09.06.08

The Inner Tinkerer

Posted in @ the Cauldron at 8:13 am by The Coffee Alchemist

It ain’t broke.

But it can be better…infinitely.

There are many things involved in making coffee. Many work very well. Thankfully some of these things can work a little better if they can be pulled apart and put back together in better shape.

Better encompasses not just faster or bigger. It can also mean easier, and in the world of coffee, tastier. All this just makes the inner tinkerer in us sleepless with ideas and questions.

After a few twilight meanderings, I set out to tinker with my BNZ conical grinder.

stages of grinding
I have done away with the doser, and here it is in [non]dosing action. Much faster too as the redundant thwack-thwack pulling of the doser lever is obviated.

grind tornado
Without the doser, the grinder’s velocity is laid bare and the funnel shapes the torrent of grinds into a clean vortex. The descending tornado is dangerously mesmerising.

the grinder and the clump-free grinds
The result of the coffee alchemist’s tinkering: a static-free, clump-free, well-distributed mound of ground coffee.

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08.06.08

On MountainTop Bin 549

Posted in @ the Cauldron at 5:03 pm by The Coffee Alchemist

There are things to relish about plunging into the chasm that is barista competition. One is that competition becomes some form of purification of practice, of discarding assumptions and other attachments that are extraneous to coffee. Through competition I realise new disciplines:

Every bean ground is expressed in the cup.
Every lifting of the hand is for the purpose of making coffee.
Everything the barista does uniquely is because the coffee dictates it.
Coffee is imaginary until tried and tasted.

Given the recent CoffeeSnobs discussion around the Mountaintop Bin 549, the last discipline gains relevance. This is the coffee I chose to compete with in the Australian Barista Championship 2008, and thus come to try and taste and know very well. So it is with slight surprise that I come across discontent with the “greenness” of this coffee and suggestions that it should be rested a few months before trying. Like rough cut gem, “green”, that quality indicating the freshness of the crop and hinting at undeveloped, unripe and sour attributes of fruit, can be transformed by a curious hand. There is less promise in squeezing life out of an old crop.

For those with some greens and eager to leap out of the imaginary, here are my encounters and some things I’ve learned about the Bin 549:

Moisture-laden - this bean is heavy with moisture, though also rather soft. I usually apply a bit more heat in the early stages of roasting, but not too much as I want a bit more material to work with once first crack starts.

Super exotherm – when it reaches the crest and starts to spew forth heat, the rapidly flickering temperature readout reflects the monstrous energy release of this bean. If I do not apply heat restraints before first crack, the roast can easily bolt and difficult to rein in during first and second cracks. I still want a fully-realised first crack, but I don’t want it to take the rest of the roast with it.

Green gives good play - I achieve a more balanced cup and tone down the greenness if I stretch out the time from first crack to end of roast (between 4-5minutes; 4 minutes for more fruit, while 5 result in more body and balance). Providing there is still a lot left in the bean, it will yield to more shaping beyond 5 minutes, though I am not personally inclined to this style.

Green inspires art - I achieve the cup I want (abundant fruit, good body) if I extinguish all heat just before the beans enter second crack, let them come into second, apply a bit more air to cushion the impact and ease the momentum of crackling, stretch it, stretch it…then quickly into the cooling tray. Further shredding of the green is possible by letting the beans languor in their afterglow in the cooling tray for a few seconds before turning on the cooling fan.

May the flame be with you.

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19.05.08

Sparks from Stumptown

Posted in @ the Cauldron at 9:50 pm by The Coffee Alchemist

There are many coffee places in the world I would like to visit, for their blends, but more so for the staggeringly wider range of specialty coffee they offer. I’ve done imaginary cuppings of these mythical things and they are as cold as my nose against a glass window. Australia feels like a coffee outpost sometimes.

Then some kind friends, returning from far-flung coffee metropoles like Portland, drop by with contraband. As reward for my tips of reliable coffee haunts they come bearing Stumptown’s Hairbender and Ethiopia Tega and Tula repacked in my zipped valved bags.

Precious!

As espresso the Hairbender is every bit the legends make of it. It breaks in your mouth singing, seeks to fill the nooks and crannies then leaves with a deep lumbering hum. Bright, deep, complex.

The Ethiopia, is, well…grace. How does one describe grace bestowed in a demitasse? I can say groves and groves of ripe bursting fruits berry citrus and musky passionfruit succulent and sweet my mouth gurgling and guilty with juice. There are better words out there for this.

I wish coffee isn’t so ephemeral as I cling to a waning fistful hopeful that a coffee kindred can also see. But Mr Snuffleupagus leaves before anyone arrives.

