Old vs New

After getting back home I made a discovery. In my kitchen cupboard I found a sealed bag of CIBO blend coffee that was roasted on the 24th of December 2006. This bag of coffee has been aging for approximately one year. So I decided to compare it to a freshly roasted CIBO blend. The aim here is to see how much of a difference there will be in the flavour profile between old and new bags.

I have put both coffees thought the plunger simultaneously. The visual appearance between the two wasn’t so noticeable. Perhaps the aged coffee didn’t bloom as much, but like I mentioned only a slight difference.
After 4 minutes I broke the crust and sensed the immediate difference. The aged coffee was much sharper in smell, at this stage very hard to pin point main aromas.
Here are my tasting notes:

Old:
Smell: Hints of rubber, wet cardboard
Taste: unpleasant overpowering stale feel and taste
Wet grounds smell: yeasty



New:
Smell: Caramel candy
Tate: Sweet, distinct dark chocolate
Wet grounds smell: Freshly sliced cucumber

Newly roasted coffee was very flavoursome in the cup where the aged coffee was overpowered by stale taste and aroma. No matter how well the coffee is sealed it will lose its character after a period of time ... someone please forward this post to illy.

I didn’t expect a different result, once again I have proven to myself that coffee is all about freshness.

Hong Kong Espresso Run

visited 1/12/07

Considering that population of Hong Kong is almost 7 million people compacted in 1,104 km² of space, a quality coffee shop is extremely hard to come by. Big chain companies such as sturbucks dominate the coffee market and is extremely popular among the locals. Despite this sad factor there are just a few coffee shops that are worthy of mentioning.

My favourite Zambra café (G/F., 239 Jaffe Road, Wanchai) it is located on Hong Kong island and is convenient to walk to from Wan Chai ferry or Wan Chai metro station. They have another location close to this shop, however I’ve been told that it is not as good as this one, so I never got a chance to go there, the address is: 13 O'Brien Road Wanchai

The owner of the shop is a New Zelander so you are guaranteed to find few surprises on the shelves. They have a large variety of pastries and healthy lunches. I had a meat pie for lunch, I must say that the quality of the pie was rubbish and I don’t recommend it to anyone. They occupy a large space – downstairs and a large upstairs area, clean cut interior. The best thing about this place is that it is on the courner so it gets a lot of sunlight coming in and believe me among all the monster buildings that is indeed a rare treat anywhere in Hong Kong.

On the bar you will find a LaMarzocco FB70 machine with a couple of Mazzer grinders. They pull a decent shot of espresso. The coffee is rosted in their own facility, I believe that they have a Probat roaster and roast for both of their stores. The baristas are knowledgeable and are very friendly. I made friends with a really cool guy El, he is really into his latte art and can do swans and all sorts …

I strongly recommend this shop as it is the only thing to good espresso in Hong Kong.

The only other espresso bar that is worth mentioning would be Crema Coffee (67 Mody Road, Shop G36 Peninsula Centre, Tsim Sha Shui East) A very tiny coffee shop in a relatively busy area. These guys have a LaMarzocco Linea with a mazzer grinder. They cook some lunch foods such as pastas and fresh sandwiches so it does get busy around lunch, I recommend going there before lunch or after.


They roast in house on a small microwave oven like roaster. I am pretty sure that it is an electric drum roaster and it is made in Korea. The roast itself is very dark so it is hardly impossible to taste any fine flavours. The coffee itself was overextracted, toasty and dusty in texture.

As the shop itself is not very big I felt like a lonely sardine in a can with vast amounts of people trying to cramp in for a take-away cup of coffee.

I think Hong Kong coffee market will keep progressing and there will be more and more specilised coffee shops in the nearest future. Paul Pratt is doing a great job with supplying Marzocco equipment and he has just started roasting so hopefully sooner or later there will be an overall higher standard of espresso in Hong Kong, until that day …

Visiting Paul Pratt in Hong Kong

visited 7/12/07

First and foremost I would like to apologies for long absence from my blog. I am back in Adelaide now after my fantastic Asian travels I have a few posts to catch up on so please keep checking back. In this particular blog I would love to share my Hong Kong experiences. Whilst in Hong Kong I had a chance to visit few espresso bars as well as Mr. Paul Pratt at Just Java.

