Crema de la Crema: an espresso blog

Roast notes:

Chaffs only starting from 1st crack. 1st crack starts late, around 3 minute mark. 2nd crack starts around 4:40. Stopped at 5:30, a rolling 2nd crack.

As I write this entry, I’m on my 2nd cup. My 1st cup was under-dosed, and thus under-powered. Here’s my pour:

Just to sidetrack a bit, I got a new camera. A Fuji Finepix F50fd. What a great camera. What sets this ultra compact aside from the rest of the Sonys and Nikons and Canons is its sensitivity settings. The ISO for this beauty goes all the way to 6400. And unlike the rest of the gang and including some DSLRs, the Finepix handles noise very well. The above photo is taken at auto program, an ISO of 400. On other cams, you’ll be seeing pixellated noise, not on this baby. And if you ever ever find its predecessor F31fd, lay your hands on it. The F31fd handles noise better than any camera in its class, and outside its class, including DSLRs. Anyway, on to more pressing matters…

Where was I? Moreninha. There’s a certain tang to it. Not lemony brightness, no. I can’t pinpoint it. Also, there’s this more dominant taste waiting to spring out. I can’t pinpoint it either. Methinks I have to be patient and wait another 2 days rest before I can get the full flavour of this coffee.

Technorati Tags: brazil, moreninha, formosa, f50fd

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Another long hiatus for me since the last post. I haven’t been roasting nor pulling either. I did a good roast half an hour before midnight on Feb 23rd. Ethiopian Sidamo roasted to Viennese in 5:28 minutes as recorded on my iPhone. Did a pull this morning as I couldn’t wait any longer. BRING BACK THE 45 SECOND RISTRETTO! I tried to take pictures, but my iPhone resetted itself after installing some apps. But I got these pictures below as a consolation.

A bit blurry, no channeling.

The grind was right, funnel formed right in the centre, pour ran about 45 seconds before there was even a hint of blonding. I shall be better prepared tomorrow. Check out the machined edge of the Verna naked/bottomless portafilter.

There was a hint of lemony brightness, a bit of dark chocolate notes, a guinness pour as the beans are too fresh, should peak in another 2 days. But I can’t wait, so I’ll do another tomorrow.

I can’t remember my last pull before this. My Anita has been neglected! The pump almost wouldn’t come on to fill the boiler.

Technorati Tags: quickmill anita, ecafe sidamo, ethiopia, naked portafilter, bottomless, funnel, ristretto

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This Ethiopian beauty was roasted to a rolling 2nd crack. This particular bean has a long 1st crack, starting from 2:00 to 4:30 minutes. And 2nd crack comes only 30 seconds later. I wasn’t listening out for a 2nd crack, I was still waiting for 1st crack to stop, which was my mistake. The roast came out with oily patches, which I feel is a bit overroasted.

After resting for 1 day, I pulled a shot, which was far too acidy. That, and because I kept my grinder setting at 2 from my previous batch of Vivace Dolce Malabar blend.

After the 3rd day of rest, and setting my grinder at 4, the coffee has almost peaked. The bean is extremely oily. ARRRGGGHHH! U can whiff out the floral scents of the Sidamo. This Ecafe winner scored a cupping of 90.2. I can see why. With the more floral coffees like the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and Sidamo, I like to drink the first half of the double shot as an espresso, and the 2nd half as an americano. The taste of an espresso is complex. Nothing like adding water to a wellpulled espresso to broaden the taste spectrum. Of course, this tasting will be nothing compared to when we arrive at the next topic. (Drum roll)

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Bean: Papua New Guinea Kimel Plantation Peaberry

Roast: Full City + Roast

Time: 1330 hrs @ 5 min 59 sec

1st crack started at 2:22, and ended at 4:25. Moderate chaff. This roast was ended at 5:59, with the first audible snaps of 2nd crack.

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Bean: Bolivian Peaberry

Degree: Northern Italian Roast

Roast Time: 12.30 pm @ 8 min 45 sec

I ended this roast on the verge of 2nd crack, at around 8 min 45 sec. Only time will tell whether I made a good roast. I normally do not stop the roast until I see oil seeping thru the bean surface. I intend to let this batch rest at least 2 days before I drink it. I find a lot of coffee I roast peak at around 3rd or 4th day. They are stored in one way valve bags after cooling. I prefer the one way valve bags as I can squeeze out the air, and let the carbon dioxide emitted from the beans do its job. Can’t do this with those containers with the vacuum pump. It sucks out the air, but it doesn’t allow the carbon dioxide to exit the container.

I’ve only had a cup of Aeropressed Dolce decaf today, which is comparable to an Americano. Seems like I’ve only enough to make one more decaf drink before I’m out completely.

I go to this Hong Kong cafe - Xin Wang at Orchard Cineleisure sometimes. They have this Iced Macau Coffee on their menu that I like to order. Essentially iced milk coffee served in a stainless steel mug. It’s quite good, and it’s actually iced cowboy coffee. Cowboys dump an egg in the brew.

Last Friday, I went to TCC at Peranakan Place. TCC is one of those 1 in every 100 meters coffee joints, much like Starbucks. TCC stands for The Coffee Connoisseur. They have Kenya AA, Brazil Santos, Jamaican Blue Mountain, but I took the safe route and ordered San Pellegrino water. I saw the espresso in the next table, the usual cafe americano passed off as espresso. The machines TCC uses are super-automatics. I’ve also been to McDonald’s cafes using super-automatics with Bon-cafe beans in the hopper. Seems like super-automatics are the trend these days. It makes little difference, either a untrained barista behind a good semi-automatic pumping swill or a monkey behind the counter pushing buttons serving swill.

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