Author: lpaulriddle

Zeke’s Market Blend Pourover

lpaulriddle
  • Beans: “Market Blend” (Ethiopia/Guatemala)
    • Medium roast (5/8)
    • Roaster: Zeke’s Coffee (Baltimore, MD)
    • Roast date: 10/2/2023
  • 17g coffee / 250g water (1:14.7)
  • JX: 2 rotations (20 on the grind chart / 60 total clicks)
  • Water at 95°C
  • Recipe: A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique (see below)
  1. Preheat V60, pre-moisten filter, add coffee, and tare scale
  2. Make small indentation in center of coffee grounds
  3. 0:00: Pour 50g to 60g of water to bloom, then return kettle to base
    • 16g coffee → 50-55g water; 17g coffee → 55-60g water
  4. 0:10 – 0:15: Gently Swirl
  5. 0:45 – 1:00: Pour up to 100g total (40% total weight)
    • Hold kettle for the remainder of the brewing process
  6. 1:10 – 1:20: Pour up to 150g total (60% total weight)
  7. 1:30 – 1:40: Pour up to 200g total (80% total weight)
  8. 1:50 – 2:00: Pour up to 250g total (100% total weight)
  9. 2:00 – 2:05: Gently swirl
  10. Drawdown finished around 2:55

I picked this bag up last night at the grocery store, after using up the last of the beans I bought in Minneapolis. I brewed my first cup with what has become my go-to starting pourover recipe for medium roasts. It turned out pretty good. It probably helps that I really like dark chocolate, as that was the most prominent flavor I noticed. If the cups consistently turn out like this, I don’t think I need to spend much time tweaking the recipe. As the weather gets cooler, I might want to start thinking about preheating my mug (or switching to an insulated mug) when brewing with water below boiling, so the coffee stays hot a little longer, and I’m not tempted to drink it too quickly.

I noticed that the grocery store also carries beans from Rise Up Coffee Roasters, which is based on the Eastern Shore. I may try one of theirs after I finish my other bag of Zeke’s, which is getting pretty low.

10/12: The same recipe tasted a little bitter this morning. This afternoon, I made another cup using a coarser grind (JX setting 25, or 2.5 rotations), and it was better, but a little bit watery tasting. So, maybe the ideal grind setting is somewhere in between 20 and 25.

10/13: Brewed at grind setting 22 (2 rotations + 6 clicks). Maybe a little better than yesterday’s cup, but still a little bit under-extracted.

10/14: Brewed at grind setting 21 (2 rotations + 3 clicks) and also increased starting water temperature to 99°C. Not perfect yet, but moving in the right direction. Could be that medium roasts need a higher starting temperature with pourover than with immersion? I always preheat the dripper, but I’m sure the water still loses a fair amount of heat while sitting in there percolating. This will be even more noticeable when the air temperature in the room is cooler (e.g. winter).

Epilogue: I eventually figured out a recipe that produces consistently good cups. Synopsis: grind setting 23 (2 rotations + 9 clicks), ratio 1:13 to 1:14, 99°C water to bloom, and 81°C-85°C water to brew. So, my 10/14 hypothesis was wrong — cooler brew water, and a slightly stronger ratio, turned out to be the difference makers.

Chilly Commute

lpaulriddle

This morning really felt like fall. It was the first day of the season that I rode to work with cold weather gear (jacket, leg warmers, and lightweight balaclava). Temperatures were in the mid 40s with sun, and a little bit of a lingering breeze following a front that came through over the weekend. Not much noteworthy about the ride (much like most of my commutes) other than that I am slightly under the weather today, with a little bit of a sore throat. I hope it doesn’t develop into anything worse, as I’ve got a bunch going on in the coming days that I don’t want to miss. If need be, I can convalesce at home tomorrow and Wednesday. My guess is that I picked up whatever this is at the Orioles game this past Saturday.

Smoothie Recipe #3

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This is a variation on #1. I was short on spinach and frozen banana slices, so I improvised with an avocado, and it wasn’t too bad.

