More Techie Geekiness

Jessie waves from behind the "nine group" La Marzocco.

The day that Lamarie has been fearing has finally arrived: the Linea 3AV has left the building.

Time to juggle the Lineas around a bit. Over the years, I've managed to collect a small number of La Marzocco Linea espresso machines: a 2AV, 3AV and 4EE. All I need now is a single group Linea and I will have the entire lineup. Crazy.

The 4EE has been sitting in storage for the past three or four years and with the 3AV moving to project hampden, I thought this to be the perfect opportunity to pull the 4EE out of storage and place it in Towson - where the bar is longer and can readily accommodate a four foot long espresso machine.

Unfortunately, when we first installed the 4EE last week, it leaked like a sieve and we had to return the 3AV to operation.


Lindsay replacing the steam wand assembly, sight glass and prepping the Linea for installation.

Today, we brought the 2AV for Towson to use while the 4EE gets serviced and the 3AV moves to Hampden. A quick replacement of the steam wand assembly and the steam boiler sight glass, along with a new drip tray and the machine was up, running and at temperature in 45 minutes. Not bad for a quick swap including shut down, cool down and draining of the 3AV.


Nine groups of delicious goodness.

Riding In Cars With Machines

The Linea 2AV during a Home Depot pit stop.

At heart, I'm just a tech geek. Give me more toys and I'll be a happy boy. Atari, Colecovision, AutoCocker, La Marzocco - I just want more and more. As a techie barista, nothing seems to warm the heart as much as driving around town with a La Marzocco Linea Espresso Machine loaded into the back of the truck.



The Linea 3AV being unloaded at project hampden.

ph: Juice, Sun, Rat

Jenny and Rebecca clear what will one day be project garden.

With temperatures threatening to hit 60F, it was a good day to get some cleaning done in project hampdens backyard. What will one day be a garden oasis in the middle of the city is today filled with vine clippings, broken concrete, soil, miscellaneous rubbish and a dead rat. Kudos to Jenny and Rebecca for cleaning things up and disposing of the rat - not girlish work, to be sure.


The electricians juice up the brew bar.

Meanwhile, our electricians were busy at work inside finishing up all the details that needed attending. Rewire the brew bar to accommodate the Fetco hot water tower, rewire the lab for a 30amp espresso machine, add a couple of outlets in various places and install the proper outlets for the 240volt equipment.

Now, it's just a matter of getting the plumbing squared away and installing the equipment.


Everyone comes outside to enjoy the sun and warm January weather.

ph: Through The Looking Glass

Dai ponders a future drinking coffee in project hampden.

"If you build it, they will come"

As the days grind forever onward at project hampden, I notice more and more people peering through the doorway for a looksee at what's going on inside.  Usually, they can see lots of dust, mess and perhaps a glimpse of what's to come, but not much.  The frosted glaze over the storefront windows obscure all but the tallest (or highest jumping) of gawkers.

Today I let loose Rebecca, Jenny and Ilenia on the interior polishing the floors, cleaning the bathroom and prepping some equipment in anticipation of our first group training tomorrow.  The Saturday sessions we've been holding in Towson will move tomorrow to project hampden - even though there's still a bit more plumbing and installations to be completed.  Time to get everyone used to the space they will be inheriting as their home in a couple of weeks.

While there's still much to be done, I thought I'd give the readers a glimpse of what the public sees when they peer through the glass entry doorway into what I'm hoping will be an exciting experience for them.

Ye Olde Ebbitt

A plate full of oysters.

It's been a long time, but last night after a visit to the Thursday Night Throwdown - that monthly gathering where baristas drink and hold latte art competitions, we hit the Old Ebbitt Grill.

For the uninitiated, a latte art competition is simply that - pull a shot of espresso, steam some milk and pour the milk to create nifty little designs in the cup using the contrast between the espresso crema and the milk foam as your medium. This was my first ever Thursday Night Throwdown and I never made it to my pour.

Unlike the other latte art throwdowns I've experienced both as a barista and judge, this one has the barista make the art then submit it to a panel of judges for scoring instead of the head-to-head, sudden death style of the others I've participated. Sadly, this scoring format takes longer to administer and doesn't generate the excitement or hold the interest of the sudden death style where each new latte art is pitted against the current winner creating tension and the agony of defeat with each successive pour. After nearly two hours waiting, we decided that it was time to head out and do something else.

That something else was the Old Ebbitt Grill and their half-price oysters after 11pm.

It's the not-so-secret hidden gem of DC's restaurant scene. The Old Ebbitt sources oysters from around the nation and at 11pm each night, that twenty-two dollar plate of oysters drops magically to eleven dollars per dozen.

Time to run to the Old Ebbitt again...

Thank You Baby Jesus

My phone has been quiet lately and I've been wondering why.  No more incessant messages about whatever stream-of-consciousness BS someone out there in Twitter-Land is tweeting about.  No more non-stop messages to my iPhone about @this and @that person, or "re-tweets" - Good God, I've had enough!

