Saturday, February 21, 2004


americanos & nairobi

some days you look around and realize that just about everyone you know is out of town. in this case, it turns out a lot of bccy pals are hanging in nairobi for the african coffee conference.

but don't worry: i'm here as always, drinking americanos, descaling my beloved italian princess, silvia, with cleancaf and planning to make pizza for the last episode of sex & the city.

while scaa chief ted lingle and transfair goddess kimberly easson et. al. wrestle with the world-price depression known as the coffee crisis, it was sobering to read the in-country news from kenya.

not only do coffee farmers struggle with the world market, but politics and corruption at the national level block the way forward. meanwhile, the quality of coffee from kenya -- the prized kenya aa beloved of coffee connoisseurs -- continues to decline. . .

will there come a point when the "specialty" kenya aa isn't actually high-quality enough to be called specialty? normally, the scaa sort-of agrees that specialty grade coffee cups about 80-90. what will we drink if this level of cup quality vanishes from the market or is available only at a terrifying price?

don schoenholt of gillies -- who by the way is also out of town, but not in kenya, as he's taken his son baby davy to guatemala to visit coffee farms there -- once told me that specialty coffee should be defined as "the best coffee of any origin you can buy that day."

naturally i was pretty appalled to hear that, since i'm always one for standards. but we are perhaps looking at a situation where that grim joke may come true. good-cupping kenya aa can sell for US$11-12 a pound retail now.

i'm trying to imagine what will happen when it retails for, oh, US$18 due to scarcity. few will buy it, and the kenya aa i suppose will just disappear. . . this is another example of how the market conditions of the crisis work to harm coffee lovers like ourselves.

to distract myself from these sad thoughts, i devoted myself to making americanos today. the beautiful thing about owning a home espresso machine is that when you want "just a cup," a quick caffé americano delivers intense flavor without the hassle of brewing a whole pot.

if your machine's been on all morning after your breakfast cappuccino, nothing's easier than making that second cup a nice americano. just wander by and quickly pull a shot of plain espresso, 1.5 oz. or so; then add 4 oz. of hot water from the machine.

wa-llah! nothing easier: 45 seconds after your hand leaves the grinder's doser lever, you've got coffee!

i like to toss in a tablespoon of light cream and a pinch of splenda or raw sugar. the americano's a handsome drink because the coffee will retain a little of the espresso's crema. . .

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