Hario TCA-2 Syphon

Hario Syphon TCA-2

I have already blogged about this phenomenal coffee brewing equipment, see link, but I wanted to show a little bit more about how the brewing is completed. Therefore I have used the Australian Skybury Plantation Fancy bean, see link, and brewed it on this stunning syphon.

The coffee was lightly roasted to preserve the fine flavors of the bean, see above picture for roasting color. I actually took quite a lot of pictures while brewing this coffee and I thought instead of showing a lot of pictures and describing them one at a time, I would prefer to combined them in a photo series shown in a movie.

Whats going on while brewing on the syphon is that, you will build up a pressure in the water boiler, which will when reaching 91-95 degrees seek upwards into the coffee chamber, where the actual brewing is starting. After the water and ground coffee has been merging in 1-2 min., take off the heater and there will be formed an vacuum in the water boiler, sucking the coffee downwards. But the inside filter captures the ground coffee, leaving only brewed coffee to the water boiler. Therefore the coffee ground is separated from the coffee in the upper bowl while the brewed coffee is ready to drink in the water bowl.

Final result of the Syphon brewing

Enjoy a crisp and lovely cup of coffee brewed in a fascinating way! I hope to blog about the Grower´s Cup tomorrow.

// Hendrup

Grower´s Cup

Four different specialty coffees from Grower´s cup

I was attending to a lovely italian dinner at some friends house, were I was presented with these innovative coffee brewing bags with exclusive coffee. Its a danish company called Grower´s cup who produce these bags and has a wide range of different speciality coffee beans . I luckily was sent home with four different types for try outs.

Normally I have a strong negative feeling about pre ground coffee, because the freshness is peaking within 14 minutes after the grinding, afterwards the coffee suffers from flavor loss. Some coffee enthusiasts speak positive for pre ground coffee when its being stored right. The right storage for the ground coffee is a CO2 valve bag, which these brewing bags doesn't have so I am concerned about the freshness.

The quality coffee inside these brewing bags is from Panama, Tanzania, Ethiopian and Rwanda and is the exclusive bags of Grower´s Cup product line. Grower´s Cup also have organic speciality bags and finest speciality bags, which is shown at the picture. The organic product line is mainly ground coffee with a 80-83 points rating by SCAE (Speciality Coffee Association Europe), where the finest line have a rating of 84+. One of these finest speciality brewing bags contains ground coffee for three cups and cost about 25 DKK ($4,5) which is kind of a high price. The organic line is priced at 15 DKK ($2,5), which is more acceptable if you are on the go.

The above video demonstrates how the brewing bags are working, using only a 0,5 liter boiling water. I will test these on-the-road solutions in this week.

// Hendrup

Kaldi the goat herder

Kaldi ethiopian goat herder

Whats more perfect than a cold sunday, with spots of snow on the ground outside? I see it this way, when it has to be cold outside its coffee time!! A nicely brewed cup of a full bodied coffee is absolutely the way of spending this sunday in my opinion.

BUT when I brewed my cup of coffee and sat staring at the window I thought to myself, you know about the beans origin and the brewing method, but how did it all start? I mean, why do we pick these red berries and then roast the crap out of them and finally add boiling water? Well I sat down and started researching, here are some of the history options.

The most commonly know story is about a ethiopian goat herder from the 9 century. One day he was out along with his flock of goats at a river side, when the goats starts grassing at some dried red berries. A while later the goat went high on caffeine and started jumping and was full of energy. Kaldi thought the berries had magical powers and took it along to a nearby monastery, where he saw a holy monk. The holy monk didn't approve the red berries and threw them into the fire, this started a chemical reaction of the beans from which an enticing aroma billowed. The now roasted beans were gathered from the embers, ground up and dissolve in hot water producing the worlds first cup of coffee.

There is a strong opinion towards the above history, because it wasn't appearing in writing until 1671 and is therefore considered to be an apocryphal story.

Another theory is that the discovery of coffee is contributed to Sheik Omar, according to an ancient chronicle. The chronicle stated that Omar was known for his ability to cure the sick through prayers. One day he was out walking towards a desert cave starving, he therefore picked and chewed the red berries from a nearby shrubbery, but was finding the taste to bitter. He sat a campfire and started to roast the beans because he wanted to improve the flavors, but they become hard. He then tried boiling them to soften the beans, which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. When he drank the liquid he was awake and sustained for days. When the stories of this miracle drug reached Mocha, Omar was asked to return and was made a saint. The coffee beverage hereby spread to the rest of the world.

Personally I don´t know which one to trust, if either one of them. I like the idea thug that some person has dried, roasted and boiled the coffee beans without knowing was he/she was doing and ending up with the most popular and loved beverage of the entire world.

Hope you enjoyed this little story session, enjoy your coffee !

// Hendrup

Australian Skybury Plantation Fancy

Australian Skybury Plantation, pics and logo

I thought that I would treat the australian viewers with a review of their famous national coffee bean Skybury Fancy. The australian beans should in general display a good body and fundamental sweetness but lack authority and complexity. I have been advised up front that this particularly bean is very sensitive towards heat when roasting, therefore it should be lightly roasted so the flavors aren't disappearing. In other words the Australian Skybury isn't a espresso bean, but I just got a new toy a Hario two cup siphon, which I will use for testing.

The price of this famous bean is for 500 gr. 99 DKK ($20), which makes it quite an expensive bean. It is certainly not a bean to experiment new roasting techniques on, so I will go the safe way and use a roasting profile of 15 min. at 245 degrees in the Gene Cafe. This specific bean is described as having a characteristic sweet taste with a velvety body and lovely chocolate and nutty flavors. The beans is as fresh as it can get and is packed from the local coffee shop the 19 of January 2012, see link.

