Jeremey's Weblog

Grinder!

It's here! It's here! :)

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grinder, espresso, macap

Grinder!

I did it... I ordered it... a thing of beauty. I decided to go with the MACAP M4 stepless w/ doser. The doser is a known quantity and great shops (Catalina!) get excellent results with them.

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coffee, espresso, grinder

Epic Espresso

Max at Catalina is bringing in guest espressos every month, and this month it's Epic Espresso from 49th Parallel Roasters.

WOW. It's really good stuff... if you're in Houston and you drink espresso, you need to go by Catalina and check it out.

Epic is rich and deep and smooth... flavors are predominantly "rich and smooth" flavors like chocolate. There's some brightness but it's definitely muted... maybe a little citrus, a little floral. Just enough to give it depth and character. It's the best I've had, certainly.

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coffee, espresso, catalina, 49th parallel

Antidote Coffee

I recently went to Antidote Coffee (continuing the theme of trying late-night coffee houses when Catalina is closed). Again, my criteria are all about the latte (see my post on Inversion).

The verdict: pretty decent! The latte wasn't great, but it wasn't offensive and could definitely be enjoyed. Overall a little weak on the espresso, and fairly standard (but not incredibly overheated) milk. Better than many I've had, not as good as mine at home.

I would definitely go back if I was looking to get out of the house for some coffee when Catalina is closed.

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coffee, houston, antidote

Inversion Coffee House: Blah

Friday evening I was too late to make it to Catalina (they have a mostly day crowd, so close at 9pm), so I decided to give Inversion a go, since I'd heard good things.

Now, I judge coffee shops by their lattes. A passable latte requires some amount of training, care, and craft. If a coffee shop doesn't make a decent latte, they are demonstrating a lack in all three of those departments, at very least.

So the verdict on Inversion: not good. One of the worst lattes I've had, in fact. The milk was WAY too hot, and the espresso had any number of defects, beginning with being watery and bitter. Very disappointing, and really very unfortunate. It's just not that hard to make a decent latte... not a great one, but a decent one. You need to be able to pull a decent shot of espresso. You need clean equipment. You need to understand what you're doing to the milk, and what happens when it gets too hot (i.e. much above 155°). And you need to care.

So I stick to my current belief that Catalina is the only good espresso house in Houston. I've yet to find another (but I'm trying to slowly give the others a fair evaluation).

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coffee, houston, inversion

Naked Espresso Shots

I'm really digging the naked portafilter (a "naked" portafilter is one with no spouts... the espresso flows directly from the basket to the cup). It's a great training tool, helping me spot channeling (light blonde flows w/in darker flow), but it's also just really cool to watch. I took a shot of it today:

This is the Rancilio 58mm filter sold by Chris Coffee.

Choosing A Grinder

I'm trying to choose a grinder, but it's difficult. The biggest decision isn't "which one?" but "doser or doserless?" I'm probably going to buy a MACAP... but could go for a Mazzer too.

Most likely the decision is between the MACAP M4 stepless w/ doser and the MACAP MC4 stepless doserless. Both come in a nice chrome finish to match the Alexia (which is a significant consideration!) and are $50-$100 cheaper than the Mazzer Mini.

With a doser, it's reasonably possible to build up a little residue of un-fresh grounds, especially for home use. Going doserless takes care of that, but then my concern is mess with grounds going everywhere. And further, it may be that the doser helps break up clumping. What to do?

Great Shots!

I pulled three very good shots this morning! Woohoo! I just had to share.

Three, you ask? Yes... I pulled one, it was good. So I pulled another, it was good too. So I had to pull one more. And it was good. But four would be really pushing the caffeine intake. :)

Problem: Shipping Specialty Coffee

OK... the specialty (quality) coffee industry has a problem. Mail order shipping is too expensive! If you're serious about coffee, you're going to want it fresh. To get it fresh, 2-3 day shipping is required. If 2-3 day shipping costs upwards of ten bucks, you're talking about paying for almost another pound of coffee, just to get the coffee to you in a reasonable time to drink it before it loses too much flavor.

If you're going to make the high shipping cost economical, you have to order more beans, which means they won't be as fresh, which contradicts the whole goal.

There needs to be a solution! I have some ideas...

CoffeeGeek Meetup

I went to a meetup at Catalina Coffee (best coffee in Houston) for CoffeeGeek users this afternoon, and it was great fun... lots of great coffee and conversation.

Kudos to Max (Catalina's owner) for being devoted to quality coffee and for helping build a coffee community here in Houston.

I forget what the bean was, but we got to compare the same coffee brewed in a Chemex, a FETCO extractor, and French press. The Chemex brew was light and flavorful, but my personal preference was for the FETCO or the press... both had more body. The Chemex is almost tea-like. I could definitely see using all three (the FETCO being definitely a commercial unit).

As always, the lattes were beautiful and delicious:

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coffee, coffeegeek