Entre Volcanes Espresso – Oddly Correct

Naked portafilter photo by Oddly Correct.

I’ve been raving about Oddly Correct coffee for quite some time and for a damn good reason. It’s awesome. That’s about all you really need to read, but here’s some more if you need extra convincing.

I bought a pound of their Stranger in the Alps (I’ll let you do the work of figuring out what the name is all about, but it has to do with hilarious editing of a scene from The Big Lebowski) a few weeks ago and was running low on beans, so with only a few minutes left before they closed I popped into the shop and grabbed a bag of what I thought sounded good (not that I’ve found they roast anything bad). My Chemex and Clever Coffee Dripper were both feeling neglected while Signore Gaggia was getting all the fun, so I didn’t really care what I had grabbed as long as it was for pourover instead of espresso.

When I realized I had grabbed the one variety of espresso they had on hand I was momentarily upset with my “mistake” during the rush, but I recovered. I finished up the last of my Stranger in the Alps yesterday and dug into my selection, Entre Volcanes single farm espresso and all I can say this morning is “WOW!”

I did a little research about the Entre Volcanes farm and found a surprising amount of information here. The farm is located in Guatemala at what the site says is “a significantly higher altitude for the region, and thus the coffee coming from here produces an extremely complex cup.” The farm was founded in the 1950′s and so it would be safe to assume they know how to grow beans the right way.

The farm also grows poinsettias, macadamia trees, orchids and bromelias. I would like to say I could taste a hint of macadamia with a long orchid finish in the coffee, but that would just be a lie! LOL

I had a feeling I was in for a treat when I opened the hand-printed and labeled bag (a trademark of those crafty fellows at Oddly Correct) and saw the small, hard-looking beans I have grown accustomed to equating with great cups from their magical roaster. A lot of Oddly Correct’s beans seem to be about 1/2 of the size of a “regular” roasted bean and not as darkly roasted-looking. In my mind, the smaller and more pebble-like the bean from these guys, the better. Who knows?

I filled my Kyocera hand grinder (I always go by volume of the beans to the top of the grinder hopper, rather than weighing them out). It felt noticeably heavier in my hand but took the 200-ish cranks of the handle to grind them all, which is normal regardless of the bean I use, and the volume of espresso in the Gaggia portafilter looked right.

I got the volume of espresso I wanted in the time I wanted (about 15-17 seconds) and the aroma coming off the cup was a little grapefruity/citrusy, but the tasting notes on the bag prepped me for that. I feel like now, 15 minutes after I had the drink, that there is a lingering astringency/grapefruit flavor on my palate from the coffee, but that could be purely psychological.

Like the other espressos I’ve had from Oddly Correct, the Entre Volcanes was bright and punchy. If you could describe a sip as a physical thing, somewhere in the middle of it was a fleeting earthy character that my mind immediately associated with cinnamon. It was quick, like “5%” of the overall sip, and it didn’t TASTE like cinnamon, but there was some quality of it that I couldn’t shake as being “cinnamon-like.” I suspect I’ll be running the Gaggia a few more times today, so maybe I’ll have some more comments to note on that!

I got a little cherry toward the end, which seems to be a theme with Oddly Correct beans, and a citrusy, tart finish.

Entre Volcanes is truly handled well by the brilliant OC roasters and they have done this bean justice. The cup was really full-bodied, the crema was gorgeous looking and the flavors were pure, bright, acid and lacked any sootiness or ashiness that comes from most espresso roasts.

Damn!

Imperial Java Stout – Santa Fe Brewing Co.

It has been FOREVER since I did a real beer post. Thanks for your patience and putting up with the sporadic posting. Before I get to the beer, here’s the deal: we’re putting our health before EVERYTHING now and so our eating plan allows one cheat day per week. I’m averaging 1-2 beers on cheat day and I’ve been cleaning out old stuff that has been around too long. Not very exciting for reviews! LOL

I did get tempted into Gomer’s midtown location a couple weeks ago and after ogling all the bottles my eyes settled on a canned beer I hadn’t seen before. YES, I am still enamored with the idea of canned craft beers, ESPECIALLY if what’s inside might pour like motor oil!

I picked up this six pack of Santa Fe Brewing Co’s Imperial Java Stout for under $9 and it seemed like a good value. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized it was an “imperial,” I thought it was just a regular coffee stout.

I’m a sucker for packaging and while extremely simple, the Santa Fe can appealed to me because on one side there is a beer mug that says “after noon” and on the other side is a coffee cup that says, “before noon.” Clever.

