Monday, April 16, 2012

LGB 2.1


We have a new Top Blend.

This Little Green Bag is the first new one for the quarter and therefor called 2.1.

It's two equal parts of the Colombia El Meridiano and Ethiopia Yirgacheffe.

Every year we do a lot of Yirgacheffe. It's for sure our most popular coffee region ever.

The first containers of the new season from Ethiopia, actually its for most origins, are sometimes a bit shaky. Very often they want to speed this up at origin and therefor we don't receive the best selection/screening of beans. Mostly 2nd or 3rd container is better, but of course you always have to test first, before drawing conclusions.
So, we ordered a couple bags of the new crop Yirg and were curiously waiting for the first roasts of this holy bean.
That day Jeff and I brewed, immidiately after the cooling down, an aeropress with the Yirgacheffe filter roast and discovered an insane sweet green jasmin tea flavor. Partially this had to do with the freshness, but anyhow, we knew for the first second on this was a stellar roast.

Now a couple weeks later we had it as an espresso and filter of the week and with such a succes we decided to blend it in already.

Probably this blend is going to last for a couple of months.
The Colombia is very creamy and stable.
And the Ethiopian always a good blender.
Both coffee are sweet, low on acidity and bitters and with a medium body. The espresso's are very complex and mild. The milk based drinks better then ever.
Also on filter we have great results with this blend.

Good luck to anybody.
Don't hesitate to review this LGB 2.1 and comment.

Aeropress Recept Jonas (Dutch)

Jonas :

"Mijn techniek is vrij simpel :

Eerst verwarm ik de aeropress en filter.
daarna giet ik 70° warm water op de 18 gram op 5.4 gemalen koffie tot ik iets onder de helft zit met genoeg turbulentie.

Ik start de timer zodra het water de koffie raakt en tel zo met opgieten en bloom zo een 20 seconden.
Na deze 20 seconden Bloomen giet ik de aeropress vol en zet hem vacuum en wacht even tot ik 50 seconden ver zit.
Daarna duw ik 30 seconden lang et voila."

En 2de plaats was een feit.
Good luck voor degenen die het thuis (of op de werkvloer) proberen willen.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

BAC #2 Results and Recipes


The recipe drawn by Mister Bruyninckx himself :


Explained (in Dutch) :

- 14 gram afwegen
- Filterpapier spoelen met heet water, terwijl deze in de aeropress steekt.
(zo wordt de aeropress wat voorverwarmd door de damp en niet echt door het water om een snellere afkoeling te hebben achteraf)

Zet de aeropress inverted
- Giet 40 ml water (82°C), kap hierop de 14 gram coffee (gemalen op stand 4 op de Malkhonig) en giet meteen weer water op tot de weegschaal 100gr aangeeft (14gr coffee+86ml water). Giet steeds in het midden en zie dat de grounds steeds in contact blijven met de wand van de aeropress.
Start de timer en wacht 30 sec.
- Op 30sec giet je de aeropress verderop tot de weegschaal 234gr aangeeft (=220ml water). Giet steeds in het midden in cirkelvormige beweging (diameter+-2cm) en zie ook hier dat de grounds aan de zijkant van de wand blijven hangen.
Het opgieten gebeurd over 30sec.
- Laat zo 30 seconden staan tot de timer 1.30 aangeeft.
Tijdens deze 30 sec. schroef je de dop erop, verwarm je de tas snel.
- Shake de aeropress even om de grounds van de bodem los te krijgen en press de aeropress rustig over 40 sec.
Zeker stoppen eens je de grounds ziet, anders krijg je sneller een vuil bitter nasmaakske als hij wat afkoelt.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

New Zealand Barista Champ Aymon McQuade


The first person I met last year at the WBC brew bar in Colombia was Aymon McQuade.

It was the most interesting and inspiring talk we had there. Well, basically it was him doing the talking, introducing the coffee he brought along.
He just got back from El Salvador where he sourced his own greens. Then he managed to find a roaster to do some test roasts with it. And from this roast he offered me a bag to test and maybe blog about it.

I felt ashamed for quiet a while that I didn't do this, but the truth is I didn't really like the coffee.
When I now hear about his fabulous results at the NZBC with some of these beans I'm wondering how much different the roasts of these beans have been. Back at home, on top class equipment, and with some extra Colombians mixed in I'm sure it's a whole different story.
Who knows he can still bring some with him to Vienna where we surely meet up again.

Aymon impressed me with his story in Bogota and I'm happy he did the same last weekend in Wellington.
So, big congrats Aymon, good luck with the upcoming training and really looking forward meeting up in Austria next June.


This text is written by 5 senses reporter Brydon :
NZBC 2012 Champion Aymon McQuade presented a winning performance built around coffees he had found himself in El Salvador and Colombia on an origin trip taken around last year’s WBC. His staged signature drink utilised a mechanical pump contraption which filtered shortbread into an extract which was later mixed into the final drink.

A big thank you and congratulations to all who were involved in this year’s New Zealand Barista Championships — brave competitors, fellow judges, volunteer organisers and supporters alike. It was a great event. Bring on Vienna, 2012!

NZBC 2012 Top 6
1st Aymon McQuade, Bell Tea & Coffee, Wellington
2nd Chloe Zhou, Crafted Coffee Company, Christchurch
3rd Nick Clark, Flight Coffee, Wellington
4th Brendon Neilson, Espresso Workshop, Auckland
5th Hideyuki Kono, Crafted Coffee Company, Christchurch
6th Claris Jones White, Pomeroys Coffee, Nelson