Coffee Appreciation

Is it a lady colleague?

Nope. Male

^^
Beans, beans the musical fruit,
The more you eat the more you toot!

I am here in Berlin and have gotten coffee from both hasbeen and square mile. They both arrive about a week after roasted. The square mile subscription works once a month (I get that one) but i think the hasbean one only has weekly that it will ship to the DE.

There are good roasters here (http://barn.bigcartel.com/ for example) but the ones that do subscriptions aren't really as good as SM or HB I don't think.

[INDENT][INDENT]*The Roastery Brew Bar is a taste lab rather than a coffeeshop.
The coffee menu is very reduced and put together for adults who would like to slow down and enjoy their cup of coffee in a quiet environment.
We kindly ask you to consider this when you bring in children.

*[/INDENT][/INDENT]LOL

By the way (Berlin) - I'd like to hear others experiences with *Five Elephants *in Berlin -
I had a double americano which wasn't really hot but tasty, and an espresso which really was the worst I had in years.
I told the girl about it and she explained that it "has to do with the water maybe, sometimes it's very hot, sometimes not-so-hot".

Yeah one could argue that the barn is a little nose-in-the-air about stuff. But their beans taste good (for my tastes though, I like my own brewing a little better than theirs). I, too, have had bad experiences at Five Elephants.

In Kreuzberg there used to be ck pour voo which was good, but I think they closed that down now (they still have a good place in Prenzlauer Berg though "ck" [http://cafeck.tumblr.com/].)

for Manchester coffee heads there's a Tank Coffee tasting session at Taste of Honey Deli on Burton Rd, 27th July they said.

I searched but couldn't find a thread on recommended (or otherwise) coffee shops.
I'm talking about an international list of locations that would be useful for travellers and locals alike; it would make for lively discussion about who qualifies at least.

Good idea. Do it.

Yeah one could argue that the barn is a little nose-in-the-air about stuff. But their beans taste good (for my tastes though, I like my own brewing a little better than theirs). I, too, have had bad experiences at Five Elephants.

In Kreuzberg there used to be ck pour voo which was good, but I think they closed that down now (they still have a good place in Prenzlauer Berg though "ck" [http://cafeck.tumblr.com/].)

In Kreuzberg is also "Baretto" in the Wrangelstrasse, which is small and rather packed most of the time,
but have not been disappoint there yet, really nice snacks, and very good coffee.

Henry made me a filter coffee with Yirgacheffe (sp?) beans yesterday, it was awesome.

If I got a bag of beans and an aeropress what sort of grind would get the best from this bean?

it really depends on your brewing method i think.long/short extraction etc and what you're trying to achieve from the coffee.

If I got a bag of beans and an aeropress what sort of grind would get the best from this bean?

For light roasts, I grind fairly course and let it stew (for like 5-10 mins. to taste).

Experimentation is the key. Espresso grinds work too, for instance.

it really depends on your brewing method i think.long/short extraction etc and what you're trying to achieve from the coffee.

HatBeard - what main differences can you expect from a coarse / vs fine grind /// a long stew vs short? What are the flavour characteristics that develop more for example?

The Roastery Brew Bar is a taste lab rather than a coffeeshop.

tastelab wtf....

I have an uncanny ability to turn lifts or any other enclosed space into taste labs after a Bodeans trip

My coffee plant had been looking increasingly sad, so today I re-potted him.

Old (green) vs new (grey):

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2814/9336250416_766a85b7ef_b.jpg

Hopefully he'll look a bit more like a bush soon, rather than a stick:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3785/9333457393_7f75bbf150_b.jpg

Anyone gifted in the ways of gardening care to comment on whether I could cut the top off and plant it in a fresh pot?

My thinking is to make the existing plant go out rather than up, and have an additional plant.

If you trim the top it should send it messages to go bushy - Auxins or Gibberellin in effect from hazy A level Biology memory.

Not a clue if you can grow from the cutting though....

I'll give it a go I guess, see what happens.

Yes, if you pinch out the fresh buds, or simply cut a stem, it will encourage the plant to grow outwards or bushier.

Pruning coffee

Just do the opposite of whatever you did to that Bay...

If that's as tall as you want it, you could remove the growing tip with a very sharp knife or secateurs and try to make it root as a cutting. Apparently the coffee plant is suitable. It's important to only cut the fresh, firm new growth for it to be likely to root. Good article here.

The other effect is that by removing the growing tip, it should encourage new side shoots.

The bay wasn't watered, simple as that I am afraid.

With regards to coffee- I was thinking about taking him off at the same level as the kids windmill head in the photo- but that "how-to" article on cuttings suggests that that would simply kill the top as it's too large to re-root.

Bugger.

Wonder if I could graft the top onto something else to make a hybrid?

Graft it onto camellia sinensis and you could grow your own yuanyuan?

Currently on a bag of Monmouth Costa Rican Finca Las Lajas (natural). It's a bit fruity, a bit funky, and quite rich. Roast is medium/dark and really good for espresso. It's quite viscous, with lots of crema. Cuts through milk.

Also another bag of Allpress Redchurch. This stuff is just really nice. I can't fault it. Super rich, sweet, easy to pour.

I'm very pleased to report that my coffee plant is looking much, much happier now he has a bigger pot, fresh compost and so on.

For anyone interested you can (apparently) pretty much follow the growing instructions for Camelia when it comes to coffee, although bear in mind that frost will kill coffee (I believe).