December 20th is the last shipping day to receive coffee by Christmas
Click Here to Order Your Holiday Coffee
www.ArnoldsCoffee.com
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Free Shipping Extended!
Back By Popular Demand
FREE SHIPPING!
Thanks to an overwhelming response,*Free Shipping On All Coffee has been extended through Dec. 7
*On All Orders $50 or more. If you pick up your coffee in Elizabethtown
you will receive a $5.95 coupon to redeem on your next purchase.
Pumpkin Pie
$11.99 Caffeinated $13.99 DecaffeinatedThis Holiday coffee is one of our all time favorites. Pumpkin Pie tastes just like its name. A perfect blend of pumpkin, spice & cinnamon. Top this coffee with whip cream for dessert. Or serve it after dinner to top off a great meal. Any way you serve it will be a favorite.
Holiday Cheer
$12.99 Caffeinated $14.99 DecaffeinatedYour Holiday is not complete without serving Holiday Cheer. Since we first introduced this holiday special in 1992 it has been our most popular Holiday flavor. A perfect blend of spices and buttered rum make this an outstanding coffee.
White Christmas
$13.99 Caffeinated $15.99 DecaffeinatedCannot be ordered whole bean. We deliver this coffee pre ground because the white chocolate truffle is so rich. An elegant Holiday coffee blended with white chocolate truffle. It makes a perfect holiday coffee.
We like to top with whip cream and Christmas sprinkles for a beautiful dessert coffee.
Holiday Traditions
$13.99 Caffeinated $15.99 DecaffeinatedChocolate, vanilla, cinnamon and spiced rum are a truly outstanding combination of flavors. Think of a warm fire, good friends and a cup of Holiday Traditions. That is a picture of Christmas, good times and memories.
Click Here to Order Your Holiday Coffee
www.ArnoldsCoffee.com
Let's talk coffee!
Ask questions and get answers at my blog.
See you there!
Arnold
arnold@arnoldscoffee.com
www.arnoldscoffee.com
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Espresso Part 11 - The Machine
There are 4 basic ways to produce espresso, the coffee that can be consumed either “straight” or mixed with milk to make Cappuccino, Caffé Latte or when mixed with milk and chocolate a caffé Mocha. There are a number of other drinks that are made with espresso and we’ll cover drinks in the next edition of our Blog.
The ways to make espresso are; stove top, lever, pump, or steam machines. There are several other ways but discussing them is a waste of time since no American would use them.
Lever machines are great but for my money are too much trouble and good ones cost at least a $1000.
OK, so now we are down to the cost question. Unless you are willing to spend $750 to $2000 for a set you are wasting your time and money. It takes steam pressure to make espresso that is drinkable. It takes steam pressure to froth, steam, or texture milk. And most inexpensive pump machines don’t have the horsepower to get the job done. And it is a messy job that takes time and practice to perfect. If you are an occasional Cappuccino drinker you are better off at your local café. On the other hand if you like the idea of having a great espresso or a cappuccino after dinner or a morning Latte made the correct way then it is worth the time, effort, and money.
I hesitate to make brand recommendations. There are several manufactures that I can tell you about and at several price points. You can also search the web. Since I don’t sell equipment it will be my honest unbiased opinion..
Just send me an email; arnold@arnoldscoffee.com and I be happy to give you my take in your price range.
As always I love hearing from my friends and customers. I am in the business of selling the best coffee available. My goal is to help you have a great coffee experience. Please let me know how I can help you achieve the pleasure of drinking great coffee.
In the year 1587 Sheikh Ansair Djerzeri Hanball Abd-Al-Kadir said; “Where coffee is served, there is grace and splendor and friendship and happiness.
May you enjoy all four blessings,
Arnold
arnold@arnoldscoffee.com
www.arnoldscoffee.com
*Free Shipping On All Coffee
*On All Orders $50 or more.
If you pick up your coffee in Elizabethtown you will receive a $5.95 coupon to redeem on your next purchase.
Click Here to Order Your Holiday Coffee
www.ArnoldsCoffee.com
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Free Shipping On All Coffee!
*Free Shipping On All Coffee
*On All Orders $50 or more.
If you pick up your coffee in Elizabethtown,
you will receive a $5.95 coupon to redeem on your next purchase.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Espresso, the Myth and the Facts; Part 1
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have heard people say; “If I had an Espresso I’d be climbing the walls” “Who can stand that much caffeine “ Or “Boy that is strong & bitter”. Well the truth of the matter is a shot of espresso has less caffeine than a cup of coffee. If properly extracted the coffee has a lovely bittersweet after taste more full bodied that a cup of coffee but just as pleasurable. The steam pressure the coffee is extracted under produces a crema created by the coffee oils coming to the surface and standing thick on the top of the drink. Crema is the wonderful tan colored foam that appears on the top of a well-shot espresso. If you pour a little sugar on top of the crema it will stand there before sinking in the liquid. A perfectly drawn shot of espresso has a crema that holds up until the drink is consumed. A shot of espresso is 1 ½ to 2 ounces of pure joy if properly served. Now that we have blown some myths let’s talk “Espresso.
Espresso is not a coffee varietal. It is a blend of coffees. Generally roasted darker than the “American Roast” profile (Think Arnold’s Special Blend) but not so dark that it is burnt, caramelized & bitter. Of course the degree of roast color and the blend varies with the roaster. In the country of origin, Italy, there are several degrees of roast profile and blends. Some are 100% Arabica & some blends use a small percent of very high quality Robusta. Some are very dark (Rome) and some much lighter.
Drawing an espresso is really an art that requires many components. The grind, the tamp, the machine, and the Barista must all be in harmony to draw a shot worth drinking.
Real espresso is a café drink. Most home machines do not have the pressure capacity to produce a good espresso. Nor do home machines have the steam pressure to produce frothed, textured or steamed milk for cappuccino, latte, or mocha. You must be willing to spend between $750 & $2000 to get a real home machine or you are wasting your time and money. I’ll cover espresso machines in another chapter on espresso.
There are almost no coffee shops or restaurants that serve real espresso or espresso based drinks. To do so takes the training & skill of a professional Barista. Everything has to be right. It starts with the coffee, it MUST be fresh, it must be ground properly, it must be tamped properly in the portafilter (30 pounds of pressure), all the elements effect espresso, to much moisture in the air, the air conditioning (heat or cooling turning on and off) the café door opening and closing all can cause the Barista to change the grind dozens of times during his/her shift.
A few of my buddies and I go to Louisville a couple of times a month for lunch and a tour of coffee shops. We are trying to find a good shot of espresso and a drinkable Cappuccino and Latte. Of the dozens of shops we have visited only one served a great drink. Most had no clue. Several were so bad we would have been better off at MacDonald’s or a drink made on an Automatica machine at Starbucks.
Many shops can’t even produce a great cup of coffee let alone an espresso or espresso based drink. It is a sad state of the coffee drinking world.
More in the next edition. As always I love to hear from you.
Arnold
Espresso is not a coffee varietal. It is a blend of coffees. Generally roasted darker than the “American Roast” profile (Think Arnold’s Special Blend) but not so dark that it is burnt, caramelized & bitter. Of course the degree of roast color and the blend varies with the roaster. In the country of origin, Italy, there are several degrees of roast profile and blends. Some are 100% Arabica & some blends use a small percent of very high quality Robusta. Some are very dark (Rome) and some much lighter.
Drawing an espresso is really an art that requires many components. The grind, the tamp, the machine, and the Barista must all be in harmony to draw a shot worth drinking.
Real espresso is a café drink. Most home machines do not have the pressure capacity to produce a good espresso. Nor do home machines have the steam pressure to produce frothed, textured or steamed milk for cappuccino, latte, or mocha. You must be willing to spend between $750 & $2000 to get a real home machine or you are wasting your time and money. I’ll cover espresso machines in another chapter on espresso.
There are almost no coffee shops or restaurants that serve real espresso or espresso based drinks. To do so takes the training & skill of a professional Barista. Everything has to be right. It starts with the coffee, it MUST be fresh, it must be ground properly, it must be tamped properly in the portafilter (30 pounds of pressure), all the elements effect espresso, to much moisture in the air, the air conditioning (heat or cooling turning on and off) the café door opening and closing all can cause the Barista to change the grind dozens of times during his/her shift.
A few of my buddies and I go to Louisville a couple of times a month for lunch and a tour of coffee shops. We are trying to find a good shot of espresso and a drinkable Cappuccino and Latte. Of the dozens of shops we have visited only one served a great drink. Most had no clue. Several were so bad we would have been better off at MacDonald’s or a drink made on an Automatica machine at Starbucks.
Many shops can’t even produce a great cup of coffee let alone an espresso or espresso based drink. It is a sad state of the coffee drinking world.
More in the next edition. As always I love to hear from you.
Arnold
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Grind and Grinders
When you talk about grind you have to talk about grinders. Not all grinders are created equal. There are blade, hand mills and conical burr grinders, Blade grinders cost about $20/$ 30 and are a waste of money. You can never get a consistent grind no matter how hard you try. The blade heats the coffee as it is grinding and chopping so it is possible to burn the beans. Hand Mills are OK if you are trying to impress someone with a big brass mill (I save mine for spices) but like a blade you will never get a proper consistent grind. So the answer is a conical burr grinder. It is the type used in every coffee shop (except one and this franchise ships the coffee to their franchisees ground) can you believe?
Burr grinders come in all sizes and price ranges. I use a Bunn and a Baratza Virtuoso. There are lots of very good burr grinders on the market in a price range between $50 & $225. A good conical burr grinder is perfect for all sorts of grinding from almost powder for Turkish coffee, to espresso, press pot and filter brewing. Use the web and Google "Conical burr coffee grinders". You are bound to find one in your price range.
How you grind your coffee determines the end product. If you are grinding for filter brewing, 90% of all brewed coffee is filter brewed, a grind that is too coarse will produce a weak cup. The coarse grind allows the water to run too quickly through the grounds and you will get almost no flavor extraction. A grind that is too fine will not allow the water to run through at the proper rate and you'll get an over extracted bitter cup. Press pot brewing requires a coarse grind so that the grinds will not come through the metal filter.
Personally I use a fine grind for filter brewing. The grind feels like granulated sugar when you rub it between your fingers. The standard American filter brewer uses 5 ounces to a cup as the measurement. A 10 cup brewer holds 50 ounces of water. You should use about 3 plus ounces of ground coffee to get a full body cup and it should brew in about 6 minutes at 200 degrees. If your cup is too strong you can always dilute with hot water.
So what is the so what of it all? Fresh properly ground "Specialty" coffee in a washed paper filter, good water, and a coffee maker that brews at 200 degrees is all that it takes to make GREAT coffee. If your morning cup is as important to you as it is to me all of this is worth the pleasure of drinking not only good but GREAT coffee.
As always I welcome your comments.
Arnold
arnold@arnoldscoffee.com
www.arnoldscoffee.com
Burr grinders come in all sizes and price ranges. I use a Bunn and a Baratza Virtuoso. There are lots of very good burr grinders on the market in a price range between $50 & $225. A good conical burr grinder is perfect for all sorts of grinding from almost powder for Turkish coffee, to espresso, press pot and filter brewing. Use the web and Google "Conical burr coffee grinders". You are bound to find one in your price range.
How you grind your coffee determines the end product. If you are grinding for filter brewing, 90% of all brewed coffee is filter brewed, a grind that is too coarse will produce a weak cup. The coarse grind allows the water to run too quickly through the grounds and you will get almost no flavor extraction. A grind that is too fine will not allow the water to run through at the proper rate and you'll get an over extracted bitter cup. Press pot brewing requires a coarse grind so that the grinds will not come through the metal filter.
