Brewed’s First Cupping!
On Saturday we hosted our first Educational Cupping! We had 9 participants and cupped 5 different coffees.
Our friend Branden led the event by giving a short presentation on the importance of cupping coffee. He also talked a little about coffee and where it’s grown, how it is processed, the variety of trade, and the differences in roast.
We decided the best way to approach our first cupping was to sample a little bit from everywhere…..so we chose Guatemala Huehuetenango Finca Vista Hermosa (Victrola Coffee Roasters), Colombia Huila Monserrate Excelso (also Victrola), Sumatra Blue Batak (PT’s Coffee Company), Kenya AA Mwiria (also PT’s), and for fun threw in a wild one in Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Biloya Selection One (also PT’s).
After the presentation Branden walked everyone through the steps of cupping. Sniffing, smelling, inhaling, breaking crust, inhaling, slurping, slurping, slurping! We’re looking for contrasts in aroma, fragrance, body, acidity, and overall flavor. Cupping coffees side by side is the best way to get to know and understand the profile of the coffee. The coffees we selected had a lot to offer….from deep earth and tobacco to wild blueberry and pineapple.
For the frosting we all chose a coffee from the table to press. It was a nice time of hanging out and talking about the coffees that stood out the most.
We wanted to provide a little memento for our participants so we sent them home with some whole beans and burlap coffee sacks that Victrola kindly donated.
We had a blast hosting and are anticipating our next cupping to be in about month. Stay tuned! If you are interested in attending any of our cuppings send Josh a line at jmarsceau@gmail.com.
Introducing….
This is Branden…..Branden is a home barista from Iowa City….Branden is geeeekin’. He has a couple of bar experiences knotched on his belt, but for now has chosen to perfect his craft from home. Branden is coming fresh off a Northwest adventure which is where he heard of us and contacted us immediately. We decided to pay him a visit.
The set up is nice. The Alexia by Quick Mill is pulling the goods to go along with the reputable Mazzer Mini grinder. And the nice thing about being a home barista is that you can try whatever espresso or single origin you want…..for us he has the heralded Super Tuscan Blend in the hopper. The Tuscan is best experienced without the dressings….Branden pulled us several rich shots.
After some ‘spro Branden pulls out the vac pot! I am excited about this…..the vac pot is considered by many to be one of the best brewing methods. The vac pot uses vapor pressure and vaccuum force to exctract a more flavorful, clean, crisp, rich cup of coffee.
We brought some Ethiopia Biloya from Brewed to try in vac pot and it doesn’t disappoint. Extremely floral with rich berry and cocoa….the vac pot brought out a nice silky body as well. That’s right…I said “silky body”….I love coffee, don’t hate on my adjectives.
Lots of coffee later we decide to make a ritual of geekin’ and drinkin’ and set up the next date for a “home cupping”. We’ll be seeing much more of Branden….coffeegeeks need each other….and hopefully you’ll be hearing from him as a “guest columnist” in the near future.
Get Juiced at St. Luke’s
Monday was the first day of our new location….we are now serving Cedar Rapid’s best coffee and stellar baked goods in the St. Luke’s Hospital main lobby. Our hours of operation are from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The End: Part 2
So this is it……we drive north to Mt. Vernon to meet friends Matt and Jenni Malyon from Vancouver BC. Betsie is coming too….these are the Wrangler’s friends, he never gets to see them, he loves them…it is blog worthy.
We talk over stale organic Bolivia from the local Co-Op in Mount Vernon. It’s all good.
The End: Part 1
Today is our last day of wranglin’ and we want to take full advantage. Instead of trying out something different we decide to go back to our favorite place, Victrola.
We took the time to relaxe in the spacious cafe with some streamline and a cup of Guatemala Hermosa. Keith popped over from the roastery and gave us some samples for the road: Panama Kotowa Organico (Best of Panama #4) and Sumatra Retro Mandheling (new offering). Sumatra fans at Brewed get ready for the Retro!
To finish, we hop over a couple of doors down with Keith for some tasty IPA, tater tots and a nice time of geekin’. Scott from Barefoot Coffee Roasters (Santa Clara, CA) stops by and more geekin’ proceeds. We could’ve spent all evening talking coffee but we have a few more people to see before we catch our flight.
Thanks to Keith and the rest of the crew at Victrola!
Mr. Vivace
We are headed to Espresso Vivace….making this stop is kind of like paying homage. Vivace has been in the espresso game since the late 80′s. David Schomer, coffee guru and zany founder of Espresso Vivace, is responsible for the education of many proffessionals in the coffee industry. One of my first turning points as a barista was reading Espresso Coffee: Professional Techniques by Schomer. This book was basically my text book for getting started as a barista 3 years ago. So you can imagine my excitement for going to the place that planted a seed…for the ughm…coffee tree…in me. Yes!
The Vivace cafe is pretty spacious. It has a great wrap around bar with stool seating and a separate room with a roaster. Notice the gigantic mosaic rosetta on the wall above the synesso? Word.
Vivace was at the forefront of the latte art movement, in the cafe they have several walls devoted to pictures of latte art that have been poured there over the years.
We left flowers for Schomer and moved on. We have one more day in Seattle before getting on the plane that takes us back to humid land…
Victrola!
Victrola is half the reason for coming here….definately highlighted on the Wrangler’s daily planner, and now that day has come.
One day, the poster child of Brewed was visiting Seattle for New Year’s and was asked to go to this place called Victrola and bring back 5 pounds of Streamline espresso for the Wrangler. She did, I loved, we pull, 4 you (insert heart). Check it….we arrived in the roastery as Keith was preparing the components of Streamline.
We were able to watch Keith roast a few batches. Victrola’s roastery is less than a year old and is connected to the cafe (their second). The digs are superb.
After a few batches we are ready to cup some coffee….to the training room! On the table is Guatemala Huehuetenango – Finca Vista Hermosa, Ethiopia Harrar – Oromia Cooperative, and Sumatra Lake Tawar. Solid.
There was training going on in the training room….Victrola pulls from the heralded Synesso and Lindsay (the trainer who trains in the training room) was kind enough to let me interrupt and introduce myself….
It was a busy morning and a great time getting know the folks of Victrola. There are few people as friendly and as passionate about coffee….we’ll stop back tomorrow for more coffee and more conversation. But until then it is on to the next…..
Welcome to Seattle!
Here we go…Part 2…Seattle has a little different vibe than Portland….but nothing we can’t wrangle. We just need to get our bearings and we’ll be straight. So we walk down Queen Anne, one of many hilltop neighborhoods, and mosey into Caffe Vita. We’re excited to try something new and Caffe Vita roasts their own coffee.
The Caffe Vita on Queen Anne is mellow, charming and a nice way to start our first morning in Seattle. A couple of double spro’s and a cup of coffee to get the blood flowing…have I mentioned that the Northwest way is to serve fresh french pressed coffee everyday all day? mmmmmhhhh hmmmmm….hush that fuss.
We are meeting an old friend, a dear friend….the lovely Betsie Wilson and her butterball baby Ramona and freshly mustached daddy Allen. We head to Victrola on Capitol Hill for a nightcap. Oh the fun has just begun!
