coffee how – to

Apres’ du Marche’ ( After the Market)

Location

The 2023 Railyards Holiday Market is an annual event held in the Barelas Neighboohood at the Location of the historic former Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Locomotive Servicing Shops, 707 1st Avenue Southwest, Albuquerque, New Mexico just south of the Albuquerque Depot for Amtrak, the NM RailRunner, and Greyhound Motor Coaches.

Holiday Market Historicity

The Railyards Holiday Market was successful and brisk ( like Lipton Teas, but I sell coffee). The management at The Railyards placed me “inside” the old Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Albuquerque New Mexico Railroad Shops Brake Building, by an open door. The AT&SF Shops were active for almost 100 years! The complex covers many acres and has many interesting structures showing off American Industrial Architecture at its finest.

Number of Vendors

The Brake Building had about sixty vendors the other building probably about the same , but the outdoor vendors seemed to number around 100. Foods included potatoes, apples , chili ( red and ristras ) prepared goodies such as green chili stew , cakes, cookies and pies. There were close to 20 taco trucks and mobile vendors included in the mix.

Brisk Sales

Both days were brisk, and sales were good too. I think I mostly do these “Dog and Pony Shows ” as a public service and to entertain the public with my humor or lack of humor. Thank you if you attended , and many thanks if you purchased my beans! I had to give away my samples of brewed coffee, and the coffee had to be cold – brewed.

Cold-Brewed Coffee

I used my ” Aeropress XL (c) ” to cold brew my samples and Saturday was my learning curve. Sunday I came close to perfect. Took me 35 minutes from start to finish. I poured about 35 grams of fine ground coffee ( hand ground in a Hario Skerton (c) hand grinder ) into a compostable coffee cup ( 12 ounces capacity) and added about 5 ounces of water, stirred once and let it sit for ten minutes, covered. Then I stirred it again to attempt to get the grounds to accept water ( the grounds were ‘gassing-off’ ) then set my cell phone timer for another ten minutes .

After the initial 20 minutes in the paper cup I stirred the grounds thoroughly and then dumped the water grounds mixture into my XL. I then added at least 7 more ounces of water to the Aeropress filling it to the ‘3’ mark on the cylinder. I stirred furiously then placed the plunger into the cylinder and let the grounds saturate for another ten minutes , then pressed out the cold brew. Voila! The Peru Organic came out a bit ‘woodsy” on day 2, the Yemen on Day 1 was tea-like , the Yemen on Day 2 was nearly perfect in color, flavor and mouth feel.

Coffees featured

I sold out of my Peru Organic, Honduras Organic and had one 12 ounce bag of Yemen, one bag of the Colombia Double Macerated Huila Honey Process (8 oz.) and a partial bag of Peru taken from stock as a sampler bag ( 8 oz) to bring home.

So, four coffees-

*Columbia Double Macerated Huila Honey ( Honey Process) ( bright apple-y),

* Honduras Organic Paca Vita ( Dark roast full body),

*Peru Organic( both washed process ) ( woodsy, rich), and:

*Yemen Mokka – Sa’anani ( dried-in-cherry or natural process) ( chocolate-y , well-rounded ) were available as whole bean coffees only.

Future Events

My next Railyards Market (https://railyardsmarket.org) I am planning for is the Valentines Day Weekend Market in February. Other wise I hope to see you at any of the Socorro Farmers winter Market (https://socorrofarmersmarket.org) Saturdays at the Socorro Teen Center at 1001 Ake Street ( just off Bullock Avenue behind the laundromat) coming up and the Saturday December 16th Fiesta de Navidad Market at the Macy Center 909 Olive Lane, Socorro, NM (https://nmt.edu/macey) at the Tech Campus at 6:00 pm.

Please keep an eye on these pages for more event info as I go. Please do not forget to comment on my processes. I hope for good Holidays for you and yours.

Coffee and water

Coffees and waters are variables in your cup. Some municipal waters are great for coffee. Visalia California used to have really good, plentiful water. The aquifers were close to the surface almost artesian in well access. Unfortunately, the water sources have been drained through over-pumping of the aquifers and by the cutting of the gravel beds the water slips through to get to the valley towns as the water flows westward.