Coffee beers are best drunk fresh because the coffee character is quick to go. I didn’t know this until I heard it on Craft Beer Radio recently, so I was excited to try a coffee stout that seemed to be a relatively new addition to Gomer’s lineup (i.e. hadn’t been hanging around long) and was also canned, giving it the best chance of retaining as much freshness as possible without drinking it right at the brewery.

According to Santa Fe’s website (worth looking at, they have a nice lineup of interesting-sounding beers) the Imperial Java Stout has an ABV of 8% uses two hop varieties and four types of malt. The website says they use organic beans fro New Guinea and East Timor that are locally roasted in Santa Fe.

Of all the coffee beers I’ve tasted I would say this one is the most coffee forward. There is no mistaking this as a coffee stout. I’m writing this from memory since it’s morning and I don’t really want to drink a stout from a coffee cup as fun as that seems, but I recall a LOT of coffee character (think cold-brewed coffee) with a good, classic stout backbone.

The beer has a good amount of sweetness to it, not quite like Left Hand Milk Stout but not dry, either. The sweetness is balanced in the finish by an earthy hop character and I would say the beer has good overall balance. I enjoyed one can while eating a couple of Justin’s Dark Chocolate peanut butter cups last week and that dried the flavor of the beer out a lot while bringing out more of the hops and a the dark roasty, almost astringent character.

I’ve been quite pleasantly surprised by this beer since I knew nothing about it going into it. It’s a good stout in and of itself, but as a coffee lover I think this is a great example of what a coffee-heavy beer can taste like when done properly. I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up another six pack of this again!

Oddly Correct Hop! Toddy V1.0

Oddly Correct is a little midtown Kansas City coffee shop that is making a big name for itself. I’ll have a more complete review of their shop and some coffee coming soon, but I wanted to get this short review of their Hop! Toddy drink out ASAP. Hop! Toddy is a cold-brewed coffee with hops added to it, bottled in 12 oz bottles and served up fresh and ready to drink on a regular basis at the shop.

I’m not super familiar with Toddy brewed coffee other than that it is a cold-brewing method that is supposed to cut down on some of the “bitter acids and oils” that traditional forms of extraction may pick up. I’ve never had Toddy brewed coffee, so I can’t comment on that. The fellas at Oddly Correct said that they think the Toddy method can produce a rather flat cup, so they decided to try adding something to it to brighten it up and that “something” was hops.

For V1.0 they are using citra hops, a relatively new “breed” of hops that are prized for their citrusy notes (get it, citra… citrus!?) as well as their other “soft fruit” flavors, notably pineapple and even peach/apricot. If you’re a beer drinker you may’ve had a beer primarily made with citra hops. The most available around here is Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo IPA. I had Torpedo right after it hit the shelf a year or two ago and the pineapple and peach was quite apparent.

The girl in front of me in line said, “I don’t really like hoppy beers, so I’m not sure I’ll like this” and they assured that Hop! Toddy isn’t “hoppy.” They were right.

My bottle was bottled on 7/3/12 and I bought it on 7/4/12. I sort of forgot about it (every time I thought about it I didn’t really want a coffee, like at night) until 7/16/12. I’m not sure if that’s enough time for it to lose some hop character or not, but the hops were certainly subtle in the Hop! Toddy.

The concoction poured out of the bottle like a dead flat porter, very dark brown to black with lots of red highlights in the corners of the glass. It had a chocolatey, sweet aroma, sort of like if you could separate just the chocolatey aroma of a good stout. I wonder if the coffee was Ethiopian Yirgacheffe because there was an Earl Grey character with a hint of lemon, which is a flavor I get from good Yirgacheffes.

The hops were definitely in the background. I suspect that they added some brightness, and I think I was getting them in the finish and aftertaste, but if no one TOLD you there were hops in this you wouldn’t say, “AHA! Hops!” I think they may have done for the coffee what a spritz of acid (like a lime or lemon) will do for a dish… brighten up the flavors and make them “pop” a little where they would otherwise be flat on their own. After hearing the guys’ opinions on Toddy brewed coffee, this is exactly what it sounded like.

This was GREAT on its own (the sure sign of a good cup of coffee is when it tastes good COLD, too). It would probably make a fantastic iced coffee drink of some sort, with a little cream or something, but I think you should drink it undiluted… as-is. I really liked it!

Cuban Coffee Experiment #2

Yesterday’s attempt at cafecito (Cuban coffee… essentially very sweet espresso or strong coffee) using old hazelnut beans and the stovetop Moka pot didn’t go that great. The hazelnut really threw the whole thing off.