The result of this brewed batch on the Hario Siphon was absolutely amazing. I must say its by far the best cup of filter brewed coffee that I have ever enjoyed. The taste was on the edge of sourness without being to much and the depth and body was stunning. The flavors went from chocolate to the darker flavors of nuts, especially a strong dessert taste of amaretto was characteristic.

If you are going to treat yourself with a good cup of coffee, I would certainly suggest these beans, but its a little to pricy compared to the taste and its a con that its not suitable for espresso brewing. Nevertheless I would buy these beans again for the taste experience, so if you can live with the price tag, go treat yourself.

// Hendrup

Storage leason

The first launch of a Coffee Channel experiment about storage of roasted beans. I have always gotten these expensive CO2 bags for my home roasted beans, because I was told that it would keep fresher for a longer period of time, but can we trust these words? I will in the next couple of months put this to the test by using three different storage options and ranking them after crema, taste and smell.

The baseline for the experiment
I have been roasted 300 gr. green coffee beans today, which i will divide by the three options, hereby CO2 valve bag, normal paper bag and a plastic bag. There will be giving 100 gr. for each storage option and will be testing as many times as possible each 14 days. There will at each 14 day be produced an espresso shot from each storage options on the same espresso machine and with the same grind setting. The three different storage solutions well be placed in the same room with the same stabile room temperature next to each other, so this won't by a contributing factor of the dissimilar results. The espresso result will hereby be judged on the extracted crema, the flavors of the espresso and the smell. When the experiment runs out of coffee the best storage solution will be found and shared with you.

First choice of storage
I have always been advised to use a CO2 valve bag, cause it allows the beans to breath and get rid of their produced CO2 and blocks incoming air, which ruins the beans flavor and smell quicker. These are by far the most expensive storage solution and a lot of coffee nerds swear to this solution and only this solution. One CO2 valve bag costs around 5-10 DKK ($1-2), which is quite a lot of many because these bags only is used one time. I will be fair and add that this is the strongest favorite of the chosen storage solutions.

Second storage choice
The alternative solution to the CO2 valve bag are the standard brown bag with a internal grease sucking paper. This solution let the beans breath and hold them dry of caramelized outer suckers. If the advise is true the massive exposure of the coffee beans with air makes the beans mature quicker and therefore has a much quicker expire date. The beans should therefore be very flat tasting and the crema should be non existing after a month.

Third storage choice
 The plastic bag which is a member of every household must-haves. The beans which are storage in here can't breath, because no air gets either in or out. In theory these beans should rotten pretty quick because they can't get rid of the CO2 gasses they produce 24 hour after roasting. This storage solution is bar far the cheapest, but is also set to be the worst of all solutions in theory.

I can't wait to try it out! First espresso shot extraction will take place the 9 of February 2012, then the second try out will be at the 23 of February and perhaps the last attempt on the 8 of March.

// Hendrup

The design of a lifetime

Francis Francis X1

I actually started out in 2009 by buying my first espresso machine, which was this wonderful retro design machine in baby blue. Back then I thought, wow it looks great and you can buy them a lot of places, they must be pretty good! About three years later I know i made a mistake, but a mistake I would do again if possible. See the thing is, that this machine just astonish you! Its similar to the folks driving in old cars and  having the time of their life even though it breaks down occasionally. Keep in mind that when I bought this machine it was nine years old, which is by the way a LOT for a espresso machine. I bought from a artist who didn't use it, but kept it around as a accessory of his home. The bargain of this was only 1.200 DKK ($205) inclusive everything (also shipping), which I thought was the buy of a century.

When I received by mail a couple of days later, I was in for a chock. The complete espresso machine was in great shape. All looked beautiful new and I was in love already with this 1960s beauty. I took it for a dance and everything worked perfectly, the temperature was almost perfect, seemed to have a good brew pressure and there were a good steam power. For those that don't know a single thing about this machine except it looks, I will just summarize the internals.

It weighs about 7-8 kilos, are capable of brewing both espresso pods and ground coffee. It has a water tank of 1,5 liter and its outer shape is pure metal. Its got a pump pressure of 15 bar and surprisingly an internal PID (I will blog about this later) and over pressure valve (OPV). The negative side of this newly bought beauty was the small aluminum boiler of 325 ml., which isn't a lot when talking stabile brew temperature and long lasting steam power. I can feel when making a big cappuccino that the steam pressure is dropping as going, which I think is a shame because it ruins the frothing of the milk. Therefore I stay with smaller cups and it works wonders with these, but it couldn't handle a coffee party of four people, without creating a long waiting time. Also this machine is only able to produce either an espresso shot or froth milk, because its a non-HX single boiler.

Nevertheless I have got great result out of this little miracle, go see the coffees of the day to verify. I must admit that in the beginning the machine wasn't very suitable with the hand driven Peugeot grinder that I first got. The grind from this wasn't fine or consistent enough for the Francis Francis to produce a quality shot. Then I got the Malhkönig Vario which turn things, now the machine delivers magnificent shots with a lot of depth and tasty flavors. I have experienced this machine have a second life after introducing if to the Vario grinder, but still I weren't completely satisfied.

The Francis Francis X1 comes with to different portafilters, one for espresso pods and the other for found coffee. The thing about the portafilter for ground coffee is that it isn't available in bottomless/naked portafilter versions, which I would prefer because I would be able to adjust my brewing method even more. Therefore I chopped off the bottom of the original portafilter, which made the last perfect adjustment.

The only things I really seek is a three vent valve, so you can remove the portafilter immediately after brewing and also a "normal" portafilter size. The old Francis Francis X1 had a portafilter size of only 53 mm, where the standard of today is 58 mm. The difference in the portafilter size is all about the extraction, its more easy to tamper a 53 mm, cause its a lot deeper but still there are some different ground rules which aren't debated a lot. The 58 mm makes a perfect puck, where the pressure of water is nicely distributed in every single corner of the pressured coffee. Compared to the 53 mm the grind must be a little coarser to get the same result because it takes more pressure to penetrate the deep puck.