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06.05.08

For the love of cupping…

Posted in @ the Cauldron at 12:30 pm by The Coffee Alchemist

for the love of cupping@ABC2008

In August last year, I fell in love with this single-estate Australian coffee and I’ve been drinking it since then almost every morning through my vacuum brewer. In a realm ruled by espresso, I wished more could catch a glimpse of this coffee brewed this way.

So for my 15 minutes of competition time, in the NSW Barista Championship 2008, I decided to introduce this coffee to the judges through a cupping before I proceeded with the competition drinks - espresso, cappuccino and signature drink. With this extra course not having any bearing on the scores of the actual competition drinks, I still took time to offer judges a cupping of my coffee. I wanted them to experience the coffee in its barest form, before the mediations of espresso machine, milk and other things.

All the NSW sensory judges appreciated what I did and encouraged me to continue on the same path to the national competition. Things could not have been more different at the Australian Barista Championship 2008 finals.

I was informed that the judges will not be permitted to drink anything I offer them other than the competition drinks as I quote in the emailed notice:
“Baristas may choose to serve extra elements as part of their performance, but the judges will not be permitted to consume them or interact with them at all.”

I gave this much thought and I decided to still go ahead with a cupping. Cupping coffee is not incidental to what I do. It is fundamental. And I am not afraid to cup alone.

To my surprise and glee (an invitation to cup is the most heartfelt respect one coffee industry person can give to another and acceptance is respect reciprocated) the judges cupped with me. The ecstasy continued the rest of the 15 minutes I was accorded.

To my surprise and consternation, much later after the competition and during the judges debriefing, it was revealed to me that the judges handed me heavy penalties for the cupping. My cupping was considered a palate cleanser even though I made no mention of it being such and apparently it stood as my espresso offering. Thus all my espresso taste and tactile balance points were nulled, though it confounds me that the other espresso components like colour and consistency of crema etc. remained intact and counted. The judges’ total impression scores were also adjusted for penalties.

The agony sets…heavy, hanging and at times inextricable. Coffee has always guided me through bright constellations. In rare instances like these, it seems, coffee cannot repel the voids and holes.

Not all is dark as I leave the competition. A South Melbourne roaster offers the bright sparks of his cauldron and invites me for cupping. I accept. Ahh…the ecstasy and the agony and the ecstasy.

…and the slow burning fury.

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19.05.07

After Antwerpen…

Posted in @ the Cauldron at 12:08 pm by The Coffee Alchemist

Hazel at World Cuptasting Competition'07

It was no doubt a most eye-opening
experience! What a thrill, to have cupped
alongside some of the world’s best cuppers
- from coffee-growing origins to green
bean suppliers in coffee-buying countries.
Congratulations to Anette Moldvaer
from Mercanta in England whose
performance was nothing short of stellar.

It was unnerving to be in the first set
of cuppers to go up on stage (actually
I was in the No.1 slot - a slot I never got much joy in any competition) and not have the slightest idea where the bar is at in terms of time. I did very well registering 7 correct cups (out of 8 ), though a fraction faster time may have secured me a spot on the semi-finals.

As I sat down to watch the rest of the cuppers, I was in awe. Alf Kramer, who designed the competition and presided over the proceedings, mentioned the 3 skills at play: natural skills, concentration skills, and skills developed by experience. There was great depth of skill displayed by the cuppers in the semi-finals. They may have cupped only 24 coffees in one round, but you get a sense of the thousands of coffees that have passed through their spoons.

I return to Sydney rearing to sharpen further the skills and insights I have developed. How much further, I am only too thrilled to imagine.

All these just make coffee an even bigger universe to marvel at.

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27.03.07

Shooting Paracelsus Punch

Posted in @ the Cauldron at 9:46 am by The Coffee Alchemist

We have always photographed the pours of both our blends and some single origin coffees, you’d be surprised how much you can learn from a picture. We thought we’d share some of these shots of coffee, this is how Paracelsus Punch flows.

These are what we’ve defined as Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Coffee Alchemy Pour Spectrum.

Paracelsus Punch Stage 1 and 2

This is Stage 3 and the final moment just as we stop the pour.

Paracelsus Punch Stage 3 and Final Pour

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09.02.07

Cellaring Potential

Posted in @ the Cauldron at 5:38 pm by The Coffee Alchemist

Some time ago I stumbled upon a pot of gold…not quite, just an airtight barrel of Sumatra Blue Batak that I decommissioned for underperforming. A few months later I sampled a few kilos of this rested Sumatra as it was the Sulawesi’s turn to give me grief. The Blue Batak was heavier, plummier, raisiny sweeter and had cleaner aromatics - almond, hazelnut, butter - after several months in airtight hibernation.

