Time to blog again ?

Visiting Cafes in Taiwan, Part II

After visiting three cafes in Taipei, I went down to Taichung to meet my friends the other day. Besides the city tour, we also went to another two cafes. I have been excited about visiting these two cafes since knowing them from Internet. How do their espressos taste? Again, I will judge their espressos based on my personal preference.


The first cafe we visited is Osir. As far as I know Osir is one of the older cafes in Taichung and people there have put in a lot of efforts populariazing specialty coffee. They have a Probat L5 for roasting coffee beans. When I got there the coffee house was filled with the aroma of freshly roasted coffee. Although the store was full of burlap bags and therefore lacks the elegant design that people seem to like for a cafe, I actually like the way it is since customers will have opportunities to know more about the whole process of making coffee.

They have a new La Marzocco GB5 and two Mazzer Roburs for making espressos so I was pretty excited. They also have two blends for espressos, one roasted light and the other dark. I ordered the espresso made with the light roasted blend. To my taste the body was light and medium sweet. I also got some citrus and the shot left a clean finish. To me that was an average shot.

I asked the barista how old the beans are and she answered that they were around three weeks old. She explained that they usually rest the beans for two weeks before putting them in the grinder. Maybe they have some reasons for resting the roasted beans for so long but according to the standard I have learned in the United States the flavor and aroma would degrade for three weeks old beans... Of course I can't judge if the flavor and body of my little cup would improve if they could have rested the beans for a shorter period of time but it is indeed interesting to know people have different perspectives about resting the beans.

The other cafe we visited in Taichung is mojocoffee. Mojocoffee is probably the cafe I would like to visit the most this time in Taiwan. They have a three-group Synesso Cyncra, a La Marzocco Swift grinder and a Mazzer Robur at store. From their website and the photo album it looks like they serve darn good espressos so I was very excited.

I asked for a double ristretto and the picture above is the result. To may taste the beans were probably roasted too dark. The cup was not bright as the acidity is muted, if not totally killed, during the roast. The shot tasted a little bit ashy, though not too overwhelming. I did get the bittersweet flavor and the cup has a medium body.

I had a chance to talk to the shop owner and he told me that he usually roast the beans past the peak of the rapid second crack (Agtron #35). I never roasted my beans such dark so it is interesting to have an espresso like the one I had at mojocoffee. On the other hand, the blend at Osir was probably roasted a little bit light (only a few snaps into the second crack) to my personal preference. I usually roast the beans to a nice rolling second but not yet the peak to have a nice balance of the varietal and roast flavors of the beans.

Even though none of the espressos I got at Osir and mojocoffee match my taste preference perfectly, I do enjoy my stay at both cafes. By trying out different espressos at different cafes I not only know my taste preference better but also have the opportunities to calibrate my roasts against the professional ones and that is fun!

Visiting Cafes in Taiwan, Part I

I have been back in Taiwan for 3 weeks. Although it is good to hang out with my family and friends, I also miss the feeling of being able to make and drink espresso. Too bad I don't have any equipments at home to pull shots for myself... As the second option I decide to visit some cafes in Taiwan. From Internet I know that there has been a movement of speciality coffee in Taiwan in recent years. More and more Taiwanese have come to realize that fresh beans are very important when making coffee, especially espresso. Therefore, more and more cafes in Taiwan roast their own beans instead of importing big names such as Illy for use at store. Personally I feel this is a good thing for the customers since they have more opportunities to taste different coffee or blends roasted by different roasters. Roasting its own coffee beans also allows a cafe or roaster to differentiate itself from others and this may help to raise the overall quality of coffee drinks in Taiwan.

I am thus very excited about visiting different cafes. However, it has been noted over and over again that fresh beans, although important, do not guarantee the taste in the cup. How does the espresso taste in Taiwan, at least judged by my personal preference? I have visited some cafes so far and I have a mixed feeling....

