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Toddy Coffee Review

September 2, 2012 by The Great Java

Several years ago a co-worker mentioned a shop in Louisiana that served coffee made from “cold-brew” and how great it was. I remember thinking how odd that seemed since I’ve always read the optimal temp for extracting coffee’s flavor was 200-205 degrees. Years later after hearing many stories, and amazon dropping the price on the Toddy Cold Brewer to $28 delivered, I decided it was time to try it.

As you can see there isn’t much to the system, it’s a big plastic bucket with a filter and stopper at the bottom. A glass decanter is included to drain the brew into after brewing. The Instructions have you add coffee (12 ounces) and water (6 cups) in a particular order to avoid clogging the filter. The brew, which has the consistency of jello, steeps for 12 hours. After the allotted time you unplug the stopper and let it drain the concentrate into the glass carafe.

I used trader joes $5 “joes dark” blend since this was an experiment and it’s dirt cheap. I ground it quite coarse like I would for a French press. The result after ten minutes of draining barely filled half way. This concentrate can be used for up to two weeks.

Despite following the instructions to the letter, my coffee got plugged draining out. I followed the instructions to loosen the grounds with a butter knife, but I couldn’t get all the liquid out no matter what I did.

The concentrate the Toddy brewer produces is to be used 1 part concentrate, 3 parts water/milk. I tried an americano and my own “frap” iced drink with it. The iced drink was better than using a double shot of espresso – much smoother. The americano drink was very similar to the taste of one made with espresso but a bit more of a french press flavor to it. It’s very good but quite different than regular brewed coffee or an espresso-based Americano.

I kinda wonder if you put a piece of cheesecloth in a tupperware container, added coffee and water and then after 12 hours just wrapped up the cheesecloth and grounds if that would work just as well. Or what if you brewed it in a pitcher and then just poured it through a large filtered pourover? So, while I think the result was great I wonder if there are other ways to brew it more easily. I’ll try it again soon, next time with a quality coffee

Why I had Chick-Fil-A for Lunch

August 1, 2012 by The Great Java

Mostly I was hungry, and they have yummy chicken. I might have another reason though…

Let’s review some fast food politics.

Chick-fil-A gives money to non-profits that patronize their business which also support the Defense of Marriage Act. This act signed into law by Bill Clinton all but disallows same-sex marriage by making it not recognized by the federal government and allowing states to not honor other states same-sex marriage. A company leader recently stated that not having same-sex marriage was his personal religious belief.
Starbucks supports organizations that support changing marriage to include same-sex marriages. In addition the company officially supports this political agenda (not just an opinion of a business leader). Starbucks would be on the opposite political spectrum of Chick-Fil-A.

So we have two fast food companies on different sides of a single political issue. One is defending current law and the status-quo, one wants to change it.

When Starbucks made their public move to actively support changing policies on gay-marriage people announced they’d boycott Starbucks. Fair enough – people do that all the time. It’s a valid way to try and get companies with products you like to “see things your way”. Sometimes it actually works.

When a Chick-Fil-A leader made a public statement about his personal opinions on running his private business some people decided to boycott them, fair enough. Other than the company not having an official stance on the issue there are a lot of similarities to Starbucks – but there is a new twist to the Chick-Fil-A story.

Multiple government officials have stated they would discourage or disallow a private company to operate due to its political views. San Francisco stated, “The closest Chick-Fil-A to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer”. The Boston mayor stated Chick-Fil-A wouldn’t get business licenses until they change their politics. Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno stated: “I will now be denying Chick-fil-A’s permit to open a restaurant in the 1^st Ward.” Apparently these towns have plenty of jobs already and political issues are a litmus test for doing business.

My personal opinion is that no matter how ugly an elected official finds a company’s political views they shouldn’t penalize companies because of them. All businesses following the law should have equal rights to practice commerce. What’s ironic about this case is that the three Democrat mayors making comments about Chick-Fil-A not doing business in their town likely voted for Clinton (who signed the Defense of Marriage act) and Obama (who supported it as a candidate, but no longer does). One of the mayors, Rahm Emmanuel (Chicago), even served with a president that supported the policy. Apparently for some people who you get your fast-food lunch from is more important than who runs your nation.

