018: Why not an espresso championship
Manual espressos are affordable and easier to use
Hi Beanbuffs,
You are reading about a 14 year old reboot of Shack Coffee Co. Every week Abhishek sends an update about the journey and interesting things about the world of coffee.
Beautiful thing about Aeropress Championship was the community. More than competing, people were talking about coffee, equipment, culture and recipes. Winners shared their recipes with everyone. It was so much fun.
1. Lost and found
I lost in the first round of Aeropress Championship. More deserving brewers won the round and the championship. But, I have an issue with the coffee.
About 40+ people participated. Each elimination round had three brewers. The winning candidate moved to the next round, and the other two waited for the wild card entry. The wild card tactic worked to retain the crowd. Judges included Shubham a roaster and Anamika, a tea expert. I felt judges preferred brightness.
I used the finer grind than the usual. And, I used WOBH’s cloth filter. Cloth filters allow more balance. My brewing timings were 3 minutes. Shubham shared that my cup was hot and astringent. He also said if the brew was less hot, it could have also won. I have been using the same recipe for years, with good results. The winners were practicing and the expects such as grind size, temperature, pressure, stirring or swirling. They made James Hoffman proud.
I lost, but found the gang of coffee lovers. Roasters from Bloom Coffee were in the house. They are going strong. I also got to meet Manvi from El Bueno roasters. I have tasted their blend once at Coffee Bond. It was good. And, I got to meet Baninder Singh from Savour Works. Suhas, the organiser and the owner of Benki Brewing was fun.
Looking forward to the natioanl championship. Best of luck.
2. Why not a manual espresso championship
Aeropress is Polaroid of the manual coffee world. Anyone can own it and brew it. One does not have to do a course or intern with an expert to learn to brew it. Manual espresso machines are the same for the espresso world.
Espresso is three things: water, pressure and time. Manual espresso equipment (Falir) offer the three at 1/5th the cost of the cheapest espresso machines (Gaggia Classic Pro). The first big upgrade after manual brewing is a manual espresso equipment. Flair, Cafelat Robot, Rok Espresso, Aram, La Pavoni, Cremina, Elektra are the popular ones. These are not as intimidating as their big brothers such as Rocket, Profitec, ECM, Bezzera and Gaggia.
Manual equipment offers complete control to the user. One can pre-infuse for as long as one wants. One can push as much water as one wants, while applying different pressures. Each variable will give a different espresso.
I wish we have an Aeropress like manual espresso championship. One can bring their manual espresso machines without the boilers, unlike La Pavoni and Cremina. Cafelat, Flair and Rok require hot water separately. It will also help spread awareness about specialty coffee, and attract more users. It will be a win win for the customers, sellers and the roasters.
Who is in?
P.S. Brutalist espresso machine Link
3. Beanbuff Nagasawa
Craig Mod is touring Japanese cities by foot. He is a writer, who loves to walk across Japan, and publish his memoirs as books and newsletters.
His latest walk is across ten cities in Japan. He will cover about 500kms. He sends a daily dispatch with stories and photographs. You can subscribe to this special project here . I also enjoy his ‘Nothing Exciting in Japan’ videos.
In his 6th dispatch he met Nagasawa, who runs a roasterie in Morioka, Japan. He has been roasting on a 1960s Probat for the past 20 years.
He wrote, “ Today, I did some more coffee rounds. The number of roasters here is truly staggering. It’s … weird how many serious roasting machine I saw today. Most impressive was Nagasawa Coffee’s 1960s German Probat. I spoke with Nagasawa, who was eager to discuss technique, and was recently featured in an issue of Papersky magazine. I asked: Why a 1960s machine? Oh, the iron, he said, the iron is just so much better. Higher retention and distribution of radiant heat. And you can taste the difference?, I asked, with no small dollop of skepticism. Oh yes! He said. Definitely. You not only get a nicer roast but the roast holds longer, a week longer than modern iron.”
Worth your time:
Be kind
“Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns. The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid.”