Coffee curation and the pursuit of flavour
“A part of me thinks that an eagerness to simplify speciality coffee as just good or tasty, as well as dumbing down narrative and context is an attempt to reach the largest possible audience; but a deeper part of me thinks that it could be a symptom of a ‘fear of pretension’ that is waiting at the doorstep of speciality coffee.” This is how my last post finished up and I do indeed see reaching the largest possible audience as highly valuable. In fact the last article, setting the stage, aimed to display that achieving this goal is more complex...
Read moreOver the past few years we have spent half of our time theorizing about how to best serve speciality coffee, putting a spotlight on flavour and its origins. The other half of the time we have been putting these concepts into action and developing the reality of concepts based on evidence drawn form the results. It is very easy to believe in a concept intuitively, or even to appreciate the potential success of many different ideas by understanding different perspectives. I highly value this kind of open mindedness, but ultimately a road has to be chosen and the valuable theories...
Read moreYou could be forgiven for making the assumption that our shop would be anti milk; indeed we do recommend our filter offerings without milk. Steamed milk however, can work so well with speciality espresso. Add to this the overwhelmingly large percentage of milk-based beverages that dominate the espresso driven café market and milk can actually become a complimentary partner for the bean. This is not to imply that there are no drawbacks to a milk-centric approach. A milk-focused approach can lead to the judgement of quality centring on the symmetry of a rossetta, as opposed to that of the entire...
Read moreThere is a saying I often use when trying to explain the challenges of speciality coffee. The quip uses wine as a reference point and goes as follows – I secretly feel a little sorry for coffee, that it cant be bottled up like wine under the supervision of one individual. It requires a chain of individuals to meet many different criteria in order for a coffees flavour potential to be realised. The other day I found myself chatting to a master of wine who also runs a couple of specialist wine retail shops. I brought up this very comparison,...
Read moreLets not beat around the bush, I am romantically involved with coffee. I adore the smells, the tastes, the sights, the sounds, the processes and craft, I could go on into much detail about why I spend most of my life closely tied to this drink. Romanticism for me is the emotional attachment to the varying aspects of coffee, this is what makes such a strong relationship between us and the bean possible. The intent of this article is not to undermine romanticism in coffee but to explore a complex relationship; focusing on how, sometimes, it can actually lead us...
Read moreThe above statement is made quite often when discussing coffee. Although not strictly untrue, it is also not reflective of the reality of the field. Each individual is entitled to like or dislike anything they taste (subjective - matter of taste). But fields of specialism create and maintain a more specific criteria for quality based on wider input. There is an accumulation of ideas and standards that are relative to that product, a framework for judgement (objective- tangible). It is however more complicated than this statement allows for. I will attempt to navigate the grey areas and offer what I...
Read moreIs the price we charge for a cup of coffee a fair one? Not really. We have always been a bit partial to undercharging. However if what you’re looking at is perceived expectation and value of a “cup of coffee” then the idea of a fair and correct price becomes more complicated. This is a problem within speciality coffee that needs to be addressed on a larger scale. To serve speciality coffee without compromise in a commercial environment costs much more money than the existing larger commercial approach. Many people question the economic viability of pursuing speciality coffee full stop....
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