awesome!
Caffe Vita Public Brewing School
Last week I attended Caffe Vita’s Public Brewing School, and it was a fantastic learning experience. The class was led by Andy, Caffe Vita’s barista trainer, and Mason, who travels the world buying their green coffee beans. Mason started out the night by talking about the history of Vita’s green coffee bean buying program, and their current focus on Farm-Direct. It was really cool to hear about his trip to Guatamala, where he met with different farmers, and got a feel for the entire culture that revolves around the coffee harvest. We then took his find from that trip, the Guatamala Finca Nueva Viñas, through a tour of 5 different brewing preparations: pour-over, french press, Bialetti, syphon, and a slow-drip cold-extraction, to see the differences that each style of brewing imparted on the final product.
We learned lots of great tips and tricks, but what amazed me most was the range of flavors that came from the exact same beans. Typically, when I taste something different in a cup, I immediately assume it’s a different roast, so it was really eye-opening to have five completely different tastes back-to-back, all from the same bag of beans. At home I usually make a french press (my favorite method) or a bialetti, and Brian’s been experimenting with pour-overs and the Chemex at Tougo, but the syphon and the slow-drip were brand new experiences for me.
The syphon was effectively a vacuum pot, but this particular one was a flashy-showpiece, a japanese device that looked like chemistry lab glassware, and whose heat source was a halogen light beam, that made the room glow. With a very quick extraction (~30-45 seconds), this was the cleanest tasting coffee I’ve ever had. It reminded me more of black tea than coffee, and I could easily drink this all day.
The slow-drip cold-extraction (another japanese device, of which I didn’t catch a name), was the polar opposite. This thing brews coffee one room-temperature drop at a time, roughly 1 drop every 1.5 seconds, so it takes roughly 12 hours to make a pot. It again looked like it belonged in science lab: the machine was a few feet tall, with a little dial to adjust the drip rate. The coffee was unlike any I’d had before; it was sweet and syrupy, tasting like Kahlua without the alcohol. Unlike toddy, it didn’t taste over-extracted at all, it was really clean and pure. I couldn’t imagine drinking more than a small cup, or pouring it over some ice cream for dessert, but it was delicious.
If you’re into coffee at all, I highly recommend checking out this class next time it is offered. It reminded me of the first time I went to Napa Valley. I had drank plenty of wine before then, and I’ve drank coffee several times a day for probably 15 years, but they were both palate-changing experiences, that gave me a whole new appreciation for the nuances of each beverage. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still drink drip coffee from a gas station out of a styrofoam cup (just like I’ll still drink Carlo Rossi), but my horizon has shifted for sure.
yum, fried to order mini donuts at the Ballard farmers market!
Laying concrete, Seattle-style
“Alfred was obviously underdressed for his induction into the Adventurers Hall of Fame”
One of my favorite artists, Matte Stephens, is showing at Velocity Art & Design this month. His older work has a lot of charm, but you can really see how far his skills have evolved in this new work.
This is my favorite piece in the show.
I’ve been using the onebusaway.org website for quite awhile now. It’s perfect for being able to check the realtime location of buses that, at least on my common routes, are often late, and know whether you’ll make it by a minute or be waiting for 30. They’ve had an iPhone-optimized website, which works great, for quite some time, but their new iPhone native app really takes it to the next level of awesome. it’s a must-have for anyone who lives in seattle and rides the bus even occasionally.
Learn to Row at Seattle’s Pocock Rowing Center.
I’ve been looking for fun new things to learn, and this introductory rowing class was a perfect fit. It’s a screaming deal at $50 for (6) two-hour classes, and in three weeks, I’ve gone from knowing absolutely nothing about rowing to feeling confident and being somewhat-competent at it.
Plus, with the gorgeous summer nights we’ve been having, it’s been worth the money just to get to hang out on the water and see the city from a new perspective.
Check out Pocock Rowing on TeachStreet.
Flying Squirrel Pizza: 50% BBQ Chicken, 50% Washingtonian (Hawaiian with apples instead of pineapples), 100% delicious.
Seattle Tumblr Meetup, Part Deux
Tuesday, January 13th 2009, 6:30pm
Oddfellows Cafe ( map )
Some of the folks I hope to see there:
There’s a big communal table in the back that we’ll try and score. Hope to see you there!
(photo from JoshC on flickr)
