Sunday, April 07, 2002


what an amazing afternoon! several of us got together and had a marvelous coffee party. . .

neighbor alan rothstein brought over his mazzer mini grinder; i had my rancilio silvia; and surprise guest jim from 1st-line dropped by with some of dr. joseph john's cult espresso, malabar gold.

we also had some fresh espresso vivace dolce, torrefazione italia perugia, and a nice bag of segafredo zanetti. combined with a pile of hazelnut biscotti from aldo and bernard castelain's 70% macaibo chocolate, it was an excellent afternoon.

first, i have to say that jim makes an amazing espresso. i aspire to his technique. dear readers, it would blow your mind, it's that good. naturally, he makes it seem effortless. long time readers know that i adore caffe d'arte's firenze blend.

so i was skeptical at the prospect of the malabar gold. but as roasted and prepared by jim, it was incredible -- easily the best espresso i have ever had outside of italy. the amount of crema it made was almost frightening, threatening to overflow the cup. what a thick, honeyed pour! jim's technique, plus the excellent grind the mazzer put out, just made for espresso perfection.

malabar gold's not for everyone; it contains the aged monsoon malabar bean, which will not be to everyone's taste. but since i spent years drinking aged indonesian coffees, the malabar gold turned out to be right up my alley. . . .

posted by fortune | 5:12 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments