How to get the most out of your Espresso machine this Christmas

It's the time of year when we sell espresso coffee machines like they're going out of fashion.

However we know that a lot of you wll be disappointed with the results of your first attempt at making an espresso based drink, whether it be an espresso, cappuccino or latte.

As a result I, Stefan and Ania have come up with a few top tips so that you get the most out of your espresso machine this coming holiday.

Ania first - Read the manufacturers instructions

Now I know that may sound obvious, but Ania knows what men are like. They see the shiney new machine plug it in and then try and work out how to use it with the instructions still in the box. It does only take 5 minutes to read the instructions, time Ania believes is well spent.

Stefan next - Take your time! - get organised

This is not a drink to be rushed. Make sure you warm up the machine properly before making a coffee. That includes group handles and cups. Only heat sufficient milk to make a couple of drinks maximum at a time. Chill out, enjoy the fact that it takes time to make great coffee.

Finally, David - Don't make the drinks too big

A great cappuccino only needs a shot of espresso in a 5 oz cup, topped out with milk and foam. You'll really appreciate the intense, balanced flavour far more than if you have a cup the size of a bucket.

.....and a couple of other points

Make the coffee first, then steam the milk, and once you have sufficient foam, pour straight on to the coffee, don't wait for the milk to settle.

Always use fresh cold milk, half fat will foam just fine. Reheating milk will not create any more foam.

Don't overheat the milk, there is a fine balance between a caramel taste remaining and the milk becoming almost bitter. Caramel enhances, bitter does not.

Always "flash" the steam wand after use, this gets rid of any excess milk that has made its way up the inside of the steam wand and will save you long term maintenance problems

Keep the machine clean, used grounds will not enhance the taste of your next coffee as they say, cleanliness is next to Godliness!

Have a great Christmas enhanced we hope by a cup of Coopers coffee!

You don't have to be a celebrity to be brilliant!

There's a restaurant here on Jersey that through the efforts of many different individuals is becoming increasingly internationally renouned.

It's name is Bohemia and the chefs name is Shaun Rankin. As the Independent on Sunday newspaper puts it "he has no television show, no sponsorship deals, no syndicated magazine column and no new cookery book, yet for my money Shaun Rankin is one of the most gifted, highly polished chefs in the British Isles".

Although not mentioned in the article Lawrence Huggler and his family have to be given some credit for taking the immense commercial risk of investing many millions of pounds in this venture, which combines The Club and Spa with Bohemia Restaurant to give a truly remarkable offering in the hospitality industry here on Jersey.

Shaun goes on to acknowledge the fact that Jersey offers a superb range of local ingredients. "I wish I could do more for the producers and bring them into the limelight....the guys bending over for eigth hours a day picking herbs and Jersey Royals".

As a businessman on Jersey supplying restaurants like Bohemia, we sometimes forget how high the standard of cuisine is on an island only 9 miles x 5 miles. Their efforts allow businesses like mine to bring in products which ordinarily we might not consider in such a small market. They also spur us on to new heights which I hope one day will result in a thriving export market under the Jersey brand.

It's a team effort and with competition nowadays coming from so many different parts of the world it's vital that Jersey businesses step up to the plate, not just as individuals, but united under the Jersey banner.

P.S. For the curious, the coffee we supply to Bohemia is our Bourbon Dark blend for espresso and a blend of Kenya Estate and Colombian Fair Trade coffees for their cafetieres. All hand roasted by us here on Jersey.

Jersey Supermarkets on Radio 4

As Chair of the Jersey Chamber Small Business Group I tend to get requests to do interviews whenever there is a potential threat on the horizon to the small business community.

Well a few weeks ago I had such a request from BBC Radio Jersey who were doing a piece for the BBC Radio 4 programme "You and yours".

Out of the blue today I got a call from a friend of mine to say that the programme had been aired and had I heard it?

