Field Trip: Hario USA – Cup Tasting Championships

One of the things we loved hearing about during our visit to Hario USA was Edwin’s experiences with the International and US versions of the Cup Tasters Championship. Devised to accentuate the importance of tasting the flavor of coffee — instead of seeing it simply as a commodity or a fuel — the contest brings coffee buyers from all over the world together to compete head-to-head.

Who has the best taste buds? Only the strong survive? OK, not so much. But it was fun learning about it from Edwin.

Crew Review: Jura Capresso C5 Superautomatic

The newest superautomatic available in the US by Swiss manufacturer Jura Capresso, the Impressa C5 is economical, straight forward and has more programming options available than models available from the Ena series — although it’s right around the same price. It also has side access for the water and coffee beans, plus a heated metal cup warmer up top.

Check out Gail’s demonstration and review.

Crew Review: Capresso Flat Burr Grinders

Released this year, Capresso has a couple of more inexpensive burr grinder options now available on the scene. We tested them out to see how they perform — will they grind fine enough for espresso? And are they as inconsistent as their Infinity brethren?

Watch as Gail shows us the grinder’s specs, grinds at the finest/coarsest and then demonstrates using it with the Saeco Via Venezia espresso machine.

Gail Does Latte ‘Art’

She may be a savant in other respects, but Gail knows she is not the queen of latte art. She does practice, though, and is striving to improve herself in all ways. Look, we can all, each of us, grow as individuals, now can’t we?

Check out her not-so-mad skillz.

Field Trip: Hario USA – Different Pour Over Styles

During our visit to Hario USA HQ, Edwin showed us a few of the different styles of pour over models available from Hario — glass, ceramic, plastic versions plus different cup sizes of each.

Different available models of pour overs from Hario

Plastic vs. ceramic pour over models

Field Trip: Hario USA – Coffee: Acidity vs. Bitterness vs. Rancid Oils

Folks will often ask us for info on coffee that has less acidity because they have a real problem with that and their GI tract. So when we visited Edwin Martinez at Hario USA, we posed this question to him because we figured that someone with his extensive end-to-end knowledge of the coffee world might have some good recommendations.

What we learned was that it might just be that folks are working under the misconception that bitterness is the flavor of acidity. In this video Edwin talks about acidity vs. bitterness — and how the culprit may also be rancid coffee oils. Yeech.

Field Trip: Hario USA – Hand Grinders

Edwin Martinez of Hario USA showed us two different models of hand coffee grinders available from Hario: the Skerton and the Mini Slim. Both of these grinders are currently backordered with Hario in Japan, unfortunately, but will hopefully be available on Seattle Coffee Gear’s site in April 2010.

Field Trip: Hario USA – Coffee Processing Experiment @ Finca Vista Hermosa

Edwin Martinez is not only the US representative of the Hario products, he’s also a third-generation coffee farmer from Guatemala. While we visited him last month, he talked to us about a coffee processing experiment that he undertook with some of his roasting customers who were looking to change the base flavor of the coffee before they got their hands on it. This video covers the experiment and talks about coffee processing in general, as well as how what is done to the coffee at the plantation effects the end flavor of what will end up in your cup.

Field Trip: Hario USA – Coffee Roasts & Agriculture

One of our favorite discussions with Edwin Martinez of Hario USA was in regard to coffee and agriculture. He is a third generation coffee farmer in Guatemala, and also participates on an international level in several aspects of the coffee industry and community — from tasting competitions to product development. Because of this, he has a fairly unique perspective and he often sees the coffee chain from end to end.

In this video, he talked with us about roast trends in the US by region, how farmers react to different industry factors and gave us some insight into how coffee grown at different elevations have different flavors and acidity.

Field Trip: Hario USA – Edwin Demos a Halogen Bar

As magical as it is tasty, commercial grade halogen bars are configurable to brew at a flatline temperature, which is fairly unique amongst coffee brewing methods. When we visited Hario USA, Edwin Martinez showed us how this awesome machine works — and while it would be rare to use these at home (or even to see them in cafes in the US, actually), we thought the mad science + brewing tips shed some great light on making great coffee in general.