Bruce’s coffee adventures at the 2011 Canadian Coffee & Tea Show
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Bruce Nguyen
November 7, 2011
I like coffee.
But I’m far from a coffee snob. Yes, I have a Hario hand-cracked burr grinder at home. And yes, I’ve been known to bring my own french press to the office. But I’ll order a small black from Timmy’s with the rest of my Canadian brethren, and I’ve voluntarily drunk instant coffee multiple times this year alone.
While I hardly have the most discerning taste in coffee, it’s a large part of my life. So when the Canadian Coffee & Tea Show came to town, there was no question where I was going to be.
My three highlights of that weekend involved coffee cupping, comparing brew methods, and a compelling round of the Canadian Cup Tasters Championship.
Coffee Cupping Basics Workshop
Karen and I cupped two flights of coffee to better understand two factors that affect the taste of your brew: processing method and terroir.
The first flight demonstrated processing method and consisted of three cups: an Ethiopian bean processed naturally, a semi-washed coffee from Indonesia, and a wet-processed coffee from El Salvador. One of the main distinctions is based on how much of the cherry is left on the coffee bean as it dries. The natural method leaves the cherry intact around the bean; wet processing removes most of the cherry pulp from the bean before drying; the semi-washed method falls somewhere in between.
The impact of the coffee fruit on the final brewed product was readily apparent on the tongue. The naturally processed cup contained citrus notes more akin to tea than to any coffee I’m used to. The semi-washed coffee gave off its characteristic earthy musk. We were able to pick up on these differences just from smelling the coffee grinds that formed a crust atop the coffee liquor.
The wet-processed El Salvador was the cleanest tasting and expressed the most brightness. One person at our table described its marked acidity as sour, but our seminar hosts from JJ Bean were quick to correct her, saying that sourness is a state used in the coffee world to specifically refer to flaws: “We never say a good coffee is sour.”
I understand that sour can be thought of as rancid, but having grown up on sour soup and pickled vegetables, I feel that there’s nothing wrong with calling something sour–as long as it’s done lovingly. And let’s face it: Acidic Patch Kids would never have taken off.
The second flight of coffees were all wet-processed, though each were grown in different parts of the world. The differences here were subtle, and I had a lot more difficulty picking out the individual nuances, which meant I had to keep sampling more and more coffee.
I was okay with this.
Coffee brewing showdown: Chemix vs V60 vs AeroPress vs French Press
The next seminar I attended covered open brew methods, with plenty of air time for the perfect 60 degree ‘v’ shaped cone of the Hario V60 pour-over dripper (oh, that’s where the name comes from). While I sincerely love a good infographic and number crunch session – especially when on a caffeine high - my head was brimming with industry stats and acronyms when I was simply seeking a taste comparison.
And I found it, making my way through the trade show floor, arriving at booth hosted by Cafe Gabana. They delivered samples of their coffee made in a Hario V60 drip cone, a Chemex coffeemaker, an AeroPress, and a French Press. Unfortunately, Karen was busy at the Tea Sommelier 101 course, so no visuals of this highly educational demo.
Everyone else was going gaga over the V60 and the over the laboratory-like elegance of the Chemex, but I found that I am still–and probably will always be–a greater fan of the oily, sediment-rich brew that the paperless French Press gives.
Canadian Cup Taster Championship
To finish off the day, we watched a round of the Canadian Cup Tasters Championship. It’s a test of palette. It’s a test of focus. And I also thought it would be a test of my patience. How wrong was I! While I’m still not entirely sure what I witnessed, by golly was it compelling!
Eight sets of three coffee cups. In each set, one coffee is subtly different from the other two. Competitors race against each other to pick the odd one out as quickly as possible.
It starts out as a cacophony of loud slurping and sniffing. All of a sudden, a hand is thrust in the air as one competitor is done. A minute and 20 seconds?! Surely all eight can’t be correct; the average time for the last two heats was nearly three minutes. Another hand is raised and the two remaining competitors in this heat start to feel the pressure. Suspense builds as results are tallied aloud one by one.
By the end of the two-day competition, Melody Lu of Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters had slurped her way to victory, with a final-round time of 2:57 and 6 of 8 cups correct. She’ll head to the Netherlands next June to represent Canada in the 2012 World Cup Tasters Championship. The rest will have wait for next year’s competition for another chance. And to that end, they will continue their daily training regimen, one coffee cup at a time.
Categories: Coffee, Events, Food
Help us buy you dinner with Top Chefs for Mental Health
3 Comments Karen HamiltonMay 1, 2011
It’s true – me and my friends want to buy you dinner – a swanky dinner for 8 via the Top Chefs for Mental Health fundraiser.
Tickets are $4,000 for the exclusive experience of having one of BC’s top chefs come to your home and cook an unforgettable meal for and 7 of your friends.
