Summer Food Fun and Drink Number 9 Hipster Universe · 11 July 2010 by colin newell
The Victoria B.C. coffee scene is pretty unique to the Planet Earth. We have the best possible beverages prepared in every imaginable fashion.
Espresso coffee? It’s hard to beat. Like your drip? We have that too. In Victoria you can get Synesso coffee, Aeropressed coffee, Hario V60 coffee, Siphon coffee – heck you can even get instant coffee if you ask politely.
And it really is some of the best coffee anywhere in North America.
I would happily and confidently put my local baristas against anyone on this caffeinated Planet knowing that they would place well.
And it is not like we have some special corner of the market on the beans – because we do not.
We have some mighty fine roasters – and some of the best folks who know how to import some mighty fine “already roasted” beans if necessary.
We have a cafe for every one and every taste.
If you are a fan of the single origin bean (like an Ethiopian Sidamo or a Mexico Malinal) then Cafe Fantastico might be your java joint? Their roasters Derek and Ryan are top in their game and know how far to push a green bean to get the best out of it.
Black Stilt coffee (two locations) takes the environment so seriously that they discard about one garbage bag of refuse a week – The coffee is good and their Hillside location is popular with University and College kids.
For the “Too Cool for School” set, there is HABIT COFFEE AND CULTURE – Owner Shane Devereaux’s laid back style is an odd juxtaposition in a space that is hipper than a Kerouac novel – and the coffee is bad ass however it’s prepared. I do the Press when I am there – it is always perfect and the sugary selection of baked goods is always enticing.
Looking for the Zen of coffee? Consider Discovery Coffee (2 locations) – maybe not as happening as HABIT, but the turntable is just as likely to be blaring The Stones or Creedence Clearwater Revival and the coffee is never less than leading edge.
Want to drive a few extra miles? Drumroaster Coffee on the Island highway near Cobble Hill and the Cow Bay turn-off is the home of coffee senzei’s Geir, Pat and Carsen Oglend. Geir is the great grand-pappy of Island coffee and you are assured of no less than a perfectly transcendent cup of mud.
Tell them I sent you!
Summer Food Fun and Drink Chapter 6 Hario V60 · 3 July 2010 by colin newell
While at the Drumroaster Coffee Roastery with my dear wife, Andrea – and affable host Geir Oglend – partner and coffee Übermensch – we brewed stunning cups of Ethiopia Sidamo coffee with the Hario V60.
No visit is complete without cups of great coffee, stimulating conversation… and coming away with a bag of coffee and a pile of information that I did not have before.
Today was no different.
Geir brewed a Hario V60 drip pot of Ethiopia Sidamo with the Hario V60 dripper and Hario kettle (photo below).
Here is the deal:
To really excel at drip coffee (and it is, in my mind one of the most superior methods of brewing an individual cup.):
-You need a precise amount of carefully ground coffee
-A supply of hot water just off the boil in a suitable container (not all kettles are created equally…)
-A suitable filter holder (like the Hario 60 above)
-A timer, maybe a scale and one steady hand.
Weigh out the dose. A digital scale is very important here – and no home kitchen should go without one. A 60 grams (coffee) per liter (water) is more or less ideal. A 12 ounce serving (medium sized mug) is about .35L – or around 23-25G of whole beans. Select your grind that yields a total brew time of around 3 minutes – 3 minutes and 15 seconds tops. Like any other gravity brewer or filter holder (like the Melitta #4) the V60 is not flow restricted… so your instincts are critical!
I Preheat all components and rinse the paper filter with about 100ml of hot water. Does it make a difference? Don’t know. But it doesn’t hurt.
Water should be just off the boil. Boil your water and count to 10. You should be in the ball park.
0 to 30 seconds: Add the ground coffee to the cone. Use your index finger tip to make a small indentation into the middle of the ground coffee. Start your timer (at ZERO) and pour in just enough water to saturate the bed of ground coffee (about 15 seconds worth of pouring). Pour in increasingly concentric rings. Avoid the sidewall of the filter. A Hario kettle (see photo) really makes the difference in precise control of the water.
30 seconds to 1 minute: Watch and wait as the water saturates the ground coffee – there may or may not be any coffee dripping at this point.
1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds: Begin pouring again, in concentric circles out from the middle until the cone is nearly full. Coffee is dripping into your mug.
1 minute 30 to 2 minute mark: Repeat the water delivery to just keep the filter cone topped up.. Good stream of coffee brewing into the cup now.
2 minutes to 3 minutes: By now you have used up your water quota and you are watching the latter stages of the brew cycle. Do not wait for the last drips as you approach 3 minutes as the coffee will be approaching over extraction.
Rites of Spring #38 - Blip or trend - shortchanging in the cafe and bakeries · 20 June 2010 by colin newell
I want to be very careful when I introduce this topic – I do not want to inflame any cafe or bakery owners.
Because this is a very inexact and unscientific observation.
Totally…
So here goes… Brace yourself.
More often, I seem to be catching staff at some of the local cafes and bakeries “short changing” me…
By a very consistent 1 dollar.
Not 2$ or 50 cents – but 1 dollar. Always.
This has happened to me 3 times in the last month.
Today, when it happened again, I called the staffer on it.
They happily gave me the dollar that was skipped and
even said… “I thought I did not give you the right change…”
I was courteous about it and although I was thinking to myself: “If you thought about it, why did you not mention it til you were handing my purchase and I would be heading out the door?”
Did not say it though.
