Coffee

That does it! Tomorrow I'm off in search of new and exotic coffees. Even if I have to pass three Peet's and four Starbucks to get there!
 
We like Peet's. I think we all agree Major Dickason's is on par with some of the best.

I made some more Goty this morning. The french press brought out more intense flavors. You can actually taste hints of peanut butter and honey. Oh, no! I have turned into a coffee snob! :o
 
Sorry for the blurry cell phone picture... But has anyone been using the Aeropress? I just got one this week, and I've been using it for a few days now. (Apologies if this has been discussed earlier in the thread. I neglected to search...)

4935f996-3016-4969-aab2-ce38b10389c5_zps8ua7wjma.jpg


Pros: Great cup of coffee! Better than drip. Different (better?) than a French press. Coffee comes out free of bitterness or sharp acidity. Prep and cleanup are fast. Not expensive. Lightweight (though a bit bulky) enough to take to the office or on a picnic or camping trip. Neutral gray color goes fine with my teal bone Great Eastern Boys Knife.

Cons: Needs more coffee than other methods, about 25% more than I would use in a French press, drip, or espresso machine. Water temperature cools off quickly. (Recommended brewing temps are 170-180 F.) Advertised as a way to make "espresso." But it is not espresso at all, and espresso enthusiasts will be disappointed if that is the expectation. It is really more of an intermediate method, halfway between drip coffee and French press. With the finer filter, you don't get any grounds in your coffee using an Aeropress.

I highly recommend it. It may become my preferred way of making coffee when just brewing 12-16 oz at a time. But if you like your coffee hot, you might be using it in combination with the microwave.
 
Dr. Scott said:
Sorry for the blurry cell phone picture... But has anyone been using the Aeropress? I just got one this week, and I've been using it for a few days now. (Apologies if this has been discussed earlier in the thread. I neglected to search...)

4935f996-3016-4969-aab2-ce38b10389c5_zps8ua7wjma.jpg


Pros: Great cup of coffee! Better than drip. Different (better?) than a French press. Coffee comes out free of bitterness or sharp acidity. Prep and cleanup are fast. Not expensive. Lightweight (though a bit bulky) enough to take to the office or on a picnic or camping trip. Neutral gray color goes fine with my teal bone Great Eastern Boys Knife.

Cons: Needs more coffee than other methods, about 25% more than I would use in a French press, drip, or espresso machine. Water temperature cools off quickly. (Recommended brewing temps are 170-180 F.) Advertised as a way to make "espresso." But it is not espresso at all, and espresso enthusiasts will be disappointed if that is the expectation. It is really more of an intermediate method, halfway between drip coffee and French press. With the finer filter, you don't get any grounds in your coffee using an Aeropress.

I highly recommend it. It may become my preferred way of making coffee when just brewing 12-16 oz at a time. But if you like your coffee hot, you might be using it in combination with the microwave.
Click to expand...

I've got just about every coffee making apparatus known and when it comes down to it I basically look for the easiest way to make the best cup and the Aeropress is right up there.
I use it almost exclusively these days along with a Hario pour-over which almost rivals Chemex quality. Hario is simpler so it gets more action than the Chemex and will probably be the gadget that goes in my pack.
The Aeropress will make a pretty decent espresso but getting crema is difficult. It's finicky about the grind and bean so a burr grinder and a bean that's known to produce a good crema is necessary.
If you want a hot cup, pour in water just off the boil to soak the filter and let it sit warming the cup till the water drops a few degrees then dump everything, add the grounds and proceed making the coffee.
For an espresso a semi-fine grind and stirring is required, you'll get some crema but it dissipates quickly. I just had one (because of your post thank you) and I should have taken a picture. Next time.
 
Trying out some of Monofletch's recommended Peet's Anniversary.
Makes a tasty espresso.
Tastes like another. :D

IWOawug.jpg
 
A little confession some of my favorite coffees in NYC are actually roasted elsewhere. Some are local like Toby's Estate. But some like their Night vision blend of espresso was created in Seattle, Wa! A little description about Night Vision below!

We started working with Dillanos Coffee Roasters in 2010 when Greg was impressed enough with their roasting operation, their team, and their willingness to go above and beyond what any wholesale customer had previously asked of them to think that switching to a roaster located in Washington State was a good idea for Gregorys Coffee.

He was right, of course. Our partnership with Dillanos, first and foremost, led to us serving really terrific coffees. In addition to improving our house blend, we were able to step up our single origin coffee game. Dillanos, along with importer Sustainable Harvest, had relationships with excellent producers such as the Chacons, of the inspiring Las Lajas farm, whose willingness to constantly improve and experiment with processing brought us both the honey-processed Las Lajas coffee and their naturally-processed Perla Negra.