It got me reflecting though on how fast things change. Since that interview, Le Masurier have put forward plans to build a new supermarket etc. in Bath street, whilst Channel Island Traders, the owners of the Le Riche brand have put forward a proposal on a site probably no more than 1,000 metres away also in St. Helier.

Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Well the debate rages - As I've said before the political will is there, but do the economics add up? There is after all only one cake on Jersey and all that happens is that that cake gets sliced up in a different way as market share changes hand.

The loosers I fear though may well be many small businesses, the old Central Market with its Fruit and Veg offering? Who knows? The winners, well the theory is the consumer in the form of lower food prices, however is this sustainable over the longer period given the logistics of getting things to this Island?

It's a tough call, but maybe ultimately it comes own to us as individuals, what do we really want? Jersey is a special place, it's different, and it's different because of its diversity. Surely it's all too easy to throw that all away for the sake of cheaper bread and milk, but then again if you are unfortunate enough to be below the poverty line, your qualiy of life won't be that great either, and you'll be one of those cheering on a new Supermarket offering.

I hope we all get the opportunity to debate this point before any decisions are made, in the mean time have a listen to this 5 minute piece, be warned you need to choose the "Co-Op" sound bite, the BBC seemed to have mixed up their segways. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/listenagain/wednesday.shtml

Rainforest Alliance Coffee tasting

I understand from those in the know, that the Rainforest Alliance people have been criticised for not putting themselves about enough in the UK when it comes to promoting coffee that they have certified.

It would appear that they are now making amends for this apparent omission by doing a "Sustainable Quality Coffee Tasting" in London on the 29th of November. The exact location is Canning House, 2 Belgrave Square.

We're excited because it's the first time that coffee roasted by us will be seen and tated at a major UK event.

We've normally been very reticent in this area, however because we now have the ability to supply coffee from a farm that I have visited and can vouch for, we've decided to tell the world or at least those who'll be attending this event!

The coffee we've selected is from the Daterra Farm in Brazil, and are their Sunrise and Bruzzi selections. We think that they are not only great coffees, but also that they truly represent sustainable coffee. They don't just talk the talk, they walk the walk.

If there were more farms on this planet like Daterra then we could all rest assured that the planet was in good hands. (and, no I don't have shares in the Farm!)

Of course if you can't get to the London event I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't tell you that you could buy both of these exceptional coffees from our website. Sunrise is great for Filters and Cafetiere, Bruzzi for all espresso based drinks.

Enjoy!

Green Tea - They may be healthy but!

We had the dubious pleasure of tasting our green tea offering yesterday. I profess at the start of this blog of not being a great fan of straight green tea, however I know there are a lot of you out there who love the stuff, and the Chinese and Japanese having been producing it for centuries, so it's probably me.

Of course Green tea has become known in the west for its health giving properties, it helps protect against Cancer, high cholesterol levels and many other nasties found in our society today. It does however contain caffeine, a fact not always that well known.

First of all a brief resume of why green tea is green and not black.

The tea is what is known as "unfermented tea". To stop the fermentation process, the tea has to be what is termed "fixed". This is done by steaming the leaves for a very short period of time. This has the effect of killing the enzymes that cause the oxidization process to take place. The result is that the chlorophyll still remains in the leaves and is why green tea is green.

Next the tea is kneaded, then dried for around ten hours during which time it is constantly turned and finally rolled according to the grade required. It never ceases to amaze me how much effort is expended in producing this simple beverage, and also for such little reward.

I start with our China Gunpowder Green Tea. It is so called because it is rolled into small balls, which is what (so I'm told) old fashioned gunpowder looks like.

From out tasting session, the amount of tea you use and length of time you brew it for are very critical in ones overall enjoyment.

We experimented first using a regular amount of tea and brewing for about 4 minutes. This we found was totally excessive. It led to a powerful pungent taste and smell, almost undrinkable. The infusion itself looked quite muddy.

