My buddy Scott went to Costa Rica last year just as we were getting into coffee and he thought he'd bring back a little vacation souvenir to feed the growing hobby: coffee beans. Specifically green beans, unroasted, direct from the farmer. A couple pounds to play around with.

He ended up with 20 kilos. Scooped right off the farmer's ground where they were drying (after paying rather fairly for them). Like I say, on a long enough timeline all coffee geeks tend towards starting coffee businesses.

Anyways a year later he's still got about 19kg to roast, so he left me a couple handfuls over breakfast the other day and said I should try pan roasting them.

The next morning, groggy and alone with my naivety—and restraining myself to one Google result for instructions—here are my results:

From green to brown: after 10 minutes of weeding out duds and dirt, sticks and stones (literally), I put 100g in a small cast iron skillet over medium heat, on an electric range, and started stirring constantly with a whisk. Took these shots every couple of minutes (left to right, top to bottom).

The end result wasn't as evenly roasted as I had hoped, at least in terms of tone, with a variation of approx. three shades of light to dark brown—but not bad. Nothing burnt, at least, though I had to open all the windows in the apartment.

Lap 1 timing indicates when I heard the first 'cracks,' i.e. at 10:22 in; two minutes later and the batch was consistently cracking every couple seconds—not quite like popcorn intensity, but lively enough I hoped. I hit Lap 3 when the cracking seemed to dye down a bit. Pulled them off the heat at 17 and immediately into a steel colander for cooling. Overall not quite as dark as I wanted (I was waiting for a bit of visible oil that never showed) but I like a light roast and didn't want to overdo it, either.

The beans consistently smoked / offgassed during the process and I felt if I left them unattended for longer than an iPhone photo-op a few woulda burnt. The roasting smell was muted at first but soon had a fairly strong, typical aroma: not great but not bad, earthy but not savoury—pretty much like most roasting I've smelled around town.

While stirring to cool in the colander small wisps of shell casings / thin skins (?) began curling and flying off, so I went to the porch to give them a good shaking (took three minutes) to get rid off all this 'chaff' as it fluttered onto Powell Street five stories below.

Once back at room temp I sealed them in a mason jar. The next day I tried Aeropressing 18g, ground coarsely through the Hario mini mill, with 125g at 85 degrees inverted for 45sec and pressed through the paper filter. It IS a pretty light roast (the photo doesn't properly depict it): very acidic, maybe one or two tones, but not too bad. Entirely drinkable, in fact.

Actually, when I tuned the grind by a few clicks finer (and all other brew variables kept the same) it was appreciably stronger, darker, less acidic, more robust. The extent of my coffee palette lingo (and likely my palette, period) kind of wanes at this point, but overall totally worth brewing up the couple presses I have left, and trying another batch over the stove.

I always thought the aluminum bialetti left a metallic taste in its brew so my Lady and I switched our morning ritual to a stainless model over a year ago and never looked back. I’ve heard, and read, of others who felt and did the same, yet there’s always been that little nagging modern doubt: did you compare the two scientifically?

I had a few minutes free this afternoon while my computer force-restarted for another OS update so I pulled out the old aluminum Bialetti for a head-to-head showdown with its stainless steel cousin. I’m going to test a theory I’ve been kicking around:

Does a stainless steel Bialetti make better coffee than an aluminum one? Could the entire nation of Italy be wrong in using the ubiquitous aluminum moka pot, or is metal poisoning so prevalent and culturally entrenched (this would explain a lot about Italians) that they’re blind to the taste superiority (and the intuitively-but-unproven “It MUST be healthier”) benefits of stainless?

The following experiment is a fairly typical and applicable one for the masses: we’re using generic medium roast grocery-store beans, tap water, and a blade grinder, i.e. the way most people in North America use a Bialetti. Variables across platforms were minimized as much as possible. Same coffee, same grind, same water, same temperatures. Same electric stove, pre-boiled kettle, and mugs. Both Bialetti’s are a few years old, gently used, well-seasoned, with good seals. The only difference is the models themselves.*

Bonus: this article can also serve as a general how-to guide for the Bialetti coffee-brewing steps and process.

The contenders, baskets and all: a Bialetti Venus (stainless, on left) and regular Moka Express (aluminum, on right). Note the baskets are stainless and aluminum, respectively.

Side-by-side comparison of the stainless (left) and aluminum (right) baskets. The aluminum is slightly larger.

How much larger? Using my regular ‘lightly-spooned and evenly-distributed and tamped as possible with a coffee spoon” method, the stainless basket held ~24 grams of ground coffee to the aluminum’s 28 grams. Both refer to net weight of the grounds, after taring the weight of the baskets.

