BeanJuice Cafe

Flat White + Macchiato at Filter Coffeehouse & Espresso Bar.

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 14:07:48 -0800

Flat White + Macchiato at Filter Coffeehouse & Espresso Bar.

Top Pot!

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:02:45 -0800

Top Pot!

Bean Terminology

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 14:30:00 -0800

Affogato (It. “drowned”): Espresso served over gelato. Traditionally vanilla is used, but some coffeehouses or customers use any flavor.
Americano (It. “American”): Espresso and hot water, classically using equal parts each, with the water added to the espresso. Americano was created by American G.I.s during World War I who added hot water to dilute the strong taste of the traditional espresso.^[12] Similar to a long black, but with opposite order.
Antoccino: (lt. “Priceless”) A single shot of espresso with the same quantity of steamed milk poured above it, served in an espresso cup.
Black eye: A cup of drip coffee with two shots of espresso in it. (alternately a red-eye or shot in the dark)
Bicerin (Pms. “Little glass”) Made of layers of espresso, drinking chocolate, and whole milk. Invented and served in Turin.
Bombón (Sp. “confection”): Espresso served with condensed milk. Served in South East Asia, Canary Islands, Cook Islands and Mainland Spain.
Breve (It. “short”): Espresso with half-and-half.
Caffè Medici: “a doppio poured over chocolate syrup and orange (and sometimes lemon) peel, usually topped with whipped cream.”^[13] The drink originated at Seattle’s historic Last Exit on Brooklyn coffeehouse.^[14]
Caffè Tobio: Espresso with an equal amount of American Coffee. Similar to Americano or Long Black
Carajillo: (Sp. slang for “nothing”): Espresso with a shot of brandy.
Cappuccino: Traditionally, one-third espresso, one-third steamed milk, and one-third microfoam. Often in the United States, the cappuccino is made as a cafè latte with much more foam, which is less espresso than the traditional definition would require. Sometimes topped upon request with a light dusting of cocoa powder.
Corretto (It. “corrected”): coffee with a shot of liquor, usually grappa or brandy. “Corretto” is also the common Italian word for “spiked (with liquor)”.
Con hielo (Sp. “with ice”): Espresso immediately poured over two ice cubes, preferred in Madrid during Summer.
Cortado (Sp./Port. “cut”): Espresso “cut” with a small amount of warm milk.
Cubano (Sp. “Cuban”): Sugar is added to the collection container before brewing for a sweet flavor, different from that if the sugar is added after brewing. Sugar can also be whipped into a small amount of espresso after brewing and then mixed with the rest of the shot. Sometimes called “Cafe tinto”.
Doppio: (It. “Double”) Double (2 US fluid ounces) shot of espresso.
Espresso con Panna (It. “espresso with cream”): Espresso with whipped cream on top.
Flat white: a coffee drink made of one-third espresso and two thirds steamed milk with little or no foam. (Very similar to “latte”, see entry for lattes below)
Frappe: Iced coffee topped off with whipped cream and usually chocolate syrup (flavors varies).
Frappuccino: A type of espresso coffee made with frothed milk branded exclusively by Starbucks.
Guillermo: Originally one or two shots of hot espresso, poured over slices of lime. Can also be served on ice, sometimes with a touch of milk.
Café au lait (Fr. “coffee with milk”): In Europe prepared with shots of espresso and steamed milk^{[citation needed]}. In the United States usually prepared instead with French press ordrip coffee. (Very similar to “latte”, see entry for lattes below)^[15]
Latte (It. “milk”): This term is an abbreviation of “caffellatte” (or “caffè e latte”), coffee and milk. An espresso based drink with a volume of steamed milk, served with either a thin layer of foam or none at all, depending on the shop or customer’s preference.^{[citation needed]}
Latte macchiato (It. “stained milk”): Essentially an inverted cafè latte, with the espresso poured on top of the milk. The latte macchiato is to be differentiated from the caffè macchiato (described below). In Spain, known as “Manchada” Spanish for stained (milk).
Long Black: Similar to an Americano, but with the order reversed - espresso added to hot water.
Lungo (It. “long”): More water (about 1.5x volume) is let through the ground coffee, yielding a weaker taste (40 mL). Also known as an allongé in French.
Caffè Macchiato (It. “stained”): A small amount of milk or, sometimes, its foam is spooned onto the espresso. In Italy it further differentiates between caffè macchiato caldo (warm) and caffè macchiato freddo (cold), depending on the temperature of the milk being added; the cold version is gaining in popularity as some people are not able to stand the rather hot temperature of caffè macchiato caldo and therefore have to wait one or two minutes before being able to consume this version of the drink. The caffè macchiato is to be differentiated from the latte macchiato (described above). In France, known as a “Noisette”.
Cafè Marocchino: Created in Turin, normally served in a small glass, this is a shot of espresso, a sprinkling of cocoa, frothed whole milk (about two table spoons to bring to the brim of the glass), then a further sprinkling of cocoa on top
Marron:(Brown) Etymology from Venezuela. An espresso with Milk. Latte. Varying from “Marron Claro” (Light Brown) with more milk and “Marron Oscuro” (Dark Brown) less milk.
Wiener Melange (German: “Viennese blend”) coffee with milk and is similar to a Cappuccino but usually made with milder coffee (e.g. mocha), preferably caramelised.
Mocha: Normally, a latte blended with chocolate. This is not to be confused with the region of Yemen or the coffee associated with that region (which is often seen as 1/2 of the blend “mocha java”).
Normale: A normal length shot, not ristretto or lungo. Term primarily used to contrast with “ristretto” and “lungo”.
Red eye: A cup of drip coffee with two shots of espresso in it.
Ristretto (It. “restricted”) or Espresso Corto (It. “short”): with less volume, yielding a stronger sweeter taste (10–20 mL). Café serré or Café court in French.
Shot in the Dark: A cup of drip coffee with one shot of espresso in it. (Unique in that ‘Shot in the Darks’ is the plural form)
Solo (It. “single”) Single (1 US fluid ounce) shot of espresso.
Triple Suicide: A cup of drip coffee with three shot of espresso in it.
Triplo or Triple shot: Triple (3 US fluid ounces) shot of espresso; “triplo” is rare; “triple shot” is more common.
‘“Miami Vice’” or ‘“Cuban Americano’”: The mixture of a Cubano and Americano, Sugar in the collection container, then mixed with hot water. This is often made as a double.

