Archive for the ‘News’ Category

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!)

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!

Great new coffee brewing website

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

A rather splendid new website launched today, and I think it is a great idea and potentially very, very useful for us all.

It is called Brew Methods and I strongly suggest you visit, bookmark and begin sending the link to everyone you know.

You can read more about it by its creators on cleanhotdry, but the premise is simple – a single place online you can send anyone who wants to know more about brewing coffee, and there they will find links to various different tutorials, write-ups and videos.

There is also a submission form so you can help increase the amount of knowledge aggregated there.

Outstanding!

Gwilym’s disloyalty card

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Let me start by saying that this has to be one of the best ideas I’ve seen in ages.  I’m very pleased and very excited by this.

Gwilym Davies – you know, the current World Barista Champion – has come up with a rather splendid card: the disloyalty card.

The idea is simple:  If you go and drink coffee at 8 interesting, quality focused cafes around (mostly) East London then he will say thank you by making you a coffee for free.

(click to embiggen)

I just think this is brilliant.  There is no catch, it isn’t some cunning ruse to sell more coffee.  It might work if one roaster supplied all the places on the card – but there is a complete mix from Burgil to Union, from Square Mile to Nude’s in house espresso.  Gwilym just wants people to go and try coffee in different places.

This man is a great ambassador for coffee.

So swing by Prufrock Coffee in Present at 140 Shoreditch High Street, grab a card and then have a little tour of some great cafes around Central and East London.  There is one of the best baristas in the world at the end of it, waiting to give you a delicious drink to say thank you.  Superb.

First London Gastronomy Seminar

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

This week the website went live for the London Gastronomy Seminars (The Facebook group is here).  The first seminar now has tickets for sale, and I for one am very excited to see Herve This talk.  There aren’t a huge number of tickets so if you are interested I recommend picking one up early.

The idea behind the seminars is to explore and enjoy the science of food.  Some people find that science, that understanding, can take the joy out of things but I for one find beauty and fascination in unweaving the rainbow.  I don’t think any of food’s delight and enjoyment is lost if we understand the mechanics of our recipes better.  Especially if, through that understanding, we can improve the recipe!

Having heard both Tony and John speak at our first forum I really look forward to seeing them present again.  (I also really need to get to Tony’s bar  - 69 Colbrooke Row.

I will probably post more about this soon, I am somewhat wrecked after a week of rebuilding the roastery and building out a new training room (and, you know, running a roastery!)

For those of you in London or nearby, I hope to see you there!

Milan – Host – Uber Boiler

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

It has been a busy and long day.  I’ve learned a lot today and I will try and post a big round up of a bunch of things.  I am in Milan with Marco, working the Uber and I thought I’d make a little video for those who might be interested:

New Uber Boiler from James Hoffmann on Vimeo.

A short video about the new Uber Boiler launched at HOST in Milan this week