Chemex Coffee Maker

For Christmas I was gifted a 6-cup Chemex coffee maker, and I am just now getting around to using it. I know what you're thinking, how could I call myself a lover of all things coffee and not want to immediately try using it?! 

I have no answer for you, I'm embarrassed enough. But I will say it's pretty much the best thing that has happened to me since learning how to do a pour over. 

A pour over is perfect when you just want to make one cup, but that's not always the case. The Chemex definitely takes the spotlight when I need to make coffee for more than one person (or multiple cups for myself). It's basically a super sized pour over, and let's be honest, I normally need more than one cup of coffee :).

The filters can be found at some specialty stores, not your average grocery store. I found these particular ones at Crate and Barrel, but they are on Amazon for about the same price - chemex coffee filters.

It's ready to make some magic! Tare your scale so you can keep track of the amount of water you pour in. This time I used about 64 grams of coffee and 710 grams of water, to make enough for a little more than 2 cups.

Just like for a pour over, let the coffee bloom first. Blooming coffee for a pour over or Chemex is easy, you pour just enough water to wet the grounds and ideally, not have anything drip out yet. Pour your water in the middle, about the size of a quarter, and then let it sit for 30-45 seconds. 

Why? Simply to let the grounds breathe. There are vents on coffee bags to let CO2 escape, to let the grounds "degas". When hot water hits freshly ground coffee, the rate of degassing increases and the grounds will noticeable puff up, pushing water away from them. If water doesn't touch the grounds, then you won't get good extraction, and you won't have good coffee. So bloom your coffee people!

After blooming, pour away! Keep the same circular motion that you use for a pour over, ensuring that all grounds are getting wet.

The heat from the water is fogging it up, but it just adds to the excitement of waiting for me. 

When you're done, remove the filter and toss it (or keep your grounds and sprinkle them on your garden dirt if you are looking to increase the acidity of the soil).

Use the little spout for pouring. This vessel makes me feel like I'm a greek goddess pouring from an urn or something...I don't know why, but it made me happy so I'm going to run with it. PS - the mugs I found at Crate and Barrel too, only $3.95 each!

And after pouring a full cup, look how much I have left over! I could even consider sharing! Luckily there was no one around, so I didn't have to waste any time wrapping my mind around this option.

Happy brewing!

Rising Star Coffee Workshop

Last Saturday, I was lucky enough to have a spot in a coffee workshop held at The Brew Mentor. I had long been awaiting this moment - for about 5 weeks to be exact. I had a countdown on my calendar and every night before I went to bed I would tell Mike how many days left until the day. Some people say "I love you", my night time ritual went more like this: "Ahhh 17 more days until our coffee workshop! I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so excited!" Poor Mike.

Our spoils from the day. 1/2 pound of each green coffee bean they had to offer!

So the day finally came and off we went to learn for the best, Rising Star of course! The owner, Kim Jenkins, was there to go over any and all things that related to getting to know coffee on a more intimate level. He described his trips to the coffee farms all over the world, where they sourced their coffee from, and the amount of care and specifics that go into choosing a coffee that fit their needs. No wonder the stuff is so damn good.

Here are all the different beans. Each on has a different size, shape, and smell - so much discovering to be done!

See! Look at the tiny Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans on the far left...and then check out the size of the Panamanian ones in the upper center. Whoa.

There was tons that I learned in the 2 hour session, but I put together the top 3 things that can change your home coffee experience. Now sit patiently while I tell you.

Darwin's ready! Gosh he's handsome.

1. Your grinder matters.
       A good grinder is key to a good cup of coffee. Your grinder gives your coffee grounds their unique particle size, and consistency is what you want. A mill grinder chops the beans with a spinning blade, and just can't produce the consistency needed for extraction (pour overs, drip coffee, etc). A burr grinder has two metal plates that grind the coffee, the blades can move closer or farther depending on the size of grind you want, and it excels at a uniform grind.

Here is a semi-exaggerated visual on the difference the two: A mill grinder = dropping a hershey's chocolate bar on the ground and looking at the pieces, a burr grinder = breaking the little individual squares of a hershey's chocolate bar and looking at the pieces. Which will be more consistent? Burr grinder for the win! 

