Kombucha - a new (and kind of weird) way to drink tea

Once in a while, if you drink enough coffee, you are bound to need a break. At least that’s the case for this coffee drinker. When you hit the ‘coffee wall,’ as I did the other day,  you have lots of other beverage options available, some of which seem stranger than others. For example, I recently posted a picture of cucumber soda that I thought was strange (I still haven’t tried it). Yesterday, I drank something out of the ordinary—kombucha.

Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage that is sometimes sold as a healthy alternative to other drinks. Proponents of kombucha say that the live cultures in it are good for your digestive system. The doctors at WebMD say there is no conclusive evidence that kombucha is that good for you, especially commercial varieties that have been pasteurized and no longer have the live cultures.

Some of the kombuchas have a small amount of alcohol in them (usually less than 0.5%) that give them an extra punch. It is common to add some fruit juice to the mix too, as was the case with the “superberry” kombucha I drank. It was a bit sweet and had a slight vinegar taste—an acidity that exploded on my tongue.

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Robots and pour-overs

In the coffee shops of Portland, one of the trendiest things you can get is a coffee brewed using the pour-over brewing method (this is not exclusive to Portland, as you can see by reading this CoffeeGeek.com discussion). Most, if not all, of the specialty cafés around town offer customers the pour-over option. The baristas at these shops may soon have some new competition—from a robot.

The pour-over is a very old brewing method, but it is being revived for several reasons, not least of which because it makes great coffee theater. Baristas delicately pour thin, even streams of water over freshly-ground coffee, concentrating hard to evenly wet the grounds. Some have a special pouring pattern that they believe improves the results. The single serving pour-over method guarantees that you get the freshest coffee possible. When coffee is made this way, much of the brightness and fruity notes really stand out. If the barista uses a Melitta or Chemex filter, as most do, the coffee is also very clean.

The double pour-over. You can see how it might be difficult to pull this off effectively.

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Freshness, grind, and making due with old equipment

If you’re like me, you might not have the best-quality tools for making coffee, so you have to do the best you can with what you’ve got. Fortunately, there are coffee experts among us who can help us do just that. The other day, Matt and Liam from the Stumptown Annex gave me some good coffee advice that I wanted to pass along to you.

I went to the Annex to buy some coffee to brew at home, and since I was buying good (and somewhat pricy) beans, I wanted make sure the beans were prepared properly. I have a very poor-quality blade grinder, so the question was: would be better to have them grind the coffee to the correct size, or should I take the beans home and grind them myself as needed? As you know, freshness is one of the most important factors that determines the taste of the coffee, but the grind is important too. Where was the trade-off between bean freshness and an accurate grind? The two coffee experts cleared things up.

They told me that since I was using a French press, it would probably be better to grind the beans myself at home. With some brewing methods, having an even grind is of paramount importance. However, of all the brewing methods, the French press method is the most forgiving, and you can get away with some variation in the size of the grounds. If they were to grind the beans, many of the aromatics that give the coffee its richness would soon be gone. Therefore, they reasoned, freshness was more important and I should grind them myself at home. Sounded like solid advice to me.

The two also gave me some advice on how to make the most of my rickety grinder (if you have a good burr grinder, you can disregard this). They were confident that I could still grind the beans well for the French press if I used a couple tricks.

First, in order to get the best grind possible, don’t just set the grinder on the counter and turn it on. As you grind the coffee, shake the grinder up and down in order to keep the coffee stirred up. That way you will not end up with lots of finely-ground coffee at the bottom and coarsely ground coffee at the top.

You should also pulse the grinder so that it does not continually run while you are grinding the beans. Pulsing will reduce the heat generated by the blades. You don’t want the grounds to heat up because the flavor compounds literally vaporize at higher temperatures, leaving you with a somewhat flat coffee.

To help me gauge the right size, Matt sent me home with a sample of coffee ground with their commercial grinder, allowing me to compare my grind to the proper grind. This is something I recommend you do too if you are using a blade grinder. The baristas at your favorite café should be happy to grind some beans to the proper size for you to use as a guide.

By following these tips, you might not brew the best pot of coffee you have ever had, but you will definitely make the most of your brewing equipment.

Good coffee is even possible with this. . . an antique from the 90s

Happy grinding and enjoy your fresh-ground coffee. 

The Magic of the Vacuum Pot (My $9 Cup of Coffee)

When you read what I did yesterday, you might want to ask me: Are you f---ing nuts? Believe me, I asked myself that question more than once. What did I do? I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but I spent $9 on a cup of coffee (12oz). No, that’s not a misprint. I promised a reader (Jake) that I would write about the vacuum pot, or siphon method of brewing coffee. I knew that Barista in the Pearl District had them, so I went there on a mission—seek out a vacuum pot and report on its mysterious powers. Then I got there and saw the price. It almost made me cry, but I had made a promise. . .

What is so special about the siphon brewing method? Well, for one thing, it’s great coffee theater.  A vacuum pot looks cool—almost space-aged, even though it has been around for nearly 150 years! You don’t see them in use very much, so when you do get to see one it is worth watching. I stood there captivated as the barista prepared my precious coffee, an Ethiopia Sidama from Intelligentsia.

This is how the siphon method works: First, the barista measures out the correct amount of water into the lower bulb of the vacuum pot. The bulb is then placed over a heat source. It could be a flame or a hot plate, but at Barista, they have specially-designed heat lamps that heat the water (it looks cooler that way). While the water is heating, the barista then measures out and grinds the proper amount of coffee, setting it aside until the water is ready.

Warming up

When the water begins to boil, steam travels up a tube, condensing back into water as it travels upward. When it reaches the bowl on top, the water is about 202 F, just the right temperature for coffee extraction. When nearly all the water has reached the bowl, the barista adds the ground coffee and stirs it, making sure that the all of the grounds are in contact with the water. While the extraction is taking place, the small amount of water in the bottom bulb continues to rise into the extraction chamber, helping maintain a constant temperature. The coffee is allowed to brew for two to four minutes, depending on the grind.

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