this is coffee

Apparently, Aeropress has Nova Roast listed as a walk in retailer. Conditions were right for a “Quiet Saturday Morning” being anything but quiet. We had Matt Stocker our contracting buddy (MDS Construction and Remodelling) and Marcus Sowder working on a re-tiling project for our bedroom. Mark, the window guy, had just arrived to look at replacing some glass for us. I was just pouring my second coffee (Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Koke Cooperative by the way from a Chemex) and starting to check smoke alarms. All of a sudden we have a couple, Cheryl and Bob, walking up on the porch looking for Nova Roast.

They wanted to buy coffee and an aeropress. I don’t have anything at the house except cupping samples. I have my own personal aeropress but no inventory. They were game however and didn’t seem too upset to find a long drive ending at someone’s private residence. Between running to the garage for items for Mark, tiling going on in the next room, and Buddy our dog entertaining our customers I boiled some water, grabbed some Zimbabwe AA, talked about our relationship and directly traded coffees, and we made an aeropress. They seemed very impressed and pleased with the coffee, took my aeropress away, and I will hopefully have found a new coffee customer in Roanoke.

We currently only have 8 pounds of Jamaica Blue Mountain Mavis Banks left to claim. Stake your claim now by pre-paying through the website or by visiting the Easy Chair Coffee Shop or Vintage Cellar. This will be 100% Blue Mountain grade – the top grade available and not a lessor grade trying to be passed off as Jamaica Blue Mountain or some ‘blend’ (see below rant on Kona blends). I will also not be roasting large amounts of this coffee ahead of time and waiting and hoping for someone to buy it. If you do see a bag of Nova Roast Jamaica Blue Mountain available just before the holidays, it will have been roasted within days – and the roast date will be stated.

The Kona coffee is still on its journey to Cafe Imports. I have found out that it is from Greenwell Farms, which won the most recent Hawaii cupping competition. Hopefully it will  make it to me in time to sample roast, cup, tweak, and have ready for Thanksgiving. I would like to point out that our Kona will be 100% Kona, Greenwell Farms Fancy Grade. There will be no ‘Kona Blend’ and hence the $37.95 per pound price tag we are charging. Please, whether you purchase through us or not, be aware that it is unfortunately a common practice for certain coffee roasters to offer a Kona Blend containing theoretically as little as one kona bean but more prevalent 10% Kona (and possibly of the lowest grade kona available). Check out the Kona Coffee Farmers Association if you’d like more information. Even more deceptively a Kona Style Blend has been seen offered from time to time, which would not even require one bean of Kona to be in it. I know it’s confusing to the consumer, which makes just one more case for buying locally from someone you have a relationship with and can ask questions and, well, trust them.

Whew! Sorry about the side step there. I also need to note that this Kona is not actually extra fancy grade as I first indicated, but fancy. What this means is that the beans are a shade smaller than the extra fancy (screen size 18 vice 19), but still considered large – a Colombia Supremo for example. This does not effect the cup quality of the coffee in itself. The potential cup quality altering difference is that fancy grade is allowed four more defects (12 total) per 300 grams of coffee. This is still under, by my calculations of green bean weight, well under 1/3 of 1% of the coffee. In contrast, the lesser Kona prime and select grades are allowed 5 and 15% defects by comparison.

We are very excited to announce that we will be working closely with the Vintage Cellar this holiday season to bring in some very special coffees – Jamaica Blue Mountain and Kona extra fancy. These coffees are expensive and I am only bringing in a limited amount, so pre-orders and payment are required to secure these coffees. The Jamaica and Kona will be available for pickup the week of Thanksgiving. Beginning December first I will also have available limited amounts of the Cup of Excellence 2009 El Salvador #21 la Trinidad auction lot and the Colombia #27 la Esperanza auction lot.

I will be pouring coffee samples during the day November 25th as well as the weekend before Christmas at the Vintage Cellar. I will have plenty of other incredible coffee on hand so that you will be able to perfectly compliment your Thanksgiving dinner. This is the poster that Christopher from the Vintage Cellar, with some great help from Jim Hall, put together to promote the coffees.

Vintage Cellar Coffee Promotion

For those of you who would rather reserve your coffee now without visiting the Vintage Cellar, please purchase right here through the website. Please note in your order when you would like it ready for pickup at the shop. I will not be roasting these coffees until absolutely necessary in order to ensure the optimum freshness for you. Please do not ask for a pickup date a week before you will actually pick up the coffee. Your prepaid order can be roasted and ready for you at the Easy Chair Coffee Shop (along with any other coffees listed here on our website) any time between November 23 and December 24, 2009.

To toot my own horn, I just pulled the best espresso shot I’ve had in months, possibly a year. Granted, I don’t get many espressos these days since I roast at night after the day job. Just the obligatory quality check to see how my roasting and blending is going and how the components I’ve been cupping individually are turning out in a blend, pulled as an espresso.

