The other adult beverage.....
 

Steve wrote:

Coffee is stale 7 days out of the roaster. Nitrogen loading and/or
freezing doesn't change that much. Intensive studies have been done
looking for a way to change that without much success. Unfortunately,
there just isn't a way to get fresh coffee unless one roasts or has a
roaster they trust nearby.
Trivia: most Americans that drink coffee have never had fresh coffee.
That's not a put down, just an interesting (to me at least), factoid.

We've always been fortunate to have fresh roasted whole beans
available locally. There really is no comparing fresh beans
with stale and like you say if it's 7 days out of the roaster
it's already stale.

I've never had the urge to roast my own, we lived in the same
block with The Coffee and Tea Exchange when we lived in Chicago
and while the roasting filled the neighborhood with wonderful
smells I wouldn't want my whole house to smell like that.

We're not connoisseurs at all but we both like arabica beans
roasted to exactly second crack. That's a little darker than
what the connoisseurs like but both of our local roasters have
varieties they roast that way. We buy a pound of whole beans a
week on the day it's roasted and grind it as we go. Our grinder
holds a pound of beans so that works out well.

At home I drip grind through a gold cone filter into a thermal
carafe and camping I use a Melitta cone and paper filters into
a thermos. The paper filter makes it easier to dispose of the
grounds while camping.

We used to drink a lot more coffee than we do now, in fact we
sometimes have beans left in the grinder we have to toss after
a week. I drink two, three cups max in the morning and that's
it anymore. When I was a computer weenie I'd drink coffee and
smoke Marlboros all day long. It was like an occupational hazard. ;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

The other adult beverage.....
 

Steve wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:27:23 -0700, rw
wrote:


I buy nearly all my coffee from Peet's. No stinking valves. :-)


The man that started it all, in America anyway.

Peet's has everything you need. It's a very classy outfit, but you might
pay a premium price.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 11, 2:50 am, rw wrote:

I'll wager that I can store 1 unopened lb of premium beans in the
freezer for one year, and tested against a "fresh" batch you wouldn't be
able to tell the difference.



All these things may be true, I really have no idea, I was merely
relating what we did, and why we did it. I would not wager one way or
the other. Judging by his posts, Steve quite obviously knows a great
deal about it, so I would tend to accept his views on the details.

I don´t see any point in getting into wagers or any contention at all
on the matter. Hell I don´t even drink the stuff any more, and I only
replied in the first place because I had a little personal knowledge
and experience of roasting the beans etc. It really makes no
difference at all to me otherwise.

1. The coffee definitely tasted better, everybody who drank it agreed
on that.Even I enjoyed it, and I am not a coffee drinker
normally.Indeed I actively avoid drinking coffee normally, except
under certain very specific circumstances, although beer and coffee
are about the only general alternatives here in public places, or in
many private dwellings . Even tea is considered rather exotic, and is
actually far worse than the coffee in most places. What you will get
if you ask for tea in most places here is a quite disgusting selection
of "aromatised" (artificial to boot), and brightly coloured
phantasmagoria of tea bags, and a cup of tepid water to dunk your
choice in. I tried the various other coffees from supermarkets etc on
various occasions, and was never enamoured of any, with the exception
of a couple of Italian restaurants, and one Italian coffee shop/café
which is also 30 kilometres away, and also very expensive.
2. It was quick and easy to do. A great deal easier than driving 65
kilometres to the next city in order to find a shop selling fresh
roasted coffee beans.
3. It was very much cheaper. Although the expense was actually
irrelevant at the time, it seemed better to get something better for
less money anyway.
4. It was a little bit of ceremony, and my wife enjoyed it a lot.
5. There was some "social" aspect to it, it was always a discussion
point when we had people to visit and they tried the coffee. Some of
our guests also did it, doubtless for much the same reasons.
6. It was fun, and rather interesting in itself.
7. If somebody asked me how to get a better cup of coffee, I would
recommend doing it this way. At least trying it once. I would venture
to suggest that just roasting the beans in a pot on the stove and
crushing them with a hammer, and then a mortar and pestle would also
give good results, after a short trial, so there is no absolute
necessity for machines, and the expense is minimal. Although of course
machines simplify matters considerably.
8. Most of what I actually learned about it was really quite basic,
merely sufficient to allow me to roast/grind/prepare the coffee in a
suitable manner. We only tried a few sorts of beans, and once we found
a couple we liked we simply stuck to them. Occasionally we tried other
sorts, usually on direct recommendations from other people who had
tried them. I know nothing at all about blending etc, and would be the
wrong person to even try it anyway.
9. If freezing was any real use for extending the storage life of the
roasted beans, then the suppliers would freeze it. None of them do.
All of them use vacuum sealed packaging.
10. If you always have freshly roasted beans, and grind the beans
immediately prior to brewing the coffee, none of these problems arise.
Short term storage of two or three days is merely a matter of using a
suitable container.