I bought some fresh espresso beans (roasted on May 10), from Broadway Café in Westport (Kansas City) and the results were a lot better. I think I need to use even more sugar to make my paste (if I was a REAL scientist I would be measuring all this out, but come on!). Tomorrow I’ll warm up the Gaggia espresso machine and see what the cafecito sugar-paste technique and espresso taste like together…

Cafecito (Cuban Coffee)

While I was in Mexico last month I went to Qubano’s on Isla Mujeres to pick up lunch for my wife (who stayed on the beach, “saving our place”) and while I waited I ordered a Cuban coffee (cafecito). I was blown away. I am usually an espresso or dark roast, no sugar or milk, kind of guy. The coffee was dark, rich and, of course, SWEET.

I’m on a quest to perfect the cafecito now! I have made two and neither one of them is correct yet. This morning’s was made with some old hazelnut flavored beans I had lying around. It’s decent, but the hazelnut is throwing the whole thing off. This afternoon I’ll make a run to Broadway Café in Westport for some good espresso beans.

I had some old Broadway beans sitting around last week and tried a cafecito with those, but I used Mexican sugar (the brown stuff with big crystals) and that doesn’t dissolve well. The white sugar I used this morning seems to be the key, as much as I’d like to use the Mexican stuff for more flavor.

The general idea of a cafecito is to use one spoonful of sugar per serving, as a rule (a serving being more than an espresso shot but a lot less than a standard cup of coffee). You put the sugar in a bowl, add a tiny bit of coffee, and stir the heck out of it until you have a brown-sugar colored paste. Add this to your cup and pour the coffee over and you have a cafecito. It’s supposed to look like an espresso with crema on top.

Most people use a stovetop Moka pot for this, which is what I’ve been using. Once I have fresh beans I’m going to try it again with the Moka pot, then with my Gaggia espresso machine. I’m guessing the espresso machine will be the way to go… caffeine poured over sugar? Don’t mind if I do! LOL

Chemex: Coffee for Nerds

Beautiful extraction

I’ve lusted after a Chemex coffee brewer ever since I became aware of them several years ago. I was a chemistry major in college, so it’s probably no big surprise that the “two Ehrlenmeyer flasks united as one” shape of the Chemex speaks to me. LOL

I picked up the 8-cup Chemex and a box of unbleached filters at World Market in Westport. At home I brew coffee one of two ways: espresso machine or French press, but the press is a PITA for me to clean, it seemed like, so I decided to bite the bullet on the lower maintenance Chemex (although it’s a lot more work to do the actual extraction than a French press).

I haven’t gone full coffeenerd on the Chemex just yet. I am eyeballing the amount of coffee (instead of using a digital scale), I am using a tea kettle and an OXO measuring cup to pour in the water (instead of a $50 Hario Buono pourover kettle), I am eyeballing the amount of water (instead of weighing it, too) and I’m guessing on the grind fineness (instead of timing everything to dial it in).

A work of geek art

All that being said, I can still brew up a dang good cup of coffee with the Chemex!

This gives me room to expand, I suppose! The Chemex method is not for low maintenance coffee folks. You have to boil water (oh, I also don’t have a thermometer to know my water temperature, which is important), rinse the filter, “bloom” the grounds, pour, watch, pour some more, etc. It’s high maintenance, but fun (to me).

I watched a few helpful videos (go to Vimeo and search “chemex”) after the first few times I used the Chemex and learned some important things. First, you should use boiling water to rinse the filter some. I didn’t think this was necessary until I did it once and I got some brownish looking water off the filter. Yuck!

Second, gently tamping the Chemex on the counter top (use a towel under it) a few times to settle the grounds into the filter cone seems pretty important, too.

Blooming the beans is important, although I don’t know why. Blooming means pouring a small amount of water onto the dry grounds to soak them a little. Some things happen for about 30 seconds, then you’re ready to start pouring in water.

Pour the water in the center, not along the side, so you get a nice extraction from the point of the cone, rather than running down the side.

Most importantly, have fun! If this seems like “the system” that is going to stick for me, I’m going to add a digital scale and maybe that fancy pourover kettle (or something similar if I can find it)!

Priming the Pump and Other Valuable Lessons

The original intent of The Liquid Diet was to wax eloquently about all things potable, but more often than not I write about beer, because that’s the most interesting thing, in my opinion, to write about and that seems like what my audience likes. I do drink lots of other fluids, however, coffee being way up on the list.

