Saturday, January 19, 2002


tried the tamper & home roast today. . .

the heavy reg barber espresso tamper is a wonderful thing -- whether the deep, even compression it gives to the freshly ground coffee improves the espresso shot or not may be debatable to some. but there's no doubt it makes cleanup easier, and the tightly packed coffee "puck" pops right out of the portafilter after the coffee's made. less banging the sloppy grounds around when you're done; much less mess. mr. right is way into that! i'll have to use it some more to see how much it improves the coffee per se.

took the home roast over to a neighbor's and he made it up in his silvia. surprise -- i find another silvia owner just down the block! so mr. right and i troop over there before the snow began. we had some decaf espresso that an acquaintance in california had roasted up. we also had some armeno decaf espresso to serve as a comparison.

surprise! the home roast wasn't too bad. in fact, it was really decent. better than what you'd get at starbucks. i won't be a home roast convert, but i was a little amazed. my acquaintance had carefully packed his coffee in a one-way valve bag, thus perserving the fragrance and aroma. it smelled delightful and had good crema. i could drink a cup of straight espresso without sugar, so the coffee wasn't burnt in the roasting. an interesting experiment.

finally, the bread. the starter is going along, nicely. it's just about time for the second "refreshment," when you add a little more flour and water to the starter. i'll be making up the dough tomorrow afternoon, retarding it overnight in the fridge, and then baking it on monday morning. hope it turns out crusty and gorgeous. . .

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