CoffeePorn

Back in Detroit, and it's more Kona time

You know, I just can't get over how fun this coffee bean is. Today I'm just not feeling all that wordy so perhaps a couple pics will help you see what I'm talking about. I roasted this one about six days ago, right before I left Texas to come home. So it was aging nicely on its cross-country trip and I dug in a few days ago. But here's what I was able to pull out in the past couple days. Folks, these are only pictures, so don't try to lick your screen.

This one here I like mainly because it, well, tasted even better than the gentle little heart that she gave to me. So smooth and rich. Creamy, like dancing butter. Slow dancing butter. I would have her again.

Then of course this little plum below, well the art is not so perfect, but you know what, eat me! If you could have only heard how she poured from the shot glass into the cup, your knees would already have buckled. Such a seductive honey oozing down into her warmed up home. No splattering. No dripping. No trickling. Oozing. Delicately flowing. Slinking. Yes, this coffee slinked into the cup. That's how hot she is.  And yes, the taste of love as she twirled into the foamed milk. Just look at the frikken picture, people!! You can see how smooth the skin is. Just look at it!  You hardly want to drink it.

Damn, I love this bean.

More Austin Coffee

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit a couple small coffee shops in the North Austin area. These two shops could not have been more different from each other but at the same time there were many similarities too.

Wha?

Okay, I'll explain.  Shop No. 1, called Sorrento's, now around for 4 years, lives in a tiny old photolab building situated in the middle of some parking lot. Remember when people would take pictures with very large obtrusive cameras and then trudge their film (oh, dear god, actual film!!) to one of these places, where you'd have to leave it behind and come back another day to get it back and finally see what crappy pictures you took?  It was slightly remodeled, and by slightly I mean heavily, but remained a drive-up type shop. We figured this out when we decided to park our car nearby the building and walk up to the doorway on that side, then open the door and then attempt to walk right into the place. Attempt. That is until the girl working in there nearly maced us for walking in and scaring the bejeezus out of all the people inside. There's a reason the other cars were driving up to the other side of the building. Okay, okay. We just wanna talk and ask a couple questions, darlin'.  Turns out the owner, Kelly, was there and she was gracious enough, once she recovered from the initial scare, to induldge our questions about the place and how it came to be, etc. Recommends a super-automatic, for example, for this type of setup because of the speed and consistency. Recommends a smaller ice machine since they're not in the business of selling bags of ice and that the extra heat generated by her large machine is enough to warm up Greenland. Recommends checking with the city to determine traffic patterns to pick out the best location for a new shop. But the most important bit of info was when we asked if she would do it again: YES!

Phew, long paragraph. How about a coffee break? 

Now on to Shop No. 2. This one's called Genuine Joe's Coffeehouse. We did not get maced walking into this place. In fact, I don't even think they have a drive-thru window so even if you're in a hurry, you'll still have to park your car. No, this place was much more loungey. Sofas and bistro tables arranged around a few rooms, with a homey feel, if your home was a typical eclectic Austin co-op housing. But hey, we're not judging. It was clean, and there were plenty of peeps working away. Some alone, others were having surreptitious meetings about this or that. The bar itself was manned by the two owners, Dave and Victor, and they were just as forthcoming with details on their baby as Kelly over at the other shop was. In fact, it's an apparent trend I'm finding that the owners of non-corporate shops tend to want to promote this style of set up, that is, building a deeper coffee culture based on personal interaction and higher quality than the "big dogs" could offer. GJ's was also around 4 years old and guess what? Dave and Victor both agreed that they would do this again if they had to start over.

Hmm. What's the moral of the story? Well, who really cares, but I'm just going to say that no matter what the format of the store is, whether it's a quick-n-speedy drive-thru, or a relaxed and quiet lounge setting, the point is that you enjoy making the product. You enjoy the lifestyle. You enjoy the type of interaction. You enjoy being independent.

Houston, We've Got Coffee

Well, I'm in Texas. Have been for about a week now. Texas is one of those places in the world that almost everyone knows about. You can go to the jungles of Papua New Guinea and wear a "Don't Mess With Texas" t-shirt, and the naked local will say "Go Cowboys". Or you can be having breakfast in bed with a young lady in Singapore and she'll notice your beltbuckle with a giant star on it and say, "ooh, me love the Big Bend". Or something to that effect.

So I'm here, enjoying family, friends. The heat. Okay, not so much the freaking heat, but I can definitely say I am enjoying the coffee. You say, "Gee Phil, why you gotta bring up coffee every frikken time we talk?" I say, "I need blog material, you dumbass, now put that branding iron down and have a taste."

