El Salvador Everest SHG

Via El Salvador SCAA man Luis Rodriguez i was able to track down this new El Salvador SHG.
It's unbelievable how these traders offer one year a Picacho from South El Salvador and the year after a totaly different one. And then they tell us the new El Salvador is in the house. Not very professional if you ask me. Of course this Latin American country is stuffed with top class beans, but how can it be they present us a so-called comparable bean, but finally with a different character.

The luck is with us and the new El Salvador coming in is this Everest SHG. It's a washed and comes from farms 1200 meters above sea level and higher. The harvest starts in late December and ends in March. The farms are located on the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range. This is very closeby the Santa Ana vulcano, where the most of the Cup Of Excellence beans come from. And this we can taste.

It's a bourbon bean.
Bourbon coffee is named for the island of Bourbon (now called Reunion) where it was originally cultivated.
Bourbon coffees, especially those from El Salvador, are neotypical Central American coffees.
They are bright, aromatic, balanced, semisweet or bittersweet, chocolaty and have a creamy mouthfeel.
Aida Battle, who's one of the persons working night and day to offer us all these beauties, made a special Reserva last year that scores a 92,7 at the Sweet Maria cupping table. Of course, ours is a 'commercial' bag and not with this enormous potential, but well worth the money and excellent for espresso. Good mouthfeel, balanced fruity flavors, mediocre acidity and nice finish. That's all we need and definetely good enough to take 30 % in our newest House Blend.

Thanks Luiz, Aida and SM for all this info, and for those who are intersted, every week lots of fresh El Salvador is coming in at a selling price of 16 euro's a kilo. Recommended!

Birds and Coffee Plants

Not only Bird is the name of a Caffenation Barista, it's also an animal. ;-)

And what's the connection between birds and coffee?
A lot probably, but mainly the birds live at the coffee plantations.
A very interesting site to learn more about it is coffeehabitat.
And a very interesting article i found on the Smithsonian site.

World's Youngest Barista

My daughter in two years ....?

Pneumatic tubes bring just roasted coffee beans into their respective

Pneumatic tubes bring just roasted coffee beans into their respective tubes.
Originally uploaded by Curious Expeditions

The coffee scene at the East Coast is changing quickly. And all for the better.
This Roasting plant is one good example.
This Reuters article is telling you the story.

Black Gold Movie

Teddy bought this DVD. Thanks mate.

What's this movie about?
It's about the Ethiopian coffee trade and about the poor working conditions for the local people living, although this seems not to be the right word.

Ethiopia is the birthplace and, to my opinion, still the most wonderful coffee country in the world. Yes, it's black gold ; Ethiopian coffee, but not for most of the people doing the hard work on and off the fields. It's a shame they do not get better prices!

I once spoke a girl from the Harare area, studying in Antwerp, and she told me her family had a good living from their coffee labour, so it's not misery all over the place.
And I see more and more people ready to offer better prices. And i see more and more people ready to improve working conditions and raise the general quality level what could be resulting in higher prices as well.
That's good, but it is not good enough. We all have to try harder and secure this black gold is bringing money in for every link in the chain.

Clicking the logo on your right hand side could be a good first step....

Grinder Search

Opened up Mythos
Originally uploaded by King Seven

I'm on a search for a new grinder and the weird looking one on the (King7) photo is one of the possibilities : The Simonelli Mythos.

The last 5 years I've been buying grinders at the same rhythm as i buy pants. And the more i buy, the more i know about them and the more difficult it gets to find the right one (i'm talking grinders of course ;-) ).

I've been reasonably happy with the Mazzers, Macap and Mahkonig, but they all have their weak points.

Mazzer blades do not last very long and only the heavier types do not heat up. And those big ones are very ugly and soo heavy and ... big indeed. And no professional doserless Mazzer, although Henk told me it's coming.

Macap is terrible to click. Clickclickclickclickclick....on and on and very loud and lots of spill. The looks are great yes, so big programmable doserless could be a future possibility...

Mahlkonig's K30 seemed to have it all, but after one and a half year of use i start turning away from them. The burrs only last 600Kg, but the biggest problem is the heating up. For 100 grams an hour it's ok, but once you start pulling shot after shot, the grounds come out hot, the taste gets thin and the under extractions show. Then you start grinding finer and that way you get into a vicious circle. On top of that the grounds are clumping which makes it more difficult to distribute. And the shot mass is too irregular. Yes, a whole of problems for such an expensive machine.

What are the solutions?
This Mythos can be great, but it's still not very known and expensive. And ugly.
Azkoyen Cappricio? Ok price and now it's less static than at the launch it could be a solution, although the looks do not fit with Caffenation. Aw, we're difficult today.
Compak also looks ugly. And their A8 grinder on demand is very high priced.
Big Faema or La Cimbali? I don't really trust, although i'm curiously waiting for the new Faema conical.
Anfim? Yes, this Caimano series look stunning, with titanium burrs lasting 3000 Kg!! Very good price. Cleanest dosing system. Very reliable. All ok, we just miss the ease of the automatic shot by shot grinding that makes the K30 such a winner. Maybe it's coming soon?....

Wait and see.

Vibiemme

Want to know more about Italian Espresso Machine Making?
Click this beautiful and informative site.