Fairly seasoned. Both were pre-rinsed and warmed with boiling water while the grounds and baskets were prepped.

Typical blade grinder, pre-warmed glasses (mini Nutella jars!) and a nicer brand of grocery store medium-roast beans (Kicking Horse coffee out of Invermere, British Columbia, Canada). Beans for both were ground for ~10 seconds, one batch per pot.


Vancouver tap water boiled for pre-warming receptacles, and for final brew.

Pre-boiled water filled to the miniscus edge of each Bialetti’s reservoir safety valve.

Burners set to ‘9’ (one down from ‘Max’; though I wish my stove went to ‘11’). Note both pots were set on the same sized burners, at the same time, in the same positions.

Brewing: the nicest step in the moka pot process.


Temperatures and time: by the time grinding and loading was finished both reservoirs had cooled to ~70ºC / 160ºF. Timing on the right is for actual percolation / brew times. Both pots were removed when they began to spurt and make the distinctive ‘gurgling / wooshing’ Bialetti sound. Lap 1 is the time in which the stainless completed its percolation. Lap 2—forty-nine seconds later—is when the aluminum spurted its last drops. Lap 3: both were allowed to sit and ‘set’ for another minute-and-a-half (though the stainless had an extra plus 49 seconds) before pouring. Lap 4: I let another 1:30 elapse for cooling and setting in the glasses before tasting. Please note: normally I’d pull a Bialetti off the burner prior to the spurts (I usually pre-empt it when it’s about 2/3-3/4 through to the final brewing volume in order to avoid the theoretical over-heating and burning of the grounds—another experiment for another day). For the purposes of comparing the two it was more fair to let them sit until they’re damn well ready to come off the stove than try to guess where the near-to-done point is.

The pour: the second-best part of the process.†

Colouring and tone: to my eyes and the iPhone camera’s, both had the same colouring, tone, density. Aluminum on left, stainless on right.

Conclusion

Wow, they both smell and taste metallic and they both make sub par coffee. Maybe I’ve always psychosomatic-sized the stainless into tasting better?

Unlike most early studies with small sample sizes (uhm, in this case one sample) this doesn’t warrant further research. Just buy better beans and use an Aeropress or pourover.

But if you MUST use a mokapot, I guess use the stainless to drink from (it maybe tasted slightly—very slightly—less metallic, or at least a slightly different metallic taste) and just have your unused aluminum one on display because it looks classier and old school and Italian.

In the end I can never really stomach a Bialetti brew and add sugar anyways.

*OK, there are a few flaws in my otherwise rigorous scientific method. For one I spent 10 minutes on the whole thing, in my underwear. The more ‘scientific’ among you could also point out that the stainless Bialetti uses a slightly smaller basket; my aluminum’s a bit larger capacity. And that the grounds for the stainless had an extra minute or two of off-gassing while I pulverized and loaded the aluminum’s beans and basket. Plus I knew which cup had which Bialetti’s brew. Whatever.

† Actually, the best part of making coffee this way is the smell of a fresh grind (even if it is a blade grind), THEN watching the brew in action, THEN the pour.

Example:
Rather than say "Let's take the Cypress bike route out to the Airport, then pop over to River Road and back, add a lap of Richmond, and take the Skytrain Bridge back to Ontario" just say "Let's do the Little Kitty."

Before: "Let's do a lap of Stanley Park, head out on the North Shore taking Marine to Horseshoe and do a Cypress Lookout on the way back"
After: "Let's do the Exploding Dick."

Little Kitty

Dancing Kitty

The E.T.

The Lasso (technically a mountain bike ride).

The Dick

The Exploding Dick

Devil's Trident (with Dick)

The Crocodile

Raging Bull

Sleep Cycle Alarm
PicFrame
Caffeine Zone 2
1-bit camera

I made a quick run around the Design exhibit at this year's Emily Carr grad show. The following are some of the works that stood out on a gut reaction for me. Note: I only made a cursory glance at everything, and any image quality or distortion are a fault of mine, not the student's. Also note: I'm a 2009 Design Grad from the same program.

Brian McBay's Chewing it Slower. One of the conceptual highlights of the show, Brian was interested in making objects more physically interactive, requiring from us more touch and feel and to appreciate how they function. This is his accordion speaker, which you compress or expand to change the volume (as opposed to turning a plastic knob). Not pictured: his flyswatter with extended handle and small head; the xylophone doorbell. I should also mention Brian's a close friend and I got to see his project mature over the past eight months.

