coffeeDirtDog Senior Member Joined: 22 Apr 2005 Posts: 325 Location: Cambridge, MA Expertise: Professional
Posted Sun Jan 29, 2006, 4:23pm Subject: Cambridge espresso tastings
We will be hosting from time to time espresso tastings as we get inspiration. Saturday afternoon we hosted a tasting for 11 plus 2 non-roster invites. 12 is the maximum unless we close shop for a night. It was our first attempt at doing some of the things I have been talking about doing for some time. I feel it was a great success as everyone really had fun and came away with a much better understanding of espresso. We gave out cookies with each offering and handed out simple tasting cards so people could evaluate the espresso. It was very informal and great for beginners.
Special thanks goes to Tony and Jeff at Metropolis, Janet at Gimme, Paul at Intelligentsia, and the guys at Barrington. There was some nice swag and I really think everyone came out well.
Personal thanks to Ben, Irena, and Asim for helping me 'taste' the blends beforehand. Much appreciation to Peter Lynagh from Terroir for his Impromptu serivce of a round of Northern Daterra and his short Q&A(a lecture about guts).
If any CGers are interested in attending future events, please drop me an email. Here was the menu for the profiling, sorry no graphics for this version. ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ---------------------------------- 2005 Espresso in review - A taste of blends you may have missed. Saturday January 28 2006 @ 2:45-5pm Simon's Coffee Shop - 1736 Mass Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138
Schedule of events: 3:00 pm : Round 4 Redline - Metropolis Chicago, IL
Roaster's notes: An espresso roast that coats your palate with rich honey, spice, and citrus tones. The flavors are balanced in the exceptional crema.
Roaster's notes: A Northern Italian espresso blend with the finest varietals assembled to produce a rich and rounded shot with a lush middle, heavy, resilient crema and a deep aftertaste of chocolate and tobacco.
Roaster's notes: A low acidity blend with a focus on body featuring sweet caramel, chocolate and nut tones with spectacular crema and a long finish.
Service: Double ristretto
Food Pairing: Coconut Macaroon 4:30 pm : Round 1 Black Cat - Intelligentsia Chicago, IL
Roaster's notes: A combination of coffees from Latin and South America. Exceedingly heavy in body with dominant notes of chocolate, caramel, and dried fruit, this blend is complex and powerful with a lingering sweet finish.
Optional service of espresso of your choice. Choose from the previous round of offerings or from our regular house offerings: Terroir's Northern Italian Daterra Terroir's Southern Italian Daterra
Many thanks to Jaime's wife Hong (who's a chef) for making the delicious cookies!
It's curious that food-pairing (not counting, of course, 'breakfast' pairings like scones+coffee, supersupersweet baked good+coffee, etc) isn't very common practice in coffee tastings. Is this because food confuses/obstructs one's palate? If so, why do people pair foods with wines? Somehow I doubt that, like coffee+breakfast pairings, it's solely out of necessity.
Peter actually attended a food and (Burgundian) wine pairing event at L'Espalier last week; maybe he'd like to comment on this.
feeling the results of too much coffee + too little food, Irena
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