My Month on Instagram ǁ November 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 November I:

»  All the luck in the world opened on the Lineausstraat in Amsterdam. They have a couple of other shops as well. Selling furniture, jewelry and other fun stuff, they also serve coffee roasted by Stooker. Always great to see more specialty coffee in the East part of Amsterdam. A great place to find some Christmas gifts as well.

» An other place I finally got to visit was Toki, a great little place in the Jordaan in Amsterdam, serving the always tasty Bonanzacoffee. Good coffee, good vibes, great company. If I lived a little closer by I would spent way too much hours of my time hanging in this great little bar.

» On an other note, my cats love the fact that I foam milk at home on occasion.

» We had a huge cupping with some Russian customers of ours at work, and so I spent quite a few hours behind the Probat sample roaster at Trabocca, making sure all the samples were ready to go.

» Cupping so many coffees during the work week, sometimes you just want some tea on the weekends. I love this combo of a lovely light Oolong, fresh ginger and hibiscus. Works well against inflammation as well.

» We had some Chelbessa sample left over from our Russian cupping, so that meant some great Chemex at home. Brewing some amazing coffee at home does always put a smile on the face of your partner, because of course.

» As a runner and a coffee lover, this hessian bag from Falcon Specialty just in front of the roaster at the Coffeecompany Roastery was just to good to not take a picture.

 » Finally, the last picture of the month was the roasting set up at Trabocca's USA office in Minneapolis. I went up there to calibrate on cupping scores and got to admire this lovely set up.

See you next month!

Want to see my other pictures? Check out my Instagram at instagram.com/ceriannebury.

My Month on Instagram ǁ October 2015

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

In October I:

» started to collect coffee cupping faces. These are the best ones so far. 

» We also bought a new Le Nez du Café set at Trabocca. This set is used to calibrate on aromas you can find in coffee. Basically it helps you learn what black currant, vanilla, butter, rubber, apple, smell like. Very important, as olfaction accounts for about 80% of your sensory experience. Want to try? Get some coriander seed (or for people with a sweet tooth, a jelly bean). Hold your nose, while starting to chew the coriander seed. Then, a few chews in, release your nose. Taste explosion!

We bought a new set for a cupping workshop I gave to some people of the Rabobank Foundation and Progresso to help them understand coffee and the coffee projects they are running in origin. Because not only farmers and coops need to learn the coffee cupping language, but also the people making that possible.

» At work we measure the moisture level for all coffee samples that come in. This helps us understand the quality of the coffee and can give an indication of risk for certain toxins, such as ochratoxin A. 

» Cafe Imports published a sample roasting tutorial on their website. And it was different to mine. So I tested both side by side. Now first a disclaimer, in all reality you can never copy paste a roast profile to your own roaster. As there are always differences, in the placement of temperature probes, type of gas and many, many more variables. But it never hurts to try something different. 

I did have some trouble trying to imitate Roaster Joe's profile's temperature rises and drops. But as Roaster Joe mentions on Twitter, drop in temperature should be a little lower, plus colours and times are more important.

All in all the in cup quality between the different roast profiles were not significant. Also roast degree and loss of moisture from green to roasted was about the same. The aroma however was a little more intense using the Cafe Imports profile. At least it was on the Colombia coffees I used. 

If you want to read more about my sample roast profile, let me know and I'll write a blog post on it.

» Having a Expobar Brewtus at home and being able to drink a good cappuccino at the dinner table is one of the best things. As I am no longer a barista behind a bar, I still get to practise latte art this way, and keep inverted tulips in my coffee portfolio.

» And I went to Oslo! Oslo is amazing in Autumn. The orange-gold leaves in the many, many parks shining in the sun, give the city an exuberant glow. And the city is filled with amazing coffee places. Read the Coffee Crawl Oslo edition to get the lowdown on these specialty coffeeshops.

See you next month!

Want to see my other pictures? Check out my Instagram at instagram.com/ceriannebury.

My Month on Instagram ǁ September 2015

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

In September I:

» Was so lucky to visit the first ever Berlin Coffee Festival. In the heart of Kreuzberg, the place to be, just around the corner from five elephant and the new Bonanza Roastery, the Markt Halle Neun was filled with coffee roasters from all over Germany, Poland and Scandinavia.  
The workshops, given across the city over several days were of high quality, interesting for both roasters and coffee drinkers in general. 

We organised a cupping at the new roastery of Bonanza, their first day open (so new the actual roaster was not in place yet). The space looks out over a lovely hidden court yard. With big windows, high ceilings and big double green doors, the space is very minimalist, with a beautiful combination between big industrial and small and detailed.

At the fair, we had an amazing time cupping, again, at the Bonanza stand as well as at the stand of the Barn. 

We also got to see this duo hopper system in action. Most specialty coffee bars now use the Mahlkönig EK43 to grind their beans. This hopper system makes it easy to hop between beans on one grinder. How awesome!

» This month also meant the publication of the much anticipated book Water for Coffee by British Barista Champion Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood and scientist Christopher Hendon.