Twitter is much more enjoyable in small doses, and this morning I logged in to the web interface to see what's been going on with the people I know in Twitter-Land.  Nice to see that some of my friends are doing fun and interesting things, while others continue on their daily diatribe, publishing tweets every 33 seconds.

As I logged in, I noticed the message above.  They tried contacting my phone but were unable to and suspended sending me Tweets... THANK YOU BABY JESUS!

Now the only time my phone beeps is when the chicks are texting.  A much more satisfying method of communication...

ph: Working Baristas

Jess and Kimmy silicone the counter backsplash in the project hampden coffee lab.

Rebecca and Lindsay install PVC lines on Charlotte - the three compartment sink.

Lindsay installs the electric and plumbing for the Linea 4EE.

Lamarie shows her displeasure on moving the Linea 3AV to project hampden.

Girls of Spro Construction Calendar

Linsday Lawless

There's still much to be done at project hampden in terms of finish work and I've let the girls loose inside with hammers, drills, box cutters, paint brushes, caulk guns and more.

Caught up in the frenzy of the build, Lindsay and Rebecca shot some quick images of them in action.  A prelude to a Girls of Spro Construction Calendar 2010?

Rebecca Raven

ph: Cylon Toaster!

Cylon Toaster - 'nuff said!

ph: Trial By Fire Saturdays

Jenny, Jess, Ilenia and Lindsay prepare themselves for the onslaught at hand.


After a couple of weeks of holidays, the tribe has gathered again for another group therapy session.  This time the task is to start putting all of the lessons together and delivering drinks in mock customer sessions.

For project hampden, we're making coffee with seven different brew methods.  Add a mix of six to eight coffees per day and top it off with everything being made to-order, on demand and by-the-cup and you're asking for trouble.  Swirl in a complete menu of espresso drinks made-to-order, hot teas, cold beverages and baked goods and you've got a veritable storm on your hands.

With such a radical change in service, there is no current working model.  The shops I know of stick to one or two main brewing methods, and if they have a setup where additional brewing methods are offered, it's on a very limited basis and not part of their standard operating procedures.  At project hampden, those seven brewing methods will be part of our daily operations.

Team Kimmy considers their menu options.

To facilitate the exercise, I divided the crew into two teams.  The task was simple: prepare yourselves.  Each team would order any drink off the menu while the other team prepared those drinks.  The entire menu from coffee to teas to espresso to cold drinks was up for ordering.  How would each team fare?  Would they be able to handle the load from a sympathetic group of "customers"?

Finding your groove can be a difficult proposition - even when you know your brewing methods.  Working with others in a confined space while trying to prepare a continuous stream of drinks in a timely fashion can be downright grueling.  Quite simply, there is no other way to get a team of people into their grooves than just throwing them into the fire.

Kimmy and Jeremy plan their macchiato strategies.

Each team would prepare three rounds of drinks for the other team.   Espresso, cappuccino, macchiato, latte, vac pot, eva solo, french press, pour over and everything in-between.  Not to mention finding a way to squeeze in the drink orders for the real, revenue-generating customers who happened to stop by for a coffee.

Each drink would have to meet my standards in order to be served.  Bad shots, bad milk or a screw up, and the drink would be rejected to be made again.  The proper cups had to be used, preheated and the service had to be correct: with the proper saucers and spoon positions.  While we would stop or pause to clarify certain aspects of the flow or service, timeliness was of the essence.

Some things went smoothly.  Others went not so smoothly.  While the crew wanted to remain positive, I could tell that they were stressed by the exercise.  What they thought they knew and could handle, they weren't as sure at the end of the day.

But that's to be expected.  We're working without a model and writing the book as we go along.  These exercises are meant to be brutal and difficult to encourage the best performance out of them.  Even with a few hiccups today, I'm very excited to see things as they progress and learn to find their groove together.

Until then, we'll keep at it!

ph: Just A Little More

Here are a few more images from the recent progress at project hampden...

Soda fountain rinse station prep and installation.

Getting ready to attach the undermount stainless sink in the brew bar.

Nothing like freshly wrapped stainless steel to excite the tech geek in me.

Getting ready to cut the granite for the insert-ables.

Thinking About Brewing: Aeropress, Pour Over, Clever, French Press, Chemex and Vac Pot.

ph: Continued

It has been awhile since I've posted updates on project hampden, but rest assured, things are still moving along. At one point, I started to obsess about opening before the Christmas holidays but now I'm past that and re-focused on getting it right before opening the doors to what we hope will be an expectant public.

Meanwhile, here's a few photos of the progress:

John and John from Artisan Interiors install the shelves.

A pair of circuit breakers, 120 volt.

The guys from JPS installing Tan Brown granite.

Hampden Sunset

Vacuum Pot Brewing - Hai!

Why I Get Into Trouble

I'm sitting here, writing this from project hampden. It's coming along nicely and I've stopped trying to rush things along since the holiday season is over and we missed it.