I hit Broadway Cafe yesterday to pick up some beans for French press and my espresso machine. Broadway has THE BEST espresso I’ve had outside of Italy, so it pleases me to have it right here in Kansas City. While my homemade espresso isn’t quite as good as it is off Broadway’s perfectly set up system, it is DAMN good and as good as most shots you can get in a coffee shop. I’ve compared a LOT, so I know! LOL

I just went to turn on my machine to brew a shot this morning and was shocked to find the water reservoir was bone dry. I gave it a good fill a week ago and haven’t used it since, so maybe the dry air has something to do with it. I always run a little water through the machine when I first turn it on. NOTHING. Loud noise, so I knew the pump was working, but no water, so I freaked out, of course. I got this machine as a refurb from Whole Latte Love back in 2007 when I moved to KC and it seemed like a big investment at the time. I’ve taken pretty good care of it and it has taken pretty good care of me, but parts do break, etc etc, so I immediately thought the pump had kicked the bucket.

I struggled for a while trying to work the black top off the machine so I could peek at its guts. It comes off pretty easily IF you are observant enough to notice that there is a screw holding it down. The screw is at the bottom of the reservoir where you pour water in. Took me a while of struggling to figure it out, so there is lesson #1!

Lesson #2 is that if the pump runs dry, you have to prime it, which I must have forgotten after doing it once when I first bought the machine. Turn the machine on and let it heat up some, open the steam wand all the way, and then turn on the “make espresso” and the “make steam” button at the same time. A bunch of water will pour out the steam wand, so have a cup ready. Let a cup of water blast through and that will fill the pump and get it primed so it can use physics to continue to pump water when you need it.

Lesson #3? Don’t let the reservoir run totally dry or physics won’t work anymore (well, you get the drift).

Lesson #4? Thank God for people who upload user manuals for free use online. Here’s the manual for the Gaggia Espresso.

Flavored Simple Syrups

I’ve been on a kick recently of making flavored simple syrups. The inspiration comes from our local queen of artisanal snow cones (yes, I said artisanal and I meant it!), Lindsay Laricks and her company, Fresher Than Fresh. Anytime I see that sweet Shasta trailer parked in front of Hammerpress (during most First Fridays in the Crossroads) or on Sundays at the delightful little park at 17th and Summit close to Blue Bird Bistro, the West Local, etc., it brings a smile to my face. I need to thank FTF for helping me discover how cool that little up-and-coming neighborhood is, too. The lure of the snow cone helped me discover something I hadn’t experienced about Kansas City yet! lol

So, um, if you haven’t gotten off your butt and tried FTF yet, you need to before she closes up for the season, which is FAST approaching its end. To have to wait until next year is a travesty. She also makes freezer pops that are the same stuff, just in the classic shape we all know and love from our childhoods.

My inspiration to try to make some more of my own flavored syrups comes from Lindsay’s Espresso with Mexican Cane Sugar flavor. When you get this flavor (and you should!), they drizzle a little sweetened condensed milk on it, too. I know it sounds a little sketchy, but trust me.

The espresso flavor is to die for, but what was really intriguing was the subtle hint of warm spice in the background… was that cinnamon? Nutmeg? Allspice? All of the above??? I asked Lindsay and she confirmed it was cinnamon, so in preparation for the cold season ahead, I decided to give making my own version of this syrup a shot (no pun intended) so I could add it to my morning coffee when I wanted something a little different. Linday’s snow cone syrup also has a nice hint of carmelized sugar flavors, which I tried to reproduce, and maybe a little hint of molasses or something.

Making simple syrup is, well, simple. You take a cup of sugar and a cup of water, put them in a pan and boil until dissolved. They keep pretty well, although I read somewhere that making a more sugary syrup will keep longer, so to use a 2:1 sugar to water ratio in that case. I did just that about a year ago to have simple syrup on hand for Old Fashioned’s, and it kept unrefrigerated for all that time with no problem at all.

About a week ago I had some strawberries about to go bad and I made a 1:1 simple syrup with them, but didn’t refrigerate it, and the syrup had mold growing on it within a couple days. Word to the wise.

To make fruit-based syrups, like the strawberry one I just mentioned, which would work for any fruit as far as I can tell, simply add the 1:1 ratio of sugar and water to your pan, as well as chopped up fruit, and boil the lot until the sugar dissolves and fruit starts to break up and everything thickens. Remember, fruits have a lot of water in them, so boiling off some won’t be a problem. Once the syrup started cooking nicely I mashed the fruit up with a potato masher and kept on trucking. When I felt like it was done, I simply strained it through a fine wire mesh colander to get the seeds and stuff out. Worked like a charm and it was delicious, the one time I got to use it!

