Blog

  • New VFFs

    New VFFs

    I broke in a new pair of Vibram V-Runs this morning. It’s my 4th pair since 2020. I bought my first two pairs at roughly the same time in 2020, but didn’t start running regularly in them until spring 2022. Both eventually developed holes in the heel, and after holding on to them for way too long after I retired them from running, I finally tossed one pair last winter, and the other just last week. I bought my third pair at the beginning of 2024, and they’ve been my go-to running shoes for the last year and a half. No holes yet, but like the previous two, I suspect I used them a little bit past their expiration date. The featured image shows the soles side-by-side with the brand-new pair, and you can definitely see the difference in wear. I bought the new pair back in March, and they’ve been sitting in the closet waiting for me to decide it was time to switch. Today was the day. Assuming I keep up with my running, I should probably plan on replacing these every year or so. I’ll likely end up buying another pair around the end of next winter or so.

    Really tough run for me this morning. I got my 7 miles in, but I seriously hit the wall at around mile 5. Saturday, I made it 11 miles, but was totally wiped out at the end. Not sure whether it’s a hydration/electrolyte issue, a mild virus, or something else. My diet has not been the greatest over the past few days (eating out a lot) but I doubt that’s the sole cause. It’s not the weather, either, as it’s been much nicer the past several days than most of the second half of July. I am also still dealing with the calf tightness and outside-edge-of-foot achiness on the right side that has plagued me for most of the summer. As with previous years, everything will probably eventually resolve itself as mysteriously as it started.

  • Gracefully Ethiopia Sidamo Durato Bombe

    Gracefully Ethiopia Sidamo Durato Bombe

    • Beans: Ethiopia Sidamo Durato Bombe
      • Roaster: Gracefully Coffee Roasters (Baltimore, MD)
      • Origin: Bombe Kebele Village, Sidamo, Ethiopia
      • Roast level: Light
      • Roast date: 7/10/2025
      • Purchase date: 7/22/2025 from Gracefully curbside café
        Freeze date: n/a; Thaw date: n/a
        First cup: 7/29/2025; Last cup: TBD
      • Milling process: natural; Drying process: raised beds; Elevation: 2050 to 2150 MASL; Varietal: Ethiopian Heirloom;
      • Tasting notes: Blueberry, Strawberry, Watermelon
    • Switch with Ode grinder (1 cup):
      • 22g coffee / 300g water (1:13.6)
      • Ode: 2
      • Water at 100°C
      • Single Cup V60 Pourover with 50-60g bloom and 60g pulses – keep drain closed until end of bloom – Finishes around 03:30

    One of the cool things about buying beans from Gracefully is that the guy who sells them to you is the same guy who roasts them. While I was there, I asked if he had any brewing tips for these. The gist of what he told me was: brew them at around 1:13, bloom for 45 seconds, and shoot for a 3.5 to 4 minute total brew time. Based on that, I started these out at grind setting 2, which finishes right around 3:30. 1:13 is stronger than I’ve brewed anything in recent memory (dark roasts excluded) but I have to say that my first few cups have been pretty darned good. I’m working on perfecting my “swirling” technique to try to get as flat a bed of grounds as possible, which I think helps to produce more even and consistent extraction. The Switch helps with this, as it keeps the water in the cone during the bloom, which makes for more effective swirling. I’ve also been using slightly more bloom water lately (closer to 3x weight of the grounds, which is what I was doing a while back before cutting that down to 2x).

    I really like this the way it is, but if I were to adjust anything, I may try grinding a little finer still. I’m curious if another 15-20 seconds of draw-down time will make any difference in the taste. I’ll also confess that 1:13 is a tad stronger than I’m used to nowadays, so I might just see what it’s like at 1:14 to 1:15. I wonder if a lower ratio would bring out a little more fruitiness.

