Hiroyuki

An important message for phaelon56 and torakris from Yankee mama Ever since I started posting on Nakagawa’s bulletin board, Yankee mama has often responded to my posts, sometimes referring to you, phaelon56 and torakris. To make a long story short, Yankee mama has this important message for you, (which was originated half jokingly in Japanese by me, approved for posting on eGullet by Yankee mama, and translated into English by me): *** 1. Come to Japan and drink Nontan’s (= Nakagawa’s) coffee!! I love you!! 2. If you can’t, let me send some coffee beans from Japan. Just drink!! *** This is not a joke, and I'd like both of you to take her offer seriously. My suggestions would be to post your preferences (bean type, roast level, whether to grind or not, etc.) here and give your addresses to Flavor coffee at master@flavorcoffee.co.jp And I'd like you to post your candid opinions here. IMPORTANT: I am not affiliated with Flavor coffee, except that I am fascinated by Nakagawa's innovative idea about roasting, his superb brewing techniques, and above all, his commitment to hand-picking all deficient beans after roasting.

I'm not sure, but browing through the Japanese version of that website (which is more detailed than the English version) makes me think that carpal tunnel syndrome may be an issue here. You know the frequency of tamping that a professional barista has to experience...

I received a large box of chestnuts from my parents today, who live in Kimitsu city, Chiba prefecture. My wife made kuri okowa (not kuri gohan), which is a combination of chestnuts and glutinous rice (mochi gome). All my family love it. We have to do osusowake (gift sharing) again...

I found this tamper: http://www.espresso.jp/tobiratamper/index.htm No comments from me because I know nothing about tampers.

Yankee mama seems to be an old friend of Nakagawa’s. Here is what she wrote on Nakagawa’s bulletin board recently: Now that Nontan’s (= Nakagawa’s) coffee is stronger, I make it weaker before I drink it. So, once you brew it, you can keep it longer. It’s economical. -- I wrote jokingly to Yankee mama, “I can post your photo if you like,” and the result is… a self-portrait? Edit to add: Sorry for getting off topic...

Well, the trouble is that we can't get enough of them! As a matter of fact, we gave two boxes to relatives and neighbors as osusowake (gift sharing), which is, as you may know, quite customary in Japan.

About one month, provided that you keep it together with the seasoning in the refrigerator. I once found that the part of it that was above the seasoning and in direct contact with air was moldy.

In late July, I got more than 30 cucumbers from my wife's brother. I decided to make Kyuuri no kyu-chan. Ingridients: 1 to 1.2 kg cucumbers 50 g ginger White sesame seeds Seasonings: 150 g sugar 300 cc soy sauce 50 cc mirin 50 cc vinegar How to make: <1> Cut cucumbers into 1- to 2-cm length pieces, sprinkle salt, leave for 30 minutes, squeeze. <2> Put finely-cut ginger and all seasonings in a pan, boil for 1 to 2 minutes, put cucumbers, and boil for 2 minutes on high heat. <3> Let cool, mix with sesame seeds, put in refrigerator. This recipe is from this site: http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/mikasagichan/8002 Kyuuri no kyu-chan you can buy at a store (first photo): http://www.tokubaiya.com/tsukemono/sonotatukemono.html I find the homemade version very, very tasty and less salty than the store bought one.

Grapes. My father grows the variety called Kyohou in his backyard, not on a commercial basis but as a hobby. The photo below was taken on August 13, when the grapes were still premature and sour. (He has another vineyard nearby, where he grows other varieties.) Around August 24, when they matured, he harvested most of them and sent my family six boxes (more than 60 bunches)! Look at the photo; they are ripe and look almost black. Kyohou is often called the king of grapes (budou no ousama). They are really sweet and yummy!