My thinking is: It’s a buck. It’s trivial. I generally put a all of my small change in the tip jar when – a.) I am buying a coffee
b.) Buying whole bean coffee or
c.) Buying a food product in a bakery.
So. Help me out here folks.
Are you seeing the same thing?
If you want to name names, do not do it here – send me an e-mail.
Casual observations are welcomed here – but do not point fingers at individual businesses.
I have been observing cafe culture since the late 80’s and this is one of the odd trends – could all be in my head… or coincidence.
Would love to hear from my readers.
Thanks!
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Rites of Spring #35 - Victoria's Best coffee - come on - applause · 13 June 2010 by colin newell
Someone has to get this title… so let’s do it with a picture.
I refuse to use Twit-Pic because… hey, I have my own server and I like to keep my hands on my photos – real possessive that way…
Anyway – if you asked me right now where the best damn cup of coffee is in Victoria B.C. Canada — Victoria as in downtown or near downtown Victoria (not Vancouver Island which is another category…)
I would say… without a moments hesitation…
Discovery Coffee – either on Oak Bay (where I practically live…)
or on Discovery Street downtown.
And although the music is often too loud (even for a middle aged short haired hippie like me…)
The coffee is… I beg your pardon… Fucking dope.
It just is. Enjoy life. Drink Discovery coffee. And listen to those around you.
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Rites of Spring #26 From Seed to Cup fundraiser - Black Stilt · 27 May 2010 by colin newell
On Thursday, June 3 The Black Stilt Coffeehouse will host an event to help
raise awareness of, and funds for, coffee farm families and, in particular,
sport and education programs for the children. Funds raised will be
distributed through the Oughtred Coffee Trust.
Black Stilt will offer special fundraising purchases which will include its
photo-journal book, From Seed-to-Cup: A portrait of great coffee and its
limited-edition Rio Negro coffee.
One free cup of Rio Negro coffee will be offered to everyone who purchases a
product fundraising item.
Hillside location: 1633 Hillside Avenue Hours: 7:00am-8:00pm (250)
370-2077
Jubilee location: 1769 Fort Street Hours: 7:00am-6:00pm (250)
590-8230
“We want to make a positive impact in the lives of the people who work so
hard to bring us our wonderful coffee,” says Dave Crothall, Black Stilt’s
owner and barista.
“We traveled to Costa Rica to learn all we could about our coffee and came
away with new-found knowledge about the people. It strengthened our
commitment to be a leader in promoting and educating our customers about
ethical coffee.”
To this end, The Black Stilt, in conjunction with Oughtred Coffee and Tea,
has written and produced a high quality photo-journal book. It tells the
story of the process and the people in ethical coffee’s remarkable
seed-to-cup journey. The book has been manufactured with wind power and
100% post-consumer waste recycled paper (FSC certified).
Rio Negro – of which there are only 80 lbs available – is a Rainforest
Alliance coffee of which Crothall is particularly proud. “It’s a first for a
barista like me to be able to share personal stories with customers about
every step of this ethical coffee’s seed-to-cup journey, and how it has
helped, not harmed its farmers and its environment.”
“The third wave of coffee has been around for awhile,” explains Crothall.
“Now people want to know that they coffee they are drinking is positively
impacting the countries of origin.”
The Black Stilt Coffeehouse, established in 2005, is a triple-bottom-line,
carbon-neutral company that leads by example with what is needed to create
healthy, sustainable communities. Additional information can be found at their website –
www.theblackstilt.com
Gear fest - Playing with the Worlds Best Coffee Maker by NEWCO · 19 May 2010 by colin newell
In the World of fast cars, cool watches, great shoes and exotic destinations… there has to be the best of the best. And so it is with coffee machines.
Whether they are making espresso, simple stove top coffee or dripping an awesome pot of joe, there is a pecking order where coffee machines are concerned.
And in the opinion of the Coffeecrew.com machine review team, there can only be one truly great drip coffee maker. There are, for the record, two remarkable machines by two different manufacturers; the Technivorm KBT Mocca series and the NEWCO OCS-8 and OCS-12.
BBC Sales, under the watchful eye of Ken Robyn, was kind enough to send us the 2 flagship OCS brewers for some of our semi-destructive testing.
And this is merely the teaser blog on the feature. The whole review will be over on the coffeecrew.com website – hopefully I will be done sometime this weekend. I have some playing to do, some drinking ahead of me – and many photos to take.
Quick summary. The Newco OCS-12 and OCS-8 brew 60 fluid ounces and 40 fluid ounces of coffee respectively. Their commercial powerplant is a 1500 Watt heater. The brew basket temperature is very near the ideal 205 degrees (F). Brewed coffee in their thermal carafe is between 170 and 180 degrees (F) depending on whether or not you pre-heat the carafe. That is chop scalding hot and the ideal way to brew.
Considering that the average serving size in home-office coffee world is around 12 fluid ounces, these are ideal for small offices and big families of coffee drinkers. And on top of that, these machines can be plumbed into domestic water supplies for batch after batch of great coffee. Brew time is about 7 to 8 minutes for full batches.
Tonight I brewed a 1/3 pot of Guatemalan Liquidamber from Discovery Coffee.
So, so good folks. So, so good.
By the by: These machines might be free samples… in which case, some lucky coffeecrew blog reader might be taking one home! They retail for around $179 to $200 – they are built like tanks. I bought my first one 6 or 7 years ago and it has been running 5 days a week twice a day without a single hiccup.
Now that’s coffee brewing!
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