MatthewMachine.com2012-05-20T06:12:55ZMatthewMachineCopyright 2012, MatthewMachineSPHPBLOGI did a thing. http://www.matthewmachine.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry110221-2219352011-02-22T00:00:00Z2011-02-22T00:00:00ZPortland Coffee - Face Successfully Melted
Clive Coffee - I caught wind of their latest dripper stand just before my trip, but thinking it was mostly a warehouse for hardware I didn't have plans to stop by. While headed to Coava I saw their door and popped in. What a good time that was! I was asking about a device there and treated to a very nice Guatemala Chimaltenango Retiro de Quisaya as a demo. This was the most memorable brewed coffee I had during the trip for sure, and they also gave me some good info to other spots in town.
Barista NE - I only had Barista NW on my list, but several people had been telling me that the two shops were "a whole different animal, and the one on Alberta is worth seeing." So I hustled back to the hotel and then jumped a bus up to NE to try and catch these folks before closing time. I paid the price later, but this stop alone was super illuminating. Amazing espresso (and local beer) selection, I had a Press Pot of Intelli's Yirgacheffe, but was enticed by all the SO espresso available. The barista there treated me super well with espresso, and gave me some great leads on shops I didn't have on my list. Later I realized the whole time I was talking to Billy Wilson and felt like an idiot. Because of his recommendations I had an awesome Sunday as well.
Sterling Coffee Roasters - Go here. I probably could have spent all weekend here and they don't even have seats! If you want to see what you can do with a tiny built-in kiosk and a boat load of passion, visit and have your mind blown.
What stood out: Service. If you ask any of my friends, none of them are likely to describe me as anything remotely close to "overly friendly" or "exuding smiles". I am personable, but I'm usually dependant on another party to bring out the better in me. This is one of the reasons that I was so stoked on customer service in Portland. I spent two days there using hotels, eating in restaurants, and drinking exorbitant amounts of coffee and every single person I interacted with made my day that much better. I spent some time talking with several folks working at coffee shops, speculating on why I find other places in my area so hit or miss. We guessed at cost of living differences, established coffee history and other things. I don't know anyone who aspires to work in places like the hotel industry, and yet everyone I talked to was friendly off the bat, so my whole "passion for the craft" thing doesn't necessarily apply outside the world of coffee. Another possible explanation is that I was attributing my excitement about travelling there in the first place to other people and making the whole thing up, but I am not convinced that's the case. The bottom line is, I got the best service I've had in awhile from Portland and that makes me happy. All that in addition to stellar coffee.
Thank you Portland, you were too kind.
*Unfortunately I didn’t see a whole bunch of shops that I really would have liked too. There just aren’t enough hours in a day. By the time I got back to the airport on Sunday I had visited heart roasters, Stumptown on Belmont, Clive, Coava, Barista NE, Coffeehouse Northwest, Sterling Coffee Roasters, Barista NW and Public Domain and probably consumed enough coffee to kill a small child. Every single one was wonderful and if you want the breakdown on any place feel free to get in touch. Summarized because nobody wants to read that much.
]]>http://www.matthewmachine.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry110110-1703382011-01-11T00:00:00Z2011-01-11T00:00:00ZWhere Coffee Meets Claypost from Michael Mahan about a Chemex-like carafe he made to accept filters. Sometimes you wonder why your brain never came up with that idea. It's genius in it's simplicity.
The problem (and beauty) with hand thrown clay is that each piece is different and using a paper filter might result in some wide swings in success between pots. My proposed solution: The Coava KONE. The rigid stainless filter would even out the consistency pretty well and also offer you a totally reusable setup. The only two downsides to this setup: 1. If you're looking for it to taste like a cup through a Chemex filter, it will not. Read up on the KONE for taste profiles. and 2. It stands to be a very expensive setup. But you'll have a very unique brewing device, and a sweet handmade piece of pottery. ]]>http://www.matthewmachine.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry101217-1104032010-12-17T00:00:00Z2010-12-17T00:00:00ZChico! Sacto! Espresso!
After mindlessly cruising up 5 we got to Chico and I immediately set out in search of coffee. We got to Empire Coffee first. I REALLY liked the fact that it was set in an old train car. Character right out of the gate. A friendly barista served me a traditional, if not large, espresso that was very nice. Maybe it was just the fact that it's a hot summer day at an odd time (2pm), but I really wished I saw more people come through there. Nice place!
We then walked back downtown and stopped at Naked Lounge. I wasn't sure what to expect here, but was fairly impressed. They advertise double ristretto as the default, and true to their word that's what was delivered. I didn't mind the shot, but the barista stopped by later and asked about the shot quality. That was a first so far in my travels and was neat.
