Planet Doppio - The Coffee Metablog

This is a guest post by Jeremy Godfrey. Learn more about how you can guest post for Daily Shot Of Coffee.

The coffee maker is a wonderful appliance for saving time and money. Most machines that are available have a pre-program button that allows you to set the time you want the coffee ready. Now in the morning you can awake up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee waiting to help you start your day. If you are a fan of more complicated drinks such as espresso, cappuccino, cafe mocha, etc., you can be your own barista and brew these drinks from the comfort of your home for pennies a cup.

Like the other appliances in your home, the coffee maker requires regular maintenance and care to keep it working. The eight tips below will help you give the coffee maker the love and attention that it deserves. After all, each day it brings you happiness, why not do the same?

1. Develop a Schedule – Once a month give the coffee maker a deep cleaning to remove any of the build up from coffee grinds and spills that can happen on the inside and outside of the machine. Being diligent about cleaning will help to ensure that pot of heaven you brew will always taste fresh.
2. Eliminate Dust – You dust your home every week but have you ever dusted your coffee maker? It makes a big difference for keeping the machine running smoothly. Take a bottle of canned air which can be bought from the hardware or office supply store and use it to remove dust from the heating element, control panel buttons and other hard to reach external areas.
3. Soak Removable Parts - Take the coffee maker apart; throw the removable parts such as the brew basket, filter and water reservoir into the sink to soak for about an hour. You can use liquid soap or take a more natural approach by mixing equal parts of water and vinegar. Use a double-sided sponge or an old toothbrush and scrub off any stains.
4. Clean the Carafe – Take some liquid dish soap, put a few drops inside the coffee pot, and fill with hot water. Fill the pot until the soap suds reach the top of the pot and set it aside for about 30 minutes. Once enough time has passed, take a sponge or cloth and rub the inside of the coffee pot. Pour the soapy mixture into the sink and rinse the pot well to eliminate any traces of the detergent.
5. Clean the Heating Element/Outside – Use a solution of two parts vinegar to one part warm water and put it in an old Windex bottle. Spray the top of the heating element and the outside of the coffee maker wait about 10 minutes and any stains will be gone!
6. Cleaning the Inside – There are cleaning detergents made for coffee makers but the best approach is to use a natural cleaner – vinegar and water. Fill up the coffee pot with a combination ¼ vinegar and ¾ water and pour it inside the reservoir. Run the brewing cycle normally and let the mixture cool for about 10 minutes. Fill the pot with clean fresh water and run it through again. Continue this until the vinegar smell is gone. The acid in the vinegar will remove leftover coffee oils and/or mineral deposits that can build up inside the coffee maker.
7. Daily Duties – Between cleanings, there are a couple daily tasks you can do help keep your coffee machine clean.
   a. Spills: Any stains that occur wipe them off immediately, especially if they involve the burner. Burnt coffee will ruin the bottom of the coffee pot and the heating element.
   b. Rinse: Pour out leftover coffee and rinse the inside of the pot with hot water. Leaving coffee in the pot will end up staining the pot which overtime will cause bad tasting coffee
   c. Filters: If you use paper filters, throw both the filter and the grinds into the organic bin after the coffee has brewed. If you use a reusable filter, remove the coffee grinds and put it in the organic bin. Rinse it out with hot water and either dry using either paper towel or let it air dry. Leaving coffee grinds in the filter can cause mold to start growing and overtime can affect the taste and quality of the coffee.
8. Inspection – Take a close look at the machine for signs of wear and tear.
   a. Power Cord – Look at the power cord to see if it’s damaged and/or frayed.
   b. Plastic Components: Look at the plastic areas for and see if they are warped and/or discolored. This can indicate a leak inside the machine.

Happy Brewing!

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Jeremy Godfrey is a Community Coordinator at EasyApplianceParts. They’re a DIY resource and retailer of dishwasher partsand love to contribute to communities they care about. They are care about saving money, DIY, the environment and helping homeowners tackle their own home repairs.

Coffee Maker Maintenance Guide: 8 Tips for Keeping Your Coffee Maker in Perfect Condition is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

What does Mugged mean? Subject: Henry's House of Coffee  Mugged: Vista Alegre (Brazil) Rating: 3+ [see key] When I get coffee, I like to look up the origin if the specific location is given. With the second coffee I had from Henry’s House of Coffee, I looked up the locale of Vista Alegre on the webs to try to get an idea where it hails from (Henry's site didn't have

The Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus) is often heard before it is seen, a loud ringing “tea-cher, TEA-cher, TEA-CHER!” broadcast from close to the forest floor through much of the eastern U.S. [...]

Can I have a drum roll please.

And the winner of the coffee from Coffee Responsibly is…

Cameron

Cameron, keep an eye on your email inbox. I’m shooting you an email shortly.