Lorenzo Giuffrè and his lighting concepts. Looking forward to seeing these in action with his client--the 221A Artist Run Centre. Funny thing about that: Brian McBay, 221A Director and Lorenzo's client, is also a graduate this year (see above). Note: I'm a 221A Board Member...also cool to see the process of consultation Lorenzo went through to arrive at his final pieces.

Melle Hong's Chatspace. I just liked the look of these (chat avatars?) on the table.

OK so this a collage I made of the at least 8 projects where students invented some sort of online social networking service for a niche (and not so niche) market. I generally skipped past these as most were concepts and not operating, and dang if that isn't a saturated field to tackle and come out with something original and thought provoking. What's more valid and interesting to me is the fact that there were so many projects like this: it's a big issue that people are intrigued by. I just hope for more critical looks at them. Or: something simple and hilarious. Imagine if Chat Roulette was a student design grad project. If it made it past the professor filters oh man I'd applaud the shit out of it.

Carmen Bright's Neighbourhood Stories. I love anything local, and this was one of the few projects I'd actually like to use. The glass jars with flora/fauna and rocks were inviting, too.

I think this is (Jared's?)Ryan's piece, a community bike program. Wasn't sure about the actual bike and system prototype, but the poster was nice. Everyone was printing on this new (vinyl?) material: matte and satiny and sturdy.

Mircea Juverdeanu made something called The Proæsthetic Project, a sort of flashy limb system. Very eye-catching: the dude has got aesthetics down and made great progress by returning to Emily Carr for a fifth year.

Angus Wong made this sofa. I heard he got the upholstery outsourced and it shows: very well done. Noticed a lot more outsourcing this year: another guy had his door design professionally skinned; another's father operates a furniture factory in China and had her entire piece manufactured and shipped over.

Sophia Meyer's Spread the Love. A table of full of temp-tattoos.

Sara Ahn's Embrace. Enough design and photography and type treatment to not just be a straightforward editorial mock-up

Fugue in F Major by Rinat de Picciotto is a book on the explorations of equality. Great editorial image on the cover and one of the most professional looking--and professional content--Communication Design projects in the show.

Melody, a room partition (I'm pretty sure) by Stephanie Sauvé. Oh wait the label says acoustic partition, and the very thick felt-looking fabric in a flexible wood frame system is an eye catcher.

Adam Lupton's Time. Big black 2D install on the wall, plus a book.

Ande Kuric's Objective. Hand drawings, great style.

Jacky Ling attempted the visual display of sustainable information thing with his ATTN PLS ! Sustainable Interactives. I think the rock glows depending on water use/waste, and Jacky had some interactive iPhone/iPad things going on. Hesitant about undergrads developing huge systems, and this didn't seem to bring too much new to the saturated genre, but if anyone can pull it off it's Jacky. Will look closer at it next week.

Kyung Sun Yoon The Visual Flaneur. I think the infographic--unless it was just a display of her internal research--could have been more immediately descriptive, but again I'm an advocate for anything neighbourhood-based (as opposed to say, designing a new system for an entire nation). And flaneuring comes up in my life a lot; it's like, an important topic people are rediscovering a hundred years later.

Albert Law's Yakima appears to just be photos of army people and their weapons. I take it he's in the Reserves? I didn't see the critical or CommD aspect in this, but the photos were BIG.

It was hard to photograph Fiona Cheng's Respect Water and do it justice, but it was a calming and elegant display.

OK so it looks like Shawn Choi and Seeun Kim are envisioning a Vancouver Olympics in 2030? I'm probably the most interested in learning more about this project, but I already like the potential for subversiveness, and the 16 minute (16!) South Park-esque animation they made to accompany it. I briefly heard something about a stadium being built in the Yukon and then a guy wearing a bike helmet on a news broadcast.

Stephanie Vache's Gezellig, if you listen to her tell it, has a lot of depth...it's about creating embedded devices for the elderly in transition to living in a home and dealing with memory loss (my interpretation). In addition to the huge quilt she built (with embedded RFID) some of the other prototypes in this large installation were beautifully constructed.

Could seem a bit showboaty and fluff to have a grass patch next to your screenprinted newspaper project, but Kimberly Sutherland's Everybody / Nobody pulls it off, provoking thought with her title and this simple tagline alone.

Tell me more, Jacob Kownacki, about your Contemporary Guide to Canadian Culture. Even if it turns out to be Coupland-derivative, I'm interested.


Dirk Wright and Cameron McKague, who I've had the pleasure of working with, are part of the select group of upcoming graphic designers in Vancouver. I'll have to learn more about of Variation and Form so check it out and the vast array of material it's composed of. Also just found out: they won the 2010 Farmboy Fine Arts award for their work.