Our espresso also took a huge step forward, with the Kerasi 327 blend putting in work for over a year, before being replaced with the first version of Night Vision. We got to fly out to Seattle to help put together that blend in person. It was a formative experience in our coffee education, and it made all of us especially proud of Night Vision, which we would end up tweaking throughout the years while keeping that heavy chocolate flavor that it was built around intact. Dillanos’ willingness to actively work with us on tweaking and developing blends helped us constantly improve the quality of our coffee.

The Night Vision blend at first included Las Lajas, and was later based around coffee from a Brazilian farm called Fazenda Sertao, which Greg and Bailey (way before she became our Director of Education) got to visit in 2011. Maciej and Greg got to take a trip to the Las Lajas farm a year and change later. Those origin trips not only taught us about how coffee gets from farm to cup, but also helped develop in all of us values that we then pass on to our managers and baristas. Going to origin instilled in us a sense of responsibility to all the people who spend massive amounts of physical and mental energy on the coffee long before it reaches our shores.

The team at Dillanos has worked for years to provide us with great coffee and make all the logistical stuff that goes with physically getting that coffee in our shops as easy as possible (the latter of those two tasks is often underrated in its difficulty). Phil Beattie is world class as far as crafting espresso blends - buying coffees, fitting them together, and figuring out how they should be roasted (he also just roasted the coffee for the winner of this weekend’s US Barista Championship). Chris Buck has been a constant help in all aspects and one of the best people we’ve had a chance to deal with in our time in specialty coffee so far. Keith Hayward is a never-faltering source of encouragement and excitement, whether it be support for our team-building events or just wanting to know how our lives are going. Back when we initially went with Dillanos as our primary roaster, Anna Gutierrez made the trip to NYC and worked individually on the espresso bar with nearly every barista on staff and contributed to the early stages of development of our system of training and reviewing our staff. Michelle Stanley is a customer service powerhouse, with thousands of pounds of coffee per week, next-day orders, and sometimes strange requests from our managers being absolutely no sweat. It almost goes without saying (but why not just say it) that without Bjorn Dhase the coffee we’re serving wouldn’t be roasted at all, let alone expertly roasted. Carissa Campbell, when we’ve gotten the opportunity to work with her, has been awesome. None of this would have happened without Lon LaFlamme, who met Greg in 2007 and, after writing us up in the Coffee and Tea Journal in 2010, convinced Greg to take a trip out to Sumner. David Morris and Chris Heyer have built a company of amazing people and the whole Dillanos team has given us the opportunity to learn, flourish, and develop. We can say pretty objectively that we would not be anywhere near where we are today without them.

So, in case the elegiac tone of this post hasn’t given it away, it’s with no small amount of emotion that we’re writing to announce that we’re moving away from Dillanos as our main roaster. We’re very proud to include Dillanos as a part of our history and can’t thank them enough for the position they’ve helped put us in. We’ll write more about our future plans very soon - we wouldn’t be leaving such a terrific partner if we didn’t have future plans we were very excited about - but for now, we just wanted to say:

Thank you, Dillanos.

Gregorys Coffee
 
PS I had to be in San Jose, Ca. for a client. I tried Crema Roasting Company Coffee and Espresso. I wasn't blown away by it. The espresso was entirely too acidic and fruity, and the coffee roasted a way too dark for any flavors to come out. It seemed like a popular coffee joint. Their Madeleines on the other hand were heavenly! Like a cross between a corn cake and a pound cake. It just need a splash of lemon zest and it would have been the perfect accompaniment to a cup of joe! That said the weather out in Ca is just ridiculous. The produce, (salads for example) are the best in the country bar none. Had dinner at Land & Compass and the food and after dinner coffee were all spectacular.
 
Got a little care package from our friend cchu518 this week with some Gregory's beans.
Made a delicious espresso but really shone using the Aeropress.
Nice bitter chocolate tones with a level of citrus. Awesome, I'm a sucker for chocolaty coffee.
Thanks again Chris. :thumbup:

rrkYvpz.jpg


Decent crema.
UqibQd1.jpg
 
cchu518 said:
I'm having some of their East Timor bean this am!
Click to expand...

It's been a rough weekend. I've got enough of your stash for one more cup before I head out for my second mountain bike ride of the day. One more ride scheduled after that and I should have all the toxins flushed out. :barf:
 
I won Cchu's knife GAW (Byrd Cara Cara 2) plus he sent me the other half of that bag of Gregory's for my B day! BM1 was correct saying hints of chocolate..it is strong chocolate. Wonderful coffee! Thank you Chris!!

The Manix 2 XL is one of the knives I got for my B day!! Love it!

KZ%20061.jpg
 
Afternoon cup of Counter Culture Forty-Six blend and a chocolate/coffee bar made locally.

Mv9tVY6.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top