Are you surprised how this energized the “right” to eat more chicken? If so, I’d suggest we get a few bone-headed conservative mayors to not allow Starbucks in their towns. The reaction would be amazing and I’d bet would even attract presidential comment. Whether you are right, left, or middle I hope you agree letting elected officials prevent or discourage companies from doing commerce solely based on their political party or political views is a bad idea. I think Supreme Court cases involving what’s known as the doctrine of “unconstitutional conditions” would likely disallow such ideological actions.

So, In support of not letting Fascist-like mayors dictate what politics companies and their leaders must have in order to do business maybe I’ll top off my Chick-Fil-A salad later with a Starbucks latte!

Food Buffet Regulation Needed!

March 10, 2012 by The Great Java

Let’s face it, when you go to a buffet you can over eat – as a matter of fact you’re encouraged to! Just take a look at this sign from a local buffet (one I just overate at) reminding you to “Keep eating, There’s WAY more where that came from“. The waitress was no help, she was continually asking to take away our plates so we could get more. To top it off she kept refilling our dangerous fountain sodas (full of high-fructose corn syrup) so we wouldn’t have to get up and stop consuming! Totally irresponsible.

Our federal, state, and maybe local governments need to take some action. Clearly people who eat here regularly, and follow this type of guidance, will become unhealthy. I noticed a very high number of overweight people compared to similar restaurants that aren’t “buffet style”. I’m sure there is some left-over stimulus money or federal grants available to do a study of the obvious here. It’s quite possible overeating leads to obesity and we know obesity leads to many other illnesses. With cities banning all types of unhealthy fats, schools mandating what foods kids bring in their lunch sacks, and new regulations to force that local “Ma and Pa” deli’s to cough up nutritional menus I think this is a good fit for the a little “Nanny State” action!

Maybe I’m jumping the gun and we just need to raise awareness. I’m sure the media would love to do some serious investigative journalism here. Potentially we can get Morgan Spurlock, director and actor in “Super Size Me”, to consider a new film where he eats daily at a buffet until they stop taking his plate away? Well that might be too dangerous to Mr. Spurlock, he barely survived filming his last “documentary”.

Since the government provides or subsidizes healthcare for many Americans, and you pay for that with your taxes, it’s in our national interest to take action. I’ve got some decent ideas of how regulation of these dangerous buffets could improve the quality of American lives:

One Trip Only. It’s fine to give people buffet options, but when they can keep going back … they might, and that could lead to long-term health problems. No more plate-refills.
Photographic Warnings. With cigarettes the government required manufacturers to show pictures of the effects of a life of smoking. Taking a page from that playbook, maybe the end of the line should have life sized pictures of naked overweight people? It’s for the good of society.
Outlaw Buffets. Unfortunately, people will always think a buffet line means “eat all you want”. Weddings and parties both contain the same dangers. I mean think how hard it is for pastors to stay healthy doing all those wedding receptions with unlimited food!
Enforce Food Pyramid. Require all buffet’s to have foods representative of the Federal food pyramid (now a plate with no dessert). The buffet lines should be separated by type and size in the pyramid.
Taxes. Taxes are a great way to reduce things WE don’t like and push things WE do. All restaurants with proper nutritional information and government-portion-compliant will get a 50% reduction in taxes they need to collect. All non-compliant restaurants will have to collect a 25% tax.

Clearly it’s the government’s role to take care of all of us and they need to take action today! I’m going to call my senators and congressman right away. On second thought, it’s possible they might take all this seriously and further erode the ability for citizens to make their own decisions – good or bad. If you like any of these stupid ideas then please keep voting for politicians who feel like their role is to “fix society” instead of protecting our freedoms.

Somebody should create a site about these nanny-state-isms …coming soon….

