Fruddled Gruntbugglies

Author: lpaulriddle

  • Zeke’s Market Blend Decaf

    Zeke’s Market Blend Decaf

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    • Beans: Market Blend Decaf (blend)
      • Roaster: Zeke’s Coffee (Baltimore, MD)
      • Origin: Central and South America
      • Roast level: Medium (5/8)
      • Roast date: 8/25/2025
      • Purchase date: Late August 2025 at Green Valley Marketplace (Elkridge, MD)
        Freeze date: n/a; Thaw date: n/a
        First cup: Late August or early September 2025; Last cup: TBD
      • Process: Water processed decaf
      • Tasting notes: Rich, bittersweet chocolate
    • V60 with Ode grinder (1 cup):
      • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
      • Ode: 4
      • Water at 95°C
      • Size 1 V60 cone
      • Single Cup V60 Pourover with 60g bloom and 60g pulses – Finishes around 03:10

    This is a perfectly good decaf, though based on my notes, I think I slightly prefer Zeke’s Tell Tale Decaf. I brewed those identically to these, with the exception of the water temperature (90°C vs 95°C).

    I wonder if this is the same blend as regular, caffeinated Zeke’s Market Blend. If so, it would be interesting to compare the two side-by-side. It has been over a year since I’ve had the caffeinated version, so my memory of how it tastes/tasted is a little hazy. I suspect that they change things up with this from time to time, as the web site’s version is different from the bag I have now: It shows a darker roast (6/8) and includes beans from Africa, which this bag doesn’t mention.

  • This year’s pool hack

    This year’s pool hack

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    Pool season is winding down. This year, we added a Betta SE robotic skimmer to our arsenal of pool gadgets, and it has worked out pretty well, although it is definitely most useful in July and August, when it can run 24×7. It can’t quite keep up with the massive onslaught of Tulip Poplar leaves in late summer, not that I really expected it to. It also can’t run when the Polaris is in the pool, as it gets caught on the hose. Next year, I may consider adding a cordless robotic vacuum like the Aiper Scuba S1, which I’ve read extensively about on troublefreepool.com. I don’t foresee getting rid of the Polaris, but it would be great to have something that can run at the same time as the Betta for day-to-day cleaning.

    Speaking of the Polaris, it wouldn’t be a proper pool season if something didn’t go wrong with it. This year’s issue was mostly our fault, as we’ve been connecting and disconnecting the hose a lot more often (because of the Betta) and instead of using the quick release, we’ve been screwing it in and out of the wall fitting. I think over time, this has worn the threads down on the fitting, and when I went to run the Polaris a week or so ago, the fitting would no longer stay screwed in to the wall. As a cheap fix, I went to Lowes and picked up a 1.5″ PVC male and 1.5″ female adapter, and cemented them together to make a short extension. I screwed the Polaris fitting into the female side, and the male side into the pool wall fitting. I’m not sure if the issue was with the Polaris fitting or the wall fitting, but either way, now the hose no longer ejects out of the wall when I turn the booster pump on. I suspect that the new fittings provide a little bit more good thread for everything to screw together securely.

    We’ve got a coastal storm working its way inland just to the south of us, so it’s been kind of a dreary, breezy, rainy day. In spite of that, I managed to get in the pool for my laps. I’m not sure what the water temperature was, but it felt warm compared to the 67°F air with chilly drizzle. There’s a warm-up coming later this week, so I’m hoping for a couple more weeks of swimming this year.

