20 posts tagged “coffee”
The Good:
Today, I was able to write a really good storyarc script, wholly enabled by imbibing possibly immoral amounts of Arabian coffee.
The Bad:
Now I can't sleep becuase I drank possibly immoral amounts of Arabian coffee.
The Stupid:
I also ate half of an 18" pizza; now I feel like I have rocks in my stomach in addition to my being wired.
In other, sad, news, the Gloria Jean's at Glorietta 4 seems to have closed. I'm sad, since I could get good coffee beans at half Starbucks' and The Coffee Bean's prices. Leave it up to the sheeple who go more for brand names instead of what's actually really good coffee.
Today was pretty crazy. Hordes of people came in, ordering tea lattes like there was no tomorrow. The ENB (espresso-based beverages and regular ole' brewed coffee) station was pretty much overwhelmed, swamped by tea latte orders by the fives, sixes, sevens and eights, and there was but one portafilter to work it all through with (we seriously need another for tea lattes!).
Most of the day I was stationed at the ENB, doing all those tea lattes and espresso based beverages in between. Another barista would come and help me by pulling shots while I steamed milk and mixed and finished beverages. I'll be honest with ya, I've only been on the job a few weeks, and while I've gotten pretty comfortable with most of the beverage preparations, I'm not that fast. But I ain't slow either. I just do my best to make sure that the drink I'm making meets the set standards I was taught and nothing less.
That's why I got seriously pissed when this veteran barista starts getting on my case to go faster. I told him I was doing the best I can, and going as fast as I can, and he says that's not good enough. I say that I can't do what's not possible. I could only do what I could to the best of my ability. And this guy goes "that's no excuse". Douchebaggery! *fingerwag*
This is the same guy who told me to slow down and try to focus, when he saw me making mistakes when I tried to do things too fast. Now he tells me to go faster than I realistically can... which will likely make me make more mistakes and thus slowing down everything in effect.
Well, I just decided to shrug it off. What's he gonna do, crack a bullwhip to make me work faster? Shyeah. (Truth is, dude's actually a pretty cool guy. I guess the situation just got to him and it stressed it even more that a newb barista [me] wasn't working as fast as he would have liked).
If I work hard enough, I think I can get to be as good as that guy someday. But right now, I'm just me.
Anyway, I completely missed lunch due to the hordes of people coming in. We also ran out of milk, and we had to ask other nearby stores for help. Everything was running low and the counters were a mess. Paper cups, cup lids, cup sleeves, you name it. We were also seriously undermanned, which made matters worse. People were piling up at the pick up counter demanding that their drinks be served yesterday, and complaining that they've waited x number of minutes and so. We just tried our best to reassure them that we were working as fast as we could on their orders, but it didn't seem to satisfy them.
Things even got so crazy that at one point, some people just left and didn't claim their orders, just leaving them on the pickup counter. Well, those go on the wastage form, and I hate having to be the one to report stuff like that. Makes it look like it was my fault (which of course, sucks, anyway you look at it). I also prepared some tea lattes that on of my finishers (some baristas rotated in and out as my starters/finishers) didn't finish for some reason, and those too went on the wastage form (again, I hate being the guy who reports these things).
Oh well, it's a learning experience. I just hope that the next time I have to "learn", we're not understaffed so that we'll be well-equipped to deal with and satisfy everybody's orders.
Other stuff today:
- My Great-grandma died this morning.
- My throat infection seems to have gone away. Hooray for garlic as an antibiotic.
- ...Still got to do something about this lack of energy, though.
Man, things have been crazy the last four days.
I've been revisiting my old artwork, trying my hand at writing short stories, sleeping close to seventeen hours in one day, drinking different kinds of tea (Green, Oolong, Chamomile), trying (and failing) to finish leftover coffee beans that have stayed in rotation for a little bit too long. I mean, after the novelty wears off, who really wants to drink pepper-flavored coffee on the regular? Seriously.
I also tried to clean my 4-year old keyboard... which was interesting, to say the least. Okay, it was disgusting. Vacuum, Wipeout, Soap and Water. Good riddance, E. Coli.
