anything. My bad. I will post more often…starting now.
I’ve been getting ready for NWRBC coming up next Friday in Tacoma. This will be my second time competing and I’m pretty stoked about it. I think Baristas should try it at least once. Regionals are a great opportunity to be in front of your peers, share awesome coffee and create an amazing experience for the judges.
I chose to use Bluebeard Coffee out of Tacoma this year. Kevin Roaster/Owner from Bluebeard visited EP in August and dropped off some of his espresso The Narrows blend. I threw it in the hopper and magic came out. The shot tasted like marzipan and sunshine. From tasting that shot I knew I wanted to use his coffee for competition. I’m so lucky to have them as a coffee sponsor and be able to rep a Tacoma roaster.
Espresso Parts is once again supporting me by covering my entry fees and helping with small-wares costs. I’m fortunate to work for a company that is completely committed to the Barista community and coffee industry.
I know that competing is spendy but there are a few things you can do to cut down on costs. Ask the roaster if they will sponsor you, this can be by selling the coffee to you at a discount or even covering the cost completely. See if your employer will cover any costs you might have be that entry fees or small-wares. Don’t forget BGA members are a great source of knowledge when it comes to competing and anything coffee. There are a lot of people that want to help all you have to do is ask.
Alright, I gotta go play in the snow with my doggy.
Sunday Lab Session
This Sunday I will be hosting an open lab at Espresso Parts from 10-3. The lab will be strictly slow brew, no espresso. In the near future I will hold an espresso lab session but for now we will focus on manual brewing. Batdorf & Bronson has donated three pounds of Guatemala Antigua for us to play with. Huge thanks to them for helping out and being an active member of the coffee community! Feel free to bring any coffee you have that you might want me to help you brew better. I look forward to seeing you there!
_Panda
Kalita Wave
I decided to spend some time with the Kalita Wave this afternoon. First off I love the how the wave looks, its shiny stainless steel with ridges hence the wave I presume. It has a brown plastic handle with little brass embellishments. I’ve mainly done pour-overs with the Hario V-60 so this shiny device is a nice alternative. It has three ridges on the bottom of the inside to keep the filter from stopping the water flow. The water flow is slower than with a V-60 so I went two steps coarser on my grind. After side by side tasting the natural brown filter MUST be pre-washed.
For my pour I did a 70g bloom for 30 seconds
then I added half the brew water let it sit for ten seconds
and added the remaining water in a circular motion. What ended up in the cup was caramel and walnut up front with a light floral mid and a sweet creamy finish.
Bolivia Cafe Golondrina
| Extraction Yield | 20.32 % |
| TDS | 1.26 % |
| Dose Weight | 26.0 g |
| Brew Water Weight | 466 g |
Coffee Details
| Brew Water Start Temp | 93°C/200°F |
| Brew Time | 2 mins 39 secs |
| Method | Pour Over |
| Roaster Name | Olympia Coffee Roasting Co. |
| Roast Style | Medium |
| Farm/Farmer | Celso David Mayata Quispe |
| Grinder | Mahlkoenig Guatemala |
| Grind Setting | 8 |
Kalita wave
Seattle cafe crawl
Last Saturday I spent the day in Seattle visiting a few cafes with friends. We met up at Arabica Lounge on Capitol Hill. This was my first visit and it kind of blew me out of the water. I arrived first so I had time to scope out the space and I liked what I saw. None of the furniture matches the hardwood floor looks had and the walls could use paint but all of this adds up to why I love this place. My Macchiato was everything one should be, sweet and balanced. I had a little much to drink the night before so I had the hangover omelette. To be honest I wasn’t really thinking the food would be that great luckily for me I was wrong, it was perfectly cooked and seasoned
When my friends showed up we talked a little about educating coffee consumers, I feel the more we educate the customers as to what good coffee is the more accountable we are to make it for them. Dooley introduced me to Brian who is organizing a really rad coffee event. The gist of it is to bring the Barista closer to the customer in a role of education and not just service. Brian and I have similar viewpoints on coffee/brewing, especially making it more accessible. We (specialty coffee) are very serious about training staff why not train customers the same way?
Our next stop was the SBUX on Olive Way. I was very surprised by what I found inside, there was a double fire-place, semi-private indoor seating as well as open seating areas. It was interesting to see the square brewing station like the one at InlelliVenice reinterpreted in this space. This cafe is very warm and inviting, I could definitely spend an afternoon there.
