Rick Nichols: Politics of baking, brewing near campus
In the world of niche coffee and still-oven-warm bread (and almond croissants) the terroir was alive with new possibilities and not a little angst last week on the streets of West Philadelphia.
Read more on The Philadelphia Inquirer
Rockville man says brewing beer is more than a hobby
Ed Bielaus, an award-winning home brewer, shows off one of his beers and home-grown hops, at his Rockville home.
Read more on Silver Spring Gazette
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I review New Hampshire and New England beers. This is my review of White Birch Espresso Imperial Stout from Hooksett, New Hampshire. Thank you for stopping by and I look forward to any comments you might have.
On every street corner there is something brewing in the air. A potion of potent effect that lingers on an on and entices the senses. It is the aroma that is so familiar, so known that the Smallest scent caught by the passing breeze would be enough to captivate the senses. Coffee shops and cafés have been mushrooming every where nowadays in bustling metropolises, city centers and other places where it is a must that people meet somewhere to discuss, chat and spend idle time with one another. In the recent years, the coffee business began boosting up in sales and other facets of the business. People have found coffee shops and cafés a convenient rendezvous for business meetings, dates, study appointments, group activities and other kinds of get together. During the time of the peak of competition, coffee shops and cafés have introduced new lines of products, merchandises, brews, variants coffee add-ons to make the coffee experience the ultimate coffee experience. Serving coffee and coffee service Coffee products and other blends have sprouted just as easy as the cafés themselves, and because of these changes in the need and the trend, customization or accommodation became the primary tools for making the coffee experience in one café on top of another. One of those changes in the current themes would ice blended coffee, new blends of hot coffee, frapuccinos, organic and other brews that promise a different world everytime. One the major changes in the way coffee is served would be ice blending. Blending coffee with ice, according to research actually makes coffee more potent, is the in thing for people living in the fast lane. People who have little time to wait for coffee to cool down and make it easier to drink. Ice-blended coffee comes with a distinct warning to the drinkers, it could cause brain freezing. Ice blended coffee is the number choice of young people because of the relative ease of getting one and consuming it. Hot coffee is never out of the picture though. As the cliché goes, “a classic never goes out of style.” Though overrun by ice-blended coffee and frapuccinos, hot coffee still stands tall, towering over the competition by offering some thing that its cold counterpart can’t give. The aroma of sweet blended coffee and the satisfaction that one gets from sipping slowly like it was the first time. Now made even more enticing by new brews and blends, hot coffee is the perfect getaway from the fast tracked and fast-paced brew of the ice blends. Now that the world is so concerned about how things are grown, organically grown coffee has been introduced to ensure that people who have little or no trust in synthetics may still enjoy a cup of coffee in hand.
Brewing Great Coffee
Only a few can disagree that a great day starts with a cup of rich coffee. A great flavored cup of hot coffee is a perfect way to begin your day. And most of the readers interested in this article like it that way only. The most important part in getting close to the perfect cup of coffee is brewing. This part is quite crucial once you have selected and grinded the fine gourmet coffee beans. Of course, brewing only starts after you have grinded the coffee well. For those who know less about brewing let us make it clear that the basic principal which is common to all methods brewing coffee is to immerse ground coffee in hot water to extract the flavor and aroma of the coffee so that the drink you get is rich in both mentioned above. So lot many things are to be understood with absolute clarity if you are planning to brew the coffee all by yourself.
While brewing the coffee, the coffee maker also plays an important role. The most commonly used coffee maker is the one which uses drip method and so it is essential to understand how to brew the coffee using it. The least bothered about element while brewing coffee is water. But a bit consideration to this element can drastically change the flavor of your coffee. We suggest you to use fresh filtered water for brewing. Always add fresh and cold water to your coffee maker. It is a misconception that it is better to add hot water for brewing coffee. Adding hot water directly to your coffee make not only changes the overall flavor of the coffee but can also ruin the coffee maker. So better add cold water only. Another factor is cleaning the coffee maker. Always ensure that your coffee maker is absolutely clean as the unwanted elements like water sediments and coffee oil can add to the brewing process and will change the taste of the coffee for the worst of it. That is why it is very essential to clean your coffee maker regularly so that nothing gets mixed up with the process of brewing coffee.
The most important step is to measure the proper amount of coffee for your brew. The most common method is to use two level teaspoons for every six ounces of water. You can always adjust it according to your taste to make your coffee either darker or lighter. It is better not to trust the measurements on your coffee pot as these are often wrong and sometime it is found that the machines cup is four ounces instead of six. Another aspect to remember while you brew the coffee is to brew only the amount of coffee that you will be consuming in the next hour. Keeping the coffee in the burner for more than this time may result in the coffee losing flavor, taste or even the aroma that eventually makes it stale.