  • Mid September Musings

    Mid September Musings

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    We could definitely use a bit more rain, but the dry weather has made for good mountain biking conditions in early September. Unfortunately, the summer growth is still pretty thick, particularly on the Baltimore County side of PVSP, and I’ve picked some poison ivy up the past couple of times I’ve ridden on that side of the river. After sparing the eastern part of PVSP for several years, wavyleaf basketgrass is now flanking the trails almost everywhere, so I have to be mindful not to bring the seeds home with me, lest the crap end up in my yard (I’ve already got some coming up near the pool equipment, which I pull up diligently every summer, and [knock on wood] have managed to keep from spreading so far). The trail that runs east from Belmont Woods Rd down to Rockburn Branch is in extremely poor shape nowadays, having suffered from severe erosion for years, and it’s becoming difficult to ride cleanly. But other than all that, everything is great. 😊 Today, instead of my usual commute to work, I took a 14-mile round trip through the Howard County side of Avalon, including the Bloede Dam Trail and Bloede Extension, which runs from Garrett’s Pass down to the river west of the former Bloede Dam site, and then out to Ilchester Road. This was only my second time riding this trail. It’s definitely one of the more technically difficult trails on this side of the park, featuring a lot of rock gardens and rocky descents. I did fairly well on it today, staying on the bike more than I did my first time out (a couple of winters ago). I think it will be good practice to try riding it a little more often. I also rode Ridge Trail eastbound from River Road, which is another butt-kicker. It’s nice to be getting back out on my mountain bikes more regularly.

    We’re also getting into peak paddling season, and I’m trying to get out on the water every week or so, although I haven’t been all that successful recently. This past Tuesday, I went back to Marley Creek with the paddleboard and went 4 or 5 miles, which is my longest outing on the SUP thus far. On the return leg, the headwind was kicking up to 20-25 mph (about 10-15 mph more than forecast) and I was really struggling against the wind. The board handled the choppy water fairly well, but I had to kneel down for the last 1.5 mile or so, which was a bit hard on my knees. Had I known it was going to be that windy, I probably would have gone another day instead. Next week, I may try to take my annual paddle on the tidal Patapsco. The tides look most favorable later in the week, so we’ll see how that works out with my schedule.

    The sunny weather has also been good for swimming. September can be a fickle swimming month, as all it takes is 2 days or so of overcast, dreary weather to kill the season. My front-crawl kicking seems to be improving, which I say because my calves don’t seem to be getting as tight any more. Next up is to try to improve backstroke kicking, but that’s a project for next year.

    Lastly, most of the issues that dogged my running over the summer (as chronicled in earlier posts) have cleared up, so I’m back to running 20-25 miles a week, and slowly upping my mileage for my weekend long runs. My goal this season is to try to run an 18-19 miler by early spring. We’ll see if it happens.

  • Gracefully The Jukebox

    Gracefully The Jukebox

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    • Beans: “The Jukebox” (blend)
      • Roaster: Gracefully Coffee Roasters (Baltimore, MD)
      • Origin: Brazil, Costa Rica
      • Roast level: Medium
      • Roast date: 8/14/2025
      • Purchase date: 8/28/2025 from Gracefully curbside café
        Freeze date: 8/29/2025; Thaw date: 9/5 or 9/6/2025
        First cup: 9/7/2025; Last cup: 9/16/2025
      • Tasting notes: Dark chocolate, almond, caramel
    • V60 with Ode grinder (1 cup):
      • 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
      • Ode: 3
      • Water at 99°C
      • Single Cup V60 Pourover with size 2 cone, 60g bloom and 60g pulses – Finishes anywhere from 02:50 to 03:10

    These beans look like they’re kind of on the light end of a medium roast, and there are no visible oils on the beans. I started out with the water just under boiling, and Ode at grind setting 4. This had kind of a nutty/almond taste, which was pleasant enough, so I brewed several cups at these settings. Today, I tried grind setting 3, and I believe it brought out a little bit more of the promised chocolate/caramel. I think I prefer it at this setting. The web site mentions that it’s good in the French press, so if I ever have occasion to brew more than one cup at once, I might give that a try.

