I shall call it...The Broken Swan

So the other evening My landlord and I were enjoying an AWSOME dinner prepared by his robo-girlfriend (seriously....there is no way she will never sleep!) and to cap off the evening I spent some time at the espresso machine plying my trade, or at a minumum honing my skill. When I finished making an amazing mocha and had delivered the final product this is what appearred. As I made my way back to the kitchen for round two I was informed that the name of my Signature beverage should be "The Broken Swan" as a result of my ill fated attempt at some coffee art. In any case, my mochas are getting better and better!

So while I am taking some time to discuss my recent coffee adventures I think it is only appropriate that I update you on my "A tale of things to come" post. I have been visiting coffee shops in the SLC for almost 2 weeks now and I have formed opinions on several lattes. I am currently reserving my opinion until I visit every shop on my list so as not to encourage my readers to influence my opinions. There are reviews in the work's people, I absolutely insist on intilectual integrity.

Lastly, there are two new additions to my at home coffee experience that I have not given proper introductions to.

First - On a recent visit to one of Salt Lake's finest coffee shops I made the decision to purchase a coffee cup for my home use. I have looked at this particular cup before, but finally took the initiative to add it to my collection and add it to the rotation. Now typically I have more than 5 travel mugs on hand, however I am still mid relocation back to the SLC and this is my only travel mug, so currently it is the only one in rotation.....i'm not even sure that qualifies as a rotation. Now while initally apprehensive about the unasuming stature of this particular 10 oz. coffee cup, I took into account the consistant endorsement from John the Caffe owner and took the plunge. Wow...he could not have been more correct! I fully encourage you to consider adding this little gem to your home brewing experience.

Now when making such a formal introductiton it begs to give an apt description. The cup is only 10 oz in size and appears from its small stature to be inadequite to quell you coffee needs. However, the stainless steel lined theremal interior is suspended beautifully within what appears to be a clear accrylic/polymer outer shell. The thermal interior is supported at the base by a type of rubber fitting that is affixed to the bottmomside of the cup. The base of the cup appears to be made of a stamped rubber emblem of the manufacturer of the cup Gordon Sinclare (Tony's Brother). The outer contours of the cup are slightly wave like in shape from the top of the cup to the base. Laslty the lid is fashionably surrrounded by a stainless steel rim similar to the rim on the thermal lining. The exterior of the cup has the logo of the Caffe boldly displayed in a classy fashion. The logo is not etched into the accrylic/polymer casing but is affixed to the front by what appears to be some sort of chemical bonding process that is far above my attention span. I have hand washed the cup almost 15 times to date and the logo does not show any wear, what a great feature. This mug is perhaps one of the best designed coffee mugs that I have ever owned, and adhears to the simplicity in design ethic that makes modern contemporary design features so sought after!


Welcome to the family Mr. Sinclare

Second - Its all in the grind. Well, thats "what they say" anyway. Now I cannot dissagree with this logic, it is damn near infallable. Truth be told, I am a professional in my industry and I tend to know more than the average customer about my industry. I have hands on knowledge that can only come with real world experience in my particular profession. Like wise, I must defer to the specialists not to lead me astray in this particular department.

While I have always had a grinder available due to my Fiance's tour of duty behind the counter at Starbucks, we have always yearned for more. So I have been asking questions about what to purchase and where to purchase, and unfortuantly to buy an adaquite espresso grinder I will have to work some overtime to fund that purchase. While I am not opposed to doing so, I am also in the middle of purchasing a home and am bleeding cash like Michael Jordan at the Golf Course. So ulimately I knew that I would require a burr ginder to improve my home brewing experience in order to adequitely gind my beans with something more adept than the equivilent of a garbage disposal.

I have spent some time looking into this matter and I finally decided to purchase a grinder that would not set me back and would improve my experience dramaticly. I settled on a burr grinder designed for Starbucks and sold under the Barista brand lable. Thus far my happiness is vastly improved, and so to is my coffee. I feel that it is only fair that I take ample time to introduce the newest member on my home brewing team.

The design on this burr grinder is actaually amazing. It has a simple classic appeal, while it appears to be semi-professional with the cone shaped bean hopper at the top. one of the features I like most about this specific grinder is the capture mechanism. There is a plastic bin which captures the espresso as you grind. The shoot that delivers the grounds is top loading in nature. That is, there is not a hole in the wall of the capture bin but rather it functions like a bucket and is top loading. Thus far I have not invested a ton of time playing with the features of the grinder. Depending on the type of grind that you desire, there is a dial that you rotate which moves the burr's (coffee shaving drill bits) internally in the grinder to different positions to achieve the desired grind. While it is not stepless (there are specific notches you have to select) it appears to be a dramatic increase from my previous efforts.

I have only pulled some 10 shots with the new grinder however my home experience is experienceing a golden era. Welcome to the team!