  • Early Run

    Early Run

    Typically in the summer, I like to try to get to bed by 10:00pm and get up between 5:00am and 5:30am. Up until this week, though, I’ve been in a rut where I’ve been staying up until 11 or so, and not getting moving until close to 6:30. My morning routine (breakfast, coffee, pool chores, etc) usually takes me around an hour, and as a result, on mornings that I run, I haven’t been getting out of the house until close to 8:00. By then, the sun is usually out, and the summer heat is on the rise. Things have gone better so far this week, though. I’m getting tired of roasting in the sun during my runs, and with an expected high of 98° today, I was highly motivated to get out early for my run. I got moving around 5:15, and managed to hit the pavement at 6:45, which is the earliest I’ve run all summer. What a difference an hour and 15 minutes makes — in spite of the omnipresent humidity, the temperature was a reasonable 74°F, and it was much shadier and less oppressive due to the lower sun angle. I ran my usual 7 mile fall-winter-spring weekday morning route, and it actually was almost sort of pleasant. Now that I’ve experienced it, maybe I can continue to motivate myself to run early for the rest of the summer.

    I am still dealing with stiffness issues with my right calf. Last week, I bought myself a percussion massage gun. It seems to work nicely, but initially, I overdid things, and aggravated the calf even more. It seemed to respond well to the heating pad, so I’ve been using that a bit lately, typically right before bed. I’ve also taken to wearing compression socks for a few hours after running, and I still use the foam roller prior to running. I suspect that the massage gun may fit in best as a post-run recovery aid, so I will see how things go. I’m also hoping that it will help with the occasional hip flexor/piriformis issues that I get on the left side.

  • Gracefully Jamberry

    Gracefully Jamberry

    • Beans: Jamberry (blend)
      • Roaster: Gracefully Coffee Roasters (Baltimore, MD)
      • Origins: Colombia, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Costa Rica
      • Roast level: Light to Medium
      • Roast date: 7/10/2025
      • Purchase date: 7/22/2025 from Gracefully curbside café
        Freeze date: n/a; Thaw date: n/a
        First cup: 7/22/2025; Last pour-over cup: 8/3/2025
      • Process: Natural process
      • Tasting notes: Mixed berry jam, honeyed apricot and chocolate covered almonds
    • Switch with Ode grinder (1 cup):
      • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
      • Ode: 3+2 to 4
      • Water at 100°C
      • Single Cup V60 Pourover with 50g bloom and 60g pulses – Finishes around 02:45
    • AeroPress with Prismo and JX grinder:
      • 17-ish grams coffee / 250-ish grams water (1:14 to 1:15)
      • JX: 16
      • Boiling water
      • Metal + single paper filter
      • Pour enough to wet beans; agitate; bloom until 0:45; pour to 0.25″ or so of top of cylinder; stir back and forth 7-8x; steep until 2:45 to 3:00; repeat stir; press slowly

    I was in the mood for a fruit-forward coffee, and this definitely lives up to that billing. It’s the first full bag I’ve opened since I bought the Hario Switch, and as such, has served as something of a “guinea pig” as I test out a few different brewing methods.

    • For cup #1, I kept the drain closed for the bloom phase, and open for the pour-over phase. This was a good cup with a nice mouthfeel — probably my favorite of the first 3, actually.
    • For cup #2, I kept the drain closed for the bloom and for the initial top-up to 120g, then opened it for the rest of the pour. I wasn’t crazy about how the bed ended up — there was a thicker ridge of grounds left at the high water mark, which the ending swirl didn’t take care of. Maybe I should swirl it right before I open the drain. Whatever the case, the cup tasted fairly similar to cup #1, so there’s probably not much point in brewing it this way going forward.
    • For cup #3, I tried a full-immersion brew. After the bloom, I kept the drain closed and poured all the way to 300g without stopping. Then, I swirled, steeped until 02:30, and opened the drain. It took around 30 seconds to drain down, finishing at 03:00. The cup was fine, but tasted a little bit over-extracted. I would probably want to use a coarser grind if I was going to brew it like this regularly. My real goal here was to see how it tasted, and to see if the size 3 Switch could accommodate a full 300g immersion brew. The answer is yes, with plenty of room to spare.