Today the final granite counters were installed. Tan Brown. Looks quite nice. Suddenly, the place is looking real. Like maybe we might be able to open. Soon.

Which is when the detour wants to happen.

Alex and Aki, on their Ideas in Food Blog noted the release of Paris Patisseries where they relate that you might just jump on a plane to Paris. Oh God, how I wish.

Suddenly, my mind is filled with schemes to hop a United flight out of IAD to CDG for a weekend excursion. My room at the Hotel Eiffel Park is waiting. That little patisserie on the Rue de Grenelle will have those delicious almond croissants for me. Stephane Secco will have my baguette at the ready, and next door Bellota Bellota's Jamon Iberico can be had freshly sliced.

I see myself gazing longingly at the wonderful Laguiole knives and corkscrews at the fly fishing shop on the Rue de Grenelle on the way to the metro La Tour Maubourg, drinking coffee in the Marais at Soluna Cafes, and finally visiting that mysterious olive purveyor by the Canal St. Martin. Later, it's shockingly expensive macarons at Pierre Herme and a late night dinner at Robert et Louise where, if I stay past closing, I hope that they'll invite me to screw French law and enjoy my cigar at my table.

Yes, jetting off on a weekend holiday to Paris is reckless and sure to augur financial ruin when on the verge of opening a new shop, but Paris is a tempting mistress and I struggle to resist. Maybe my Sugar Mama will oblige me and jet me off to Paris via London in Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class Suite where I can gingerly sip Sapphire Tonics at the bar, crunching my ice cubes lovingly, all the way across the Atlantic and back.

Instead, I'll probably remain at project hampden eating cold, leftover pizza and ice tea chilled by the exterior door because it's that cold outside...

She Hates Me!!!!

Readers of this blog know that I'm highly critical of Elizabeth Large, 36 year food critic for the Baltimore Sun. Many people in this town no longer think too highly of The Sun and Ms. Large is an example of why the quality of journalism in this town has eroded over the years. Instead of getting better, demanding more and pursuing excellence in her 36 years, she's become the definition of mediocre food journalism and a joke to everyone that I know in Baltimore's restaurant industry - although everyone is universally afraid to state that publicly for fear of retribution via her reviews. Such is the power of the Critic of Record...

Recently, she asked her blog readership to seek out new and unheard of restaurants - not to tell her about them for a legitimate review, but rather to visit, eat and write the review for her blog, essentially eliminating her need to do anything while still taking the credit.

In return, I wrote something to the effect of: "If I write, do I get paid?" and "Far be it for Large to do the work herself."

True to form, Ms. Large deleted the offensive post, but not before it was up there long enough for some of her "sandbox" readers (that's what they call themselves) to see it and get riled up over it. Note: those that consider themselves part of the "sandbox" are scarily similar to those who identify themselves as Rush Limbaugh's "dittoheads".

Anyway, in the comments, Large finally took her gloves off:

"That's the real question: Why does he keep coming back? Why is he so unpleasant? I've asked him not to post here, and I always just delete his comments, so why does he waste his time? EL"

and:

This blog is a community. No one has to play who doesn't want to. I, too, don't get paid to work 24/7 on it, but I do because I enjoy it. But if you do want to try your hand at reviewing, or at least suggesting a restaurant we should cover, we'd like to hear from you. (However, Jay C. isn't allowed to comment on this blog.) EL

I'm not "allowed" to comment to her blog. Isn't that cute? How ironic it is that the critic of record for the Baltimore Sun censors those whom disagree with her? Freedom of the Press - Yes. Freedom of speech - No.

As readers of this blog have noted, I have always been open to critical comments and dissent on this blog - especially when posted by non-anonymous individuals. Have something to say? I welcome it - just put your name to it. Curiously, Elizabeth Large doesn't subscribe to the same level of openness and transparency and Baltimore's food scene suffers.

Here's the response I posted to the Dining@Large blog:

A funny thing....

I'm at FedEx when a restaurant industry friend calls to ask me what I wrote that got the people at Dining@Large all riled up. To be honest, I couldn't quite remember. Was is the comment about the owner of Sam's Kid not bothering to bus her tables or run food for the three hours we were there?

Then, as this friend started reading the comments to me over the phone, I started to laugh. I had forgotten the two line quip I had left regarding you asking the
"sandbox" to write the articles. Never mind feeding you the news of the new (or unheard of) restaurants and you going to do the reviews - just get the sandbox to do the whole kit and caboodle and all is well. Sorry, but I can't regard that as respectable journalism - or journalism of any sort.

So I took the time to dig up the post in question and read the comments herein. Your loyal following is certainly riled up and I don't blame them. I'm not what anyone would call a loyalist or a "sandbox" member. I have been harshly critical of you and your critiques of local (especially chain) restaurants. Unlike the sandbox, I expect greater of you. I expect more of you than the status quo.

Quite simply, you have never asked me not to post to your blog. You have on many occasions deleted anything and everything that I have written to your blog. You have demonstrated that you only expect compliments on your blog and any critical comment or dissenting opinion is to be eradicated and deleted - as you have demonstrated many times with my own dissent.

While many here (and probably yourself) would prefer that I go away, I won't. You are the food critic for the paper of record and I will continue to follow your writings and disagree with them when appropriate. While I do think it is time for you to step down from your position, I wish you the best in your endeavors.

This response was posted today at 12:51PM - I'm wondering how long before she deletes it.

Reflecting 2009

Seems that it's that time of the year for reflecting on the year past and there's something that's nagging at me - the whole Year In Review thing. Certainly, there are venues where a Year In Review is appropriate, but I'm realizing that penning a Year In Review post to an archived blog is redundant. If someone wants to review the Year Of Blogging, they can simply scroll, click and peruse the archives in the right column. Seems like a complete waste of time and energy "recapping" the year in a month-by-month punch list.

Like most years, 2009 was a good year. I had a lot of fun. It had its' ups and downs. Friends passed away, new members were born. Joy and sadness. Hallmarks and footnotes. Whatever the case, I'm still alive and enjoying myself, and there's not much more I could ask for.

In 2009:
- I did not make enough Mad Money to buy the Ferrari. Sad.
- I was able to negotiate and secure a location for project hampden. Happy.
- I was able to find a great assortment of people to staff both Spro and project hampden. Happy.
- We were unable to open project hampden. Sad.
- I spent lots of time with great friends. Happy.
- I was unable to see all of my friends around the world. Sad.
- I met Twyla. Happy.
- She moved back to Arizona. Sad.
- I met Diana. Happy.
- She lives in Colombia. Sad.
- I went to Nicaragua. Happy.
- I did not make it to Hawaii. Sad.
- I learned more than ever about food. Happy.
- I ate too much doing so. Sad.
- I didn't exercise much. Happy.
- Not exercising did not offset the learning about food. Sad.
- I was upgraded a lot to First Class. Happy.
- I did not make Premier Executive again. Sad.
- New children were born. Happy.
- Old friends died. Sad.


Resolutions
I'm really not into New Year's Resolutions. In fact, I'm against them. Like bombs on airplanes, they should be banned. However, there are some things that I am thinking about for two thousand ten.

- Eat more.
- Drink more.
- Party more.
- Meet more women.
- Learn more.
- Explore more.
- Travel more.
- Speak my mind more often.
- Love more.
- Return to Paris.
- Return to Honolulu.
- Visit Spain.
- Seek more fortune.
- Spread goodwill.
- Meet more people.
- Be a good uncle.

- and get that damn project hampden open.

Twitterpated - NOT!

About a week ago, at the urging of a good friend, I decided to go ahead and update my Twitter settings. I would choose a select group of people whom I follow and have their tweets sent to my phone.

First off, I realize that having tweets sent to your phone is an idea prone with problems. Immediately, I knew there were a few whom I "follow" that would not make it onto the phone. Those with a penchant to tweet about every little movement or thought in their day-to-day lives were eliminated, as were those who just tweet too much nonsensical (to me) stuff.

From there, I chose whom I thought would offer insightful and interesting tweets. People who supposedly have the reputation for tweeting thought-provoking discussions and other stimuli. I made up a short list and eagerly awaited a stream of wisdom and insight.

After not even a week of this, I don't think I can take it much longer. Tweet upon tweet upon tweet about things that I really either don't care about or have no interest. But what I really don't get is the need for everyone to @someone to everyone else. Hey, if you've got a response for one person, why not just "dm" that person? Do I need to be included in that conversation? Especially when I think that person your "@"-ing is a buffoon?

Most importantly out of all this, I've become increasingly aware at how stream of consciousness tweeting is horrifically irritating. It's caused me to focus on my own tweets and realize that those 140-something characters are extremely precious and that the reader has lost those moments spent reading my tweets so they should have something of interest.

A Pound of This, A Pound of That

Whipping up some mac-n-cheese.

With so much snow and bitter cold, what better thing to do than cook? Really in need of something different than my normal repertoire of take away fried something or other, I decided to see what was in the larder for a little meal.

Sadly, there was no Velveeta anywhere in the house so I had to go with some Kerrygold Dubliner cheese and a block of Cabot Private Stock White Cheddar. Chop them up in the processor, whip them into some bechamel, mix with cooked macaroni and voila! A little mac-n-cheese base for now or later.


Mac-N-Cheese out of the oven with a side of bacong and roasted chicken for good measure.

The nice thing about this mac-n-cheese is that you can refrigerate (and I guess freeze) the mix until you need it. Then when the time is right, press the mix into a serving dish, add some chopped cooked bacon, cover with the cheddar and dubliner cheeses, top with homemade potato bread crumbs and bake at 350F.

Forty minutes later, your piping hot mac-n-cheese is ready to rock and roll. Add steak, chicken or more bacon to taste.

Simple Pound Cake

Baking. Such a curious pursuit. I like to cook. I even fancy myself a cook. But a baker? No, i don't think so. Sure, I've dabbled in breadmaking in the past and have even tried my hand at pastry stuff, but I wouldn't say that I know what I'm doing.