Since I don’t have that kind of money laying around, I’ve asked the BC Mental Health Foundation and the Chefs’ Table Society of BC, the cohosts of this fundraiser, to let me raise the money on Tiny Bites throughout the month of May, all the while profiling the participating chefs and raising awareness on the topic of mental health.
The goal? To give away all 8 dinner spots to those that helped us afford the ticket.
Happily, they gave me the green light last week – and sponsors have already stepped up to offer other cool prizes – so now it’s time to ask you to donate. But first…some background.
Mental health matters to me
Why am I raising funds for mental health awareness? It’s quite personal.
Last fall, I was diagnosed with 3 separate mood disorders. I had known about the major depression for about a decade – it runs in the family and I had briefly sought counselling for it in 2003. However, I was blindsided with the pronouncement that my levels of anxiety, panic, and OCD were also on a clinical scale. It got to the point where my mental health impacted every aspect of my life, isolating me from my loved ones and even manifesting as physical health issues.
The diagnosis came at a very rough point in my life. I was experiencing an identity crisis as my new role as a mother clashed with my lifelong assertion that I was a careerwoman. Being told that I had these disorders made me feel ashamed. I felt like a weakling: my mind and body wasn’t as strong as my spirit wanted them to be. Talking about it, even to my husband, was the last thing I wanted to do.
But talk is what I did. To my family, my closest friends, my therapists, my doctors…and I began to realize that I wasn’t alone. Many of the people I care about have either suffered, are suffering, or have lost their lives due to mental illness, and it is a private hell unlike any other.
There’s unfortunately a huge stigma attached to mental health issues. It makes it hard for people afflicted with mental illness to admit there’s a problem, seek professional help, and find solace and support from their friends and family.
This fundraiser is part of my personal journey to air my challenges so that I can fully come to terms with my illness. I hope it inspires others to find the courage to seek help or support if they need it.
Please let mental health matter to you
Between now and May 31, 2011, we ask you to join us in raising the necessary funds to afford a BC Top Chefs dinner for us to give back to you.
As part of this dinner drive, me and my friends will profile some of the chefs and restaurants that are participating in Top Chefs for Mental Health. I’ll also be opening up a thread on my Facebook Page for people to share their stories about mental health – questions, personal journeys, resources, tips, and anything else you can contribute.
It would mean the world to me and those that are quietly suffering from mental illness if you take part in any way that you can.
Option 1: Donate
Every $50 you donate earns you 1 entry to win one of the 4 dinner spots we are giving away by random draw. The top 4 donors overall will be guaranteed the other 4 dinner spots for being so awesomely generous.
Don’t worry if you give less than $50 – everyone will be entered to win one of the many fabulous prizes that our sponsors have kindly donated. We’ll let you know what they are as the month unfolds.
Our dinner drive counts as a lottery and is therefore not eligible for tax receipts. If you prefer to donate to get a tax receipt, I encourage you to donate directly to the BC Mental Health Foundation. It won’t count towards our $4,000 dinner drive target, and I won’t be able to tell that you contributed (unless you contact me), but your support will be much appreciated.
Option 2: Buy your own BC Top Chefs dinner
If you’ve got the time, interest, and funds, please consider buying your own BC Top Chefs table direct from the BC Mental Health Foundation’s website.
Option 3: Be a good Friend and spread the word
Please tell everyone you know about Top Chefs for Mental Health and this dinner drive on Tiny Bites. If you want to participate on an official basis, review this PDF and tell us how you want to take part.
Thank you for your support
I hope that you stick with us throughout the month of May while we run this dinner drive. I already have a very good reason to get better:
Hearing your stories and getting your support will make the road to recovery all the more sweet.
More info and the fine print
Visit the Tiny Bites dinner drive page for frequently asked questions and more info on the logistics of the fundraiser and giveaways.
Categories: Blogging for Social Change, Events, Featured, Food, Food Purveyors, Restaurants
My football food locks for Super Bowl XLV deliciousness
1 Comment Karen HamiltonFebruary 5, 2011
T minus 24 hours till Super Bowl XLV! It totally sucks that my team didn’t make it this year, but I will still join fellow embittered football fans this Super Bowl Sunday to watch the remaining teams go head-to-head. At least they are two teams that I would be happy to cheer for: the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers. My money’s on the Packers for fear of the repercussions (they’re the team of the best man at our wedding, whose wrath I do not wish to raise).
Our usual Super Bowl ritual involves preparing a feast fit for the game, which is more often than not tailored to the teams that are playing. Since I’ve already done my due diligence about generic plus pro-Steelers football fare when I wrote about the big game in 2009, I will simply recap those details for you here so to pay more attention on how you could represent the Packers at your Super Bowl party.
Go Packers! Cheesehead food and drink
Photo credit: Bjorn Hanson (Creative Commons)
What you can make to celebrate Green Bay will likely involve cheese. Cheese made in Wisconsin, to be precise. Ideally, cheese that looks like the wedge above. If you can fashion it into a hat on your head, give yourself bonus points. You could probably make a drinking game out of it: take a swig every time you spot a close-up of a Packers fan in this head gear.
