Excellent! The Stumptown coffee I ordered, you recommended, should arrive for me today as well.
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Excellent! The Stumptown coffee I ordered, you recommended, should arrive for me today as well.
Excellent. That was a go-to coffee for me for a few years. It's really nice.
The first time you grind up a batch.....oh, take a deep breath. Just wonderful. The Hair Bender espresso blend is also very nice, if you like a big, deep, booming, thick cup.
Stumptown is great. I visit Portland a couple of times a year and always stop by Stumptown. One of the few places I have found with baristas who know how to make a true ristretto. My only complaint about their online ordering is they ship 12 oz, not 16 oz, bags.
That may be a coffee lovers standard practice. I do that every time I open a new bag of beans and after the very first grind.
Ah, wonderful posts, very evocative.
The aroma of freshly ground (or freshly opened) coffee is sublime, agreed. For sheer, exquisite pleasure, there are very few scents on the planet which can be said to compare with it .
The aroma of freshly ground (or freshly opened) coffee is sublime, agreed. For sheer, exquisite pleasure, there are very few scents on the planet which can be said to compare with it .
Well said, and I would add wine to this list as well. Sometimes, the bouquet, deeply inhaled, is the best part of the wine. For both wine and coffee, the smell is far more than just the sum of the aromas.
Speaking of wine, while out to buy some wine this week, Mrs. Kurwenal asked me to decide, once and for all, which I would take with me to the deserted island...coffee or wine. What would y'all choose?
Y'all are always invited to come over for a bottle or six....
A wonderful picture of an impressive wine cellar…...
Full marks yet again to your extraordinary partner. For it seems that Mrs Kurwenal has managed to offer a pithy definition of the word 'dilemma' in a succinct, and easily comprehensible manner. To be quite candid, I must confess that I, myself, have struggled with the exact same - ah, conflict or dilemma.
For, true to say, I am rather partial to a good glass or three of wine, and my cellars - both the one where I live and the one where I work are both rather well stocked with generous quantities of good wine, among which I can count white Burgundies (Mersault), red Ripasso and Amarone from Italy, and several bottles of 10 and 20 year old port, which, of course, come from, Portugal.
And, of course, I am more than partial to a very good cup - or three - of coffee and espresso.
On a daily basis, on contemplation, it seems that my coffee is actually more important than my wine, but it is a very close call. For, my wine, too, holds a place close to my heart. However, if asked to choose one - and only one - with no small struggle - I think I would probably select coffee.
I am reminded of a remark attributed to the Horrible Megalomaniacal Corsican, Master Bonaparte, when asked to describe his love for coffee, and how to convey a sense of perspective when describing his love for the brew. "Coffee and sex; sex and coffee, these are the two most important things in life," he is supposed to have said, adding, "I don't think I could live without sex, but I am sure I would die without coffee."
FedEx arrived several minutes ago. The driver pounded on the door quite aggressively and loudly, most likely to garner the attention of any occupants so as not to mistake there was someone at the door. Other drivers knock ever so softly and even if I have nothing playing, can hardly hear them.
Anyway, the coffee was the point of the parcel today. I promptly turned on the electric kettle to heat the combination of hydrogen and oxygen molecules, otherwise known as water, to the appropriate temperature of 205℉.
As I unpackaged the coffee, and opened the bag, which was not vacuumed sealed, but folded over with a twist-tie clip holding the edges together, I had a nice whiff of the splendid aroma. It was very light and uplifting of a smell.
The grinder was already cleaned out and ready to go for a new brand of coffee. I ground up a scoop of beans into the french press and proceeded to brew a cup.
Once in my Bodum, double-wall glass cup, the steam and aromatic smell arose looking mighty warm and enticing and smelled very good.
Tasting the coffee was equally a treat as it was smelling it. I can sense the sweet, nutty flavor and even the faintest hint of chocolate in it, as the description alludes to. It's also very smooth and light, which I enjoy.
This is another great recommendation, Mr. Kurwenal. Bravo! ☕
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What a lovely, evocative description .I am almost salivating simply reading it ..
I'm ready to create a second cup now. It was very good on the taste buds.
Oh my, lookie there.....
I see some solid Napa wines in there. Have you ever ventured along the Russian River south of Healdsburg? (Other side of the mountains...)
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Excellent! I'll have to get myself some....
I think I have the same answer. Close call though.
