Saturday, October 09, 2004


jolly caffé and the best hardware store in venice

as promised, today i woke up bright and early in anticipation of robert's jolly caffé. this is one of tuscany's signature coffee blends, served at the well-known bar rivoire in florence.

(of course i have to note that while i have been to the bar rivoire lo these many years ago, i never had coffee there, since to my mind it is the place on the planet after angelina in paris for hot chocolate. . . but i digress.)

i know that single-origin espresso is currently all the rage in the coffee world, but i was feeling like i needed another moment of italy, so i leapt up to cup and brew the jolly, which is a mélange of 12 different arabica beans.

long-time readers know that this is the moment i encourage you all to grab your copy of the scaa flavor wheel and the coffee cupper's handbook.

it's the great linglese. . .i also found as i often do that the nez du café by lenoir was extremely helpful. i cupped this coffee formally, and then i brewed it as espresso, as well as making up a pot in my silver napoletana.

(speaking of napoletana's i am now officially regretting that i didn't buy the famed dalisi napoletana at a beautiful store in venice, bottega dell'acciaio, 791 san marco [041.5228509]. there signore fazzini sells the entire alessi line. the dalisi is so hard to find, and he wanted only E230!!! for it. only, only, only!)

no no no. back to the description of the coffee. where was i?

oh, the jolly contains beans roasted to different levels, as you'd expect, ranging from what i'd call city to light vienna, with dots of oil. perfectly a northern italian style roast.

an important thing to note about the jolly is that is in fact roasted in florence. after talking to robert, it seems as if the coffee was only about 16 days old by the time i received it from italy, where it had been packed in a 1-kilo, 1-way-valve, nitrogen-flushed bag.

this coffee is round and sweet, with a creamy body. the fragrance of the dry grounds was sweetly spicy -- like green cardamom mixed with bay leaves maybe -- while a good slurp revealed a pleasant toasted cereal, maple syrup, and heavy custard flavor.

tasting this coffee also revealed for me the usefulness of lenoir's "roasted coffee" vial. i'd never quite understood why it was there in the set; but the jolly enlightened me.

this coffee really does have an extra well, just-roasted-coffee aftertaste. and it instantly is reminiscent of italy. . .

i made mr. right his morning latte with it and he liked it very much! it cuts through the milk, but has no sharp edges or harshness.

in the napoletana, it was a tremendous afternoon cup, esp. when taken with a tablespoon of light cream and a pinch of turbinado sugar. the cream and sugar emphasis it's maple-y and vanilla-syrupy notes.

i'd be happy to drink the jolly. if it's this pleasant at 16 days -- a time by which i think most coffees are well past drinking -- i wonder what it would be like really fresh.

as when buying all italian coffees, however, there's that shipping problem. the world being what it is today, coffees are often held in port for a fair time.

i once heard about a shipment of lavazza stuck clearing port for nearly 30 days!

for those of you who are avid logo cup collectors, jolly also has a nice set of bar cups. the espresso cups are 2 oz. at the height of the inside logo, and are manufactured by i.p.a.

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