Friday, May 16, 2003


my new best friend?

today i have the greatest pleasure of drinking a blend don schoenholdt of gillies put together. i asked for something in the northern italian style and he kindly labelled it "hicks st. espresso." so who knows what he usually calls it?

as a lovely doppio, it's sweet, mellow, smooth with a juicy finish. (that is, it makes your mouth water when you swallow, water a lot.) it's a little too cool to stick my head out the window and pant, a la a. delazzer, so i won't go on. . . and this coffee is so laid-back, i really won't paw thru my lingle cupping handbook for terms. forgive me.

drinking this espresso is effortless -- like reminiscing with a childhood friend. you could drink it all day, with everything... you automagically wander into the kitchen to pull another without thinking: where am i going?

it's not assertive, not difficult, not overly intense, doesn't make you furrow your brow to identify flavors. it's comforting. a very relaxing cup. like sometimes you meet people and they are so easy to be with you spend all afternoon with them before you notice it's dark. in fact, i think i'll have another right now. . .

ok i'm back. maybe 3 doppios at 10:30pm isn't a good idea. . .

since don s. proudly has nothing to hide -- secrets are for folgers, i believe he said -- he wrote the formula down in a practical but fluid block hand on the back of his commercial order form ("check here for freight free delivery when you order 120 lbs. coffee minimum"):

2/3 sumatra lintong
"kuda mas" (golden pouy)
grade 1
triple picked (graded)
japanese preparation

1/3 brazil cerrado
screen 17/18

when i opened his white valve bag, i saw beans with patches of oil, what i believe the scaa calls "medium dark brown."

i popped these into the mazzer and ground 'em at four indents to the left of the arrow decal, but i might have been able to go a wee finer.

if this personable, frankly amiable coffee sounds appealing to your current mood, well, you know where to get it!

posted by fortune | 8:05 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments