Monday, March 8, 2010

Have I told you latey how much I...

I started that sentence not that long ago and poor DH looked so crest fallen when I finished it "l love my job." Poor guy (yes, I love you ;) ).
This past week I have been especially grateful to my wonderful co-workers. I've been having some killer headaches (migraine anyone?), and have been so glad to be backed up in my job, and not have them rolling their eyes at what an idiot I am, but rather encouraging me and telling me I'm doing fine. They may see this as just doing their job-but that just shows what character they have.
And I'll tell you what, when you've not had that in the past, you really come to appreciate it.
That and I love working somewhere where Barista girl and Barista Cowgirl make an appearance...

Friday, March 5, 2010

Kenya!


ok, so I've found a better phrase "Coffee Geek".
Maybe just Coffee Geek in training ;).
I like it a lot better and I defiantly am not a coffee connoisseur as I'm just taking my first baby steps.

I'm finally taking the time to post this :).

I DO really love trying different coffees, finding the different smells, mouth feels, flavour notes. I find it fascinating.

So, when you taste a coffee there are three different steps and different things that you are looking for. I'll touch on them since this is my first coffee tasting post:

~Aroma
When you smell the coffee (Black of course!), you cup your hand around the top of the cup and really inhale. Some smell nutty, earthy, spicy or floral.
When I did this with the Kenya I thought that it smelled lighter and fruity, and not just fruity but I could really smell the Citrus!

~Acidity
This is not like the acidity in wine, but rather how smooth it leaves your mouth feeling once you have swallowed. I found the Kenya left a very crisp and clean feeling on my tongue-so this means it is quite acidic, something I really like in a coffee.

~Body
This refers to how heavy it feels in your mouth. A good way to think of it is comparing how whole milk and skim milk would feel in your mouth. Whole would be very heavy and skim very light. This is also referred to as mouth feel.
I found Kenya to be very light on my tongue (it has what is referred to as a medium body).

~Flavour
What flavour notes do you taste? Is it earthy, nutty, floral and so forth.
I found the citrus notes in Kenya to be amazingly pronounced.

Another aspect of coffee tasting is pairing-eating a food that ascents the notes that are found in the coffee.

I made lemon loaf to go with my Kenya and found it made the citrus in the Kenya just pop!

I also found that when I added milk and sweetened it a bit (something I rarely do with coffee, just milk please ;) ) it really brought the fruitiness out even more.

African Coffees tend to have a really strong citrus undertone, the defining word for Kenya is Grapefruit.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Dark Cherry Mocha

Yes, warning, deep deep post to ensue.
I do have some deeper thoughts that I want to share, but I will wait for a clearer head to do so. I've been fighting off migraines this week. Fun stuff! So, this is just for fun :).
The dark cherry Mocha has arrived on the scene! So, here is my take on it-I am not a huge mocha fan, and really not a fan of full strength syrup mochas i.e. peppermint mocha. But, if you are one, you will probably really enjoy one!
The syrup is not overpowering, although, if not blended properly into a drink may remind you of cough syrup...however, if you are ordering a drink at starbucks and not throwing a little into something as an afterthought, it will be blended ;).
So far, I like the dark cherry syrup:
~By itself in a latte, hot or cold.
~With white mocha -white seems to blend a lot nicer in my opinion (I love it this way in a double shot!)
~In a vanilla bean frappuccino
blended cream
~In a green tea latte
~In a black tea lemonade...
~Less sweet in a Strawberry banana smoothie
Now, what should I try it in today???