    Based on these results, I’ll probably end up using method #1 for subsequent cups. I likely will also try brewing a cup or two in the regular V60, to see how it compares to the Switch cups.

    7/27: This afternoon, grind setting 3 with method #1 produced a better cup than the coarser settings I had been using initially. There was more of a roasty flavor to balance out the fruity acidity. The fruit flavors came through a little more prominently as the cup started to cool. The draw-down took a few seconds longer, as well.

    7/31: Tried standard size 2 V60 this afternoon with grind setting 3. Draw-down finished around 02:40. The cup was very under-extracted. The immersion-style bloom phase I’ve been doing with the Switch definitely makes a difference. Based on everything I’ve tried to date, it seems like the grind coarseness needs to vary directly with the immersion time (e.g. no immersion == finer grind, longer immersion == coarser grind). Not really a huge revelation there.

    8/2: Grind 3+2, 23g coffee, 300g water (1:13) — Another accidental brew this morning. I forgot to close the switch drain during the bloom, so instead, I closed it for the rest of the pour. Rather than pouring all at once, I used my usual pulse technique, finishing the pour at 02:10. Lastly, instead of steeping it afterwards (per cup #3 notes above), I swirled and immediately opened the drain after pouring all the water. I definitely wasn’t fully awake this morning, but the cup turned out pretty good. It did not seem over-extracted like cup #3. It was very strong — I had intended to use more water for a ratio closer to 1:15, but forgot (the beans are almost gone, which often means brewing a couple of larger cups to avoid ending up with leftovers). I may brew the final cup the same way, maybe with 10-20 more grams of water.

    AeroPress notes (8/4): I brought enough beans to the office to make 2 cups. The first was on Wednesday 7/30, and the second likely will be Wednesday 8/6. Nowadays, I mostly use the AeroPress when I’m away from home, either at the office or traveling. As I typically lack access to a scale and (sometimes) a kettle, I eyeball the variables I can’t control precisely, like bean/water ratio, water temperature, etc. In spite of that, I’ve found that the AeroPress produces good cups fairly consistently with a wide variety of beans. I’ve been using essentially the same brew method for over a year now (shown above), and should probably create a page for it at this point. The funny thing is, after all of the tinkering around I did with the AP over the first year or so that I owned it, the technique I use now is very similar to that shown in the “how to use” instructions on the AeroPress web site. The biggest differences are (1) Prismo cap to stop initial drip-thru; (2) 45-second bloom for light to medium roasted beans; (3) longer steep time; and (4) second stir immediately before pressing.

  • Quick notes

    Quick notes

    We have two nice-for-July days this week (yesterday and today), and I’m trying to make the most of them before the heat returns for the end of the week. Yesterday, we got out on the water for a brief paddle from Solley Cove Park to Tanyard Cove and back. That has been a popular destination for me this year, as I work to get proficient on the stand-up paddleboard. I had to “MacGyver” the paddle a bit, as the cheap metal ferrule that connects the halves together broke as I was taking the paddle apart to put it in the car. As with everything else these days, you get what you pay for, and I guess I can’t expect a top-quality paddle in a starter SUP kit. To get us out on the water, I used a clip from a swimming pool brush, but it is not a perfect fit, as the ferrule is smaller than the hole in the paddle shaft. I wrapped a rubber band around the shaft to keep it from sliding back and forth, and it worked fine, but it looks like my first off-season upgrade is going to be a better-quality paddle. I’ll have to keep an eye out and see if REI has any end-of-season closeout discounts on SUP paddles, as they seem to run more expensive than kayak paddles. I’m also going to see if I can find a replacement ferrule to repair my existing paddle.