That´s about all.................

MC

The other adult beverage.....
 

103 posts on coffee snobbery! (no I didn't read hardly any!)

Our civilization has definitely peaked. Downhill from here...

Jon.

decafinated coffee and tea tasting
 

I don't see the point in decafinated coffee, unless you're prone to
migraine headaches.

I can taste the difference between good coffee and bad coffee, but I
don't drink coffee for the taste. I drink it for the jolt, but while
getting the jolt I want the best taste if I'm doing it myself.

A couple of days ago I was in Chinatown in San Francisco It was cold and
raining. My companion and I decided we needed a cup of tea to warm up,
so we stopped into a "tea tasting" place. I wanted a teabag of Lipton's
with milk and sugar, which I'm used to, but no, not that.

We were treated to an hour-long session of tasting various freshly
brewed Chinese teas. It was great! Every tea was remarkably different
from every other. The server was super attentive and informative and
good-humored. When I walked out I had the caffeine jolt, in spades.

I bought four oz of Pearl Jasmine.

The next day I toured the wine country of Sonoma and tasted at three
wineries. I was OK, and I bought some wine, but the tea tasting was more
challenging and interesting to my palate.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

The other adult beverage.....
 

The other adult beverage.....
 

One thing that struck me, Wolfie, in your original post:
you wrote that you didn't wish to embark on the learning required to enjoy
wine, or words to that effect. I would disagree.....while ongoing education
is a fine thing, it is not necessary to enjoy certain things(or, perhaps
anything).
I feel that wine, as a component of a meal, is something that can be enjoyed
without one going overboard with the details which some wine lovers impart
it. I recently saw a cartoon, someplace, in which the customer was telling
the wine steward at a restaurant,"this wine has a nutty aroma with hints of
coffee....could you bring me one that just tastes like wine?".
Also, when typing tiredly, I wrote something that meant to say 'blended
with South American or Indonesian", and came out hilariously wrong. Oops!
Finally, nice thread....especially good winter topic!
Tom

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 10, 11:49*pm, wrote:
Our civilization has definitely peaked. Downhill from here...

You're being way too hard on civilization. Actually, it was a fairly
interesting and informative thread IMO. Lots of good info & opinions,
with minimal unavoidable snobbery. And don't overlook the fact that
we're about 110 posts into it without a serious flame war, despite
input from several of the usual suspects. That's gotta give
civilization a boost, eh?

Joe F.

The other adult beverage.....
 

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 05:40:56 -0800 (PST), rb608
wrote:

You're being way too hard on civilization. Actually, it was a fairly
interesting and informative thread IMO. Lots of good info & opinions,
with minimal unavoidable snobbery. And don't overlook the fact that
we're about 110 posts into it without a serious flame war, despite
input from several of the usual suspects. That's gotta give
civilization a boost, eh?