Getting sidetracked by beer, we made a quick stop over to Sierra Nevada Brewing. I haven't been in many years, but was totally blown away by the progress Ken and Co are making. Estate hops, solar arrays and both Methane and CO2 reclamation. These guys are doing amazing things both beer related and not.
Heading out of town we stopped at the Colusa-Sacramento River SRA for the night where our site was confused with an RV spot. We pitched our tiny 2-person tent and my bro-in-laws giant tent in a tiny little grass spot next to the road. Hilarious, but needless to say we slept like crap.
Today was a caffeine fueled whirlwind cruising through Sacramento. We were a bit behind "schedule" but I still managed to drink too much coffee even though I had to miss stopping at Chocolate Fish this time.
First stop was Bloom Coffee and Tea in Roseville. This trip was even better than my first time there. Another great SO shot, this time from Ecco. This is another place I wish I would see more traffic through, but again, maybe just my strange timing.
Shooting down the freeway we got to downtown Sac and I went to Temple's mid-town location on S and 28th. Again, my second trip (though the first time was downtown) was even better than the first. I had a Brazilian SO espresso, which seemed to be pulled well, but maybe a little roasty. Their customer service was super friendly today and I had a great experience.
Finally, stopped at Naked Coffee's midtown location. Naked talks up a bit on their website, but I was fairly underwhelmed with the shop on 15th and Q. Long story short, very friendly workers, not such a great espresso. I'll give them another try at some point.
Total novel. Big things coming up including a return to pottery next week. ]]>http://www.matthewmachine.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100809-0024192010-08-09T00:00:00Z2010-08-09T00:00:00ZGet Excited About Numbers!James Hoffmann, I wrote down my coffee consumption for February. If only because it seemed fun, and I have nothing better to do than write these things down.
As you already know, I am not a coffee professional in any way, and the coffee results themselves are not very exciting. I used similar recording parameters to Mr. Hoffmann, which appear in his post. In total, I drank 44 coffee beverages throughout the month, which at 28 days averages to just over 1.5 beverages per day. Staying true to the European in me, these beverages were at most 8oz, but more likely in the 6oz range.
As I mentioned earlier, the results didn’t deliver me any epiphanies about my consumption, and the way I interpreted my data was a lot different than Mr. Hoffmann. If you’ve ever taken a research/stat course, you’ll have learned about all the errors that occur with statistic collection. In my case, looking at some of the errors reveals more about my coffee consumption than the results.
1. The big one – I knew I was recording this data and was constantly influenced by it. I may have had one less coffee because I knew I had 2 already that day. On weekend days I knew I could have more and pushed it, often simply for the sake of creating an outlier. 2. One short month isn’t a lot of data. I plan to carry this out as long as I can remember to. 3. In February alone I was influenced by outside circumstances that altered my drinking habits, which often don’t come into my life. First, in January I had a big “coffee binge” weekend and started Feb Slow. I traveled, which gave me a few “0s” which I otherwise would have liked a nice cup. 4. I’ve been trying to make a conscious effort to save money, which means drinking more drip made at the office, and less espresso. There are a number of other factors which will likely also contribute to more drip consumption over the next few months.
I am a nerd and get very excited about looking at numbers. To me, these short little studies are really, really cool! They can lead to more questions, or reveal causes to problems that we didn’t understand. This is the first time I’ve actually charted out my food consumption, but it’s not the first time I’ve written it all down. Keeping a food journal, even for only a week at a time, was revelatory and led to the fact that I need to limit my intake of acid and dairy, and drink a hell of a lot more water. If you were wondering why I don’t drink more coffee or cappuccinos, there is your answer.
Maybe charting food consumption is unnecessary in your daily life. What about commuting? Or monitoring computer/phone usage? Our iPods, smart phones and more already have data-logging capabilities. Put them to use for kicks! Using statistics as a vehicle for introspection is easy and (can be) fun! ]]>http://www.matthewmachine.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100301-1614202010-03-01T00:00:00Z2010-03-01T00:00:00ZBusy busy. ]]>http://www.matthewmachine.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry100224-1644382010-02-24T00:00:00Z2010-02-24T00:00:00ZBrewing Methods Today a new mini-site has been making the blog rounds. Simply called, brewmethods.com, it's a page that has well laid out links to videos and blogs of coffee brewing demos. I wish I had seen this a few months back! Luckily (and sadly, I suppose) I've seen most of these videos already. Brew Methods was created by George of cleanhotdry.com who writes an excellent blog worth subscribing to.
What I want to know is if anyone out there has had any luck making cups from the Bodum Cafe Solo - Filtre Belgique! It's quickly becoming a headache-inducing pet project.