The next thing we did was to pour away the liquid and reinfuse the leaves with freshly boiled water, this gave us a much improved brew. A much clearer infusion and quite palletable.

Finally we used a much smaller quantity of leaves, and infused for only a couple of minutes, what a difference. Although I have to say I don't find the taste of green tea particularly pleasant, flavoured with a slice of lemon, or Egyptian mint does help in its enjoyment.

The next tea we tasted was our Young Hyson offering. As suggested by its name it is made from young to medium leaves. Visually the leaves are short and fine and slightly twisted.

There are many types of Young Hyson, we carry the Chun Mee variety.

When infused this tea has a bright clear green liquor. Having learnt from our previous tasting experience, we kept the quantity of leaves down as well as the infusion time.

It still produced a pungent brew, however I felt that overall it was a much smoother and more pleasant taste than the Gunpowder. (I now see Gunpowder sales plummeting! - sorry, please don't be too hasty in your judgement!)

If you, like me aren't really a green tea drinker, but feel the need to try something cleansing, I would suggest trying our Lemon Sencha green tea. The lemon has a wonderful fragrance and is delivered into the cup. I find this combination of flavours much more enjoyable, however do take on board my comments above about the issues of quantity of tea used and the time needed for infusion.

The Renaissance of the Grand Hotel

I was last night invited by Gregor Ritchie the joint managing director of Hilwood Resorts & Hotels to a dinner with his team and other members of the local business community at the Grand Hotel. His group acquired the Hotel from De Vere's earlier on this year and are now setting about carrying out a £15 million refit.

Mr. Ritchie gave us a whistle stop tour of the plans, which I have to say were breathtaking and shows a real confidence in the future of the Jersey economy.

In the past we have experienced overseas investors who have ignored local suppliers due to a policy of centralised purchasing, however Mr. Ritchie is keen to use local suppliers where appropriate, a refreshing change. This is of course fantastic as it will keep money in the local economy at a time when we are all being asked to pay more in taxes.

We are really priviledged on Jersey that a number of entrpreneurs have shown a willingness to make some major investments in the Island in recent times. The Atlantic Hotel, Hotel de France and The Club and Spa have all helped to raise the bar.

Isn't it great that Mr. Ritchie and his team wants the Grand to once again join this illustrious list as he seeks it to become a 5 star hotel. What it also means is that the local suppliers will also need to raise their bars to justify his support.

I for one can't wait

Jersey Airport - A move in the right direction

At last! some light at the end of the tunnel. British Airways have announced the launch of a new early afternoon flight between Jersey and London Gatwick, increasing their capacity by some 20%. The new flights start on the 25th of March 2007 and we hope will bring more visitors to this wonderful Island. Well done to Julian Green and his team, as the BA spokesperson said it shows what can be done when Airlines and Airports work together.

The days of sofas in the baggage reclaim hall draw nearer!

Win, win, win

Kenya Peaberry Coffee - Another outstanding coffee from Kenya

The first thing you notice about Kenya peaberry is the beauty of the shape of the raw coffee beans. Whereas usually you get two beans from a berry, peaberry as the name suggests only produces a single round bean.

I'm not quite sure if this is by accident or design, however what I do know is that these beans are separated from the regular beans during the sorting process.

As is usual with Kenya coffees it is washed, giving a very clean cup.

Once again we tried two different roast styles, a light medium and a medium roast.

Once brewed the most noticeable feature about the coffee is its wondeful aroma. I probably go on about this a bit too much, but it has a great wiff 0f wild berries. Stefan's first impression was that he could drink this all day, and black.

Ania, who isn't a great fan of Kenya coffee, felt that this was the best Kenya she had tasted.

It does have that classic acid, fruit taste of Kenya, however it also has a little more body than its Estate equivalent.

A complete contrast to the Old Brown Java, which consists almost entirely of low notes, and which incidentially made a fabulous espresso.

Our recommendation for this coffee is to make it in a Cafetiere (French press) or filter, unless you're really brave it's probably advisable to stay away from the espresso machine on this one.