As I was whispering to Mike that we needed to buy the burr grinder immediately, he whispered back "beat ya to it" and showed me the checkout screen at amazon. Love that man. He picked the one they were using, the Baratza Encore Burr Grinder.

What a beaut'. . You set the grind by turning the top so the plastic notch aligns with a tick mark (you can see ours is set to 20 if you look real close). The higher the number, the larger the grind.

The inside of the grinder - looks smashing! Hah, pun.

And here you can see how it works; the blades will spin and the beans fall in, and then they are crushed to the indicated size.

And you only have to worry about an on and off switch, couldn't get much easier!

2. Roasting at home can be as easy as turning on an air popcorn popper.
    Literally. That's it! The general criteria is you want a air popcorn popper that has air vents in the base. The vents will shoot hot air out and push the beans around. High heat and constant movement are how you get roasted coffee. The amount of heat your air popcorn popped puts out will matter, which Mike and I found out after a few failed attempts. The one I have here is not one I would recommend because we had multiple failed attempts. But we found a better one the other day that has worked - called the Nostalgia. We found it at a Big Lots for $20...not too shabby!

Here is the first air popcorn popper we tried, the Salton. I wouldn't recommend it, we haven't been able to get anything to roast in this one. We think it doesn't get hot enough, because we never can reach first crack in it.

What you want to look for are those little vents near the bottom. The vents push the hot air out and help the beans spin, which help them roast evenly. Each air popcorn popper will be different, so definitely open it up before you buy it!

3. You are the biggest variable in every cup of coffee.
    Yep, you read that right. How are you feeling? When did you brush your teeth? What toothpaste did you use? What did you do last night? And so on. All of these things will make your cup of coffee taste different, so cut yourself some slack when roasting. You can make it as simple or as scientifically focused as you want, but just keep in mind that there are endless variables that can be altered, and it's supposed to be fun! Find what taste you like best and stay true to that! It's not worth it if you don't enjoy it :).


Here's the grinder in action!

 

And the final result looks like this! Evenly ground coffee, at last!

Coffee in Mentor!

Something wonderful has happened, and yes, it involves coffee.

Up until this past weekend, it has been very hard to find good coffee within 20 miles of where I live. When I say good coffee, I don't include Starbucks. Yes I still have to tolerate Starbucks when there are absolutely no other options and my caffeine headache is kicking in, but I still have criteria that must be met. 

Number one, I will only get the blonde roast. This is mainly because I drink my coffee black and can't stand the burnt taste of any other blend that they offer. That being said, don't get your hopes up about the flavors this blend offers. If you have ever had a good pour over, it will be about 1/10 the flavor. But I will take that over burnt and undrinkable any day. 

Number two, my blonde roast must be brewed in the Clover. The Clover is a machine that combines a vacuum pot and a french press. Basically, it offers a set temperature for the water, a better chance of consistency when the barista stirs the beans, and overall a better extraction of flavor. 

My favorite, as you know by now, is Rising Star Coffee. Other great options that I have tried (but not since I fell in love with Rising Star) are Troubadour Coffee and Erie Island Coffee. All local to Cleveland, but again, the main problem with these are that they are all located about at least 40 miles from me. Until now.

Mike and I have been going to The Brew Mentor together for some time. He buys things to brew beers while I walk around looking lost and smelling the hops and exclaiming over the deliciousness. Recently I got to talking with one of the guys that works there and that's when I found out he was interested in coffee.

Immediately I knew we were going to be best friends and I would most likely be working there within 5 years, so I started talking to him about my favorite coffee in Cleveland - Rising Star Coffee. I told him about how helpful the owner, Kim Jenkins, was when I was first learning my pour over technique. He wrote it down and I was off on my merry way.

A few weeks ago we went back in and what do you know, Rising Star Coffee was coming to the Brew Mentor!! Best. Day. Ever. Not saying that I did that, but I may or may not have done that. You're welcome people of the Eastside :).

On that note, I have to introduce you to the new members of my family. I recently bought the book, The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, and I couldn't be happier. It's a great read and it's full of details surrounding every part of a cup of coffee - whether it be how the farmers treat their beans to how to execute the perfect pour over, french press, or espresso.