Cooking rice in a kama is recognized as the best way to cook rice, provided that the following steps are taken: はじめちょろちょろなかぱっぱ、じゅうじゅうふいたら火を引いて、赤子泣いてもふたとるな Hajime choro-choro, naka pappa, juu-juu fuitara hi-wo hiite, akago naitemo futa toruna (Low heat first, high heat in the middle, turn off the heat when it says ‘juu-juu’, and never take off the lid even if your baby cries (for hunger). This is a phrase that every Japanese is familiar with, although the ‘juu-juu fuitara hi-wo hiite’ part is often dropped. This is the authentic way handed down from generation to generation. In fact, there can be no other way to cook rice in a kama. It is also common practice to put a handful of straw at the end of cooking to burn the rice at the bottom and make okoge. Once placed in a kamado, a kama is not moved until the rice is cooked.

Melitta vs. Matsuya: I understand that the concept of the Melitta is standardization – providing a standardized procedure for brewing coffee so that anyone can make acceptable coffee. The Matsuya method, on the other hand, makes a distinction between umami (flavorful components) and zatsumi (miscellaneous (unpleasant) components), and provides a means for extracting umami selectively. Toddy vs. Matsuya: The obvious difference is that the Toddy is a cold-brew system while the Matsuya method is not, and it seems to me that the only similarity between them is that the resulting coffee can keep for as long as three weeks. I find the coffee made with the Matsuya method acidic enough.

The rest of Nakagawa's comments: Unfortunately, it was on that occasion only that I made roasting experiments using a superheated steam oven, so I felt like trying some more… If you are to roast coffee with superheated steam only, you have to shut off the exhaust completely and return (the oven to the initial state?) to re-heat the steam; otherwise, you can’t get a sufficient quantity of heat. That’s why I focused on the inversion point of superheated steam only. (I think that Sharp focused on film condensation heat transfer and defatting in the absence of oxygen.) (Responding to another person’s post) As for the difference in taste, which Yankee mama mentioned… Quite honestly, using superheated steam causes changes in taste, which some people like while others don’t. This is true. The reason for this is that using superheated steam causes the taste to be by far stronger than regular roasting. So, those who like sappari (bland) taste tend to dislike it. (I, for one, think it is better to cause thorough chemical change…) What is interesting is that the aroma decreases both when the time to apply superheated steam is too long and when it is too short. So, at this point, you can never be sure how much steam to supply to get the best results unless you make numerous experiments. In my roasting, I supply steam for six minutes. I think that the amount of steam should be adjusted according to the type of bean… At this point, however, I have not yet been able to experiment up to that level. (I expect the time to fall within five to seven minutes.) This has been my general comments on superheated steam. *** (I must confess that I really cannot translate his style of writing to equivalent English.)

Part of Nakagawa's comments on this home appliance: I have seen several superheated stream ovens before (all commercial ones). When I tried to roast coffee beans in a superheated stream oven, this didn't work well. When I attempted to roast them for 14 minutes or longer as with regular roasting, moisture was removed completely and the beans didn't crack. When I attempted to roast them for three minutes, they did crack, but they didn't have aroma. And the flavor was not very good.

I have just received a reply from Sharp. They say that the appliance cannot be used to roast coffee beans because it does not have an agitator. They provided a link to their English webpage on this product: http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/040823.html

Really intriguing. It's a good example of the application of superheated steam as a heat source, not as an auxiliary measure as in the direct heat and superheated steam roasting system developed by Nakagawa. I'm not 100% sure, but from what I read from Sharp's website, this appliance seems not to use the microwaves. Anyway, to satisfy your curiosity, I have just sent an inquiry to the manufacturer, asking if they have an English literature on this product. Sharp's webpage on the product (Japanese only): http://www.sharp.co.jp/healsio/index.html

I need one important clarification: Do we have a pantry in our small Japanese houses? Many houses in Japan have an underfloor storage space, though. A photo of an underfloor storage space (yukashita shuunou in Japanese) http://wagaya.jp/reform/shohin/16_02.html

And of course, mulukhiya (Jew's marrow) I just boil it in water, drain, and eat it with ponzu and dried bonito flakes (katsuo bushi).