Of course my fave place to have coffee, and I mean this not just for Texas, but in general, is Catalina Coffee in Houston. I've mentioned it before. If you read this blog I wouldn't have to mention that I've mentioned it, of course. Anywho, so I naturally went there as soon as I made it to Houston. Quite nice. They really know what they're doing there. And they're now roasting their own and serving that, too. I got a beauty of a cappuccino, complete with a double tulip; my aunt got a triple heart. I was so happy to see real art, and taste real art, that I of course forgot to take a picture. I'll be back and I promise to try again.

But last Friday I may have found a new place I'd like to frequent. Again, in Houston, so just slightly out of the way for me when I return home to Detroit later this month, but very very damn freaking good nonetheless. I can't remember the name of this place, oh wait, it's my new buddy Jon's home.

The illustrious Jon, who shall be called JonR, which is his coffeegeek name, a site that he nearly owns with all his ponderous insight and weighty commentary, is the apparent owner of half of metro Houston's coffee equipment and somehow has managed to fit it all in his kitchen. Holy Sumatra In A Bag! We had to take breaks in the tour -- coffee breaks [rimshot] -- before seeing the entire display. Between multiple rounds of espresso, cappuccino and vacuum pot brewings, my mind was buzzing more than my taste buds.

But my god, the taste buds were singing Haleluia too!! JonR has come up with a great Brazil blend that just dances on your tongue. I begged him to keep pouring that one, but he just backhanded me and reminded me that there are only a few hours of daylight and his lovely wife would like to spend some time with him as well. Okay, finnnne!

So then once we had a sweet buzz jackhammering in my skull, JonR decided to unveil his primo homemade roaster system. Where the casual observer would see a somewhat aged gas grill in his garage, was actually a near-state-of-the-art hand crafted fully functional drum roaster, replete with rotisserie turner and temperature probe, three gas burners, and a bitchin' cage so well seasoned that future archeologists might determine it to be a religious artifact of high esteem.

He tossed in some more Brazil and proceeded to journal the entire process, down to the second with adjustments to the burners and ears pressed to the lid listening for those little brown babies screaming as their water burst. Quite literally. A few seconds on the rigged up cooling tower and not 15 minutes had passed for a pound of fresh Brazil. Ready for another lucky friend or family member in about three or four days.

JonR, Thank You!!

Houston Coffee

Getting some feedback from coffeegeekers that THE place to get coffee in Houston is Catalina (http://catalinacoffeeshop.com/). Mmmm, yeah, it was pretty damn good the couple times I went there last year while visiting town. Makes me dream of it again. They will always have a special place in my coffee heart - that was the first time I'd gotten latte arted by a real pro. They knew what they were doing alright. Had me at hello kind of thing. Sweet little place, cozy but not all neo-grunge like so many "hip" places try to be.

The first time I was there they had this sweet ass machine there. Looked like to belonged in an art museum. Classic Italian design. Shiny chrome and lots of it. Toss in some sewn leather and you could pick up two or three backseat bitches in no time. The owner, Max, told me about how he got started. And how it was important to bring top-notch espresso to Houston. Then he slid over a freakin beautiful machiatto that tasted about as good as 4 ounces of creamy coffee could taste. Go there. He'll hook you up.

Anyway, I started this search for my friend June, who's on the road to becoming a better coffee drinker. Used to do the mermaid, and pay her hard-earned $$ for it, but is beginning to expand her tastes and wants to know where to get really fresh and good beans. Catalina is one of those places. So is Hopsons, but I think that's just an online store in the area. Toss 'em some love.

Tuesday Cappuccino

This morning I was able to crack open a first shot at my latest roast, the El Salvador Finca. I roasted this baby on the last day of April and it's been patiently waiting for sweet little Silvia to discover its yummy goodness. Although the original package suggested roasting to City+ (lighter side), I lowered my pants to that idea and opted for disturbing carelessness at Full City. Of course, you will know that it means it's just a tinge darker. I'm an animal. 

Essentially it just means this

 

Not this

Okay, I cheated a bit because I didn't have the City+ beans. They're really the same beans and I shopped 'em up a bit. Sue me. You get the picture. I got permission from her parents, so it's cool.  

The point is, I got to dump these little darlin' nuggets of caffeinated deliciousness into the grinder this morning, spin 'em around a bit until nice and grainey and then snap them into their final juice extraction station, er, the grouphead, for you techno-geeks. 

Here's what came out. I've got shivers. I love Silvia.

Then, of course, it was time to warm my baby up nice so she would give me that delicious microfroth that she knows I love. I give her a second, though, while I clean her up a bit on the outside and brush out a few areas. Just a little housekeeping. Not long after, I'm a-steaming and a-frothing. And look how she rewards me. Mmm-mmm. 

Looks like I got a little moon in there, too. Beauty. Good going down, too. You know it.

Yep, not a bad way to start a Cappuccino Tuesday.