We hit up the Vivace sidewalk cafe and had drinks at the Brix cafe. The cafe is very open with lots of seating as well as a “study” section separated from general seating by a glass door. Since this was my first time I ordered a macchiato and straight shot of espresso. The macchiato super sweet and full of caramel was made with Vita and the espresso was balanced and chocolaty. One of my favorite things when visiting new cafe is interacting with Baristas. Brian our barista has been with Vivace since 1995 and is currently the head trainer, we talked a lot about espresso, the foam knife and misc cafe stuff. The coffee coupled with a fantastic Barista made this an experience that will keep me coming back to Vivace.
Fully caffeinated and ready for more we headed to Stumptown on 12th. This is also the location of their Seattle roasting facility. We all ordered espresso, mine was sugar sweet had a slight floral quality and made my mouth happy. Luckily we happened to stop by while the 3 o’clock cupping was going on. The cuppings are held downstairs in the roastery/production area. There is a cupping table with a window running along it that lets you see into the training lab. The Costa Rica Helsar Reserva was amazing, it had nice raspberry and floral qualities, the body was syrupy and the finish sweet and clean. When you walk through this roastery you can really tell they know what’s up, the facility was clean the lab tidy and production area well organised.
Our Seattle coffee crawl was a success! We got together spoke of world domination and drank some really great coffee. I thoroughly enjoyed every stop on our list and can’t wait till the next crawl. Thank you Seattle!
It’s almost Friday
Today I got a visit from Akaash Saini a vlogger from Seattle. We originally met at the first Seattle Coffee Society meeting. He was visiting Olympia for the opening of the farmer’s market . luckily he had time to stop by Espresso Parts for a quick tour and a shot of The Sermon espresso we got from Verve yesterday. This is the fist time I have had Verve and I am very impressed, the espresso ended up like a PB&J sandwich in the cup.
I showed him around EP and we had a shot of Big Truck at Olympia Coffee. Our last stop was Sizizis a 24hr shop that serves Hairbender from Stumptown. It was nice to show off some really good local shops and talk coffee.
_Panda
http://www.weeklybrewblog.com/The_Weekly_Brew/Home/Home.html
http://www.vervecoffeeroasters.com/collections/coffee/products/the-sermon-espresso
Sunday lab 4/3/11
I have been going to the lab on Sunday’s to keep sharp, especially now that I don’t work in a cafe. After the first few times I decided I needed to have at least one other person to try the coffee I was making, before my next lab session I tweeted an open invitation to whoever was in the area. My really good friend Larissa who roasts for Seattle Coffee Works was my first visitor for my Trifecta blog. We had a lot of fun and the extra company was nice to have. Last week I had three people visit but I really want to talk about this weekend.
My Sunday started normally I had some breakfast and got my things together for the lab. I jumped on my bike and headed to EP with nothing in particular to work on this week. First I made a Clever of the Guatemala Finca Santa Isabel and headed over to Oly coffee to chat with the staff (we share the same building as Olympia Coffee Roasting Co. and I used to work there). Jared and Carson were working and I invited them over if they had extra time to play. Mr.Elvin was in the cafe so he and I chatted it up for a minute and as I was leaving I noticed my friend Rebeka was there so I invited her over too. After a while I headed back to the lab to start lab time.
As I was getting everything together Mike from shipping showed up. Mike just moved here from Mass. and is looking forward to learning more about coffee. We chose to brew with the clever, which has become my favorite brewing method as of late. Mike really liked how easy it was to use and was impressed with the quality of the coffee. Shortly after that Rebeka and her friend Sara showed to make some coffee. Next up we brewed a syphon using an infrared beam heater and F.S.I from Oly coffee. Everyone loves the show you get when using the syphon and the IR beam heater really adds to that. I normally don’t brew with the syphon because it’s not the easiest thing to use and I really don’t like the cloth taste. A few more people trickled in and before I knew it there were ten people in the lab! We have a new guy from Oakland, his name is Jeff and he’s pretty cool. Jeff dialed in the Big Truck blend from Oly coffee, it ended up tasting sweet with some hints of lemon and had a very syrupy body.
It was so much fun sharing great coffee with people who want to learn more about our industry. This was definitely one of my favorite coffee days I’ve had in a while. The whole room was filled with people eager to learn share techniques and make coffee better. It makes me feel great that even in this small town there are people who do care about the craft and embrace specialty coffee. I want to make it easier for coffee consumers that maybe haven’t worked in a cafe before and lack some basic knowledge that we think of as common sense to join us in celebrating coffee. Educating our customers is one of the most important things we can do. The more we educate our customers the more they can enjoy and appreciate the experience we provide with this amazing beverage. KEEP EDUCATING AND APPRECIATING YOUR CUSTOMERS, without them we wouldn’t have anything to do.
_Panda
Bunn visits EP, magic.
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.
NWRBC score sheets!
Here are my score sheets from my recent endeavor in the Barista competition world.
Thoughts of Clouds 
