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Oak Cliff Coffee: Dallas, TX
I received an email from Shannon to let us know about their roasting company. He writes,
I just wanted to let y’all know about us. We’re a specialty roaster in Oak Cliff (Dallas). We deliver in Oak Cliff and ship anywhere. And deal mostly with Fair Trade, Direct Trade and Organic/Natural coffee.
We’re only online right now but we’re looking to open a shop soon.
Thanks,
Shannon Neffendorf
Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters
I poked around a bit on their website, and found this in the “About us” section:
Coffee initially became a passion of ours because of the conversations and connections with family, friends and new acquaintances that it facilitates. The passion grew into roasting high quality coffee beans and sharing the passion with others. Coffee, much like life, should not simply be about what you consume but also what you can create.
We desire to create a great coffee experience from aroma to taste to conversation through our beans. Also to do our part, however small it may be, to create a better quality of life for the most crucial aspect of a good cup of coffee, the farm it’s grown on.
Thanks for telling us about your roasting outfit, Shannon.
Oak Cliff Coffee has been added to the list of Roasters.
The 20th Annual SCAA Conference & Exhibition
Who is going? The SCAA United States Barista Championship will be held at the same time.
The talent present this year is absolutely astounding. As the CI blog mentioned, there will be 3 previous national champions in the mix, as well as Chris Baca who scored an amazing 798 points in the WRBC. Absolutely stunning.
Patric Pierce, Clancy Rose, and Ashlind McAshan will be competing. (the Texas trio?)
Patric Pierce is the reigning South Central Regional Champ.
Clancy pulled a 2nd place finish in the same competition.
Ashlind was working for Starbucks when she competed in the SCRBC, and I don’t remember her final placing. She’s competed a few times out of region since then, and I expect she has improved much over the past year.
Also going on is the Roasters Guild Coffee of the Year Competition
“The Coffee of the Year is an event intended to evaluate exceptional coffees utilizing Q-Graders, SCAA Certified Cuppers and other industry cupping experts as selected by the competition’s organizers. Coffees will be ranked after the competition based on the scores provided by the participating cuppers. more…“
I am sorry that I am unable to go. I’ve been asked by a lot of people, and I hate to tell them that no, we don’t be able to meet, grab a drink, shake hands, etc.. at the show. I won’t be there.
For those going, have a GREAT time! And Tell us all about it when you get back.
If you don’t, I’ll source the information elsewhere and blog it anyway.
Oh yeah, and there is a ton of live-blogging scheduled for this year’s conference.
Apparently, according to Mr. Nick Cho, we will be able to find it RIGHT HERE. (where Mark Innman’s face is)
Panther City Coffee is closed… and selling their wares.
The beloved Panther City Coffee is gone, but a piece of it can live on.
Everything is for sale.
Please see the thread here
Cold Brewing With Style: Coffee Snob Cold Brewer
I saw a picture of someone’s home espresso shrine, and noticed a cold brewer that looked very similar to the larger version I saw in pictures of Blue Bottle’s “$20,000 Coffee Brewer” (which is really a very very expensive heating element paired with some normally priced vac pots)… the cold brewer is made by the same company, and thus, it matches the vac-pot bar.
This smaller home version of the elegent design got me curious, and so I started hunting, and came across this little gem.
This is the Coffee Snob Cold Drip Coffee Maker.
You may already be familiar with the Toddy style brewer, which differs in design just a bit.
With the Toddy brewer, ground coffee is steeped in cold water overnight, and then filtered through a cloth filter.
The Coffee Snob brewer drips cold water ever so slowly through a cup containing ground coffee at the speedy rate of about 1 drop per second. (yippie!)
The result (like the Toddy) is a concentrated brew unlike any brew method relying on hot water for extraction.
While Cold Brewing has many fans, the previously available home versions have left much to desire in visual appeal.
The Coffee Snob does the job in a roughly 2ft. tall package that adds elegance and miles of style. Guaranteed to spark a little conversation for converts and future converts alike.
And best of all, Coffee Snob is a company located here in Texas. Manchaca (near Austin), no less.
They are available for purchase online, or at Monkey See, Monkey Do located at 1712 S. Congress in Austin.
I just couldn’t resist sharing this with you. A new discovery for me, possibly not for some others, but certainly interesting nonetheless.
What are your Tamper preferences?
realize this is a subjective of a topic as any, but I’d like to see some discussion.
There used to be only one option. Flat base. Most of them were one-piece aluminum or stainless steel, and were not entirely ergonomic, but weren’t all that uncomfortable either. Rarely did they ever fit the basket like a glove.
Now days, we have several options to choose from. There are a wide variety of manufacturers of quality tampers, each with their own ideas.
There is massive range of styles of tamper handles. From skulls to giant sticks. From ergonomic form, to rubber handles. But really, the only part that has any impact on the espresso is the business end. The piston, or base.
(click for larger version)
There are plenty of opinions and ideas about why each is better or worse than the others.