Which brings us to the pound cake. I like pound cake. I like the frozen Sara Lee pound cake I grew up eating in the tin pan. I loved how the brown cap of the thing peeled off and how you could dig out the bottom crust of the bread with your fingers from the bottom of the pan. I was amazing. I could go to town on that pound cake.

But now that I'm older and supposedly more sophisticated, it was time to make my own pound cake, using the ingredients I love and adore. Like I said, I'm not a baker - which is good because the pound cake recipe is rather simple:

- one pound Butter
- one pound Sugar
- one pound AP Flour

Okay, and a little salt and a little vanilla extract - maybe half a teaspoon each.

Cream the butter and sugar, add the salt, add the vanilla, then slowly beat in the flour until it fully combines then stop. Bake in a 325F oven for at least one hour, or until its' done.

It took two hours for the thing to cook through.

So it took a long time, but how tantalizing it looked in that oven. I could see the butter boiling in the pan. Amazing. But it took two hours.

Finally the thing was done and it had to cool. By the time I tasted it the next day the flavor was lovely. Buttery sweet, crusty and just tasty. A far cry from Sara Lee but more robust. Good thing I brought it down to The Spro where I could enjoy my labors with a proper coffee - the Montes y Colinas Colombia from Origins Organic, of course.

Eskimos Might Live Like This...

A cigar too nice to do "The Monica."

As the Blizzard of 2009 blankets the world around me with an expected two feet of snow, I decided to take refuge at home and indulge myself (with my lady-friend companion).

Tonight's indulgences include a 2002 Montecristo #2 Habano, a 2007 Coudoulet de Beaucastel Cotes du Rhone, Davidoff matches, Dupont lighter, Paul Garmirian cutter, a bunch of candles, a meershaum pipe (just in case) and a plate of homemade chocolate chip and pecan butter shortbread cookies (with Askinosie 77% Davao chocolate, for good measure).

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

ph: The Cabinets Are Coming!

The boys from Artisan Interiors working their magic.

Tuna Club

Even though I've dedicated an entire afternoon to preparing food, I'm still hungry and without something to eat. So, I decided to whip up something that might make it onto project hampden's menu in the future: the "Tuna Club."

Okay, it's not really original and a total riff on Bistro 1245's Tuna Club, but I didn't want to simply copy it exactly, so here's what I did:

- toast a piece of baguette until crispy
- slather with wasabi mayo
- Benton's smoked country bacon
- add mixed greens
- a tomato would be nice (but they're out of season)
- layer slices of seared yellowfin tuna (poke marinade
- season with Aloha Shoyu

Fold, show off to your hungry friends and eat greedily.

Kalua-ing Your Pig

Pork Shoulder Picnic ready to go.

I've got a problem. I enjoy tasting different flavors during my week and I'm absolutely terrible at planning my meals ahead of time. Because of this, I end up eating out more often than not - and I've got a larder full of fantastic foodstuffs.

Take this hunk of Pork Shoulder Picnic from Springfield Farm. It's been sitting in the fridge waiting for me to do something with it. I could dig the smoker out of the garage and smoke it up, but it's too darn cold and I'm too lazy to do that right now. Maybe something a little more low impact would be better.

Another problem is that it's just me, and this large piece of pig makes more than I can eat in a week. Really, it makes more that I would want to eat in a week. So the idea was to cut it in half and make two preparations of pork.

The first was chorizo. Simply chop the shoulder (with lots of fat included) into little brunoise (okay, maybe I might have pulsed it a bit in the food processor - but I'll never tell) and then mix with a slurry of chiles and seasoning. A little chipotle powder, some rehydrated pasillas, some fresh garlic, a little canela, some salt... Oooh, and I've still got some of that Hatch chiles from New Mexico - chop up and toss a bunch in there for good measure. Add some oregano and process in the Cuisinart until it turns into paste (note: sans pork).

Press the chile mix through a tamis and onto the chopped pork. Mix thoroughly. Pan fry a portion to check season and re-adjust if necessary.

Different recipes will give you precise amounts of chile but this one I just freestyled. It's not as delicate as Oscar Gutierrez's dried chorizo I had last year, but it will suffice for my morning pleasures.

From here, you can mix in some pink curing salt (not too much) then stuff into casings and hang to dry. That was a bit too much work for a lazy Sunday so I just rolled them up into one pound balls, vac bagged and tossed them into the freezer. Note: after bagging, I like to press the balls flat to fill the bag so I can lay them down and stuff as many into the freezer as possible.

The other half I decided to make Poor Man's Kalua Pig. Simply take the pork, rub with 'alae'a salt from Hawai'i, wrap with one ti leaf (also from Hawai'i and completely different than tea leaves), put it into a dutch oven (a Le Creuset, if you want to be fancy) and toss into a 250F oven for 10-16 hours.

The more traditional approach would be to rub with liquid smoke and wrap the entire thing in banana leaves, but I didn't have either on hand. The more traditional approach would be to put it into a mesquite smoker. Then the ultra-traditional approach would be to wrap everything in chicken wire and bury the lot in an in-ground 'imu with smashed banana stalks and lava rock heated by a keawe wood fire, but that really was too much work for a lazy Sunday.

Ten to sixteen hours later (depending on the size of the meat), the pig is done when it's tender, juicy and can be shredded with a fork.

Simply box it up in a cambro, toss it in the fridge and reheat when hunger calls and serve with hot steamed rice, Aloha Shoyu
and chili pepper water - add some sliced Maui sweet onions and haupia on the side and you're really good to go.

ph: The Brews

Our tasting crew points to their brew preference for the Dama Yirgacheffe - aeropressed.

Today was the day to take the coffees that we have selected for service at project hampden and determine which brew methods will be the "default" brew for each coffee.

The idea is that if you're the kind of customer who wants to come in and just try the coffee, you can simply order it and we'll prepare it for you utilizing the brew method that we think best highlights the qualities of the particular coffee. Of course, if you're a bit more adventurous, you can come in and request the coffee of your choice brewed in the method of your choice.

So while the "default" brew method for let's say, the Amaro Gayo Ethiopia from Barefoot Coffee Roasters may be in the Clever brewer, you can also order the Amaro Gayo brewed as a pour over, French press, aeropress, eva solo, chemex or vac pot - giving you the ability to try the same coffee and see for yourself how each brew method will enhance or diminish certain aspects of a coffees' flavor. No other shop in the world offers this array of brewing options - all to order, by-the-cup.


Jenny eva solos the Kenya Gichathaini from Ecco Caffe.

Here are the coffees that will open project hampden in early January 2010, and their "default" brew methods:

Amaro Gayo, Ethiopia – Clever & Cold Brew
Barefoot Coffee Roasters, Santa Clara, CA

Santuario Bourbon, Colombia – Aeropress
Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, Chicago, IL

Yirgacheffe, Dama Cooperative, Ethiopia – Eva Solo
Ecco Caffe, Santa Rosa, CA

Gitchathaini, Gikonda Cooperative, Nyeri, Kenya – Chemex
Ecco Caffe, Santa Rosa, CA

Finca El Injerto Pacamara, Guatemala – French Press
Stumptown Coffee Roasters, New York, NY

Finca Mauritania, Santa Ana, El Salvador – Pour Over
Counter Culture Coffee, Durham, NC

Aida’s Grand Reserve, Santa Ana, El Salvador – TBD
Counter Culture Coffee, Durham, NC

Kigabah, Plantation A, Papua New Guinea – Chemex
Origins Organic Coffee, Vancouver, BC

Decaf House Blend – Aeropress
Origins Organic Coffee, Vancouver, BC

Espresso Blend – Espresso
Hines Public Market Coffee, Vancouver, BC


Lamarie and Rebecca vac pot the Amaro Gayo Ethiopia.

Holy Crap! 2010???

The Morning Musubi

Fried Spam, nori and press at the ready.

Spam Musubi.

That's it. That's all you need to know: Spam Musubi.

The ubiquitous Hawaii snack/meal is essentially the perfect sandwich. A balance of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, spicy and umami - well, spicy if you add some spice, or use Tabasco Spam. Take a slice of Spam, fry it up in a down and dirty teriyaki sauce, add a dash of Tabasco, top over steamed rice and wrap in nori. Amazing.

It's been something I've been thinking of adding to the menu at project hampden, but first, I need to understand how to make it. You see, in Hawaii, it's everywhere. You don't need to make it if you live in Hawaii, everyone else is making them so why bother? You can even get Spam Musubi (along with variants) at 7-Eleven.


Pressing the rice.

For today's Spam Musubi, I'm using a simple California medium grain rice, Japanese nori, Hormel Spam and a down and dirty teriyaki sauce made from soy sauce and sugar. The secret battle ingredient? Aloha Shoyu - that island made soy sauce that's light, nutty and refreshing. It is the flavor of Hawaii and I spend incredible amounts of money laying my hands on the stuff.

The other key? A Musubi Press. Those of you in California (and maybe living near the Mitsua Marketplace in New Jersey) probably can get it, but I get mine straight from Honolulu where I know it's going to be right - the mold fits a slice of Spam exactly. Beautiful.


A bounty of Spam Musubi!

Simply marinade the Spam (marinading Spam, that's got to be ironic) in the sauce, pan fry until it's caramelized and set aside. Cut the nori into strips and lay a slice of Spam across the nori, put the press in place, add the rice and press to form the shape. Pull the mold, wrap the nori tight and you're done! Spam Musubi 101.

Now, if only I knew some girls from Hawaii I could seduce over lunch today...

ph: The Results

Joy, Ilenia and Jeremy ponder their evaluations.