Ahhhh, horse puckies. You don't know what you're talking about,
nitwit. vbg

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 11, 9:11*am, Dave LaCourse wrote:
Ahhhh, horse puckies. *You don't know what you're talking about,
nitwit. * vbg

Oh yeah? Well I hear that McCain drinks instant coffee. So
there. :-)

Joe F.

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:20:28 -0800 (PST), rb608
wrote:

Oh yeah? Well I hear that McCain drinks instant coffee. So
there. :-)

Yeah, but what does McClain drink?

The other adult beverage.....
 

Wolfgang wrote:

Yeah, I've messed around with all sorts of brewing methods for a long long
time. The French Press method looked appealing, and I still know a lot of
people who prefer it, but it does nothing at all for me.....too much sort of
in between and undecided in terms of get the grounds out or leave them in.
Percolators are an abomination, no need to equivocate. My favorite is the
drip method.....through unbleached paper, thank you very much, none of the
reusable (reuseless, if you ask me) wire mesh crap. Second
best.....surprisingly.....is cowboy coffee, which pretty much rapes all the
conventional wisdom about brewing coffee.

Did you ever get one of those little Ikea espresso maker thingies
like I had at my campsite?

Background: I ran across a cheap (~$20?) espresso maker from Ikea
which I thought might work for camping. It's a basic design; fill the
base with water to just below the vent, put your grounds in the little
metal filter cup that goes on top of the water chamber, screw on top and
place on fire/burner.

When the water starts to boil, the coffee is forced up through the
grounds and a nozzle in the top chamber. Remove from fire when all you
hear is a hissing sound and no more coffee is coming from the nozzle.

It makes a pretty good cup of coffee, and is fast.

Now if Wolfgang can just forgive me for using Starbucks (aka,
"Charbucks") in the thing. :-}


Chuck Vance (who admits to knowing next to nothing at all about
coffee, except it goes nicely with a cig when sitting by the Little
River on a cool morning)

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 11, 9:23*am, Dave LaCourse wrote:
Yeah, but what does McClain drink?

Cappuccino, but I'm not going to get whipped into a froth over it. /
rimshot

Joe F.

The other adult beverage.....
 

wrote in message
...

103 posts on coffee snobbery!

Really? Could you direct us to it?

(no I didn't read hardly any!)

No ****.

Our civilization has definitely peaked. Downhill from here...

We've been writing about the effects of illiteracy for a long long time.
You should have re.......um......never mind.

Wolfgang

The other adult beverage.....
 

In article , Conan The Librarian
wrote:


Did you ever get one of those little Ikea espresso maker thingies
like I had at my campsite?

Background: I ran across a cheap (~$20?) espresso maker from Ikea
which I thought might work for camping. It's a basic design; fill the
base with water to just below the vent, put your grounds in the little
metal filter cup that goes on top of the water chamber, screw on top and
place on fire/burner.

When the water starts to boil, the coffee is forced up through the
grounds and a nozzle in the top chamber. Remove from fire when all you
hear is a hissing sound and no more coffee is coming from the nozzle.

It makes a pretty good cup of coffee, and is fast.

Now if Wolfgang can just forgive me for using Starbucks (aka,
"Charbucks") in the thing. :-}


Chuck Vance (who admits to knowing next to nothing at all about
coffee, except it goes nicely with a cig when sitting by the Little
River on a cool morning)


Hi Conan.

Yours is in fact the MOST IMPORTANT post
on this VERY IMPORTANT thread.

the point is that the machine that you have described, easy to use
anywhere, is, in fact what I have referred to as a 'Moka machine'.

It is cheap, and universally used at home by every Italian I have ever
met, from Count to peasant, and I think both I and steve (who knows
far more than I do) believe that Italians are quite smart on
coffee-making.

All you have to do is to put decent coffee into the bowl, obey the
instructions, and you have an excellent cup of coffee.

It's a bit......... like fishing...............


take a bit of hare's ear

tie it onto a small hook (you don't need to do this very well)

cast it so that it lands delicately in front of., and floats down
towards without drag, a hungry trout (this you DO need to do well)

and you have yourself a great fish.