Ban All Email!

November 29, 2011 by The Great Java

Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos (one of Europe’s largest information technology services companies), is going to ban his staff from sending each other emails. He said it’s a waste of time and outdated form of communication. Apparently he wants this new “zero email” policy to be in place within as early as 18 months! He argues that only 10% of the 200 average emails his employees get each day turn out to be useful. Instead of email he’s pushing for instant messaging and Facebook style communications (status updates, notifications, etc).

Read full story online

Could your company survive without email? When I look at my email I see a lot of the following items:

Corporate news notifications
Nags to do things I haven’t done yet (from various systems)
FYI emails

What if we took all of our “notifications” and “nags” and plugged them into an employee Facebook-style “homepage” (along with some embedded experiences to handle the notification without leaving the homepage)? What if your travel approvals displayed on the homepage and when you hovered you saw the full request – and better yet you had the accept/reject links right there (handle without leaving the page). Might that be more efficient and make email more meaningful?

I think having a company sponsored no-email day to raise awareness of what email is useful for – and to experience how much more we might be able to get done would be very interesting! Wouldn’t you love starting the week with a no-email Monday? 🙂

How Espresso Trained Me

November 7, 2011 by The Great Java

In 2003 I found myself in the job market (not by choice) and rethinking my career options. I decided to take my passion for coffee up a notch and learn about roasting, espresso preparation, and small retail business. At the end of the day I decided to stay an IT guy, but I became significantly more caffeinated in the process. I’ve also learned a few things along the way. I’ve never been much of a “detail” guy and even less of a process/measurement type of person. To me details have always been boring and the idea of measuring things to improve was about as motivating as a poke in the eye. Comically what I found on the journey to the perfect espresso shot was a path of details and refinement – and some unexpected tools.

Background : Espresso is a small thick dose of coffee made by passing near boiling water through finely ground coffee under pressure. The flavors you find in the cup (or shot) are very concentrated. Some people like it; some people ruin it by creating Pumpkin Spice Lattes (just kidding). In case you are interested, a double shot of espresso in your latte typically has less caffeine than the average cup of coffee (2 ounce shot in 12 oz Latte ~ 100mg , 12 ounce coffee ~ 200mg <varies>).

So how do you know if the Espresso you make is “great” if you are diluting it with milk? You don’t – you drink it straight or diluted in several ounces of hot water (called an Americano). My first shots were light colored and bitter (not good bitter, spit-it-out-fast bitter). After practice, I got something that was decent and made espresso drinks for friends and family that were pretty good.

Several months later, I went to the National Coffee Association show in Chicago to see the latest coffee happenings and take some training. In the vendor hall checking out equipment a guy pours me an espresso with a new kind of portafilter (the thing the coffee goes in) that has NO spout on the bottom (called a bottomless portafilter). See the difference?

I was mesmerized with the soft-serve ice-cream like flow of the coffee from this new device. The barista called it “naked extraction” because you can see the whole process. The spout hides important details about how even the tamp was and the thickness of the liquid.

Can you say Christmas gift? Christmas morning I start with my new filter – waiting to see my new amazing espresso pour out. What do I get? I get coffee shooting out in different directions making a MESS. Maybe my espresso isn’t as great as I thought?

Remember, I’m not a detail guy so at this point I’m thinking, “too much work, put it in the trash”. Instead, I went back to my technique of grind, tamping, etc. and carefully taking notes on the results. I tried quite a few times (more than pride will allow me to mention) before I got it down. You can see the difference below, and boy could you taste it.

Now I was quite perplexed. Behind this little spout was hidden all information I needed to make “perfect” espresso. So for years I’d brushed off measurement and analysis and now through a very simple example I saw the beauty of improving through measured observations. I’ve since applied this new appreciation to my roasting of espresso beans – a longtime frustration, and achieved great results.

So I learned in some small things (but important to me) the value of measuring, tracking, and getting feedback. I’m still learning on how to apply that to my work. Unfortunately, I’m the type that has to see the value in something before I have any motivation to even entertain doing it. Going forward I’m going to tackle new things by simplifying them and trying them in a way more relevant to me.

