Monday, May 10, 2004


the great coffee sea

i'm talking about sailing on oren's sumatra. . . .i didn't have time to cup it formally this morning.

this job thing pays the mortgage but really ruins the important events in life!

so i ground oren's baby up, tossed 60g into a pre-heated cafetiére, poured 1 liter of 198-degree f water into it, and pressed it after 4 min.

it's a sumatra mandheling "paiwanee," double-picked, natural (a.k.a. "dry process") coffee, courtesy of knutsen. i'd call the roast light viennese, since some beans have patches of oil. i think oren himself calls this "full city plus."

and surprisingly different than my usual sumatra, the gillies' lintong "kuda mas," triple-picked grade 1, japanese prep.

this is definitely a sweet, mild coffee, full, smooth-bodied. it's not quite as heavy in body as the kuda mas. oren roasts this a little darker than don schoenholt treats the kuda mas.

i thought the dry grounds of this paiwanee offered an anise fragrance, and i found the cup to be nutty, malty. . .a rather clean cup for an indonesian. alas! time dictated that i had to drink it fairly fast.

thus i added my usual spoonful of light cream and pinch of turbinado sugar. ah! sumatra!

i know some people -- many pro coffee lovers, in fact -- feel that sumatras should be more, um, ugly. bug-chewed and groundy, even.

they say this makes an "interesting cup." while i can appreciate it a pinch of earth in a sumatra (an aged one is a different story!), i find as a consumer that i'm coming to appreciate quality more.

an "interesting" but dirty or dead cup is perhaps moving me less and less. . . again, aged is its own zebu. . .

i hope to do more justice to oren's sulawesi!

as i'm pondering how to tack with the wind on this tremendous body of coffee, what should arrive? 2 pounds of scaa board member mark inman's organic, shade-grown taylormaid in those cute little cans!

i received the "doña isadora tres generaciones" and his "goat rock" blend. ooh ooh!

and while i'm tossing the white styrofoam packing peanuts into the air with glee -- the people at my office are used to my wacky ways, thank goodness -- what appears with mr. fed ex?

k's promised and fantastic whole-bean ethiopian sidamo! i have total respect for people who keep their promises and in short order!

props to you, k; this is one reason you are an awesome person and a superior greenie! he swears this is great stuff. ack! what to cup tomorrow?

with styrofoam bits sticking to my alexia admor dress and shipping tape tatters adhering in my hair, i was then dragged by a fellow cube farmer to the newest downtown coffee bar, mocca express.

this place looks great, with a dedicated polish barista whose name i think is spelled "mitzja," and a lovely nuova simonelli 3-group superauto. nice seating, good atmosphere, bright.

alas, the coffee's no more than barrie house's bacio. . .so i can't recommend it; just the opposite. but what do i care?

i danced back up church street and reboarded my excursion cup to re-embark on the fabulous specialty ocean.

posted by fortune | 10:20 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments