phaelon56

Back when I used to buy Silver Queen at roadside stands here in central NY state I was advised that it freezes better than the newer varieties. It was 25 years ago and I can't distinctly recall an A/B taste comparison.

I think it's under the radar but does well enough without lots of hype. A few short years back when I worked at One Penn Plaza it was the steakhouse of choice for business folks in that neighborhood to take clients to. Easy to reach by foot from the office and everyone was near a subway or Penn Station when dinner was done. And although Nick and Stef's was right across the street from our building none of us when there or took clients there - it was for tourists and sports fans visiting the Garden for an event.

I agree about the fresness factor. Also very interesting is that although most beans deliver great results for drip or press pot coffee within 24 hours after roasting (apart from a bit of bloom in the brewing process due ot the extra Co2 being released)... most espresso blends yield much better results when allowed to rest for 3 to 5 days after roasting. Thus means if you buy from a roaster that ships fresh (i.e. on day of roast) and you use a service like Priority Mail - you'll get the beans at just about the optimal time to begin using them. I continue to be amazed when I pull a few shots from a blend I worked up from just-roasted beans and think "Hmmm... not bad but could be a bit better". And then three or four days later I pull a few shots from the same batch of beans and it's stellar.

And there are exceptions. Those who know me and have dined with me can attest that whether it's pickled pig's feet, cow's foot soup, braised veal tongue, brains, kidney, sauteed pork stomach or any number of other non-mainstreeam items - I'll try it at least once and will have it again if I enjoy the taste, texture and complexity (or simplicity) of it. I've eaten Korean food on perhaps six to eight occasions over the past 25 years and although I've never disliked it... I never found anything compelling enough about the tastes, textures, contrasts and styles of preparation that lured me back into havign it more frequently. Most certainly it can be attrbuted to being "a matter of taste" but could there be more to it? I enjoy and partake regularly of Jamaican, Vietnamese, Thai and Dominican food. Less frequently but still on my regular radar are Hong Kong style Chinese, Polish, Afghani, Persian and French. Less frequently and most likely because for me they fall in the same category as Korean food are Ethiopian and Tibetan food. But is it possible that like many open minded folks who have tried Korean food and haven't found it have strong appeal... perhaps I haven't tried really good Korean food? I've long been more or less indifferent to Chinese food but have it periodically because it's generally cheap and convenient. But when I tried a good dim sum restaurant and subsequently ate in a very good Hong Kong style place that offered non-Americanized dishes - I really enjoyed it. That parallels my experiences with Indian food. It was not until I tried some amazing Bangladeshi food a few years ago at Mina Foods in Queeens that I finally said - 'Ah ha! Indian food can be really good!". And picture the plight of the vast majoprity of Amercians - if even in Manhattan's 32nd Street zone one must pick a restaurant carefully to get one that offers a great Korean culinary experience - imagine the challenge of finding a good one in most small to mid size cities. That said... Syracuse has a larger population of Koreans than any other Asian group and we do have one tiny little neighborhood Korean place on my side of town. They never advertise but the grapevine says I'm likely to be the opnly Anglo in the joint and that the food is very authentic. I'll give it a shot and report back....

A few more possibilities... 1) Sweet Maria's does (or did) roast once each week and usually just oen or two varieties. Check their web site for details - I think they sell the beans they roast via the web site as well as to their walk-in trade. 2) A new option to check is my coffee buddy Matt Godard's Cafe Kubal - a local micro-roaster here in the Syracuse area. His Guatemalan offerings should be of particular interest as his wife is a native of Guatemala's coffee growing region and he buys his Guat beans direct from the farming families. 3) Another small operator doing some fairly good roasting is Tony Sciandra of Caffe Fresco in the Scranton PA area. He has a good shipping rate structure and I have greatly enjoyed his Brazil Daterra as a single origin espresso (admittedly - I enjoyed the Daterra from Ecco Caffe even more). His Ambrosia espresso blend has many fans in the Coffeegeek community but it's not matched to the tastes of my palate.

I haven't done much "finer" dining on my many visits to Seattle but on my first or second visit there I had a stellar dinner at Etta's. And I've been prompted by frineds to be sure I try lunch next time at Salumi - a small place owned by Mario Batali's father. They cure their own sausages etc. and are said to have terrific rustic Italian food. I was disappointed by Saigon Cafe - the Viet place in the ID (International District) that I tried for dinnner. But many have advised me that Seattle has some excellent Vietnamese food. And although I'm straying into beverages rather than food I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that a visit to either Victrola or Vivace for an espresso/machiatto is a must. ON any given day either of them can deliver an espresso drink fart betetr than any that Paris or London has to offer and rivaling what you'll find at the better places in Italy. They're both up on Capital Hill but Vivace now has a luxe new "espresso palace" between downtown and Lake Union across from the REI flagship store.

I agree that the cost of shipping often makes mail order purchases a financial burden for many. But Intelligentsia and Terroir are great sources and many speak highly of Alterra although I haven't had a chance to try their beans. Master roaster, Cup of Excellence judge and all round nicest guy in the coffee biz Andrew Barnett finally has a web site with retail offerings up for his Ecco Caffe operation. He has some interesting beans, ships fresh as do the others mentioned above and uses the lighter roasting style that many of us have come to prefer. I also agree that Sweet Maria's is a great source of info on how a given varietal is in any particular crop season. But keep in mind - although generalities can be helpful... e.g. such "the Ethiopian Harrar's dont have a strong blueberry note this year" - there are so many variations from lot to lot and grower to grower that it's unwise to make blanket assessments about any given varietal. If you read Tom Owen's excellent cupping notes on Sweet Maria's site you'll sometimes see references to him finding the characteristics he seeks only in a given numbered lot from one specific crop year of a certain varietal. The idea of having a bricks and mortar store where one can walk in and choose from a wide selection of fresh roasted varietals is appealing but difficult for the retailer to pull off. Once roasted, coffee is at its optimal for such a realtively short window fo time that it's impractical to carrry a huge selection already roasted. More and more specialty roasters are moving towards carrying specific varietals only during a period of several months each year when the new crop comes in and the green beans are at their peak. Terroir bucks this trend by vacuum sealing and freezing their green beans but that's a contentious topic best left for some other discussion (the arguments tend to be philosophical rather than based on bean quality). A roaster retailer who has a busy cafe can offer fresh roasted beans marked with roast date and then pull the unsold goods after 4 to 5 days by just using them to brew drip coffee in the store. Specialty coffee industry pioneer Martin Diedrich (founder of the Diedrich chain that bears his name but he is no longer associated with the chain) now has Keans Coffee in Newport Beach CA. Most of his fresh roasted in store offerings are organic and he also has some Cup of Excellence coffees. I didn't bring home beans when I visited there but had a good espresso and he's making some darn good brewed coffee as well. Unfortunately he's way too busy with his local retail and wholesale operation to get a Web based sales channel operational yet.

One of my commercial coffee roaster friends spent the time, effort and money to become certified organic, certified Trans-Fair "fair Trade" and also certified Kosher when he set up his business. Admittedly, it could be that he didn't market the right way, but he said that certifying Kosher just for the coffee itself was a waste of time and money. He wasn't able to track any increase in sales that were garnered based on that fact. I can see the benefit of being Kosher for the food products in a coffeehouse if it's located in a key area as mentioned above but otherwise.... nah.

It's worth the drive. Especially that eggplant appetizer. Not too hard to find.... go past the Starlight Music Theater and look for a strip plaza on your right. At the end of the plaza Johnson road Y's off to the right and there's a second smaller building with an upscale billiards parlor on one side and the restaurant on the other. I think it would be a great place to try with a group so many dishes could be ordered and shared.

I'm not typically a big fan of Indian type food apart from the Bangladeshi dishes I had at Mina Foods in Queens a couple years ago. but when my new lady friend, who lives in Troy, suggested a Latham Indian restaurant for us to try, it seemed worth exploring. Karavalli Indian Restaurant The acquaintances of hers who suggested it have traveled extensively, spent time in India and declared it to be the best Indian food they'd ever had in the US. After one visit I'm inclined to think they're right. I look forward to another visit and a chance to try more dishes. Decor and atmosphere was pleasant, tasteful and on the upscale side with a distinct lack of cheesy elements. Service was friendly and unobtrusive. Although prices were just a tad high by the standards of the typical Indian restaurant (excluding haute places in NYC) the portiosn were generous and it was a good value. The menu includes dishes from a number of regions rather than focusing on one regional style of cooking. The menu even includes a few traditoonal dishes from the old Jewish Quarter of Calcutta. My partner had Lamb Sagg, I had Chicken Ammwalla and we shared the Tamarind Eggplant appetizer and an order of naan. In terms of having an intriguing combination of textures and flavors I think the eggplant appetizer may be the single best zppetizer I've ever eaten and most certainly the tastiest dish I've any kind that I've had in the past few years. Definitely worth a visit and I look forward to going back soon.

I've seen comments / quotes like this elsewhere and it's patently ridiculous. These marketers keep saying that people pay four dollars for a coffee at place like Starbucks - they don't. They pay that price (and more) for milk based espresso drinks - which are NOT a "cup of coffee". Sure - you can pay $5 or more for a plain old cup of coffee in Vienna, Tokyo, London, Moscow or some other major cities but it's not that way here in the US. As for Ned's comment on the espresso at Aroma - I'm disappointed but not surprised.