And it has plenty of pictures! As my 27 year old brother always says, "it's not worth reading if it's not full of pictures". They are good ones too. The kind that make you want to get up and take some of your own, or sigh loudly and wish you could pull a Mary Poppins and jump right in. I think that would be my second super power if I could have two. Number one is definitely the ability to morph into any animal. I could breathe underwater as a dolphin, run super fast like a cheetah, AND fly like and eagle. Why choose one when you can have it all? I know, best idea ever.

Anyways, if you are looking to seriously buff up your knowledge levels on coffee, I definitely recommend this book. Plus it has a bunch of fancy recipes at the end, all that either include coffee or would taste good with coffee (although what doesn't?)

Macaroons! The man who wrote this book has a wife that is the head pastry chef of his coffee shop. What a dreamy pair. I'm not sure if Mike and I's potential titles will be as whimsical...I would be the coffee shop owner and the resident baker, and Mike would be the head computer engineer? It will have to do.

And THIS is another new member of my family, my American Weigh Scale. It goes to a tenth of a gram, and up to 2000 grams - perfect for my pour overs...and my baking addiction.

Oh, and those are the coffees I got from The Brew Mentor. They had 4 roasts available, so I tried 2 new ones that I hadn't before. Panama and Nicaragua, delicious and yet still not beating my normal favorite - Eithiopian Yirgacheffe.

The scale makes my pour over SO much easier. Instead of having to weigh out each thing separately like I used to with my old non-digital scale, now I can simply tare it. Kinda like in chemistry lab when I was in college - you place something on the scale, pour something in to get the correct weight, and then press the tare button and it goes to 0. It's the little things :).

Need some really great cold brew? Head to Rising Star. They had this 32 fl oz glass bottle available for $25. And if you bring the bottle back to get refilled, it will be only $20 for the cold brew. I couldn't pass up a deal on cold brew :).

That's all for now! Happy brewing :).

Citrus Coffee Scrub

First, I have a confession - I am not posting my grocery-shopping-for-energy-bars extravaganza just yet. As usual, I spent way too long in the grocery store and spent way too much money. But oh boy was it fun! Those pictures and that post will have to wait until a little later in the week, so while you wait, I have something to soothe your anxiety. So thoughtful of me, I know.

As I was making my 2nd cold brew the other day, I realized the abundance of coffee grounds that I had, and couldn't bear to see them thrown out. Now I'm not a hoarder or anything, I just like to make the most of something, give objects a full life and all. Coffee grounds just happened to win my sympathy this week.

So many coffee grounds! That means LOTS of iced coffee... and that excites me :). And it will probably make me shake, talk too fast, and make my heart beat abnormally. You have to pick and choose your battles, and a caffeine headache is just not a battle I bother with anymore. So basically I'm being smart...right?

My last roommate could verify my hate of waste. Multiple times she would find some sort of produce that maybe had the tiniest bit of mold on it and want to throw away the whole thing. Not okay! You better believe I didn't let that happen. She would hand it over and laugh as I washed/cut the mold off and put it right back in the fridge for my next meal. And it works, I swear!

I also choose to not heed expiration dates. I like to utilize the 5 senses I was given and make an educated decision, rather than blindly heed the cardboard gods. There have only been a few times when cardboard was smarter than me...each time a sour experience, yet not bad enough to ruin my spirit!

Anyways, all of this led me straight to the internet to see what normally goes in scrubs, and as with every recipe, I tweaked and came up with my very own.

Citrus Coffee Scrub

Gather these things:
- 1 and 1/2 cups used coffee grounds
- 1/2 cup olive oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
- 1/2 cup sugar (brown, white, whatever you want)
- zest from 1 whole lemon
- juice from 1 whole lemon

Don't love citrus and coffee together? Try mint! That was my second batch and it was equally as refreshing.

Zest a lemon right into the bowl with your coffee grounds.

And now it gets really exciting...

Clearly Darwin and Mike were feeling differently...

Then add the rest of the ingredients.

Mix, mix, mix!

Then give it a try! Mine was a little watery/oily so I added more sugar before I put it in the jar.

Mason jar to the rescue again, this is currently living in my bathroom for anyone who is feeling a little rough...haha, get it?