(via)

"So a lot of people go, well espresso is all about the crema..."

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 14:24:56 -0800

Chris Young, one of the authors of the upcoming megabookcook Modernist Cuisine, is wild about coffee. Yesterday, we talked to him about bad restaurant coffee and how his book is going to try to change that. Today, Young hones in on the specifics of what can make or break a great cup of joe.

We hear a lot about these ridiculously expensive machines, like the Clover or the Slayer espresso machine. Which are worth it and which are hype?
I don’t think they’re hype. The two you mentioned — and I would put Synesso in there as well — if I could have three machines and had an unlimited budget, I’d love a Clover, I’d love a Synesso, and heck, I’d like a Slayer. The Synesso and the Slayer are in many ways such different machines. There’s actually room for both on my counter, if only somebody was willing to pay for them.

So what’s all the fuss about?
You have to realize the goal of these high-end pieces of equipment, and I’m going to take the Clover off for just a minute, the goal of these machines was basically doing everything possible to ensure that the equipment wasn’t fighting against your efforts to make really great coffee, against the consistency.

I hear you, though. It’s entirely possible to make lousy coffee with these pieces of equipment. Both restaurants and coffee shops get seduced into the idea that oh, well, the very best places have these pieces of equipment so if I buy them, then I’ll have great coffee as well. Oh, I’ll buy the right beans and the right grinder. So I have all the right equipment and I even have all the right ingredients, and they still produce lousy coffee. The point is all of that stuff is helpful in terms of achieving consistency and in terms of if you’re doing a large volume of coffee it becomes more important to have a machine that will allow you to pull shot after shot after shot with a high degree of consistency. But if the barista doesn’t do the job right of grinding the beans, dosing the beans into the filter, grooming and tamping them properly, making sure the shot is pulled in the right amount of time, if they don’t do all those things, haven’t been taught really what the right thing is, and how to adjust it when it can and does go wrong, then with the best equipment in the world you don’t make great coffee. This is like almost anything where there’s real skill and talent that goes into the craft.

How might one screw up if the machine’s working against you doing so?
The classic example with espresso is if your portafilter is cold, it’s impossible to pull a good shot. It’s going to be sour no matter what. All too often, I’ll walk into a coffee shop and they’ll have a Synesso. They won’t have a Slayer, there’s not many of those yet. Or they’ll have some high end espresso machine. And the portafilters are clean and sitting down in the drip tray, they’re not locked into the machine. You might as well turn around and walk back out. It’s impossible for them to make a good cup of coffee at the point because the portafilter’s cold. They’re going to put the grinds into a cold or even lukewarm portafilter before locking it in and pulling the shot, and the temperature of that portafilter is going to cause the temperature of the water to plummet. And low temperature water going into your grounds is going to make a very acidic brew. So one of the things you want to see is the protafilter even when not in use locked into the machine because that keeps it hot.

