Hi everyone, I came across an Aeropress in our kitchen and decided to mess around with it. With weather pretty much having gone from winter and straight into summer, it's gotten rather hot lately. After seeing a post on Reddit about cold brewing with the Aeropress, I decided that I would give it a try myself. Being relatively impatient, I really hoped that it would work, so I'd have a lazier way to make iced coffee. Sadly, I don't know much about the Aeropress, so I snagged Andrew, our CS manager to help me.

For starters, here's what we used to conduct our test (I apologize in advance for our Cinco de Mayo tablecloth).

• 6oz of cold water and 2 level tablespoons of coffee, espresso grind, 1 minute steep time, inverted brew - Relatively weak cup, somewhat tart.
• 8oz of cold water and 4 level tablespoons of coffee, espresso grind, 1 minute steep time, inverted brew - Somewhat stronger cup yet more bitter cup, not quite to our tastes though.
• 6oz of cold water and 3 heaping tablespoons of coffee, espresso grind, 2 ½ minute steep time, regular brew - Looked like coffee, tasted like coffee, didn't melt any ice!

Cup 1

Cup 2

Cup 3

So, was our experiment a success? I'd say yes it was. It took us a bit of tinkering, but in the end we managed to produce a drinkable cup of coffee using cold water and an Aeropress. Would I do it again? Maybe--the Aeropress is extremely easy to use and easy to clean up. I suppose that what I liked best was how potent and smooth the coffee was after adjusting the variables to our liking. It was too cold to melt much of the ice, so the flavor wasn't diluted. It's definitely something to try if you want some cold coffee and have an Aeropress laying around.

Conveniently, we had some surplus Ghirardelli Caramel sauce, a Jura Froth Pro and a near-expiration gallon of milk that we were able to combine to create a smooth cold foamed sweetened milk drink. We present to you the iced cappuccino pictured below.

Here are some "fun" pictures for your enjoyment!

It's that time of year. The sun is shining. The flowers are blooming. And, some of us are making the change from a comforting warm brew to a cold and refreshing iced coffee. But, before you dump hot coffee over ice and call it a day, consider cold brewing a gourmet iced coffee.

Don't worry, it's not hard. But, a good cold brew will require some patience on your part. The payoff, however - a great-tasting, full-flavored coffee that's low in acidity - is well worth the time and effort. Go ahead, give it a whirl. You won't regret it.

Tip: Start the cold-brewing process before going to bed, you'll have ready-to-drink coffee in the morning.

What You'll Need:
A French Press
Whole Bean Coffee
A Grinder

Instructions:
Grind your beans. You'll want a coarse, but consistent, grind for French press coffee.
Add the ground coffee and room-temperature water to your French press. Stir.
Let sit for 8-12 hours.
Press down on the plunger to strain your coffee.
Pour over ice and enjoy.

Tip: For an extra flavorful drink, brew some coffee, let cool. Use the coffee to fill an ice tray and freeze it. Use the coffee cubes in your drink instead of regular ice.

Coffee and Soda, I’ve written about them before, and probably will again because I’ve found that tea pertaining to coffee has a tendency to now and again coincide with what’s going on in the world of soda. It would be hard for anyone to deny that coffee has become increasingly more popular in the US within the last few decades. With cafes like Starbucks popping up on every corner, and home baristas taking the plunge into the world of specialty coffee, it’s no surprise that as we drink more coffee, we’d be drinking less of something else. In this case, that something is soda.

Now, while all of this makes sense, something about these former soda drinkers might surprise you, most of them are young people. People between the ages of 18 and 24 are among those who have begun substituting coffee for soda. Looking at this demographic, the first thing that comes to mind is college students. I know that in college I guzzled coffee like I had a wooden leg, and I haven’t stopped since. Cafes suit the “on the go” lifestyle of college students and as we become more and more conscious of our health, alternatives to sugary drinks become even more attractive. In my last article regarding coffee and soda, I took a look at a press release from the American Academy of Neurology, linking increased soda drinking with an increased risk of depression, and increased coffee drinking with a lowered risk.

The last, and possibly the largest facet to trend is the rise of coffee culture, which is a global phenomenon. Among our own citizens as well as those in India and China, more and more people with disposable incomes (middle class young people primarily) are flocking to cafes for a place to sit back, socialize, and sip on a latte. Why else would Starbucks be pushing so hard in the Asian market? And, according to a graph published in The Atlantic Magazine, soda revenues have decreased rather steeply from 2005 to present, whereas coffee revenues have been steadily increasing.

