Here’s a double shot of espresso with my Bezzera BZ-10. The beans are Revolution Roasters Smooth Operator blend.
Category Archives: Highly Caffeinated
Coffee Weight? Do you use a gram scale?
I had some rewards points stacked up at Amazon, and I picked up this little toy. And, by little, I mean physically small…really small. The American Weigh Scale Ac-650 is billed as a “pocket gram scale”, and they aren’t kidding. This thing is smaller than your phone.
I had never bothered to weigh out my portafilter coffee doses before. I always just went pretty much by sight, and reading that my grinder would produce about one gram per second. I was using what I thought was an 18 gram dose for a double shot. Since, this thing was essentially free, I decided to see how close I was, and see if I could really fine tune things further.
So, how close has I? What I had been assuming was an 18 gram dose, was, according to the scale, exactly 18 grams!
The scale is drop dead simple to use. Take the cover off, put it on a flat surface, and push the power button. The clear cover doubles as a way to make the weigh surface larger if needed, but the surface fits the portafilter spouts perfectly without the cover in use. There’s a clearly labeled Tare button on the front too. The accuracy is plenty fine for coffee use, and if you really want, you can change the units to ounces, or even Karats.
All in all, not bad for “free gift”. Since the thing is so darn small, you could easily add it to a travel setup if you are really anal about weighing your dose.
ROK Cappuccino
I like milk based drinks often, so here’s how I make a sort of cappuccino with the ROK Espresso machine. ROK Cappuccino isn’t a real cappuccino, but it’s close.
ROK Espresso Shot
Here’s a ROK Espresso shot with my setup in New York. The original video is below showing more details, but I remade a closeup of just the shot with new beans that I found here in New York (Irving Farm Coffee Roaster Blackstrap Espresso blend).
La Colombe NYC
If you can take the hipster overload of New York’s East Village and you need a fix, take visit to La Colombe on Lafayette St. The SoHo location is tiny…maybe only space for 10 people. But only a few block North, the NoHo location is significantly larger. But, is the coffee good? Well, it’s not bad. It’s not “holy shit, stop the presses” good, but if you need caffeine, and you are in the area, you could certainly do worse.
The East Village is loaded with small shops. There’s probably 10 spots in between the to La Colombe locations alone. I was there on a brisk February morning, and all the places were packed…probably because it was 30 degrees outside. The line in the NoHo location was completely around the bar and there was a steady stream of people in an out. The music was a bit loud, but the staff was very friendly, and the service was quick.
If you like what you taste, you can purchase the coffee there at the shop or on their web site. The Nizza blend was what they were serving for espresso based drinks. It had hints of caramel as described in the tasting notes and the cappuccino I had was creamy and had the correct proportions of milk foam and coffee. So, as I said, you could certainly do worse than La Colombe.
Ramini Espresso Bar – NYC
I find myself back in NYC for an extended length of time again, and once again, am searching for reasonable espresso. My current routine has me frequenting the area around 8th Ave and 37th. It just so happens, there’s a place on 38th.
I checked out Ramini Espresso Bar on the recommendation of Google Now based on my location, and it was not bad at all. The service is friendly, and the coffee (the most important thing) was fine. It wasn’t mind blowing, but for $4, you get a perfectly fine latte. If you are near 37th and 8th, and need a fix, this place will do.
There is no excuse for BAD espresso
Seriously. There isn’t…none. Even if you aren’t a nut about espresso, the super-automatic machines out there are capable of producing drinkable results. So, why is it you can still go to coffee carts and get not just bad, but horrendously undrinkable results? People just don’t give a shit…that’s why.
I challenge anyone out there in food service land to tell me that leaving a pitcher of steamed milk out there AFTER steaming so it can be re-warmed minutes later is o.k. to do. Forget the fact that you can’t make microfoam in already warmed milk. Forget the fact that lattes should be made with the proper amount of milk to start with. Milk SPOILS when it’s heated and left out people!
I seriously wonder if some of these coffee cart morons ever taste their own espresso creations? If if so, do they blame the foul tasting beverage on the fact they “don’t like coffee”. Sweet Jeebus people…I make a straight single shot about every 2 weeks just to ensure my own quality control. And, I have a very manual machine which requires attention to detail. Most of these bozos I’m talking about just push a button.
And, then we have the people that claim to be experts and coffee aficionados putting out shit quality. What’s the excuse there? MONEY. Coffee carts and cafes are gold mines in the right locations because caffeine is a legal freaking drug. And, there’s still people walking into supermarkets and buying “eXpresso”.
