SM Monkey Blend

Haven't had much luck in the past, so i'm a little skeptical to the two roasts i did on Monday. Did half a pound at the half pound setting and a quarter pound at the half pound setting. it will be interesting to see differences. the larger batch barely made it past first crack, so i have little hope for this one, i'm thinking baked rather than roasted. Second one looks more promising, although i might have let it go a little too far. We'll see, i'll try to be a little more diligent and post some cupping/taste results over the next few days.

long time, no post

just haven't been into blogging as of late; should though. So much has happened.

I feel like my shots are improving, provided that i have descent beans, the La Pav seems to be very fickle when it comes to quality and freshness.

Roasting is proving to be more of a challenge. i wish Behmor thing was Mac compatible. the roasts taste okay for drip, but not had much luck roasting the SM Monkey Blend.

Got to go to the SCAA Expo and WBC 2009 thanks to Joe Behm. Awesome man! Gave my wife and i free tickets. A lot of fun. Many great espressos and cappas were enjoyed and over 6 lbs of various (free!) greens were collected.

Yesterday i had three shots from the Grey Friar's Espresso Blend, gifts from the guys at the the Black Cow. the first to were not that great as i needed to dial in the grind, but the third one was the best looking one i have made in a long time, tasted pretty good as well. best i've had since the WBC.

Altanta GeekTogether

What a great time! Learned SO much. First exposure to coffee cupping. Got to blind taste three different single origins from Counter Culture Coffee (it was at their facilities). We were both blown away at just how different coffee actually can taste when you don't buy 8 O'clock. We were also allowed to play with the La Marzocco FB80! Oh, my goodness what a machine. It was such a great way to get some exposure to what good/great coffee tastes like. Now I feel like i know a little better what i ought to be shooting for as i practice on the Europiccola.

Behmor

So the other day i stumbled upon this DIY chocolate website (Chocolate Alchemy) that sells Behemor 1600 refurbished for $199. Impulsively i bought one. My incredibly selfless and gracious wife even agreed that some of her Christmas money would go towards (this) yet another extravagant coffee purchase. It'll be exciting to get to try this out.

This weekend i am attending the Atlanta GeekTogether at the CCC cupping facilities. Pretty exciting, but very intimidating, being such a novice. hopefully i'll learn a lot.

Here she is

Still tweaking everything, but it's fun and exciting. The hand grinder is slow but really good (and A LOT cheaper than a Rocky or similar, though giving same quality grind)

Now if i can only figure out a roasting system that works for me. Might look into a heat gun this weekend. HATE that those greens are just laying there...

Little news and then finally good news

Well honestly i've been a little discouraged. Was unsure what to do as to acquiring a roaster that would actually work. Heat gun and bread machine? Poppery? Also been tempted to get a BBQ drum. Still nothing new here, still trying to decide. All i know is that i'm not wasting more greens on the current popper.

On the barista side of life things are happening rapidly. Bought a manual KyM grinder yesterday, and as soon as some PayPal issues are resolved a La Pavloni Europiccola Millennium will be on it's way. Pretty excited to say the least!

baked beans!

Blah... not as bad as last time, but far from great. Think i need different equipment; either a stronger poppper or another option is to convert the old bread maker we only used once. There are a lot of people who've made roasters out of a bread maker and a heat gun (the kind you use for stripping paint). Here's an example:

PART 1:


PART 2:


It looks like fun and it can't be that complicated to figure out. All i need is a heat gun. Apparently they're only $10-15 at any hardware store.