ESE pod review: Bristot decaffeinato Coffee Talk
The next ESE pod on my agenda is Bristot decaffeinato.
Opening the packet released a pleasantly fruity aroma.
For my first shot, I opted to use the factory portafilter (which meant not being able to directly measure the shot output), and my resulting shot was around 20g. The shot pulled quite slowly and I was worried that it would be bitter and overextracted, but the flavor was actually rich and well-rounded, and a bit nutty and sweet. Really nice crema on it as well.
To get a better comparison against the other pods so far, I pulled a second shot using the bottomless portafilter, and measured it to a 20.5g extraction, for a ratio of just under 3:1. From this I saw a little bit of channeling, a little more than the Illy pod, way less than the Arabica Express. This time the shot tasted just a little bit more bitter.
I think the main practicality problem with ESE pods is that they’re all 7-8g, so if you want a standard 2:1 ratio you’re getting only a tiny amount of espresso out. This is especially troublesome when drinking decaf, which is all about the flavor, and regardless it’s much more satisfying to have a larger shot, but even a 3:1 lungo is ridiculously small. Maybe this is a mismatch between my American sensibilities and what Italians want out of their coffee.
Or maybe I should be a bit more daring and try brewing at a higher ratio to see what comes out.
So that’s what I did:
I was pretty worried about how this might taste. The shot looked pretty darn watery towards the end, and the shot continued to pull quite slowly.
I don’t know if it’s just that my taste buds are no good because this was my third shot tasted in a row, but… it’s fine. Tastes almost just like the first two. The texture is a little thinner, there’s a little bit more bitterness, and a bit less sweetness, but… it’s fine.
Maybe this stuff is more forgiving than I thought.
Maybe it’s just coffee and I shouldn’t get so worked up about it.
ESE pod reviews: Illy decaf, Arabica Express Coffee Talk
Recently I’ve been infatuated with espresso-type brewing, and have been on a quixotic quest to get the perfect decaf shot. In doing so, I bought a bottomless portafilter for my Gaggia Classic Pro, which very quickly revealed that the biggest problem in my brewing is that my Baratza Encore simply isn’t up to the task, even with the modifications I made to it; all of my shots were channeling and making a mess, regardless of grind size or tamp pressure. The only fix was to grind ultra-fine and tamp ultra-hard, and this led to an overly-slow, over-extracted shot.
As part of my process that led to this decision, I bought some ESE pods in order to have a baseline brewing experience. While ESE pods aren’t ideal for my taste in espresso (I prefer longer shots from a large dose, on the order of 20 in, 40 out) and also don’t satisfy my whole “espresso is an experiment in tweaking and fussiness” impulses, the experience was good enough that I decided to see if ESE Pods on their own were worthwhile.
Coffee setup upgrades Coffee Talk
I haven’t talked about coffee in a while, but I’ve been getting very into better espresso as of late.
❤️ Soft and Chewy Lemon Cookies
A decaf coffee rant Coffee Talk
Why do so many roasters seem to think that decaf coffee isn’t worth doing a good job on? The whole reason people drink decaf is because they like the flavor of coffee, but don’t want (or can’t have) the caffeine. So you’d think that there’d be a lot more care taken on making decaf that tastes good!
Of all the roasters in Seattle I’ve only seen two that give a crap about making decaf at all good: Vivace and Zoka. And even then, both of them provide a wide variety of caffeinated roasts, and only a handful of decaf roasts. Portland’s Stumptown used to be a good choice, but their decaf quality has gone way downhill ever since Peet’s bought them out.
I suppose I should give Vita another try now that they’re under new ownership, but I’m not terribly optimistic about that.
But anyway. There’s this weird notion that to truly appreciate espresso you need to also be Very Into Caffeine. Seems like a bunch of shitty machismo to me.
Rosemary-lemon ice cream
Another ice cream experiment, inspired by an old comic of mine with interest revitalized by Brian David Gilbert’s ice cream video.
Thin Mints vs. Grasshoppers
It’s Girl Scouts Cookies season again! Nationwide, the Girl Scouts outsource their cookie production to two different companies, Little Brownie Bakers (LBB) and ABC Bakers.
I live in an LBB region, and LBB is a subsidiary of Keebler; ostensibly, Girl Scouts licenses their recipes to Keebler via LBB for their actual cookie production. Two of their cookies, Thin Mints and Samoas, have supposedly-identical equivalents available from Keebler, namely Grasshoppers and Coconut Dreams, respectively.
Whenever the Girl Scouts aren’t selling cookies, or whenever joyless grownups want to enjoy their cookies without actually funding the Girl Scouts, common knowledge is that you can satisfy your cravings by buying the Keebler equivalents. But is that true?
Turkey kale meatloaf
This is what I made for my Thanksgiving entrée this year, what with having Thanksgiving all on my own. It turned out pretty good.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 large shallot, finely minced
- 1 egg
- 1 tbps of minced sage
- 1 tsp each of minced thyme and rosemary
- ½ cup toasted bread crumbs
- 1-2 cups kale leaves, finely minced
- 4 ounces thinly-sliced prosciutto (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the turkey, shallot, egg, sage, thyme, rosemary, bread crumbs, and kale, thoroughly mixing with your fingers if possible. If no prosciutto is being used, also add some salt. And, of course, add pepper to your preference (and maybe some garlic).
Form the turkey mixture into a loaf, and wrap it in the prosciutto (if desired).
Bake until the internal temperature reads at least 155°F, approximately 45-60 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for at least 10 minutes.
Slice and serve.
Bodum Bistro milk frother Coffee Talk
I’ve been wanting to make coffee drinks with milk. Back when I had a microwave, this was pretty easy; I’d just put a beaker of milk in, heat it for 30 seconds, and then froth it up with my cheap milk frother. But I got rid of my microwave years ago in favor of using a toaster oven instead (which has been far more useful to me), and the alternative is to heat it up in a saucepan first, but that’s annoying and means another pot to clean.
I also looked at many of James Hoffmann’s suggested alternatives and they were all either extremely expensive or even fussier than the methods I’d rejected.
So, the other day, after much deliberation I picked up a Bodum Bistro milk frother at Target. I was originally intending to get the higher-end barista version since it seemed like it would be easier to clean and was a little more flexible (since it supports making cold foam as well as having a purpose-made hot cocoa mode), but it turns out that’s only sold online and I didn’t really want to wait.