In Praise of Excellence
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Previous Posts
- Exploring Your Internet
- A note to my fellow bloggers...
- Robert Anton Wilson 1932 – 2007
- Believe it or not, I need to lose 10 pounds.
- OPEN THREAD THURSDAY
- iSore
- Pointless Rambling
- On The Positive Side
- OPEN THREAD THURSDAY
- Pablo Picasso Time Lapse in Oils
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6 Comments:
Caffe Reggio is a good place with excellent chocolate mousse, but their hot chocolate is too bitter.
What makes a cup-o-joe good? I ask this in all seriousness as I am not an coffee aficionado, and frankly – most coffee tastes the same to me. Though I had a stellar espresso at Lavalla (near State and Wash). In the bottom of the cup was a dollop of cocoa, then the shot of espresso topped with whipped cream and hazelnuts. That was damn good. But when it comes right down to just good ol per-drip coffee and milk, or black, what makes a coffee better than say…white hen (when it isn’t burnt) .
The same things that make great wine or great beer or great cheese good -- texture, aroma, complexity, finish -- all that crap. But I guess when you drink a lot of coffee, you know good from bad, and you also know what you like.
I had some really GOOD eggs today! Look!
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What makes a good cup of coffee is, more often than not, entirely dependent upon the tastes of the consumer. Some people enjoy extremely sweet coffee; this has led to the rise of caramel/chocolate/fudge/whipped cream/maple syrup-type coffees. People who like these kinds of coffees generally are not good judges of simple drip varieties; they specialize in condiments. It's also good to avoid the critiques of those seriously addicted to coffee: these people will tend to overemphasize the importance of "strength" (a byproduct of seeing the beverage primarily as a drug-delivery mechanism). The casual consumer of coffee who also has a discriminating palate in other culinary arenas is probably the most credible critic you're likely to come across. A good cup of coffee, in my opinion, is strong but does not taste so. A simple 12 oz. cup should be all a person needs; if they need to drink a Venti from Starbucks (a brewer of notoriously strong coffee in its own right) they're either caffeine-fiends or the brew is too weak – or too bitter. Most strong coffee is too bitter, it's a rare and wonderful thing to get a simple drip coffee that is strong but has no aftertaste, needs no sugar, and goes down smooth. Like Arlo said, the balance of flavor is also important. Powerful flavors are generally added to the beans via oils very early in the process of bean-cultivation. Coffee purists tend to prefer their coffee to taste like coffee; subtle hints are okay – but they must be subtle. The same principle applies to aroma. It should also be noted that coffee that is too hot will corrupt the "bouquet" of a coffee as well as burn the living shit out of your mouth.
I think 2007 will be the year I go in search of good coffee. Referals appreciated.
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