Archive for March, 2010

Poll results

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Just a quick post on the poll results (which has now closed).  Interestingly the percentage split was the same for the first 100 responders as it was once it hit 1,000.  I don’t really know what I was expecting, but it was probably a good reminder that it is ok to talk more about consumer stuff and various questions surrounding that.  One of the things I love most about having this blog is the conversations, and I am probably missing opportunities to have some very interesting ones.

Thanks to all who responded!

Do you work in coffee?

  • Yes, I do indeed work in the coffee industry! - (56%, 594 Votes)
  • No, I don't work in the coffee industry - I just like coffee! - (44%, 472 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,066

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There are a load of posts I keep meaning to publish, but they are all so horribly written that I haven’t!  (The post about who is to blame was so badly written that, while the responses were really interesting, I didn’t manage to communicate what I wanted to – which was embarrassing!)

A very, very quick poll

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

I’d really appreciate it if you could answer this poll, because it seems like something I ought to know/would be interesting know:

Do you work in coffee?

  • Yes, I do indeed work in the coffee industry! - (56%, 594 Votes)
  • No, I don't work in the coffee industry - I just like coffee! - (44%, 472 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,066

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Even if you are just stopping by, or reading in your feed reader – I’d be very grateful of a quick click.

Thank you.

Questions

Monday, March 15th, 2010

My brain is full of questions at the moment, and I thought I’d post (vent) some of them on the off chance that anyone reading them has any answers.

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London Gastronomy – Cheese

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

I love cheese. Everyone loves cheese.  I don’t really, despite trying, really understand cheese.

Before I type cheese too many times I want to let people know that the next London Gastronomy Seminar is coming up and I am really quite excited about it.  There are more details here.

On a side note – Neal’s Yard Dairy are a company that I have a huge amount of respect for, not just because of the quality of their product but because they do such a great job of communicating it in their shop, and ultimately they are incredibly good at selling it.

There is lots to be learned here.  I hope to see you there!

Return of the Uber

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

For a while all has been quiet on the Uber front.  We shuffled some stuff around at the roastery, and as part of it we chose not to cut the old Uber into the new worktops as we planned to upgrade – the new Uber having a different (smaller) cutout.

The new Uber arrived today and I am very excited.  This probably could have been a post for the Square Mile Blog, but there are many more exciting/important things to post on there!

What’s different about this Uber?  The capacity is bigger.  We sometimes used the old one for cupping, but it had more of a cafe use/quick recovery capacity so couldn’t do many bowls.  This one has a 6 litre boiler – very exciting!  This one has a flow control dial, instead of an button control.  It also has some beta software for us to test out.

I missed the Uber when it was gone.  My brewed coffee consumption dropped (a bad thing).   My experimentation also dropped off a little (also a bad thing).  I hope to get that going again.  I also grew irrationally annoyed with kettles (a weird thing?).

Before anyone accuses me of spam (perhaps fairly) I should make clear that we don’t make any money from the sale of Uber boilers, though yes – they are now available for sale.  It is just a project that we’re really excited about and it has been, and will be, a great tool for exploring coffee.  We’re extremely grateful to Marco – they are splendid!

Cappuccino as conflict

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Competition season often leaves me with an uneasy relationship with a drink I usually find very enjoyable.  I should add that my own view is in no way representative of competition judges, or competitions or anything like that – just a thought rolling around my head.

Generally, it seems, we treat milk as an enemy.  People talk as if steamed milk is trying to hold a pillow over the face of coffee flavour.  We talk about whether or not a coffee “cuts through” the milk.  I’ve never really been thrilled with that phrase or way of thinking about coffee but I have to accept that I am in the minority here. (more…)