  • Around half a banana, sliced and preferably frozen
  • Around 10 ounces faux milk (oat milk, almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, …), preferably unflavored/unsweetened
  • Big wad of organic peanut butter without added sugar
  • Roughly 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • A bunch of chia seeds (I just dump some in from the bag, but I suspect it’s around 1 or 2 teaspoons)
  • A little bit of spinach
  • 1 small avocado, peeled and pitted

I used a combination of oat milk and almond milk. I started with 8 ounces, which turned out not to be quite enough, so I added some more to get an estimated 10 ounces. I sliced the avocado in half, removed the pit, and scooped the fruit out with a spoon into the blender. The resulting smoothie had more of a milkshake-like consistency than most of my others. I ended up with some peanut butter stuck to the sides, which I wish I could figure out how to avoid, as it happens a lot. The smoothie tasted pretty good, and was very filling.

Three in a row

lpaulriddle

I ran this morning for the third day in a row. Today’s run was 7.2 miles, yesterday’s was 4.9, and Friday’s was 8.5, so I ran about 20.5 miles in just over 48 hours. If I add in Tuesday’s 10.2-miler, That’s almost 31 miles over the past week, which is most definitely a record. I did not plan to do this much running in a short period of time. My COVID shot bumped my running schedule back a day last week, so I ran Friday instead of Thursday. I ran again Saturday, partly to get back on my regular schedule, and also to see if I could run on consecutive days with no ill effects, something I had not done in a very long time. Today’s run was unplanned. I had intended to take the kayak out, but it was a little too windy, and I wasn’t able to get out as early as I had wanted. In need of something to do for exercise prior to watching sports all afternoon, and feeling fine physically, I opted to run again. I’ll see how I feel in several hours, but I suspect I’ll be good. I don’t intend to run 30+ miles every week, but if I’m able to run regularly on consecutive days, it will give me a lot more flexibility in my weekly schedule. It’s also a sign that some of the hard work I’ve put into learning how to run properly, without stressing my feet and joints, may be starting to pay off, which is good to see.

Park run

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Humidity is back in central Maryland for the time being. No one was available to climb this morning, so I decided to take a rare Friday run instead. Once again, I took a pass on school-day traffic and ran in the park. I extended the run to around 8.5 miles by running all the way out to the Ilchester bridge and back on the Grist Mill Trail. I could extend this route to 10 miles rather easily, by crossing under the railroad tracks near Lost Lake, and running out past the Soapstone trailhead to where the road ends and back. My right hamstring is still stiff. I stretched it out a bit by doing some sprints towards the end of the run, which was uncomfortable, but I think will be good for it in the long term. Depending on the weather, I may take a shorter run tomorrow as well.

Random kayaking note: a post on Facebook clued me in to another place to paddle in A.A. County: Stoney Creek from Green Haven Wharf in Pasadena. At 25 minutes’ drive, it’s a bit farther than Solley’s Cove, but might be a nice place to check out, either in the coming weeks, or next year. Looks like it would be a 4-mile round trip paddle to the Fort Smallwood Rd bridge and back, with several side creeks to optionally extend the voyage.

Mountain Bike

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My COVID shot on Tuesday threw my schedule for a bit of a loop this week. I normally bike in to the office on Wednesdays, but I decided to telecommute this week so that I could “recover” from the shot. Instead, I biked in today (Thursday), which is a day that I usually telecommute and run in the morning. The great news is, I was able to commute on my mountain bike, which I haven’t done much of lately. Nowadays, a lot of factors conspire to make regular mountain bike commuting challenging. For one thing, I only go in to the office on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I climb on Monday evenings, so I try to avoid MTB commuting on Mondays because it tires me out for climbing. That leaves Wednesdays, and then, the weather and trail conditions have to cooperate. I’m not a fan of mountain biking during the summer months, both because of the heat and humidity, and because the trails get very overgrown. In the winter, the freeze-thaw cycle often means that the trails are in good shape in the morning, but a muddy mess in the afternoon when I’m riding home. That leaves spring and fall, and oftentimes, rainy weather can make for poor trail conditions those times of year. Things were pretty good today — it had been over a week since our last measurable rainfall, but some shallow fog this morning dampened the trails just enough that they weren’t dusty. I felt pretty comfortable on the bike, in spite of it being over a month since my last ride.

As I did last year, I may convert Monday to a telecommute day from November through March. During the pandemic shutdown, I used to take occasional morning mountain bike rides for exercise, and an extra telecommute day would give me a great opportunity to start doing that again. I could go out in the early morning when it’s at or below freezing, thereby avoiding the freeze-thaw issue in the afternoon, and I’d have enough time to recover for climbing in the evening. On paper, it seems like a great plan…

Vitality Brazil French Press

lpaulriddle

This afternoon’s cup:

  • Beans: “Brazil Yellow Bourbon” medium roast
    • Roaster: Vitality Roasting (Minneapolis, MN)
    • Roast date: 9/20/2023
  • 20 grams coffee, 280 260 grams water (1:14 1:13 ratio)
  • French press
  • Gooseneck kettle
  1. Preheat French press
  2. Heat brew water to 99°C
  3. Coarse grind (JX setting 30, or 3 rotations)
  4. Start timer and pour at the same time
  5. 60 second bloom (including pour time)
  6. Stir a few seconds until grounds settle
  7. Steep 6 minutes, plunge, and pour

This was a much better cup than yesterday’s. I kept everything the same, except I started with hotter water, and I remembered to preheat the French press. The result was a more robust, better extracted brew. I feel like it could have been a little bit stronger, so maybe 1:13 will be the sweet spot. The pourovers I’ve been making with these beans have been a little bit lackluster recently, so I may stick with the French press until I use them up.

In totally unrelated news, I was amazed with how quickly I bounced back from the COVID booster I got yesterday afternoon. The only symptoms I had were minor body aches last night and this morning, which disappeared after I took some Ibuprofen. This is in contrast to all of my previous shots, after which I had 24 to 36 hours of flu-like symptoms (aches, chills, shakes, fatigue, slightly elevated temperature). None of that this time around. The big difference: my past shots were all Moderna, and yesterday’s was Pfizer. I guess I must tolerate the Pfizer vaccine better.

10/5: Brewed again. Kept everything the same, except I reduced the water to 260g for a 1:13 ratio. This seemed like a good strength. I have enough beans left to brew about 3 more cups, and may just do all of them like this.

10/9: Used the beans up this afternoon. I had 26g left, so I used 338g of water (1:13). I believe this was the best cup I’ve gotten with them using this method. I didn’t do anything differently, so I wonder if it had something to do with the larger volume of water. I’m also wondering if the speed and/or length of time of stirring makes any difference in the finished product.

Grab Bag

lpaulriddle

A bunch of random topics tonight.

As I had hoped, I managed to get out of the house before 7 this morning for a 10-mile run before work. My schedule precluded a longer run this past weekend, and with a COVID (and flu) shot scheduled for this afternoon, I wasn’t sure I’d be up for it later in the week. The run went pretty well. My right hamstring has improved since last time, but still is not 100%, which would have been an issue on a faster run (extending the hamstring was a tad uncomfortable), but didn’t bother me much at today’s pace. Now, I have to decide if I want to run another 10 miles this coming Saturday. As for the COVID shot, it’s now been 7 hours, and I’m still feeling fine, other than some mild aches. I guess I’ll see how I feel in the morning.

I’ve now climbed twice since I got home from Minneapolis. After the first session, I noticed that the nerve in my right foot felt a little weird. For my second climb (last night), I wore a metatarsal pad on that side, which I had done one time before, and it seemed to help quite a bit. I think I’ll continue to do that for a while, and see how it goes as I start to work back towards climbing slabbier routes that put more weight on my feet.

