Coffee and Technical Problems

Recently, my laptop went on a bender, and by "on a bender" I mean kaput. In these hard times, I will be reinstalling Windows tomorrow. Unfortunately this his has impacted my ability to blog and do other academic work. This issue will be rectified soon so I can post more pictures of my initial forays into coffee roasting.

In other coffee news, my Yemeni coffee with its rooty, spicy taste made a unique espresso, but truly shined as Turkish coffee. Last night, I brought out the ibryk, spooned in two heaps of coffee, stirred, and brewed two delicious cups of coffee. While I can't post any pictures of it yet, I heartily recommend every coffee lover to buy a Turkish coffee pot and a grinder capable of grinding very finely.

In the mean time, enjoy this photo of Turkish coffee that I can only dream of making.

Coffee Roasting: My First Batch of Coffee

Metro Espresso has entered into a new stage of coffee love: coffee roasting. For our 4 year anniversary, the Girlfriend gifted me a popcorn popper and 4 bags of green coffee from Sweet Maria's!

Often times, people who are interested in coffee roasting begin using a popcorn popper as an inexpensive way of exploring how to roast. For more information on this roasting method see Coffee Geek's informative guide about it.

I wanted to show off my first two batches. While my first attempts produced some uneven roasting ranging from light to medium, everyone has to start somewhere! Pictured below is my first batch.

New Feature: Metro Area Coffee Map

View Metro Espresso's guide to DC area coffee in a larger map

(For a reason unknown to me, the map isn't centering on DC itself. You can easily scroll the map to Washington for your viewing pleasure.)

In my spare time, I made a map with good coffee houses I have visited in DC. Over time, I will update the map to reflect new places I have visited and thought worth people's time, effort, and money. I will place this map on the blog's right hand column so Metro Espresso readers can always refer to the map outside of this post. If you have suggestions for places that I should go to, use the shout out box, tweet me, or use the Metro Espresso Facebook fan page.

Coffee Houses listed are in no particular order:

DC: M.E Swings, Bourbon Coffee, Chinatown Coffee Company, Dolcezza Gelato, and Peregrine.

VA: Java Shack, Rappahannock Roasters, Beanetics (pan the map left, it is in Annandale, VA

Coffee House Spotlight: Bourbon Coffee

Located in Foggy Bottom at 2101 L Street NW, Bourbon Coffee serves roughly 6 regional Rwandan coffees to sleep deprived, caffeine dependent Washingtonians. A local coffee house among the swarm of Starbucks', Bourbon coffee serves excellent, stand out coffee bursting with flavor accompanied by snappy, friendly service. (Photo Credit: Prince of Petworth Blog)

While not a review of Bourbon coffee, I wanted to tell my metro area readers about this wonderful retreat from the DC bustle.

The coffee house is designed with many African and Rwandan elements to accompany the quality coffee they serve. Please visit their website to see photos of the interior, but a pleasant number of seats, tables and couches are available to customers.

I wanted to discuss my impressions of their coffee. Having visited M.E. Swings, Chinatown Coffee Company, and Peregrine, I found that Bourbon's drip coffee and espresso to be superior. Often drip coffee can be watery, lacking in flavor, and generate an overall feeling of "meh," yet theirs surprised me with a bold complexity akin to coffees from Kenya. At least, the coffee in the drip machine reminded me of that. Other Rwandan coffees can be mellower in taste. I recommended their drip to one of my colleagues, and his face lit up when sipping it.

Everyone prefers their espresso a bit differently, but I enjoy a bit more body and 2oz for a double espresso. Other coffee shops in DC often have a flavorful crema, but the body is lacking making a flat tasting espresso. In addition, a pet peeve of mine is when the espresso cup isn't heated making the espresso cool when coming into contact with the cup. Bourbon coffee's espresso was in a very warm cup, and had a pleasant tiger striped crema accompanied by a rich body.

If you live in the DC metro area, please stop by and try out their coffee. You won't be disappointed (At least I don't think you will be).

Additional Links:

Rwandan coffee suffering from a drought!: Source-Bloomberg.com

A spotlight on Bourbon coffee by the Washington Post.

Fritz Frischer, Flavored Coffee, and the Girlfriend

Good morning! I wanted to stop in, and do a quick post. As of late, my graduate work has been overwhelming my blogging responsibilities. As seen in the pic, this hasn't stopped my coffee consumption, in fact, it has done the opposite. The most recent book I read was Germany's War Aims in the First World War by Fritz Fischer. This behemoth weighs in at a paltry 600 pages, and has jealously gobbled up my precious spare time.

In other coffee news, the Girlfriend bought some Dunkin Donuts coffee that was pre-ground, (ehh!), but it was mint infused. I opened up the air tight canister she put it in, and the aroma that permeated reminded me of Andes candies, which is a good thing! Initially she put brewed it using a French Press, but stated the taste came out way too strong. This morning, (I haven't had the chance to talk to her), she used the drip machine which will reduce the boldness of the coffee.

(Clearly not my hands: credit to Wikipedia Commons)

My question is, when coffee chains use flavors, artificial or natural, do they purposefully make the flavors extra bold to overcome the flavor stealing paper filters, which then makes it difficult to drink from a press pot?

I have heard good things about Starbucks's natural infused coffees from dailyshotofcoffee.com (who gave it a 3.75/5!). Hmm, perhaps tonight I shall try out this Andes-like DD coffee.

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*Update*

Since writing this post, the Girlfriend has stopped drinking the Dunkin Donuts Mint coffee. She brewed it in a drip machine and in the French Press, and states that the results are inconsistent. Naturally, this may be attributed to barista error, but I would never say so. My experience with flavored coffees are hit or miss, and I would rather spend my money on quality single-origin beans. Nevertheless, my question still remains whether coffee companies over flavor their coffee to hide bad beans and to account for paper filters.

Thank you for Daily Shot of Coffee for citing me in Fresh Brews. Be sure to check them out, one of the best coffee blogs on the internet with daily posts and continual content.