Missing in action?

It's been a long 2 years of "fasting" specialty coffee (SC).  If you weren't aware of what has been going on in our lives, my wife and I moved back to New England following the death of my stepdad.  I knew moving up here would necessarily involve a significant change in lifestyle and priorities, but I did not know how wide-reaching those changes would affect us.  In two years, we have made many friends but have discovered that where we live is a near-vacuum for SC, with a few notable exceptions.

Fasting Coffee

Update: I apologize to my readership in advance for editing this post, but I felt it is expedient in the interest of propriety.  A friend of mine pointed out my error.  My regrets go out to my Shop.
 
Right now, however, I am laying off coffee altogether.  I am focusing my life's priorities on preparing to move and taking my coffee time to the park instead.  Coffee has always been a want, not a need; I have been careful to control my caffeine intake so that I do not become dependent on it.  Prayer and meditation first thing in the morning has helped me achieve a better clarity of thought and spirit.  The Rancilio sits unplugged, my press pots are empty, and my coffee canisters have found other functions (like magically reverting to Tupperware!).  I do not know how long my fast will last, whether it be 2 weeks or a few months, but I know that I like how I feel when I take the time first thing in the morning to put priorities in order.

Part of this initiative has been spurred by the tragic loss of my stepdad to a massive heart attack last month.  Coffee had nothing to do with his death.  This newfound lucidity has been valuable to me as my wife and I have been making decisions to move back to the Northeast.  I will resign my job where I worked for the past two years and move with my wife back Connecticut or Massachusetts.  Not only are dollars and dimes important, but so are family—much more so than greenbacks.  The winds of change are blowing yet again; let them carry us wherever they go.

SERVICE: Refurbishing Miss Silvia

Let me say first that a regular maintenance schedule is a great way to avoid little things from sneaking up on you.  The past several weeks have been quite an adventure into the mechanical world of my espresso machine, one in which many probably would have given up.  My original purpose for this saga was simply to perform regular maintenance, but, as many mechanics will tell you, working on anything that hasn't been kept up may open a Pandora's box of problems . . . and this was the case for me!  About $100 later and lots of tinkering and time invested, I finally have a well-working espresso machine.  I want to share with you the wisdom of my journey, so you don't have to feel alone when you take this road.  Read more of my story after the jump.

REVIEWS: Elemental Coffee & Cafe Topeca

The makeshift bar... just for now!

Before my life suddenly became a whirl of activity, I paid a visit to two of the best coffee spots in Oklahoma this February: Elemental Coffee's Alley Bar (OKC, OK) and Cafe Topeca (Tulsa, OK).  I had a bit of free time in the midst of audition season to taste of the Dark Nectar of Sweetness for review purposes.

At the time of this writing, Elemental Coffee's cafe is under construction, but they wanted to still serve their coffee while the concrete dust was still flying (so to speak).  Their answer to this challenge is the Alley Bar, which is exactly as glamorous as it sounds—an alley door rolled up with a gorgeous La Marzocco stuffed inside a very "industrial" setting.  I promise that I am not picking on Elemental, because I understand they wanted to share their bounty with the rest of us... boy am I glad they do share!  NOTE: I must point out that I enjoy Elemental's beans on a regular basis, both at Crimson & Whipped Cream in Norman and in my Silvia at home, so I may be biased I am completely biased in their favor!  Sorry, no objective opinions for Elemental's roasts, but I would rather you knew my biases up front.  With that said, I will do the best that I can to represent their products as fairly as possible.

Elemental's new La Marzocco

My wife and I pulled up to the street where Elemental's Alley Bar was supposed to be and parked the car.  After walking around for a minute or so we finally spotted the chalkboard sign that pointed us to their place.  Upon arriving, Chris Holliday greeted us and I introduced myself.  Having had a previous conversation with Chris on the phone, he recognized my name and was very warm toward us.  He happened to have 2 espresso blends on hand that day: the Espresso 228 (my personal favorite) and one other that was probably the Espresso Classico.  In typical fashion, I had one shot of the 228 and one of the Classico.  My reaction to the 228 has consistently been positive.  228's berry aroma smells luscious in the cup; these fruity highlights sparkle on the tongue and pair nicely with the semi-sweet chocolate foundation they've chosen to tie the profile together.  I could see 228's full-bodied mouthfeel complimenting certain desserts (e.g. tarts or trifles), but it is wonderful when quaffed by itself. 

Classic black ACF cups holding 228

The Espresso Classico tends not to be my cup of tea (ha!), but then again I tend to steer clear of espressos that are too dark.  The Classico is pretty dark as far as espresso goes, but this fact can be a strength if you consider they intended to model the profile after Old World coffees.  The smokiness and heavy molasses-y notes add complexity to Classico's flavor profile, but I feel that this espresso is not as solid as their 228.