I forgot to mention that I once bought a Melitta "burr grinder" for $30 at a kitchen goods outlet store. Based on the description it sounds like the same machine as the PC model under discussion but with a different name badge. My intent had been to leave it at a GF's house for making drip coffee when I was there. It was so loud, staticy and produced so much heat, dust and powder (along with chunks!) that I returned it and got a $20 Kitchen Aid whirly blade unit that works fine.

In one of our favorite pinned topics - Best Coffee Grinder - what, where? - this very grinder gets discussed. The member who purchased it was gung-ho and felt favorably about it before and shortly after purchase but after several days of use quickly became dissatisfied.... President's Choice grinder comments In the same thread another member comments favorably on the same Braun that Mayhaw Man has recommended here. The other "inexpensive" (that term being relative) burr grinder I've seen that gets fairly good reviews is the Bodum Antigua which can be found for about $75. In the $30 and under category I stick to $20 blade grinders. You may have to stop mid-grind and shake it a bit to get better distribution and more even grind consistency but in general they're reliable and work well for their purpose - drip coffee. When it comes to French Press you'll want more consistency to the grind (unless you have a good sludge tolerance level). And for espresso? If we're talking about espresso made with a decent espresso machine it's tough to find anything cheaper than the Solis Maestro (about $100 to $120) that willl really do the job well.

Another thing the Ferry Building market has the the Union Square market lacks is a great coffee cart. Blue Bottle Coffee of Oakland has a stand there and although I didn't try the stand (was not there on a market day) I did try their kiosk in Hayes Valley and also tried their product as served at the Bittersweet Chocolate Cafe in Okland. Bittersweet is worth a visit if only for the vast selection of chocolate bars available - including many single origin varietals I've never seen elsewhere. NYC's Mud Truck doesn't come close to matching the espresso quality that Blue Bottle offers. If Gimme! Coffee of Williamsburg (Brooklyn) were to open a Manhattan cart at the Union Square market akin to the one they have at the Ithaca Farmers market... there would be many happy espresso campers in NYC. As for the strawberries - I think there are many commercial fruits (i.e. not organic and not from small specialty farms) available in California that are far superior to what NYC typically gets - because excellent growing conditions and the option to pick and sell when it gets fully ripe (and without refrigerating it along the way) allow for much better product.

You might look up recipes for Dominican style stewed chicken and use that as a starting point. It's similar but a bit more heavily seasoned.

If a basic blade grinder was yielding good results with your moka pot I can't give you any compelling reason to buy something different. You're correct in recalling that, as a general rule, cheap burr grinders are bad news. You can get a burr grinder of okay quality for $70 - $120 and one that's very very good for about $175 to $275. For serious espresso productio with a good espresso machine the range starts at $275 and goes up. The more uniform grind particle size produced by a better machine could in theory produce better extraction and slightly improved results with a Moka pot but it might be a subtle difference - not necessarily worth the bump up in price.

I'm not a Moka aficionado thus am not qulified to recommend but 1) It's all a matter of taste - as always 2) Blends that are optimized for or intended for use in espresso machines are generally very suitable for stovetop espresso (aka Moka) - yet such blends are not always great as drip coffee just as some varietals and blends make great drip but not good espresso I used to roast my own coffee at home and now roast commercially as a part time job - I no longer have to buy coffee. But our roasting style (which was also my personal preference when I roasted at home) is Northern Italian - fully developed for flavor but lighter than many people are accustomed to. My very darkest roast - a French Roast Colombian Supremo - displays no oil after roasting and has only hints of oil after 5 - 7 days.

Shall I Fedex you some? Actually, now that you mention in, I'm not sure I've seen whole bean here. This is my new project! ← By all means - I'll pay the freight! Trugn Nguyen is finally selling direct to end users in the US via a web siet and my local Viet specialty market now stocks it at good prices but it's all pre-ground It has such rich chocolate tones in the flavor that I suspect it might make great espesso shots if I could grind it properly - not to mention the advantage of better freshness and a time savings of about 5 - 7 minutes if I'm making Cafe Sua Da.

I';m just back from a week on a lake and brought my espresso machine but neglected to bring my little Vietnamese metal filter contraption. Visiting friends broughjt me a hald pound of pre-ground Trung Nguyen coffee (they've beenm drinking it hot brewed in a vac pot and love the chocolate flavor). I tried tamping it really hard and pulling lungo (long pull) espresso shots over sweetened condensed milk then mixing and pouring over ice. It wasn't bad but we all concurred that it doesn't compare to the slow 5 - 10 minute drip in the metal filter. If I could just get my hands on Trung Nguyen whole bean coffee it might change 5things but for now it's back to the metal filter for my cafe sua da

Barley is an option and many people also use rice but some say the hardness of rice grains is not good for the grinder burrs. Urnex now offers Grindz grinder cleaner - it's the first product of its type, initial feedback seems to be good and most major on-line coffee gear vendors carrry it. OTOH - I don't use oily beans - not ever - and apart from brushing loose grinds out I've never cleaned my home grinder (shop grinders are a different story but my home grinder sees only 1/4 pound per week of use at most).

