Posted Thu Jan 12, 2006, 9:03am Subject: Competition-Grade espresso in SE Michigan!
Well, here it is:
For a very limited time, the Ugly Mug and Café Zola will be offering the blend we created for the Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition as a guest espresso.
Sure, I only got tenth place with it, but that’s just because my shoes were too scuffed. Really, if you’re in the area you have to try it.
The blend contains: Sumatra Iskandar triple-pick sourced from Sweet Maria’s and described here. Indian Monsooned Malabar sourced from Sweet Maria’s and described here. Brazil Sul de Minas taken from the Behemoth warehouses. and a Yemen Sana’ani sourced from Sweet Maria’s and described here.
The Malabar is probably the most pronounced flavor in this blend… it’s ultra-low acidity and odd pipe tobacco notes come from being aged at growing altitude in open walled warehouses exposed to the humid Monsoon winds. Sweet Maria’s hit the ball out of the park with this particular lot, so if you home roast and are into espresso, grab some. It pulls well as a single origin.
I heard the Monsooning process attempts to replicate off-flavors transferred to green coffees shipped in the holds of wooden ships during the days of sails.
Zak describes the blend and its creation a bit on his blog.
At any rate, I’ll bring the blend to Ypsilanti’s Ugly Mug tonight (Thursday 12 January)… around 6:30pm. My Mini Mazzer and some espresso will be at Café Zola in Ann Arbor from 8am – 5pm on Friday 13.
In hindsight, this post is kind-of commercial but considering it’s for the love of coffee and will probably sell 3 drinks, I hope it’s forgiven. I’m certainly not making a red cent from it.
Ugly Mug Café 317 W. Cross St. Ypsilanti, MI (734) 484-4684
Café Zola 112 W Washington Ann Arbor, MI (734) 769-2020
The staff of Zola will be oblivious to this event, so forward questions to me, JIm... or ask for me at the bar.
Posted Tue Jan 17, 2006, 4:58pm Subject: Re: Competition-Grade espresso in SE Michigan!
So I just wanted to reiterate my enthusiasm for this blend. I was fortunate enough to be able to have it twice. Once a couple of weeks ago pulled by JIm and again today at the Ugly Mug. It has a nice earthy flavor and an excellent mouthfeel. Any chance this is gonna stick around?
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