No snobbery in either. Just a matter of judgment about what matters and
what doesn't.

for which experience helps.

Lazarus

The other adult beverage.....
 

"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...
Wolfgang wrote:

Did you ever get one of those little Ikea espresso maker thingies like
I had at my campsite?

Background: I ran across a cheap (~$20?) espresso maker from Ikea which
I thought might work for camping. It's a basic design; fill the base with
water to just below the vent, put your grounds in the little metal filter
cup that goes on top of the water chamber, screw on top and place on
fire/burner.

When the water starts to boil, the coffee is forced up through the
grounds and a nozzle in the top chamber. Remove from fire when all you
hear is a hissing sound and no more coffee is coming from the nozzle.

It makes a pretty good cup of coffee, and is fast.

Nah, I haven't gotten one. Espresso is something I like every once in a
great while.....not enough to justify buying apparatus for making it. I've
found that mooching off of fishing companions suits my needs perfectly.
:)

Now if Wolfgang can just forgive me for using Starbucks (aka,
"Charbucks") in the thing. :-}

The one nice thing about Starbucks is that you can use any of their beans to
make espresso. No, it won't be good, but none of it will be worse than any
other.

Chuck Vance (who admits to knowing next to nothing at all about
coffee, except it goes nicely with a cig when sitting by the Little River
on a cool morning)

Yeah, that was good.

Wolfgang

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 11, 9:10*am, Conan The Librarian wrote:
wrote:
Even a stove-top "machine" (Bialetti Moka Express style) like I use?
According to the wikipedia article on the method (I know, I know...
man I hope Chuck doesn't see this post... :-)

* * Wikipedia? *Wikifreakingpedia?!! *And you call yourself a
librarian?!!!

* * :-)

We actually have a handful of books here on the topic, but at levels
that even this "Steve" fellow would probably blanche at!

Hey, you and I made some shelves together the other day. I'm doing
some custom cabinetry for a little remodeling I'm doing in my
kitchen. Did a pull out pantry unit in oak and fired up that SWEET
3/4 dado plane you sent me. That thing is THE BOMB! Best part is, I
can think "hey, this is the one I got from Chuck..." as I'm cranking
out the cross-grain curlies.

Hope all is well down south,
B

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 11, 9:27*am, Conan The Librarian wrote:

* * Did you ever get one of those little Ikea espresso maker thingies
like I had at my campsite?

Not only do they make a good cuppa fairly quickly but they are also
pretty light in weight- the cast aluminum ones anyhow. I've got a
medium sized one that lives in my car-camping equipment box, but it's
been known to sneak its way into my backpack for away-from-the-car
trips as well. The small amount of extra weight is worth it! (For
me, that is. Tom N's packing list impresses me, but I need at least a
FEW niceties on the trail!)


B

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 10, 1:58 pm, Steve wrote:
So this phrase is incorrect?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_Ex...s._drip_coffee

If you mean Wikipedia's claim that "Due to the higher pressures
involved, the mixture of water and steam reaches temperatures well
above 100 °C" then yes, that claim is incorrect.

I know nothing about espresso and other high-falutin' coffee machines,
but I do remember something from chemistry class -- if they really
operate at higher than atmospheric pressure, then the claim is
absolutely correct. Higher pressure corresponds to higher boiling
point. If the machine brings the water to boil under higher pressure,
then higher temps are being used.

Jon.
Doing my part to drag civilization down :-)

The other adult beverage.....
 

Wolfgang wrote:

"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...

Did you ever get one of those little Ikea espresso maker thingies like
I had at my campsite?

Nah, I haven't gotten one. Espresso is something I like every once in a
great while.....not enough to justify buying apparatus for making it. I've
found that mooching off of fishing companions suits my needs perfectly.
:)

That's cool. I also enjoyed mooching your advice and that Pass
Lake. :-)

Now if Wolfgang can just forgive me for using Starbucks (aka,
"Charbucks") in the thing. :-}

The one nice thing about Starbucks is that you can use any of their beans to
make espresso. No, it won't be good, but none of it will be worse than any
other.

