Intelligentsia Coffee - Espresso Video

Intelligentsia Coffee holds a special place in my heart, so I was excited to learn that they are producing some short videos about various aspects of coffee. I had to post this one. It's a very, very nice piece of work. Enjoy!

Espresso, Intelligentsia from Department of the 4th Dimension on Vimeo.

476 coffees in 353 days

I'm not sure why I find this so fascinating, but I do...

Take a couple of seconds to check out this website of one man's photographic spreadsheet of coffee consumption in 2009.

(Hint: Click on the small 'i' button at the top for more info.)

Good quote

I've just come back from a great coffee in one cafe and a mediocre coffee in another. But that's by-the-by. Here's a quote from something I was reading while I was out. It's to do with community development, networking, etc, etc:

"How do you hold a hundred tons of water in the air with no visible means of support? You build a cloud."
(K.C. Cole)

Nice metaphor.

Birthday Treat

I finished off work early today - well, it is my birthday - and my wife told me I had to go out for the afternoon while as she and the kids were going to make a "surprise" cake. I happily obliged and headed off to the Bald Barista.

I was hoping to catch up with Buzz and have a coffee with him. We were planning on brewing up some espresso beans he had just received which he described, in what I presume are professional terms, as *%&*!* amazing! Unfortunately he wasn't around so, following a quick double espresso, I headed off to my other favourite coffee location to see Colin at 3fe.

What I've been really liking about 3fe is that if a customer simply wants a cappuccino to go, that's fine. If another wants to stick around longer and talk coffee there's time for that too. Also, despite the name of the cafe (third floor espresso) they serve filter coffee as well. Only, this isn't filter coffee that is already sitting in a flask waiting for you to order it, this is filter coffee that is ground and brewed by the single cup. There are always a couple of coffees to choose from and they are never run-of-the-mill standard beans. Today I had the time (and excuse) to stay a while and have a few cups.

I had a Brazil coffee that had hints of hazelnut and chocolate and an incredible Ethiopian coffee with clearly palatable fruity notes of orange, red grape, and a very floral scent. I know this all sounds a bit poncey to anyone who thinks that coffee just tastes like coffee, but it really is amazing that you can discover these flavours in the cup. I've been enjoying it anyway.

But what was most fascinating was a coffee-type drink called Kilimanjaro Cascara. This is basically an infusion of dried coffee cherries, brewed much like you would a fruit tea. The coffee cherry is the usually discarded fruit that is wrapped around the seed which we have come to know and love as the coffee bean. Anyway, once brewed it makes for a deliciously syrupy-sweet, fruity drink...that also tastes like a mild coffee! It could also be served cold like an iced tea, but I'm not so sure about that. I don't like iced tea, though I'm told I haven't really had it served to me the proper way.

My coffee excursion ended with a double shot of Colin's seasonal espresso and I was off home (slightly shaking) to see what the family had been up to. I arrived to discover a cake from a single estate origin run by a young family in Dublin. On the nose there was a warm, pleasing aroma and I was looking forward to tasting this unique blend of flour, sugar and eggs. It had a soft mouthfeel with a sweet, decadent chocolate taste which was dominant on the plate. I definitely detected high notes of syrup and icing with a hint of sugar strands. I also discovered custardy tones running throughout. Superlative!

Coffee Morning

Ireland is currently in the grip of Old Man Winter - an unprecedented cold snap and blanketing of snow (all relative of course). By Friday afternoon the government decided to close all schools until next Wednesday. All Schools! The whole country!!! Most kids haven't even returned to school following the Christmas break. This is one that will be talked about for years.

Anyway, when it's cold outside the idea of getting out of bed is tough going, made worse by three young children who never seem to know how to play nicely together at 7:30am. However, salvation came in two forms: Saturday morning TV for the kids and a cafetiere of delicious Bolivian coffee and a couple of brioche to take back upstairs for myself and the wife.

What a treat. Sitting in bed watching the big fluffy flakes fall outside while enjoying a fantastic coffee and reading a book. A book I got for Christmas (and when I say I got I mean I got it - and gave it to my wife to wrap up) about coffee. 250 pages of nothing but coffee. Brilliant.

I had just worked my way through the growing regions of Central and South America and was moving on to India when the limits of Saturday morning TV kicked in. I'd like to say it was the responsible parent in me that got me out of bed....but it was the thought of another cup.

Third Floor Espresso (3fe)

If there's one thing I like more than going to a birthday party full of three year olds it's going out for coffee instead. So imagine my sense of joy when, this morning, my wife suggested that she would take our younger two kids to a party if I would take responsibility for our eldest.

Oh what could we do......?

Wait a minute! As it happened I needed to run into the city centre to pick up a couple of bags of coffee I ordered. (I'll tell you about that another time). The location for the pick-up was at a brand new cafe that I was excited to visit. Following the promise of sweets child A was just as excited too!

So I headed down to Third Floor Espresso, located at the Twisted Pepper on Middle Abbey St in the centre of Dublin. 3fe is a new venture (just open 6 days) of Colin Harmon - current Irish Barista Champion and fourth place finalist in the World Barista Championship. I knew I was in for a treat.