As many of you know Paul is the man behind bumper tools, I personally used some bumper gear back in the days, especially the tamping stand. Paul has a very creative mind when it comes to coffee tools. Everything that they make gets assembled in their workshop they even polish and refine each and every tamper handle. I got a little insight on future products, one in particular caught my eye: bottomless knockbox that comes up above the counter. A very practical and clean idea as the waste goes straight into the bin.

Behind Paul’s creative mind is a serious mind of espresso machine collector. Paul is world known for restoring vintage espresso machines, he even keeps a webpage. Here is one of his recent projects the infamous Faema E61 a real eye-candy to say the least and I got to see it first hand. The amount of effort that went into restoring this machine really is unbelievable, you can read all about it in Paul’s two part documented posts on coffeegeek.

Paul is also a very big collector of LaMarzocco machines so he has a few restored vintage machines around the place. Some of the machines are plugged in and are in frequent use, I even got a chance to play around on the original GS1, we pulled some decent shots. Also got to play around with few LaMarzocco lever machines.

I must say that visiting Paul and seeing his collection was possibly the best thing I have done in Hong Kong.

On top of bumper and restoring machines, Paul also keeps busy with roasting coffee as a boutique coffee roaster on his Probat roaster with crazy indoor exhaust filtration system, it allows him to roast indoors without pipes running out of the window.

I would like to thank Paul for fantastic tour of his facility. It is amazing to see people like Paul pushing the coffee industry to another level, very inspiring!

Copenhagen Espresso Run

visited 29/11/07

I have spent the most amazing days in København. I’ve been treated to an incredible welcome by Klaus and Troels. They told me all the worthy places to visit in town so in my spare time I ran around doing my espresso runs. Here is my take …

The Coffee Collective (Jægersborggade 10) [edited 29/06/08] Is one of the leading and most progressive espresso bars in the world.


Without a question Estate Coffee (Gammel Kongevej 1) is the best espresso bar for quality coffee. They are the only bar in Copenhagen that has a clover. A vast selection of premium single origins is an outstanding way to try something different every day of the week. The clover is tuned nicely, giving maximum flavours into the cup. The espresso was outstanding also, very complex with light acidic and sweet notes and great mouthfeel.

There is much to love about this place especially the coffee, the atmosphere inside is not very welcoming, the staff have been a little distant on few occasions, but if you walk in on the right day you might find your overall experience complete. An absolute must to visit!

Café Europa (Amagertorv 1) stood out also, this café is more about the feel. Old rich heritage of this place really reflects in the interior. The food was fantastic, we had a massive antipasto breakfast with just about everything you could think of on the plate. The coffee was great also and really completed the overall picture. These guys have a very strict theme and are much more serious and professional than Estate. The location is very central so you can't miss it, highly recommend going here. These guys raised 3 out of 4 world barista champions. They are very proud of that fact and display all the trophies above the bar. If you end up going to Europa try their brunch it is outstanding!

Here is a place that deserves a lot of credit for its espresso … Kaffe & Vinyl (Skydebanegade 4) is a cool vintage record shop with a coffee machine. They use estate coffee and pull a double shot every time. The espresso was outstanding. You must make a trip over to them, trust me you will like it.




Risteriet (Studiestræde 36) is a well worthy bar also, they roast their own coffee. The espresso wasn’t all that great unfortunately. Inside the shop you will find the whole range of reg barber tampers so if you are in the market for one, this is the place to see them.





Riccos (Studiestræde 24) – just next door to Risteriet this underground espresso bar doesn’t really offer anything unique but a cool place to go and see, do not have a high expectation to get a decent espresso shot.

Copenhagen espresso run has bee a lot of fun, it is good to see a very high standard of coffee from some of the shops. This is the city that always moves forward and never moves back, it is outstanding to see coffee collective entering the scene, it’s the matter of time before they sign on experienced clients. Unfortunately at this stage there are not many cafes that offer their espresso blend, but like I said its just a matter of time.

Denmark - Country of Barista Champions

As many of you know Denmark has had 4 world barista champions, this factor alone immediately indicates a very high standard of coffee quality. I would like to talk about certain barista champions and what they are up to these days ..