And here are the results for the last three days of service cuppings for project hampden:

Score / Coffee / Origin / Roaster / Roast Date

9.43 Amaro Gayo, Ethiopia - Barefoot, 12/1
8.69 Wondo Worka, Ethiopia - Caffe Pronto, 11/11
8.44 Amaro Gayo, Ethiopia - Barefoot, 11/23
7.50 Dama Yirgacheffe Organic, Ethiopia - Ecco Caffe, 12/1
7.44 Santuario Bourbon, Colombia - Intelligentsia, 12/1
7.40 Don Pachi, Panama - Stumptown, 12/1
7.38 Santuario El Mirador, Colombia - Intelligentsia, 12/1
7.30 Organic Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia - Intelligentsia, 12/1
7.19 Finca Mauritania, El Salvador - Counter Culture, 12/1
6.60 Sidama, Ethiopia - Intelligentsia, 12/1
6.57 Malacara Lot 119, El Salvador - Barefoot, 12/1
6.44 El Injerto Pacamara, Guatemala - Stumptown, 12/1
6.36 Gichathaini, Kenya - Ecco Caffe, 12/1
6.14 Palo Blanco, Guatemala - Barefoot, 12/1
6.13 Cruz del Sur, Peru - Intelligentsia, 12/1
6.00 Los Luchadores, El Salvador - Counter Culture, 12/1
6.00 Tablon 12, El Salvador - Barefoot, 12/1
5.90 Ndaironi, Kenya - Counter Culture, 12/1
5.90 Lot 91, El Salvador - Barefoot, 11/23
5.81 Monte Cristo, Brazil - Barefoot, 11/22
5.80 Gichathaini, Kenya - Intelligentsia, 12/1
5.71 El Porvenir, El Salvador - Barefoot, 12/1
5.69 Nueva Armenia, Guatemala - Counter Culture, 12/1
5.64 Piura Organic, Peru - Ecco Caffe, 12/1
5.63 Sidamo Washed, Ethiopia - Origins, 11/23
5.31 Montes de Oro Honey, Costa Rica - Stumptown, 12/1
5.29 Tingo Maria Organic, Peru - Ecco Caffe, 12/1
5.21 Ixii de Avelina, Guatemala - Barefoot, 12/1
5.00 21st de Septiembre, Mexico - Counter Culture, 12/1
4.80 Thiriku, Kenya - Intelligentsia, 12/1
4.31 Gathuriri Reserve, Kenya - Stumptown, 12/1
4.13 Ndaroini French Roast, Kenya - Counter Culture, 12/1
3.86 La Guatuza, Nicaragua - Ecco Caffe, 12/1
3.75 Pashapa French Roast - Counter Culture, 12/1
3.19 Organic Emera, Timor - Zeke's, 11/30 ?
2.86 Monte Cristo, Brazil - Barefoot, 12/1
2.75 Supremo, Colombia - Kirkland, ??

Again, we used a subjective scale of 1 to 10 and all coffees were cupped on December 4th or 5th, or in the case of the Ecco Caffe and Barefoot coffees roasted on 12/1, they were cupped on December 9th.

ph: Pondering Paper

All sorts of paper goods from the paper suppliers' showroom. I won't need TP at home for a week!

As project hampden moves closer and closer to its' opening, more and more details need to be attended and time seems to be in very short supply. Time to think about paper goods. The quandry: how to present a thoughtful and refined approach without increasing costs to the point where it has to affect the retail price? Sure, we could go with nice linens, but that costs money and may mean the difference between a dessert costing $3.75 and $5.50, or more. And while I'm fine with charging what's appropriate, we don't want to scare people away because of price alone.

To my mind, many things in the coffee business are played out. Cheap is played out. How about something refined? Corn lined paper hot cups are nice but the premium is pretty steep and does the wax lining of "regular" paper cups really mean that it will take a bazillion years for the thing to decompose? The irony here, of course, is that all "bio-friendly" disposables inevitably end up being sealed in plastic bags that will always take a bazillion years to decompose...

Of course, nothing beats ceramic. Give me beautiful white plates and we'll fill them with something beautiful and tasty. Eating stuff for "here" is the easy part. It's the "can I take it with me" that it all falls apart. Plastic containers are nice and reusable, but there's going to be some tree-hugging jerkoff who's going to complain about the petrochemicals used in the container. I'll then be tempted to point out that the Horizon Organic Milk they're drinking at home is rubbish but that would only serve to irritate the problem rather than soothe.

Foil has the ability to go from the oven to the bag, so if we decided to make fresh mac 'n cheese, we could just pop it in the over, bake it off and let the customer take it home in all its' molten, oozy, cheezy glory. But the foil containers look about as classy as the stuff I used to get from the Washington Square Diner while attending NYU.

Then there's the pseudo-chinese-takeout-looking flat boxes in bio-friendly brown paper. They're stylish, kinda retro and very bio-chic. They can take the microwave, limited oven and look classy. I think we'll go with those.

Cups? To go paper will probably remain standard white because I'm unconvinced that the wax lining is that destructive to the environment, and because no matter the cup, the lid is always going to be plastic - until they figure a way to stop corn based plastics from disintegrating when warm.