  • Gracefully Sulawesi Toraja

    Gracefully Sulawesi Toraja

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    • Beans: Sulawesi Toraja (Sapan Minanga Grade 1)
      • Roaster: Gracefully Coffee Roasters (Baltimore, MD)
      • Origin: South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia
      • Roast level: Dark
      • Roast date: 8/14/2025
      • Purchase date: 8/28/2025 from Gracefully curbside café
        Freeze date: n/a; Thaw date: n/a
        First cup: 8/30/2025; Last cup: 09/07/2025
      • Milling process: wet hulled; Drying process: patio and solar dried machine; Elevation: 1200 to 1300 MASL; Varietals: Catimor, S-795, Typica
      • Tasting notes: Dark chocolate, molasses, cedar
    • Switch with Ode grinder (1 cup):
      • 22g coffee / 300g water (1:13.6)
      • Ode: 4+2
      • Water at 95°C
      • Single Cup V60 Pourover with 60g bloom and 60g pulses – keep drain closed until end of bloom – Finishes around 02:30

    I brewed 2 or 3 cups in the regular size 2 V60 at grind setting 4 initially, and they were perfectly fine, but grind 5 with the Switch (per above) seems to yield slightly smoother cups. As with most Indonesian coffees I’ve brewed, it works well with a coarser grind, and draws down quickly. Going forward, I might consider using setting 5 on the Ode as a starting point for Indonesian beans. Also, as is typical of darker roasts, it seems best at a somewhat strong ratio.

    9/7: This was a tasty dark roast that produced very consistent cups. I brewed the last few cups at setting 4+2, and while it was subtle, it seemed slightly richer at that setting than at 5. I do think that using the Switch with the drain closed during bloom helps to get better extraction out of beans like this that drain down quickly.

  • Labor Day Weekend Already

    Labor Day Weekend Already

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    Where has this summer gone? It seems like just yesterday, I was complaining about how hot it was. The second half of August started out very cool and damp, with a persistent NE wind due to an offshore hurricane. The wind dumped a huge mess of tulip poplar leaves in the pool, prompting me to cover it with a leaf net, and costing us about a week of swimming. Then, the weather turned dry, pleasant and fall-like. We could really use some rain at this point, but the sunny weather has been good for swimming. The pool temperature has been a consistent 80-82, and the leaves have been fairly manageable for this time of year.

    I have temporarily stopped swimming backstroke while I work on my kicking technique. I’ve been trying to eliminate “bicycling” by speeding up my kick cadence and kicking from my hips/glutes (sort of a fluttering motion) instead of my legs. I’ve gotten to the point where it feels comfortable with front crawl, but backstroke is still a work in progress. I’m still not 100% sure I’m doing it correctly, but I think it’s an improvement. My larger goal is to try to avoid issues with tight calves, which have really been a problem this summer. Given where we are in the swimming season, I’m probably just going to stop backstroke altogether and plan to pick it back up next year.

    The other thing I’ve been struggling with for the past week or so is dysautonomia. I have had periodic episodes since I was in my 20s, and nowadays, I’d say it happens once or twice a year on average. This past week was a particularly nasty flare-up. The primary symptoms are occasional queasiness, dizziness, palpitations, chest/shoulder tightness, and anxiety/uneasiness. When it first happened in my 20s, I had a stress test and echocardiogram to rule out heart issues, and ever since then, I’ve just sort of dealt with it when it happens. There’s not much to do other than wait it out (a typical episode lasts around a week), but some things that occasionally help include meditation, deep breathing, exercise, sound therapy (binaural beats), massage gun (lats, delts and pecs), and keeping myself mentally occupied. It seems to be abating now, as I write this, but I wanted to mention it here so I can refer back to this post in future years. I am curious if it’s something that crops up regularly at certain times of year.

