Columbian Peaberry & other pressing business...

Well... its been awhile between roasts, which is not surprising really, since we've been 'between houses' for the last little while

Just moved from Hampton in Vic, AU to Coburg, on the other side of town - lovely little multi-cultural heart of Melbourne with a wonderful blend of middle-eastern, indian, greek, and italian sub-cultures all mingling harmoniously together

And every where you go there is coffee, coffee, coffee! Little coffee houses and cafes full of elderly men chain smoking and playing cards, just as they did when I last lived in this area (albeit briefly) some 22 yrs ago!

A walk down Sydney Road (no relation to the City of the same name) reveals a multitude of middle-eastern bakeries and cafes, all brimming with life and activity - not to mention the yummy smells that emanate from within...

Our new house is also located at about the half-way mark between Coffex and Genovese coffee houses, so on a good day, if the wind is blowing in the right direction, you can actually smell the coffee roasting from at least one of these coffee destinations

And the new Grinders roasting facility is also not too far away in Fairfield, which is a lovely little suburb located on the Yarra

Perhaps of greater interest to coffee aficionados, however, is the location of A Minor Place cafe, located just around the corner from me, on Albion St, and Small Block, on Lygon St, East Brunswick - both of which serve exceptional coffee

And just opened recently is Artisan Espresso, also located on Lygon Street (if my memory serves me well) - where Josh roasts his own out the back, and he has a Cynesso Syncra out front with guest baristi fronting the machine on the weekends

He's also open to coffee snobs bringing in their home roast to run it through the machine, which is a real boon for anyone who has not had the opportunity to work on one of these beauties...

Back to the home roasting: I just sampled my first batch of Columbian Peaberry, which at only 3 days post roast is pouring beautifully and exhibiting lovely lifted peach blossom and plum liquor aromas on the nose, which follow through on a smooth and creamy palate with bright acidity and good grippy tannins

I roasted these beans at 230C for 16.6mins - which is longer than I thought it would take to reach 2nd crack, given the small size of the beans, but the beans coloured up well, and they had only just entered 2nd crack when I pulled the roast

Well... the 2yr old is demanding attention, and the mother in law is on the phone, which means its time to go!

Cheers,

Pat

back to the drawing board

well... I haven't been roasting as much as I'd like to recently mostly due to work commitments, so it comes as no surprise to me then to learn that some of my recent roasts have been, well, less-than-perfect

as a mater of fact I've been pulling my roasts early recently in an effort to avoid burning them, when in fact most needed a good couple of minutes longer to reach rolling second crack

this is what happens when you roast sporadically - you take your eye off the ball, then it takes some practice to get it all happening good again

I think I got it right with some Datera beans last night, though - I roasted these for 18mins at 235C, and they looked and smelled great when I pulled the roast

In fact, the whole house smelt amazing, and going to sleep with the alluring aroma of freshly roasted coffee lingering in the air is a fantasy dream come true for a died-in-the-wool barista / roaster like me!

I also popped my roasting temperature up marginally from the usual 230C to 235C about half way through the roast, as I noticed that the Gene Cafe was struggling a bit to maintain optimum temperature, probably due to the chilly 15C temp in my freezing kitchen!

So it's onward and upward with my roasts from here on in!

At least I've got a backlog of about 5kg of green beans to work through - being equal amounts of Columbian Peaberry, and Ethiopian Yirgacheffe; so that should keep me busy for awhile, and I should have plenty of time to get the roast profiles right for each of these, as i have plenty of product to work with

Will keep you posted on my progress...

On a bright and cheerful note: new store is going great guns and it was our busiest coffee day today and we kicked some serious butt! I suppose it helps that it was only about 12C outside - which means that everyone was drinking coffee or hot chocolate - and for some strange reason we are selling heaps more 16oz coffees here than any store that I have ever operated or worked in: I mean 7 or 8 large coffees in a row at a time?

What's going on with that?

I put it down to all those industrious education (teaching) students located in the adjacent building - what with their teaching rounds and classes all crammed together and all

We also got our large (1.5m diameter?) signage outside today, which I'm sure helps to attract some passing interest

I'm certain that the uni will say something about 'not approved signage' and 'not going through the proper channels' to put it up - which is why its up high and on hooks so we can bring it in at night!

Still... with the commercial rent that we're paying - you can't really blame a guy for advertising, can you?

Pat

so long and thanks for all the yirgacheffe!

Well actually this blog should probably read: "Hello! And thanks for all the Yirgacheffe!"

As I made myself a double ristretto with some packaged Yemen Ismaili beans (long considered to be the premium Mocha coffee) yesterday - but the coffee was stale - and it left a bitter taste in my mouth!

So I thought I had better do something about this post haste, so I whipped out some Ethiopian Yirgacheffee beans which I'd roasted 6 days ago (at 230C for 15 min in my Gene Cafe home roaster. I pulled the roast at fist sign of second crack and rolling second crack became established about 2 1/2 min into the 'cooling down' cycle) - and whacked them in the Mazzer Major

How can I describe the taste sensation and still do it justice?