The original style was the flat base. Then came the convex base, now known as “euro curve”.
Then along came the milder “american curve” to serve as a bridge between “flat” and “convex” bases.
Well, Reg Barber decided that this just wasn’t good enough, and designed what he calls the C-Flat base. The ultimate hybrid design. Curved edges, and a flat center.
I have personally done a lot of experimentation with the different tamper styles, and the results are about what one would expect if they felt they had a good intuitive understanding of espresso preparation.
There are also ideas floating around about how the tamper base should be paired with the shape of the shower screen on your espresso machine. For example, if the shower screen is flat, you should get a flat tamper. If the shower screen is curved, you should try to match that curvature with your tamper. A more aggressively curved shower screen needs a euro-curve tamper, a flat shower screen needs a flat tamper, and so on.
There are other ideas going around about how the tamper should be based on whether or not your filterbasket is tapered or straight-walled. The degree of curvature should, in theory, be determined by the degree of inward tapering found in the filterbasket. There is a theory that states that the supposed benefits of a convex tamper base are only applicable if the filterbasket has an inward taper. Unfortunately, the theory doesn’t go into many details, but I think it’s pretty self-explanatory.
I tend to prefer an American Curve base, for all filter basket applications, personally, althought I used a flat base in competition, and I tend to vary between them from time to time, just for taste or observational purposes.
But this blogger is curious. What is your preference? Whare the reasons you think your preferred base is beneficial?
Leave comments below, and let’s get this discussion rolling.
Houston Coffee Geek meetup: Sunday, May 25 3pm
TXCP forums member petunia clued me in to this meeting.
See the original thread on CoffeeGeek.com
I’d been following the progress of its planning for awhile, but I missed the finalization.
Catalina Coffee
3pm
Sunday, May 25th
Be there, or be square.
Catalina Coffee
2201 Washington Avenue
Houston, TX
77007
Kohana Coffee: Austin, TX
I received an email from a Piper Jones on behalf of Kohana Coffee desiring that they be added to our list of roasters. I added them to the list yesterday, and am just making the announcement today.
Would love to be listed on your site as a Texas roaster. We’re located in Austin, have been in business approx 18 months and are in love with great coffee.
Done!
I found this statement from their website in the “About” section:
Inspired to bring incredible coffee moments to every day life, we founded Kohana Coffee. Teaming up with some of the best
in the industry, we buy only the finest beans, including our core Hawaiian beans, and use the proper slow roasting technique to alleviate any bitter or acidic aftertaste. And because specialty coffee should be enjoyed by all, you’ll find Kohana coffees available at affordable prices.
There are also quite a few “testimonials” for their decaf espresso blend. It might be worth checking out for those who need to lay off the caffeine from time to time (or all the time).
Welcome to the list.
www.kohanacoffee.com
Brown Coffee Co’s $9 Sale: San Antonio, TX
Brown Coffee Co asked that we announce a coffee sale. What’s good for state-wide roasters is good for sate-wide specialty coffee in general. So naturally, I was happy to help.
Our goal at Brown is to put quality coffees into the hands of as many folks as possible. Enter now the “discount offer.” For a limited time, enjoy any Brown coffee for the flat rate of $9. No limit. If you’ve been waiting to try something, or are in need of a stock up, here’s your siren call. Consider this open season.
Their online store is HERE.
Join the Texas Coffee People Flickr Group!
(flickr also loves being blurry)
We love coffee pictures. Doesn’t everyone?
We’d like to see yours.
Roasting, green coffee, cupping, nake espresso pulls, spouted espresso pulls, spent puck shots, latte art, milk frothing, customer interaction, cafe layouts, and anything and everything else that you can possibly photograph that is somehow related to coffee.
We want to see your coffee experiences through the eyes of your camera’s lense.
Join the Texas Coffee People Flickr group, and note the sidebar display of the contents.
Texas Coffee People
It’s pretty baren right now, but hopefully you can help fix that.
The Final Positioning: USBC 2008
1 = Kyle Glanville
2 = Pete Licata
3 = Heather Perry
4 = Chris Baca
5 = Nick Griffith
6 = Drew Cattlin
The scores were tight! Kyle’s performance was something to behold. He was smooth. He was suave. He was sovereign, and he used the semi-SimulSpro™ technique. Not entirely SimulSpro™, but not far off. His art was by far the best of the competition (not that art matters.. in fact, someone made a comment that latte art was soooo 2007, and I happen to think they are right, if it matters.)
In case you were unable to see the semi-finals or finals performances, they are all available to watch online at the official SCAA live blog. -> http://scaa.wordpress.com
And in case you missed the semi-finals round performance of our very own Mr. Patrick Pierce, here he is ;o)
Patrick Pierce, Semi-finals round, 2008 USBC
For those who missed the live-feed discussions, you don’t know what you were missing. It was a great time. Almost as good as being there.
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TX-Coffee Partners
EspressoTrainer.com