Coffee Brewing Methods range from popular Espresso or French Press methods to lesser used methods like Turkish. Here we explore the four most popular Coffee Brewing Methods: Espresso, French Press, Drip Filtration and Mokta or Stovetop method. Espresso
Probably the most popular of the Coffee Brewing Methods in recent times is making an Espresso using a machine. Super hot, pressurized water is forced through fine ground, tightly packed coffee. The pressurized infusion process ensures that the water stays in contact with the coffee grounds long enough to draw out much of the coffee ground flavor. The water then finds a path through the coffee grounds. And the coffee commences to pour into your cup. When the water finds a path through the coffee grind it is referred to as the ’shot being pulled’ through the group.
The sign of a good espresso, using fresh coffee beans, is the richness of the crema. Crema is the hazelnut foam that sits on the surface of the coffee. This is produced by the pressurizing process and the oils of the coffee bean. Oils break down with time, and so a rich crema will be produced using fresh beans. And if you didn’t catch it when I started talking about Espresso, use a fine grind. Using a course grind allows the water to ‘brush past’ the grind rather than infuse with it. Using a course grind will still produce a good coffee, but it will taste more like a coffee produced using a Drip Filter coffee brewing method rather than true Espresso coffee. French Press
One of the simplest of all Coffee Brewing Methods is the French Press or Plunger. This is probably the easiest way to make great coffee! The French Press works by directly mixing ground coffee with near boiling water. The coffee flavors get drawn out into the water and then the press or plunger is depressed, separating the exhausted coffee grind from the brew. While the process has a similar taste to the Drip Filtration style, the French Press can extract more flavor from the coffee grind by extending the brewing time. Manual infusion requires you to get your timing right. If you let the brewing process run too long you may end up with a bitter coffee. Conversely, if you brew too quickly you will have a weak tasting coffee.
One more point, use a course grind. You don’t want fine ground coffee escaping through the metal filter and into the brew. A dusty cup of coffee is not an experience worth having. Drip Filtration Let’s start with the Drip Filtration style. Drip Filtration is probably the most popular method of all. The Drip Filtration machine works by spraying hot water across ground coffee that is held in a conical shaped filter. The hot water then slowly moves through the ground coffee. Once the water reaches the bottom of the conical filter, it drips into a container beneath it.
The most widely used conical filters are made of paper, while expensive stainless steel or gold conical filters are also available. When buying paper filters, be sure to use oxygen bleached paper. Chemically treated papers may affect the taste of your coffee. Another point to be aware of with paper filters is that you may also have some of the flavorful coffee oils trapped by the paper filter. It is the oils that produce the rich crema when you make an espresso. The grind is also important with Drip Filtration. If the grind is too fine, you may clog the pores of your filter. You can avoid this by using a course grind (read about grinding here).
Finally, if you do not expect to drink the full pot of coffee, either by yourself (all that caffeine….) or with friends, beware the constantly heated coffee. It loses its flavor and may even become bitter. And the golden rule….never reheat coffee. Mokta Pot/Stovetop The Moka Pot style is also known as a Stovetop coffee pot. Moka pot’s come in several sizes including 2, 4 or 6 cup capacities. The Moka Pot a simple 3 piece pot. The water reservoir is at the base, with a coffee basket in the middle and the brewed coffee ends up in the top.
The coffee brewing method is very simple. The pot is placed on a stove top which heats the water in the lower reservoir. As the water reaches boiling point, the steam rises and the water starts to push upward through the coffee grounds. This continues to travel up the central funnel and seeps into the top chamber where it comes to rest. The process finishes when the coffee stops moving into the top chamber. This should only take a few minutes to brew depending on the cup size of the Moka pot. The grind should be a fine grind, similar or finer to that used in an Espresso machine. If you want to fill the coffee basket the way traditional Italian drinkers do, then heap the coffee grounds high in the coffee basket and screw the two pieces together. Don’t worry about compacting the coffee. When the top half of the pot is screwed on, the grounds will be compacted by the filter screen. You should end up with a dry, compacted puck of coffee grounds at the end of brewing.
So there you have it. The four most popular Coffee Brewing Methods.
Aaron Matthews-Morgan is the owner of Heavenly Kona Coffee, an e-business that offers 100% Gourmet Kona Coffee from Hawaii, as well as a treasure trove of information related to all things coffee. Go to: www.heavenlykonacoffee.com
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I looked up a latte recipe and it calls for espresso coffee but I have just regular Folgers coffee.
(For Business news around the African Continent, visit our website www.abndigital.com) Even in the financial crisis, coffee seems to remain a favourite, as Eastern Africa’s coffee industry has continued to hold up. Coffee stocks on the Nairobi stock exchange were a darling in 2009 with investors taking profits of over 150% on stock prices.
