Inspired by the Stumptown Cold Brew I drank the other day – and also the lots of leftover coffee I had from my tasting – I decided I would give cold brewing a try. As I described in that cold brew post, there are two main approaches to cold brew: 1) slow drip or 2) full immersion. Obviously I don’t have the necessary hardware for slow drip, so I opted for the full immersion process.
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This past Sunday (1/22/12) I hosted a coffee party for a select group of distinguished individuals (read: “the people that i know that both like coffee and responded to my email”). I had been toying with different ideas for the format, but eventually I settled on a relatively casual affair. I decided to go with three single origin beans as a starting point since this is my first organized tasting. I emailed back and forth
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Cold brewing coffee has become increasingly more popular in the last few months. Me? I went from thinking it was pretty neat, to not really liking it, to being somewhere in the middle. I guess I should start by giving you a quick rundown of what cold brew coffee is. Cold brew coffee is NOT just iced coffee – not just brewed coffee served over ice, or double strength coffee over ice. It is a
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CULTURE ESPRESSO I won’t go into a full review of this shop right now, but I will discuss briefly how delicious their espresso is, and their choice of beans. They are located at 72 W38th St, NYC. This is dangerously close to my office, which means you can find me there most days sometime between 2:30pm and 3:00pm. It seems their go-to espresso is Intelligentsia’s Black Cat espresso. It’s a great blend and, in my
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A family member of mine told me about this coffee shop/roaster located in Croton on Hudson, NY: Black Cow Coffee Company. He was gracious enough to pick me up some of their coffee. I chose the house blend – what better way to get a feel for what they’re all about than by evaluating their go-to blend? Tonight I brewed it up and taste-tested. Here’s my quick and dirty review. First of all, I should
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There’s a few reasons why I do not generally recommend automatic brewers (the Mr. Coffee types) for people who want to make good coffee. Temperature: In general these types of machines do not reach adequate brewing temperatures (190F to 200F), but rather somewhere in the realm of 180F, or sometimes as low as 160F. Brew time: The brew time is usually too short and not controlled. Proper soaking: You may even find that an automatic
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The Short Version: I used to drink shitty coffee like everyone else. I used to load it up with cream and sugar and savor the deliciousness. I used to get fraps and lattes from a certain Big Name store (full disclosure: I still do sometimes). But then I discovered fresh, quality coffee and proper brewing methods. My world has changed. The Long Version I’d be lying if I said I’ve been drinking coffee since I
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This is a blog about coffee. I drink a lot of coffee. I’ve done a lot of research, experimentation and deep contemplation about coffee in the past year, and plan to do plenty more. This is a place for me to document that. Here I’ll post reviews of different coffees and cafes as well as experiences in brewing and drinking. I guess first up should be my formal introduction – how I got to where
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