-
-
npr:
Thou ruttish hasty-witted puttock! It’s like a Harry Potter novel. — tanya b.
Make Your Own Shakespearean Insults...
-
-
There’s a good chance you’ll recognize this image when you see it. Why? Simply because this photo by Charles O’Rear is the most recognizable...
-
Corgi in a Coffee Bag: Meet Duncan — my precocious (slightly mischievous) pup.
We play a little game where I throw his toy into a burlap coffee bag and he figures out how to retrieve it. Usually he just paws at it, but today he just decided to go for broke.
Paul donated a burlap coffee bag to Duncan. He’s really enjoying it as his new bed. (Taken with instagram)
My friend/co-worker/dev-guru @richardiii brought a coffee project called Joulies to my attention. They are stainless-steel “beans” that are filled with a non-toxic liquid that heat and cool coffee to an optimal drinking temperature to solve the problems of being served overly hot as well as getting too cold too quickly.
I applaud the ingenuity of these young industrial designers because they’ve created something unique (and aesthetically pleasing in my opinion) to solve issues associated with the variable of temperature. But while I really love the concept, I see it as a temporary fix that treats a symptom, not the disease.
What I’m talking about are the misperceptions of how coffee should be served and consumed.
While I’m not a coffee-expert by any means, I’ve found myself entrenched in the world of third wave coffee over the last year. I’m dating a coffee roaster and have many friends and acquaintances who are career roasters, baristas and proprietors. While they might have differing ideas about the quality of various regions and roast philosophies, I know they agree that a scalding hot cup of coffee is just not right.
If a shop is serving it’s drinks too hot, it’s something to mention and have them fix immediately. If the water is too hot, it not only assaults the tongue but the coffee grounds. As Paul Haworth (my boyfriend and the roaster for Cartel Coffee Lab) explains, “Suffice it to say, more bitter elements are extracted at higher temperatures. Above 204°F, bitters begin to eclipse sweetness.” Others in the industry agree.
My other issue with this technology being used for coffee is that it’s not one of those drinks someone would take 2 hours to imbibe. When you get a cup of coffee (even on the go or to bring to your coworkers) you probably aren’t going to need it to be hot for that long. Do anyone really enjoy 3-hour-old coffee?
My point is that while this is a great product, I would much rather see the coffee industry at large grow in the area of quality service. Stop brewing too hot to cover up burnt coffee (meaning: buy well-roasted coffee and serve it at the appropriate drinking temperature). And stop making people fix a problem that the industry should solve for them.
This is one of those extravagant coffee snob items I’d love to have in my kitchen. I saw a much larger and more impressive (expensive) version at the Blue Bottle in San Francisco. Since then, Paul has told me that he would love to make one from scratch. I reminded him that securing all of the parts + time + labor would put the cost well over the $265 Hario version. Nevertheless, he smiled and said it was worth a shot.
202/365 that cappuccino is for here.
A reworking of one of MANY snarky signs at cartel coffee lab.
187/365 Coffee comes from Cherries
I realized I hadn’t made any infographics in a while… so why not? Here’s a little look at where the green coffee bean comes from. Most people don’t realize how the coffee seed is harvested (I didn’t until a few months ago), so I thought I could try making a fun little infographic about it. I might make a second one about roasting :) Enjoy!
