Jakob's Bowl: This Ain’t No Java Jive

I guess this is the second instance of ‘one thing led to another…’ for 2009, and as with yeast-leavened pancakes, the chain of events commenced in 2008 with the outcome in May of this year, and it was an even more fundamentally rewarding outcome at that.

After having an epiphany about coffee at the Caffè Umbria Roastery a number of years back - with shots pulled by a third-generation coffee roaster from Perugia, Emanuele Bizzari, I couldn’t even envision having a coffee that was not made with an espresso machine. Unfortunately, this was about the time that the ‘little coffee company that could’ and its major competitors here in Seattle started to convert to the pushbutton espresso machines. This had the dual effect of dumbing down even further the coffee they served, but also turning marginal baristas into pushbutton zombies, which would eventually dilute the talent pool for the small independent coffee houses.

I happened to frequent two small places on opposite sides of town, each owned and operated by a husband and wife, and both using one of the best micro-roasters in town for their beans. In one, the wife pulled an amazing shot while the husband pulled pencil shavings out of the machine, and at the other the situation was reversed. In most other places you wouldn’t know the damage until after the first sip. It was getting so bad that even with a cup full of ice, the coffee tasted crappy. I also remember sitting in the lobby of Portland’s Ace Hotel sipping a double (caffeinated) espresso from Stumptown that would have made sipping spoiled milk seem pleasant.

I had been contemplating buying a commercial one station espresso machine for years, but $1000 to $1500 was more than I wanted to invest, and then there was the question of developing enough skill to pull a properly extracted shot. La Marzocco was developing a single station that would work either from a plumbed connection or a reservoir, but being the Mercedes of espresso machines, it was going to be priced at just over $3000 - when it actually debuted in 2007 it was priced well over $5000, and now it sells for $7500. A happenstance cup of iced coffee in Portland in the late spring of 2008 made me reconsider the non-espresso possibilities. This ice coffee was bursting with ‘espresso-like flavor without any bitterness, and it was cold-brewed using the ‘Toddy’ method. A little research later and I was opening a UPS package that contained the authentic Toddy cold brewing system.

The Toddy method used one pound of ground coffee, nine cups of room temperature water, a plastic urn with a fiber filter, a glass carafe, and twelve hours to produce a silky smooth coffee concentrate without any of the bitter compounds associated with poorly made coffee. Sealed air-tight in its carafe and refrigerated, the concentrate was supposed to retain its flavor for two weeks. Without any heat, only the ‘good’ compounds were leached from the coffee, the unpleasant acids and bitter compounds were left behind.

I began by testing a half-pound each of a decaf blend and a caffeinated Sumatra, and while both led to good results, the more robust and full-bodied Sumatra was clearly the flavor winner. The manufacturer recommended a 3-to-1 dilution with either hot or cold water. I assume this was to emulate ‘brewed’ coffee since I needed to us a 2-to1 to approximate my Americano. The consistency alone seemed to make the Toddy a winner, but even at a 2-to-1 dilution, the cost savings would be outstanding.

I continued to experiment with different roasts around town and in Portland, usually a half-pound at a time, but eventually one pound. Lighter roasted coffees, such as most decafs, didn’t provide enough coffee ‘punch,’ and this made me begin to suspect that the unappealing acids and bitter compounds weren’t the only things that were being left in the grounds. Eventually, another, more serious concern cropped up when even with the darkest roast beans, the coffee concentrate lost flavor rapidly after about one week - I even switched to different air-tight containers just in case that was the problem with no luck. Even though I grew increasingly unhappy, I kept on using the Toddy into 2009 when I stumbled on information about the Aeropress.

At first glance, the plastic plunger with an attached filter might resemble sort of an inverted French Press, but there are three key differences between the two methods. While the French Press uses boiling water, the Aeropress manufacturer recommends using water heated to only 176° - I assume this is to prevent the leaching of bitter compounds. The coffee and water are stirred in the Aeropress and then after ten seconds the water is pressed through the grounds, as opposed to the grounds being pressed through the water in the French Press - and then remaining in contact with the coffee. The Aeropress takes less time than the French Press and from one to four cups can be made with a single press. Additionally, since a paper filter is used, instead of fine metal mesh, there are little to no ‘fine’ coffee grounds in the coffee.

I bought my press in Portland along with a half-pound of ground Ristretto Roasters Beaumont Blend (espresso roast) and a half-pound of their decaf. The Aeropress worked like a charm, every time. By adjusting the amount of coffee, I could make a full cup of coffee that was more robust than an Americano but not quite as intense or thick as espresso, an even better outcome than I expected - I haven’t been able to enjoy a coffeehouse Americano since, and the Toddy went into the dumpster.

There was a catch however, dealing with ground coffee. At even my summer rate of consumption, one pound of coffee would last me two weeks, but once ground coffee starts losing its flavor rapidly, lasting in decent condition for a week at the most. I also noticed that the bulk grinders used in coffee houses didn’t do a very good job grinding evenly and the coffee was always very warm just after being ground. Given all the money I saved with the Toddy and now with the Aeropress, I decided to invest in a real conical burr grinder. I bought the Baratza Virtuoso Coffee Grinder from Clive Coffee in Portland, and it’s done a consistently excellent job for seven months now. (Clive Coffee also does a good job sourcing and roasting beans; I can highly recommend their Sumatra Mandheling.)