I took a good long sniff of my short-poured espresso and loved what I found there!

To me the Yirgie exhibited lovely lifted lemon-scented and floral aromas, with the predominant impression on the nose being that of lemon merange, crossed with a Portuguese custard tart!

Although my wife (who is a far better cook than I am but I'm still not bad and I'm particularly good with the seasoning) suggested that Pavlova was the predominant feature on the nose - and she should know as she has a wonderfully gifted palate for a non-coffee drinker (don't ask)

Whatever you want to call it - these wonderful citrus and custard characters followed through on the palate, and I could still taste the remnants of the coffee an hour or so later as we walked along Hampton beach

All in all the lovely Yirgie espresso completely obliterated my previous disappointing coffee experience - which is just as well... as we all know that a good coffee can make your day but a poor one can ruin it!

compak k10

Well... it's finally here! My new Compak K10 WBC Silencio grinder (thanks to Chris from Talk coffee)

I can't begin to tell you how much these amazing grinders have revolutionized my coffee making technique!

The K10 purrs like a kitten when it is in motion, which makes a nice change from the loud 'ack, ack, ack' sound of some of the equipment I've worked on in the past!

An additional bonus is that the ergonomics of these machines are very smooth indeed. Whether you're making 80 or 800 coffees a day, the grinder has no problem keeping up - and its very smooth dosing action, and easy-to-use rocker switch (for on / off grind-on-demand), provide a fluid dosing motion which eases strain on wary limbs!

But pehaps best of all is that these grinders have a clean sweeping motion in the dosing chamber, and they produce a very even dose, regardless of how much coffee is in the chamber

This takes a lot of the guess work out of dosing, which is important especially when you're busy, it also means that there is much greater consistency in the coffees, which is important especially if there is more than one person working the machine

Remind me and I'll take some photo's and post them up

Although, it's almost pornographic how well this machine performs, and don't be surprised if you start dreaming of them at night after using one!

Pat

victorian barista championships

well... yesterday was a great day for coffee if the finals of the Victorian Barista Championships are any indication, with a good turn-out by the public, great food and coffee served at the Beach House, and a fantastic performance from all of the finalists, with David Makin taking top honours again this year

Here's a few photos from the day:

David Seng's table set-up for the judges incorporating his 'apple' theme that featured in his signature drink:


Eager judges and contestants clamor for the results:


The deserving winners from l to r: david seng 3rd place, david makin, 1st place, sponsor, con from 7gms 2nd place

Beautiful LA Marzocco FB70 coffee machines (the red one would look good on my bench tp at home!)

victorian barista comp semi finals

well wouldn't you know it... I bought my Olympus camera along on the day but left my sd card at home - so the following photos are from my phone: apologies about the quality!

Here's Con from 7gms demonstrating his passion!



Here he is again - man the guy is all focus!



David Makin - multiple award winning champion - I mean, the guy is a machine!


The judges hard at it!



I'll take my 'big' camera with me tomorrow and get some 'real' shots!

Pat

shanti bhagwan -urban chai temple!

Well... its been a while since my last post for a number of reasons.

Firstly, my 'new' (read: less than 12 months old) Toshiba Tecra laptop died a vainglorious death - faulty hard drive

In the end it was faster and more convenient for me to pay for the repair of the laptop and for the information retrieval myself, rather than wait for weeks on end to get the job done through the 'official' repair channels

Oh well never mind too bad...

At least I've got a working machine again!

Secondly, as I've alluded to in previous posts and as the title of this thread suggests, I've opened my new cafe @ Melbourne Uni - and YES that IS the actual name of the of the cafe above and NO its not a joke!

Still going through a steep learning curve with the new coffee machine: an impressive 3 group Expobar G10 with multiple boilers: one large one just for steam and hot water usage, and a dedicated boiler for each group head offering excellent temperature stability, and the ability to 'dial in' the ideal temperature for each group head to complement the 'sweet spot' of which ever coffee you are using

In my case its a single origin Honduras Copan variety from Jasper coffee, and yes, true to form its both Fair Trade and organic...

New store looks great considering that we haven't had much to work with

Have brushed it up (read cleaned it up) quite a bit after the previous operators exited

Still waiting on finance to come through though, and am looking forward to embracing the renovation process to make the store functional, attractive, and uniquely my own

Managed to hire a wonderful new manager for the store within the first week of trading, so fingers crossed it all works out, and she lasts the distance... so far so good!

Had a very low key opening, and I plan on keeping it that way until such time as systems, procedures, and equipment are all in place

Still, we made 200 coffees last Thursday, which is great for our second week of trade, and I expect that number will continue to increase as we pick up our game a bit

So watch this space and I'll endeavor to keep you informed of our progress

Home roasting has necessarily been put on the back burner for now as other priorities assert themselves

Still... it is coming up to winter, and I've got 5kg of Yirgacheffe and Columbian Peaberry to work my way through

Uh oh... i can feel a roast coming on!

Cheers,

Pat