Friday, August 1

Turkish Coffee, French Press And the Joys Of Kimya Dawson

[Update: the Columbia tasting has now been added, as has the name of the Turkish Coffee...or at least what I think the coffee is called...]


Come one, come all! Well, as promised I broke out the hotplate and Ibrik and made up another Turkish coffee at work today, and even made notes this time. Now, for those of you who might not know, a Turkish coffee is brewed slightly differently to, say, a french press or a vac pot. It's brewed in a small, handled belly jug called an Ibrik, and uses a powder-fine grind. To be truly authentic it should also be brewed with a small amount of sugar to add sweetness. Again, this will not be a CoE standard tasting, just what Dane (the guy I was working with) and I thought about the coffee. I'll put it up anyway, just in case you find it interesting. The coffee I'm using is a preground coffee, which I think is called Kurukaveci Mehmet Efendi. That could just be a corporation name for all I know. It is from Turkey, however, and I don't speak Turkish...okay, on with the tasting.

Firstly, the aroma. On the nose it's winey, with a hint of oak. Tasting it warm the red wine/fruit notes really stand out, even over the sweetness of the sugar, with woody, oaky tones after the coffee is gone. As it cools the oak notes begin to come out more, giving the cup the taste of, in Dane's words, a forest early in the morning. As for body, Dane and I talked long and hard about this. In the end we decided it was a mix. On the tongue it had a heavy, full body, but on the palette it had a much lighter, watery feel. All in all it was a very different, interesting experience as well as a lovely coffee to drink.

Now onto the next bit of the title; French Press. Yes, today I made up a new (to me) and exciting Union Hand Roasted french press. I used a Colombian coffee from the Timana Co-Operative, Huila. The aroma is that of red wine, deep, full and fruity on the nose. Dane seems to have written 'bum fun' on my aroma notes...this, apparently is what he gets from the coffee. Draw your own conclusions. Tasting it 'straight off the boil', so to say, the coffee has a distinct oak taste, with a medium acidity and a fruit/red wine finish. As the cup cools the oak fades into the background, allowing the wine notes to come into their own, the fruit finish replaced by a defined chocolate aftertaste. Overall the coffee has a medium body and leaves a refreshing, zesty feel at the back of the mouth.

Now, a song for all you coffee lovers out there. Okay, it's a tenuous link, I'll admit that, but it's still an awesome song. It's The Competition by Kimya Dawson. Unfortunately it's not hosted anywhere on the web, so I found another great song by her and Antsy Pants called Tree Hugger (from the Juno soundtrack). Competition is available on iTunes though, and I suggest you buy it now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vOP-slvtg4

Anyway, that's about it for today.

Cheers,
Seamus

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Welcome to Third Wave UK!

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Hey y'all. Welcome to the Third Wave UK speciality coffee blog. Whether you're a coffee profesional, home barista, or just interested in speciality coffee or the speciality coffee scene in the UK, this blog will hopefully have something for you. Cheers, Seamus McFlurry

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