ShotZombies

Video: The Sweet Marias Clever Dripper Method

Mike — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 17:13:01 +0000

I don’t often use my Clever Dripper but dusted it off after watching this video by Thompson at Sweet Marias. The results were good, better than I’ve ever achieved with the Clever.

Video: The HasBean Guide to Brewing with an Aeropress

Mike — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:17:39 +0000

A nice little video on Aeropress brewing from Stephen Leighton. This one should definitely be added to BrewMethods.com.

[Via HasBlog]

James Hoffmann’s Current Iced Coffee Method

Mike — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:31:33 +0000

For the last month I’ve been thinking on and off about James Hoffmann’s “current iced coffee method“. I don’t really drink much iced coffee but when he posted it I gave it a shot. My results weren’t great (it tasted heady and intense, lacking all of the bright acidity that I had hoped to find) but since I don’t really drink iced coffee I didn’t worry too much about it. I didn’t try it again but continued to have lingering thoughts about why it didn’t work out. Today I realized what it was – I had followed precise brewing ratios that replaced half the brew water with the equivalent in ice. But when I finished brewing (and tasted it), not all of the ice had melted. The resulting brew was probably too strong, literally. So today I tried it again and this time used my refractometer to test the results.

Once again when my v60 was finished dripping there were still solid cubes of ice floating in the brew. I tested it and found it to be high in both extraction percentage and dissolved solids.

Approximately 20 minutes later most of the ice had finished melting, and I tested it again to find both numbers to be in a much more reasonable range. The result was a cup of iced coffee that was much more balanced, bright and delicious. So if you attempt his method (which you should), make sure your ice melts.

Ben & Jerry’s Now Sells Fair Trade Coffee

Mike — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:44:13 +0000

It comes as no surprise that Ben & Jerry’s would like to capitalize on the lucrative coffee market, joining other global corporations such as McDonalds and Subway. It also comes as no surprise that they would choose to feature Fair Trade Coffee as one of their key selling points since, in theory at least, both Ben & Jerry’s and Fair Trade are wholesome, healthy, organic and benevolent industries. I mean just look at the picture of Ben & Jerry in the corner. See how wholesome and benevolent they look? Unfortunately Ben & Jerry’s is owned by Unilever, a company manufacturing over 400 brands with factories on every continent. In other words, one of the largest food and beverage corporations in the world. It would be easy for Unilever to go beyond the marketing advantages of Fair Trade and affect real change. To offer much more positive, benevolent socioeconomic impact on the lives of their farmers instead of tapping into the misconceptions of the public. But they don’t. And I don’t really blame them. Why should they? They’re competing with McDonalds and Subway.

[via Ben & Jerry's]

Video: The Syphon Project

Mike — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:41:26 +0000

Great syphon video brought to you by Chemically Imbalanced.

Transparency and Quality Improvements Within Direct Trade

Mike — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:20:39 +0000

Tim Wendelboe recently posted the prices they paid for the coffees they currently offer. It’s an uncommon move explained in a blog post here, and they join a small group of coffee roasters offering higher forms of transparency. As Tim explains this information is also available from organizations like Cup of Excellence and Sustainable Harvest, and Counter Culture Coffee released a detailed report in May from their Direct Trade program.

TraceableCoffee.org is another company providing helpful information for the end consumer, combing unique ID numbers printed on each bag with QR codes that are easily scanned with a smartphone. Those that buy these coffees can quickly connect to the Traceable Coffee database to see images and videos of the farmers, along with basic information about the farm (but not the prices paid). You can even tip the farmer, contributing a few dollars to their digital tip jars if you’d like.

All of these companies are helping to make the supply chain smaller, but within the transparent model there are larger issues at stake. Wendelboe and Counter Culture both provide much more than pictures and/or prices paid. They’re subjecting their potential purchases to strict quality control standards, spending time with the farmers that they’re working with. If the coffee doesn’t meet these standards they offer education and resources to help them improve. By investing in these farmers they’re helping to raise the value of their products, ultimately putting more money in the farmers pocket. It’s the basis behind Direct Trade, a model covered by Peter Meehan in the New York Times three years ago. It builds on the limitations of programs such as Fair Trade, which offers the benefit of stability and little else. In fact, the current value of Fair Trade coffee lags behind coffee purchased on the open market, and investments in quality are less likely to occur when it fails to increase the farmers income.

In essence Direct Trade rewards farmers who produce better coffees. This occurs regardless of the level of transparency provided to the consumer. Ultimately the strength of Direct Trade is in the transparency provided to the producer, where transparency is most needed. Consumers benefit from an increasing reliance on quality as the determining factor in trade, not price. So I congratulate Tim not just for his transparency, but for his taste buds and commitment to quality.

Wilco + Intelligentsia = Coffee Mug Collaboration

Mike — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:45:26 +0000

Intelligentsia and Wilco have teamed up to create this mug, available at Wilco shows and online. This isn’t huge news or anything. It’s just awesome.

[Via Intelligentsia]

Using MoJoToGo to Maintain Equipment

Mike — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:40:43 +0000

You can argue that with burrs this worn I should have figured it out sooner, and you’d probably be right. But in my defense, this sort of damage doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a gradual process, with nearly imperceptible changes occurring very slowly. MoJoToGo noticed though, and quickly isolated worn burrs as the cause of poor extraction. Which just goes to show – science tastes good.

New Website: New Coffees – The Latest Updates from the Best Roasters

Mike — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 23:43:40 +0000

New Coffees has just launched to provide updates on all your favorite coffee roasters. When a new coffee is added to a roaster’s website, New Coffees automatically adds it to the roster. If you’re into Twitter, @newcoffees will tell you what those changes are, when they happen.

The site is still young (Michael Young, actually) but it’s functioning, and is currently displaying offerings from Intelli, Ritual, Stumptown, Square Mile, and Ecco. More great roasters are already queued up, and they’ll be added over the coming days.

I’m Back in your Solids, Analyzing your Dissolution

Mike — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:27:48 +0000

It was slightly devastating to lose all of our electronics during a hectic two weeks in Europe, but the saddest loss of all was probably my VST Refractometer. Thanks to an extremely generous donation from Andy and Vince, my mourning period has now ended. I’m back in the MoJoToGo business, and loving every second of it.