I see a lot of crazy metrics to measure things in the workplace, I’m not always sure they are meaningful – as a matter of fact most of them make me cringe. I’ll try not to let that deter me in the future from finding that valuable raw data to improve.

Going 100% Digital – But what about the NOTEPAD?

October 19, 2011 by The Great Java

I’ve been on a journey to migrate my “stuff” to digital – and most recently to the cloud. My last holdout was the trusted journal/notebook. I think I’ve turned the corner here and will share story from my new iPad notebook (forgive the handwriting, it’s never been my strength).

If you’ve been considering the same all I can say is, “TRY IT!”.

Announcing the Americola

June 9, 2011 by The Great Java

What happens when Americano meets soda? Americola of course. I invented the name, I don’t think anyone else is dumb enough to try this – or at least admit they did.

My idea was that if iced coffee is great, carbonation could only make it better!

I started with 4 shots of espresso, iced it, and poured it into a fresh liter of seltzer (from my soda stream machine). That proved to be a problem since there was a lot of fizz reaction and not enough space.

I poured the leftover espresso in two cups and added the water over top. It was a foamy mess. I’m not sure, but I think the crema really reacted with the carbonation.

The really funny thing was it tasted more like beer than iced coffee. Maybe I’ll try again maybe with a cold brew.

Vac Pot Coffee

January 22, 2011 by The Great Java

For Christmas my wife got me a “coffee gift” as she likes to call them. I’ve been wanting to play with a vacuum or “syphon” pot for years but my collection of brewing and roasting equipment (and supplies) has been “sufficient” (well probably). Hobbyists never can never have enough right?

There are quite a few different types of vac pots designs and they are designed to work with different heat sources (gas stove, electric based, or sterno powered). I wanted something inexpensive I could use on my gas burner and suggested the Yama vac pot idea to Mrs. G (it runs about $50).

How does the vac pot work? You heat water in the lower pot until water vapor forms, which creates a pressure and forces the hot water to the top pot (filled with ground coffee) via a tube that runs between the two pots. There is a filter between the chambers that keeps the coffee grounds in the top pot. Eventually almost all the water travels to the top and the coffee “steeps” for a couple minutes until you remove it from the heat source. After removing the heat the water vapor decreases and creates a small vacuum that siphons the freshly brewed coffee through the filter back to the bottom pot. This picture shows the stage where the water is still travelling to the top pot. This is half-science experiment and half coffee preparation. It’s fun to watch but more work than drip or press.

The Yama has only five parts and it’s very functional. I think the design is solid and seems to be well manufactured. Particularly important with these devices, the gasket sealing the upper and lower pots is a pliable thick rubber material and provides a good positive seal. It’s also fairly easy to separate the upper and lower sections when brew is done. The upper and lower pots are a nice thick tempered glass that you should not worry about breaking (but I store it back in the original box after cleaning). There is also a lid made of plastic that nicely doubles as a stand for the upper chamber (which is awkward to stand up due to the 5 inch glass tube at the bottom). The filter is just a cloth-wrapped periforated stainless steel disc. I’d highly recommend this pot to anyone who wants a n0-frill inexpensive vac pot.

So how does the coffee taste? The coffee is steeped, and so it shares some of taste you expect from a french press – yet it’s a very clean taste. The coffee lacks the “sludge” of a french press which should be good, but I think it is almost too clean (disclaimer: I love the french press). I’ve tried several coffees with varied brew times and feel the vac pot does not produce the same lingering body as other brewing methods. I still enjoy it and I am enjoying a cup right now!

Google Web Elements

December 29, 2010 by The Great Java

Yet another nifty thing for small websites from Google. Web Elements let you magically weave in content to your site with carefully crafted iframed widgets.

I’ve used the search/news widget on several sites and it works great! Anywhere you can embed some HTML you can use these widget.