He wins his choice of coffee from Coffee Responsibly. Coffee Responsibly is the source for direct trade, fair trade, organic and other awesome coffees. It’s a win/win situation, you get great coffee, the farmers get a decent wage for their hard work and it’s coffee that doesn’t harm the earth.

Thanks to everyone that entered! I wish everyone could’ve won, but that definitely would’ve been beyond the budget for this contest. However, stay tuned. I’ve heard some rumors that there’s another giveaway in the works.

And remember, next time you’re looking for coffee to stop by Coffee Responsibly.

Are You The Coffee Responsibly Winner? is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

The Drink: Marley Coffee One Love
Type: Ground Medium Roast, Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, Single Origin
Overall Rating: 3.25 Out 5 Coffee Mugs

My first review of Marley Coffee was their Get Up, Stand Up, one of several we received here at Daily Shot of Coffee. However my introduction to the company came well before that – back in February I received a sample of their One Love coffee through a promotional give-away. As I have learned more about Marley Coffee over the past few months, I have been impressed by the company’s spirit and energy. Some of it might just be good marketing, but from what I have tasted so far there are a lot of good flavors to get excited over.

The promotional coffee was an Ethiopia Yirgacheffe – ground, which made sense in the case of a giveaway: When I started reviewing coffee, I did an informal poll inquiring about acquaintances’ home coffee habits, and was surprised how few people owned a coffee grinder.

In a sealed foil bag, the many smells within a coffee dissipate quickly, but when I poured boiling water over the grounds, many of the original aromas came out. There was a fruity smell with hints of chocolate. After brewing the coffee in a Melita pour-over I sat down and relaxed with the pleasant smells wafting up from my cup. Along with the hint of fruit there was a smooth and mellow brightness. At the end I detected a subtle smoky aftertaste and was left with a faint tingle on my tongue.

This sample– my first taste of Marley Coffee — definitely did its job to peak my interest in the company’s offerings. Packaged ground coffee is always a little flat, but from the flavors I experienced I would expect the whole bean coffee to really pop.

Marley’s One Love, despite being ground, earned a respectable 3.25 out of 5 on the Daily Shot of Coffee scale.

You can order online from Marley Coffee’s website One Love Ground for $9.95 for an 8 oz. bag and One Love Whole Bean for $15.95 for a 12 oz. bag.

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Fine Print

Marley Coffee One Love: Helping your morning go right is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

Like many people I enjoy Malcolm Gladwell’s writing though he does drive me insane from time to time when he tries to back up an argument by disagreeing with himself. (see ‘Blink’ where he suggests that we should trust our immediate reactions except, of course, when they’re wrong…)

The reason I bring this up is because I am about to commit the same annoying crime against reason and suggest that it is important for coffee businesses to think about the needs of the market, except when it’s not. I’d had these two different thoughts that I wanted to post and I realised that they contradicted each other so it made sense in my head to post then together. This is perhaps somewhat connected to what I spoke about at SCAA symposium…¹

LOOKING TO THE MARKET

There is an idea that was posted by Kevin Kelly back in 2008 that I love and talk about a lot, but I realised that I’ve never written about it on here. It is called 1000 True Fans. I’d strongly recommend taking a break from this post an going to read it, as my very quick summary won’t do it justice and it is a great idea.  Obviously this was an idea targeted initially at artists, and focusing on how to do what they love in an ongoing and profitable way. Regardless, it has been incredibly influential on my thinking and makes everything seem so much possible, and exciting.

What I take away from it is this: you don’t need to appeal to everybody. In fact you don’t even need to appeal to a particularly large number.

From a cafe perspective having 1000 regulars would make for a very successful business. Not many cafes are actually able to deal with that much volume do their requirements are a little lower.  The point isn’t the number itself, it is thinking about how many customers you actually need. Coffee is wonderfully varied and no aspect of it is universally appealing. For the coffee experience you want to sell – how many customers do you need?

Within your business catchment area – do you believe that there are that many people who would love what you do?

Perhaps a more important question: if you work your prices out backwards, starting with the number of drinks you want to sell, work in your costs of goods and overheads, and some profit – how much should things cost?

When you have that number the last question is: are you able to deliver product where the value and price match up?  If the answer is no then a piece of the business puzzle is wrong. Wrong place, wrong offer or just not a viable idea.

Looking at things this way we can start to assess ideas for other ways to retail and present coffees. If I wanted to do fine dining coffee, maybe 50 covers a day, short hours and meticulously prepared drinks and food – how much would in the average cheque have to be? If the answer is £30 a head then we have to decide if we can make a coffee experience worth that.

Looking at the pool of consumers we can ask whether there are enough people who would love this. This brings me to my contradictory point:

IGNORING THE MARKET

Traditionally we determine the preferences of a market by observing its habits. This makes sense; lots of people are buying product x so that must be what they like, and this must be the best product available.

