Espresso, Intelligentsia from Department of the 4th Dimension on Vimeo.

The café crawl begins at Gimme! in Brooklyn. Ristretto, triple basket, 1oz.

Sophia cups frothed milk with 3 drops of crema at Gimme!

Sophia saw a display of carniverous plants at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. She agreed to this tour with the condition that when we were finished touring neighborhoods, we would buy a Venus Flytrap for the apartment, but keep it out of her room so it wouldn’t eat her at night. She also liked the fact that she would get a Sophia style-cappuccino – frothed milk with 3 drips of crema. Not a bad deal for a 4 year old!

After Gimme!, we stopped by for some spro at Ninth Street in the East Village.

Janice samples the Ninth Street spro, Sophia looks on.

Just when I thought the fun was ending, it continued.

In need of lunch we visited Mercadito Cantina, a couple of blocks from Ninth Street.

Inside of Mercadito. Great service and delicious food!

Sophia enjoys her passion fruit bubbly at Mercadito Cantina.

Fourth of July weekend, Day 2. From Brooklyn.

Joshua was the barista for the morning. My wife ordered a cappa and I ordered a double espresso. I picked up a bag of Black Cat to purchase and as I was checking the roast date, which was 6/2, I decided to check the varietals that were in the blend. I know that Intelligentsia likes to switch it up sometimes in their quest for the perfect espresso. The last batch I had, which was last week, was a blend of a Brazilians and a Rwanda varietal. This was a very delicious blend. This batch, roasted on 6/2 is comprised of Brazilians and a Bolivian. As I sipped the double that Joshua had pulled, I tasted bittersweet chocolate and got a bit of some smokey, earth notes that I believe came from the Bolivian. It was tastey – different from their blend with the Rwandan, but tastey nonetheless. I’ll have to do some experimentation at home now and see if I can get close to what Joshua had pulled. I felt as if I had the Brazillian/Rwandan blend dialed in pretty well on the home machine, so we’ll have to see how this version of The Cat tastes at home. With such a fresh roast date, I’m going to let it rest for a few more days and then start pulling shots with it.

First, I had to be properly caffeinated, so I decided that I’d pull myself a double of Hairbender and make a cappa for my wife. I dosed 18grams of the hairbender and pulled 2oz in 22secs. My espresso machine is a FrancisFrancis X5 and not being PID’d, I just have to trust that the boiler is heating the water to the right temp. I don’t follow the lights on the machine to tell me when the water is ready. Rather, I let it heat up for 15mins. Previous experiments have already told me that the temp is hot enough, I just can’t dial it in to a precise temp – say i want to pull a shot at 197F instead of 199F – tough luck for me, I just have to go with what the boiler gives me unless I feel like temp surfing – a method by which one flips the steam switch to heat the boiler up even more, then pulls blank shots to cool to a certain temp. Nonetheless, I was pleased with the pulls this morning. The coloring was beautiful with amazing tiger striping as it poured. Nice head of crema sitting on top. The espresso was delicious – sweet, chocolatey and of course a hint of citrus sitting in there. My wife enjoyed her cappa so much that I joined her and made a cappa for myself – that’s 4 shots of espresso for me to start the day.

Now, for redemption of the Ethiopina Wondo. I used 44 grams and heated the water to 200F. Initially, I bring the water to a boil, then I pre-wet the filter and pour out the excess water from the pre-wetting. I start the grinder, grinding at the last moment to keep it as fresh as possible, and in the meantime take temps using a K-type thermocouple. At 200F, I pour in just enough to prewet the grounds and let it form a head on the coffee. Then I pour in just enough to cover the grounds. As the coffee is brewing, I keep the water temp at 200F and keep pouring in just enough to keep the level above the grounds. When the coffee reaches the “bump” on the front of brewer I’m done. Voila! Some delicious brew this morning. The bitterness was gone and the coffee was delicious.

Tomorrow I will try a ristretto style shot with the Hairbender. I’m going to updose from 18grams to 22grams and stop the shot at 20 secs and see if I can get an even sweeter shot.