It is really good to see that all past barista champions from Denmark are still involved in the coffee industry.

Martin Hildebrandt (Miami, 2001), I had the opportunity to meet one of the pioneers in barista competition world. He is currently busy managing Europa café, which is located in the heart of Copenhagen. An outstanding espresso bar that raised three World Barista Champions.

Fritz Storm (Oslo, 2002) – I didn’t have the opportunity to catch up with Fritz this time, as he doesn’t live in Copenhagen, he is very busy and involved with lots of trade shows and general barista education.







Troels Poulsen (Seattle, 2005) – Very much involved with Kontra coffee today, Troels is in charge of barista education at Kontra coffee. Troels gave me a very detailed tour of europa café, we got to catch up and talk a lot about coffee. I cannot express how genuinely nice he is. After our little europa experience we ended up at Kontra rostery. I must say that the space that they have is amazing. They occupy 2 levels of space. On the first level you will find anything from domestic single group espresso machines to the most professional toys in the coffee business. On that same level; a big probat roster with a nice cupping room at the back of the facility. Downstairs is mostly education with a nice room with a projector screen and seating as well as few different espresso machines (da la corte and la marzocco). Further down the hall you will find a spacious storage facility with spare parts and miscellaneous wares. This rostery is backed by the owners of europa, a very successful roastery. The roastmaster is Michael a very knowledgeable roaster, on top of things a great gentlemen.

I thoroughly enjoyed visiting kontra coffee rostery, it is good to see that Troels is heavily involved in the coffee industry and doing to great things in barista education and marketing for Kontra . Kontra it is also a shop; you can easily visit their roasting facility without booking an appointment.

Klaus Thomsen (Berne, 2006) – now part owner of coffee collective coffee rosting company. Him and 3 other guys have joined forces to open a pioneer rostery in copnhagen. They all came from estate coffee so have a very high standard in anything and everything. I can without a doubt say that they are one of leading rosters in the industry. These guys are perfectionists in just about everything that they do, very involved in research. I couldn’t help to compare their philosophies to what Tim Wendelboe’s doing in Oslo. The coffee is fantastic, they are not getting ahead of themselves, they only roast few different coffees and absolutely perfect each and every one! You can see their selection on the website. The other great thing is that they try to use direct trade. They are very active in traveling the world in search of best plantations and keep a blog about their ventures, you must check it out. I received very generous welcome from Klaus and the crew. If you are in town in the neat future, you must check this place out as it offers an unforgettable and rewarding experience. As you know we did water cupping at the rostery, feel free to check out my previous post…

This blog turned into my experiences at Coffee Collective and Kontra, unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to go to Estate Coffee rostery, but I do hear amazing things about it so if you have time I strongly recommend visiting them too.

Malmö – Sweden Espresso Run

visited 29/11/07

Having spent a lovely afternoon in Helsingborg I was on my way to Malmö which is way south of Sweden. It is roughly 40 minutes away from Copenhagen and the train is connected via a long bridge. Mr Dan Stenqvist was expecting my visit and had already planed out our espresso run for the evening. We went to all worthy espresso bars around town and finished off with a little coffee jam at Solde kaffebar where Dan works. So here is my take on Malmö.

Solde Kaffebar (Regementsgatan 2) was my favourite out of the bunch, we went there last. They employ a very fun, casual approach. Inside there is plenty of space to move around however they keep seating limited, a real traditional corner bar design with high stools. This café changes their house blend once a month. In a way that is a great way to keep regular customers coming back and giving them the opportunity to try different espresso blends and educate their palate. They are very open towards different coffee and do occasionally get traditional Italian blends with robusta portions. The coffee still needs to pass the owners quality examination, so they don’t end up serving complete rubbish for a whole month. I think that this system takes a lot away from the overall consistency of the shop throughout the year, but I will let you make your own mind up. At the end of they year the customers get to vote on which coffee they liked best. Last year David Haugaards blend was the winner, I think they even sent him a trophy.

Right now they are using J&N FTO espresso blend, I am very much familiar with this blend as I got to play around with it few times in Stockholm. I must saw that shots in Malmö tasted completely different; nowhere as good as Stockholm. They are aware of this fact and blame the water I think they need to look into few different filtration systems, perhaps “Water + More” filter would work well.