For the coffee-flavored syrup, I just made a small batch and decided to use the richer solution, so I did one cup sugar to 1/2 cup water. I wasn’t sure which type of sugar to use, as a trip down the cooking aisle of Whole Foods showed all kinds of possibilities. I also spotted “vegan sugar” which is truly the lowest form of manipulation of those poor souls, as there is no meat in sugar to begin with. So, vegans who fall for that ploy get to spend an extra dollar for the same sugar. Duh.

Anyway, I chose turbinado sugar, which is evaporated cane juice that still has some molasses in it. Basically chunky brown sugar, but a little “drier” and not as molasses-y. It’s that fancy big-crystal brown-colored sugar you see in the coffee shops. I thought it would have some caramel notes and etc.

So, I did one cup of turbinado, 1/2 cup water and for the coffee flavor itself, I used a few demitasse-spoonfuls of instant espresso. Cooked it up and then added a cinnamon stick to get some cinnamon notes like Lindsay had. I was surprised to see that the sugar dissolved completely very quickly, so I’m guessing that because the crystals are so large, that maybe there isn’t as much density, so one cup of turbinado is less sugar than a cup of regular white refined sugar. That said, it still tasted great. I wasn’t sure how long to leave the cinnamon in, so I probably let it boil with the sugar solution for a couple minutes. I was afraid of making a REALLY cinnamon-y concoction, which wasn’t what I was going for.

Once I figured it was done, I tossed the cinnamon stick and let it cool and poured it into my squirt bottle. The syrup is really dark and nice and thick. It may be a little strong on the coffee flavor, so next time I’ll back off the amount of instant espresso by about 50% I think. I don’t pick up the caramelized flavors I loved so much in Lindsay’s, so I’m thinking maybe cook it longer to cause some caramelization and add water back in, or maybe the flavors are there and are overpowered by the instant espresso/fact that I’m using the solution in a big cup of strong coffee. I wonder about adding a hint of vanilla after the solution cools, too. I could also be using the totally wrong sugar, so this is a work in progress, but a very acceptable first try and it tastes great in coffee. I got almost zero cinnamon flavor in mine, too, so the cinnamon sticks I bought at the grocery store are pretty weak and require a lot more cooking to get into the mix. I wonder if maybe using ground cinnamon would be the way to go.

This will give me something to do this winter! lol

Merry Christmas!

No, unfortunately my morning coffee on Christmas Eve isn’t going to look like the photo (is that amazing, or what?), but it’s still going to be a tasty treat I’m looking forward to mightily. It’s ridiculously dark and depressing outside, I’ve had the week off, and my girlfriend is home sick. I’ll be indoors working around the house all day, so why not start it off right with, as the Italians say, a little bit of “corrected” coffee?

In Italy, un caffé corretto is a shot of espresso with a shot of liquor, typically sambuca, brandy or grappa (I shudder to think). My version is a little less hardcore and a little more coffee to enjoy, but encompasses three of my favorite things: booze, espresso and coffee.

It’s a Shot in the Dark corrected with a mini-bottle of Starbucks creamy coffee liqueur, which to the best that I can tell, is basically like Bailey’s in a different bottle. They were selling these for about 99 cents last time I was at Lukas, so I picked a few up.

My Shot in the Dark is a shot of Broadway Café espresso in a cup of organic Broadway Café French pressed coffee. It takes a while to hand-grind my beans (both sets of them), boil my water, brew the coffee, etc, but what else do I have to do on Christmas Eve morning? Add the bottle of Starbucks liqueur and voilá!

Espresso Finally Dialed In + Beer Update

Well, friends, after much trial and error with my new Kyocera hand grinder/mill from Orphan Espresso, I finally have my espresso dialed in again. The beans from Broadway Café really blow Whole Foods’ out of the water, too, even when they’re a week or so old. I can’t quite reproduce the full experience of Broadway’s espresso, but I’m close enough that it beats 90% of the competition in the Kansas City area, in my opinion. Not bad for a home setup, if you ask me! Broadway still has me on the body/texture front. Plus it’s cooler to have an espresso and watch all the hipsters than it is to sit in my house and have the same drink.

I really like the Young Press, too, for French press coffee. I have found that 2 scoops of whole beans will produce enough grounds for 2 measuring cups of water, which is about 1.5 “cups” of coffee (I hope that makes sense). I still have a lot to learn about French press, but I’m a happy camper when it comes to my coffee enjoyment, right now. The Gaggia is due for a cleaning this weekend, which is never fun and seems like a lot more work than it should be, but that’s life.

On the beer front, I have some French beers to try, as well as a huge stock of damn near anything you could want to drink. I seriously need to stop buying beer for a while! Sheesh!