Before I talk about the coffee, let me start with the name of this great little place - and when I say little, I mean there was room for maybe a dozen people at a time at most. I really liked that. It meant that you were right there watching and participating in the crafting of the coffee. That said, I believe there is more room available for expansion as the business takes off. Anyway, the name: Third floor espresso is very conveniently located at street level! The 'third floor' comes from the history behind the genesis of this new cafe. You can read about it here. And as for 'espresso', yes of course that is served along with the usual additions of variously foamed milk (and latte art). But what is also great was the offer of filter coffee made using not-so-common methods. And so to the coffee:

Moments after walking in I was handed a cup of coffee that was just produced using a vac pot. I wish I had arrived a few minutes earlier as I've not seen one being used before. (Why did I promise to stop and buy those sweets!?) Soon after Colin brewed up another cup using a 'pour over' unit from Japan that made the preparation and brewing of the coffee almost ceremonial. And the result was a fantastic cup of coffee. Colin's friend, Dave, was on hand to talk me through this coffee and could confirm that what I was tasting had a big, fruity blackcurrant flavour to it. It was amazing!

By this time sweets and patience were starting to run out for my little girl. Just time for an espresso. Another great result! I didn't say what I was thinking in my head. (I've learned that making uninformed guesses can make you look a bit daft. I can admit now that when I first met the Bald Barista I asked if he put a chilli pepper in the coffee beans because it was so spicy!) The espresso blend is seasonal so every few months it will change which is very different from most other cafes.

All-in-all 3fe looks like a good place to get a great cup of coffee and learn a bit more about what goes in to making a perfect cup. A welcome addition to the Dublin coffee scene.

Season of Goodwill

I've decided to set myself a couple of challenges for the month of December.

Over the past year I have discovered that the more I learn about coffee the more critical I can be about the cup that I am served at a cafe. Sometimes that has come out in my blog posts, but most of the time it's been in my head...or said to my long-suffering wife. The flip side of this knowledge is, of course, a greater appreciation of a cup of coffee when it is well produced.

However, for the next few weeks I'm going to try my best to simply enjoy the whole experience of coffee even if what I am served isn't that great - the location or the people I talk to or the thoughts in my head might be instead.

The other thing that I am going to do is impose on myself a 10% charity tax on any coffee I drink during December. I'm doing this in response to my thoughts about yesterday's post. So the more coffee I drink, the bigger the donation will be to Christian Aid.

What if I didn't drink coffee?

Representing my church I attended the AGM today of Christian Aid (Ireland). The event was held at Bewley's Hotel near Dublin Airport. For those outside of Ireland, Bewley's is a well established and historical purveyor of tea and coffee in Ireland. I guess they also purvey guest rooms too. But it's not Bewley's that I want to talk about - though it is coffee related.

Christian Aid is an international development organisation who raise funds and help local churches connect with vital projects in the developing world. I noted down what the Chairperson said was the driving motivation behind Christian Aid: "To eradicate absolute poverty because absolute poverty is an affront to God."

One speaker highlighted a recent trip to Ethiopia - the home of coffee. His presentation included the story of a small group of women who pooled some money in order to give micro-loans to the local residents in order for them to develop some sort of livelihood. The way this collective of about a dozen women initially raised some capital was through coffee. Actually through not drinking coffee.

Part of the tradition for many in rural Ethiopia is the drinking of coffee in a ritualized way. Typically this coffee ritual takes place three times a day. However, these ladies for-goed one ritual each day and pooled the saved money instead - about five cents each. Five cents!!

You and I wouldn't think twice about such a trivial amount of money, but once enough had been collected fair loans could be made. So the story continued:

A woman takes out a small loan from the group and buys a large bag of corn and a large can of kerosene. These then she decants into small vessels and sells on to others at a small profit. From that profit she buys a goat which she milks for extra income. Her newly earned money is then used to buy another goat which she breeds with the original and several months later the goat gives birth to two more. These new goats are sold for a decent enough amount of money to start to give hope for this woman and her life is transformed. All for just skipping a coffee and investing five cents. It was a powerful lesson and one that, as I write this now, causes me to think about what I could do if I skipped the occasional coffee and did something else with the money.

Costa Coffee in Ireland???

Wandering around Dublin city centre on a cold, wet, windy Saturday morning is not really my idea of fun. Especially when accompanied with three under-5 children, one of whom had had a high temperature the night before. Still, a bit of fresh air and exercise never killed anyone. Probably.

However, my morning was brightened up when I noticed a Costa Coffee store on a busy corner of Dawson Street just up the road from my favourite toy shop - all 50 sq. meters of it (if that) packed form floor to ceiling with classy toys! So while the kids were peering in through the toy shop window I headed into Costa for some coffee and the low-down on their arrival in Dublin.

Costa Coffee have been brewing up a pretty decent cup in the UK for years, and as a chain store over there would have been the biggest rivals to Starbucks - with probably a couple of hundred more outlets than the mermaid. What I have always liked about Costa is their support of Fairtrade long before it started becoming trendy and certainly long before their biggest rival did. That and they do a nice selection of pastries.

I return from my recon trip with a vanilla latte for my wife and a regular latte for me, plus a chocolate mini yule log. (I can't believe I bought something so Christmasy already...but I guess we were in the process of helping out Santa).

"Get this," said I to herself. "Costa have been in Ireland for ages and I never knew it! And they have 27 cafés across the country!!"

"Let me stop you right there," says she, nipping in the bud any thoughts of an another pilgrimage....

Coffee Diagrams

A while ago someone asked me if I would explain what the differences are between the various styles of coffee. So, going on the premise that a picture is worth a thousand words I shan't bore you with intricate details......even though I might find it interesting. Instead, here's a great picture I came across:



(Designed by Lokesh Dhakar)