I recently participated in another one of Carrboro Coffee's excellent semi-public blind cuppings. I say "semi-public" because although the doors are unlocked and anyone can come and go- it's a bit of a weird process what with all the sniffing and slurping and silence until the very end-- that usually it's just the same handful of guys that do it. The silence I think is the weirdest part. In fact, I even got politely "shushed" by Mark, the head roaster when I accidentally blurted out, "Oh, wow!" after I took a sip and was shocked at the flavor. The idea is not to influence each other's individual experience with the coffee because the power of suggestion is, well, powerful! The coffees are tasted and ranked in a somewhat bizarre, ritualistic and systematic way and then after everyone's had a chance to jot down their thoughts, we all gather around the table and share our findings. It's humbling tasting with these guys because they are pros and they do this so much that they can detect the tiniest nuances of flavors and defects (if any). They use the cupping method to help tweak the roast profiles, deepen their palate, and discover new wonderful single origins. While I was there I took some photos and video that will be on our Kickstarter Campaign (look for it in a couple weeks!).
I also started a little DIY project with cold brew. I had a Kenyan coffee from Ceremony Coffee Roasters that a friend bought for me that was *SO LEMON INTENSE* I wondered if by cold brewing I could mute the flavors a bit and bring some balance to it. It totally worked and I strongly recommend creating some variation of this if you love cold brew as much as I do! So, if you can't see it, I've got a 2 liter bottle upside down with the bottom cut off and ice water inside that drips slowly through the pinhole that I pierced in the lid. From there the water drips onto an aeropress filter that is covering a bed of coffee followed by another filter and then it drains into a jar. The "frame" here is just a weird piece of styrofoam that I had laying around. You can always just stack it up in a little pyramid. Yeah, I know, it looks a little ghetto. It took about 6 hours for the whole thing to drip down.
I guess you could always just fork over $200 for this baby:
But not all of us have that kind of flow burning holes in our pockets.
Still...
... that's pretty stinking gorgeous.
I mean, look at that wood...
ANYWAYS...
My other project is to turn this ugly church door into my espresso bar countertop. I'm finding out that taking off varnish and years of dirt and grease and grime is NOT FUN and it takes a lot of sand paper. Thankfully I had some help from my pal Eric. Thanks, Eric. You're my hero. He's also going to be putting my menu sign together! SO MUCH TALENT.
So, here is how it used to look--
And here is how it looks after 3 hours of sanding and cursing under our breath:
If I'm totally honest than I will say I am having a BLAST putting this whole coffee trailer thing together, but that it is also a LOT OF WORK. My hope is that when it is all said and done I will have learned a lot in the process and not lost my mind completely!
Be on the lookout for that kickstarter campaign!! I know you are just DYING to help be a part of this!
-Tim
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