insects and Coffee

Holidays are tough on getting good coffee…

Things are pretty square at the new job, rather easy that is. Nothing new; banking, paper work, scheduling, covering for the folks that don’t show up for work (what is that about?). I do miss hanging about that LAB though… it has been over a two weeks since my last cupping. I have been sick, and on holiday… but none-the-less two weeks!

I did pull a few shots of Ritual Cafe’s Red Flag Blend last week in the LAB; Oliver was down that way and picked some up to bring back>>>

Notes on Ritual’s Red Flag Blend:

Roast Date 12-06-07 : Extraction Date 12-18-07

18-19 grams : 200F : 1.25 to 1.5 oz. : 24-30 sec.

Fruit, Fruit, Fruit… Papaya with Lime… Lemony, Bright (not like a lime bomb tho), Light Body, Tropical fruit, pineapple, thin, Touch of earthiness >>> like oak or peat? Big African flavors. Overall pleasant.

It was literally a few shots, only had enough to pull three doubles and it was gone. First shot 12 seconds, second 29, third 25. Not the best scenario to judge an espresso blend. That and I got it nearly a week and a half out of the roaster.

Over all thought: Liked it, not my favorite… need to give it another go under better conditions. Oliver took similar notes the week before.

Yes! The digital timer Mod works great. But… turns out, just as I had suspected, I need a tighter grip on the delay. The MDL grinds 16.5 grams of coffee in 2 seconds, and 23.3 in 3 seconds. And so, looks as tho I do really need to order the new IC for my circuit board.

Then, maybe I’ll rip in to the MDL or maybe take the Timer over to the Dancing Goats Espresso Bar and install it in the ROBUR (with the ROBUR I’ll have to bypass the switch, it has a starter mechanism in there that I am not familiar with yet—have not ripped a ROBUR switch apart yet).

Meanwhile, got a message from Roberto at NUOVA, he has a different Timing mechanism in his warehouse that may meet my needs with the MDL.

Here is what the current Timer MOD and box looks like (the external model that is, if I keep it as an external type I’ll have to trick it out in some retro-futuristic style) >>>

<<<

Not very pretty, but hey, it works!