Saturday, April 08, 2006


where i ain't

by which i mean at the scaa conference in charlotte. it's a shame i had to miss meeting all my specialty coffee friends this year, but, there's always next year. . .i know dear readers you all are getting the news from there because so many people are blogging/podcasting/emailing from there.

but for those of us remaining at home -- even here in drizzly new york, where we are suffering a spate of autumnal weather -- we can keep our coffee spirits up in other ways. in my case, of course, with oren's beautiful finchwa and jessica's fabulous fresh batdorf dancing goat!

and of course a mug of nice warm floral-citrus-scented valrhona cocoa. i had to have a cup after traipsing down to the always-adorable economy candy, where valrhona's on sale for only one more week!

it's instructive to compare the finchwa i've been discussing recently with the dancing goat. one is a pure ethiopian coffee, the other a blend containing ethiopian.

i like to begin my saturday mornings with a cappuccino, and the dancing goat, with its flavors of caramelized walnuts and a hint of my beloved indigo (that is, a harrar), makes a lovely cappuccino. it doesn't cut through the milk so much as blend smoothly into it.

so soothing and sweet! but i did also try the finchwa this morning as a cappuccino, which honestly didn't suit it, imvho.

altho' most people who drink espresso with devotion -- the espresso hounds -- generally don't appreciate bright or wine-y coffee, i think the finchwa makes a fantastic single-origin espresso.

i didn't think an americano suited it. why?

preparation as espresso seemmed to crush the wine, plum, and blueberry flavors together into an invigorating wake-up tonic. as the espresso cooled a bit, the blue seemed to float over the retro-nasal aromas like a mediterrean haze.

the extra water of the americano seemed to dilute that blue feeling, so to me it seemed besides the point.

plus as an espresso, the finchwa has a nice syrupy body, which the americano thins out. here's where it bears comparison to the dancing goat.

the dancing goat, being a blend, has a more substantial, heavy syrup body, and more crema too. the finchwa as lovely as it is, just doesn't offer the same long-lasting crema as the blended goat.

which is to be expected -- the goat is formulated exactly to plump up the body and deliver a thick head of moussy crema.

despite this, i loved the finchwa as a single-origin pull. but i also love the goat.

thanks to the kindness of oren and jessica, i don't have to choose!

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posted by fortune | 1:15 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 1 comments