Socorro, New Mexico USA has an interesting water history using aquifers that have been contaminated by the mining industry and agriculture ( I did not state that for Visalia’s water, but the same applies there as well. ).

Water has markers such as Total Dissolved Solids ( or TDS) , “Hardness” or mineralization , flavor profiles ( yes, water has flavor profiles too).

Coffee prepared with “pure ” water ( filtered , reverse osmosis, or steam distilled) will have a different flavor or “bite” to it than coffee prepared with municipal or mineral spring water sources.

Arkansas’ s “Mountain Valley” brand spring water is my upscale favorite for brewing a top notch cup of joe. Next on the list, I found surprising, is the Topco grocery brand ( ” Food Club” ) of spring water sourced from the Hill country of Texas. Samantha Springs, Keller , Texas, or Caney Springs, Grapeland , Texas. Much cheaper and just as delicious ( hard , too).

I haven’t tried to brew a cup with the “Poland Spring” Brand ( Nestle’s owns it) of bottled water yet. It is sourced from the Dallas Plantation in Northern Maine ( I suspect from the Allagash water basin. )

So minerals are important for coffee flavor, have at it and let me know what you think. Cheers,

Coffee Anyone?

Coffee for the summer

If I were to choose coffee for the summer there are several ways to prepare coffee I have found fun and practical.

First, I have tried iced coffee, black. First ice in a glass , then filtered drip or Aeropress cooled slightly over the ice.

I do not like the current cold -brew mania. I have tried it and find it lacking. I have cold – brewed the Costa Rica Jaguar Honey and found that even though the flavors “pop” in their way it is a bit too acidic for my tastes. Better to either Aeropress at 20 grams coffee to 200 grams 165 F or 80 C water, or drip filter the same.

Cold Brew Recipe # 1:

Start with 1/4 lb or 125 grams medium grind coffee in a pint or quart mason jar. Add 250 ml or 1 cup / 8 oz of water stir in thoroughly, then lid and keep in fridge for 2 days, Stir daily. After 2 days ( at least 48 hours ) filter through a paper filter . It will be a concentrate that will make about three 12 oz glasses of ” iced Americanos ” Of course , you may want to stretch it out to make 4 of them..

Cold Brew Two:

Using a Puck Puck ( tm ) device on an Aeropress you can use a pound of ice drip into the coffee grounds filtered through the Aeropress.

Cold Brew Three: Using the Aeropress ( with the funnel ) and recycling a one liter water jug as a funnel. Fill the one liter jug with water and freeze. once frozen un-cap and hoist upside down over the Aeropress filled with 125 grams of coffee grounds, allow to drip into a one quart cup or mason jar.

The above devices are brands of their companies Puck Puck, and Aeropress received no compensation .

Costa Rica Jaguar Honey.

I have roasted two Costa Rica Honey process Coffees. My favorite was the Terrazu Red. The Jaguar Honey Process is a bit harder to define. I think its one of the lighter honeys.. the Terrazu Red was a great intro to Costa Rica Coffee. I  blended it with Sumatra and came up with a close second to my favorite blend of beans “Rincon Red” from the Santa Barbara Roasting Company in Santa Barbara, CA.

Coffee Anyone?

Holiday times –

It is that time of year again – the so called Holidays… Lots of activity…Lots of food… no real rest…”Feelings, all my life I feel it, Nothing left but feelings alone with my heart” (owed to Mo Albert 1978) Hobby as Therapy dba Outside Agitator Coffees LLC is now in business in your neighborhood.

Do you as an individual, like coffee? are you a fan of whole bean, single origin, single sourced close to the farm coffee?

Do you want the real flavor profile of the bean to come through? There are people who love coffee, who like my coffee. Have you purchased more than one bag from me? Much Thanks and Thoughts go with you. You are the real heroes in the world. Not the one time buyer, but the repeat customer . If you “love” my pages, Facebook and the like..Instagram ETC, and you have not purchased my beans, I feel for you. Overcome the fear of strange purchases over the web of the second most traded commodity in the  world. Coffee!.

Think about the busyness of Black Friday…Well good coffee can set things straight.  Try some today..” Coffee, Its not just for Mondays…”