Coffee to inspire the connoisseur!

I've decided to change some of the coffees we offer in our shop a) because I like to keep things fresh, but also b) because each coffee we sell has to earn its place in our selection.

The coffees we tasted today were, Kenya peaberry, Ethiopian Harrar and Old Brown Java. We're currently experimenting with the roast colour, and so far only the Java has been agreed.

All of the coffees though are outstanding and very distinctive. We did the initial tasting in the shop, and the level of interest from our customers was superb.

I'll start on this blog with the Old Brown Java. The word old is used, because the coffee has been "aged", that is left in the warehouses prior to shipment for anything between 2 and 3 years. This in itself has a major impact on flavour, as the acidity levels in the coffee drop dramatically. The raw coffee also has a wonderful aroma of old sacks! A really earthy feel to it.

What is noticeable with the raw beans, which by now have lost there initial greenness and instead are a light tan is the range of sizes. It would appear that very little screening takes place at origin so as a roaster I'm concerned about how I'm going to achieve a consistent roast colour. The only way it would seem is to go dark.

We roasted the coffee to a full medium colour as well as to a dark roast and tasted the resulting brew. Our initial impression was that the lighter roasted coffee didn't seem to have much flavour and was rather flat, however what a difference going just a little darker made to our overall impression.

The liquor was a wonderful full dark colour, however the taste was very smooth, with a slightly nutty flavour coming through in both the taste and aroma. In fact it reminded us all of the Monsooned Malabar offering, despite being roasted significantly darker.

Following the tasting we made up a cafetiere (french press) of this coffee and all agreed what a great tasting coffee this is. Despite its dark colour I found it very palatable as a black coffee, the lack of acidity really helps here.

I'm looking forward to tasting it as an espresso, which I'll hopefully do tomorrow.

By the way for those of you interested in the details about the origin of this coffee, it comes from near the Kawah Ijen in the east of Java.

It really is a pleasure to be able to offer this coffee to you once again after many years absence. It will be available from our website in the next couple of days.

Lapsang Souchong Tea - an acquired taste!

We continued on our tea tasting today with one of our more exotic teas, namely Lapsang Souchong.

It has a magnificent smokey aroma, which combined with its wonderfully large rolled leaves creates a lasting impression. Once tried, never forgotten!

Of course such a tea has to come with its own legend of discovery and I'm pleased to say that our research didn't let us down.

The Legend goes as follows. During the Qing dynasty, an army unit passing through Xingcun (Star Village) camped in a tea factory filled with fresh leaves awaiting processing. When the soldiers left and the workers were allowed back to their businesses, they realized that if the tea was to arrive at market in time, they couldn't allow the leaves to dry in the normal way. So they lit some open fires of pine wood to speed up the drying process. Not only did the tea reach the market in time, but the smoked pine flavor created the taste and aroma we experience today.

Once you get past the smoke and tar flavours, the tea has a rich and malty flavour, and brews to a deep red colour. Although this tea can be drunk with milk, there seems little point as it is totally overwhelmed by the other flavours.

Once again I felt quite frustrated in my research at the lack of detailed information on this truly historic tea. There is no growing information easily available, apart from the fact that it is grown in the vast province of Fujian, and that the tea originally came from the Zheng Shan part of Mount Wuyi. This is fine, but where does this tea particularly come from?

China Keemun tea - a great forgotten tea?

For those of you who follow my blog, you will already have read about our Darjeeling, Assam and Ceylon offerings. Yesterday we tasted our Keemun tea, a tea that I hadn't tasted for some time. The problem for tea growers today is that virtually the only option on the supermarket shelf is the ubiquuitous and anonymous tea bag. Tragic if you are trying to offer something a little special. I believe that China Keemun falls into this category.

Keemun is a black tea, with very little of the "tippeyness" of the classic Indian teas.