    Today, I rode my mountain bike to the office for the first time since probably late spring. As I wrote the other day, I don’t ride off-road much in the summer, because it’s usually either too hot, too humid, or too wet. Even when conditions are ideal, there’s a ton of poison ivy and other overgrowth along the trails this time of year. Today was great — the trails had a lot of muddy spots, but were mostly good. I spent more time on the bike than off. Time will tell if I end up with any spots of poison ivy. The only negative is that my seat post dropper cable seems to be stuck or seized up. I don’t use the dropper much, so it’s not going to keep me from riding the bike, but I guess I am going to need to take it in to the shop at some point.

    I have been pretty good with swimming regularly this summer. Swimming and road biking are the two outdoor activities that I tolerate the best, and look forward to doing the most, during the hottest months of the summer. Very recently (within the past week or so) I’ve started doing the breast stroke portion of my swimming workouts without a tether. I’ve found that it takes me about 20 strokes to cover a length of the pool, so I can complete a 60-stroke set with only two turn-arounds. Next, I may see how it works out with backstroke. If it’s practical, I think a really good way to divide up the workout would be: start out untethered and swim 60 breast, 60 back, 60 breast, 60 back, 60 breast, and 60 back. Then, put the tether on and swim 60 front crawl, 60 butterfly, 60 crawl, 60 butterfly, 60 crawl, and 60 butterfly.

  • Brain Dump

    Brain Dump

    Just a bunch of random musings for today.

    • Today was the first run I’ve taken in a long time where I had to stop over a mile short of my intended distance. I totally pooped out just shy of mile 6. I can’t blame the weather, as we are finally getting a brief reprieve from the relentless humidity of the past several weeks. It was still muggy, but the dew point was below 70, and for the first time in ages, my shirt wasn’t completely soaked when I got home. The culprit may have been the 3 vials of blood I had drawn for lab work earlier in the morning. I didn’t think that would be enough to cause issues, but perhaps I was wrong. I guess I should schedule my blood work appointments for days when I am not planning to run. Live and learn.
    • I’ve been battling mild pain on the outer edge of my right heel for most of the summer. It is not enough to keep me from running, but I am noticing that it starts to get worse toward the end of long runs as I get tired. I am also noticing occasional stiffness in my right calf, and I’m not sure if that’s a cause or an effect. I noted almost identical issues in summer 2023, and a similar issue on the left side in late 2023/early 2024. I hypothesized that the summer issue might be swimming related, and it’s plausible, if for no other reason than it started to crop up at around the same time I started swimming almost every day. That said, it’s hard to believe that swimming could be at fault for calf/heel issues. It probably has more to do with swimming working muscles that I don’t use at other times of the year, and imbalances manifesting as muscle/fascia tissue tightness somewhere in my leg that is telegraphing to the heel. I’m trying to work on it by doing toe-squat stretches, foam rolling, and heel walking, all of which help to a degree, but the problem is still there.
    • I made cold brew coffee in the French press this week with some Lidl store-brand pre-ground dark roast coffee, and it was a messy undertaking. The coffee is ground a little too fine for the French press, and quickly plugged up the plunger. I gave it a stir, but then a ton of sludge got past the plunger and into the brew. I filtered it out by pouring it through a funnel lined with a paper V60 filter, which took forever. It turned out OK, but if I’m going to use pre-ground coffee, I think I’m going to need to use something other than the French press to make the cold brew.
    • I have really missed mountain biking this summer. Whenever I want to go, it always seems to be either too hot/humid or too wet. Wednesday is looking like it might work out, and it’s my usual day to go to work, so I’m going to cross my fingers and hope I can finally get out on the trail again. Same deal with paddling — I haven’t been out since Delaware in late June. Hoping to do something about that tomorrow morning.

