The Adventures of The Coffee Catcher!

In a recent fieldtrip, Nate Jones visited Mark Barany of Kuma Coffee, where he had the opportunity to observe the coffee bagging and delivery process (...a lot of fun from what we hear!)  Afterward, they had some time to brew a few French presses, which gave the Coffee Catcher a chance to shine.  In Nate's words

"...wow.  Fantastic Guatemala Il Injerto, huge body, streaks of blueberries, maybe a hint of cinnamon? Sweet and syrupy. [Mark] tastes this coffee all the time, and he thought it was one of the best presses he'd ever had of it."

The great flavor caught Mark's attention, and it looks like we'll have at least one Kuma Coffee present at the French press competition on June 18th.  We're looking forward to seeing how Seattle's various coffee experts use the French press.
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...On a side note, Nate's homecoming after meeting with Mark was less-than-ideal.  Apparently, that morning while rushing to deliver coffee to his wife, Charity, Nate accidentally left the Coffee Catcher sitting in the compost container with the grounds.  Later that day Charity dumped the whole compost - including Coffee Catcher - down the 5 story garbage shoot.

Upon arriving home, new Kuma coffee in-hand, Nate hurried to brew some of the outstanding roast for Charity...only to discover they were short one Coffee Catcher!  It was bad.

Needless to say, within 5 minutes both of them here were downstairs making a valiant trash-diving effort, searching for the missing item (...we'll save you the more gruesome details).  Finally, the Coffee Catcher was found.  Back upstairs and thankful to be reunited, the disassembled Coffee Catcher was soaked in Visions' phosphate-free coffee cleaner and boiling water for 15 minutes before running it through a cold rinse.

The heroic rescue efforts were rewarded with a fantastic brew of Rwanda Abakundakawa.  Apparently, the Coffee Catcher's thorough cleaning removed all silt buildup and emphasized the the spice and fruit notes in the Rwanda admirably!

While recounting the tale Nate added, "We're thinking of calling the coffee catcher "The Precious", after Gollum."

French Press Throwdown Details

For those readers interested in competing in the Kaffeologie French Press Throwdown on June 18th (which coincides with the Coffee Catcher Launch Event), here are the competition details: *

1. Coffee: bring your own, but we will have some of our personal favorites if you forget yours.
2. Equipment: Grinders, timers, cups and water provided. Bring your own press and any technique-specific equipment. We will have extra presses if you forget yours.
3. Start: A little after 7 PM (party starts at 6).
4. Prizes: If it's ready, 1st prize receives the very first Kaffeologie French press! Otherwise, a set of Coffee Catchers (medium and large). Prizes will also include coffee and swag from sponsors. Second and third prizes will be awarded.
5. Time: 15 minutes to dial in, brew and serve your coffee. To keep things moving, you'll warm up as the person ahead of you is brewing and serving.
6. Structure: high score over the evening wins.
7. Cup Criteria: each factor to be assessed on a 1-5 scale, giving 20 points per judge, or 60 points overall.
      A. Clarity - a coffee's ability to hold multiple distinct flavors
      B. Roundness - the opposite of a sharp flavor
      C. Mouth feel - a coffee's feel in the mouth apart from flavor
      D. Audacity - points for bravery in technique or coffee choice
   

* Thanks to Throwdown Judge, Sam Lewontin (@coffeeandbikes) for helping lay out the competition criteria. The rest of the judging panel to be announced shortly.

Brew Colloids and Fine French Press Flavor : Part 1 of 2

Brew Colloids and Fine French Press Flavor : Part 1 of 2

by Nate Jones

(What a title!)

First off, hat tip to Sam Lewontin of Why Not? Coffee for the conversation that started this and to Scott Rao, who helped me understand the relationship between colloids and coffee body/flavor in Everything but Espresso and The Professional Barista's Handbook (TPBH).  (Head to home-barista.com for a handy quick reference quote from TPBH on brew elements. )

Jumping in, the non-water part of coffee is a mixture of dissolvable coffee solids and gases (the stuff that gives flavor and aroma, respectively) and non-dissolvable solids. These (relatively) large non-dissolvables form colloids as they spread evenly through water during brewing, bonding with tiny oil droplets and trapping dissolvable solids before they can dissolve. Another way to put it: suspended masses of particles, oil and dissolvable solids are known as brew colloids.

Brew colloids affect coffee in two key ways. First, these relatively large masses of coffee stuff contribute to the coffee's perceived weight in our mouths (body) and to mouth feel (a looser definition that encompasses body, but also texture, consistency and anything else your mouth feels apart from taste). More colloids in coffee = greater body, and of course traditionally brewed French press coffee is loaded with colloids and renowned for its heavy body. The down-side of all this body is a muddy, blurred flavor profile. In traditionally-brewed French press coffee, there are so many brew colloids that a significant percentage of available dissolved solids are mopped up before they can dissolve and lend their specially tasty chemicals to the brew. So instead of tasting the full orchestra of flavors, the tongue tastes available flavors plus colloids, which are perceived as both/either heavy body and syrupy mouth feel and/or a muddy, or silty mouth feel that screens flavor.

No surprise, one key to good French press coffee is balancing the number of colloids formed in the brew for an optimal body - taste experience. Previously, the only way to influence the number of colloids in the brew was to prevent them getting into the carafe in the first place - in other words, to employ a high quality grinder that produces grinds of a consistent size with a low percentage of relatively tiny colloid-forming coffee solids. I think there is now a second way to manage the body - taste balance: the Coffee Catcher.* I've conducted daily (tasty) brewing experiments for six months, and I think the Coffee Catcher can consistently remove colloid-forming solids from the grind mixture at the start of the pour, before many oily, flavor-trapping colloid masses can form. The result is a lighter-bodied French press brew, with significantly improved flavor clarity and extended coffee life-time. It may be that the latter occurs because there are fewer colloids in the cup, and therefore undesirable flavor extraction at cooler temps is minimized (solids that dissolve at cooler temps tend to release undesirable, bitter flavors into the cup).

But what's really tantalizing is the potential to actively manage colloid presence within the carafe for the first time. More testing is needed, but it's possible that certain brew conditions can be deliberately tweaked to influence the colloid transparency of the Coffee Catcher mesh - thus potentially allowing French press users to actively tweak the number of colloids in the brew, tailoring the body-taste balance to a particular coffee or brew parameter. I'll lay out my thoughts on this more fully in Part 2, due out next week...

*Legal Stuff: The Coffee Catcher is a patent pending product of Kaffeologie (TM), all rights reserved.

Ouch!

Recently heard through the Tweetvine:

"Third French Press in 4 days purchased. If this one breaks, I'm not going to be held responsible for my actions.I wasn't even rough on them!"


Yikes - we recommend trying a Coffee Catcher to help the French press cleaning easier...and safer.   (The improved flavor is just an added bonus!)

Anyone else have a good "I broke my French press" story?