magicien

Quelques perles de membres Montréalais sur le Forum de Coffeegeek:

En parlant des Cafés à Montréal...

This problem is everywhere. Almost nobody does anything but overstretch to stiff dishwater foam, then scald the milk. At Cafe Italia, they do very high volume, use homogenized milk (3.5%), and don't overstretch or overheat, so it still comes out yummy, but it's still not microfoam in the true sense of the word.

The real problem seems to be that most people - baristi and clients alike -  don't know that there is any other way to steam milk. Most people seems to think that a big heap of tasteless foam on top of some bitter 'espresso' = cappuccino/latte. That's clearly good enough for the market, so until someone raises the bar, it will remain that way across the board.

Another issue may be more delicate. That is the old-country issue. The people of Italian descent that have come to North America are predominantly from the South of the country. This is traditionally a poorer region, and one that is not currently in vogue for its cuisine.

More desirable to modern gourmets is the cuisine (and coffee) of the North of Italy, a more affluent region that saw much less emigration over the last 150 years. I am talking about Tuscany, Amalfi, and the whole Milan region. This is the source of the lighter roasted espresso blends so prized by North American non-Italian espresso lovers.

The reason I see it as delicate regards the superiority/inferiority complex that characterizes the public relationship between these two parts of the same country. Basically, it is insulting to suggest to someone from one area that something from another area might be preferable (even if it's only a personal opinion). I guess it might be the equivalent of telling a Kentucky barbeque specialist that you prefer Texas brisket, except with centuries more history.

So until someone without these biases gets into the game, we in Montreal anyway will be stuck with what we have - dark oily beans, and indifferent baristi (with some notable exceptions).

- Groovygear

A propos de sucrer son café:

I don't know too much about coffee beans and roasting, but I have heard before that's it's preferable to put sugar in your coffee. Trust me, I was as surprised as you guys when one of my friends told me I hadn't been drinking my espresso correctly for over 2 years, so I did some research. Here's what I found:

- Putting a little sugar in the coffee is meant to neutralize the tannic acid it contains. Without sugar in your cup, your palet (taste buds) is left partially numb to the full flavor and body extracted from the beans.
- I know that taste is something very subjective, but many high-end coffee roasters (like Illy and Lavazza) have broken down the elements that make up your cup of espresso and specified that the tannic acid doesn't contribute to the flavor and aroma, quite the opposite. Liking the taste of tannin or not is subjective, but chemistry is as objective as it gets.
- The same phenomenon is found in other food products: chocolate and wine. That's why even the most bitter chocolate bars have a minimum of sugar in them, so you can actually taste it and not the tanin. And guess what, if the concentration of tannic acid is too elevated when a wine is prepared (even in some very high quality wines) they add a little sugar to neutralize it.

All in all, I tried it out for myself and it really does make a difference. It tastes better and it also becomes much easier to detect the nuances between different blends. I usually put in just an espresso spoon of your everyday sugar. If you put too much in you change the taste, just a little (even a pinch) let's you access the flavor.

- Jimmy_luv_coffee

Talking about Espresso Italiano tasting actually brings me to another subject that was debated on this forum: robusta in espresso blends.
Yes, it's true, if you make an espresso with a coffee blend that's mostly made up of Robusta it probably won't be very good (and it will contain more caffeine). However, the robusta beans are never really meant to be the dominant ingredient of a blend. Robusta has a pretty bad reputation on the North American market because people started buying it in bulk and drinking it alone (then, of course, it tasted bad like 9 out of 10 times). Nevertheless, adding a small concentration of robusta (usually between 5 % and 15 % to your espresso blend can be very beneficial for a couple of reasons:

- it increases the crema produced by the blend
- it can give your espresso more "punch" (stronger and with more body)

Now here's where the debate starts off: few people will appreciate both 100 % arabica blends and partially robusta blends. Why ? Well, for the same reason that not everyone likes the same beers or wines (their taste preferences). 100 % arabica coffees are more than often very mellow yet quite flavorful and long in mouth. Blends with robusta are usually stronger, sometimes shorter in mouth, but richer in flavor. That's why a lot of arabica drinkers don't like blends with robusta, it's just too intense for their taste buds. On the other hand, if you're someone looking for a coffee with more body and a more intense flavor, then you have to go with a blend containing some robusta.

Note: Like the arabica, there are innumerable qualities of robusta available on the market. Some robusta beans are the same quality as the finest arabica beans. Don't be misleaded by the robusta's price, the high-end robusta will always cost less than the high-end arabica mostly because of lower farming costs.

The way I see it, arguing over which is better (100% arabica or partially robusta) is ridiculous. It's like the difference between Corona-type beers (very mellow) and Heineken-type beers (stronger). There are different qualities available in each camp, but one category isn't really "better" than the other.

Don't just let everyone shove what they like down your throat, follow your own tastes. (and just because YOU don't like a certain blend doesn't necessarily make it a bad coffee...)

- Jimmy_luv_coffee

Malheureusement, il n'a fait que seulement 3 post sur le Forum...

Aller jetter un coup d'oeil au site de Koax également qui traite de l'espresso en Français

http://www.caffecaffe.ca