Clouds in my Coffee

Or stars, or whatever — you get the idea: September’s Espresscopes are live and direct over on Brown Bean!

What do the astrological forces have to say for themselves this month? You Virgos may have a difficult time expressing yourself, while those of the Sagittarius and Aries persuasions won’t be able to keep it to themselves. Overall, there’s a general vibe of experimentation and learning, balanced by a little healthy personal assessment. You know, the usual.

Recipe: Blueberry Parfait Mocha

We’re trying to hold onto summer with our bare teeth, but the weather is not cooperating. The iced drinks have been front and center for awhile, so here’s a warm concoction for you to enjoy if chillier weather is nipping at your toes.

Ingredients

• 1 oz. Monin White Chocolate Sauce
• 3/4 oz. Monin Blueberry Syrup
• 2 shots of espresso
• Steamed milk to taste

Directions

Mix sauce, syrup and espresso in a cup; stir while filling with steamed milk. Garnish with whipped cream and fresh blueberries if you have ‘em.

Crew Review: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

We recently got our little paws on the very popular programmable One-Touch Tea Maker by Breville. Featuring presets for type of tea (black, green, oolong, herbal, etc.) and then a correlated variable steeping time that determines brew strength, the One-Touch Tea Maker also lets you customize for your preferences and program it for auto-on functionality. Yes, that means you can finally realize your dream of waking up to that fresh pot o’ tea in the morning.

Watch Gail run through features, functionality and then brew up a pot of Dammann loose leaf tea.

Which Brew Temperature is Best for Lavazza Super Crema?

We took one of our most popular coffees, Lavazza Super Crema, and brewed it using different temperatures on the La Spaziale Mini Vivaldi. While the 204F degree espresso extraction temperature is a general rule of thumb, a lot of single origin/estate beans and even some blends are particularly sensitive to heat and will perform better at a different temperature.

Watch as Gail brews several shots at different temperatures, tasting each to determine the ideal brew temp for Super Crema.

Lavazza Pre-Ground Coffee Cupping

We sell several variations of Lavazza’s pre-ground coffee and we often get asked what the difference is, flavor-wise. So we asked Gail to put it to the cupping test to see how they compare.

Watch as she cups Lavazza In Blu, Qualita Oro, Qualita Rossa, Bar and Crema e Gusto.

Look to the Stars

It’s that time again — you know, when the secrets of the universe are revealed and their influences on your java become clear. August’s Espresscopes are up over at Brown Bean , so check them out!

Libras have romance and love on their cosmic horizons — accented, of course, by sharing their equally passionate ardor for coffee — while Cancers need to slow down a bit and maybe take some time to enjoy a slow cold brewed coffee over ice.

What’s in store for your sign this month? Check out these caffeine-imbued predictions.

Hourglass Aging Taste Test

We’ll never know how Marilyn Monroe’s figure would have held up over time, but that’s not the kind of Hourglass we’re talking about here, baby! We’re talking about the cold coffee brewing system that creates a smooth concentrate that you can use to make hot or cold coffee for up to two weeks afterward.

Or so they say! But can you, really? These are the big questions that only the crew at Seattle Coffee Gear are prepared to take on. We had Gail brew up a batch of the Hourglass coffee; she then tested it the next day for a baseline flavor assessment and then we followed it up 1 week and 2 weeks later to see how the flavor stood up.

Watch Gail as she takes one for science!

How to Make a Mocha

Mmmmmmmocha. When coffee and cocoa beans hook up and get real with each other, they create one of the most enduring and appreciated flavor combos around. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t dig the espresso-infused chocolatey goodness of a well-crafted mocha — and while it may be a little on the sweeter side than some of us can handle in the morning (Read: Gail), it’s a nice mid-afternoon pick-me-up or a great option for an after dinner dessert.

There are many different ways in which you could whip up this drink, and we asked Gail to demonstrate two variations. First, she pulled the shots into the chocolate, mixed them together and then added steamed milk on top. Second, she made chocolate milk, steamed that up and then combined it with a separately pulled espresso shot. Watch her make choco-magic on the Rocket Giotto Evoluzione!

Pre-ground Coffee Aging Test

In answer to the oft posed question ‘can’t I just use pre-ground coffee from __[insert your favorite store/roastery/cafe here]__?’, we have held an aging test.

We’re big on freshly grinding your coffee before each shot, as pre-ground starts to dry out (even in air-tight containers) within the first 24 hours. To show you how the shots degrade, we dialed in and ground a bunch of coffee, then pulled a shot the day of for baseline purposes. We then pulled shots 24, 48, 72 hours and 1 full week later to show how the shots measured up — and to give our unequivocal vocal and facial feature responses to their flavor. Yowza!

Watch Gail as we go through the initial testing and then check in throughout the subsequent week.

What is Crema?

We recently wrote about crema — what it is, what contributes to its formation, etc. — and we thought we’d film Gail talking about it, as well, and test out a comparison test between an Americano with and without crema. Check it out!