The first cafe I visited is Shake House. I heard of it before but didn't have a chance to try it until this time. The barista, the shp owner, used a triple basket and after a long pull (almost 45 secs) I got a sweet ristretto with a heavy body and only a little bit bitter aftertaste. He admitted that the shot could have been softer if the pull was faster but anyway I like it. I didn't confirm with him but I suspect that blend has a fair amount of Indos in it.

Several days later I went to Shake House again on a Saturday afternoon in the hope that I could get another good shot. This time another barista pulled the shot for me. What surprised me is that although the pull looked similar the taste was very different. The shot still had a good body but the sweetness was totally absent. The bitter aftertaste was still there and I also noticed some saltiness at the bottom of the cup. It would be interesting to know what accounts for the huge difference between two shots I got at Shake House but it seems that they need to work on consistency.

The second cafe I visited is La Crema. Actually I visited this cafe regularly before leaving for the United States. La Crema has been very famous among coffee lovers since my college days. The owner of La Crema is an espresso geek and made every cup of coffee for the customers everytime I was there so I think the quality is pretty consistent. Once I even believe that La Crema is the best cafe in Taipei. However, now I have to change my mind. The shot I got at La Crema, although creamy, was not sweet at all. I did get some citrus notes and they tasted fine. But what makes me like the shot least is that I got huge saltiness when the shot got colder. I actually had to drink a lot of water in order to get rid of the unpleasant salty aftertaste. When I visited La Crema last December I already got this impression of salty aftertaste. This time I am pretty sure that I don't like a shot that has a taste profile along this direction...

The third cafe I stopped by is E61: the coffee place. Same as La Crema I have visited this cafe before. They use a Faema E61 Legend at store so the name of the cafe. There was a line of customers waiting for the drinks when I arrived and the barista, also the shop owner, pulled the shots quite fluently. I never saw a line of customers at a speciality coffee shop in Taiwan before so I figured this cafe has become very popular in its local area.

I actually had three shots when I was there (two were free!). The first shot, as the photo above seems to indicate, has a very light body. I told the barista I prefer the ristretto so the shot seems a little bit watery to me. He laughed and made me a ristretto. Well.... I didn't actually taste more body but I did get more sweetness in the cup. The barista then explained to me the blend consists mostly of African beans and under a light roast the body might be sacrificed a little. I did get some citrus notes and liked the sweetness in the ristretto but I still think the first shot at Shake House was the best one among these three cafes.

New Espresso Setup means Blog

I upgraded my espresso setup recently to the Nuova Simonelli Appia and Macap MXKR conical grinder. I had a Quickmill Anita and Mazzer Mini before the upgrade and they served me very well. I decided to upgrade for several reasons. First, I want a plumbed-in machine with the rotary pump because it makes life much easier. The Anita, although made excellent shots, has a vibe pump so it is a little bit noisy during HX cooling flush. Also, I had to refill the Anita's water reservoir everyday and that can be annoying because I have to remove the cup warming tray. Second, I want better temperature stability and stronger steam power from the espresso machine. I do believe that the Anita has good temperature stability but I hope it is a better steamer. Frothing for a latte takes almost one minute and that is slow to me. Finally, although the Mini is reliable I want to have a conical grinder. Conical grinders grind the beans more gently and distribute coffee grounds in the basket evenly so arguably the espresso seems to taste rounder and sweeter.

The answer: a big boiler and a conical. The Elektra A3 has been my dream machine until I saw an used Appia on sale in an almost new condition. The Appia incoporates new technology from the Nuova Simonelli and steams like a locomotive. Although I didn't find any user reviews of the Appia, I decided it would satisfy my needs after playing with it for several hours. For the grinder the decision was easier. The Macap MXKR is almost half the price of other competitors such as the Mazzer Kony and Compak K10. There hasn't been a extensive comparion of different conical grinders so far but I believe that MXKR will do the job at least as good as the Kony and K10.

I have been using this setup for two weeks. What can I say? I am very happy with both. The Appia keeps making better shots as I know her more. Thanks to her strong steam I seem to get more beautiful microfoams and that improves my latte art too. The MXKR makes distribution of the coffee grounds in the basket much easier. I am still on the honey moon with the new setup but I know they will be my good friends for a very long time.