At the end of the day we had some time to have a little coffee jam and pull some shots, we tried the KOPPI espresso blend that I brought along from Helsingborg. Once again the shots were vastly different. The complex acidity that was very distinct in Helsingbord was hardly noticeable. Again, water is an easy target to blame here.

Lilla Kafferosteriet (Baltzarsgatan 24a) – a very interesting concept espresso bar with a micro-rostery. They are the only espresso bar with a 3 group synesso machine in the whole of Sweden. They also have a very dirty probat roaster, you could see that the cooling trey isn’t cleaned properly as well as various other unclean elements. I want to give theses guys credit for doing what they do as they offer a nice selection of premium single origins and 2 espresso blends. The shots that Dan and I got were extremely hot and burnt my tongue. That machine needs proper temperature tuning! There is absolutely no point having a synesso running at such high temperature. The shots were too hot so that might have been one of the main factors that took away from the overall taste. I found the espresso blend very boring without any striking features.

Te & kaffehuset ( Fersens väg 16) is a domestic equipment shop with a large selection of different coffees. Their primary market is in selling packed coffee. They also have a GB 5 machine that they use for their café part. A very experimental shop using different extraction methods with different coffee beans. Well worth visiting and having a chat with Mattias Sjöbäck , very enthusiastic and knowledgeable owner.

Nesta (Södergatan 22) – a very well designed espresso bar in a stellar location. This place has a very nice vibe about it. They have the best coffee equipment, however the coffee is very much lacking in just about everything. It has a very heavy dose of robusta. The coffee is imported from Italy so freshness could be an issue also. This is the kinda place where you go with your friends to just sit down and chill, not for the coffee unfortunately.

Malmö is a very interesting town with plenty of quality espresso bars that are very capable of pulling good coffee however at the end of the day espresso part of things didn’t really strike me. The main issue here would have to be the water, I think they have to start looking into water science a little further. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dan for his kind hospitality … thanks man!

Visit to Helsingborg – Sweden

Visited: 28.11.07

Located on the south-west coastline of Sweden this small town has something extremely special to offer. As from few months ago this remarkable espresso bar / rostery opened under the name Koppi.

Located in the center part of town this micro rostery is mind-blowing. The space that they have is just remarkable, the design is very simple yet extremely effective. Massive open space with large windows really light the place. Clean working spaces with lots of room to move around and the best toys in coffee business. The roaster and the bar are on different split-levels, making the roaster superimposed from the bar with big glass panels separating the two. The whole place is extremely visual and everything is eye catching.

Brand new 3 group la marzocco linnea along side 3 phase mazzer robour, diedrich roaster are the main features in this barista heaven. Their coffee is extremely good, a well balanced, clean espresso. It was very lively and full of complex flavours. Pleasant mellow acidity, a very aromatic cup with great finish and long aftertaste.

I also had a quick second to visit a small espresso bar called kräm, they use koppi coffee and do a damn good job! They have an elektra coffee machine along side a mazzer major grinder. They know how to treat the machine properly and pull a very decent shot indeed. I recommend visiting kräm!

I cannot tell you how impressed I am about Koppi. It is possibly the best designed espresso bar I have EVER seen. I strongly recommend going to Helsingborg just to visit Koppi and chat with Charles and Anne.

Water Testing with Coffee Collective Crew

This week I had the opportunity to do water cupping with coffee collective crew down at the newly established roastery in Copenhagen.

We had 3 different sources of water and ran a blind cupping session, with 2 different coffees (Kariaini and Finca Vista Hermosa) . We had reverse osmosis filtered water that has been totally purified, bottled Eden spring water and “water + more” tap filtered water which Klaus was particularly interested to test out.

This filter has a four-step filtration system, standard water purity filter, carbon filter (removes odor and bacteria), ion filter (removes calcium) and an extra fine 10 micron purity filter. You can also regulate the bypass. As well as a one-way valve, making it extremely easy to change without having to shut off the main water system. Mind you - this filtration system was especially designed for coffee.