Hope you liked this post and will follow when I post the next about the unknown Francis Francis X1 internal PID.

// Hendrup

Mahlkönig Vario

Mahlkönig Vario grinder 2.995 DKK ($510)

Im the proud owner of the European Vario which is produced by Mahlkönig and in the USA its Baratza. The only difference between these two identical grinder is the label in the front bottom of the grinder and and an adjustment feature that is available on the Baratza version. The Baratza set is including a adjustment screw which allows you to adjust the grinder, you can hereby set a coarser or finer setting than the factory setting. Even though I haven´t got these opportunity of adjust my grinder, I am very pleased with it because it just offers so many grinder settings.

When I was out looking for grinders, I saw a lot of different models in different price ranges and at that time I didn't know a single thing about it. I went to many shops and got a lot of different opinions and suggestions, which got me all confused, so I started up my own quest for the right grinder. First off I wanted to get some grinders in focus, so I set my own price level which was around 2.000-3.000 DKK ($250-525). This narrowed the options down particularly and I was left with the Rancilio Rocky (2.195 DKK - $380), Compak K3 Touch (2.995 DKK - $510) and the Mahlkönig Vario (2.995 DKK - $510). I quickly got my eye on the Rocky because it was by far the cheapest and there were a lot of reviews voting for it. But 55 different settings is actually not as much is I would like and the grinder is doserless, which means you just turn the hopper. But when turning the hopper it would be difficult to remember the exact same spot, when changing for press pot and back to espresso. The Rocky also just have one single bottom that starts the grinder and its on the back of the side, therefore it needs more place for you to operate around it.

So the choice was between the Compak or the Vario! I chose the Vario because you can set three timings for press pot, filter and espresso so it will automatic only grind those specific seconds with just a single press at one button. The Vario also came with a holder for the portafilter and a bucket for press pot and filter were the Compak just would grind directly into the portafilter. The Vario is also extremely easy to set, because of the two setting bars at each side, were one is for rough setting and the other is for fine tuning.

   
The Vario is in my opinion a great grinder and I have only experienced positive moments with it. Its easy to clean using grindz and even a dumbshit could operate this one. I mean whats not to love? Its quiet and gets the job done quickly without leaving a mess.

// Hendrup

The heart of espresso

Extraction into Bodum Pavina espresso cup

When brewing for espresso shots their is a lot of variables that you need to control to produce the perfect shot. This were especially one of many things that got me hooked on coffee brewing. See I like having a challenge, I like to put in an effort and being rewarded and I definitely like things to change a bit, so it won't get to boring. In brewing for espresso all these are answered and Im put to the test every single time, which I love about it. I can shortly mention the variable areas that you need to have focus on;
                              Get the right fresh roasted beans, which is roasted properly.


                              Grind the coffee beans exactly right for the machine you are using.


                              Tamp the coffee even and with enough pressure to create a puck without
                              channelling.


                              Brew the espresso shot with fresh water at 95 degrees and under a 9 bar pressure.


                              Control the extraction time and brew in a preheated cup.

There is a lot to keep in mind for the inexperience coffee enthusiast and certainly for the more for the experienced ones. When you first have tried a perfect shot and experienced the magical flavors of the coffee beans, you will be in a constant hunt for more, leading to lots of testing and cupping. I once had a espresso shot that was so unbelievable sweet with heavy notes of ameretto, which for me tasted like heaven.

Other think to know about an espresso shot, is that is brewed in three different stages. The first stages is were the espressos dark and powerful flavors is extracted and the last stage is the bitterness of the shot. In between these two are the sweetness of the shot, which is sought by a lot of baristas. There are some that only extract the sweetness and how do they do that? Its fairly simple, just brew the espresso shot, wait a few seconds for the dark extraction to go though and when the espresso turns reddish dark brown pul your cup underneath. When the short shows sign of turning to blonde crema remove the cup and there you have it.

Pouring art using two spoons

So I have seen the picture above and it looks amazing, how do I get a shot like that??
Well actually having the right gear is half the way, so it depends a lot of your present status of coffee gear and gadgets. That being said, there is a lot of routines and knowhow that has to be in order for the shot ever to appear. If you are certain that you will give it a go, here is the way I would analyze and adjust my methods;

                           Buy a pack of freshly roasted beans from your local coffee shop.


                           The most important is to have a very good grinder, so purchase one!


                           Start by grinding a baseline (Grind a setting that you think are the right)


                           Tamp the coffee and give it a go!

                           If you are using a single basket, you should have about one oz of espresso in 22-25
                           sec. If you have more the 1 oz after the time period, you have to grind finer and if you
                           have less, grind coarser.

                           When the grind setting is right you should experience a positive difference in the taste
                           of the espresso shot. It should have more precise flavors and bring a lot more tasteful.

                           Check with a thermometer if the water temperature is 95 degrees by starting the pump
                           in the espresso machine and check the water temperature without the portafilter.
                           Some espresso machines have a PID, which allows them to adjust the brew
                           temperature, but if yours do not have one have a talk with the local coffee shops for
                           any help or search the web. It is different from machine to machine how to adjust the
                           brew temperature.

                           The brew pressure is harder to adjust because you need some equipment and locating
                           the OPV on your espresso machine, again search the web for your exact espresso
                           machine.

Espresso extracted on the Rocket Giotto

Diagnose espresso extraction problems
Lemon peel, This can be a blending or roasting error and irreparable. Short term, start-dump the shot. Long term, set the temperature higher and make sure the grinder burrs are sharp. This flaw comes from fines of very high quality coffees, and good blends tend to flirt with it.


Metallic, Recently cleaned machines or brand new ones can have this. The taste is eliminated most quickly by flushing more after cleaning or for new machines, pulling a lot of shots and dumping them. Dull burrs are another cause. Finally a failure in the water treatment resulting in almost distilled, low mineral water will cause this.


