HomeRoast Digest


Topic: CSA merits or demerits?? (long and not worth the read, but necessary for me as a bit of therapy) (4 msgs / 136 lines)
1) From: joshm
Hi folks!
Just spent a marvelous weekend with my mother, siblings and their children
and grandchildren. We were 49 strong and were at a super 5 star hotel with
great food and....
yep..lousy coffee.
Now my hassle is, how do i credit or debit my CSA scorecard:
1. To play it safe, I OBVIOUSLY prepare a couple of blends at home that I
ground on Friday afternoon. (For religous reasons i can not grind on the
Jewish Sabbath;-(...so is that a credit of a couple of points or does the
early grinding cancel it out.)
2. At the hotel Friday afternoon, I ordered brewed coffee which was
"Eh!'...I let everyone know what i thought of it (a point or two) but then
actually finished the cup. (It was freshly brewed, and was "Eh!" and not
"Ugh".)
3. That evening at supper everyone waited for me to have the brewed
coffee...but i knew better and only drank wine. (That's a couple of points,
right?)
4. After supper I went to my room to pull out my airtight Avent formula
dispenser full of great smelling coffee I brought from home and asked the
people in the kitchen for some hot water. I carefully pointed out how much
water to put in the Bodum Press I brought with me from home. (Now, that is
worth something, right?) But the brew was not so good. (My own brew was not
so good!) I showed my disappointment.. Now, do I get more points or less
points if MY OWN brew, brought from home, is not up to par BUT I let
everyone know it??
5. Every time i drank, some son in law or nephew wanted to join in. That's
great. But each time the brew was less than FAIR. I realized it was the heat
of the water this five star hotel was giving me. I none-the-less kept
drinking, wanting to finish all the ground beans i had with me. I preheated
cups with the warmish water..but that did not help. Extraction was just not
what it should have been. Again, for relgious reasons I could not ask the
waiter to boil up fresh water for me.
So, on the one hand I did my best. I brought the materials (OK, I did not
bring my own water). I flaunted them to my relatives and the waiters. I
invaded the kitchen, I rinsed cups in warm water...I WAS Snobbish. But... I
did drink a cup of their stuff and never had a good cup of my own...what
does that make me???
Best, Myron
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2) From: Rob Stewart
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
I would only suggest that next time you also bring your own water for =
the staff to heat.  Possibly that is the difference.
Rob

3) From: Ed Needham
So you let religion stand in the way of good coffee...minus 50 CSA points
.
Next time, travel with an electric 'hot pot' that has an adjustable
thermostat.  I can't remember the name of the really nice one Barry Jarrett
has, and used at the Baltimore get together last year, but it heated brewing
water perfectly.
BTW...from experience...
As soon as you brag about how wonderful 'your' coffee is, something always
makes it less than wonderful.  Just serve it with no fanfare, and let the
partakers tell 'you' how wonderful it is.  I know it's hard.
***********************************************
Ed Needham
To Absurdity and Beyond!
homeroaster ... d.o.t ... com
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4) From: Myron Joshua
Ed wrote:
<Snip>
My problem is convincing my nephews that my coffee was only mediocre. They
were not the least disappointed.
You are right though. Our posture and rituals surrounding coffee is often
taken as a flippant certitude that we make "the best". Of course we are much
less secure than they believe. We just know that compared to there
.........., our worst is always better;-)
myron


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