A few things to keep in mind about decaf espresso... 1) the roasted beans have a shorter "window of excellence" - i.e. the optimal time for usage when they are at their peak after roasting is several days less than caffeinated - plan accordingly 2) if you're home roasting and doing your own espresso blending you may find that with decaf rather than using a fairly neutral bean like a Brazil at 30 - 50% as a base - you'll get better results by just working towards a mix of the higher flavor note / more distinct beans. You don't really need a base bean to balance out the others because decaf is inherently less intense in flavor profile. 3) absence of abundant crema is an issue but there is such a thing as decaf Monsooned Malabar - adding 10% - 15% of that bean may help crema production in a big way (but don't go too high with MM or the unique funky, musty fruitiness will overpower all your other flavors) 4) again - for home roasters or small batch roasters - many if not most decaf beans seem to have about the same target temp and roast time. Pre-roast blends that can't possibly work in regular beans are often successful and all roast evenly when the beans are decaf (I do a Colombian/Sumatran/Sulawesi pre-roast blend that roasts up beautifullyand very evenly).

Rue Franklin was just mentioend on the Rochester dining thread as reputedly the best fine dining in Buffalo and apparently the one really exceptional sushi place has closed. There are, of course, the regional specialties like beef on a weck and I suspect things like white hots (aka coneys) have made their way that far west from Syracuse and Rochester. Wegmans isn't the end-all be-all but they're good at most of what they do and have a good enough selection of upscale, organic, specialty etc that Whole Foods rarely bothers to try going up against them directly in the same markets. Do look around to find out where the local farmers market is held. Central and western NY has some excellent independent farmers, cheesemakers etc who often sell at these. As for Starbucks in Ithaca - ugh - but it will serve the tourists stayiong upstairs inthe Hilton Garden Inn or visiting the Commons for the day. And it will make the locals appreciate even more what a treasure they have in Gimme Coffee (who should open a few outposts in Buffalo which, unlikeSyracuse, is probably ready for a coffee/espresso joint operating at that level).

You might start with "half-caf" - typically achieved by mixing regular espresso blend and decaf espresso blend in a 50/50 ratio. By the way... espresso is a preparation style not a specific bean or roasting style (although there are blends of beans optimized for espresso and marketed as such). And you may find some blends or coffees that are very pleasant as moka pot coffee that aren't necessarily optimal for espresso made with an espresso machine - it's good to experiment, I don't suggest using just any old blend for decaf espresso if you want best results because some of the crucial components of a good espresso, such as crema, are reduced in decaffeinated beans. But with a moka pot your options are more abundant. If you live in the Chicago area or are okay with the added cost of getting coffee shipped from an online source I strongly suggest trying Intelligentsia Black Cat decaf espresso blend . They are a large enough company that they're able to take the exact same green beans used in regular Black Cat, send them out to be decaffeinated, and roast those to make their decaf. This is a step that the typical small roaster can't afford to do (I think 1,000 lbs per bean type is the minimum for having a bean decaffeinated to order) and most really large roasters aren't focused enough on espresso quality to bother.

There's a coffee place out on Elmwood Ave called the Spot or the Coffee Spot. I wouldn't rank it in the top tier of my favorite espresso/coffee places in the US but overall it's better than the others I've tried in the Buffalo to Albany run (Gimme Coffee is great and in a different class but it's only in the Ithaca area and NYC at present).

I think it's a brilliant marketing move. I don't applaud or support it nor do I condemn it (actually could care less because they don't have a store in my area and are highly uinlikely to open one). They pick one teeny little niche of their operation that undoubtedly produces a lower per square foot annual profit than any other item they sell.... choose to replace it with frozen lobster..... get scads of free publicity about how ethical and humane they are and how they are so "different" from conventional grocery store chains... and most likely pick up two new customers for every one that they lose. Or at worst - even if they don't show any net gain in customers they have improved profits by dumping live lobsters for frozen. If by chance you get to the NPR website the audio archive of their WF lobster piece is worth a listen. I find the WF defensive position that their frozen lobsters are killed "quickly and humanely" by a high pressure system a bit laughable. But more interesting is the interview with a lobster fisherman who talks about what life is really like for a lobster in the trap (the short version is that life in a supermarket tank is a real picnic compared to being in the trap).