We found that it infused to give a more malty flavour than its Indian cousins without any unpleasant bitterness.

Keemun is the English name for the "Qimen" precinct in the Anhui province in the South Eastern part of China.

From my research I found that Keemun is a relatively new tea, first produced in 1875. It was a development on from Green tea that had in the past been traditionally produced by the Chinese.

Although we don't use it in our Breakfast tea blend, Keemun was in the past a prominent ingredient. When you taste it you can understand why. It offers a great full bodied flavour.

Although this tea can be drunk black, it does come up well when milk is added.

You can buy China Keemun tea from our website, and whether you're a keen tea drinker or just experimenting you won't be disappointed.

The only thing that disappoints me is the lack of information available on one of the world's great teas.

I've got more Bars than you!!!!

We've just had an instance of a customer querying the bar pressure of an espresso machine he recently purchased from us. He read in the manual that the pressure generated by the machine was 15 bars, however on the internet he had read that it should be 18 bars of pressure.

I was amazed that he should be so concerned about such high levels of pressure.

The mazimum level of pump pressure required to achieve a perfect espresso extraction is between 8 and 10 bars. When I talk about pump pressure, I mean the pressure at which the coffee machine drives the water through the coffee.

If the pressure is higher than this, the water will be driven through the coffee too quickly, and a poor extraction will be achieved. To counteract this you would need to grind the coffee finer still, however this would in turn put a strain on the coffee machine's pump.

I then reflected as to whether this huge bar pressure was necessary to generate steam? But of course it isn't, steam will be generated when the internal pressure of the boiler is just 1 bar.

The only thing I can therefore think of is that the machine manufacturers are in some kind of race to potentially achieve the highest pressures possible, much like the speedometer on your car.

Your car speedometer can go to a maximum of 180 mph, however most of us will never get above 70mph.

So although the pump can be set to 15 or even 18 bars of pressure this fact is unimportant, you only actually need a maximum pressure of 10 bars.

So please machine manufacturers can you explain this to the buying public, as at the moment there is total confusion. In your attempt to sell machines, you're using spurious information that only mis-informs your potential customer.

In conclusion to this blog, I would point out to any potential purchasers of espresso machines, that if the manufacturer states that the maximum pressure is anything less than 8 bars, you will never achieve a properly extracted coffee.

Who moved my cheese?

This afternoon I was due to give a presentation to the Jersey branch of the British Institute of Innkeepers who, faced with the prospect of smoking being banned from their pubs in the near future one would have thought might just be interested in some innovative ideas about how to use their Espresso coffee machine to maximum effect.

Sadly despite plenty of notification from Simon the branch chairman, not one person from the 100 plus pubs across Jersey showed up. How, I ask myself will they survive in the future battles for their customers spend which will also include a Goods and Services Tax? With the amount and quality of competition increasing I fear they will be asking the question "Who moved my cheese?" as per the famous book.

So if there are any of you out there who just might be interested in the things I had to say, here is a resume.

Presentation to the Institute of Innkeepers


MAXIMIZING PROFIT OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH THE EFFECTIVE USE OF YOUR ESPRESSO COFFEE MACHINE

Why do you need to consider other sources of revenue?

Changes in Government legislation – smoking laws
Drinking and driving
Changing attitudes towards binge drinking
Health impact

Who are your customers and what are their expectations?

Retired and traditional drinkers
Younger generation of pub goers
Greater female participation

The younger generation will expect –

Cleaner environment
Healthier drink options
Good quality and good choice of beverages
Ethical issues


WHO ARE YOUR COMPETITORS?

Other pubs and specialist bars, e.g. cocktail bars
Coffee shops
Informal restaurants

What difference then can a properly used espresso machine make to your business?

1. Drink range

COFFEES –

A full range of Espresso based drinks – this means Americanos, Cappuccinos, Lattes etc.