Why did I choose this combination? Well, the wake-the-heck-up smell from the coffee grounds combined with the zesty notes of citrus make me actually want to get up in the morning and start my day in the shower...not a characteristic I normally embody. Plus the olive oil will make your skin boyfriend smooth, win. Not to mention the health benefits of caffeine and olive oil for the skin. Any way you look at it, this scrub has plenty of offerings. I probably would have been fine just rubbing coffee grounds on my skin, but I classed it up for y'all. You're welcome!

Cold brewed coffee attempt 1!

There is nothing better to cool you down in the summer than iced coffee. I mean, there are other ways, but none that give back as much as iced coffee does. You simply take a sip, and you are whisked away on a chilly trip to flavor town. See? Iced coffee wins. Summer may be coming to an end here in Cleveland - although I did hear that it is supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow, which excites me... but that doesn't mean the iced coffee has to end.

A little preview of what is to come! Iced coffee in mason jars, nothing can beat it. But first a quick story.

My love for iced coffee began in the hot summer months in Athens, Georgia. I was a freshman in college and I had just completed my first day of rush. If anyone has ever rushed at a southern school, you'll understand. If you haven't, let me paint you a quick picture.

All the girls in the dorm try to get up earlier than they think anyone else will (wer're talking 5am and earlier), so they can shower, plug in their hair straighteners/curling irons, and get some mirror space. Then it's time to pick the perfect dress and do your make up - the holy grail is looking like you're not wearing any make up while still covering all imperfections. And then everyone is off! Strutting their stuff down sorority row, visiting the different houses and hoping that they will say or do something that impresses the girls and gets them called back for round 2. Not exactly my cup of tea...or coffee, to stick with our theme here.

After 2 days of this, I couldn't figure out why I was spending so much time on things I hated doing (showering, putting on make up, and dressing up for girls are all things I try to avoid), all just to pay lots of money for girl friends I didn't necessarily want - yet would have to call them a "sister" for the rest of my life. And that was the end of rush for me! I had a friend that felt similarly, so we took off our heels, shook out our hair, and walked barefoot into town in search of some relief from the scorching summer sun.

And there it was, Jittery Joe's Coffee.

Funky music, people who looked like they might need a shower, and the delicious smell of coffee beckoning me inside. My adoration of coffee hadn't begun yet, so I was ignorant to all of their offerings. I picked an iced coffee from Ethiopia simply because I couldn't possibly drink hot coffee at the moment - and I love the word Ethiopia. It reminds me of the word Utopia, and the thought of a place filled with all of my favorite things excites me. And yes, there would be mermaids.

Anyways, I took my first sip from the straw and was blown away. I asked the barista if the beans were flavored or if she had added anything to it. She laughed (ok, scoffed) and walked away saying "welcome to real coffee".

And that was that. My coffee world was changed. I savored every sip and tried to make that iced coffee last as long as possible. The flavors that were coming through amazed me, hints of blueberry and apricots, nothing like the hints of burning I was used to.

So now, many years of coffee drinking later, I have finally decided to master iced coffee. I learned long ago that if you want hot coffee, brew it hot. If you want cold coffee, brew it cold. If you don't stick to this, the flavor will change with every temperature change you inflict on the beans. I never listened until now. For iced coffee in the past, I always just brewed coffee hot and extra strong, and then stuck a bunch of ice in it. Fail. If you do this, please stop, it physically pains me.

Gather these items:
- a glass (or plastic) jug that can carry about 15 cups of water (3-4 Liters)
- 1 pound of coffee beans, freshly ground (any roast you like, I prefer light roasts at the moment)
- 10 cups of filtered cold water (room temperature will work as well, just not warm or hot)
- a piece of cheesecloth big enough to fit the pound of ground coffee beans in it
- 24 hours of patience (most important item for sure!)

There's my $7 glass jar from Marc's. And my $18 pound of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from Rising Star Coffee Roasters. 

Then you grind the beans - I need to graduate to a burr grinder, I'm still using a spice grinder and the whole shake-and-grind-for-3-seconds-then-pause-for-3-seconds-so-the-beans-don't-get-hot method. This method won't give an even grind, but it gets the job done.

There they are! Now it's time for the grounds to hang out in the cheesecloth for a few hours...I tell myself "a few" so I don't have to think about waiting 24 whole hours, I'm not nearly that patient.