The problem here is that the market is working with very limited data. This is mostly out of necessity; it is impossible to be deeply knowledgeable about every product category that you have to make a decision about.

I firmly believe that people buy based on quality and accessibility. In many cases people don’t buy better because they don’t know that better is available, or it is too difficult to buy (be it price, convenience or intimidation around the experience).

I don’t see people sending steaks back to the kitchen because they’re not sweet enough.  We don’t expect steaks to be sweet, because the world has given us no reason to expect such a thing.  As an industry we often get angry with the consumer for not rejecting bitter, poor quality coffee.  When life has taught them that this is how coffee tastes, why should they reject it.  Great coffee is still barely available – and I mean truly great coffee.  The fact that they are not asking for it does not mean they wouldn’t enjoy or prefer it.

If I had looked at the market when it came time to open a roastery, then we should have abandoned the idea of focusing on coffee quality because the market for it in London (a city of 8 to 12 million people).  The smart business choice would have been to focus on soluble coffee – because that is what everyone drank, or maybe dark roasted coffee , or perhaps coffee imported from Italy.  The market showed no apparent demand for light roasted, characterful coffees.

I maintain my mantra of “people like nice things”.  Of course there is preference, but then (as I said before) we’re not trying to capture everyone’s attention.  We believed enough people would be interested to create a viable business.  We still hope to be right….

 

Footnotes:

1. My excuse is that Niels Bohr said this was ok, and perhaps even helpful so I am going to go with it.

If you hold opposites together in your mind, you will suspend your normal thinking process and allow an intelligence beyond rational thought to create a new form.

I should add that I just like Niels Bohr quotes and I am not going to claim to create a new form here…

A few weeks ago, I started a little side project called Coffee Responsibly. The site is chugging along, connecting coffee drinkers with coffee that’s along the lines of direct trade, fair trade and organic. In other words, it’s where you can find coffee that taste good, is good for you and does good.

So to celebrate the launch of the site and raise awareness of it, I thought we should do a coffee giveaway. I mean who doesn’t love coffee giveaways? Well, I suppose the people who don’t drink coffee, but they’re kind of weird you have to admit.

The Prize

The prize is your choice of coffee featured on Coffee Responsibly shipped directly to your door for free. You can choose from coffees from roasters like Barista On Duty, Kuma Coffee, Marley Coffee and more.

Your Chance To Win

Visit Coffee Responsibly. Choose your favorite coffee there.

[Required] Come back to this post and leave me a comment telling me which coffee you want and why.

[Bonus Entries] After you leave a comment, share this post with your friends on Twitter and like this post on Facebook. Each will get you an extra entry.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pretty easy right? Just make sure you tally all of your entries via the Rafflecopter widget. All entries have to be received by May 17 at 12:01 am EST ! So hurry, this contest only lasts a day and a half.

The Fine Print

Winner will be chosen at random.

Value of prize is $20 or less, plus shipping.

Shipping only available to residents of the United States. If you live outside of the U.S. you can still enter, but will have to arrange for shipping. Sorry, but it gets pretty expensive to ship coffee out of the country, beyond the budget for this content.

Any questions? Good luck!!!

Win Coffee From Coffee Responsibly is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

The Drink: Philippine Alamid – Kopi Luwak from Sea Island Coffee
Type: Whole Bean Single Origin

I’ve been really fortunate to try a lot of rare and expensive coffees from around the world. However, I don’t think any is more unique than Kopi Luwak.

Kopi Luwak, also known as civet coffee is one of the most expensive and rarest coffees in the world. It also has a very unique production process. Did I mention unique.

Kopi Luwak is made from the beans of coffee cherries that have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet, a relative of the mongoose that’s about the size of a cat. The civets eat the cherries for their fleshly pulp, leaving the beans relatively untouched. The beans pass through the civet’s intestines, then are defected and picked by farmers.

Yes, it is what you think it is. After the beans are gathered, they are washed, dried in the sun and roasted. I’ve seen prices for a pound of Kopi Luwak reaching upwards of $600. The unique digestive processing in the animal’s stomach is supposed to reduce the bitterness of the beans and result in a more flavorful cup of coffee.

There’s a lot of hype surrounding Kopi Luwak. It was featured in The Bucket List, a 2007 movie featuring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman and every couple of week’s there’s a “news” story about the rare beans.

This isn’t my first time trying Kopi Luwak. I first tried it back in 2009 and I liked it. However, looking back now as a slightly more experienced coffee blogger I wonder if I was just caught up in the hype surrounding the expensive and rare beans.