This is just one of these things that never got explained to somebody and so they think they’re doing a good job. They’re keeping everything clean, it looks nice, and yet even though the have the $8,000, $16,000 Synesso they can’t produce you a good cup of coffee at that point no matter what.

And what about the Clover?
I think the Clover is great too, with a very clever use of technology in terms of adding consistency and also adding a bit of drama to the idea of brewing a cup of coffee. And I think the most important thing about the Clover is that it made the point that brewed coffee can be as good and as revered as great espresso. In the last few years we’ve become very focused on the technology and the culture around espresso, and until recently not many people were paying attention to the drip coffee. Drip coffee was just drip coffee. The Clover really said drip coffee should be as respected as espresso, and you know what, we can even do a better job with it.

In doing all this research, what did you find about coffee was surprising?
One thing was the view that even I probably had a year ago was that espresso goes back further than it does. Now we have a tendency to think that espresso has always been this sort of luxury item, it has a long pedigree and history and is the kind of thing you would serve in the royal courts of Europe. In fact, espresso was Italian fast food. It was an early 20th century invention, it doesn’t go back further than that. And it was meant to be a fast, probably not particularly great shot of espresso. And you could just drink it standing up on your way to work. Very much a blue collar beverage. It’s just a little funny that espresso is seen as a bit hoighty-toighty or poncy by a lot of people in America. It really actually started out as a working class beverage in northern Italy in the working class factory towns. It’s interesting to remember that espresso had very humble beginnings and that we’ve elevated it, especially here in the states.

And what about in terms of making coffee?
Just when dosing the coffee, I’m sitting here saying you have to get a scale out, you have to weigh this, and a lot people say oh, it can’t make that big of a difference. But we would do experiments where just being off by half a gram, how many espresso grinds you put in, would make an enormous difference in how good the coffee tastes, with everything else being as same as possible. And so it really reinforces the point that if you want constancy, especially when you’re learning a knack for it, you’ve got to weigh. We’re just not that accurate as human beings to judge things by eyeball. We certainly can’t feel in our hands 17 and a half grams versus 18 grams of coffee. That’s just too small of a difference for us to perceive. It makes an enormous difference in the final cup of espresso.

Got any neat tricks?
A thing that’s really interesting, and anyone who makes espresso should try this, what we would basically do is as you pull that shot over those 20, 24, 28 seconds, however long sort of works for you, we would basically line up a bunch of paper cups, and every two seconds we’d swap out a new paper cup under the stream. So we’re fractionating the shot. So you can taste the first two seconds of the shot, and next two seconds and so on. And it’s one of these things when somebody is first trying to convince you of this, you kind of roll your eyes. But it was just fascinating.

For example, the crema at the end, it’s really thick, it’s really woody and bitter tasting. And so a lot of people go, well espresso is all about the crema. But then it becomes a question of do I want the creme. If I take the espresso shot and scoop the crema off, it’s much sweeter, it’s much lighter, it’s much more floral, in a very good way. Certainly the creme can add something, certainly bitterness isn’t always something to be worried about, it’s sometimes what you want. But I think that for most baristas, the idea of scooping out the crema and throwing it out before serving the shot is just total heresy. And yet our research was you might want to do it sometimes.

What’s the deal with salting coffee?
One of the things we learned when talking with some food sensory science researchers, the Monell Institute, a lot of people tend to think oh, just add more sugar and you’ll mask the bitterness. But the reality is in fact much more complex, and actually sugar doesn’t actually mask bitterness at all, but salt does. The idea with adding a tiny bit of salt to mask the bitterness of the coffee, and the trick when doing this is to get it so you don’t really detect the saltiness. A salty cup of coffee is not tasty, but just enough so it diminishes the bitterness of the coffee. The easiest way to do it is to just add small amounts of saline solution, actually. That’s a very dilute solution of salt, you don’t have to worry about it dissolving at all, and it’s harder to over do it. You can do that in your cup of coffee, you can do it with tonic water.