I heavily depleted my wine cellar over the holidays (2013) and at a couple of events in the early part of 2014, and am only now starting to re-stock. So I lay out the wine on this table and then it will go into the cellar over the weekend, properly databased to be consistent with my OCD personality.
Sometimes I like buying wine more than I like drinking wine.
I am very happy to hear that you like it. It has been some time since I purchased that coffee.....your great post has caused me to just order up a bag.
Oh my, lookie there.....
I see some solid Napa wines in there. Have you ever ventured along the Russian River south of Healdsburg? (Other side of the mountains...)
Yes. Mrs. Kurwenal and I do a couple of wine purchasing trips each year, and by coincidence just last fall we landed in Santa Rosa and spent our time driving around there, including South. As I recall, Rodney Strong and Williams Selyem are that away, right?
I attended a charity dinner at a winery somewhere in that area. I'll have to go look it up. It was very nice, and not at all like the big overrun-with-tourists to the north and west.
You go up that way much?
I find myself up there a few times a year (often at WS release weekends) to taste and buy a few special bottles/presents. Rodney Strong, Willimas-Selyem, Thomas George, Rochioli, Arista, Gracianna, Gary Farrell, Porter Creek, Iron Horse, Merry Edwards, and Unti (okay this is north of Healdsburg in Dry Creek Valley) are where I tend to stop (errr, not all at once
). Ahem, perhaps I'm revealing too much about my habits.
Have you eaten at Madrona Manor? I was treated to a birthday dinner there two weeks ago that blew me away...granted I've never eaten at a michelin starred restaurant before. Anyway, I highly recommend it.
Speaking of Williams-Selyem, I opened this for my father today, still very young but.....
Oh, and if I had to choose coffee or wine for the deserted island......can I be assured of proper storage/equipment for either?
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I find myself up there a few times a year (often at WS release weekends) to taste and buy a few special bottles/presents. Rodney Strong, Willimas-Selyem, Thomas George, Rochioli, Arista, Gracianna, Gary Farrell, Porter Creek, Iron Horse, Merry Edwards, and Unti (okay this is north of Healdsburg in Dry Creek Valley) are where I tend to stop (errr, not all at once
Excellent. I am familiar with most of those names, but not all. I tend to like Pinot Noir, so we visit that "side" of Ca. wine country fairly often.
I am jealous...think about it, you can double up a trip to Blue Bottle and a couple of wineries over a weekend.
Ahem, perhaps I'm revealing too much about my habits.
You are safe, among friends. Let it out. (But Shrink may send you an invoice.)
No, I have not, but I just googled it and added it to my list for the next trip. When we were in that area last fall, we found and fell in love with Willi's Wine Bar. Really nice, and fun.
Very nice, a great bottle for your dad.
Yes. If you join scepticalscribe and me over on the coffee side of the island, you are guaranteed an endless supply of perfectly roasted and fresh beans, the best water, and all top equipment. If you join the other side of the island, you will enjoy a 10,000 bottle cellar, perfectly cooled and humidified.
I just found the winery at which we attended the charity dinner last fall:
Lynmar Estate.
I was not familiar with their wines before the event, but, wow, what a beautiful spot and estate. And they have a huge (organic) vegetable garden that was by itself worth the trip. (And now that I have found it, I realize it is west of Santa Rosa, not south, but, hey, I wasn't driving.)
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And, coffee-wise, we stumbled on this place. Very good, and just a stones throw from our hotel. (They had no clue how to make a proper ristretto, but the beans were fresh.)
I've got some pictures somewhere I'll dig up.
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Never been to Lynmar, I'll add it to my list of places to check out when I'm up there.
And yes! Flying Goat Coffee! I always stop there.
Okay, the coffee/wine dilemma is quite serious...
To be honest, the promise of good company is tempting me quite hard toward the coffee side...
Just further proof of the validity of my signature (whether Einstein said it or not!).
Welcome to the dark side.
I love the built in irony in that quote (whether it is a quote or not).
Yah, you and me both. Good lord.
Ran across this on the coffee blogs this morning. Mostly just another over-priced coffee thingy, but this part caught my eye:
Soon, we will be able to "like" (or not) each other's pulls each morning.
No. For our sigil, we are going all the way to "immInent fire and risk of death."
Wait...it just dawned on me...if Starbucks beans (see above) could be put under sufficient pressure for a sufficient period of time...
...we would have DIAMONDS!
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Wait...it just dawned on me...if Starbucks coffee could be put under sufficient pressure for a sufficient period of time...
...we would have DIAMONDS!
Wow, that's deep thinking right there!