Plus, the more I learned about how the beans were produced, the less I wanted to support them. The beans are completely washed and roasted at high temperatures so it isn’t a cleanliness issue. The issue is that the civets are kept locked away in tiny cages and force fed coffee cherries. Traditionally the civets are wild, but as Kopi Luwak great in popularity the civets were captured, locked away and treated inhumanely. I would’ve passed on Sea Island Coffee‘s Kopi Luwak until I read that the beans were collected in the forest and not on a factory farm.

Background

Extremely rare and coveted, Philippine Alamid Kopi Luwak coffee is produced by civets, a relative of the mongoose, who have a taste for the sweet, red coffee cherries that contain the beans. The beans pass through the civet after fermenting in the stomach and that’s what gives the coffee its unique taste and aroma. Collected from the jungle floor, then thoroughly washed and dried – this is the coffee that everyone’s been talking about.

With earthy Sumatra-like tones, the Philippine Alamid Kopi Luwak has a heavy, caramel body and low acidity, but also a nuance in the taste that is hard to put the finger on. Perhaps that is unsurprising given the unorthodox method of processing.

Origins: Philippines

Review

This Kopi Luwak greeted me with a thick aroma, that would describe as heavy if scents could have have a weight. The aroma was filled with milk chocolate and hints of caramel.

It had a very smooth sip, that reminded me of a thin syrup with a bit of dustiness as it faded away.

As for as taste, it was mix of earthiness and dark chocolate. There was a hint of spices right before it faded away.

Fifty grams or about 1/10th of a pound is £15.49 (they do ship anywhere in the world). Roughly translated that’s about $25 for a small bag or $250 per pound. It’s not an every day kind of coffee that’s for sure.

Final Score

Overall, I liked Sea Island Coffee’s Philippine Alamid – Kopi Luwak and can say for certain that I wasn’t caught up in the hype this time. It was good, had a unique taste and a very smooth body. I don’t know if it’s better than some of the other expensive and rare coffees that I’ve tried, but I would have it again.

Should you try this coffee? It’s probably not for everyone, but if you like a little bit of adventure mixed in with your coffee, it’s not going to kill you. Give it a shot.

Have you tried Kopi Luwak? What did you think?

Stay tuned later this week, I’m reviewing two other rare coffees from Sea Island Coffee including Jamaica Blue Mountain.

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Coffee roasters and companies, if you’re interested in having your coffee reviewed, message us via the contact form and we’ll work together to do a fair and honest review some of your whole bean coffee.

Fine Print.

Rare, Expensive And Very Unique: Kopi Luwak From Sea Island Coffee Review is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

Welcome to Fresh Brews. Each week, I scour the internet, stumbling through dozens of blogs and across hundreds of newspapers to find stories for our round up of all that is informative, entertaining and random in the coffee world. Enjoy!

Friday Feature: Taking Note of Tasting Notes
Ever wonder how I taste those hints of caramel and spices. I don’t have super taste buds or anything special like that, just a lot of practice. Over at A Table In The Corner Of The Cafe, Drew wrote about how you can improve your tasting abilities.

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony
Want to know how they drink coffee in other parts of the world? Here you can learn about the 2-3 hour ceremony surrounding coffee in Ethiopia. Now that’s my kind of ceremony!

The Cupping Room – with Jim Breuer & Kobayashi [video]
You may recognize Kobayashi from competitive eating contests, but this time he takes on coffee. Somehow, he manages to down 42 cups of coffee in one sitting. Imagine those caffeine jitters! Don’t try this one at home.

Hawaii lawmakers approve coffee labeling changes
Bad news for fans of Kona coffee. It’s about to get a lot harder to find Kona coffee that’s actually Kona.

20 Ways to Reuse Coffee Grounds and Tea Leaves
If you’re still throwing your used coffee grounds into the garbage can, here’s some alternatives. Also, if you’re into that thing called tea, they have a few ideas for you too.

Four Signs You’re in a Real Espresso Bar
Great article on how to tell if you’re about to get a great shot of espresso or if you should run out the door and find another coffee shop.

How To Brew Coffee Like A Professional Barista
This article is for everyone that wants to be a coffee expert at home. In this guest post that I wrote for a blog called Expert Enough, I cover the basics on how to make a great tasting cup of coffee so that you can skip the daily trips to the coffee shop.

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Stay up with all of the wild and wacky coffees via our Facebook page and Twitter account, where these stories and others are shared.

Photo by ~MVI~ (bonn-ed).

Fresh Brews: The Happy Mother’s Day Edition is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

What does CC mean? Subject: Kaladi Brothers Coffee  Location: Anchorage, AK Free WiFi ? : yes Rating: 4+ [see key] If any coffee spot commands attention with the citizens of Anchorage, it seems Kaladi Brothers is king. With ten locations in Anchorage (as well as 4 outside the city limits), I am impressed with the amount of loyalty they have accrued to keep that many