  • Hario Switch

    Hario Switch

    I bought myself a Hario Switch this week. The Switch is essentially a V60 dripper with a rubber base and a lever-operated stopper. This provides more control over how long the water stays in the cone, so it can be used to make immersion-style brews as well as standard pour-overs (and combinations of the two methods). I like to brew a wide variety of different coffees, and while most of them work really well with the standard V60, with some of them, I struggle to get consistent cups. Most of the time, the issue is with weak/under-extracted brews, more often than not when I brew a single cup at a time. My hope is that the Switch will allow these coffees to steep a little longer, so getting even extraction is less dependent on timing and pouring technique. Or something like that. The Switch I bought has a glass cone, and is a size 3, which is the largest available. An article I read somewhere online recommended going with the size 3, because it can hold more water should I ever decide to try a full-volume immersion brew. I don’t have a standard size 3 V60, either, so the switch also gives me an option for brewing larger pour-over batches (e.g. for guests).

    I used the switch for the first time today, with the coffee I had on hand (Zeke’s Beans of Summer). I ground 19.5g of beans at Ode setting 3+2, and brewed them with 300g water (1:15.4). To start, with the Switch’s drain closed, I poured 50g bloom water, agitated, and steeped until 0:45. Then, I opened the drain and followed my standard single-cup V60 technique the rest of the way. So, the bloom phase was the only variation from my usual way of doing things. This had more of an effect than I had expected: the finished cup had a more robust mouthfeel, and seemed a little “better” overall, than the other recent V60 cups I’ve brewed with these beans. Perhaps the “immersion bloom” is helping to wet the beans more evenly and leading to more consistent extraction. It will be interesting to see how subsequent cups turn out.

    7/18: This afternoon’s cup was the third that I’ve brewed like this, and I’d put it up against anything I’ve brewed in the past 2 years. The only thing I’m doing differently is blooming with the Switch drain closed, and that seems to have made a huge difference. I’m starting to think that I may be onto something here.

    7/23: When appropriate, I’ll post further Switch brewing notes with my entries for specific coffees. I’m thinking I’ll brew most of my switch cups using either the above technique (immersion bloom followed by standard pour-over) or by doing a full-immersion brew with the drain closed, which I have yet to try. The interesting thing about the latter is that it will let me steep the coffee for any length of time, just like a French press or AeroPress.

  • Weekend Report

    Weekend Report

    We have had a stretch of very typical July weather this past week. It’s been hot, but temperatures have maxed out in the low 90s. There have been storms most days. And, of course, the one great constant: it’s been humid, especially this weekend. It may sound like I’m complaining, but I’ll take this weather over the alternative: a scorching heat wave with temperatures pushing 100 and no rain. In July, where the weather is concerned, you always take the lesser of the evils. If we survive this, how far behind can cool, crisp autumn days be?

    I often get lazy and lethargic in the summer heat, so I was proud of myself for keeping up with my routine this weekend. I ran 10K on Saturday and biked 25 miles today (Sunday). The run was longer than I had planned, and the bike ride was shorter. For the run, I figured I’d go about 4 miles and then finish up with some deep-water running in the pool, but I paced myself pretty well and managed to finish 6.5 miles on land. I stuck to a route that had a lot of shade, and also benefited from some low clouds for the first half of the run. Today, I had planned a 30+ mile ride, but just wasn’t feeling it. In the heat, I usually tolerate biking a little bit better than running, because biking generates a 10-15mph cooling breeze. This morning, though, it was so humid that the air movement wasn’t cooling effectively, and 45 minutes in, my shirt was completely soaked with sweat. I felt fine otherwise, but figured that lacking a source of electrolyte replenishment, it would be best to cut the ride short. Come September and October, there will be plenty of pleasant mornings for 30-40 mile rides, so there’s no sense in overdoing things.

