Category Archives: Good coffee

Good coffee, Life

Ridin’ the Intellitrain

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Prices over at Intelligentsia coffee have come down a bit lately, or at least their offerings have come down below the much less exotic, $30ish per pound range. I love African coffee, but I’m not made of money.

I do now consider myself a dual roaster customer, Stumptown has won our hearts with all they’ve had to offer so far. Excellent roasters. Intelligentsia, however, will always be deserving of a special space in our pantry.

If you haven’t tried either, do make your way over and try some, both are fantastic coffee roasters.

Good coffee, Life, Videos

PythonCoffeeCats

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Busy.

That’s about it right now. I’m working on quite a few new things and having a great time with them. Experimenting with a new framework and new CMS. I’ve never committed to a framework or CMS fully since every time I start up working with one (ahem) I find all sorts of detractors and my mind wanders. Fortunately, I’ve not had enough work done in on any platform that it’s hard to walk away from.

With that in mind, there are plenty of reasons to still use certain publishing platforms and I will continue to do so until one comes along that meets most needs without the use of a crowbar or a dump truck. That doesn’t make any sense.

Am continuing to enjoy Stumptown Coffee Roasters to a degree I didn’t expect. I thought nothing could replace my darling Intelligentsia but it looks like they’re running neck and neck for my affection. I will soon order from Intelligentsia again since there’s a few new offerings that aren’t in the $30 per pound range. I feel like I’m cheating on them whilst drinking Stumptown from my Intelli logo mug.

We also adopted a new kitten, pictures to come. And I’m sure most of the web is aware of Simon’s Cat, but here’s a new one that I have personal experience with the subject matter and thought it appropriate to post. Enjoy!

Good coffee

Well, Shit.

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So I broke my Chemex yesterday. The lid to the kettle wasn’t on just tight enough and it fell off onto the Chemex sending a nice big crack right down the entire side of it. Off to the recycling bin with that one. I’m actually surprised it lasted as long as it did with me being in the house. Just call me Mr. Butterfingers.

We’re now using a plunger pot in the mean time—which also has had it’s carafe replaced multiple times—and I’m experiencing a coffee routine upset. Chemex coffee was, to me, perfect. It didn’t have the little bit of sludge that french press coffee does and it got everything out of the beans for full flavor, unlike my drip pot. I’ve ordered a new Chemex but it’ll be a bit before it’s here and, well, did I mention a coffee routine upset? I’m so easily baffled concerning these things.

Good coffee

Ritual Roasters: First Impressions

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Coming off my first full pound of Ritual Roasters – Hacienda Carmona, Guatemala, now onto the Sweet Tooth Espresso – Yara Columbia. The Guatemalan was excellent, although I think that I’ve grown partial to Guatemalan coffees lately cause I keep writing about how much I like them. First it was the Los Espiritus and now this. In fact, I placed a follow-up order with Ritual yesterday and two of the three bags ordered were Guatemalan. I think that my liking of them lately has to do with them being somewhat all-purpose. They seem to go with everything and stand on their own very well. I don’t see that with other regional coffees lately, mostly African. Those have that in-your-face, COFFEE(!) sort of flavor, and if I’m not expecting that it can be a little overwhelming, especially Ethiopian coffees.

So, the Ritual Roasters – Hacienda Carmona, Guatemala. The beans were roasted very well, nice and milk chocolate brown and no extreme variance in the size of the beans. Pleased that I’ve found yet another roaster dedicated to the art of coffee and attention to detail when it comes to their product. These kinds of things are important when you’re paying a premium for good coffee. I don’t expect I would have ordered another three pounds from Ritual had the first order been somewhat lacking in quality. There wasn’t any variance from the first pot brewed to the last pot brewed, the beans held true through the whole batch. I didn’t expect them to vary, as I received the order about three days after roasting and finished up the first pound about five days after opening the bag.

I’m into the Sweet Tooth now and I can discern a difference between this and the Guatemalan. Not a bad one at all, I can just tell that it’s an espresso. I’ll report back once the rest of the second shipment from Ritual has been consumed, I expect all will be excellent.

Good coffee

New coffee, old coffee

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Finished up the last of my 49th parallel Guatemala Los Espiritus and was sad to see that last bean fall into the grinder burr. This was one of the most delightful coffee finds in some time. I’m definitely keeping 49th parallel roasters in rotation, they roast a damn fine bean. I do wish that they’d sell in 1lb bags though, but I’m sure that it’s a decision to save shipping costs.

Ordered from Ritual Roasters:
Hacienda Carmona, Guatemala
Sweet Tooth Finca Yara, Colombia

Went back there to order this year’s cup of excellence winner, as I do remember seeing some available there last time I visited the site, but it’s not there anymore. Either way, I’m excited to try their beans, as this will be my first time with them. Also, if I do come across a spare $12,000 some time in the near future, I’m buying one of these:

Good coffee

First impression: 49th Parallel, Guatemala Los Espiritus.

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As this is my first time experiencing 49th Parallel roasters, I made sure everything was perfect as to give them a fair shake against my darling Intelligentsia. Right out of the bag, I could tell that there was love in the beans. They were roasted to what I’ve come to know as that fresh buttery brown one gets when beans are roasted to near perfection. I poured the beans in the hopper last night and cleaned everything in anticipation of what I expected to be somewhat of a difficult tasting. While I did expect excellent coffee from the beans that awaited me this morning, I was a little bit skeptical since everything else that I’ve tried recently fell short when compared to Intelli. I’m proud to say that this coffee does not fall short of any expectation and they deserve every bit of recognition they get for being excellent roasters.

In comparison to Intelligentsia, the overall cup isn’t as bold. I really try to avoid using expected words like that when I talk about coffee because they are just so general and don’t really tell much, however, in this case it actually fits. There’s an underlying strong flavor to the Intelli that I brew at home that wasn’t present with 49th Parallel. It’s almost like an aftertaste, beforehand, or even as you drink it. Both coffees are brilliant in flavor and full of the kinds of tastes that one expects from serious coffee. I won’t go as far to say that I’m tasting coffees for the flavors noted (e.g. chocolate, orange peel, etc.) cause I’m drinking it to relax and not deconstruct into some kind of experiment. As I continue through this current batch I’ll try to keep an eye on how it might change, if at all. Some coffees that I’ve had in the past change dramatically over as little as a few days. I’m not expecting a change but in fairness it only makes sense.

As far as the Intelligentsia most recently drank, it was Agua Preta, Brazil. I know that there are regional considerations to take in account when comparing two coffees directly, but I state the most recent brew from Intelli as a point of reference and not as a means for direct comparison. Also, seeing as I’ve been drinking Intelli pretty religiously for the past six years or so, I’ll hold off on final judgment comparing the two roasters together until I’ve spent more time drinking. And even then I don’t really expect to declare a favorite, just finally accept that excellent coffee doesn’t come from just Intelligentsia. Cheers!