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Hey every one from now on you can find my blog at infusedlife.com Cheers! Happy Reading.

USBC 2009 Kick Off

Today, was the first round of competitors, 27 in all. I wasn't able to see all the competitors today. I was able to see the first ten and the last ten competitors. Of today's major themes was Rootbeer and Capps first. The Majority of the baristas were serving their cappuccinos first followed by their espressos. I personally thought this was a very risky move for many competitors. I think this could be a hindrance for the fact that milk has a lingering flavour that is hard to get rid of and taints the taste of the espresso. Of the competitors that I saw there were four that really stuck out to me.

5. Joshua Flail - Octane Coffee

6. Michael Elvin - Espresso Parts

7. Sara Peterson - The Abbey Coffee Lounge

21. Breanna Lloyd - Coffee Bean International

And although I love Octane and am a huge fan every time I am passing through ATL I always stop in and say Hi, and even though she was over on her time I think Sara was definitely my favorite of those. Although she was nervous she held it very well and perhaps I am a bit tainted by my love of Verve Roasters. But she had a lot of information and presented as well as she knew how in such a short high tension amount of time. Well Tomm. Round One-Day Two. I am excited to see Phoung Tran and Renee Teichen. I think they are totally going to rock it, but at this point there is still no telling. I'll see you all in the Stream Chat Board. Say Whats Up I am ALopezBL the name is Andrew Lopez.

Ethiopia Organic Yrigacheffe Beloya: ECCO Roasters

So this coffee is a naturally processed cherry that was grown at an elevation over 6,000 ft. Like most other cheffes in the nose an overwhelming amount of berry floods your nose, especially in the dry grounds. I brewed this coffee in my Chemex maker today 45grams/750ml at a total brew time of 3:47. The coffee once brewed had this amazing smell of fermented grapes. As I began to drink it had this awesome lemon taste, but not lemon in the sense or sour, just this nice bit of sweet tartness. In the back of my mouth it had this sweet smoothness like honey and had a very dry finish like a rich semi-sweet cocoa powder.

Later on this evening I brewed the coffee in my Moka Pot and had totally different characteristics. From my Moka Pot it yielded much more of the berry flavours, with a nice pickled cherry finish.

Overall the roast is great. Very smooth and rich with sweet bright citrus notes, this is definitely an everyday coffee like and easy to drink.

Post Filter Brewing

Over the weekend I was also not drinking coffee at all. Before I ever worked or even drank coffee I worked in tea for three years. I was and am a bit of a tea expert as well. I often like to do this because I feel that it cleanses my pallet for better tasting. Same idea as when I fast for a period of time before doing a major tasting. I like to let all of my taste buds renew and grow untainted. However in my brewing of tea I noticed something about it that makes the brewing process of tea slightly different and in my opinion so much better than coffee, the post filter of the brewing and open infusion. All the leaves are able to bloom uninterrupted and come to full extraction then at the end of extraction the liquid is separated all at once uninterrupted. If we try to brew tea in the same method as coffee with some filter especially the cone filter, we would find the same problems of over and under extractions of the grounds in the bottom and top of the filter. Why hasn't there been any experimentation with this that I have seen at least? The closest I have seen has been the Eva Solo. There seems to be an ever wanting to filter as you brew. I propose a new brewing philosophy, of post filtering.

I am not proposing that the other methods of brewing are wrong, I am always trying to find something new. I still always favor my Chemex and Mokka Pot. But today when brewing coffee I decided to use my over the cup swissgold filter at the end of the brew. I warmed the water in my chemex and then added the grounds, 25 grams for 350ml, and swirled. Let the grounds settle and brew for 3 min then poured through my swissgold into my cup. My findings were interesting. I was using a coarse grind, slightly finer than French press, and I my thought was that surly it would filter faster that way through the swissgold. But sure enough there was still some clogging in the post filter. I am still working on it and will keep you posted. Until then, what are your thoughts on the post filter?

Rain Water

Over the weekend it started raining and I go excited to try something I had wanted to do for some time. As soon as it started raining I grabbed my Chemex I put it outside on the deck. Over two days I collected 400ml of rain water. Then this morning I brewed coffee with it. I really couldn't pass up the idea. I can't take complete credit for the idea. It was my adaptation of James Hoffmann brewing coffee with snow. It brewed a fantastic cup. The water was super pure. Thank you rain you always make me happy.

Chemex Round Two

So… I just made some coffee in my Chemex Brewer 45 grams @ 750ml at a brew time of 3:55. Directly after the brew I swirled and drank. It was fantastic. Then I put it on my burner to keep it warm(New thing I did), but then after letting it sit on the warmer for about 15min. then I poured a second cup. The second cup I poured then tasted like popcorn. Did the burner do this? Is there something in the filter that once warmed up makes this flavour?

Ethopian Coffee's

So this morning I had a cupping for myself of 4 very unique and different Ethiopian Coffee's. They all come from different crops. Of the four coffee's 2 were from Ecco Roaster, 1 from Barefoot Coffee, and one from Peet's Coffee.

• Ethiopian Sidamo: From ECCO Roaster- It is an organic coffee It had a nice body. It was not overly heavy and well balanced. It had a nice toasted walnut taste in the middle with a cherry like tartness to it right at the end. The vapors that it left in your mouth were that of a chocolate covered Cherry.

• Ethiopian Fancy: From Peet's Coffee&Tea- Over the years Peet's Coffee has been know to always have a darker roast. They roast almost all of the coffee's to the end of the second crack. Although that is only my speculation as to they do not for close any of their roasting styles. Their Ethiopian has a much heavier body with an almost root beer style finish. Very smooth like Carmel, although when it first hits your tongue it has a yogurt like tartness.
  
• Ethiopian Ghimbi: From Barefoot Coffee- The body on the coffee is pretty moderate. With the unbrewed grind colour that of rust red. The flavours in the coffee are complex right from the beginning. Very smooth for as light as the body is. I found it to have a buttery sweetness to it much like that of sweet bbq sauce. While at the end it had a very nutty finish. Like boiled Peanuts.
  
• Ethiopian Yirgacheff Konga CoOp.- Even more complex than the Ghimbi. Has a very blueberry berryness to it in the beginning with it changing to cherrynotes in the middle. Then right at the end it has a toasted almond end. It had a honey type sweetness, sweet but slightly bitter.
  

This was a great cupping. I love Ethiopian Coffees. They produce such a variety of coffees, and many of them are fantastic. I'm not trying to put any biased on any of my tastings but rather just present hat I taste and what is good about the coffee. Coffee Tasting like anything is very personal and I urge people all the time to seek out with they like. Cheers.