Calgary Farmers’ Market flaunts its bounty, and some espresso reflections

…But first a decent latte art attempt from a couple of weeks ago:

I did this one in a 5.5 oz Muti porcelain cappuccino cup (cost $90 at the Yorkville Muti store in Toronto, so I’m afraid to use it), and it’s small volume but nice and wide, a great canvas.

Anyway, I was at the Calgary Farmers’ Market today, and the summer bounty is a beautiful thing. Peaches are peaking, apricots are massive. Kris at The Daily Bagel let me know last week this his ovens are back and operational, so I picked up a dozen for our Montreal bagel-deprived kitchen (and something must have gone very right with the repair, because they are OUTSTANDING this time, remind me of Kettleman’s in Ottawa). Picked up two curries from Shef’s Fiery Kitchen (Chicken Kuku Paka and a Beef one that’s new to the menu- sort of a beef roganjosh, not as spicy as vindaloo but plenty spicy), and started off with my weekly visit to Phil and Sebastian for an espresso. It’s Black Cat this week, a happy accident- I love their usual Hines, LOVE it, but I love Black Cat too, with all its chocolaty notes and sweet smoothness. When I first started drinking espresso, I thought it would always taste the same if made with care because “espresso” defined and described a particular roast of coffee. Since I always bought either “French roast” if on offer (in other words, beans as black as coal, the kind of roast used in Vietnamese Cafe Sua Da) or whatever the shop called “espresso,” I was basically correct. You roast super dark, you destroy all the distinctive qualities of the bean.

Now I’m obviously more educated in the differences among roasts and more importantly the differences among varietals, but I’m also amazed by how distinctive different BLENDS are. Since I don’t know, usually, the origins that go into blends, I’m not sure what my blend “sweet spot” is, but I’d love to find out and to roast my own. I know, for now, that among the espresso blends that I use now–a revolving line-up of Big Mountain, Hines Public Market, 49th Parallel Epic, Intelligentsia Black Cat, and 49th Parallel Organic–all have unique profiles, and it’s not because they’re that different roast-wise. Big Mountain is definitely lighter than Black Cat, but nothing remotely approaches my former loves, “French roast” and, say, Starbucks espresso or Second Cup “forza.” The beans I use now are all fresh and I love them all in different ways. But I’d love to find something “perfect” and be able to make it myself.

I bought a half pound of Ethiopian Abeba (roasted by Novo Coffee). I’ve had mostly good luck with single origin espresso- and it has to be espresso since I don’t own a drip coffeemaker- especially Ethiopian (Sidamo), so I look forward to trying this and reporting about it. Sebastian showed me a new single-origin bean, an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, that Novo calls “Adado Espresso.” I like the sound of this.