Ambergris
What am I doing?! I closed this store 50 minutes ago and I'm still sitting here fooling around. I can't shut the espresso machine down. I can't stop drinking espresso. It tastes too good.
Things happen. Coffee (especially espresso) is a volatile thing, and it changes from roast to roast, crop to crop, cup to cup. There have been days in the past when I just couldn't get enough of it because it was "perfect." But it's been a while. It's been ok lately, but nothing has really blown my socks off. This started to concern me. I started feeling like I was losing that little bit of control that I fool myself into thinking I have. The control over the coffee- I can make minute changes in the way I roast each individual coffee and the amount I blend into the espresso, and cause it to taste however I want it to at that moment. But lately it has escaped me, and I've been changing and changing trying to get it back. And alas, today... it is great.
I spent some time in an apartment with mold problems, and it eventually clogged up my senses where I couldn't taste correctly. Then one of the beans I use in the espresso blend ran out. The supply dried up. So I made a substitution. But it wasn't quite right. And now I've purchased another coffee to put in the blend, and it is good. I guess. It was actually really good earlier this morning, before we blended in the new bean. It was just a great day to pull shots of espresso. The conditions were just right and the shots were pulling long and beautifully. Some days are like that. The espresso just keeps charging out of the portafilter, non-stop goodness, not a faltering bit of off-colored crema. And then, this afternoon I blended it. And after closing time, I started drinking it.
It's so good and chocolatey. Not a hint of sourness or bitterness in the finish. Even now, 15 minutes after my last double, I have a pleasant sweetness on my palate. A slight (rasp?)berry tone with a creamy body and juicy, yummy, spine-tingling, almost tear-jerking, dirty chocolate heart.
Ok, enough rambling. I've got to have one more. If you've never had a straight espresso, you should have one. Tomorrow. Here.
Things happen. Coffee (especially espresso) is a volatile thing, and it changes from roast to roast, crop to crop, cup to cup. There have been days in the past when I just couldn't get enough of it because it was "perfect." But it's been a while. It's been ok lately, but nothing has really blown my socks off. This started to concern me. I started feeling like I was losing that little bit of control that I fool myself into thinking I have. The control over the coffee- I can make minute changes in the way I roast each individual coffee and the amount I blend into the espresso, and cause it to taste however I want it to at that moment. But lately it has escaped me, and I've been changing and changing trying to get it back. And alas, today... it is great.
I spent some time in an apartment with mold problems, and it eventually clogged up my senses where I couldn't taste correctly. Then one of the beans I use in the espresso blend ran out. The supply dried up. So I made a substitution. But it wasn't quite right. And now I've purchased another coffee to put in the blend, and it is good. I guess. It was actually really good earlier this morning, before we blended in the new bean. It was just a great day to pull shots of espresso. The conditions were just right and the shots were pulling long and beautifully. Some days are like that. The espresso just keeps charging out of the portafilter, non-stop goodness, not a faltering bit of off-colored crema. And then, this afternoon I blended it. And after closing time, I started drinking it.
It's so good and chocolatey. Not a hint of sourness or bitterness in the finish. Even now, 15 minutes after my last double, I have a pleasant sweetness on my palate. A slight (rasp?)berry tone with a creamy body and juicy, yummy, spine-tingling, almost tear-jerking, dirty chocolate heart.
Ok, enough rambling. I've got to have one more. If you've never had a straight espresso, you should have one. Tomorrow. Here.
posted by Brian at 4:01 PM
1 Comments:
Congratulations! At this rate you won't go to sleep for days :) Just think of everything you'll get done!
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