A full range of the above in a decaffeinated version –

A full range of Liquor Coffees

TEAS –

Traditional English Breakfast tea

Herbal Infusions

Fruit flavoured teas

CHOCOLATE –

Drinking chocolate


HOW TO DELIVER PREMIUM QUALITY AND GREAT PRESENTATION

1. Proper staff training

– Do your staff know what the various drinks should look like?
– Do they care? – We offer tours around our factory
– Which drinks are served with milk, which not

Presentation

- Are you using the right cups, what are the right cups?

Promoting your offering

- Tea / Coffee menu
- Specials of the day
- Drink and food offering

Equipment properly maintained and cleaned – money well spent

That's it in a nutshell. I hope the above is of benefit to any young budding Innkeeper who is keeping his or her eye on the cheese.

Ministerial Question Time - More questions than answers?

The Jersey Chamber of Commerce organised the local equivalent of the BBC's "Question Time" at the Pomme D'Or Hotel tonight. To a packed audience Senators Le Sueur, Walker, Cohen and Ozouf faced a broad range of questions from GST to Pensions.

Compared to the real question time, this one proved to be a rather tame affair, there seemed to be a lot of consensus between the ministers and if there are any divisions internally they certainly weren't going to let the paying public know about them.

For me there seemed to be a lot of "Jam tomorrow" rhetoric from the ministers. Given that ministerial government is still very new it was hard to argue against their optimism. Maybe we need to wait 2 or 3 years for a clearer picture to emerge.

Freddie Cohen though almost inadvertently put his proverbial foot in it towards the end and left the audience with that slightly uneasy feeling that we all need to keep a very close eye on what our political masters are up to.

Following a question about the current state of play on the Waterfront, Freddie was at pains to highlight the importance of "sinking" the main arterial road that divides the waterfront from the main town. Freddie told us how when the latest planners suggested that this road should be sunk it dawned on everybody that this was the solution to the problem of joining the waterfront development to the main town. It was "such a simple and obvious solution"!

Now this begs the question, if it was such an obvious solution why hadn't previous planners thought of it. Well of course two of those who sat on the previous committee were Messrs. Le Sueur and Walker. Freddie didn't quite point his finger and say "it was them", but the point was highlighted by the compere of the night James Filleul.

Senator Walker made some lame excuse at not being a very good planner, and Senator Le Sueur made some comment about different advisors having different views. But of course the main point is that these individuals who had been talking about how badly the past had been run were the very same individuals who were telling us how great the future is going to be and that they had simply been hamstrung by the old system.

Isn't the real answer that Jersey Plc. has had a wakeup call from the rest of the world and now we've all got to get our act together to ensure our future properity. But then that would be taking credit away from our politicians wouldn't it?

Response to "Under pressure" blog

Following my blog of Wednesday the 11th October about the build up of the water pressure in machines that aren't constantly in use, I had a response from "Fracino", the leading UK manufacturer of espresso coffee machines. As you will read from the following, they acknowledge that they did experience an issue in the past, however they have now modified their machines. Older machines can have a simple modification made to them to eliminate the problem. The power of the Blog!

Reply from Adrian Maxwell Director of Fracino

"This is not really a problem but just a question of settings. This must be an old machine ie more than 2 years as we now as standard fit the temperature control on all machines as people are now much more aware of " Italian style espresso" which is a good thing. In the past people always wanted very hot milky coffee. The second thing that probably happened is that the Barista over heated the milk because this would make the cappuccino far hotter than the group temperature. The other solution is to fit the temperature control parts which is very simple. This consists of replacing the 2 heat exchanger dip tubes for longer ones and fitting 2 PTFE restrictors into the the top heat exchanger fittings. This will then act as a brake slowing the water flow down and thus cools the group. The smaller the orifice the lower the temp. With this mod the group will run at 89-92 degrees c and makes perfect espresso with any coffee.

This would also explain why you have noticed this on some machines but not others. We are getting in Dip tubes and restrictors for any one who requires them."