Declining revenues don’t mean that soda is going away forever however. New alternatives to traditionally buying a 12 pack or a 2 liter at the store, such as the popular Soda Stream, provide people with a means to still enjoy soda in a more affordable and environmentally friendly way. The point is, people still drink soda, and still enjoy soda, despite the dangers associated with it and the efforts of some politicians to better control it. The beverage as a whole has come under a lot of scrutiny lately, scrutiny which has caused it to be shunned in favor for coffee (in some cases).

I can’t say I’m super surprised by things happening the way they are, I’m actually quite happy about it. Personally, I don’t drink that much soda, and with all I’ve been reading lately, I’m just fine with that. At the end of the day, there’s really only so much you can drink of anything, and in my case, I’d prefer it was coffee.

The results of this year’s Good Food Awards were a pleasant surprise for us Rochester, NY residents, with our very own Joe Bean Coffee Roasters’  Nicaragua Don Roger direct trade coffee being selected as one of 15 finalists in the coffee category.

For those of you who didn’t know, the Good Food Awards are the result of a collaboration of farmers, journalists, grocers, and producers involved in the food industry through the organizational efforts of Seedling Projects, an organization dedicated to sustainable food. The key criteria required of entrants is that their product reflects a commitment to environmentally and socially sustainable food.

The Nicaragua Don Roger coffee is grown and processed by a one Mr. Roger Mairena whose high standards and incredibly well maintained farm allowed him to produce some award winning coffee. As for the aforementioned Joe Bean Coffee Roasters, they’re a local coffee roaster and cafe located at 1344 University Avenue right here in Rochester. In any case, it’s always nice when somebody from the local community is recognized for what they do. Bravo, Joe Bean!

With the New Year comes new goals and like many, I’m aiming to get fit and drop a few pounds. For me, it‘s all about making exercise a priority and changing my diet to opt for healthier versions of the things I consume on a regular basis. This year, I’ve started off in full force at the gym and in the spirit of healthier alternatives, I’m drinking Skinny Lattes.

A regular 8oz. latte has 150 calories and 70 calories from fat while an 8oz. Skinny Latte has only 90 calories and 0 fat calories. This one small change in my diet is saving me 60 calories per day. That might not seem like much, but it adds up to 21,900 calories per year!

A Skinny Latte is made with espresso and non-fat milk instead of whole or 2% milk. If you want to add some flavoring and keep it skinny, you can add sugar-free syrup in place of regular syrup or flavoring. Monin Sugar-Free Syrups have 0 calories while regular syrups add about an additional 100 calories to your drink.

Check out my video to see how easy a Skinny Latte is to make!

Rochester 12-28-2012 Whole Latte Love Coffee Compare-O-Matic - There are many different ways to say coffee around the world and many different coffees that are blended, roasted, ground and prepared to please specific tastes and palate desires. We are providing a cross section of what's available to give you over 300 choices to enable you to brew the best tasting coffee to fit your desires.
To help you make great choices, try new flavors and spend your money wisely we have made over 200,000 entries in 72 categories and sub-categories in our database to help guide you in choosing the coffees that will enable your coffee brewing machine to produce the absolute best drink it can for your taste, budget and social conscience.

Further we have tailored a Coffee Compare-O-Matic to provide you a way to look at coffee characteristics side-by-side. You can compare up to 6 at a time by clicking the "Compare Now" check box under the coffee listing and then clicking the red "compare" button at the top of the page.

That will bring you to a side-by-side display of what we know about the coffees in these categories:

Products
Here you will see the product name and price along with icon buttons to add to your shopping cart or delete from the current compare session. The product name is a hyper-link that when clicked will take you to the full product description page.

Flavor Notes
Information gathered about the aroma of the coffee as it is brewing, It's initial taste, how it feels on the palate and in your mouth, and the finish or after-taste.

Roast Profile
What we know about the type of roast: Light, Medium, Dark and any shades in-between.

Best For Brewing
Some coffees at specific roast levels are better for certain methods of brewing than others. Further many Roast Masters design blends to be better for particular brewing methods and grind settings.

Coffee Condition
Defines whether the coffee is whole bean, pre-ground or packaged as a pre-ground single-serving.

Coffee State
Whether it contains caffeine, or is decaffeinated and whether it is flavored.

Package Profile
This category is specific to sampler packages we have assembled to give you a one-click option to buy several types of coffees at once. We define the Package Type, (like Premium Espresso Coffees), List the Brands, and describe each coffee in the package by weight, container, condition and roast if known.

Special Attribute
There are many special attributes associate with coffee and we have defined several like Single Origin or Swiss Water Processed Decaf, WE will grow this category as we find other special attributes that significantly affect the quality and taste of the coffee.

Awards
If we know it we will post any awards that the coffee may have garnered.

Coffee Botanical
Here we will post what we know about the Species, typically Arabica, Robusta or Liberica or a combination of both, and the Varietal like Arabica Bourbon.