I was supposed to attend a coffee seminar at Starbucks Waltermart this morning, but I overslept due to a short story that I had to just bang out 'cos it wouldn't let me sleep. It's about a guy who wakes up in an empty room to find that everyone in his city has turned into a zombie (original, I know). But it's the delivery and the context that matter. Plus, I still don't know if I really want zombies or giant, pink, gene-spliced mutant bunny-roaches with lightsaber carrots. I also plan to insert some socio-political commentary somewhere in there about socialized healthcare. It'll be a hit with the kids, I tell ya.
I managed to roll off my bed and give myself a concussion by falling off the floor, so I'd have no choice but to stay awake or die. Then, I headed off to Origin Cafe to do an interview with Ms. Gina Sy, the proprietress. I expected to do a 15-minute interview, but it was so much fun we ended up talking for 90 minutes. After that, I stole a cappuccino and headed off to Glorietta.
Tumaas nanaman ang pamasahe? Kamote. Kamote kayong lahat. Tse. 11 pesos na sa bus, 8 na sa jeep.
Headed over to Starbucks Makeroom to my homies in the coffee industry (what up Jay, K-rissy, Chai; keep pullin' those shots right and we be down) to pick up my stash (a fudge brownie, decaf drip, and a replacement beaker).
Went home, unloaded my digicam and the digital audio recorder. Gonna be workin' on those tomorrow. The interview should be up on coffeerev within the next two weeks; still have to transcribe and edit it, make it available as a podcast, and then there's the new Africa Kitamu coffee beans that I have to review.
I've also come to a realization that not all country music (or similar-sounding genres) has the tendency to inflict temporary retardation and/or loss of cognitive and motor functions. Lately, I've been listening to some Carey Ott, Assembly of Dust, and Neko Case... they blend in well with some of the lighter pop/jazz/bossa songs I've got on one playlist (like Better Than Ezra, Coldplay, Jamie Cullum and Miho Hatori).
I'm also now really seriously thinking of a reload.
The next few days will be fun. Now if I can just get some sleep and not die due to lack thereof.
Lace and Kim told me about the newly opened Mozu Cafe over at Amethyst Street in Ortigas. So I checked the place out, and we had lunch. I'll be putting up the article after I rewrite my draft.
Finally back on track after dropping everything to help mom with stuff before she headed off to Spain... and man do I need to get my mind back on writing and on work. Otherwise I'd go crazy if I don't do anything productive.
Starbucks has been spoiling me lately. Last week I got two free drink vouchers, which I used yesterday and today. So I've ended the first two workdays of the week with coffee and confections.
Gotta love just hangin' out at coffee shops and reading the paper - losing yourself in a calm, stress-free environment while drinking coffee is one of my favorite things to do; to the point of it nearing a vice, if you will.
Delicious food, good coffee, and early 20th century Jazz... tough to beat that combination.
Yesterday: Coffee Jelly Frappuccino. Today: White Mocha Frappuccino. I wonder when I'll be getting another free voucher?
I was curious. They keep advertising that they have premium coffee (which, I believe, can sometimes be used to denote awesomeness), so why not check it out? Not like I had any choice at that time.
I was thinking that they probably used the same beans for the espresso beverages and the drip coffee; I asked them, and that was pretty much the case.
In other words, their coffee was shit. Premium shit, if you'd like to juxtapose their advertised term.
When they first set up shop, people just kept pouring in. The donuts were freshly made, smelled good, and tasted great. Hey, for people who've become so used to Dunkin' Donuts crappy little donuts, taking a bite out of Gonuts' stuff would send them into epileptic seizures of pleasure or nirvana - at the time.
Then Krispy Kreme set up shop in the Philippines. The real deal's here, with bigger and better-tasting donuts. Gonuts Donuts is now officially screwed.
If you're gonna rip something off, you could at least make sure it's just as good as the original.
It took me a while to get to tasting this coffee, but here it is. I picked up a bag of Starbuck's Black Apron Exclusive just some time ago, and took my time to really get to savor the flavor. Thing about this is, I'm not really a fan of coffees from Sumatra. But I decided to give this one a chance and see what makes it so "special".