12 hours on the hot plate, Time to back flush and clean the portafilter. Verify the frequency of your cleaning schedule.


Instant coffee taste, The mark of over extraction. Grind coarser and stop darker, so volume stays the same. If the bitter taste is prickly-sharp rather than dull, also lower the temperature.


Thin and sourish, The mark of under extraction. Grind finer and stop lighter, so the volume stays the same. If the taste is extremely sour, also raise the temperature.


Ashiness, Usually a flaw in rapidly dark roasted, low grown coffees. Drop the temperature to the low end of the espresso range. Dial in to the lung end of the optimum crema range and dark stop the shot. These measures will not reduce the ashiness a lot, but will mask the problem with a little more brightness and crema. The real solution is to change blend.


Rubber or Iodine, Buying cheap coffee? This is the classic reason for start-dumping.


Sewage, decay, mold, sausage or cabbage smells, This is from badly fermented coffee. If the blend is normally good, its from a stinker bean. Clean out the doser and burrs. If it keeps happening there is nothing you can do except get new coffee. 




Not sweet enough, Do more ristretto shots, grinding finer and stopping at the same color. This will take the shot out of the optimum crema range, so it has to be a good crema blend. You can also center out the shots, however, this will reduce the distinctive flavors and can lead to blandness. On the other hand, somewhat blend center cut shots are good way to serve newcomers to straight espresso.


Over-intense flavors, Lover the pump pressure. If this because there is not enough sweetness to balance the bitters and sours, use the previous fix. Also consider going more lungo with the same stop color.


Pallid flavors, Raise the pressure. Also consider going more ristretto with the same stop color.


Overly sour, Raise the temperature. Short term, trying stopping lighter and grinding finer to keep the volume the same. If its really bad start dump.


Overly bitter, Lower the temperature. Short term, try stopping darker and coarsening the grind to keep the volume the same.


The section about espresso extraction problems has been quoted from home-barista.com. Hope this was helpful and remember to join your newly establish Facebook site; Coffee Channel.

// Hendrup

Syphon coffee maker

Syphon coffee maker

You might have heard of a syphon coffee maker before, just under a different name such as vacpots, vacuum brewed coffee, siphon brewer, siphon vacuum coffee etc. But looking at the pictures it seems like a futuristic coffee machine, but actually it has been around for consumers since 1960s in USA and Canada. Back then the competition was extremely hard, cause there weren't the same money spend in hobbies and especially not in the brewing of coffee. Therefore the few syphon producing companies went bankrupt, but maintain a loyal set of fans. Amazingly the danish firm Bodum were the first to continuously make a syphon coffee maker, which went in production in the 1970s. In the late 1980s a group of coffee nerds found a passion for the syphon brewer and began spreading the word, by making short video clips of its brewing technique. Suddenly there were a tiny but constant market for the syphon brewer.

Today it has been a astonishing success since it was invented for about 160 years ago in France and Germany.  There are also a lot of people in the coffee society which swears for the syphon brewing method as one of the greatest, and thereby the present success of the syphon. Coffee bars and cafes have recently been adding this newcomer to their shops and for the first time, people can order a syphon brew.

The brewing method of the syphon is just amazing to watch and (take my word for it) you will impress your guests by giving them a great show along with some of the best coffee they have ever enjoyed!

Im looking forward to investing in one of these some day and giving a full review, but until that point you just have to enjoy this fascinating video.

// Hendrup

Coffee Channels new look

New design template for Coffee Channel

The 24 January, Coffee Channel changes its outer look by using a more dynamic template instead of the other classic one. This has been launched because of its more professional and appealing look, which makes it a lot faster to get a feeling of the different blog posts. The site will be updated as always and there will be no lack in quality, so hope you enjoy the new look, otherwise slip a comment.

There are also a hunt after a more cosy background picture, like on the previous template, but nothing has occurred yet, because of its odd pixel size of 1800 * 1600.

Remember to subscribe the Coffee Channel Facebook site!

// Hendrup

Coffee Channel on Facebook

Coffee Channel have created its own Facebook-site!! You can add the channel as a friend and thereby be getting the latest reviews, latte arts and tips direct on your Facebook. Just search the site and let the temporary logo guide you.

I am looking forward to connect with you all on Facebook.

// Hendrup

Typical Tuesday

Latte art etching "Hypnosis"

More latte art from the morning espresso kitchen at Coffee Channel, this style has been made from the newly shopped Brazilian coffee bean, Brazilian Fazenda Senhora De Fatimma Cerrado organic. The drink has been made of a single shot espresso with frothing milk, but on the top I pulled some foam to create a beautiful white surface. To create the etching pattern I have used the notorious chocolate sauce and my coffee stirrer, which is the end of my thermometer.

Have a great Tuesday everyone, and thanks for watching!

// Hendrup

Gene Café

Gene Cafe with big chaff collector

I bought the home drum roasting machine, Gene Cafe, last year because I wanted something more for my home roasting than uneven oven roasts. At that point I bought quite expensive green beans and roasted these in my oven, but then I wasn't aware of the huge difference a even roast gives to the cup. Back then I actually were happy with my result from the oven roasts, but the smoked produced in the oven were massive for my apartment, which could last for a couple of days when dark roasting. Finally I pulled myself together and bought this wonderful machine with the big chaff collector at my local coffee shop. I was advise to take the big chaff collector, because the original small collector would be filled with chaff and add out coming smoke but also send smoke back in the machine and affect the roasting flavors.

How does it work?

Roasting drum

The Gene Cafe CBR-101 has a special 3D mixing system, which ensure that the beans get an even roast. In comparison to the oven roast, the beans are put on a plate and aren't moved until the roast is finished. The Gene Cafe drum is constant moving the coffee beans by the vortex twisting system. The drum is also designed with an internal knife, which cuts the chaffs into pieces and thereby allow these to pass the metal lattice.