Coffee Packaging
Descriptions of the container, like a bag or tin, and the weight of the coffee it contains or the single-serve portion count. Some listing will include optional packages for buying case lots.

Coffee Type
Descriptions of what the Roaster will let us know about the beans used. Whether the coffee is 100% Arabica or a blend and any significant characteristics like Jamaican Blue Mountain, Kona, Mocha java, or Peaberry.

Coffee Origin
Includes information that the Roaster will release about the source of the beans, the actual farm or grower, where the coffee is roasted and what country we import it from.

Social & Environmental
While there characteristics seldom affect flavor they are important for defining the known social aspects of the coffee. Like a pedigree it may define any certifications it has.

Kosher
What we know about the coffees certification as Kosher.

Review
Here we include any industry recognized coffee review information we find plus ratings from you, our Customers.

Please jump in any try out the coffee Compare-O-Matic and give us any feedback on what you like or don't like about it, how you would improve it and what other information you would like to know about coffee. We have committed to constant improvement of the functionality of the Compare-O-Matic and the data we collect. We will add new information as it becomes available and keep tweaking the Compare-O-Matic features to make it the richest possible experience for you. Please, holler back!!

Green coffee beans are usually shipped in 132lb bags, (60 Kilograms) and world-wide production statistics are compiled on the number of bags.

World production for 2012 includes 88,818 bags of Arabica and 62,440 of Robusta.

To give you perspective on worldwide coffee production and the rarity of some highly prized regional coffees like Hawaiian Kona and Jamaican Blue Mountain that make up a tiny fraction of all coffees, here are statistics for 2012 compiled by the US Department of Agriculture.

Brazil leads the world in total production again in 2012 with 40,200 bags of Arabica and 15,700 of Robusta for a total of 55,900 bags or 7,378,800 lb.

Vietnam is second for total production with 850 bags of Arabica and 24,150 of Robusta for a total of 25,000 bags or 3,300,000 lb.

 

The United States, mostly Hawaii, (100/0) and Mexico (4,500/200) make up North American production of 4,600 bags of Arabica and 200 bags of Robusta.

Central America produces 14,605 bags of Arabica and 10 bags of Robusta from: Costa Rica (1,600/0), El Salvador (1,475/0), Guatemala (3,840/10), Honduras (5,800/0), Nicaragua (1,800/0) and Panama (90/0).

 

South American countries including Bolivia (4/150), Brazil (40,200/15,700), Colombia (7,500/0), Ecuador (415/190), Paraguay (25/0), Peru (4,800/0) and Venezuela (880/0) combined to produce 53,970 bags of Arabica and 15,890 bags of Robusta.

Caribbean countries produce 920 bags of Arabica from: Cuba (125), Dominican Republic (475), Haiti (300) and Jamaica (20).

 

Middle East coffee comes from Yemen at 150 bags of Arabica.

Papua New Guinea, 1,100 bags of Arabica and 50 bags of Robusta, represents Oceania’s total production.

South Asia contributes 1,650 bags of Arabica and 3,685 bags of Robusta from: India (1,640/3,660) and Sri Lanka (10/25).

 

Southeast Asia contributes 2,580 bags of Arabica and 35,025 bags of Robusta from: Indonesia (1,700/8,000), Laos (0/575), Malaysia (0/1,000), Philippines (30/400), Thailand (0/900) and Vietnam (850/24,150).

 

Sub-Saharan Africa contributes 9,243 bags of Arabica and 7,580 bags of Robusta from: Angola (0/30), Burundi (225/0), Cameroon (100/700), Central African Republic (0/15), Kinshasa (200/165), Cote d'Ivoire (0/1,800), Ethiopia (6,500/0), Ghana (0/90), Guinea (0/425), Kenya (850/0), Liberia (0/5), Madagascar (25/500), Malawi (25/0), Nigeria (0/30), Rwanda (250/0), Sierra Leone (0/70), Tanzania (500/300), Togo (0/650), Uganda (650/2,800), Zambia 10/0) and Zimbabwe (8/0).

 

Espresso anywhere?...sounds good to me! I figure this would be a good time to go over the Handpresso Wild Hybrid, an improved version of Handpresso's ingenious portable espresso maker that can now brew using both ground coffee and ESE (Easy Serve Espresso) pods.

At first glance, the Handpresso Wild Hybrid impresses with some exquisite craftsmanship and engineering. In your hand, this portable espresso maker (which weighs in at a comfortable 1.2 pounds) feels just right. It's light enough to take anywhere, yet it's got enough weight to dispel any concerns about its durability.