Somebody might point out that this was done much earlier, looking at true cowboy coffee, old recipes for coffee from late nineteenth century America, they produced truly hideous coffee. They just put the grounds in a pot and boiled the heck out of them. And you’d over extract them and they’d just be bitter. So there’s all sorts of recipes, like adding eggshells to help clarify the coffee, and I imagine somewhere in there, somebody was adding salt. And of course that’s what we do with Red Eye Gravy, because usually the coffee you’re using in Red Eye Gravy is not terribly good and very often it’s bitter. Adding it to the pork drippings in the pan, you’ve got the salt and you’ve got the fat, between those two things it really masks over the bitterness.

So what do you actually use at home since you haven’t gotten that Synesso yet?
Two things. I don’t do espresso at home. For espresso I usually go out. At home, I will do brewed coffee, and it’s either French press, if I have a number of people, or I will do pour over. It’s a great way to do coffee. French press is very robust, but pour over’s easier. You have a little funnel that sits over your coffee mug. You should totally warm your coffee mug so that it’s hot. You put your filter paper in, and you put a measured amount of grinds in, and you have a measured amount of water you’re going to pour into it.

And actually to get a good result, there’s a little bit of technique. What you actually do is you pour a little bit of the water in a spiraling out fashion so you can wet the grounds. And just as soon as they’re wet, you stop. This is a process you do called blooming, and it allows the coffee grinds to swell and absorb a little bit of water so that you don’t get uneven pockets. It’s surprising how much of a difference it makes. After about 30 seconds you pour the rest of the water, again in a swirling fashion. It drains through and you have your cup of coffee.

[Article]

Coffee Shop or Your Personal Office?

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:49:17 -0800

Coffee Shop or Your Personal Office?

I like the idea of having a slot in your cup handle for your...

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:38:47 -0700

I like the idea of having a slot in your cup handle for your stirring stick — or spoon. This was a prize that I won at Hungo! It was from Target and the spoon broke after our first use.

+ Beer and Wine.

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 08:05:17 -0700

soulandgrace:

Just heard on the radio (93.9FM) about rumors that Starbucks is thinking about having a Roy Street Coffee House-like coffee shop (the one in Seattle) w/ beer and wine open over here in DC.

What would happen if all Starbucks coffee shops offered beer and wine?

BeanJuice Café | Baked & Wired Rating | ★★★★ Single Shot...

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:57:00 -0700

BeanJuice Café | Baked & Wired

Rating | ★★★★

Single Shot (Review) | Who knew that Baked & Wired would use Stumptown (Portland brand) beans for their espresso. LOVE IT. And organic milk from Trickling Springs Creamery in Pennsylvania?! Okay, so the milk isn’t local and neither are the beans, but it doesn’t matter (kind of) — you guys offer me a pretty decent 5-dollar drink!

Double Shot (Review) | Not Too Impressed

Baked & Wired Trivia | They also offer delicious cupcakes, often compared to the likes (or better) than Georgetown Cupcakes. Oh! And they serve single pour (brewed-to-order by the cup, single-origin coffee).

Hold the Whip! Coffee Factoid | Germany is the world’s second largest coffee consumer in the world. Germans use about 16 pounds of coffee per person per year.

Till the next BeanJuice! Achille!

BeanJuice Café | Fremont Coffee Rating | ★★★ Single Shot...

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:58:50 -0700

BeanJuice Café | Fremont Coffee

Rating | ★★★

Single Shot (Review) | A simple latte from this funky Seattle Fremont neighborhood Fremont Coffee. The barista is a true latte-art artist! He drew a skull for me — appropriate in that it is autumn season. The latte tasted like any other whole milk latte with a double shot of espresso; it didn’t leave me wanted a second cup. But, the addict in me would have gone back 1. because espresso is just too good, and 2. to see what the barista would have foamed up next!

Double Shot (Review) | Fremont Coffee

Fremont Coffee Trivia | The barista is known to draw a Pikachu (Pokemon Animation Character) for his customers. View Image Here.

Hold the Whip! Coffee Factoid | The popular latte is predominantly an American phenomena. If you ask for a latte in Italy, you’ll get a glass of milk, most likely warm milk. When in Italy, if you want a latte as you know it in America, you’ll need to ask for a caffe latte (coffee with milk).

Till the next BeanJuice! Achille!

How Much Would You Pay for Starbucks?

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 06:43:07 -0700

How Much Would You Pay for Starbucks? :

The coffee giant said late Wednesday that it will raise the price of “labor-intensive and larger-sized” beverages because of soaring prices of green arabica coffee beans.

The Oatmeal says about coffee...

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:28:13 -0700

The Oatmeal says about coffee...:

15 Things Worth Knowing about BeanJuice

"Come to “Coffee Tasting” Tuesday, April 6 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Want to..."