So, what’s the excuse. Wouldn’t it be better for EVERYONE to at least put out “drinkable” espresso results…it’s working for Starbucks. At least take some pride in making a beverage that will make someone else happy.
Black Rock Coffee Bar – Oceanside
I visited the Oceanside, CA location today. The Black Rock Coffee Bar brand identity exudes rock-n-roll (kind of a Rockstar Energy Drink rip-off actually), and the mission statement talks about great coffee AND community.
The blond barrista was nice enough had the rock-n-roll thing going on, but community and great coffee…not so much.
The location is a tiny, tiny, shack thing oddly placed in the driveway of a larger business area with absolutely no place to hang out or gather. Even with Google maps directing me, I had to make a u-turn because I drove right by it. The place, from what I could see inside was also pretty messy. I can overlook that for the most part, but, c’mon, wipe down the machine and bits every once in a while.
Now, the coffee. Well, I ordered an iced latte. The barrista turned around, grabbed a portafilter, engaged it, and hit a button. I was expecting a quick cleaning flush, but to my amazement, coffee started pouring! Really?! No fresh grinding? How long had that portafilter been sitting there? Was it even warm from the last use? At the fine grind espresso requires, coffee will go rancid in a matter of minutes. Then, I started counting. The double shot rocketed out in about 15 seconds. 15 seconds. I can’t tell you if it was the grind, the tamp or the dose, because none of that happened in front of me. But, I can tell you the iced latte sucked pretty badly. I didn’t even have to taste it to know, but I did anyway. The coffee was bitter and nasty, and really thin.
Maybe I’m a coffee snob, but, San Diego is rapidly becoming a “brewing” mecca. The beers here are world class, and in North County specifically, the coffee is really having a renaissance with places like Cafe Ipe/Revolution Roaster, and Lofty Coffee Co. Mediocrity slips by for a while, but plain bad product won’t do you any favors.
The corporate franchise guys might want to check in on this location, because they aren’t living up to the brand ideals. And, now, this place makes my list of places to avoid.
Genetispresso? Coffee Genetics
Let me start off by saying that I think the stink surrounding GMO crops is bullshit. Humans have been genetically modifying crops since we formed clans that were less nomadic and converted to hunter/gatherers. We didn’t know what the science behind it was, but we noticed that certain crops could be made sturdier by pruning out weaker or undesireable plants.
It wasn’t until the mid 1850s that an Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel set the stage for modern genetics by performing experiments on pea plants. Mendel still didn’t know what the “unit” was, but his experiments showed that there were predictable ratios of “traits” that could be manipulated. Today, we know that unit is a gene, and all the genes that make up an organism is a complete genome.
So, that’s a sort of long winded intro to some comments on this article:
https://news.discovery.com/human/life/coffee-genome-reveals-secrets-of-a-good-brew-140905.htm
Coffee geeks everywhere should be super excited about the possibilities of this. Again, there’s nothing really new here except the techniques. We no longer have to rely on Mendelian experiments to breed better plants, we can use much more precise techniques to create crops that are drought resistant, or pest resistant, or Arabica plants that can grow in a wider climate zone.
Today, we almost always use a blend to craft espresso brews to maintain consistency. And we all know that espresso is a brewing method, not a bean or roast. But, what if we could actually grow an ideal espresso bean? Or, a totally natural decaffeinated bean? Or…use your imagination.
Better coffee? Yes please.
A Tamper By Any Other Name
Flat. Convex. Concave. Rippled. Aluminum. Stainless. Pressure calibrated. Does it really matter?
Do you really need to spend $100 on a tamper?
My personal opinion is no. I’ve tried tampers that are flat, convex, and rippled and I couldn’t taste any difference in the result. They all have their theories as to why non-flat is better. All the theories have something to do with water dispersion on the puck. But, in reality, the shower screen of your machine is doing that job. And, when the puck is wet, it expands to fill the portafilter all the way up to the shower screen. So, any shape that was in the dry puck is not going to stay.
The most important aspect of the tamper is simply the size. Make sure it’s the correct diameter for your portafilter. If it’s not the right size, it can be shaped like your Aunt Martha’s face and it won’t matter.
You can find several of the tampers I’ve tried to the right there. The exception is the Espro calibrated tamper. I just can’t bring myself to pay $100 for a device that flattens coffee. I watch videos of the best barristas in the world, and they use simple flat tampers. So, if that works for them, I can certainly spend the time to learn proper technique.