  • Rise Up Guatemala (bag #3)

    Rise Up Guatemala (bag #3)

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    • Beans: Guatemala (Asociación Chajulense, Quiché)
      • Roaster: Rise Up Coffee Roasters (Easton, MD)
      • Origin: Guatemala
      • Roast level: Medium (3/5)
      • Roast date: 7/22/2025
      • Purchase date: 7/18/2025 from Green Valley Marketplace in Elkridge
        Freeze date: n/a; Thaw date: n/a
        First cup: around 8/20/2025; Last cup: TBD
      • Elevation: 1100 to 1800 MASL; Certifications: Fair trade, organic
      • Tasting notes: Low-toned, with pungent earthy and cedary notes supporting tart citrus and fruit. Rich acidity; milky but lively mouthfeel. Sweet-toned and deep in the finish.
    • Previous bags: July-August 2024, April 2024
    • Switch with Ode grinder (immersion method):
      • 20g coffee / 300g water
      • Ode: 3
      • Water at 95°C
      • Close drain / pour 50-60g bloom and agitate / at 0:45, pour to 300g / swirl / steep until 02:00-02:10 / stir once or twice in both directions and open drain / should finish around 02:50-03:00

    My struggles with brewing these beans are well-documented in my two prior posts. I think a lot of it has had to do with not knowing what to expect from the beans on one hand, as well as my still-evolving palate for coffee. I don’t recall reading the above tasting notes prior to today (they are listed on the web site, but not the bag) and they were rather eye-opening. I think I was interpreting “rich acidity” and “tart citrus” as “unpleasant bitterness”, but I now suspect that’s how the beans are supposed to taste. It certainly explains why I constantly thought the cups were either bitter or weak. I would compensate for perceived bitterness by dropping the water temperature or making the grind coarser, both of which made it taste weak and under-extracted.

    For this bag, I have brewed all of my cups with the Switch, using an immersion method. I initially went down the same rabbit hole as before, trying to eliminate “bitterness”, first dropping the temperature to 90, and then 85. Then I tried increasing the grind setting from 3 to 4 (coarser). All of these were watery and lifeless. Eventually, I realized that the problem was more likely with me than the coffee. It’s not so much “bitter” as it is tart, kind of akin to an India Pale Ale. Those were decidedly an acquired taste for me, and so it has gone with this coffee.

    I still think that immersion works better than pour-over for this coffee. At grind 3, the water drains through way too fast. Knowing what I know now, though, I wonder if a pour-over would turn out well if I used a really fine grind, like 2 or under. Not sure if I’ll try that with this bag or not. It’s also worth noting that these are the only single-origin beans from Guatemala that I’ve ever brewed. I’m curious if others will behave similarly.

    8/30: My curiosity got the better of me, and I tried making a few pour-overs with a fine grind. I went all the way down to 1+1 (one click from the finest setting on the Ode) and brewed with the Switch, keeping the drain closed for the bloom and finishing the pour at 02:00 per my usual recipe. With this setup, it finished draining down at around 02:50. Results were mixed — the first two cups were pretty good, but the final two were weak and watery. Not sure where I went wrong with those, but it does reinforce my theory that immersion is the way to go with these beans (either that, or they’re going stale). I have 36g left, so I’m going to take the rest to work and brew it in the AeroPress. Also, if I buy these again at some point, I’m going to look for a bag that is no more than a week past the roast date.

  • Run Commute

    Run Commute

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    I’ve often thought that running could be a good way to commute to and from the office, if I could figure out a way to make it practical. I ran to UMBC once in 2024, but didn’t bring much of anything with me, and got a ride home. Today, I decided to see if I could run both ways, and the answer was… yes, sort of. It was a perfect day for a run, with sunny skies and low humidity. It was also the last work day before school starts and traffic increases on the back roads, so I wanted to take advantage.

    My original intent was to run in the morning and walk/hike a more direct route home. Yesterday, I stopped at the office and dropped off clothes, hiking shoes, and the non-perishable portion of my lunch (nuts, granola bar, dark chocolate, and apple). For the run, I used my Osprey vest with the rest of my lunch stored in the compartment where the hydration reservoir usually goes. My other small items (Airpods, prescription drugs, Correct Toes, etc) went into the zipper pocket. For water, I used my hand-carry soft water bottle. The route I chose was 7.8 miles. It’s much hillier than my usual route through Elkridge, which makes it more challenging, but I did fairly well. At the office, I put compression socks on to help recover.

