it's my island

Stone Cup Roasting Co.

// January 30th, 2007 // 5 Comments » // Reviews

There’s been a lot of talk around me about [Stone Cup Roasting Co.](http://www.stonecup.com/) out of Chattanooga. Run by an impassioned Jennifer Stone I was going to meet her this past week but scheduling conflicts are going to keep us apart for a while longer. From what I understand she’s working on some farm programs, good brokers, recently reconditioned a beautiful German Gothot roaster from the 50’s….and she brew’s a mean stout?

Oh I had to learn more and try some goodies.

I placed a quick order of their Espresso Blend, Nicaraguan Cup of Excellence ‘El Cipres’, and the Mexico Pluma de Oro. It was a very difficult selection. Even more difficult has been to get me to distill my thoughts. I’m not really keen on compiling this all at once but theres something to be said for consolidation. Over a period of two weeks I drank a lot of coffee, and it was good. It even got better. I like it when that happens.

Espresso Blend

Thoughts

Pulled at a floating 202’f, amazingly bitter free. I sampled again.. where is that *clickclick..* back of the throat up tick you generally get. It wasn’t there. Overall through my samplings it has rarely shown up to the party. This is a very smooth espresso. I get images of cigar smoke.. smooth, silky, sultry..

Fragrance

* Vegetal
* Tomato
* Cinnamon

Brightness

* Small
* Corner pub table w/ a dim light

Flavor

* Beefy
* Brothy
* Worn Leather
* Cured Tobacco
* Dark Black Cherry
* Currant
* Dark Dark Chocolate

Body

* Clean
* Silky

Aftertaste

* Bitter-free
* Hung around then left without telling.

CoE El Cipres

Thoughts

I had heard about the Ruiz farm through Intelly last year and was curious to see them when the farm popped up here. I had no expectations but was very pleased. A lot of clean Nicaraguan traits assembled into a classic profile. Goes great w/ a little milk, smooths down the serious brightness.

Fragrance

* Banana, ripe
* Apricot
* Brown Sugar
* Light Tanned Leather

Aroma

* Baking Bread
* Dark Chocolate
* Sweet, Sweet, Sweet!
* Chocolate Cake
* Gumbo Broth.. Roux

Brightness

* 2.5:5
* Ka-Pow! (Even 2 weeks later it’s still got some serious Zing)

Flavor

* Orange Zest
* Chocolate Covered Raisins
* Curry
* Little Leather
* Lemon

Body

* Snappy x2
* White Wine Cling (ie: not-much)

Aftertaste

* Tannic
* …gone

Mexico Pluma de Oro

Thoughts

This coffee was our morning staple and it was nice. Comfortable, smooth, dry cocoa powder.. I hate to say it had a Mexican terroir so take that with what you will. Over time it got a heavier body and w/ milk & some sugar I’d have thoughts of hot-cocoa.

Fragrance

* Pecan
* Dates

Aroma

* Caramel
* Pears
* Clove

Brightness

* Medium
* Expected

Flavor

* Beef Broth
* Grilled Steak
* Cinnamon
* Short Bread
* < Salty
* < Peppercorn

Body

* Syrupy
* Coating
* Cling—but snaps free
* Round

Aftertaste

* Comfortable
* Even
* Gone when told

Summary

[Stone Cup Roasting Co.](http://www.stonecup.com/) is doing an admirable job and I look forward to seeing them grow. If there other products are as good as what I’ve tried then they are right on the money. Roasters, like any other group that deals with mother nature has their work cut out for them. Making and delivering a product that hits home every day is tricky and my hats off to those who take up the profession. Stone Cup is making great ties and doing the right things. I hope to learn more about them in the coming months since they are right over the hills east of us and I hear making some in-roads into the Charlotte area.

Caffe Fresco Flossies Blend

// December 31st, 2006 // Comments Off // Culinary, Reviews

Caffe Fresco has brought out a nice blend that can function in any role from espresso to press. Tony has done this by making a fairly bold blend that teeters into the french roast arena. This lets it stand up and not get lost on any of the levels. After touring some Yirgs this coffee had some gravity I had to adjust to. Since we ordered a few bags I’ve got some voluminous descriptors. In our first set I’m going through initial opening and three seperate cuppings. Then how it was as an espresso to cappuccinos.

This blend was created to support the Young Survival Coalition through their Tour de Pink.

Flossie’s Blend is a creation from deep within Fresco’s soul. A place where Vision is fueledby a promise to Flossie. Vision, along with patience and gumption, makes Fresco a viableentity. Fresco is ready to bring forward a message and cause, that’s been a long time coming!