Speaking of drinks…Wisconsin is home to many a good brewery but the best are difficult to get in Vancouver. If you are really dying to get a beer of appropriate origin, you could always default to MGD.
Solids
- Fried cheese curds (The Nibble)
- Green Bay Packers bratwurst and cheddar pizza (Examiner.com)
- Bratwurst: serve with perogies for a Packers-Steelers dish duo (The Bratwurst Pages)
- Resource: Wisconsin Cheese (Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board)
Liquids
- Any WI beer from the Miller group (Milwaukee), which includes the award-winning selections from Hamm’s Brewery.
- Resource: Wisconsin breweries (Wikipedia)
- Resource: Search Twitter for #superbowlbeer suggestions
Go Steelers! Pro-Pittsburgh food and drink
Last time Pittsburgh was in the running, we created Ben Roethlis-Burger sliders that appeased our guests and all the meat-loving deities that exist in our universe. We’ll probably repeat these again to represent the Steelers as cooking this is probably easier than finding Iron City in town!
Want something you can just heat and serve? Apparently the perogy is much heralded in Pennsylvania.
Solids
- The Ben Roethlis-Burger, with bacon weave upgrade (BBQ Addicts)
- BBQ Chipped Chop Ham Sandwiches (Accidental Hedonist)
- Perogies (serve with bratwurst for a Steelers-Packers mash-up)
Liquids
- Iron City (Pittsburgh)
- Resource: Beers of Pittsburgh (Beer Expedition)
- Resource: Pennsylvania breweries (Wikipedia)
- Resource: Search Twitter for #superbowlbeer suggestions
Other football-friendly eats
If you don’t care to pick sides or just want to have stuff to eat that washes down nicely with a cold brew, consider these options. Warning: not for the faint of stomach, and definitely not for vegetarians.
- Bacon bourbon popcorn – Sarah Sprague had me at ‘bacon’. She had my husband at ‘popcorn’. With over a kilo of Chilliwack organic popping corn in our pantry, it would be a travesty to not attempt this recipe as soon as freaking possible.
- Our rendition of Spicy Oven-Baked Chicken Wings (adapted from Fearless in the Kitchen: Innovative Recipes for the Uninhibited Cook by Christine Cushing)
- Memphis Blues Super Bowl Party Pak - Don’t have a grill or the time? Feed 8 people with a slew of barbecued meats, chili and wings. Order ahead for this $95 eat-in /take-out special.
Enjoy the game around town
If the bar scene is more your style, check out what some of Vancouver’s pubs and restaurants are offering for sustenance on February 6, 2011. Know of others showing the game in the city? Drop me a comment here.
- Red Card – Settle in as early as 1pm to get your fill of $5 Kronenbourgh lagers and sample the game specials: hot wings galore and Super Bowl chili with the requisite cornbread on the side.
- Library Square Public House – or choose the Donnelly Group pub nearest to you. Come in after 3:30pm.
- Kingston Taphouse – 11am marks the start of Kingston’s Super Bowl specials. Buy a $10 ticket to assure you a seat, a Prime Rib Burger and some Granville Island Beer. You might even win a trip for 2 to Vegas.
- Memphis Blues’ Super Bowl All-You-Can-Eat Party – If you haven’t called them to book your table yet, get on the phone right now. $20 gets you unlimited mini-ribs and fries, and buckets of Rocky Mountain Pilsner will be going for $10.
Other Super Bowl XLV resources
These additional sites may help you with the planning of this year’s Super Bowl shenanigans. Of note is the article with Southern recipes – a nod to the fact that the game’s being played this year at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.
- Southern style cookin’ for Super Bowl (Vancouver Sun)
- Great beer for the Super Bowl (Washington Times)
- Super Bowl 2011 Craft Beer Poll: Wisconsin vs. Pennsylvania (Drinkcraftbeer.com)
- Packers Super Bowl Menu: Cheese, Beer, and More Cheese (The Stir)
- Planning a Steelers Super Bowl Party (About.com Pittsburgh)
- Green Bay sausages vs. Pittsburgh pierogies: a Super Bowl debate (Pittsburgh Business Times)
- The Ultimate Football Foodie Super Bowl Recipe Guide for Steelers-Packers Party 2011 (SarahSprague.com)
- Super Bowl Challenge: My Local Beer Quest (the Epi-Log on Epicurious.com)
What will you eat and drink on Super Bowl Sunday? Send me your tips and/or your favourite Super Bowl recipes.
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Tiny Bites is a food blog that explores all things edible and imbibable in Vancouver, British Columbia. More >
Articles by Karen Hamilton
Read the food and non-food articles that I've contributed to sites other than Tiny Bites.
