Hi Beanbuffs,
Thanks to the third wave, the espresso bar is not happening for now. I am not keen to host people with this uncertainty. But, first a positive update.
Three coffees, two roasters
When Delhi Government announced the weekend curfew, I had cringed. I hadn’t picked Bullet Aillio from Kaapi Machine. I were to learn to operate it. My roaster friend Sunil came to the rescue. He agreed to train me.
On his way back to his home, he stayed with me. Sunil has been roasting coffee for ten years. He has Cafe Gene roaster. It roasts small batches of 150gms to 250gms. I ordered Arabica green coffee beans: one kilogram each of Mysore Nugget Extra Bold, Monsoon Malabar and Attikan Estate.
We picked the machine together. As soon as we reached home, we pulled out the machine. After a couple of espressos, we assembled the Bullet. It took us fifteen minutes. Sunil picked MNEB. Coffee Board of India rates it as India’s finest coffee. It is also the biggest in size. Mysore Nuggests score big in body and aroma. Dope offers it as Indian Specialty. I had ordered a packet from them as well.
Sunil fired the machine and roasted 350gms of coffee. He used the recipe from Aillio’s manual. It suggested a light roast profile, within ten minutes. Machine has two interfaces. One can operate using the computer via the roasting software. One can also operate using the buttons on the machine.
I roasted the next two batches with the same recipe for 350gms. This time we connected the computer with the machine. I recorded both the batches. While Monsoon Malabar came out in 9.45 minutes, Attikan came out in 10.30 minutes. Attikan was the darkest of the batch.
I made espressos with the three coffees. MNEB and Monsoon Malabar were too bright for my taste. Attikan was alright. I didn’t cup them. Since they were roasted light, I will rest them till Friday. Then, I will brew them with the espresso machine, French Press and V60. I will share the findings.
I suck at roasting for now. But, it’s a long haul. When I roast again, I will roast the same beans with three profiles, say light, medium and dark. Then I will cup them each to see, how things change. That’s the brief for now.
Coffee meets celebrities
Indian celebrities are lapping up specialty coffee. Thanks to social media, they share their love or experiments with it.
Actor Tapsee Pannu comes seems to be the most into the coffee. She has a commercial grade espresso machine (Carimali Practica E1) and a grinder at home. In an interview, she casually walked up to the machine, and made cappuccinos. It would be great to see her espresso routine.
Later I saw actor Ashish Vidyarthi struggling with Sleepy Owl’s brew bag. By mistake he teared it. Full marks to him to strain the brew with a muslin cloth. What the coffee might have lacked in freshness and flavour, he made it up with his vlog.
Before coffee became cool in India, actor Rahul Khanna was plunging coffees for himself. In one of his interviews he suggest three coffee makers for the specific stage of the relationship: coffee pod machines for impressing the girl in the beginning. French Press when in relationship. And, Moka Pot when the marriage is on the cards. Also, he suggest getting a freshly ground coffee.