It's sort of the McDonalds of the coffee world in that respect.

And to tie in with another part of this thread: McDonalds in
Canuckistan have been serving pretty decent coffee for quite a while. I
never drink coffee at convenience stores or fast food restaurants, but
Carol told me to try some one day and I was surprised at how much it
tasted like real coffee. :-}

Chuck Vance (who admits to knowing next to nothing at all about
coffee, except it goes nicely with a cig when sitting by the Little River
on a cool morning)

Yeah, that was good.

Indeed. And I hope to repeat that scene this year. Nothing
finalized yet, but it looks like Carol has resigned herself to the fact
that I plan to make the trip again. She even got me some new speakers
for my car for xmas, saying if I was gonna be driving all those miles, I
should at least have some decent sound in there. :-)

So I should be back about the same time of year (early May), and I
plan to camp in the same spot if possible.

I'll bring my coffee maker ... you bring the beans. :-)


Chuck Vance (and a few Pass Lakes)

The other adult beverage.....
 

"jeff miller" wrote in message
...
Wolfgang wrote:

wrote in message
My favorite is the
drip method.....through unbleached paper, thank you very much, none of
the reusable (reuseless, if you ask me) wire mesh crap. Grew up drinking
it that way.....well, from age 7 to 10 or so. I'll still do that once in
a while. Or, even better, plop a nice big gob of ice cream in it! But
that's not coffee. That's just a coffee flavored dessert. :)

Wolfgang

ditto on the drip...i have a bunn coffeemaker...it uses a different spray
of the hot water over the grounds, instead of the usual drip. unbleached
filters at times seem to change the coffee taste for me...a paper-y
taste...i like the bleached filters better.

Interesting. I've never really noted any flavor imparted by the
filter.....except when forced to use a paper towel in emergency situations.
I always opted for the unfiltered purely on the basis of environmental
considerations. Ah well, yet another set of experiments to conduct.
:)

Wolfgang

The other adult beverage.....
 

"Steve" wrote in message
ews.com...
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:46:22 -0600, "Wolfgang"
wrote:

So, acidity? I
think maybe I don't know enough about the nuances of coffee to say just
what
it is I like about this one. I THOUGHT it was the LACK of acidity. But
the
descriptions of the East African coffees at the site above make much of
their acidity being one of their stong features. I dunno. Got a lot left
to learn, I guess.

Acidity when used to describe coffee is different from bitter.
Check this out, if you are interested
http://coffeereview.com/reference.cfm

Thanks, Steve, I'll check it out.

Every group has it's jargon. I mean, come on, we're really fling
fisherman aren't we?

Give us enough coffee......or other adult beverages......and we fly!
:)

Wolfgang

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 11, 10:57*am, "Wolfgang" wrote:

Give us enough coffee......or other adult beverages......and we fly!
:)

Or ursine encouragement. :-)

B

The other adult beverage.....
 

"rw" wrote in message
m...
Steve wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:27:23 -0700, rw
wrote:


I buy nearly all my coffee from Peet's. No stinking valves. :-)


I also like Peets Coffee,
Have you tried the Major Dickerson's blend? Good stuff.
I know you mentioned about freezing the beans over a long period of time.
I believe you said; freeze for 1 yr. and you wouldn't be able to tell the
difference against fresh batch of unfrozen for taste.
Coffee beans will eventually absorbed moisture and they will break down,
unless it was vacuum sealed.
Next time you're in Peets, ask them how often they turn-around their
incoming coffee beans...I think you'll be surprised.
-tom

The other adult beverage.....
 

decafinated coffee and tea tasting
 

Steve wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:55:46 -0700, rw
wrote:


My companion and I decided we needed a cup of tea to warm up,
so we stopped into a "tea tasting" place.


We'll be in The City this weekend.
Would you share the name of this place?

I don't remember the name but it's on the east side of Grant Ave in
Chinatown.

They recommended a sushi restaurant named, I believe, Sushi Roc
(excellent) which was down the street, I believe on Pine St. just to the
right off Grant. If you go there they may be able to point you to the
tea place.

I think their tea prices are way out of line, so don't buy much.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

The other adult beverage.....
 

"Tom Littleton" wrote in message
news:K_whj.18718$Xo1.15470@trnddc06...


never have bothered to roast the stuff myself(and, yet, I have frequently
roasted peanuts and other beans, so I figure it isn't beyond
comprehension).

Peanuts, sure. What other beans does one roast?

However, I do, whenever possible grind my own blends and try a lot of
different roasted beans. The real Blue Mountain is nice, several African
beans I have had are unique tasting, sort of winey in flavor. I do often
mix the latter with some sort of Central American arabica into a blend
that suits my none-too-sophisticated palate. At any rate, simply going
fresh-ground beats the crap in cans, so I would imagine that roasting
would add something as well, along with the usual do it yourself sort of
satisfaction with the process.

Aside from the self-evident freshness (and granting that fresh is
better.....which no one here has contested) factor, roasting also adds one
degree or another of ritual, a consideration easily dismissed by some, but
important to many others.

Wolfgang

The other adult beverage.....
 

Surfing a few espresso and "moka" explanations, it does sound like
espresso machines operate at below-boiling-point temperatures --
around 90C is claimed to be optimal, _well_ below boiling at the very
high pressures involved. Most web sites get it right, that _water_ is
being forced through the grounds, but some mistakenly claim it is
steam.

Plenty of sites describe the "moka" contraptions as operating at
higher temps, and given that the water is reaching its boiling point
at slightly higher than atmospheric pressure, they must be. So the
wikipedia explanation for moka machines must be correct.

The claims of espresso sites that temps much higher than 90C ruin the
brewing process seem to contradict the moka brewing process -- the
only explanation I see is that the chemistry changes quite a bit at
the espresso pressures. Moka pressures are only slighty above
atmospheric.

Jon.
Not replacing my Mr. Coffee anytime soon...

The other adult beverage.....
 

"jeff miller" wrote in message
...


well alrighty then!! another thing to look forward to when next we go
a-fishin.

As easily said as done! Well, if we invite Mr. Baker so that we can use the
electrical appliances......otherwise we have to roast in a pan over a
campfire and grind the beans by hand with twelve pounds of mortar and
pestle.

Wolfgang

The other adult beverage.....
 

wrote:

On Jan 11, 9:27 am, Conan The Librarian wrote:

Did you ever get one of those little Ikea espresso maker thingies
like I had at my campsite?

Not only do they make a good cuppa fairly quickly but they are also
pretty light in weight- the cast aluminum ones anyhow.

Is this the one?: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80080535

I've got a
medium sized one that lives in my car-camping equipment box, but it's
been known to sneak its way into my backpack for away-from-the-car
trips as well. The small amount of extra weight is worth it! (For
me, that is. Tom N's packing list impresses me, but I need at least a
FEW niceties on the trail!)

Trail? Oh, you mean where you actually carry all the stuff on your
back and *then* set up camp.

I used to do that too. These days I have a slightly different
definition for "roughing it".


Chuck Vance (just ask Jeff and Wolfgang)

The other adult beverage.....
 

wrote in message
...
On Jan 11, 10:57 am, "Wolfgang" wrote:

Give us enough coffee......or other adult beverages......and we fly!
:)

Or ursine encouragement. :-)

I was.....um.....luring it away to save Frank. Yeah, that's what I was
doing.

Wolfgang
it's true what they say.....no good dead, however small, goes unpunished.
:(

The other adult beverage.....
 

Wolfgang wrote:

wrote in message
...
On Jan 11, 10:57 am, "Wolfgang" wrote:


Give us enough coffee......or other adult beverages......and we fly!
:)

Or ursine encouragement. :-)

I was.....um.....luring it away to save Frank. Yeah, that's what I was
doing.

Wolfgang
it's true what they say.....no good dead, however small, goes unpunished.
^^^^

Interesting spelling. Was that an accident? :-)


Chuck Vance (no pun intended)

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 11, 11:07 am, Conan The Librarian wrote:
wrote:
Not only do they make a good cuppa fairly quickly but they are also
pretty light in weight- the cast aluminum ones anyhow.

Is this the one?:http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80080535

Well, that one uses the same method, but is likely made of stainless.
I've got a couple various shapes and sizes like that at home. The one
I camp with is cast aluminum like this:

http://bialettishop.com/Merchant2/gr...xpressMiva.jpg

B

The other adult beverage.....
 

"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...
Wolfgang wrote:

wrote in message
...
On Jan 11, 10:57 am, "Wolfgang" wrote:


Give us enough coffee......or other adult beverages......and we fly!
:)
Or ursine encouragement. :-)

I was.....um.....luring it away to save Frank. Yeah, that's what I was
doing.

Wolfgang
it's true what they say.....no good dead, however small, goes unpunished.
^^^^

Interesting spelling. Was that an accident? :-)


Chuck Vance (no pun intended)

Opps!

Wolfgang
who would still rather be read than dead.

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 11, 11:03*am, "Wolfgang" wrote:
roasting also adds one
degree or another of ritual, a consideration easily dismissed by some, but
important to many others.

My first thought is it's the difference between taste and enjoyment.
In thinking about it, however, I can't come up with many "rituals" I
enjoy beyond food and drink. I simply will not drink gin without the
ritual of shaking it with ice & serving in an appropriate glass. I
don't drink tea without boiling fresh water. I like to knead bread,
though the machine stuff tastes just as good. I'm incapable of
chopping vegetables with a carving knife. (Okay, maybe I'm bordering
on OCD here.)

When I was a more frequent pipe smoker, the subtle rituals of properly
packing a hand-carved Danish pipe, etc. were pointlessly important.
(i.e. Sure, you can stuff some Captain Black into a Dr. Grabow & light
it; but that's just smoking, not enjoying the smoke.)

Joe F.

The other adult beverage.....
 

On Jan 11, 11:02 am, Conan The Librarian wrote:

On the woodworking front: Bought a nice mesquite slab from a local
place the other day. It's got a sweet natural edge, and I'm gonna turn
it into a display shelf for odds-and-ends. I jointed the cut edge and
chiseled/rasped away the bark from the natural edge.

Then I set to work on removing the bandsaw marks. Tearout city as
the grain changed every couple of inches. So I grabbed a card scraper
and set to work. Lovely, meditative work ... and the grain is really
starting to shine. Can't wait to hit it with some oil ... maybe an
oil/beeswax mix.

Oh, and the price ... ~$8/bf for 12" wide semi-clear 5/4 stock.
*meep* *meep*

Chuck Vance (so how's things up nawth?)

Well I COULD gloat about the trip I made to the country recently-
about an hour from home- to purchase 60-70 bf of cherry and q-sawn
sycamore (lacewood) from a small mill owner. Despite having no
immediate use in mind, I couldn't help myself from getting a clear
5/4, 20" wide 5' long piece of cherry. The board was just too
beautiful to NOT buy it. Ditto the lacewood- have no idea what I'll
use it for, but that grain! BOI-OI-OI-NG! The small load ran me
about $3/bf. He charged about $2/bf for the lacewood (merely 10"
wide). But I don't want to gloat. :-) I guess we BOTH suck :-)

I won't send pics of the kitchen stuff, it's pretty utilitarian. But
next up is putting most of that cherry (sans the wide board) to use on
a glass-door bookcase.

Finish: I've been messing with a turps-blo-beeswax mix that is very
nice. The turps thins the wax nicely, so the mix is a nice
consistency for wiping. I got it somewhere- FWW? Becksvoort?

I *do* love that dado plane (both of them!), well worth the exorbitant
price you charged me :-) and look forward to using it on the bookcase
project. Just wished you'd put a decent edge on the cutters before
you sent 'em :-)

B

The other adult beverage.....
 

"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...
Wolfgang wrote:

"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...

Did you ever get one of those little Ikea espresso maker thingies like
I had at my campsite?

Nah, I haven't gotten one. Espresso is something I like every once in a
great while.....not enough to justify buying apparatus for making it.
I've found that mooching off of fishing companions suits my needs
perfectly. :)

That's cool. I also enjoyed mooching your advice and that Pass Lake.
:-)

Now if Wolfgang can just forgive me for using Starbucks (aka,
"Charbucks") in the thing. :-}
The one nice thing about Starbucks is that you can use any of their
beans to make espresso. No, it won't be good, but none of it will be
worse than any other.

It's sort of the McDonalds of the coffee world in that respect.

And to tie in with another part of this thread: McDonalds in
Canuckistan have been serving pretty decent coffee for quite a while. I
never drink coffee at convenience stores or fast food restaurants, but
Carol told me to try some one day and I was surprised at how much it
tasted like real coffee. :-}

Chuck Vance (who admits to knowing next to nothing at all about
coffee, except it goes nicely with a cig when sitting by the Little
River on a cool morning)
Yeah, that was good.

Indeed. And I hope to repeat that scene this year. Nothing finalized
yet, but it looks like Carol has resigned herself to the fact that I plan
to make the trip again. She even got me some new speakers for my car for
xmas, saying if I was gonna be driving all those miles, I should at least
have some decent sound in there. :-)

So I should be back about the same time of year (early May), and I plan
to camp in the same spot if possible.

I'll bring my coffee maker ... you bring the beans. :-)


Chuck Vance (and a few Pass Lakes)

I'm currently trying to decide which of several time slots and venues Jeff
has proposed to take him up on. So many choices, so little time! :(

Wolfgang

The other adult beverage.....
 

The other adult beverage.....
 

"Steve" wrote in message
ews.com...
On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:35:10 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Jan 10, 1:58 pm, Steve wrote:
So this phrase is incorrect?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_Ex...s._drip_coffee

If you mean Wikipedia's claim that "Due to the higher pressures
involved, the mixture of water and steam reaches temperatures well
above 100 °C" then yes, that claim is incorrect.

I know nothing about espresso and other high-falutin' coffee machines,
but I do remember something from chemistry class -- if they really
operate at higher than atmospheric pressure, then the claim is
absolutely correct. Higher pressure corresponds to higher boiling
point. If the machine brings the water to boil under higher pressure,
then higher temps are being used.

Jon.
Doing my part to drag civilization down :-)

You're thinking pressure cooker.
Think percolator and you will be closer. The pressure is not that
high, certainly nowhere near the 9-10 bars of pressure for espresso.
Calling moka pots "stove top espresso makers" is a misnomer. They
can't make espresso. It's not a percolator, either.

Right. The important thing to keep in mind is that it is not necessary to
bring the entire contents of the vessel to boiling temperature. A
percolator works on the principle of boiling a small quantity of water and
using the pressure generated by creating steam in a small sub-compartment
within the vessel to push up a column of water which then spills over into
the basket holding the coffee. The water in that column, early in the
process, is far below boiling temperature. Throughout the process, the bulk
of the water is steadily rising in temperature but comes nowhere near the
boiling point. Moreover, as the container is not tightly sealed, there is
no build up of pressure except, briefly and intermittently, under the curved
plate resting on the bottom; consequently, the boiling temperature of the
water remains essentially at the usual for atmospheric pressure.

I'm not sure exactly how stove top espresso makers are configured, but it's
safe to assume that something like the same principal is at
work.....pressure from the steam generated by boiling a small portion of the
water forces the rest of the somewhat cooler water through the mechanism.

Wolfgang