This is how I set mine up. A large square piece of cheesecloth put into my glass jug, with a hair tie holding it on the edges for easy removal. So MacGyver of me, I know.

I hope so bad someone invents smell-o-vision soon. A deep breath in while my face was hovering above the jar was like some kind of iced coffee foreplay. Yum.

Then the 10 cups of filtered water get added in, right on top of the grounds. Give them a quick stir to make sure they are all saturated, and leave them to their soaking. Then, I suggest putting them out of sight. You know how the saying goes - out of sight, out of mind. 24 hours will come sooner than you think!

And then, just when you think you couldn't wait any longer, it's time! Yesss, finally! 

Fill up a cup (I prefer a mason jar) to the top with ice, and halfway up with your iced coffee concentrate. The other half can be milk, soy milk, almond milk...maybe a little chocolate sauce?! Whatever you feel will make your iced coffee best. Most people prefer a full cup of ice, and then a ratio of 1 part coffee concentrate with 2-3 parts of water/milk/almond milk. These days I'm sticking to 2 parts coffee, 1 part water...I like my caffeine buzz to be nice and strong :).

If I do choose milk, I like the unsweetened vanilla almond milk by Blue Diamond. One day I'll try my luck at making my own, just not today. 

**I didn't do this the first time, but I suggest pouring your coffee concentrate through a pour over with a coffee filter in it and your jug that you will keep in the fridge until your concentrate is gone. With mine, I had a little sediment at the bottom that snuck through the cheesecloth. I don't mind a dirty cup of coffee, but some people do.

Questing for Coffee

It is one of my biggest dreams to have my own coffee shop one day. Actually, let's call it a goal, because you know what they say, "goals are dreams with deadlines". This is my destination and I will achieve it. My day is made through great conversation and a good cup o' joe (more accurately, 4 or 5 good cups o' joe), and what better way to live my life than giving back those simple yet powerful things that make me so happy? There is no other way, you're right :).

 Even my coffee cup knows how to live right!

There is just something so stimulating (no pun intended) about the process of my morning coffee routine.  This morning I'm using beans from one of my favorite local coffee shops - Rising Star Coffee Roasters. This is a bean from El Salvador, mmmmmm!

You can buy their amazing coffee in Cleveland, OH...maybe you'll see me there! They are so knowledgeable and it's such a cool space. Find out more here: Rising Star Coffee Roasters

First is the crinkle of the brown paper coffee bag as I retrieve it from the drawer, it's like I get to open a present every morning! But this is better, because this present releases the most amazing smell. In all of it's invisible glory, the smell wafts out of the bag as the beans tumble around, and they tantalize my senses and my mouth starts to water (or I'm drooling...either way, I'm excited).

There they are, in all of their glory! The biggest problem here is I'm almost out :/. Can you smell them?! Why hasn't smell - o - vision been invented yet?

Then it's time to grind the beans. Imagine a smell lightly tickling your nose, then times that by 100 (I suppose now the smell would be karate kicking your nose), and at this point there is no turning back for me. There could be a UFO landing in my back yard or a tiger laying on the couch, anything...but I'm not stopping until I have my hands wrapped around my coffee mug. From here I feel like a distance runner who can finally see the finish line, I just want my coffee! My coffee grounds go into my ceramic pour over to await their bath as my water reaches boiling.



And then I pour. I am still perfecting my pour, but I'm getting there! About 60-90 seconds later, my coffee and I become one.




This is the process that made me fall in love with coffee. I had a crush on coffee before, but I wasn't tapping into it's true abilities! Just like a misunderstood teenager, it needed the right setting and applicications to thrive. And now I want to share it with everyone! Not just the coffee, but the appreciation of life in general. I may be handing you coffee at my coffee shop (when it finally comes to fruition), but what I really want to give you is so much more. A cozy place to relax and feel at home, a place where you can share your adventures and let the simple pleasures of your day be the focus. And I will probably want to give you some kind of delicious morsel, because I happen to love cooking and baking as well.

And so it begins! My quest to learn and discover and fine tune all the little details that will make my dream a reality. So this blog will house my journeys, in whatever form they surface as, and my trials and tribulations as a girl chasing a dream. I'm guessing it's going to be a delicious journey, and that is more than ok with me.