Coffees from Sumatra are usually full-bodied and exhibit a strong, earthy flavor, with herbal and spice undertones, and practically little to no acidity at all (which is why I don't like 'em, since the "earthy/dirty" taste lingers in me taste buds). Using the regular Sumatra coffee from Starbucks as a point of comparison, I brewed myself up a few cups of the Sumatra Siborong-Borong.
On the first sip, the earthy flavor characteristic of coffees from the region is the very first thing that comes up. I was pleasant surprised by what followed - the coffee had more zest than what you'd usually expect from a Sumatran coffee; and the flavor mellowed after just a few seconds, indicating a light but very welcome acidity in the mix. What's more, this coffee more or less retained the flavor as it cooled, as opposed to the regular Sumatra drip that Starbucks offers whose flavor kind of falls flat on cooling. (I don't know if it's just me, but that's what I tasted at the time).
Anyway, after getting a tast of the Sumatra Siborong-Borong from Starbucks, I think I'll start trying more coffees from Sumatra from this point on (just not the regular beans from Starbucks - I still don't like that!).
If you can still get a bag of this coffee at your local Starbucks outlet, I'd heartily recommend you pick one up.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of checking out the Coffee Break Festival at the Glorietta 4, featuring several coffee merchants and their wares. This particular festival features purely Philippine-grown coffee from different regions, as well as the merchants' own blends and varieties.
The last time I was here, I was only starting to get into the art of coffee drinking, so I really didn't do much but load up on the free coffee (hey, who wouldn't?). This time, I made sure to savor each and every cup of coffee available and to properly review them for your perusal.
Before I get into it, let me just give you a short primer on Philippine coffee. The Philippines grows four varieties of commercially viable coffee, namely Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberica, better known locally as Barako/Baraco. Similar to it's neighbors in the SE Asia region, Philippine grown coffees exhibit flavors ranging mostly from citrusy to earthy (although not quite as robust as the Sumatra and Sulawesi varieties), as well as coffee with fruity notes and the rarer kind that exhibits mild, spice and herbal undertones.
So, let's get to it!
Siete Baracos Coffee
It wasn't bad, but nothing really special here.
Gourmet's Coffee
Anyway, they had several varieties of coffee available, simply named Robusta, Mountain Grown, and Batangas Baraco, respectively. At the time I was at their booth, they were brewing their Robusta variety (all the merchants brew just 1 variety at a time).
Their Robusta coffee exhibited nice acidity, a medium-full body with earthy flavor and citrus notes, and finishes with a mild, earthy zest.
I was egging them to brew me up a batch of their Mountain Grown coffee, but to no avail. Oh well.
The Coffee Beanery
This was by far the best tasting coffee that I had tried in the exhibit; these guys know what they're doing!
Still, I would have been really interested to compare how the Cravings blend would have tasted as a regular drip coffee.
Continental Coffee / Batangas Harvest Coffee
I sampled their milder Baraco coffee, which exhibited a nice, winey flavor with cherry notes, very similar to the coffee from Amadeo that I wrote about a while back, albeit this one had a more pleasant medium body.
It doesn't have much in the way of acidity, so the winey flavor tends to stay in your mouth for a while; I'm not sure if this is a desirable trait for some people, but as for me, I'm not too much of a fan of this one because of that. It gets old quickly for me, is what I'm trying to say.
Monk's Blend
Theirs is a full-bodied coffee, with a very nice nutty and milky flavor, with a subtly sweet caramel finish, and nicely balanced acidity (as such, the flavor lingers for only about 3-5 seconds, enough for you to savor it but not enough to make you tire of it for too soon). I liked it; prolly the best tasting coffee next to The Coffee Beanery's Cravings Blend.
However, one thing ticked me off about these guys. One of the attendants tried to sell me the pre-ground variety, and included in on of his "selling points" was that it had a shelf life of one year. One freaking year. Coffee grounds. Still fresh, he says. All the while expounding the fact that they do not use any sort of preservatives.
Are you freaking kidding me?
Coffee is food. Food spoils after some time. And somebody please correct me if I have it all wrong, but ground coffee spoils after a week in open air and a little after two months when it's sealed, does it not? Even when it's frozen, what I know is that coffee cannot last for as long as a year without preservatives and still be fresh and taste good. I just cannot imagine it, even when you use a vacuum-sealed bag or container. So far, I've asked a handful of baristas about this and they concurred that it was just not possible.