Plastic cups may go to corn-based plastics. The concern here is not with cold beverages, where the corn plastics excel, but with the method we prepare some of our cold drinks - starting with warm to hot ingredients that we cool down. Does the additional expense of corn plastic also justify the additional labor of changing our production methodologies? Not sure yet.

Another conundrum is the utensils. At The Spro in Towson, we use all black plastic utensils. They're stylish, functional and disposable. Do we maintain those utensils for project hampden, or change to bio-friendly tan colored utensils? Or do we just use stainless utensils in-house and screw the convenience and tell people to go home with their take out, use their own utensils and save the environment? Idealistic but not very accommodating for the customer.

The curious aspect is the paper towels. The recycled towels cost less because they're not as pretty as the white towels. Hmmm, bio-friendly and cheaper? Now that's some tree-hugging I can get behind!

Meanwhile, I've spotted a bit of whimsy while perusing the stacks of our paper supplier. Soap dispensers geared towards children. I'm determined to find a way to use them at project hampden to bring a little fun into our serious world of coffee...

project hampden: project cupping

The cupping begins!

It's been over two months since we started on this journey of the barista for our project hampden crew. In the process, we've cupped lots of coffees, learned and proofed brewing methods and visited cows and other coffee places. In training new baristas, I've never taken the route we've taken. For our crew of baristas, I've been doing my best to train the best rounded baristas that I possibly can - and I still wish I had more time.

A by product of tasting and learning about coffees is the formation of preferences. It's simply not possible to taste some of the best coffees available and not become tainted by it. As our time together has progressed, I've been hearing more and more reports on how increasingly difficult it is for them to find coffee that they can enjoy outside of our little world. It is a hazard of our business.




As such, I almost never drink coffee outside of The Spro or my own home. I only drink coffee at select places that I know take the time to do it right. Sadly, most places brew poor examples of coffee. For most people, it's not too noticeable, but when you're drinking some truly spectacular coffees, the difference is starkly apparent.

So, after two months of subjecting my crew to truly amazing coffees, as well as a number of horrific coffees, it's now time for them to take the big step: the evaluation and selection of coffees for the opening of project hampden.

I've always felt strongly that our baristas should be passionate about the coffees we serve because it's far too often that I see baristas (yes, in the Third Wave) that merely recite verbatim the description provided by their roaster. Perhaps that description is accurate but, in our experience, it's not always so. The vision that I have for project hampden is that our team of baristas will evaluate and vet out the coffees for which we feel most strongly.


Jenny crunches the numbers.

I'm lucky to have great roaster partners to work with. Friends in the business who are willing to join me and our crew on this exploration/aberration of the coffee industry. The practice of using multiple roasters is still relatively unheard of in our business and certainly the few places that have done this have not executed to the extent that we are planning to execute.

For project hampden, our primary roasters will be:

- Hines Origins Organic Coffee, Vancouver, BC
- Counter Culture Coffee, Durham, NC
- Stumptown Coffee Roasters, NYC
- Barefoot Coffee Roasters, Santa Clara, CA
- Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, Chicago, IL
- Ecco Caffe, Santa Rosa, CA

All of whom are friends and companies whom I believe are sourcing, roasting and producing some of the best coffees in North America.

Our cupping protocols follow along the industry standard but our cupping forms mimic those developed by Counter Culture Coffee for their informal cuppings. In the evaluation of the coffees, I wanted more notes on the flavors, aromas and characters of the coffee rather than the numerical scores given in either the SCAA or CoE cupping forms. I wanted more "gut" feeling about the coffees than the clinical numbers of formal cupping sessions.


Writing their evaluations.

This past weekend, we cupped twenty-five different coffees from a variety of roasters, both named suppliers and outside sources. The results were both surprising and not so surprising.

A new feature to our cupping form was the additional of a numerical score for each coffee. The point scale ranged from 1 to 10, with ten being the highest. Again, this numerical score was completely subjective. Did the barista like the coffee or not? Loved it or hated it? The numerical score would be the easiest way to gage likability by our staff and readily tell me which coffees to target.

Certainly an argument can be made against this system of grading- what are the criteria? None. What does a "5" mean? Whatever that barista deemed it to mean. It's not "fair"! True, it's not fair. But neither is the likes of any customer. It's not meant to be a "fair" grade. It's meant to tell me which coffees our baristas feel most passionate about. Which coffees will they champion? Which coffees will they sell the most? It's human nature to push something you like. Why not fill our selections with coffees our baristas like?


More smelling and cupping.

Of course, that's not to say that the selection of coffees for project hampden is completely egalitarian. project hampden is about my vision and what I want to project upon the world, so if a coffee doesn't meet my standard, it won't make it - even if everyone on staff gave it a "10". Conversely, if there's a coffee that I'm particularly interested in highlighting, it will be there.

But for now, our crew is cupping, evaluating and determining the coffees that will be there the day we open.