Thoughts about cruise ship coffee

Well, just got back to my espresso machine and grinder. It had been a long four days of less-than-stellar coffee on a Western Caribbean cruise with Celebrity. I brought an Aeropress to help ease the pain, and managed to make it through.

How is it that a ship's executive chefs can offer five-star dining, but lousy shots of espresso that average 90-second extractions from dosers full of stale coffee? I lost count of how many time the same pitcher of milk was resteamed. How is it that such poor quality control merits $4.00 plus 15% mandatory gratuity? Ridiculous!

My word of advice on the matter: do yourself a favor and bring a grinder, press/cone/aeropress, and fresh coffee with you if you have to cruise. I had to sacrifice bringing a sweater and a pair of tennis shoes to do so, but it was ultimately worth it to have a proper cup of coffee with breakfast.

Budget Proposal

So...along with becoming an official club comes monetary needs. So far, I've covered these, using part of my earnings from tutoring on campus (keep it in the family). Well, I added it all up, and yea, it's cost me a bit, money I would probably have rather allocated toward beer. So I'm writing today to announce that we are asking Student Government for money for school year 09-10.

Added all up, we're requesting a budget of $380.50 to cover the cost of coffee, cups, cream & sugar (I know....), and equipment purchases. Long gone, hopefully, will be the days of bankrolling the club and carrying all of my coffee equipment across campus.

Everybody wish us luck, and if you want to help us get funded, please write a brief letter of your support to the Student Government. Lets get the money that other clubs let go to waste!

The Cupping Club is OFFICIAL!

Hey y'all, just figured I'd let the world know that Florida Atlantic University now has an official student organization dedicated to appreciating coffee: The Cupping Club. So far, we have had two meetings, with a third scheduled for Monday, October 13th, at 4pm in the Burrow.

So far, we have tasted the following, in order, Sumatra Grade One Mandeheling, Panama Carmen Estate 1800+ meters, Ethiopia DP Harar M.A.O. Horse, and Ethiopia Korate wet-process.

At our next meeting, I have an exciting tasting planned: high-quality robusta from Panama v. the Panama Carmen Estate. Time to see whether high-quality caffea cantephora deserves the same reputation as the ultra-cheap, and super-prevalent Vietnamese Robusta.

See you there.

Last meeting:

Coffee on the Home Front

Well, it's finally happened, the espresso upgrade bug has bitten. A few weeks back, I contracted the upgrade fever. In the past, I was able to avoid upgrading my espresso set-up by exploring other brewing methods, pour-over drip and vac pot, and by focusing on my roasting. However, I knew all along that I was just delaying the inevitable. Thanks to the release of a weak-dollar fortified, American-made espresso machine, the Salvatore One Black, I will soon have an appropriate E61 machine (two more weeks). Also, thanks to fortuitous timing on the CoffeeGeek buy, sell, trade forum, I now own a second-hand La Cimbali Jr. commercial espresso grinder.



These photos are borrowed from http://salvatore-espresso.com/oneblackNewmachine.html, and http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-grinder-review-cimbali-junior.html, respectively. I will provide my own photos once I obtain a decent camera.






Update: La Cimbali Jr. arrived safe and sound last week, and is now a productive member of the Cafe del Dormio espresso bar. Baratza Virtuoso has been transfered to the drip bar/travel grinder department.

Jupiter Environmental Laboratories, Inc.

So, I'm not doing what I originally planned for Summer 2008. Earlier in the year, I had hoped to work for a roastery, or a flavored syrup manufacturer. Neither of those possibilities worked out, so I'm here at my back-up internship, Jupiter Labs. Not to say this is at all a bad thing, as it still passes the Test. What is the Test? The Test is a question I ask of myself before making any major life decision: "does (or can) it relate to coffee?" Fortunately for JEL and me, the answer is YES. I suppose learning how to test soil and water for environmental contamination, nutrients, and quality could easily be applied to working with coffee growers at origin in the future. Hooray!
As far as coffee goes at JEL, it's in a sad state. A dirty Gevalia auto-drip and a big can of "100% Colombia Supremo" pre-ground. But I can't blame the lab, it's just part of being in South Florida. If only there were a Volta around here. The first step in coffee improvement was to bring in the 30 oz., Bodum Bistro pour-over, and a refurb Baratza Maestro grinder, and a Bodum Mini-Ibis kettle. What a great combination! So far at the lab, we have enjoyed fresh-roasted coffee from all over Latin America, most recently an El Salvador and a couple of Hondurans.

So far, the initiative seems to be working, with many co-workers appreciating the coffee-brewing intern (really!). Unfortunately, most of the staff does not seem to be afternoon coffee drinkers, but I am working to change that. JEL may soon have a Coffee Snobs cold brewing tower.

I promise, pictures of the JEL coffee lab and Ugly Mug will be showing up at some point, weather permitting.

Coffee Domination Visits The Ugly Mug in Ypsilanti, MI

No, I'm not talking about a relative. I'm talking about the Ugly Mug coffeeshop in Ypsi (ip-see). This is a shop I've wanted to visit for some time now, since usually visiting relatives in Michigan is a coffee-deprived experience. Not so this time! On Saturday, May 24th, we rolled in to the Ugly Mug, and were greeted by Jim and Ethan, two great characters in coffee. Lucky for us, we managed to catch Jim on his last shift ever, before he opens his own shop in Ann Arbor.

We made brief talk about Coffee Domination, and SCAA Minn., and the Baratza Vario, then got down to business, drinking coffee. I started out with a double espresso, the usual, except this one was pulled triple ristretto on a beautiful Synesso, of the Ugly Mug's own in-house roasted espresso. My accessories to my visit (parents) had a latte and a cappuccino (both presented well, not too hot, and with the obligatory latte art). The Ugly Mug's espresso blend had the desired chocolate tones in milk, without too much pungency, probably attributable to the lighter roasted espresso waiting in the grinder.

After espresso, we pressed a coffee I had brought, a home-roasted Costa Rica Naranjo Peaberry, in Ethan's Ikea-sourced $5 press pot. It turned out fairly well, but the cup was a little chalky and sour, which Jim attibuted to the aging Bunn grinder. Overall, however, a fun experience. Jim sent me home with a sample of Ugly Mug's Ethiopian something-or-another (sorry to forget) that I pressed today: Excellent: highly floral with a muted acidity, somewhat strange for my usual Ethiopian expectations of bright and citrusy. Almost Guatemalan in profile. Alright, enough words for now, will post pictures later.

Day 5: Last Day of Coffee Domination: Palm Coast Coffee on St. Simon's Island

Well, here we are, the last day of our Southeast Coffee Domination Tour 2008. And the coffee sucks. I mean really sucks. As in, I've experienced better coffee at Starbucks. Their ad says "great espresso, nothing automatic," but as I have observed many times in the past, some shops are better off going automatic. I'll try to help while I'm here, if I can just cover the basics: grind before brewing, knock out portafilter, wipe steam wands. As the Boy Scouts preach, leave a place better than you found it.

I assume the biggest problem with the place is the tourist base. No accountability with the shop's customer base. Also, no other coffee shops on the island, so no competition. Atmosphere is nice, however, sunny and upbeat, with a great rustic, southern-island feel.