    Around midday, I got to thinking that maybe I could also run home. I had never taken two 5+ mile runs in a single day, but the combined round-trip distance (around 13.5 miles) was still shorter than my longest single-outing run (15 miles), so I figured I could do it. I took a more direct route of 5.5 miles, which was faster, but the downhill portion along Gun Rd was much steeper than I’d like. While I had no problem completing the run, I feel like I overdid things a little bit, and I didn’t feel the greatest when I got home. Several hours later, though, I’ve recovered and seem to be fine. I suspect that I need a little more time to re-condition myself to running longer distances, which is fairly common for me this time of year.

    The verdict here is that I think I can do this more often, but I’m probably going to need to limit it to cooler weather. Also, on the way home, I’ll likely avoid Gun Rd and run through Relay, which will add a mile or so to the total, but is a much more enjoyable route.

  • Another weather and biking post

    Another weather and biking post

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    We have gone from a hot, humid, summery weather pattern to cool, humid, drizzly weather in the space of a single day. The current weather is similar to stretches we typically get in September that I call “pool season killers”. You never know quite when it will happen, but once you get 3 or 4 consecutive days of low clouds, mist, and high temperatures in the 60s-70s, it’s time to put the goggles and the swimsuit away for the season. I don’t recall getting weather like this in August before, but I suspect that it’s partially due to the hurricane churning its way up the Atlantic a few hundred miles off the coast. Unlike in mid September, though, there’s at least hope that summer will eventually return and give us a couple more weeks of good swimming weather.

    I’ve been very regular with my Sunday morning bike geocaching this summer. I’ve gone out the past 7 consecutive Sundays and counting, which I’m pretty sure is a record. I hope to keep it going for a while longer, and for once, my schedule looks like it might cooperate, so it’s all up to the weather. I’ve been commuting by bike about once a week, and last week, I had the fun of racing to get home ahead of a storm. It felt like old times: dark clouds, peels of thunder, gusty breezes, and lots of angst about getting my recently tuned-up bike all wet and muddy. Ultimately, I made it home, and the storm ended up just barely grazing us. Mountain biking has been predictably slow this summer, though I’ve been out once or twice in the past couple of months. I’m hoping that the MTB commuting will pick up in the fall.

  • Midsummer Notes

    Midsummer Notes

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    With July passing into August, we’ve passed what I call the halfway point of summer, and are now looking towards school starting, Labor Day, and the eventual changeover to fall. August started out with pleasant weather, but now we’re getting back into a hotter, humid, summery pattern. August can get pretty hot, but psychologically, it always seems like there’s more light at the end of the tunnel during an August heat wave than in July.

    I’ve been in a bit of a rut the past few weeks with my right calf/right foot issue which I first noted in my July 21 post. The calf gets super tight and sore, and I get foot pain on the outside of the heel area. From my experience in 2020-2021, I know enough to know that the foot issue is not plantar fasciitis/fasciosis. For a little while, I was convinced that it was bursitis, as the discomfort is in an area which several web sites identify as a bursitis hot spot (although in general, most of what I read online seems to focus more on the forefoot area rather than the heel). The symptoms are somewhat consistent with bursitis, but I also tend to favor the calf when it is tight, which may be leading to tissue hot spots that I feel in the foot/heel area. This all started up shortly after swimming season began, which makes it easy to blame on my kicking form, which I know is terrible. As a precaution, I’ve stopped swimming freestyle and backstroke for now, and have doubled my breaststroke and butterfly reps (which I really feel in my shoulders afterwards). I’ve tried icing the foot, which theoretically should help if it is actually bursitis. The calf seems to respond well to the heating pad. Last week, I cut my running mileage down significantly, running 5K on one day and 4.5 miles the next. Lastly, I’ve been using a massage gun regularly on my calves and feet, which helps a lot, as long as I don’t overdo things.

    To make a long story short, it seems a little better this week. The calf is much better today, and unlike last week, I’m walking around barefoot and not favoring it. This morning, I was able to run 7 miles (my usual weekday morning distance) in spite of the return of the heat and humidity this week. I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing the past few days, and see how things go.