Normally the first thing I do when I am craving information is go straight to the internet, for the better or worse. Luckily we can’t yet taste coffee through “the tubes” and I remembered that our office coffee supplier De La Paz does regular, private cuppings by request. A week later I was able to attend one and had an incredible experience with guided expertise by Jason and Shark. Though this wasn’t my first cupping, it was super informative and inspirational. Most of all it reinforced what I had learned in the past: If you want to learn anything about food (coffee, in this case), try several varieties at one time. While drinking one cup of coffee it’s impossible to say anything useful about the intricacies of taste. Taste two different beans side by side and all of a sudden you’re noticing “berries and lots of acidity in one, and maybe a dirty sock in the other”. Trying the same bean brewed in two methods has also been super helpful to me. After the cupping, De La Paz brewed one bean through a French press and another through a paper filter in a Chemex. It was amazing how much different they tasted from the cupping, exemplifying how refined or full a bean can get based on the brewing method. What was truly nice was learning that being able to diversify a home brewing set up is easy and not painfully expensive.
One thing cities have to offer is access to coffee shops with espresso machines, commercial brewers, halogen powered vacuum pots and arrays of pour-over drip brewers. This myriad of high quality brewing machines also carries a commercial price tag. Quality coffee does not have to be expensive! In fact I learned I can purchase a variety of tools for next to nothing. As far as I’m concerned, mobile phone bills, car payments, dinner nights out and other costs far surpass the cost of a good cup at home or work. My setup at home consists of a $10 stove-top kettle, a $30 cooking scale, a $15 probe thermometer/timer, a $130 Baratza Maestro Plus grinder, a $30 Aeropress and a $40 French Press. At work I cobbled together a dusty old French Press, a scale, and an electric kettle that go mostly unused otherwise. The only thing I’ve purchased was an $8 cooking thermometer after I got tired of having sour coffee. Though I could argue that that $255 is not much to spend, and in the long run people probably spend way more than this breaking electric coffee makers and whirly-blade grinders, I won’t. I won’t because it’s easy to get away with far less. Buy a cheap 2-cup plastic pour-over brewer ($3 at a large chain store right now!), paper filters, a $10 kettle and you’re golden. $15! I would recommend buying a decent burr grinder, because fresh roasted coffee ground right before brewing is heavenly. Grinding here work is a lost cause so I buy my coffee in small amounts and have it ground at the shop. Hand grinders are also relatively inexpensive and something I might look into for work in the future. Overall, spending $15-20 for a basic setup is nothing more than a few trips to the local café, and pays for itself very quickly. The hardest part is figuring out how to make a great cup of coffee, but made much easier by keeping track of things.
Standing around the office kitchen with my scale, thermometer, French Press and coffee charts, I’m lovingly referred to as “such a nerd”, “a huge dork” and other misnomers. One of the things I’ve learned from pottery classes is that a week or more after glazing, I’ll never remember what I used on a pot and keeping a detailed record is the only way to make progress. The same applies to how I brew my coffee daily. I now have a chart I keep with bean type, grind settings, water temperature and more, with notes so I know how unsuccessful (or tasty!) my brewing was. With all the variables and having really just started brewing, it would be impossible to ever get to a good cup without writing it all down. It’s also often very easy to see where the problem is when the data on paper. So write it down!
Write, taste and buy smart (and cheap, if that’s your prerogative). That’s a pretty simple list for the pathway to a good cup at home. I know I’m still very much a beginner, which is why I chose to write this amidst my learning instead of later when I’m not struggling as much to brew a single cup of coffee. I’ve posted links to a few great resources I’ve used below. Remember, the internet is a place that often makes opinions seem like facts, and what works for one person may not work for everyone. Only your tongue knows what it likes about a cup of coffee so use internet information as a starting point and use your own good judgment from there.
Sweet Maria's – Green beans and good how-tos for brewers they sell. Coffee Geek – Bingo. Home Barista – Yes, it’s espresso mostly, but it’s a good read. De La Paz – Good people, and a good SF resource. ]]>http://www.matthewmachine.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry091217-1623042009-12-17T00:00:00Z2009-12-17T00:00:00ZSpring 2010http://www.matthewmachine.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry091204-1218452009-12-04T00:00:00Z2009-12-04T00:00:00ZAin't No Winter Time In brief – Winter is coming, and though it might be totally mild, it won’t stop me from reading sweet blogs that kindle my sense of “style”. I posted three earlier, but in the name of time saving, I’ll present 1 and list a few more.
10 Engines This blog is a consistent favorite of mine and one that I like to read first in the morning. It’s a warm fuzzy blend of nostalgia, quality products and personal stories that really give the whole thing a sense of well roundedness. A great way to start the day/week.
These days I’ve been pretty smart about RSS readers and making blogs quick to read so there are MANY more in my reader, but those are some regulars I consistently like. ]]>http://www.matthewmachine.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry091130-1206112009-11-30T00:00:00Z2009-11-30T00:00:00Z
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