Today marks a day of commitment. After years of talking about it I signed up for Skydive Carolina’s accellerated free fall program (AFF). September 23rd will be a day of coursework then a long step out of a perfectly good plane. I am so very excited to have finally firmed this up and am taking the leap.
We take these risks, not to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping us. — Author Unknown
I firmly believe life is about expereince and with greater experience comes greater confidence in life. I am excited, near giddy, twisted with anticpation and a dash of nervousness. This is going to be a blast.
After much cajoling from Noll we took on some new espresso and coffee’s from Caffè Fresco.
Tony Sciandra, the proprietor of Caffè Fresco makes a strong effort to educate those who buy his product. The general rules of thumb are posted on the site as well as in your purchase email he goes to a good length to make sure you understand how to use what you are purchasing.
Fresco’s gentle roasting style ideally requires our espresso to have a min. of 5 days of rest after roast. Coffee, 3 days after roast. Day 8 is when the degassing completely subsides. For the sake of freshness it’s best to let the beans degas in their heat-sealed, one-way valved bags.
The Prime Flavor Window coincides with the rest and degassing. Our espresso begins to come into the window at day 5, and the optimum days are 7 through 14.
Your coffee has been roasted to a true Full City roast level. Therefore, for proper extraction use of a scale is suggested to measure the weight of the bean dosage. Suggest, 0.3 oz. of bean per 6 oz of water for coffee and 7 to 8 grams of bean for a single-shot of espresso.
This takes a lot of guess work out for new consumers and lets even those of us vetted to see roaster recommendations which help keep us in line. Tony lets you know the brew range as well to further create that perfect cup.
Enough common talk, what did we find. We started note taking on day 4, and finished the blend around day 12. I have to say this is one of the smoothest espresso’s I’ve had. Smooth is kind of hard to translate, was it the flavor, the body, the texture..what is smooth. Smoooth daddy-o. It was all of those things and more. It’s the most reocurring thought we had.
Fragrance
Caramel
Mexican Hot Chocolate
Aroma
Roasty
Clean
Semi-Dry
Wood…Birch maybe
Sweet Cigar, mild
Brightness / Acidity
3:5
2.5:5
4:5
3:5
Taste
Honey
Clove
Apple
Cinnamon
Toasted Almonds
Ripe Banana
Body
Medium
Comfortable
Aftertaste
Pastry
Tart
Mild Linger, then gone.
I would recommend this coffee to anyone from the beginner to a classic afficionado. As a shot it was refreshing and crisp turned into a cappuccino to latte it sweetens and near dessertifies (new word!). I found it never too heavy, never too bold. All things considered it’s just right, and it ages well too. I left one shot (beans) in the hopper and even at 20+ days it still retains much of it’s normal characteristics.
Here’s to quality purveyors of fine quality beans and practices. If you’re looking to try something new give Caffè Fresco some love.
I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.
Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living,
It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.
Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.
—Dr. Seuss
If you haven’t seen this movie, may I take a moment to recommend it. It is by all means Orwellian in its nature. It pulls no punches delivering a series of mini-stories wrapped into a greater story of character. When push comes to shove. When you trade freedom for security. Just how far would you let it go? Would you stand up to the adversity? Do you have an incline of the character it would take to do such a thing? I’m not sure I did, maybe I still don’t, but I have a lot better clue and it is astounding. This movie gripped me. It held me with a fantastic dialogue, superb acting, and themes so close you don’t have too much trouble seeing them—relating to them. Be warned that beyond its deep thoughts it is a graphic movie and not suitable for small children.
When you’re done watching this, did you find your character stronger?