Weight of beans before roasting

I normally weigh the coffee beans before and after the roast to ensure that enough water has disappeared. The roasted coffee beans should suffer a weight loss between 15-20%. The coffee beans chosen for this roast is my newly bought Brazilian Fazenda Senhora De Fattima Cerrado organic, which weight 220 gr. before roasting.

Filling the drum chamber

The Gene Cafe have a maximum drum capacity of 300 gr. of green beans, which is two and a half scoops (incl. item). There is for safety precautions printed a maximum capacity line on the outer PYREX glass to ensure that you keep this. In case of too many beans in the drum chamber, the consistency of the roast will lack and your cup will suffer of some sourness from the beans that aren't fully roasted. This could also be an experiment because the flavors will vary more. To fill the drum chamber, just pop the lid and fill in your green coffee beans.

The above youtube video is the first produced by Coffee Channel and is therefore this exact roast. The essence in this is simply to insert the drum chamber in the roasting machine and set the preferred roasting time and heat. The Gene Cafe will then roast the beans at the chosen temperature and heat and afterwards start its cooling cycle which last for 10 min.. A thing to keep in mind is that this roaster doesn't start at the correct temperature, but instead builds it up and thereby giving a slow roast. In this roast the roaster reached the set temperature 2 min. before ending the circle. 

Weight after the roast

The coffee beans have decreased their weight by 29 gr. which is a total loss at 15 percent. This is actually right on the spot for this Full City roast, so I'm pleased with the result. It was the first I have roasted this particularly bean and therefore its very easy to roast.

The final roasting result

The final result of the roasting beans is a beautiful sight, I can't wait to try it out for the press pot in 24 hours. The beans are actually small, but have a great scent to them just after the roast, which normally is a good indicator for a great roast or quality of the bean.

Thoughts?

The Gene Cafe has a lot of great features, for example you can easily set the heat and the time of the roast. This makes it very easy to adjust to and therefore giving great roasts right away, which I really enjoy. Its a perfect roaster for the type of consumer, who never reads the manual and just go along with it, cause its so simple. BUT after you have learned the machine the roasting fun seems lacking, because the roaster just handles almost everything for you. You can't really fool around with it and program some custom roasting profiles, which is a shame. I would like for the future Gene Cafe to include a panel which allows the user to set different roasting profiles and experiment a bit more. The gene cafe also has its own cool down system, which is a nice feature but just a little too slow, because it takes 10 min. for the roaster to cool down the temperature and thereby the beans. Therefore I would like to see a better and more effective cool down system on a future machine. Otherwise its a perfect home roaster and I would recommend this to everybody in a heart beat, so if you are wondering if you should invest in a roaster, than the answer is YES! By the way, you can also save about 25-25% if you home roast, compared to the retailer price.

// Hendrup

Blooming sunday

Latte art etching "Blooming"

Im just celebrating the last bit of my weekend enjoying a great cup of coffee! Im using the last roasted batch of the Uganda Bududa AA beans, see more about the beans here. This cappuccino has been made of a double espresso shot and topped with frothing milk. On top I have created a blooming flower using a dark chocolate sauce and a coffee stirrer.

How to draw a blooming cup. 

This is actually much easier to make then it looks, so don't hold back and let go. Go invest in some chocolate sauce and just use the end of a thermometer as a coffee stirrer and art away! It takes about a minute to create and the responds from the guests are phenomenal.

Thats all from here, have a great sunday.

// Hendrup

Newly bought essentials

Four different green beans from Kaffemekka.dk

So I just build up my stock of green beans from a visit to one of my two local coffee shops called Kaffemekka. I have totally bought four different types of green beans which was a total weight of three kilos.

Guatemala Antigua Los Volcanes, 1000 gr. 
I bought this specific bean because of its geographical growing area, which is at the feet of the Fuego volcano. Interesting about this coffee is that its supposed to have very tasty flavor notes, which I'm looking forward to try.

Brasilien Fazenda Senhora De Fatimma Cerrado, 1000 gr.
This is the only green bean, which is grown in a "normal" geographical coffee area, but I have picked it because of its notorious sweetness in the cup. This bean is actually in a lot of coffee blends, where this bean is adding the sweetness to the cup. The bean is from the famous Minas Gerais region in Brasil and has a lot of volume and notes of chocolate with low acidity. This is also the only one of the four beans that is organic and comes from a single estate.

The chosen 500 gr. coffee beans

Australien Skybury Plantation, 500 gr. 
I thought that the Australian viewers should have the opportunity of a rating of their own nationally coffee bean, the Australian Skybury which has quite a reputation in the coffee society. The coffee bean is grown in the northern Queensland and has an distinctive sweet flavors, a smooth body and chocolate/nutty notes. This coffee has very sensitive flavors, so I will not be doing a dark roast and therefore using this for press pot.

Nepal Mount Everest Supreme, 500 gr.
This coffee is grown at the side of Mount Everest, which means that this coffee has been grown in high altitude and therefore should have some very rare flavors. This coffee is the supreme version, which means that it is the best quality produced in this area. The coffee should have exotic notes with a pleasant rarely aftertaste.

These are therefore the coffee beans I will give a rating of in the coming weeks, where there also will be made the first experiment of coffee storage.

Remember to enjoy the rest of your weekend!

// Hendrup

Latte art weekend

Different latte art styles

The art of pouring milk into a cup of espresso, this sounds a little abstract but nevertheless has latte art become a great mark of quality for a barista and the people enjoying it. There has been a lot of good and negative tension around the latte art subject in the coffee society, because of its highly focus on achieving a completely pattern. The negative fuzz about this is the target of achieving latte art patterns versus the focus on the taste of the combination of espresso and frothed milk. Personally I am in between, I think its a good thing that people practice latte art and I get them! Its far more easy to try out for latte art than comparing the different flavors of the coffee and lets be honest it looks great. You can practically make any possible patterns on the top of your cappuccino, only the fantasy sets the limits.

