a few random thoughts

My lack of posting lately is not becasue I have nothing to post on, rather, I’ve had too much going through my head of late and haven’t been able to distill it into anything worth reading. So here are a few random thoughts and recollections…

Hung out with Hazel last Wednesday - she incredibly kindly set up a mock round of triangular cupping for me. 5/8. 4/8. 7/8. Things I learnt: must drink coffee before the comp (apparently my palate needs ‘warning up’), ignore tongue, slow down. Had lots of fun, as always, and watching her roast up some Gethumbwini was incredibly interesting and I think I learnt an incredible amount about roasting in that 15 or so minutes. I am really bummed I won’t be able to make her final cupping session at Flint and Steel this Saturday.

I have also had the privilege of drinking a few people’s roasts lately. I’ve been impressed with the brews I’ve had, and have really enjoyed the chance to see what other people are doing with their beans and rethink my own processes. Does that sound funny? I mean we’re all just cooking beans right? Hmm … I’m still dreaming about a particularly creamy shot of Zimbabwe Perzuru … it was just sensational.

Have still been thinking about body/corpo/mouthfeel/texture a lot. Have been reading a fair bit, both in coffee and wine literature, and it’s time to do some experimenting. So Dan and I are going to get ridiculously caffeinated as we try and compare the body corpo of different beans, and explore how roast level and brew temperature affects corpo. Whether any of this actually helps us draw any kind of conclusion that is actually relevant or even verifiable is another story It should, however, be fun. 

I’m excited that test cricket will be back on my television tomorrow, and I’m sure Anastasia will be delighted to hear her favie will be back in the team.

On a more serious note, we’re thinking about moving house as where we are currently is literally falling down around us. We’re hoping to move a bit closer to Drew’s work, and to somewhere with a third bedroom, so that we don’t have the kids still awake and talking to each other at 9:30pm. This behaviour is wearing us down, and makes for cranky, overtired children, who are then harder to deal with by day. So we’ll see what happens …

… and finally, it’s Drew’s birthday on Sunday, so we’re looking forward to a nice, somewhat quiet celebration with a few friends on Saturday night.