As it was blind cupping we didn’t know which water was which. The difference between the cups was remarkable. The two standouts ended up being the spring water and the “water + more” filtered water. The pure water was simply too boring. Filtered tap water had a little feel of slightly carbonated water with a little bit of mineral sparkle which retained the natural acidity and perhaps enhanced it on the palate. Spring water was outstanding also bringing a lot of natural profiles out of the coffee.

The most remarkable thing about this filter is that it will produce the same results no matter there you are in the world (with proper tuning) providing that well-needed consistency through out clientele that many roasters would like.

We had the opportunity to try unfiltered tap water along side “water + more” filtered water. It is most certainly not drinking water; it almost tastes like flat mineral water due to a high content of CO2. It wasn’t very pleasant to drink but it works fantastic with coffee.

The guys from coffee collective were very happy with this system and are going to introduce it to all their customers, so there is consistency in water quality throughout. Klaus wrote his thoughts about this filter on his blog also, so be sure to check it out.

This cupping session was a real eye opener for me, the water is undoubtedly the most important aspect in quality, and so it is absolutely critical to install the right filtration system to get optimum results.

Copenhagen Visit

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for not being very active. At the moment i am in Copenhagen spending time exploring the city and hanging out with Coffee Collective peeps :) Had some interesting days already, so i will blog all about it in the near future.

Once again sorry for being idol without notice.

Sunbeam Cafe Series Commercial

Here it is ladies and gentlemen … I give you the cafe series short commercial that will air in Australia very soon.

I will give away a little secret, for this commercial guys at cafe series used 100% robusta beans, its visually much more pleasant!

Indulge!!!

Meth Coffee

Many people often tell me that I am addicted to coffee, my response to that statement has always been the same: - “I am addicted to the taste of good coffee and the process of making it, not the caffeine content.” I very much stand by that statement. If I don’t have access to quality coffee I can go fine without drinking any odd coffee for the sake of drinking caffeine.

This week I got to try Meth Coffee, the hype behind this coffee is that it gives you a more powerful effect. The blend consists of 100% arabica beans, from what I got told it has 3 different bean varieties: Honduras, Brazil and Guatemala. The guy that I bought the coffee from told me that “The Roaster” wouldn’t give away the actual breakdown. Meth coffee company are very secretive about who is roasting the coffee. They only have an e-shop so it is only possible to order it online.

The company is trying to present this product as if it were a drug. The packaging looks like a home-made laboratory bag with big METH writing on the front. The whole presentation and obscure text on the back of the label didn’t appeal to me at all. The video on the website clearly has drug reference, showing the man going through withdrawals.

Despite the name Meth there are no methamphetamines in this coffee so it doesn’t make you hallucinate or trip out. The only other addition is "Yerba mate" which is a herb from the holly family it contains mateine (psychoactive stimulant) also found in guarana, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.

The espresso itself tasted really revolting! Pale crema absolutely no body. Very unpleasant bitter, sour tangy thin liquid closely resemblant to dirty dish water. As I finished 2 shots of it with my eyes closed I waited for 20 minutes for the extra buzz to kick in. To my huge disappointment I didn’t feel any extra side effects what so ever, just the usual caffeine rush, if anything it made me a little fatigued?!?!?!

I don’t believe that anyone who called themselves a speciality coffee roaster should tamper with coffee this way. The end product should be the taste of origins not the amount of “buzz” your body generates.
I don’t recommend this to any quality coffee drinker.

Coffee of the week: Rwanda Gatsinga

This week I’ve been enjoying fine espresso named after Emmy Gatsinga from Rwanda. It is really something special and very unique in character, like no other coffee from Rwanda.

You will have hard time finding anything about this coffee or Emmy Gatsinga in particular. The only reference I can give you in on David Haugaards blog and it is in Swedish.

Espresso notes:
The roast profile is on the lighter side.
This espresso smelt exactly like piped tobacco, and flavoured apple smoke.
This coffee is all about sweetness and distinct acidity, the main character is lemongrass and straw.
A very clean round finish, long and lingering.

Outstanding in form of espresso, very complex in delicate acidic flavours, for serious coffee drinkers that appreciate single origin coffees.

For limited time you can also enjoy this fine espresso at Raptis Ahlgren in Old Town in Stockholm. Discard the picture on the internet, their cappuccino is much better, you can have my word on it.