So, while their coffee tasted quite good, minus points for using chemical preservatives - and for that guy trying to make me believe his bullshit.
Cafe de Lipa
For this one, I had their Cafe de Lipa Baraco, served up as an Americano. It had a thin-medium body with a winey flavor and cherry notes. Similar to Continental Coffee's offering that I tasted, but less desirable (in my opinion), due to the thinner mouthfeel.
Besides the merchants I took to and those that I didn't, there were other booths that I didn't bother to visit, namely Figaro, Nescafe, and Dunkin' Donuts. I already wrote about my dislike for Figaro's drip coffee (although I do like their espresso-based drinks), so I didn't bother with them. Dunkin' Donuts has already gone the drain a few years ago, so you can't expect a donut shop who can't even sell decent donuts to provide decent coffee (you oughta see the donuts they sell here, they are damn small!). And Nescafe? Well... forget it.
What I do wish the merchants did was offer more than one coffee variety at a time, or at least a drip and an espresso brew at once or the same time. It makes it harder to compare offerings from different merchants when you also have to factor in different brewing methods. Anyway, those gripes do not really diminish the event in any large way whatsoever.
All in all it was a pretty good event. Not without it's shortcomings, but it was good; I got to sample a wider range of coffees from the Philippines as well as revisit old flavors, all in one place! Of course, tasting coffee in a mall exhibition cannot replace the experience of going to different coffee growing regions and savoring the coffee in their own native context.
Similar Articles:
How Not To Brew Coffee
Bag Of Beans
Resources:
Philippine Coffee Board
Cordillera Coffee
Of all the ways to prepare coffee, Filipinos have prolly chosen the worst way of doing it - boiling. Regardless of the roast or grind, we (and by we I mean they) will simply dump an unmeasured amount of coffee (based simply on tantsa, or instinct, if you will) into a pot of water and bring it to a complete boil for five minutes.
The result? Coffee burned beyond recognition.
A prime example of this was when we were visiting our relatives south of the capital. A traditional Filipino breakfast is always inclusive of coffee along with pan de sal (bread rolls) or eggs and stir-fried rice; I hung around the kitchen while they prepped breakfast. Being the elitist bastard [poseur?] that I am, I immediately expostulated on their incorrect method of brewing.
I asked them all to get cups and to taste the coffee they had just made. It was bland, they said, but also adding that they had not yet added milk and sugar so it was to be expected. On this point I decided to give them a crash course in coffee preparation and cupping (with what limited facilities were available to us).
We started off with a clean pot of water (4 cups), bringing it to a boil, and letting it cool off for a few seconds. Once it was off the boil, we added the proportional amount of coffee grounds (around two table spoons per cup - no scoop was available to us at that time). After four minutes, I transferred the coffee to a pitcher, running it through a strainer to remove the used grounds.
Next, I asked them to get two cups each, one for the coffee they boiled, and another for our current batch. I asked them to smell both. The boiled coffee had a burnt aroma, while the ones we made afterward had a subtle fruity aroma. With that done, we all took sips from both cups, noting the mouthfeel and flavor of each brew. The boiled coffee tasted very bland and had very thin body - much like flavored water; the properly brewed coffee had a medium body and winey flavor with cherry tones.
They weren't used to the strong flavor of properly brewed coffee (as opposed to next to no flavor of boiled coffee), so they were understandably reluctant. I gave them some notes on coffee origins and flavors, and some other tips to find the kind of coffee they'd like. After giving it some thought, they started to appreciate notable differences of the twain.
Then, come lunch time, they went right back to boiling it. Oh well.
Notes:
The coffee grounds were purchased from a market in Amadeo, Cavite. It was unevenly ground, with mostly coarse particles and some slightly finer particles. We were unsure of the kind of bean or if it was a blend or single origin, since it was purchased by weight (no mark or brand). It was definitely unlike the coffee I tasted a while back in Bag of Beans, which while of the same origin, had a earthy, citrusy tones.
My Groups
-
It's all about food & wine Updated: 13 hours ago
-
pinoy Updated: Yesterday
-
Coffee Updated: 5 days ago
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