My first attempt to cold-brew coffee with a PET bottle Last Saturday, I made my first attempt to cold-brew coffee with a PET bottle. My primary purpose was to simulate the Toddy system as closely as possible to compare it with the Matsuya method. For a discussion of the Matsuya method, go to: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...=0entry679972 I decided to use a 900-ml PET bottle to brew 100 g of ground coffee with 500 ml of water (same ratio as that described by Toddy). I cut the bottle at the bottom, leaving one corner uncut to use it as a 'hinge'. (I later taped the diagonal corner for sealing.) I rinsed a paper filter under running water to remove the odor it had absorbed due to poor storage, folded it up into a thick block to mimic the felt-like Toddy filter, and placed it at the neck of the bottle. I rinsed another filter, opened it, and placed it on top of the first to hold and support the ground coffee. (I thought that without it, the first filter would give way under the weight of the coffee.) I then placed the ground coffee, poured about one third of the water, waited for five minutes, and poured the rest. Three hours later, I found most of the coffee grounds still floating on the water. (I had thought that that the first pour was meant to remove carbon dioxide from the coffee grounds, but apparently it was not. Or, perhaps the coffee that had been coarsely ground for brewing with the Matsuya method was too coarse for the Toddy.) I had to take a drastic measure that might change the taste of the coffee: pouring another 80 to 100 ml of HOT water over the grounds to get rid of the gas. About another half an hour later, nothing changed. I had to take another drastic measure: stabbing the coffee grounds with a chop stick. After ten stabs or so, I finally managed to cause all the coffee grounds to sink to the bottom. After 10-hour steeping, I screwed off the cap of the bottle to drain the concentrate. I diluted the concentrate with water at a ratio of 1:3, as described by Toddy, and tasted the resulting coffee. I first felt that something was missing. I'm not sure, but I guess this is due to less acidity. I took two drastic measures that might change the taste of the coffee, so I think that the real Toddy coffee tastes even less acidic. I think I'll make more comments in the Matsuya method thread later.

Natto with okra.

Shusse-uo! Shusse-uo: 出世魚 fish called by different names at different stages of its growth // fishes that are called by different names as they grow larger This is from Eijiro on the Web: http://www.alc.co.jp/

You read my mind! thank god... I thought it was just me... A photo of a banana or a matsutake mushroom could be a perfect match. Seriously, it's good to know that such varieties as 'freestone' and 'clingstone' existed.

Tonight, he replied as follows: I am not good at speaking English, but I think I can manage to read and write.

I made an inquiry to one specific dealer in Sanjo, and I have just received a reply from him: Dear xxxx: I'm Juumi of Hamono No Juumi. We can ship Shigefusa's products overseas. We will ship them by EMS international mail. As you may know, however, we were safe from the Igarashi River bank rip here on July 13, but the workshop of Shigefusa, also known as Tokifusa Iizuka, was flooded above floor level, and cannot resume operation yet. I think he will start operation around October. Usually, he needs about 90 days to delivery on a make to order basis. It is expected that due to this disaster, it will take about one year for the time to delivery to return to normal. We have some items in stock, and other than those, we have to request you to wait. We will contact you as soon as your product is finished, and we will ship it after receipt of payment. We look forward to serving you. (Translated by me) *** You can contact the dealer at webmaster@jumi.co.jp Dealer's website (Japanese only): http://www.jumi.co.jp/

I live in Niigata prefecture, but not near Sanjo city. Anyway, I managed to find one site in English that may interest you: http://www.watanabeblade.com/english/index.htm I wonder what specific information you need. You want to buy a knife?

Oh, I see. So, the Toddy Coffee cold-brew procedure includes a step for pre-wetting - a step for removing carbon dioxide from the coffee grounds. It's good to know that. Thanks!