I tried brewing the coffee beans I bought in Minneapolis in the French press this afternoon, and my first attempt was not all that great. I used 21 grams of coffee to 300 grams of water (around 1:14) with the following recipe:

  1. Preheat French press
  2. Heat brew water to 95°C
  3. JX grind setting: 30 (3 rotations)
  4. Start timer and pour at the same time
  5. 60 second bloom (including pour time)
  6. Stir a few seconds until grounds settle
  7. Steep 6 minutes, press slowly, and pour

The first problem is that I forgot to preheat the French press, and since it is ceramic, the brew water likely lost a good bit of heat pretty quickly. I didn’t heat the mug, either, so the cup was not very hot at all. The flavor was watery and under-extracted. I think I just need to try to keep the water hotter for longer. Next time, I’ll remember to heat the press, and I might bump the starting water temperature up closer to boiling, as the brew time is a lot longer than (e.g.) a pourover, so the overall average brewing temperature likely will be a few degrees lower than the starting water temperature.

Paddle Notes

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I got out for my annual paddle along the tidal Patapsco this morning, putting in at Southwest Area Park at around 7:45am, just before the 8:00am predicted high tide at Fort McHenry. I paddled about 3.5 miles upstream and back, for a total of 7 miles, which I believe is a new distance record for me on this particular stretch of river. Usually, shallow water prevents me from getting too far upstream of the B/W Parkway overpass, but today, the water was navigable all the way past the Baltimore Beltway overpass. I could have gone farther, but ended up turning around because I wanted to be home by 11.

Southwest Area Park was quite busy this morning with people launching, fishing, etc. It was the first time I had been there on a weekend in several years. To be honest, I had been kind of avoiding it on weekdays recently, because there always seemed to be sketchy people hanging around using various substances, etc. I may stick to weekends going forward, as I did not get that vibe this morning.

This part of the river has not changed much in the year since I last paddled here. On the upstream leg, the stretch between the launch and the MD 648 overpass was stagnant and murky, with no current at all, and a dismaying amount of trash floating around. It really made me wish I had brought some trash bags, and I’m going to try to remember to do that going forward. On the return leg, the breeze had picked up and the water had a few more ripples (as well as a couple of wakes from small boats). I also noticed a lot less trash — way too much to have blown anywhere in that short amount of time — so I am thinking someone must have picked a bunch of it up, which makes me feel a little bit better about the state of humanity.

The best part of the paddle was the stretch upstream of 648, out towards 295 and 695. This part of the river has a little bit of a current, and the water is much clearer as well. It can be a challenge to navigate the shallow sections, but it was much easier today at high tide. I turned around just shy of the Halethorpe Ponds area, which is somewhere I have been wanting to check out as both a paddling area and a potential put-in. I am curious if it would be possible to get as far upstream as US 1 and the Thomas Viaduct. I suspect I won’t find out until next year at the earliest, but you never know.

Run notes (hamstring)

lpaulriddle

I was not able to get out for my usual Saturday 9 or 10-mile run today due to time constraints, but I did manage to squeeze in a 10K. It turns out that I tweaked my right hamstring when I tripped during Thursday’s run. I could tell at the time that it was a little bit unhappy, but it did not bother me much for the rest of that run, although I did stumble over my right foot several more times, which makes me wonder if I was unconsciously favoring it and not lifting it high enough. This morning, the hamstring was pretty stiff when I started the run, but eventually loosened up, although it never got to a point where it wasn’t bothering me at all. I suspect it will take a week or two before it’s feeling normal again. The good news is, I didn’t trip at all today, and I didn’t seem to be scuffing/dragging my feet as much as I did on my past few runs. My pace was a little bit slower than usual for this time of year at 10:50/mile, but my cadence was 184 steps/minute, which is about normal by recent standards. Other than the mild hamstring discomfort, it wasn’t a bad run. I’ll use the foam roller and heating pad a few times before my next run, likely on Tuesday. I have a COVID/flu booster scheduled Tuesday afternoon, so I’m hoping to get a longer run in the morning in case the shot takes me out of commission for Wednesday/Thursday.