Saturday, January 12, 2002


as you have probably noticed, my server problems recently have been caused by the commenting feature i've been using. the coders are aware of the problems and are re-working the script. however, if they don't get the situation sorted in another day or two, i will reluctantly remove the comment feature. i'm sorry these problems have caused the page to load so slowly and to generate errors. thanks for your patience.

in the meantime, i've run into a neighbor who also owns a rancilio ms. silvia. (fun fact: the model was named for one of the rancilio daughters). like me, he is also on a constant search for a convenient source of high-quality fresh-roasted coffee. this is strangely hard to find in brooklyn!

although many of us grew up drinking pre-ground coffee in cans, we have to realize that coffee is like milk. it is fresh for only a short time, and only if kept in the proper conditions. we americans are largely used to drinking stale, low-quality, poorly made coffee, which tastes bitter. high-quality, fresh-roast, well-stored, properly made coffee is naturally delicious and requires little if any sugar. this was such a shock to me, the difference fresh coffee makes. drinking that national brand of pre-ground coffee in the can is like drinking three-week old milk: uggh!

fresh-roasted, whole-bean coffee is best if used within a week or two. pre-ground can go stale within a day or two. it may appear to keep longer (it doesn't mold or anything), but it loses more and more flavor as time goes on. after just two or three weeks, whole bean's pretty much stale, and won't taste good. longer than that, and it may be drinkable -- in the way that sour milk is drinkable. you could, but who would? imagine if all you had ever had was going-sour milk and then someone gave you fresh, pure, cool milk. what a surprise that would be! it's the same with coffee. . .

in our quest for freshness, my neighbor and i have resorted to expensive mail order coffee, with pricey express shipping. as long-time readers know, i'm a big fan of seattle's caffe d'arte. my neighbor however had ordered from boston's armeno and was kind enough to share some with me, in both caf and decaf.

he ordered the caf espresso whole-bean, and the decaf ground. with all due respect, i'm not sure why; pre-ground coffee goes stale almost instantly. perhaps he was checking out whether they knew how to grind coffee properly. he reported that the decaf was not properly ground, and i found that to be true. it was almost coarse enough for drip! brave soul that he is, he tried regrinding it (not that i recommend this) and said it made a drinkable cup. i wasn't so successful in the re-grinding and so took about 50g to work to use in the french press.

i must confess that -- for stale decaf -- the armeno possessed some real coffee flavor. i ground some of the caf this morning and did find that made for a good cup. i may however still prefer the style of the caffe d'arte firenze blend. but that's just me!

my neighbor and i could solve all of our coffee woes if we simply roasted our coffee ourselves. don't flinch! until the 1930s, coffee was usually roasted and ground at home. nowadays this fashion is making a comeback. it's possible to buy green, unroasted beans from some place like sweet maria's. unlike roasted coffee, green coffee beans can keep for more than a year. some green beans are deliberately aged using a special procedure to bring out certain flavors.

you can buy expensive home roasters, mid-priced home roasters, or inexpensive home roasters. some people even report good success using only a common hot-air popcorn popper and a cooking thermometer! but no matter how you do it, roasting coffee generates strong odors and some smoke. without a garage or back porch, this makes it hard to do in your brooklyn apartment. my neighbors would probably call the fire department!

lest you think i've lost my mind, let me point out that coffee expert kenneth davids has even written a book to teach people how to enjoy high-quality fresh coffee by roasting at home. he also runs a website that discusses the individual flavors of different coffees and makes suggestions, just as if he was talking about fine wine. if only it were possible to talk about it less pretentiously!

so until that day when someone invents a smokeless, odor-trapping home coffee roaster, i will spend my life's blood on express shipping. . .alas.

posted by fortune | 6:36 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments