Matteo!

Jangle_Jamie · December 16

"we don't get bent out of shape for not staying on topic"

I'd like to know your coffee process/coffee of choice Buco! Mine is a flat white made with a semi-decent espresso machine and a good grinder (but my wife is a trained barista from Australia) and one of my favourite (or frustrating) things is trying new coffee beans from anywhere and everywhere. Light roast, sweet and interesting. I can't play guitar until I've had at least two coffees.

billyshakes · December 16

https://djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/119046#Comment_119046

Did I miss someone say they wanted to hear In a Gadda Da Vida?

rarely_plays · December 16

this guy and joscho have a video coming out in january. gonna be sick

Buco · December 16

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/119048#Comment_119048

I think that does warrant another thread!

wim · December 16

So the flat white has marched all the way up to the Scottish Highlands. Amazing. As a displaced Melburnian, I am proud - a bit hard to find a good flattie here in Chicago. Jamie, ask your barista wife if she can serve one in the shell of an avocado, with a bit of toast on the side.

littlemark · December 17

Really, in the avacado skin?

Buco · December 17

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/119062#Comment_119062

Even among the excess of Chicago's specialty coffee shops, flat white isn't common?

@Jangle_Jamie If I'll order an espresso drink then it's a cortado (or a gibraltar as they renamed it at Intelligentsia). But at home I almost always make espresso. I'll elaborate later, gotta go...

Buco · December 17

Well, the coffee talk already took off so I'll continue here and if it picks up maybe @wim can move it elsewhere. I looked up flat white, seems like a halfway between a cortado and a latte. Cortado is a 1:1 espresso to milk ratio, flat white 1:2.

@Jangle_Jamie I make coffee about every style possible: Bosnian (Turkish), frech press, pour over, espresso. These days usually espresso. My espresso comes from a super old Starbucks Barista machine (rebranded Saeco) and a Capresso burr grinder. Neither is supposed to be able to make a decent coffee. However, you've seen the picture, it tastes as good as it looks. I've had far worse espresso experiences in the specialty coffee places. I'm ready to upgrade the machine but I'm going to keep using this one as long as it works as well as it does.

I went through different stages of making espresso but I've settled on the following. I use 17 grams of coffee ground on the finest setting of this grinder. I tamp it very lightly now, barely over the weight of the tamper. We're talking a couple of pounds, max. I make between 1.5-2 oz of coffee, depending on the body I want. Number one ingredient for a good espresso, in my experience is the fresh beans.

I'm reasonably consistent and put care into making coffee but I don't get down to the minutia of science behind it. Which a lot of people seem to these days. To the point of the process being more important than the act of drinking coffee. In my Bosnian culture, coffee time is one of the highlights of the day, it's the time for either solitary reflection and relaxation or socializing with your friends. Or both: There is a joke about two Bosnians drinking coffee: they're sitting at the table, slowly sipping away...one guy, looking at the distance, says "yeeaah", the other guy replies "yyyup"...they finish their coffee and one of them gets up to leave and says "well, thank you, that was a good talk".

I don't drink Bosnian coffee (Turkish coffee more or less) here in the states, only when I'm there visiting or I make it occasionally for friends here. I love it though. I loved the smell since I was a little child. One of my favorite memories is my grandma roasting a small batch over fire in her yard and grinding and making a cup it as soon as it cooled off. That also goes completely against the modern wisdom of having to rest the freshly roasted coffee for at least a few days. But that scent, the air still filled with the smell of the fresh roast was intoxicating. Then the small cup would show up, filled with the dark beverage, the top of it covered with the layer of creamy hazelnut colored foam, that looked and smelled just wonderful. She'd let me have a sip (I was maybe 5 or 6) and I'd love the taste.

Talking about things that you never forget...

rarely_plays · December 17

I haven't told a lot of people, but I'm working on a prototype of a stainless steel double pour over. It's pretty bad ass. I'll post a picture when it's done. Stangely, however, after years of using a pour over, I'm going back to a regular coffee maker, I just like the taste better.