Personally I use a fine grind for filter brewing. The grind feels like granulated sugar when you rub it between your fingers. The standard American filter brewer uses 5 ounces to a cup as the measurement. A 10 cup brewer holds 50 ounces of water. You should use about 3 plus ounces of ground coffee to get a full body cup and it should brew in about 6 minutes at 200 degrees. If your cup is too strong you can always dilute with hot water.
So what is the so what of it all? Fresh properly ground "Specialty" coffee in a washed paper filter, good water, and a coffee maker that brews at 200 degrees is all that it takes to make GREAT coffee. If your morning cup is as important to you as it is to me all of this is worth the pleasure of drinking not only good but GREAT coffee.
As always I welcome your comments.
Arnold
arnold@arnoldscoffee.com
www.arnoldscoffee.com
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Coffeemaker Filters
So far we have covered 2 elements of coffee brewing, water & automatic drip coffeemakers. Most people don't think much about filters but they are an important factor in brewing great coffee.
There are several types; paper, both white(bleached) and brown (natural), metal, sometimes called "Goldtone", cloth (vacuum pots) , and we could include the wire mesh in french press brewing & the metal porta filter used in espresso brewing. The vast majority of brewing is done with some form of automatic drip brewer. That method uses 2 types of filters; flat bottom or V shape. I prefer the V shape natural filter because I think you get the best extraction. Here is a tip no matter what kind of filter you use. About half way through the brewing stir the coffee in the filter to ensure all the grounds are being evenly saturated. Stirring will improve the extraction and give you a better more full body cup. Try it and let me know what you think.
No matter which type of paper filter you use rinse it with warm water before you put the ground coffee into it. Rinsing removes the sizing that all paper filters have and the slight paper taste. If you think that rinsing does not make a difference brew a pot of plain water using both methods and you will be able to see the difference in the clarity of the water. Metal flat or V shape filters trap coffee oils that are important to cup body so I never recommend a metal filter of any type for drip brewing.
One more tip; Give the brewed coffee a quick stir before serving. The first half of the brewed coffee is weaker than the last half and stirring evens the mix. If you are using a thermal carafe to brew into put the cap on and swirl the carafe to mix the coffee and then pour a little of the coffee into the sink clearing the pour spout of old coffee and water.
I started this Blog series by saying brewing coffee is part art and part science and as you can see it is a little both. If coffee is as important to you as it is to me the little extra effort put into brewing is well worth the end result.
The next Blog will be on grinding, a very important element in the process of brewing a great cup.
Well it is time for me to brew our morning pot. Have a great coffee day!!
Arnold
There are several types; paper, both white(bleached) and brown (natural), metal, sometimes called "Goldtone", cloth (vacuum pots) , and we could include the wire mesh in french press brewing & the metal porta filter used in espresso brewing. The vast majority of brewing is done with some form of automatic drip brewer. That method uses 2 types of filters; flat bottom or V shape. I prefer the V shape natural filter because I think you get the best extraction. Here is a tip no matter what kind of filter you use. About half way through the brewing stir the coffee in the filter to ensure all the grounds are being evenly saturated. Stirring will improve the extraction and give you a better more full body cup. Try it and let me know what you think.
No matter which type of paper filter you use rinse it with warm water before you put the ground coffee into it. Rinsing removes the sizing that all paper filters have and the slight paper taste. If you think that rinsing does not make a difference brew a pot of plain water using both methods and you will be able to see the difference in the clarity of the water. Metal flat or V shape filters trap coffee oils that are important to cup body so I never recommend a metal filter of any type for drip brewing.
One more tip; Give the brewed coffee a quick stir before serving. The first half of the brewed coffee is weaker than the last half and stirring evens the mix. If you are using a thermal carafe to brew into put the cap on and swirl the carafe to mix the coffee and then pour a little of the coffee into the sink clearing the pour spout of old coffee and water.
I started this Blog series by saying brewing coffee is part art and part science and as you can see it is a little both. If coffee is as important to you as it is to me the little extra effort put into brewing is well worth the end result.
The next Blog will be on grinding, a very important element in the process of brewing a great cup.
Well it is time for me to brew our morning pot. Have a great coffee day!!
Arnold
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