I joined a cycling club in Vancouver this year and they asked me to design a poster for them. Womens Cycling Camp is a month long, bi-weekly set of lessons led by my friend and coach/racer Lisa Howard. It's for women ages 15-22 that want to learn some organized cycling skills (how to ride a road bike in a pack, use a track bike on the velodrome, etc.). Part of the Escape Velocity Cycling Club mandate to promote youth cycling. www.escapevelocity.bc.ca/devadevos

I needed a new pair of road cycling / racing shoes to replace my 15 year-old Sidi shoes. I love Sidis but they're pricey and well, I've never ridden anything else.

My requirements:
* carbon sole
* something mid-range but on sale
* if possible, something match my club clothing or bicycle

I'd never seen the Pearl Izumi P.R.O. Road shoes until they were on sale at Mountain Equipment Co-op here in Vancouver this March, 2010. But the largest size was a 42 and my toes were crunch in that. Pearl Izumis must fit small because I wear a 43 in my Sidis.

And then I found the same shoes on Amazon.com (note NOT on Amazon.ca) in a size 44, and in black and yellow (the red and white was sold out), which fingers-crossed would be my perfect size. And they were. And instead of costing me $199, or MEC's sale price of $149, they cost me $90 including taxes and shipping.

After one 30km ride I'm already pleased with the shoes. One of the lightest I've felt, grip my heal very well, buckle easy to use and I like the dual insole (thin foam then a contoured one on top). Can't flex the soles. A little worried they'll wear out sooner than my Sidis, though.

One hitch in the sale though: they only ship to the US (some sort of warranty restriction on sales?). The solution was using a mail receiving service in nearby Washington State. In fact, both Point Roberts, WA, and Blaine, WA, and so close I can ride to them from my home in Vancouver. Turns out a lot of people do this: order items to a storage service in Washington and pick them up themselves thereby avoiding international shipping costs, possible duty and tax charges, and in my case, giving me a chance to buy an a product a period.

I used Hagen's of Blaine . It cost me $2 to pick it up there. I simply rode my bicycle across the border, signed for the package at Hagen's, recycled the box and rode back on my new shoes (stuffing my old ones in my jersey pockets.

No questions at the border. No other fees.

Will try Point Roberts next time, which is slightly closer to where I live, using this recommended mail service .

View Vancouver to Blaine in a larger map

Total round trip is about 4.5 hours, including lunch in Blaine:

1. Ride from home to Commercial Skytrain Station
2. Take Expo Line (heading east) to King George Station, $5 (or take the risk of riding for free
3. Get off King George Station (last stop on the line). This is about 100th Ave. 100 blocks to go.
4. Ride due south on King George Highway (is immediately outside station). Fair bit of traffic, but wide shoulder and fast. A few small rolling hills.
5. Stay south on King George, despite off ramps to freeway. i.e. stay on 99A South.
6. Near end of King George follow signs to Peace Arch. Only have to ride on freeway for a few hundred metres.
7. Pass any lined up cars. Keep passing them all the way to the border guards. I was waived ahead even when i tried waiting behind a few cars and was directed around the the back of the building to a small door with an "Entrance" sign above
8. Line-up, or just skip to the counter (a guard asked me to skip ahead anyways. Cyclists are given priority and I was wearing my full kit (cycling clothes) and brought my bike inside. Man takes my passport and returns five minutes later with an orange piece of paper and a giant 'S' written on it
9. Exit building, hand paper to another guard and get back on freeway for 200 metres
10. Take exit to Downtown Blaine and ding, you're there in
11. Lunch at Toni's Diner
12. Return via the exact same route, making sure to take the exit onto King George Highway (99A North) immediately after crossing back into Canada

If you're on a bike you're allowed to (in fact, ordered to) skip the traffic, whether you're heading into Canada or the US at the Peace Arch Border Crossing, at Blaine, WA / Surrey, BC. Image credit.

Notes:

• Total riding is about 50km
• Don't forget a passport
• There was construction at the border and the guard asked that cyclists not take the side route until it's completed (he said something like, take the I5?) This is as of March 18, 2010.

Day 7 144km 5:40 26 Dec 09
Just south of Waldport to Florence to North Bend to Sunset Bay Park
6:45 Tent dry again! and I was warm enough at night, but cold in a.m. Usual rice porridge with banana and chocolate, tiger balm on knee does nothing. 8:00 outta camp, few smallish climbs and then flats into Flo, omlette at Chari's Diner and biscuits and gravy, oh Oregon. Stop in at North Bend Moe's Bike Shop, OK store, bought some tubes and lube. Guy didn't want to lend me tools for my BB. Two med. climbs in afternoon, gorgeous morning, 42-49 degrees.