— Caffe Fresco

Cupping / Vac Pot / French Press Notes

Bag Opening

• Steak
• Stew
• Fajitas

Fragrance

• Cigar
• Pipe Tobacco
• Dry Soil
• Old Earth
• Leaves
• Raisins
• M&M(tm) Shell/Coating
• Brownies
• Pie Crust

Aroma

• Outgassing (day 3)
• Cigar—burning
• Chocolate Souffle
• Steaming Brownie

Fragrance

• Dark Chocolate x3
• Chocolate Cherries
• Vegetal
• Sea / Ocean

Body

• Rich
• Thick

Aftertaste

• Mild Smokey
• Lingered
  

Espresso

Aroma

• Dark Caramel
  

Flavor

• Tart
• Apples
• Crisp / Snappy
• Easter Bunny Chocolate
• Raspberries
  

Aftertaste

• Clean
• Smooth
• Hint of Grain
• Cider
  

Cappuccino / Dessert (+sugar)

Flavor

• Chocolate
• Marshmallows
• Rich and Creamy
• Velvety
• Full bodied, robust
• Hint of Cherry
  
  
  

Afterthoughts; this blend in the vac/press realm kept toggling between a Kenya french roast or a full city+ Sumatra. It had enough boldness that I always wanted some milk to cut it. As an espresso it really had that classico Italian experience that really smoothed out with milk and softened with sugar. Venture here for something you can tour around your kitchen and feel good about supporting a good cause.

technorati tags:coffee, espresso, caffefresco, charitable, review

Caffè Fresco Ambrosia Espresso

// August 28th, 2006 // 2 Comments » // Culinary, Reviews

After much cajoling from Noll we took on some new espresso and coffee’s from [Caffè Fresco](http://www.doubleff.com/).

Tony Sciandra, the proprietor of [Caffè Fresco](http://www.doubleff.com/) 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](http://www.doubleff.com/) some love.

-a

Lending a Hand

// May 22nd, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Cafes, On the Radar

Chris Keener, a local coffee geek & future cafe owner asked for a little of my time yesterday. His church has opened the doors to its new building and he wanted to do something nice for the youth league by offering espresso service at their grand opening event.

Counter Culture donated a few pounds of coffee (thanks!!), and Chris and I toted out our home machines for some labor. We almost had a serious issue when my machine wouldn’t recognize water in the tank. We did good and checked the water type, then went through all sorts of ideas including trying to figure out how to just disable the safety mechanism all together. During our darkest moment I pulled out the treo and got on alt.coffee and read one of my Oscar pals Jack Denver talking about how this could be one of only a few things. Running through that list we re-examined the water and found it to be reverse-osmosed..how’d we miss that?! Ding! Threw in some tap water, conductivity returned, and the machine was ready to go. (an hour behind schedule, and many ml of sweat later hehe)

We churned out in the upwards of 40-50 drinks within a 4 hour period. The kids and adults came at us in waves that took me back to my bartending days. We got through it with gusto. Everyone had a blast and really liked our production. I continue to grin even this morning wondering how many kids had too clear a thought last night. Sorry parents! hehe.

Weekend Catchup

// May 2nd, 2006 // 4 Comments » // Culinary, On the Radar

It’s been a rather busy couple days for us. Those who watch the feed always get a drop on those who just read due to my [flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/) influx.

The roundup. My G5 died the weekend before last and for a couple hundred canon offered to do an upgrade. With Robin’s blessing (heh) we moved up to the [Canon Pro1](http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonpro1/). It has it’s own issues like everyone else but being a Canon owner I have a pretty good read for what my expectations were and it’s being met [well](http://www.flickr.com/photos/search/text:pro1+tests/sort:relevance/ “Flickr Pro1 Test Series Search”). If I don’t get my broken cam back in the mail today though I’m going to be the winner of a nice additional bill.

Marshall Park on Saturday was host to an Earth Day event. The weather in the park was fantastic. The Dietz came in to town to hang out with us. We signed petitions, learned about rallies, bought some creamed honey, were educated on bio-solar-gray-and-green initiatives. Before I left I was approached by a nice lady asking if I was their photographer. Sorry, John Q. Public here, but I’ll gladly let you have access to my shots. In the future if you.. [plug plug]

Off again! The [Charlotte Flickr Meet](http://www.flickr.com/groups/62158993@N00/) was also being hosted this day at Jitterz around the University area. Leaving my map at home I used my keen sense of directions to get fully turned around and backassward showing up not early to help with any setup but just a little after start. Being the first meeting we only had a handful of people but they were enthusiastic and from many different walks of life with a keen sense of photography as a uniting force. I think the group has some potential in learning from each other. In the [future](http://www.flickr.com/groups/62158993@N00/discuss/72057594120603810/) we’ll probably have workshops and special interest groups that can be signed up for. Good stuff.

Lastly and really deserving it’s own post I’ve been an espresso madman. Besides draining a bag of Tuscano in two days I’ve been trying to dial around [Counter Culture’s](http://www.counterculturecoffee.com) Ethiopian Sidamo. I’ve gone through a series of taste tests adjusting boiler temps along the way. (10m delay between shots) These numbers are not brew head temps so their relevance is vague. Once I’m done playing (and today is another play day) I’ll switch to the scace and figure out where others might want to reproduce it at. Until then here’s my latest info.

* 119.3’c = Good, little too bright, comfortable mouthfeel.
+sugar = cherries cherries cherries (on the verge of medicinal)

* 119.6’c = Acidity down, Brightness down, More pear skin or plum.
+sugar = dark fruit, mebbe good in milk but something doesn’t appeal to me.

* 119.0’c = med. brightness & acidity, low tartness, smooth, maybe cashew?
+sweet = much too tart. confusing. I don’t understand how its taken such a different tact with sugar but it has.

Who needs to slow down? Psha.. next!