CoffeeStrides: My Month on Instagram ǁ August 2015

I post photos on Instagram on a regular basis showing my coffee and tea drinking habit. Plus some running pictures are inevitably going to be passing by. Once a month I bundle these and talk about the photos on my blog.

In August I:

» Ended my roadtrip to Stockholm. We ended up drinking coffee from 22 different coffee bars in 18 days. Not sure how we managed that...Read about the cups in Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Malmö here.

Coffee at Kale'i in Gothenburg

» Just because it was so bizarre, I need to share it here too. I ran into some crustacean crossing the road while running in Amsterdam...

» I brought some some lovely coffee beans from Copenhagen Coffee Roasters, Mogen & Grus and Playground coffee.

» There was a new soft opening in Amsterdam. Bocca has been a specialty roaster in Amsterdam forever. And now finally they have their own bar/training centre. Located on the Kerkstraat 96, it is surprisingly spacious. And they have a glass shell La Marzocco Strada with 4 groups. Why? Not sure. Cool to see? Yes.

» As always also brewing at home. the Mogen&Grus El Salvador gave some real pleasures.

» At the office I've been very busy with cupping. We received some Cascara samples from different origins, and I finally got to set up a cupping protocol for this product. After testing on moisture content and checking for foreign matter, the cupping takes place to assess the flavour quality. Liberally following the tea tasting protocol I use 6.5 grams of Cascara on 200ml of water. Steep for 4 minutes, stir and steep for an other 3 minutes, before removing the Cascara.

Taken into account is aroma of the dry and extracted Cascara - and there is a big difference between different lots! - sweetness, flavour, aftertaste and body.

» A summer favourite of mine this year is hibiscus, either brewed hot for some tart cranberry flavours, or cold for some more sweetness, it is a great product and thus ended up in my summer edits of this year.

» An other summer favourite is this Cui Yu light Oolong which I bought at Chaikhana in Stockholm. You can extract this coffee up to 5 times, without question. The quality is so beautiful, there is not one crushed leaf, one branch or flattened bead. Absolutely enchanting.

» Coffee roasters will know, it has not been the best crop year for East Africa. Although there have been some extremely tasty coffees from Ethiopia and Kenya, overall the 90+ coffees have been almost non existent. And finally, almost at the end of the season, there it was on my cupping table. A 93 scoring Ethiopian coffee. The aroma was a strong yasmin, while the flavour was apricotty sweet, lemon and yasmin. Fragrant like perfume, but still sweet and fruity. Best.Coffee.Of.The.Year. Without a doubt.

Luckily there was some sample material left, and so that Sunday I enjoyed a second cup in my metal filter Bodum.