When the real work is out of the way, you simply remove the lid from the brewing pod and add hot water into it, and insert an ESE (easy serve espresso) pod or a filled basket of ground coffee. Living the fast paced life that I do, I prefer using the Lavazza Gran Crèma Pods.

Next, cover the espresso pod with the lid and make sure it secured tightly. Finally, point the bottom of the pod over the espresso cup, push the plunger down and watch the thick and rich espresso pour into the cup with a generous amount of crema.

Mmmmm! Cleaning up is easy too. When the Handpresso is done brewing, empty the brewing pod by throwing away the used espresso pod and proceed to rinse it with water. Dry the Handpresso with dry rag and you are ready for your next espresso shot.

What does all this information mean? It boils down to the fact that you can make an espresso at home that is going to be better than just about any you can get out at a coffee shop or cafe.
It is important to understand:

• that by practice,
• some trial and error,
• as well as a good understanding of what you and your equipment are capable of,

 You can methodically determine the exact parameters that will give you the best tasting coffee you can get. 

If you are a wine drinker for instance and really understand what wines are all about you can appreciate the tastes that each wine has to offer. If you have ever been to a wine tasting where they offer a flight of wines it is interesting how even though each wine has the same name they may all taste different.

With one great espresso and using all the variables we have discussed, by adjusting the two variables in our experiment, temperature and grind, you can experience a wide range of tastes. That is just from one coffee.  It is amazing on how much you can change the espresso just by manipulating the shot time and/or the temperature. Eventually you will be able to proudly say I think this is where this espresso tastes best.

The ability to then repeat that same great taste is going to be made simpler by being able to control all the parameters. You should be able to then get great shots all the time. I am also not saying it is easy, won’t take some work, and won’t cost much because it does.

I do know that the idea of being able to truly create an espresso that is so good may also not apply to everyone. For them I feel sorry because it can be such an amazing thing to drink. The reason we do buy such great equipment, learn so much about how to make espresso and try so hard to get great beans is because we truly love the whole experience and pageantry of creating that great elixir. If we are diligent, and do things right we actually do it for the taste.  I can certainly think of things that are worse to spend money on.

A characteristic that I really like about the whole espresso community is the passion that people have when talking about their coffee, their equipment or the latest great coffee they have had. I also like when you go into one of the great shops and get an amazing espresso and have a chance to talk with the roaster or barista and can really talk shop about what temperature to brew at, what shot timing they use or even what tastes jump out when you sample the coffee nectar. That is what really makes this fun.

Call me, let’s talk, and see how we can make your coffee experience better. 

(note: this is the third installment of a three part series. See Part1, Part2 of Espresso Brewing - Science or Art?)

Well I am back from vacation and decided to combine my love of coffee with an urge to experiment and set out to find a new way to beat-the-heat-wave we are experiencing with something cold, refreshing, extremely smooth, and fun to drink!

My experimental premise was that the coffee had to be cold-brewed. Research revealed that first you need a vessel to hold the coffee and the liquid. Even though I work for the greatest coffee brewing machine sales company ever, I couldn’t find anything quickly that fit my idea of cold-brewing. But I’m a country-boy and we learn to be very resourceful. I found my vessel, a two-liter empty pop bottle. Perfect!

To make the brew I decided to use one of my favorite all-around whole bean espresso coffees, Lavazza Pienaroma. To grind the coffee I used the Baratza Virtuoso Preciso with the Esatto electronic-scale base attachment and set the grinder to 12 with the micro adjustment set in the middle. I then programmed the Esatto to deliver 70 grams of ground coffee. 

With my vessel ready and the coffee ground, I combined the coffee with roughly 50 ounces of water.  I gave the bottle a shake and I put it in the office fridge for the next 12 hours. 

The next morning I excitedly pulled the bottle out of the fridge and had to stop and think for a second.  I forgot that I needed to extract the coffee grinds from the liquid. Lucky for me I did have a coffee carafe nearby and a brew basket with a paper filter that fit on it.  Extraction was a success!  I then tasted the coffee with no additives.  The first thing that came to my mind was “where have you been my whole life.” 

The coffee was incredible smooth and had little to no acidity to it at all! Now I had the base to make a cool drink!

A quick search on the Internet revealed exactly what I had in mind, a Toddy Coffee!  I mixed it to my liking:

• Three quarters cold brew coffee, (about 7 ounces),
• a quarter milk, (about 2 ½ ounces),
• a teaspoon of sugar
• and ½ ounce of Stirling Gourmet Crème Caramel Syrup
• all over ice. 

It made about 10 ounces.  Let me tell you.  If you’re looking for a fantastic summer beverage this is the way to go.  I am now completely addicted to these.  Well thanks for taking a trip down an unknown path with me.  Till next time: for the love of coffee!