Wake Up and Coffee
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@popvulture Great read. Honestly, all the experimenting and dialing things in at the beginning is one of the most fun parts of getting into espresso. Sounds like you made the perfect choice with the machine and are enjoying the process - and hopefully many many cups from now on.
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@Cymro said in Wake Up and Coffee:
How do you like the new Paragon setup @Chap ?
Received it yesterday and did only two brews yet. Will have to make some adjustments and get used to it. I used the same coffee I had in my prior rotation. What I can say for the moment is that the result seemed to have a more precise taste, the brew is very clean and clear. Handling needs more attention.
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@Chap thank you, have fun experimenting!
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@ARNC sooo surprised to see bolivian coffee make it to fellow IH-forummites cups!
Caranavi is our TOP quality coffee region. If I ever make it to an IH meet where you show up I’ll take some local buys for you.
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@motojobobo thanks! I’ve never seen Bolivian coffee in the UK before, but the write up from my usual coffee merchant was intriguing. It sounds like the grower and his family are involved in supporting the wider industry in Bolivia and developed the coco natural process in house. In case you’re interested, here’s an extract:
“ Pedro Rodriguez runs his farms with his daughter Daniela, and son Pablo under their company ‘Agricafe’. Their business is committed to preserving Bolivia’s coffee production, which had been in decline for the last couple of decades. Yields were falling due to outdated farming practices, lack of government support, as well as a wave of Coffee Leaf Rust disease in 2008 which devastated much of Latin America’s coffee farms. Many farmers opted to stop growing coffee in favour of other crops. Concerned that Bolivian coffee production would cease altogether, Pedro started cultivating coffee on his own plantation in 2012. Later, the Rodriguez family created their ‘Sol de la Mañana’ programme, which helped other farms learn and adopt better farming techniques such as pruning, cherry picking and fertilizing. Their La Llama farm is their highest-altitude farm, named as a homage to a llama they encountered when they first looked to purchase the land.”
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I prefer my coffee cold, but I I like the flavor of hot extraction much more than cold brew. In the past I’ve done flash brewing where you do a pourover over ice. This is great, but obviously dilution happens, and while I enjoy the ritual, it takes time and attention.
An industry friend let me borrow this bre:zi contraption and it is very cool. It does a heated bloom followed by a cold brew. So it can do a cup in 11 minutes. You get the brightness of heated extraction with a great smooth mouthfeel and a predictable cup. Don’t have to weigh ice and water, just dial in the grind size, weight, and adjust the brew style (light/medium/dark concentrate or normal, or their lengthier kissaten slow‑drip mode) and weight (you can lie about how many grams you put in there to dial it in: higher for more dilution, etc). You can make concentrates for espresso martinis that have bright flavor. But a morning cup for me of 30g at a pourover grind consistency has let me enjoy bright, light roast coffee at the temperature and viscosity I prefer.
The thing is expensive but worth it IMO. Well-built, very easy to keep clean, everything is magnetically attached. Very slick.
https://brezicoffee.com/products/brezi-cold
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@mclaincausey very cool bit of kit
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