I’ve been feeling lately like I was honing in on a blend that would suitably walk the line between a nice stand alone and something that would carry through milk in our shop’s capps and lattes. Tonight Russ told me I should check out the latest incarnation (on 7 days rest) because it hit the target. So I did.

It was 11pm before I got around to it, so I’ll be paying for it later, especially after I have another double – “I love it when a plan comes together” – and I won’t be back to the shop for several days. It took a trial pull to calibrate the grind to my dosing and tamping style, but I could tell as soon as the espresso started coming out of the porta filter that I had a treat on the way. Ristretto all the way. Slow, dark syrup dribbling out of the portafilter. This was going to be nice.

Russell was right. This iteration was spot on. It’s been fifteen minutes and I’m still enjoying the finish. Darkish, yet subtle. Thick brown crema with even darker flecks throughout that held up for a long time. Hints of molasses in the aroma. Sweet, balanced, without acidity poking its nose into things and trying to steal the spotlight. It was there, but more as a gradual, citrusy/grapefruit nuance to add to the complexity. It’s times like these that really make me love my job and the long hours.

It’s time to start paying attention to the website again, especially with the list of spectacular coffees we have put together to have in time for the holidays. More details will be forthcoming, but for now a list of the coffees I have lined up:

Jamaica Blue Mountain Mavis Banks

Kona Extra Fancy

Cup of Excellence 09 El Salvador #19 Altamira I

Cup of Excellence 09 Colombia #27 la Esperanza

Kenya AA Auction lot Gititu Coop

Ethiopia organic washed Yirgacheffe Koke Coop

Costa Rica microlot Helsar Caturra Arce from the West Valley

-Brian

You can now follow our efforts to bring carbon-free coffee delivery to Blacksburg via @coffeecycle on Twitter. This service enabled us to hold several pounds of Ethiopia Sidamo Shanta Golba for customers who picked up the thread on @baristanomics, the Twitter account for the Easy Chair Coffee Shop. Yeah, it’s a social-networking-marketing phenomenon, but many small businesses, volunteer groups, activist organizations etc. are using Twitter in some amazing ways. Cup of Excellence, for example: http://twitpic.com/845ng

I love being able to follow what the CoE judges are up to in this immediately gratifying way.  Yeah, it can get overwhelming, or even turn into white noise, but a note here and there from other coffee roasters, MARRG members, farmers or coffee fanatics is fun and makes the day go faster.

Paulley, Brian and I arrived in Atlanta at 4:30 AM Eastern and loitered in the Java Vino parking lot until the shop opened. We are enjoying espresso and watching the day begin. Waiting for the next move. Roasting labs, volunteer time and coffee induced mayhem to follow.

Sweet.  The rare moment.  I get to coin an expression.  And watch it spread.

I am about to embark on the first Nova Roast pedal-powered delivery.  No surprise, the coffee is headed to our longtime customer and Great Good Place, the London Underground Pub.  Which is especially nice, because I will be damn thirsty by the time I get there.  This has been a busy, challenging, aggravating, wonderful week for The Easy Chair, Nova Roast, Blacksburg Reads, and MARRG.  If I could be in fifteen places at once, I would need to be in thirty.  These are the most difficult and uncertain times of my forty years, but all I see when I look around is opportunity.  Hard work?  What else is new?  I know people are suffering and jobs are being lost.  But we will get back in that saddle and pedal hard to climb that hill.  Look for the Baristanomic Stimulus Package (TM) on your doorstep in the next few weeks.  Want radically fresh coffee delivered to you at home in Blacksburg?  Go to CoffeeCycle.com and place an order.  On my way.

Late night roasting session and a hop up to DC to pick up my son for spring break. To avoid the traffic I took off from the shop at 0230. 0730 I’m at a Caribou in Crystal City – just one subway hop from Reagan Airport. I’m tired so I went for the french press. They have La Minita Peaberry listed on the board, but they’re out – new crop hasn’t arrived yet I’m guessing. I’ll have to ask Drew at La Minita if we can try some peaberry out or if it’s a Caribou exclusive. Wanted to sample their Kenya to compare to our Kichwa I drank on the drive up but they didn’t have a light roast.

Anyway, I’ve ended up with a city roast of Rainforest Alliance Colombia Timana from the Huila region. Maybe I have Kenya on the brain but the aroma was very similar to our Kichwa. The flavor however was much more balanced, lacking the fruity intensity of our Kenya. Flavors tended more to the caramel and nut side. A very wise and tasty choice to go with the press and this coffee, although I’ll never drink the 40 ounces of coffee before I have to leave for the airport.  I suppose I could finish it and just run over onto the tarmac to meet Cohen.