Menu de Terroir or the incredible produce of Jersey

I am a member of a slightly unusual club, namely the "Countryman's club".

Given that I've lived in the town of St. Helier for the first 20 years of my residence on Jersey it does seem a little odd that I should be invited to become a member.

Originally the club only considered those individuals who worked in the countrside, however as people left the land, so the recruiters needed to become a little more pragmatic in their approach.

Today we're a group of individuals who meet up about once a month at various restaurants around the Island, enjoying the food and each others company. On many occasions we invite a speaker to share their thoughts with us.

Last Wednesday, the 18th of October was one such occasion, however this meeting was particularly special.

The venue was the Atlantic Hotel, and the menu was made up of produce either grown or manufactured on Jersey. The guest speaker was the First Minister Frank Walker.

I was priviledged to sit alongside the minister, along with some of the suppliers of the produce we consumed. There was Kevin Keen of the Jersey Dairy a sponsor of the evening, who incidentially is also the president of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce. Tim Crowley from La Mare Vineyard, whose company provided the locally grown wine and complimentary chocolates. Two gentlemen from Woodside Farm who provided the Jersey beef, finally my business Coopers who supplied the coffee, a single estate Brazilian coffee roasted by us here on Jersey.

Other farms had supplied the fresh vegetables and fruit for the desert.

All in all it was a fabulous meal and to think that it had all been provided by local businesses, located in an Island that is only 9 miles by 5 miles in size.

As Senator Walker pointed out, we should be immensely proud of our Island, we are very priveledged to live here.

In an age where globlisation, the destruction of rain forests, global warming etc. seem to be overwhelming us, this was a great reminder that there really is no need to look further than our own backyard. Think of all those food miles we save, and how that benefits the long term ecology of our planet as well as our economy.

Jasmine Tea - Deliciously delicate!

As someone once said, "there are as many varieties of Jasmine as there are Commune wines in Bordeaux". It is quite extraordinary the level of sophistication applied to this particular tea.

Being traditionalists though, we like to supply a truly authentic drink, so use the "K.I.S.S." approach, "keep it simple stupid!"

The quality of Jasmine tea is determined by the quality of the green tea used as its base, and how effectively it has been scented. The best standard is 9301, and naturally this is the grade that we have selected. It has an even-sized leaf with wonderful whole blossoms.

Our tea comes from the Fujian province which is situated along the south east coast of China.

The leaves are plucked from early April to late May. They are then steamed to produce green tea. The tea is now stored until August when the leaves are mixed with the blossoming Jasmine flower. Interestingly, the scenting operation is usually carried out in the evening, when the plucked but unopened buds begin to pop open and release their fragrance.

Traditionally layers of Jasmine blossoms were placed between the green tea. Over time the Jasmine scent permeated the tea. However today the process is a little less romantic. Hot air is passed through the Jasmine blossoms and then filtered through the tea so that the blossoms can be re-used. The exhausted Jasmine blossoms are then used to decorate the tea.

Finally the leaves are refired to remove the moisture in the blossoms and preserve the taste.

The result is a tea that has some of the characteristics of green tea, but is lightly fermented.

We brewed some at work the other day and it was heavenly. The secret is not to use too much tea, and to be really strict on the brewing time, the danger is always to overbrew and this can turn a heavenly scent into a very bitter taste.

You can buy this truly refreching product from our website.

The problem with coffee grinders........

So many things happened today that it's difficult to know exactly where to start. So I've decided on this blog to focus on two coffee grinder issues and refer you back to a couple of my earlier blogs.

The first was a customer in our shop who has a house in Spain. He was telling me that he usually bought a very high roasted coffee from the local Supermarket, and with his "blade" grinder was able to achieve a great taste. He had worked out the amount of time required to grind this coffee so as to achieve a perfect extraction. However now he was using a different coffee that was a bit lighter roasted, he was experiencing problems with the level of extraction.

