blood0range
caffeinated?Archive for February, 2008
Springboard
In a somewhat romantic effort to single-handedly stave off the seemingly endless Chicago winter, I picked up a six-pack of New Belgium’s Springboard Ale, which I saw for the first time this year at the grocery store. I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself a big fan of Fat Tire, or Belgian style ale in general, but I was impressed by the smoothness and berry-like finish (which I attribute to the lycium) and the nice buzz… maybe a result of the wormwood used in the brewing process? All things considered a nice beer, round, crisp in the finish and sweet but not overpoweringly so. Worth checking out.
Planet Earth
I’ve been watching a sweet nature tv series put out by the British Broadcasting Company called Planet Earth. Leave it to the BBC to get it right: Sir David Attenborough narrates, shot in HD with some of the most amazing landscapes, mountain ranges, and wildlife cinematography I’ve ever seen. After watching so much digitally enhanced, special effects laden entertainment, it’s nice to see natural beauty rival the sheer visual brilliance.
Rinsing Chemex Filters
Though I’m not a huge fan of the Chemex, I thought this might be worth sharing.
My main problem with the Chemex is that I tend to get a papery taste that cuts the finish short. I do use Chemex’s unbleached filters, which I’ve heard produce this result more frequently than the white “oxygen cleansed” ones.
Jim Karr, Intelligentsia’s head of technical services, however, recently informed me that this may be in large part due to insufficient rinsing. I thought this was interesting, and I’ve heard a number of differing theories recently on the most efficient rinsing techniques, so I set up a blind cupping with Jim, Sarah Kluth, and Geoff Watts in the QC lab.
We prepared three Chemex brews, each with the same coffee (our Eros’ Blend, the current holiday blend which is one of the best blends we’ve carried, I dare say) and each with a different filter preparation. The first was rinsed thoroughly with cold water, the second rinsed with hot filtered water poured over the filter and into the Chemex (the water was dumped out before brewing), and the third with a thoroughly rinsed filter in hot tap water.
We cupped blind (except for me) and there was unanimous agreement that the best brew was with the hot water from the tap. In theory, more solubles are extracted with hot water than with cold, and a thorough, open filter rinse allows all loose paper particles to rinse off than with a folded filter.
Incidentally, we brew about 65 grams, ground coarsely (a la French Press) and produce 32 ounces of coffee. We tested brew temperatures the same day as the filter rinse, and found that 98C was optimal, compared with 96C and 100C (boiling). The boiled water produced a rather bitter and astringent coffee, while the low temp was smooth, but less acidic (citric), sweet, and complex. To prevent over-extraction we pull the filter off before all the water has run through and discard it (which can be a little messy but well worth it in terms of flavor). These are specs Sarah introduced me to. It’s a heavy dose, to be sure, but the coarsely ground coffee reduces the dwell time in the filter and produces a more complex cup. I’ll post again sometime with more theory in this vein.
For more on Chemex brewing techniques, coffeed has a pretty thorough discussion here.