After a long chat with Chris and his associates, we bid them farewell, hopped back in the car, and drove to Tulsa to meet a professor for my private music lesson.  You cannot be in Tulsa without visiting a handful of places, in my humble opinion: Whole Foods Market, Nordaggio's Coffee (you rock, Tor!), ORU, and Cafe Topeca.  In fact, we dragged a friend with us to visit the joy that is Topeca—and she loved it!

Topeca's sign, prominently
displayed outside

If you have not visited Cafe Topeca before, please put it on your "bucket list" if you care anything at all for good espresso!  They now have two locations to visit, three if you count Joe Bots down the road, which is now where they hold their Thursday Night Throwdown (viz. a latte art competition) monthly.  Their original location at the Hotel Mayo located at W. 5th St. and S Cheyenne Ave., and it is the store I visit when in town.  Chip and Margarita Gaberino own this wonderful establishment and the coffee farm in El Salvador, South America.  Topeca has complete vertical control of their product, including growing, processing, roasting, and serving the coffee... or as they say more elegantly, from "Seed-to-Cup".

Topeca just got their Strada
a few days before our visit

In my experience, they usually have 2 espressos in the hoppers on any given day.  This day was no exception.  I grabbed one espresso of each kind at hand, while my wife had an americano.  On previous visits, I have had a naturally processed espresso that smelled like "Fruity Pebbles" when ground, as one of their baristas aptly described it.  Unfortunately, that particular espresso was out of season, so I was out of luck.  (If you go to Topeca and find it, do yourself a favor and get a shot of that coffee!)  Anyways, I digress.  Their Espresso blend is, interestingly, all sourced from one country (El Salvador), but consists of several varietals.  They use variations in processing and growing altitude to produce the effect of varietals sourced from other countries, thus creating complexity in the final product.

Gorgeous shot of espresso,
made for me by Margarita

Unfortunately, because of the time between my visit to Topeca in Februrary and now, I have forgotten the flavor content of their espressos.  I will need to revisit (*wink wink*) in order to resample the wares!  I can tell you that I remember being positively impacted by the complexity they created with both espressos, but that their classic blend was better balanced than the other on tap that day.  My wife's americano was rich and delicious, as I remembered from the "yummy" noises she made while drinking it.  NOTE: I'm pretty sure this americano broke my wife's sugared-down-coffee habit once and for all, which shows that great coffee can make conversions of those used to the "alternative!"

On deck, we have a coffee shop south of Norman that was recommended to me by a bagger at my local grocery store.  We are planning to mount a trip to this shop in the near future, so be looking for another review post soon.  In the meantime, I may be also posting about my experience tearing down my Rancilio Silvia, which is still in the process of being refurbished.  I look forward to meeting you again on the other side of a coffee cup soon!

On Deck: Trip to OKC and Tulsa

Dear 'Presso Fanatics,


This past month has a been a crazy free-for-all!  To fill you in, I prepared for and traveled to two auditions during late January and early February.  I have one review post simmering in the 'ole noggin, and pictures are waiting to be downloaded from my camera.  I visited Tulsa late last month as part of my last-minute preparation for these auditions and also got to visit two really cool places at the same time!  Our next visit will be to Elemental Coffee's alley bar in Oklahoma City and to Topeca's Mayo Hotel location in Tulsa.  That post will probably not be written tonight, but it will be written soon now that these auditions are in the tank, as it were.

I look forward to catching you up with my latest excursion soon, so please check back later this week for my next post.  See you on the other side of a coffee cup in a short while!


My best,


Seth

A Note on Espresso Extraction Ratios

Thanks to some birthday money, I purchased a gram scale for preparing espresso.  In a café situation, it is not feasible to use precision measurement devices all the time, but they are useful for training the eye and the hand to become consistent.  Consistency is the key word in a shop: quickly producing good coffee, more times than not, with minimal waste of product.  At home, I have the liberty of tweaking and perfecting my technique at my own rate, measuring with my devices along the way.  I guess that part of me comes from being a principled diagnostician and a computer tech.  (My wife just says I tweak-happy!)

With that said, Johnny Chappell of Crimson & Whipped Cream in Norman first told me about the idea of extraction ratios.  Jim Hoffman—espresso scientist, critic, and blogger—discussed extraction ratios on his blog in 2007.  Predating this blog post is the lengthy thread over at Coffeed about what espresso is, which includes a sporadic discussion about extraction ratios intermingled with lots of other elitist coffee talk.  Precipitating a lot of this is a character named Andy Schechter over at Home Barista who made a table of idealized extraction ratios.  The table uses quantifiable figures to create a community-accepted definition for espresso in all its incarnations.

Table of extraction ratios, courtesy of Andy Schechter

I agree with the point that extraction by volume can appear deceiving—whether due to freshly-roasted coffee or naked portafilter—because volume is judged by visual measurement (i.e. 1.25oz of espresso with fluffy crema and 1.75oz of espresso with scant crema can appear to measure the same in the glass).  To sidestep this conundrum, extraction ratio has been proposed as the standard.  As a diagnostician, I am in favor of consistent, measurable, reproducible results.  After my discussion with Johnny, I rushed back to work where I hopped over to Jim's blog and began digesting the information  presented there.  Unfortunately, I was without a gram scale like Jim's, so I was unable to achieve his level of consistency—my espresso was hit-or-miss, with miss being more common than hit! 