To this day I remain haunted by it, even more so now that it has acquired the mystique of a pot of gold out of my reach for ages because a certain transnational corporation (known to char the living smithereens out of beans) has bought out future crops. So I have gone accustomed to working with the accessible and consistent, but less vertiginous, Sumatra Kuda Mas.

Kuda Mas

   …until a few days ago when I picked up a
   new crop Kuda Mas and ran my fingers
   through the beans. The smell was fresh
   turned forest floor with a mixture of moss
   and must in the distance, and the beans
   were unconventionally less patchy, more
   uniform throughout the bean, larger, denser,
   cooler… The cup had heft but the structure
   was gangly and awkward, trying to assert
   its baritone birthright but crackling along the way.

I will research on the impact of airtight storage on polysaccharides and low-molecular weight sugars in green beans, and in turn what this does or doesn’t do to some of my favourite odorants and their derivatives - phenols, furans and pyrans. In the meantime, I’ve to find me some empty barrels…

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24.01.07

Humpty Back Together Again

Posted in @ the Cauldron at 9:50 am by The Coffee Alchemist

One of the most precious pieces in the Cauldron’s arsenal is the La Marzocco Linea - its powers of transmutation are phenomenal. Alas, even at the tender age of two and with regular water filter replacement, its inards unduly labour under a layer of scale. The water at the Cauldron, it seems, is quite hard. The signs hint at scale, and the cup declares it.

So apart it comes: panels, pipes, fittings, probe and boiler - all destined for descaling and scrubbing. The temperature probe suffered the worst and was wasted. A new one adorns the boiler neck now.

Humpty before

Then, when the parts are gleaming and free, reconstruction takes place with new gaskets, o-rings and sealant. All become one again.

Humpty after

Taking in new water, the pipes hiss and the fan hums. I watch as beads of water break out under the hex screw and tighten. The Linea awakes…!

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08.01.07

Cowgirl Cuppa

Posted in @ the Cauldron at 5:09 pm by Alchemist

Cowgirl Cuppa

   For years, I have stowed a disparate
   assortment of brewers and grinders in my
   luggage to maintain the coffee loop when
   away from the roastery. Packing the french
   press was always a challenge. Travelling
   overseas required a search for appropriate
   adaptors never mind the inextricable puzzle
   of voltage differences. Still, I lugged.

Lately, however, I realised how things had gotten wonderfully simple - no more plug problems, no more breakage anxieties, and a lighter load off the turnstile. The coffee? Amazing!

In true coffee fashion (read: hello serendipity), this new evolution happened when I forgot to pack the french press. With only fresh-off-the-tray Holy Hildegard! and a hand grinder in tow, the most obvious brewing option was a conventional cupping.

True cupping is far more complex, but for travelling, cupping goes like this:
> turn kettle on
> while the kettle’s going, start grinding (a heaped tablespoon gives me roughly 8g, perfect)
> let kettle sit off the boil for a few seconds
> warm cup with hot water, discard
> put grinds in cup
> pour hot water over coffee making sure all grounds are wetted
> let infuse for 3-5 minutes
> break the crust (smell!)
> skim surface of residual grinds
> drink (slowly)…

…watch borders fade and timezones shrivel the strange becomes home to a well-known ritual.

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30.12.06

Three to Tango

Posted in @ the Cauldron at 6:15 pm by The Coffee Alchemist

Working in a team for the TransTasman competition, I am reminded of a phenomenon uniqe to the environment of a barista team - the barista language.

Inevitably, during the course of working closely together, depending on each other for a smooth workflow while maintaining the veneer of professionalism, language evolves within barista colonies. Acutely attuned members of some colonies even reach the wordless, signless, heights of telepathic cooperation.
3 to tango
The following are some experienced and observed situations and their translations:

Barista rushes to the kitchen
“Quick, hide! It’s the very-weak-dry-foam-only-cappuccino-with-choc-sauce-lattice-topping woman again!”

Barista sighs at milk jug
“Poor cows, not happy.”

Barista rushes to grab a group handle
“Goody! It’s the doppio ristretto piccolo coffeegeek again.”

Barista A (shooter) hands over the cappuccino cup to Barista B (steamer). Barista B smiles.
“Great shot, dude.”

Barista stares unusually long and hard at an order docket
“WTF…decaf chai?!”

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Coffee Alchemy Blog

09.06.08

The Inner Tinkerer

08.06.08

On MountainTop Bin 549

19.05.08

Sparks from Stumptown

06.05.08

For the love of cupping…

19.05.07

After Antwerpen…

27.03.07

Shooting Paracelsus Punch

09.02.07

Cellaring Potential

24.01.07

Humpty Back Together Again

08.01.07

Cowgirl Cuppa

30.12.06

Three to Tango

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