What he has experienced is what we as roasters experience every day. Different coffees require to be ground slightly differently in order to achieve perfect extraction. This is largely because of the level of oils emanating from the coffee. Lighter roasted coffees are effectively slightly drier than their darker roasted cousins and therefore as a rule of thumb tend to need to be ground slightly finer to achieve perfect extraction.

However because coffee acts like a sponge, so its characteristics will change even over a 12 hour period. A very humid day will result in the grind needing to be slightly different to a hot dry day. All very scary indeed, but very useful to know when you are experiencing problems.

As to choosing the right grinder have a look at my blog of Friday 18th August in the archive for full details.

The second issue was that of blunt grinding blades, and the impact that they can have on the quality of the coffee being delivered into the cup. It is sadly one of the most neglected areas in espresso production, but again vital to monitor to ensure drink consistency.

I refer you to my blog of Thursday 21st September which goes into more detail.

Never under estimate your customer

I had a real reminder yesterday of how peoples attititude and perception of coffee quality has changed in recent years.

We had a call from a customer of ours saying that they had had a complaint about our coffee. "It was tasteless and bitter". Of course the alarm bells start to ring and I immediately went out to see them and check out what had gone wrong.

Thankfully, by the time I got on site, the problem had resolved itself. It would appear that for some reason the espresso machine hadn't been quite up to temperature and as a result the water when it hit the coffee wasn't extracting the flavour properly.

However what really interested me was who was doing the complaining. It was a group of retired individuals. They were out for their weekly morning bowl, after which they have a coffee and a chat.

The reason I was surprised was because this group of individuals are from what I would call a "Nescafe" generation. A generation who really didn't understand coffee quality and who had been brought up in a culture of tea.

But how wrong I was, not only were they identifying the fact that the coffee didn't taste right, they were also making their views known to the management.

So it shows you, everybody has an opinion on coffee, and today will vote with their feet if you're not up to scratch. That's fantastic for my industry, and given the amount of effort that we and our suppliers put in makes it all worthwhile.

Long live retired folk!

Too hot!

I was out for a meal last Friday at one of my favourite beachside restaurants. The meal had been excellent, however the cappuccino was awful, and, yes it was our coffee. I was mortified, the coffee tasted thin and burnt, and on top of this I had to wait 5 minutes before I could drink it because I was in danger of getting 3rd degree burns; it was so hot.

This troubled me all weekend trying to work out what was wrong. I knew the coffee itself wasn't particularly darkly roasted, which sometimes can be a problem, no something else was going on here.

When I arrived on site today, I was expecting one of three scenarios. Firstly that the machine was building up excess pressure when not being used, and this was then firing the water through the coffee too quickly, burning it, and giving it this thin taste.

Maybe the grinder was set incorrectly and this was resulting in badly overextracted coffee.

Or thirdly the machine and its group handles were badly in need of a clean.

Well it turned out to be none of the above!

The machine was perfectly clean, there was no apparent excess of pressure when you first made a coffee, and the grinder seemed to be set correctly.

The give away was the temperature of the water coming out of the group head. Thankfully I had a thermometer with me, so by sticking a probe up inside the group handle I was able to check how hot the water was when it hit the coffee.

All things being equal, the water should be coming out at anything between 88 and 92 degrees Centigrade. As I ran the water, the numbers just kept going up and up. The thermometer raced through 88 degrees, and didn't stop rising until it had reached 96 degrees, before falling again as cold water replenished the boiler.

Eureka! - At this temperature, the water was simply burning the coffee and delivering it straight into the cup.

The problem tends to occur only when the machine has not been in use for some period of time. The temporary solution is to ensure that a good couple of cupfuls of water are run through the machine before making a coffee. The long term solution is to reduce the average temperature of the boiler which is easily done by an engineer.

Finally the other point to highlight is that if you are just making a coffee for one person, ensure that the portafilla is full of coffee. That may sound obvious, but in the heat of the moment it can be easily overlooked.