Simplified extraction ratio

s

The addition of a gram scale and several conversations with other baristas later, I'm sold on this idea.  I was able to pull great espresso almost immediately using extraction ratio as a solid indicator as to the "doneness" of my shot; I coupled extraction weight/ratio with traditional visual cues to ensure that my dosing and packing technique was also within tolerances.  For example, 17g of Elemental Coffee's Espresso 228 extracted to 13g of espresso in 30 seconds, producing a brew ratio of 130.8%, which according to Andy's chart is on the high end of the 'ristretto' range—right where I prefer it!  This particular shot was the closest to café quality I have gotten at home to date.

I am not attempting to preach the gospel according to Andy Schechter or Jim Hoffman, but I am presenting a topic for further discussion because of its perceived merits.  If the community does adopt the ratio method widely, Andy's work may become the model in café's worldwide.  Just remember that a method is only as good as its limitations, and we have not addressed those limitations at length here.  Caveats in a high-volume shop are numerous, and we will discuss those later if it strikes my fancy.  For now, it is enough to say that this method does have merit for use as a diagnostic tool.

LOCAL TREASURES: K.C. Lynn's Chocolates, Coffees & Confections

K.C. Lynn's Storefront

Update: K.C. Lynn's has gone out of business.  They had a good run while it lasted!

We all have times in our lives when we are forced to re-evaluate what it is we want to do with our lives, where we are no longer satisfied with the direction our choices are taking us.  What is that all-important something that will consumer our daily comings and goings—that thing which will leave us feeling fulfilled and tired instead empty and exhausted?  This was the case for Ken Spence, former restaurant manager and Moore, Oklahoma native who had just broken his leg.  It took him nearly a year, from what Jeri (his wife) tells me, to finally get back to business as usual.

During the time he could not work, a nagging desire to do something different awakened in the back of his mind.  (Apparently, you think a bunch when you cannot get around much!)  In short, Ken went back to school to learn to make pastries and discovered his "love affair" for making chocolate... probably much to Jeri's liking!  The grind of the retail restaurant industry was probably wearing on him, as is the case in any service-centric industry: only the passionate survive.  The brainchild of his passion for chocolate is K.C. Lynn's Chocolates, Coffees & Confections in his hometown of Moore, and is the merger several very tasty media.  Open only since June 2010, business is just now taking off for them thanks to shrewd advertising on social networking sites (read: Groupon) and in local publications.

Chocolate everywhere!

Their store front is conveniently located next door to a florist, just in case you need to suck up to your significant other thanks to that fight you had last night.  (Location, location, location!)  The bright, girly lime-and-sky blue color palate greets you at the door and segues inside on the walls, plates, and other accessories.  It is evident that they are just starting up because some of the furnishings appear to be secondhand.  Sweets and treats on top of and inside confection cases jeer at your New Year's resolution to lose weight.  Truffles, chocolate bars, bonbons, brittle, and toffee are seemingly everywhere, and my willpower is weakening by the moment like Superman's strength is within a mile of Kryptonite!

B&B Dancing Goats espresso...

Somehow settling on just one truffle (a 70% cacao truffle), I ordered a doppio to accompany it.  Indeed the coffee is just that: an accompaniment.  Their coffee is from Batdorf & Bronson out of Olympia, WA, well known to many from that area for their Dancing Goats espresso.  Honestly, I could not get a good read on the espresso's whole profile for a few reasons.  What I could detect was a syrupy base with a nuttiness on the side, which is confirmed by Batdorf's own description.  The Batdorf was a great compliment to the dark chocolate truffle I inhaled.

Coffee menu at K.C. Lynn's

K.C. Lynn's definitely focuses primarily on their chocolate and secondly on their coffee, from all appearances.  The coffee, when I was there, was not ground to order, but ground a few hours previously.  I would like to see the coffee ground freshly quite simply to give clients the best that Batdorf can offer.  Still, a few hours age is not as "atrocious" as I have seen or experienced in some places, where coffee has been ground days(!) in advance, like your at your Aunt Berta's house.  I felt that the espresso fell flat today because of this crucial oversight.  Their single-group Rio hangs out on the back counter with a Gaggia grinder to its flank—not a bad setup for a place that serves the occasional espresso or latte.

If you ever get the hankering for something special, handmade, or indulgent, K.C. Lynn's is a good mom-and-pop's Main-St.-USA shop to experience.  Located less than a block from Moore High School at the southwest corner of E. Main St and S. Eastern Ave, it's an easy detour off of I-35 (Google Map).  I look forward to seeing how this business evolves and improves over the coming years, because I feel this shop has potential to corner the specialty sweets market in Moore if they play their cards well.