  • Zeke’s Tell Tale Decaf

    Zeke’s Tell Tale Decaf

    • Beans: Tell Tale Decaf (blend)
      • Roaster: Zeke’s Coffee (Baltimore, MD)
      • Origin: “Smoky Italian roast and lightly roasted Central American”
      • Roast level: Medium/Dark (6/8)
      • Roast date: unknown (batch #25000567)
      • Purchase date: 6/15/2025 from Zeke’s at Baltimore Farmer’s Market
        Freeze date: 6/20/2025; Thaw date: 7/10/2025
        First cup: 6/17/2025 or 6/18/25; Last cup: TBD
      • Process: Water processed decaf
      • Tasting notes: none noted on bag
    • V60 with Ode grinder (2 cups):
      • 40g coffee / 600g water (1:15)
      • Ode: 4
      • Water at 90°C
      • Size 2 V60 cone
      • Pour 80g to bloom and agitate; at 0:45, pour to 300g; wait for some draw-down (try to keep cone mostly full but not overflowing); pour to 450g; draw down a little more; pour to 600g; swirl — finishes 03:20-03:30
    • V60 with Ode grinder (1 cup):
      • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
      • Ode: 4
      • Water at 90°C
      • Size 1 V60 cone
      • Single Cup V60 Pourover with 50g bloom and 60g pulses – Finishes around 03:00

    I had brewed 2 or 3 cups of this before freezing it last month, but didn’t get around to typing up any notes until now. I believe that the local grocery store carries this blend, but we bought this bag directly from the roaster at the Baltimore Farmer’s Market. It’s the first decaf from Zeke’s that I’ve tried. I like this a lot — it is very roasty and well-balanced, with strong hints of chocolate. I will add notes for brewing a single cup once I’ve done it again.

    7/15: Added notes for brewing a single cup. The beans draw down more slowly, and leave more fines in the grinder, than most of the other Zeke’s beans that I’ve brewed.

  • Amity Brazil Daterra

    Amity Brazil Daterra

    • Beans: Brazil — Daterra Sweet Yellow (8oz)
      • Roaster: Amity Coffee Roasters (Greenwood, DE)
      • Origin: Brazil (Campinas)
      • Roast level: Medium
      • Roast date: 6/24/2025
      • Purchase date: 6/29/2025 at T. S. Smith Orchard Point Market in Bridgeville, DE
        First cup: 7/7/2025; Last cup: 7/12/2025
      • Process: wet
      • Tasting notes: Chocolaty/Nutty
    • V60 with Ode grinder:
      • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
      • Ode: 4
      • Water at 99°C
      • Recipe: Single Cup V60 Pourover with size 1 cone, 50g bloom water and 60g pulses – finishes around 02:40

    This is the third bag I’ve had from Amity, all of them single-origin beans, and all of them purchased at T. S. Smith while en route either to or from Bethany. The bags here always seem to be fresh, I guess partially because the roaster is only 4 miles away. One of these years, I should make the slight detour to Greenwood to stop there, as I suspect they’ll have a wider selection of beans.

    My first and second cups (1:15 at grind 4 and 99°C water) were nice and smooth, and I agree with the stated tasting notes. Unless something convinces me otherwise, I’ll just keep brewing them like this.

    7/9: Had my first bad cup this morning- guessing poor technique was the culprit, as I poured a little on the fast side and the draw-down finished faster than usual. The cup was weak and under-extracted. Next time, I am going to try 50g pulses to try to get a longer draw-down time. I have a feeling that if I can keep water in the cone until 03:00 or so, I should get better extraction.

    7/10: 50g pulses did stretch things out a bit, but didn’t improve things much, nor did a finer grind (setting 3). I noticed a lot more grounds than usual stuck in the grinder chute after the last couple of cups, so before I brewed this afternoon’s cup, I brushed the chute out as best I could. Then, I went back to how I initially brewed it, except I nudged the grind one click finer to 3+2. The resulting cup was better than yesterdays’, but still didn’t seem quite as good as my first two.

    7/12: I brewed two larger cups to finish the bag up (350g water at 1:15) and I used grind setting 3+2 with the size 2 V60. As I’ve very frequently noted, the draw-down was slower than with the smaller cone, finishing at 02:55-03:00, and it seemed like the cups were a little better extracted. I still feel like they could have been better, though — if I buy these beans again at some point, it may make sense to try immersion instead of pour-over.