If you are a newbie in the making of latte art, I will suggest that you start of with making micro foam by frothing some water mixed with one drop of liquid soap. This mixture will then create small or larger bubbles depending on your micro foam skills. You can pour the mixture into your espresso shot or even use cheap soy sauce to practice. If you are new in frothing milk, here is a great beginner video with a good instructor.

When you master the art of frothing milk, you are ready to practice latte art. Pull out a cup and lets get going! I will not be making a list about how to do the different latte art styles, because I am convinced that people learn best by seeing, so therefore I have added some youtube videos below, that demonstrates the perfect pour.

 Hope you will practice some artwork in the weekend. See you soon!

// Hendrup

Fascinating coffee myths

Life in a cup of coffee

Coffee were once drunk in the faith of its medical effect on especially illnesses in the stomach. Since that period a lot of myths have joined the coffee society spreading numerous discussions threads across the world web. Today I am gonna express some of the myths and thereby sorting out some of the topics that the coffee society has busted over the last couple of years. This is particularly interesting because some of these myths once were the commonly accepted knowledge, but overruled by new science statements. You have perhaps heard about some of these myths, but check it out for yourself by the listing below.

1. The best coffees in the world come from Italy
There never has or is being grown coffee in Italy, unless if somebody in growing an indoor coffee plant. The Italian reputation is created by their companies ability to roast and blend for a good espresso shot. What makes the Italian special towards coffee is without doubt the average Italians perception of coffee drink being one of life´s essentials. The Italian also have a strongly passion for the moka pots rather than the espresso machine, which is why the most roasted and ground coffee mainly are designed for the moka pots.

2. Robusta beans are primary in espresso to give the correct body and crema 

Robusta was initially used in Italian espresso blends because of its low price, but the crema and body were a welcome side effect, if you could cope with the rough flavor. In the poorer south of Italy and most of France, people have grown up with robusta blends and are thereby used to the taste. In the northern Italy it is more common to enjoy an espresso from a straight arabica batch, for example sold by the world famous Italian brand Illy. The flavor and body of the cup are actually better off without the robusta beans after my opinion, cause of the significant dark and powerful flavors. The crema will be more present when brewing with the robusta beans, but ask yourself taste vs. crema? Conclusion is that most of the robusta beans are used in the world today because of the same old reason, cheapness.

3. You can judge the freshness of the coffee by looking at it.

In truth, coffee appearance depends on so many factors, including roast lever, bean oil content, storage, conditions etc. that sight is no guide, therefore is taste and smell the only reliable source for judging. 

4. There is only one correct roast point for each coffee variety, where the best flavor is achieved.

This seems to be a myth initially propagated in the USA by Alfred Peet, which Starbuck later on used for on commercial purposes. This myth stated that special beans was roasted right, when they were roasted for full city. This can be disproven by roasting a good quality bean (Kenya AA or Bududa AA) at a variety of levels from light to dark and tasting the results. All the levels will taste different, but they will all be good in their own way. Blending a number of different roasts of a single coffee variety may add some complexity and balance which is otherwise lacking. 

5. French, Italian, Vienna and Espresso roast are terms which actually define roast levels.

Except that you get a pretty wide variety of roasts in France, Italy, Austria and an Espresso roast could be anything. The only industry standard definition of roast level is the Agtron system and that relies on the comparison of ground coffee to standardized color plates. When people ask for French, Italian, Vienna or Espresso roast they are normally mean dark or sometimes dark and oily roasts.

6. You can keep coffee fresh with packaging.

I wish. There is a commonly known 14 rule, which indicates that roasted coffee is best within 14 days, and ground coffee is fresh within 14 min. Also when you roast whole coffee beans the flavors will be intact the following days, but after a period of 14 days, the flavors will have decreased by 50 percent and for ground coffee happens the decreasing within a couple of hours. BUT, yes you can keep coffee fresh a little bit longer by using a C02 value bag, but it also has a limited date of use versus the best before 2 year dates. A coffee channel tip, always remember to storage your coffee at room temperature and outside the reach of the sun.

7. There is a single grind level which suits most brewing methods.

There must be, after all, those pre-ground bricks at he supermarket have pictures of everything from plungers to espresso machines on the side, The truth is that for each brewing process there is a single combination of method, grind, water temperature and coffee which will produce the optimum flavor result.

8. It costs a fortune to be integrated into the world of good coffee on home basis.

Actually, you can spend a lot of money on the latest coffee model within categories such as grinders, roasters, stove tops, moka pots, press pots, espresso machines, tampers, portable espresso machines and of cause good coffee. But buying a proper press pot will not cost you a fortune and you can start buying coffee at your local coffee shop, instead of the supermarket version. If you home roast you can actually save about 25-50 percent and you can use your own oven for it!

9. You can´t beat the skills at the professionals coffee bars.

Oh yes you can! Anything that can be done in a professional coffee environment can be duplicated at home, although some of the more obscure items might take a considerable investment. You can roast, grind and brew coffee better than most professional establishments. What is takes is a combination of knowledge, skill, equipment, practice and above all enthusiasm.

 I have picked the best nine myths that I found relevant, but you can go search the web for more interesting myths, have a great weekend!

// Hendrup

Coffee of the day

Latte art etching "Tornado"  

Goodmorning viewers, to a splendid friday morning! What a better way than too quick start the weekend by a great cup of coffee illustrated with a swirling tornado? Actually this was my first shot of making a etching tornado and I think I got away with it pretty well, what do you guys think? Please leave a comment.

The morning drink has been made only from a batch of robusta beans, which provides a much darker and thicker crema than 100% arabica beans. You can notice by the dark crema lines at the edge of the cup that its made of a robusta espresso shot and therefore is perfect for doing latte art. This is also the reason why the robusta beans are added in the latte art blends especially.

