harsh barge

Ok, my computer is messing with me…I re-wrote this three times and it keeps getting deleted. So quick version: new job-Ritual, new city-San Francisco, crazy shit went down at home, one for the road…

see you in the bay; can’t wait to get to work. peace.

training, cupping, and keepin’ it nice

So big Doug said he wants to try his hand at some low key competition, so he sent in his ap for coffeefest Seattle/latte art; he also said he wants to train his palate and cup on a regular basis. This brings a whole new element of fun to my Wednesdays. Work ’till 6pm, quick bite to eat, Plantation at 6:30. Doug, Vittorio, Tony, and myself…latte art training for about 30min, then cupping. We decided to cup similar coffees roasted by different roasters, comparing between shops. We use Taylor Maid where I’m at now and Plantation (my ex-employer) uses a roaster in town, we’re gonna keep their name a secret for protection of the innocent…or guilty…hmmm. Anyway, this week: the Yirgacheffe challenge…quite fun.

Lets just say one Yirg blew the other one out of the water. It was kind of what we all expected but it was still crazy informative…I think you can still learn a lot by cupping “defective-ish” coffees; some really interesting flavors came out of both samples…woo! Bye-bye now.

cup it

Well I cupped the other day. Same coffees-Brazil Aqua Limpa, one at a nice 4 days out of the roaster and one at 14 days. Although all sensory factors seemed to be affected by the coffee’s age the aromatics seemed to suffer the most (or be the most noticeable?) especially when dry. The Brazil 14 days out smelled really flat…almost unnoticeable. With water I got a little bit more out of it, but not much. Going full slurp the difference grew tighter still; although I could tell which one was the older sample I had to think for just a moment as where using smell only it was instantaneous. I took some notes as you can see in the photograph to review later but ended up washing them in my shorts. Oh well. This was just an exrercise for me to try to up my skills; I have a long way to go. I need to cup more…I need to try and save some money so I can get my hands on different coffees…I need to work for someone serious…I want to learn more than I can here by myself…I think I’m really stressed out lately. My thoughts are drifting. Bye for now.