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:26:46 -0700

“Come to “Coffee Tasting” Tuesday, April 6 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Want to learn more about brewing methods? single… http://bit.ly/dwyvBJ”

- TougoCoffee

31-ounce Starbucks drink!

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:51:45 -0800

31-ounce Starbucks drink!:

StarbucksGossip.com reports that Starbucks is testing ~~32-ounce~~ 31-ounce iced coffees in Phoenix. Besides knocking Starbucks’ already-whopping 20-ounce or “venti” drink on its rear, the new size comes with a new name: Trenta.

Trenta means thirty in Italian. Apparently the drink is even bigger than its name, and it’s hard to picture the Italian who would relish a ~~32-ounce~~ 31-ounce coffee. But we’re in the world of Starbucks speak here, where talls are smalls, and smalls aren’t even on the menu.

Update 2:20 p.m.: Starbucks spokesman Alan Hilowitz wrote to say the company is testing 31-ounce drinks in Phoenix and Tampa. The Trenta size is for iced tea and coffee only, not Frappuccino or other drinks. Unsweetened, those drinks have fewer than 5 calories. Sweetened, they’re under 200 calories. Who wants to bet people order Trenta Frappuccinos anyway?

Starbucks & Guns

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:42:06 -0800

Starbucks & Guns:

If you’re going to support individual rights, you have to support them all. I applaud [Starbucks], and I’ve gone out of my way personally to let every manager of every Starbucks I pass know that. [John Pierce, co-founder of OpenCarry.org]

Brewing Session at Caffe Vita on Capitol Hill. Got me some free...

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:22:00 -0800

Brewing Session at Caffe Vita on Capitol Hill. Got me some free Sumatra beans!

POT ON THE RIGHT
This method is the Vacuum Pot
You use a medium-fine grind
Brew for 3-5 minutes for just the right-tasting brew

IN THE CENTER
This method is the Bialetti
When it just boils, take it off the stove
Always keep lid open
Burr grind setting #3

ON THE LEFT
Method is the Pour Over
Fold the bottom of the filter
Use #3 or #4 grind

BeanJuice Café | MAKEDA COFFEE Rating | ★★.5 Single Shot...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:30:06 -0800

BeanJuice Café | MAKEDA COFFEE

Rating | ★★.5

Single Shot (Review) | A simple latte from the north Seattle neighborhood’s [Greenwood] Makeda Coffee. The espresso they serve, Seven Roasters Coffee, wasn’t what I expected. Well, it started with the barista forgetting my order (no worries though…they gave me two drinks on the house), but the espresso tasted a bit burnt the milk was not steamed hot enough. Overall, it tasted like an average cup of latte. I’ll definitely have to try it another time. I’m sure it’ll be a different experience (I hope!).

Double Shot (Review) | Love 7 Roasters!

Makeda Coffee Trivia | One of the local coffee shops that stand true to the original coffee house; they serve alcohol (wine & beer). Better than their alcohol though is their dessert menu! Their popular Affogato, which is a scoop of Molly Moon’s ice cream with a shot of espresso is offered along side Asian-inspired desserts such as rice pudding and mango mousse.

Hold the Whip! Coffee Factoid | In 1675 Charles II, King of England issues a proclamation banning Coffee Houses. He said that they were places where people met to plot against him.

Till the next BeanJuice! Achille!

BeanJuice Café | Top Pot Donuts Rating | ★★★★ Single Shot...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:31:00 -0700

BeanJuice Café | Top Pot Donuts

Rating | ★★★★

Single Shot (Review) | A simple latte from Seattle’s famous Top Pot Donuts. Yes, their donuts are delicious — especially their Cherry Blossom — but man-oh-man, is their espresso wonderful and smooth!

Double Shot (Review) | Pretty darn good stuff!

Top Pot Donuts Trivia | Their coffee cannot be labeled “fair trade” or “organic” as the requirements to be certified can be more trouble than they’re worth for some coffee farmers. However, on average they pay significantly more than the fair trade price of $1.26 per pound, and their coffees are typically sustainably grown. (Source)

Hold the Whip! | Fair Trade coffee was created in response to the volatile market prices of the international whole bean coffee trade, which were driving some farmers to bankruptcy. A core component of Fair Trade coffee was to establish a minimum price per pound to create some stability in the coffee market and thereby provide opportunities to economically disadvantaged farmers. (Source)

Till the next BeanJuice! Cheers Achille!