Later on this friday afternoon I will uploade a new blog post about the coffee myths that are commonly debated in the coffee society.

Until then have a great start of the weekend!

// Hendrup

From espresso with love

When producing an espresso shot a lot of gear, gadgets and patience are required, because you need to control all the different variables that can interrupt when brewing an espresso shot. The different variables that can occur is wrong setting of the coffee grinds size, incorrect tamping, water temperature and brew pressure.

Ristretto shot with naked portafilter

Of cause you need all of this to be in order along with a fresh roasted coffee to produce a shot for the gods, as seen in the picture. This kind of shot will maybe never reveal itself to the common amateur coffee enthusiast but for those who master the right technique, this shot will be a medal of self-confidence of the highest coffee level. For those whom are not gifted in the art of brewing, a naked/bottomless portafilter is properly the best way to go.

The naked portafilter is a useful tool that has utilization in both café setting and especially for the home enthusiast. In theory a naked portafilter is exactly the same as a normal portafilter handle, with the spouts removed, showing the bottom of the basket that holds the compressed coffee. Having the basket exposed means that you can watch the entire extraction process, and diagnose any problems with the shot extraction. This sounds complicated, but its really not. Keep in mind that to create a quality espresso or ristretto, you need water to be pushed evenly down through the basket of coffee. If the shot is coming out unevenly its said to be channelling, which can be seen easily with a naked portafilter as the water will pour from the side of the basket rather than brought the middle.

If you current have a closed portafilter, you can turn it into a naked portafilter by using some simple tools, as shown by a bloke at Home-Barista, link here. Because I chose a Francis Francis X1 as my first espresso machine I thought I had closed the opportunity for a naked portafilter cause there are no factory made naked portafilters for this machine, but I was wrong. After I had read this post at Home-barista I transformed my original portafilter into a naked portafilter by cutting the bottom off, which I never have regretted.

Extraction diagnose:

• A very blond (light) shot may be an indication that you need to dose more coffee in your basket or perhaps your grind is to coarse. 
• A very dark shot is caused by the opposite, dosing to much coffee or grinding your coffee too fine.
• Uneven tamping will cause channelling and thereby leading the water trough the path of least resistance. You will be able to see blonde patches, which indicate where the coffee is not compressed as tightly or where less coffee is distributed.

When you have dialled in your brewing technique, you may be able to get a gorgeous look at the extraction process like the picture below shows.

Perfect extraction stages from a naked portafilter

The color of the shot you pull through the naked portafilter can also be a good indication of whether you are getting it right, a perfect espresso shot should have an even, golden to reddish brown color that starts to blonde (lighten in color) around 25 to 30 seconds in the brewing process. 

From a taste point of view, there are more then a few opinions whether the naked portafilter affects the flavors versus the standard portafilter. In my opinion I have seen an increase of produced crema which also is more airy and therefore makes it more suitable for latte art. The flavors are more cleaner than an extraction that has to run through a portafilter spouts.

Don´t forget that enjoying a cup of coffee is a subjective experience, everyone has a different personal taste and preference, so keep this in mind when you hopefully are experimenting with the naked portafilter.

// Hendrup

Coffee of the day

Delicious coffee on a lovely Thursday 

I have just finish up my own custom cappuccino on the coffee bean Uganda Bududa AA Farm Mountain, with an added amount of micro foam produced on semi-skimmed milk. The glass used for this drink is from a french company called Duralex, which has not made a change for this particular glass since its introduction to the market in 1939. The Duralex Picardie model comes in five different sizes and the one that I have used is a 9 cl. (3 oz.), which you can purchase here.

So the recipe for this drink is simply a single espresso shot topped with 2 oz. of frothed milk, which I have chosen to add some chocolate sauce on the top to create an appetizing look.

Good day everyone!

// Hendrup

Chemistry of coffee roasting

What actually happens when you roast your green beans? If you fill up your roasting chamber, set the roasting time and heat and press start, you and I are roasting alike. I have a felling about the roasting time, for example if I roast for press pot (14-15 min.) or espresso (16-18 min.) by 241 degrees. During the roast I add/cut additional time to the roast, by judging the color of the coffee beans. To ensure perfect results each time, you have to know the basic chemistry behind the roasting process, so you can navigate better.

Lets begin with the obvious, the outside of the coffee beans. This is usually the best known knowledge about home roasting and its a great place to start. When introducing the coffee beans to the heat from the roaster nothing appears to happen in the first couple of minutes, the beans simply remains grayish green. The beans will then attend to get a slightly yellow color and sending scent of grassy notes. This scent will change along with the roasting time and it will go from grassy to a scent of bread or grain. Finally the scent will change from bread/grain to a aroma of coffee along with the beans color slightly turning darker, this will happen within 2-15 min. depending on the volume of beans roasting and the intensity of the heat in the roasting chamber.

First crack, is a well known cause of the roasting in the coffee community and it is the definite start of the roast transformation. The coffee beans transformation is initiated by the beans internal sugars that are caramelizing and thereby making the bound up water inside the beans starting to split off from the carbon dioxide, causing the crackling sound from the beans.

Different roasting colors from www.sweetmarias.com

You can actually terminate your roasting progress after the first crack but I would not suggest that because it will leave you with a very sour cup. The above schedule shows some of the different color of roasted coffee beans, but the darkening color of the beans is an effect mainly caused by the caramelization of sugars. The caramelization of the coffee beans sugar is popularly called the coffee flavor oils and determines the balance of the cup, sour vs. sweet.

Second crack, is properly caused by the breakdown of the woody structures of the bean and sets a more powerful wave of crackling. The second crack is also a signal about the coffee beans suitability for espresso. A espresso roast is usually terminate just before, under or just after the second crack, because the beans are at the peak of depth, sweetness, aroma, body and complexity and low on acidity.