Day 8 146km 6:26 27 Dec 09
Sunset Bay to detour thing to Bandon to Port Orford to just south of Gold Beach
6:45 Rain off and on through night, some condensation in tent, legs sore. Scenic route on plateau clearcuts lovely but a little lost, Bandon Minute Cafe Hungry Digger pancakes and eggs and coffee, overcast, about 40 degrees. Long climb out of Gold Beach and then decent, tucked myself into a pullout and some sand dunes, a bit of shelter, overlooking stormed beach and rock outcroppings that typify Oregon coast. Pretty cold miserable day, 20mph head winds...god need a hotel soon for clothes washing.

Day 9 83km 3:30 28 Dec 09
Gold beach to Brookings to Crescent City
7:00 Hard rain at night, slept with bike clothes on: bad idea. Inside of bag now damp. Brookings Flying Gull for breakfast, not best. Fog and overcast. Two small/med clmbs and then reward: Super 8 in Crescent City. Not the nicest town to stop in (I forgot about that), but $50 room OK, bought a taco and a beer, watched 3 episodes Law & Order. Knee getting all fucked.

Day 10 138km 6:09 29 Dec 09
Crescent City to Trinidad to Eureka
6:30 went to sleep at 3am damn Hunt for Red October. Some weirdos walking highway now. Conti breakfast at hotel. Two big climbs: one outta Crescent, and the one I'd been waiting for into the Redwoods. But was great: almost no cars, good pace. Anothe rear tire puncture thank you iron filings. Medium rains all to Trinidad Eatery (good place on bay). Felt good, a little too cold though. Legs OK, saddle OK. First attractive girl in hundreds of kms. Checked email for first time: no word from Andreas yet. Hotel again: got stuck in Eureka as dark fell, no one offered me place to stay in nice coffee shops in old part of town. Signage on roads sucks in Cali, last bit before Eureka freeway even worse: hella crosswind, no place for humans. Seem on target for Jan 22 La Paz.

Northern California coast: like a giant hippy Nelson town.

Day 11 133km 5:44 30 Dec 09
Eureka to Redcrest to Garberville to Richardson Grove
7:00 up as usual, out by 8:20 after returning to retrieve forgotten booties. Good warm up on flats outta Eureka. Wuick 8% climb traffic thinning, day was mostly flat after that, some of the best Forest detours (take them all next time!). Redcrest Local Store, women cussing outside. Garberville not bad, groceries at ray's Place. Campsite at Grove mostly closed, one other car, 49 degrees. Finally not wearing grey hoodie. Felt lazy today. Knee stupid knee.

Day 12 122km 5:32 31 Dec 09
Richardson Grove to Westport to Fort Bragg Van Damme Park
Rain all night, worse in morning. Armpits developing rash. The Climb: today was the day...right out of Leggett, where 31 splits from #101. Twists and fun and hard. Middle of nowhere. Then up and down ravines along coast that tore my legs apart. No pace. Internet at Chamber of Commerce in Fort Bragg, no word from Andreas or his roomies still! Hammered hard to Van Damme just south of Mendocino. Got myself a big can of Coors at grocery store for a lonely New Year's.

Day 13 156km 7:02 1 Jan 10
Little River to Gualala to Bodega Bay Dunes
Rain harder in a.m. than at night. Last of the porridge. Tent twice as heavy with water. Water pooling in bottom of panniers. Cafe in Gualala slow service, gave me coffee for free and I got my food at the grocery store down the hill instead, ate outside with the homeless. Hardest and wettest morning yet. Constant up and down road. Site near Jenner full and wouldn't let me set up, hammered for darkness to Bodega, which turns out I stayed at four years ago on this leg. Big gaps and sparse towns all day. Brake pads half gone. Campsite full now: getting close to San Fran.

Some nicer weather in San Francisco.

San Francisco.

Day 14 121km 5:12 2 Jan 10
Bodega Bay to San Francisco
6:30 up and out by 7:45, best sleep yet, not worried about sleeping bag knowing I'd take a day off indoors tonight. Check email in my fav. little town, Point Reys I believe it, internet at bookstore they let me use their personal computer and Sarah replied: I have an apartment to stay at. Phew. And then the confusing signs near the bridge, detour around, flooded road soaked me, but finally acorss bridge, more bad signage, but meet with Sarah at Cafe in Lower Haight (hipster gentrification but great area). Will rest more than a day: Andreas not back from Norway for a while.

Visiting my friend Adam at work.