Category: Coffee

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Coffee: Hire Wire’s Conscientious Objector

Image of the crema-like froth of the coffee while brewing; image of the pour-over device filled with dark, rich, brewed coffee
If you told me I would adore a medium roast made pour-over style THIS MUCH, I might not have believed you.

I have an almost religious identity as a French Press coffee person: I love the flavor that emerges from coffee when it has time to steep in boiling water without having a paper filter come between me and the oils. Our local roasters are so good that I also have a dark-roast-as-choice-not-to-hide-poor-bean-quality set of beliefs and tastes: gently dark-roasted coffee can taste RICH without bitterness. I have had over-roasted beans, and dislike those flavors; but a skilled roaster doesn’t go so far. In addition to my press, I have a single-cup pour-over device from a local fancy place, and use it for small servings, but am dissatisfied with the off-brand filters I’ve been using with it. I periodically have medium or (rarely) light roasts that I enjoy, especially when Ethiopian coffee has that almost blueberry aftertaste, but that can go too far for me, and I revert back to dark roasts in my daily habits.

And yet two things happened last week: my friend New K gifted me a bag of Oakland-roasted medium roast beans from Hire Wire, and I won a knockoff Chemex-style, paperless pour-over brewing kit at the gift exchange at work.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Conscientious Objector is at about the 70% mark on High Wire’s “roast intensity” scale. The beans are medium-light brown, but oh do they make a gloriously inky, opaque pot of pour-over.

This coffee, which High Wire notes will change seasonally and from crop to crop, is smooth, fragrant, flavorful, and delicious. I prepared it in my beloved French Press and enjoyed it hot (to most accurately compare it to my usual beans); I chilled some of the French Press, and enjoyed it iced; and finally, I broke out the new pour-over device, and ran sub-boiling water through the grinds while they got all creamy during stirring.

So GOOD.

I am eager for a cup every morning (and am on vacation from work, so I have a chance to make it at a civilized pace!). I brewed some during my mother’s visit and made her a sweetened version with almond milk; she gave up coffee decades ago, and claims she doesn’t even like coffee now, but loved it so much I made a multi-serving jar for her to take home with her!

Friends with great taste in coffee are great friends.

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Coffee: Ube Latte

Top view of an ube latte at Signal Coffee Roasters.
Top view of an ube latte at Signal Coffee Roasters.

Before right wing billionaires were obviously meddling with content on social media, I might have easily chosen a commercial site to post this. I would also know where to get news from my favorite civil rights organizations, and where to complain that I ate an entire jumbo roll of Sweetarts and now feel queasy. But now, there is no obvious place to do such things.

Anyway… This is an Ube Latte from Signal Coffee Roasters in Alameda. It is tasty. And that color! Ube is a sort of purple yam, and it is popular with friends from the Phillipines. It is featured in an ice cream at Mitchell’s. Ube flavor goes well with espresso and almond milk, because OF COURSE IT DOES.

One of my team members says it also blends well with matcha, but I’m a matcha purist, so I haven’t tried that. (The color of purple plus green isn’t as pretty, I’ll note.)

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Coffee: Winter Latte with Peppercorns

Image of an almond milk latte with ground pink peppercorns on top.

A commute friend asked if I often go to [local coffee chain], as I stood there, cradling a cup with their logo on it.

I wanted to say that I don’t, as I hadn’t been there for a few weeks, but instead admitted to a few things:

  • Despite the busy location, I am often greeted by my first name there.
  • I can tell which barista prepared my drink by the foam design on top. (By my experience, there are two heart baristas, one fern barista (my favorite), and two dove baristas).
  • One of the workers there has been out of town, and I noticed and and welcomed them back.

So, yes. I go there often. Less often than this sounds like (this is cumulative experience over a few years), but when public transit gets me where I need to be early, I absolutely will enjoy an espresso drink.

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Coffee: Mmmmmmm

Collage of colorfully filtered images of a latte with a heart on the foam and black cardamom sprinkles

I’m still drinking the Black Cardamom Latte at Blue Bottle as my treat when I am running early on the way to work. it is delicious, plus two women I commute with are often there at the same time, so we can chat as we wake up. So pleasant…

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Coffee: Verve Coffee Roasters & Cafe

Three image collage: interior of Verve coffee, plus two latte foam images
Bright space, friendly people, strong espresso.

I finally went into Verve at Church and Market, and enjoyed a superb almond milk latte.

The space is nice; other customers are relaxed; the air is redolent of coffee roasting smells… It is cozy and pleasant. My latte was less sweet than I expected, but also just right.

The company has several locations in Los Angeles, but have been in this sweet SF spot since 2017. This location is often PACKED (because of its pleasantness), so I felt lucky to relax there yesterday morning.

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Life: Early August

Two almond milk lattes at Ritual Coffee.
Delicious to look at, delicious to drink: hooray for almond milk lattes at Ritual Coffee!

Update on Facial Graffiti: After using a harsh fading shampoo three times in one day on my hennaed eyebrows, I went to work and… received compliments on my new glasses from a nice young man.

I didn’t have new glasses: my newly visible eyebrows frame my face so well, my glasses look better. All is well that ends with improvements to my vanity, I guess!

I just have to figure out how to avoid that first-day-Sharpie-attack look. And argue with my stylist about her very unrealistic definition of “light brown.”

Update on What I’m Reading: I was going to apologize for going from being the person who only writes about SERIOUS SUBJECTS (oooooh, so impressive) and summarizes US Supreme Court rulings with mildly catty commentary to someone who has 85% graphical fiction content with a trend toward gay male romances, but… why apologize? I’m enjoying myself! That’s what is important. Well, to me, anyway. There are always more heavy books in my pile, and I will get to them when the time is right.

What I’m (Not) Writing: I’m working on notes for the science fiction scenes that I imagine when I’m listening to too much of Massive Attack’s Angel, but I’m not getting far. Someone sits near me, and when he is there, I don’t write. I just… am. I hold the pen; I hold the notebook; words just float away.

The one who sits near me has the best hair. (Ahhhhh.)

Others sit near me and don’t have this effect, so I am not forever sabotaged: it’s just that the scenes that have come to me aren’t all smoothly connected (there is a war, war lacks narrative cohesion and involves abrupt transitions in my view), and it will take some time to connect them with proper bonds.

I’m afraid I’m being influenced by the styles of streaming television, as the wreckage in the first scene makes me want to put up a giant title card that says, “10 days earlier” and launch a flashback… I don’t need to write that way. Unless Netflix has a pile of money for me, in which case, I will happily change my style.

Also: I need to not kill off so many characters so early. Aside from the realism that would bring. (Have you noticed how most named characters survive nearly every improbable thing in American stories? What the hell?!?).

I designed a costume for the character modeled on myself years ago. The left arm of her spacesuit is a different color (red) from the rest of her suit, which is unfortunate, but is based on something she predicts before it happens. Her/My left arm has it EVEN WORSE in this story than it has in real life. Dear left arm in real life, I truly love you, even with the plate and screws (especially with the plate, screws, and the scar!), and I am so sorry for what happens to you in the novella.

COVID Negativity Is The Best Negativity: Stay positive in outlook, negative in fresh diagnostic tests!

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Coffee: Potent Slovene-Turkish Coffee

The Slovene language packaging of the Turkish-style coffee my team member brought back from Slovenia!
The Slovene language packaging of the Turkish-style coffee my team member brought back from Slovenia!

Goodness, this stuff is powerful. And I made myself a double!?!

Turkish coffee is a special beverage: finely ground coffee, boiled repeatedly, and served as a thick brew that settles out, so it needs a moment before you sip it. As a known coffee appreciator, my team member S. brought me back a package of the popular brand of Turkish coffee she enjoys in Slovenia. (She also has sold me on visiting her highly regarded country, and also on visiting the city of Trieste in Italy, just on the border.)

Thanks to the magic of Google translate’s photo translation option (so good!), I know that I can boil 7g of powder (my usual French press’ scoop size) for each 100ml of water. S recommends boiling it repeatedly, to let it get thick and frothy. There are disputes online about whether or not stirring is necessary, but I choose to stir a little and swirl a lot in a tiny pot on the stovetop.

It is delicious! It is strong! It is mildly terrifying unsweetened! It should be measured during preparation and consumed in smaller cups than I usually use, to ensure a general sense of moderation. It is not desirable nor pleasant to drink/eat the sediment at the bottom of the cup, so don’t knock back the last bit as you would with espresso (you will not find undiluted sugar, it is quite the opposite sort of surprise).

This Turkish (Slovene-Turkish?) coffee is satisfying to an espresso-fan like myself, though my mouth sounds the alarm when I begin sipping that it might be dangerously strong. If you hang out with me and are a fan of potent caffeine, ask me to prepare some for you when you come over.

(Yes, it does appear that coffee is “kave” in Slovene.)

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Coffee: Espresso Affects My Sleep (Who Knew)

So, it turns out that having espresso drinks (almond milk lattes, to be precise) at 7:50AM as part of a light breakfast can inspire me to wake up much earlier than usual. I don’t mean minutes after I drink them, but the following morning. By perhaps 2 hours?

I retain a deep personal suspicion that my uphill neighbor’s espresso-drinking habits are more relevant to my sleep, because she is the one in her kitchen slamming cabinets at 2:30AM, so I’ll need to do some more ‘science’ to be sure. But being up at 3:30 or 4 happened a few days in a row after the rare days I was early enough to buy an espresso drink, so that’s data I must cope with.

(I say espresso-drink mornings are rare, but the perky, caffeinated, cool barista remembers my name, so my position may not be credible.)

My sleep is precious to me, and I seem to need a higher quality of it than I had earlier in life. If you see me after a few days of sub-six-hours nights, you’ll understand quickly the jokes about it being called, “beauty sleep.” [This is only useful at Halloween.]

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