The outside characteristics of the roasted coffee bean is a great navigation tool for determine your roast, because it will be more precise than the set roasting time and heat. The inside characteristics is listed below in order of the roasting process.

1. Forces water out of the bean
2. The beans dry out and it expands its woody parts (making a reducing of the total weight of the bean by 14 to 20 percent).
3. Initiate a continuous transformation of some sugars into CO2 gas.
4. Drives off some volatile substances (incl. a small part of the caffeine). 
5. Caramelizes a portion of the beans sugars.

Finally most people do not know that coffee contains more substances then wine, and coffee contains 700 to 850 different substances with has been identified in late 2003. This does apply for the roasted coffee, but the green bean contains more than 2.000 substances, which makes it one of the more complicated of natural flavorings considered by food chemists. 

// Hendrup

Coffee, no coffee?

Different coffee roasts

Are the coffee drinks just something that we should replace with water and thereby use our money elsewhere? Its common knowledge that a proper cup of coffee contains caffeine, which helps you get through the sleepy hours. A lot of people drink coffee strictly for this refreshing kick, but did you know that coffee serves additional purposes, too? Take a look of some of the benefits below and get a clear statement why you should upgrade your consumption of coffee.

1. Coffee reduces the dark circles beneath your eyes
There have been some results of coffee will help minimizing the puffiness and inflammation at least temporarily. If you want to make use of this beauty advise, you should apply an application of coffee beneath your eyes, but this will may not be able to eliminate those noticeable dark circles completely.

2. Coffee is a great exfoliate
Another great beauty advise using coffee, is that you can use your own used coffee grounds from the morning press pot to exfoliate your skin. Exfoliation helps to slough off dead skin, revealing fresh, new skin beneath it and also minimizes pores. A coffee facial mask will leave your skin clean and baby soft to touch. How to; Try blending a quarter of a cup coffee grounds with either one egg white or a little milk. Stir the mix until it becomes a spreadable paste. Gently massage it into your face, avoiding the wyes and lips and let it dry. After 15 min., rinse it off with warm water, massaging with your fingers as you go.
You´ll be amazed at the results.

3. Coffee is rich in antioxidants
Especial freshly roasted coffee is rich in antioxidants and by adding coffee to your skincare products you will fight damage to the skin. You can also wash your face with coffee, which helps protect the skin, see more beauty tips at; www.brewed-coffee.com.

4. Lowered risk of Alzheimer´s disease and type 2 diabetes
    Protection against Parkinson´s
    Reduces suicide risk
    Increase your fiber intake
In the beginning three points there have been a focus on the positive effect from coffee on the outside of the body, but lets focus on the positive effect from coffee when drinking. There have been a lot of studies about the above diseases, but they prove that people who drinks coffee on a regular basis have are less likely to get these diseases. Likewise a great study of 86.000 female nurses over a period of ten years has shown a reduced risk of suicide in the coffee drinkers. Finally a brewed cup of coffee represents a contribution of up to 1.8 grams of fiber of the recommended daily intake of 20-38 grams.

5. No depression (antioxidants)
Coffee has four times the antioxidants of green tea, which makes it an excellent anti-depressant and enhances performance and memory.

There are also rumors that drinking coffee regularly will help a rapid fat loss, because its stimulates movement and thereby increases fat mobilization.

Well after writing this blog I went straight to the espresso machine and fired it up!

// Hendrup

Coffee Channel available on mobile devices

Coffee Channel available on iPhone 4s

The Coffee Channel is from this day and beyond available on mobile devices, so if you are on the go you will still be able to follow the latest blogs about the fascinating world of coffee.

Feedshark BING:
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// Hendrup

Uganda Budada AA Farm Mountain

Farm Mountain Project is located in Uganda, shown by the star.

Uganda continues to produce splendid, consistent coffee displaying a rich, powerful, fruit- and berry toned acidity energizing a cup of medium body and deep dimension. AA is the highest grade, but specific lots of AA sold at government auction differ, and one broker´s or exporter´s AA may be better than another´s. This AA green coffee bean is bought at my local coffee shop, kaffe-agenterne.dk, at a price of 95 DKK ($16,7) for 900 grams, which makes it quite an expensive coffee. The reason for the high price tag is because this bean is produced by a project, called Farm Mountain Project, where the exporter´s expect a superior quality and farm development and in return a committed price for the beans that is higher than the market price. This project is started by a danish entrepreneur, Lars Bendix and helps around forty different farms.

I bought three kilos from kaffe-agenterne.dk and have roasted several batches on my home roaster the Gene Cafe, the best batches are shown in the upper picture. The roast for press pot or filter was easiest and had a roasting profile on 15,5 min. and 241 degrees flat, after the 10 min. automatic cool down cycle, I had this stunning result.

City+

I have brewed this batch on my Bodum press pot, which gave an amazing taste experience. I have added about seven grams of coarse coffee at every cup of coffee, in other words the Bodum 8 cups press pot equals seven spoons (56 grams). The flavor of this particular beans was very rich with fruity notes and a had a great depth. The most characteristic flavor of the cup was a nutty flavor, more precisely a taste of hazelnut mixed with some citrusy notes.

Vienna

The rather darker roast for this beans was brewed on my Francis Francis X1 espresso machine, which was grounded to match the golden rule of espresso shots; 1 oz of espresso at 20-25 sec. I must admit that I thought that I had ruined this batch, but nevertheless the espresso shot was exquisite, not a single flavor of burned coffee, but instead a heavenly taste of amaretto! The shot had a long pleasant aftertaste with dessert notes.



If you seek a green bean with great depth and a sweet aftertaste, this is definitely what you seek. The price is a little high on the one, but I think its worth it. If you what to purchase some to try, click this link; Uganda Bududa AA Farm Mountain.

// Hendrup