I'm not going to talk about this book too much, as there is already so much info out there. Both Maxwell and Chris seem to be travelling the world, speaking at every coffee-related event this year. 

What I will say is that I am looking forward to finishing it. A warning for those who have not purchased the book yet, if you did not take chemistry lessons in high school, be ready. Although it is written for the lay persons, it does look quite daunting and you will need to exercise some real attention-giving.

» I checked out some new places in Amsterdam as well. One place, ClubKoffie, serves the most tasty club sandwiches next to their Stooker roasted coffee. Plus the interior design is quite nice, filled with all kinds of fun coffee details, such as single porta-filter coat or bag hangers (because, what else would you do with them anyway) and coffee tin lamps.

» Then, for something non-coffee, we also discovered Thulls. Filled with pickled and fermented everything. From the (perhaps expected) fermented Kimchi, to pickles, fennel, red onion, cauliflower and more. Absolutely delicious. 

» September meant some great arrivals for Trabocca, which were a treat to cup. From the most tasty, full bodied and floral Konikona Ethiopia, to the most jammy blue currant and strawberry Ruiruiru Kenya. It is always a treat to cup 90+ coffees, and it is even better when they are yours (for now)!

See you next month!

                            

Want to see my other pictures? Check out my Instagram at instagram.com/ceriannebury.

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.

See you next month!

Want to see my other pictures? Check out my Instagram at instagram.com/ceriannebury.

My Month on Instagram ǁ July 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 July I:

» did some green grading. I green grade more often of course, due to my job as a quality coordinator for green coffee. This time however we got some gnarly coffee, with black beans, sour beans, a whole bunch of partial blacks...all defects that can negatively effect the taste of the coffee. Needless to say, we don't carry the coffee now. 

» and of course, also more coffee brewed at home. A clever dripper filled with lovely Costa Ricaness, and unfortunately an espresso that did not become a cappuccino, as the milk went cheesy.

» We also got in some lovely Nicaragua Maragogype in the office; full of nuts, chocolate and lemon. These big beans look so lovely.

» July also meant holiday! I am currently still travelling through Scandinavia. We hit up Hamburg, Copenhagen and are currently in Stockholm. Want to see some pics of the different coffee bars? Check out the facebook albums 'fueled by coffee' on the Coffee Strides Facebook page. 

Below a coffee bar we encountered. Nuff said.

» Quelle surprise, (oder darf ich 'Ueberraschung' sagen?) Playground coffee was just around the corner from our Airbnb in Hamburg. Sharing a space with Otto Hamburgers, the place was joyful and filled with good coffee and beautiful packaging. Keep an eye out for more in a later date post, coffee crawling through Hamburg.

Also in Copenhagen this amazing wooden sign at Kent Kaffe Laboratorium.

» Meanwhile in Copenhagen, trying to find places that are open (we weren't the only ones enjoying a summer break) and not the Coffee Collective, which is also awesome by the way, we found Copenhagen Coffee Lab. One word? Delicious. 

Again, keep a look out for a Copenhagen Coffee Crawl.

» As of yesterday we are in Stockholm. This cinnamon bun with cardamom was as tasty as it looks. The Kenyan coffee was dark but great. 

» Not only was the coffee good in Stockholm, the tea bar was amazing. The list of loose teas you can buy goes on forever and are available to buy from 50 grams up. Plus you may smell the teas before buying! Just great! Tomorrow we will explore more of Stockholm, hopefully with more inspiring coffee bars to fill another great Coffee Crawl post.

See you next month!

Want to see my other pictures? Check out my Instagram at instagram.com/ceriannebury.

My Month on Instagram ǁ June 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 June I:

» Had some gorgeous Colombian espresso roasted by Stooker. With notes of mango and tangerine. Yum. Don't you love the cup?

» June was also the month of the World of Coffee trade show, which took place in Gothenburg, Sweden this year. I got to visit the re;co symposium, which was very informative and inspiring. I will definetaly be trying to go again next year. I will also be posting something on the event and its speakers. So keep a look out. On the trade show I spent most of my time on the Trabocca stand, where we had cuppings of our newest coffees. Do you like the shirt? We made different shirts, with different Trabocca signature coffees, stained in different ways. A big hit. Want one? You will need to find Trabocca at the next trade show...

» Chocolatl is the most inspiring chocolate store I have ever been. Located in Amsterdam, it is the place to go to get your fine chocolate bar. People working there will give you personal advice and guide you across their wall of chocolate to the bar that is just right for you.

» June means summer! Summer is finally here and as I am writing this Amsterdam is engulved in a real deal heat have. Summer means travel, at least for many. And so I wrote a blog on what I take with me traveling, either for vacation or for work. Want to hear me talking about all these travelbag goodies? Check out the CoffeeStrides YouTube channel. Basically, you cannot go anywhere without an Aeropress.

» The Aromaboy was given to me this month. It is sooooooo tiney. Otherwise it is just the same as any automatic drip machine. It has its function. And if you want to brew single serve, but you don't want nespresso or any other type of cup, pod or pad, but you also want something easy. This works.

See you next month!

Want to see my other pictures? Check out my Instagram at instagram.com/ceriannebury.