Guest espresso? I wish. Unfortunately this meager helping of Hairbender was just enought for my morning cappuccino and a dialed ristretto. After all the mucking around I’ve only got a third of the stuff left.The verdict: incredibly sweet and tangy, notes of caramel and fruit, nice body.
Two days ago our very first fully trained barista – Milo – dropped by the shop to say hello. After leaving us to go to school in Seattle he eventually landed a job for Stumptown’s new operation in their wholesale warehouse. Today, I was in Seattle recording some drum tracks for the new album by local fave Michael Carlos at a studio on Capitol Hill and guess what lay just a stone’s throw away? STUMPTOWN’S NEW SEATTLE CAFE! That’s what. Could this be mere coincidence? A simple happenstance of criss-crossing interests? I think not. That beautifully poured double ristretto of Haribender was destined for my lips – as was the uber-fresh brown bagged bean I now possess. Can’t wait to squash some sweet Stumptown espresso into my portafilter tomorrow morning!
This past week Emily and I made the trek to Sandpoint, a beautiful berg nestled against the shores of Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho. Often used as a base camp for conquests of nearby Schweitzer ski hill The quaint resort town is the home of Deidrich Coffee Roasters, manufacturers of some of the most advanced roasting equipment available. We were there for a two day seminar in preparation for becoming bona fide COFFEE ROASTERS!! That’s right, Caffè Mela will be roasting our own coffee in the very near future! In the seminar we learned a ton about coffee origins, cultivation and processing, as well as the various ways farmers get their coffee to market. This portion of was led by Chris Davidson of Atlas Coffee. After a nice into (for most) to cupping, Stephen Dietrich himself talked for the rest of the day about roaster technology, roast profiling, managing the roasting process, and his general roasting philosophy. Day two consisted of a factory tour and an extensive roast profile development segment capped by four hours of roasting! My wife and I were able to roast three batches of Columbia (see photo) and thanks to Michael, Dietrich’s General Manager (and roasting coach) we were able to achieve an excellent profile right off the bat! Now let’s see how long it takes me to duplicate such a profile on my own!
We’ll soon be roasting on an IR-3 like this one.
Currently we are constructing a small building out behind our shop to house the IR-3 model roaster and it respective catalytic oxidizer. The price of the exhaust ducting made placing the set-up inside cost-prohibitive, hence our sweet-smelling outhouse! We purchased a carefully used unit form Jon Ferguson of Cultiva Coffee in Lincoln, Nebraska. I’ll have more about the status of our roastery soon.
