Coffee With A Nod to Madchester

They say that you never really appreciate what you had until it’s gone, Madchester.  Alternative pop as it was known was just the best time to be around, really good toe tappers and floor fillers were in abundance. Classic tunes everywhere, new looks and local lads done good. Manchester back in the late 80’s into the 90’s was a great place to be, not just the Hacienda, Stone Roses, Inspirals, Happy Mondays and Oasis, there was great food and drink coming through and as part of that, here at Java Coffee, we were just starting out as one of the first independent coffee shops in the area to rival your Starbucks and Costas that new festoon the town on every corner.

Many times, in our house we kick back and put the music on and my kids, grown up kids, have pointed out that their generation have nothing like the musical heritage that we grew up with. I asked them to explain? They said that they could not see themselves doing the same thing with their grown-up kids, kicking back and playing music from their youth. They said that we can hardly reminisce on bad ass rap and plastic pop that just does not warrant playing again. We prefer your music it seems to make you smile and yeah you do the dad dance when you’ve had a few, cheers son.

So, what we may lack in musical throngs we more than make up for with our coffee ranges, you need to check out our stunning artisan coffees for sale for businesses and for your home.

Our Kid is a specially roasted coffee that you’ll come back to again and again!

So, we created Our Kid Coffee, a coffee with the swagger and attitude of Madchester. It’s a belting coffee in its own right but look on it as a throwback to Madchester and that era of yeah, “your twisting my melon man.” Av it our kid!

Caffeine a natural stimulant.

Coffee bags, why you will never have to apologise again for serving bad coffee.

Coffee bags just what is the point, I mean come on, coffee in a tea bag! That was my initial response to coffee bags, I just didn’t get it at all. That was until I stayed in a little B & B about a year ago. All the usual choices were available in my room. Tea, instant coffee and hot chocolate, and a coffee bag. Well, I looked at it with disdain, I will not like it, I thought, and I will not make it, I want a proper coffee.

coffee bags

Rewind, what was I thinking it was either instant or give this bogus coffee bag a whirl. I’ll give it a go. Well hey hey the aroma was pretty good, I waited and did the tea bag thing added milk and sipped.

Not bad, in fact way better than I expected and pleasant. In fact I was impressed! Obviously, I was not getting a latte or an espresso but this was a good long hot coffee, I found myself wanting another one.

I am now a convert, I like coffee bags and we now sell them as our easy blend. Easy to make and easy to drink, and easy to have in your cupboard as well. If your not a coffee drinker I’d recommend have some coffee bags in. Way better than instant and a genuine coffee drink, you won’t find yourself apologising for serving instant ever again. Your guests will be impressed.

Great for the office too you can produce a good coffee instantly not just instant coffee. Save yourself a small fortune on an office coffee machine, save the planet our bags are suitable for composting.

Give coffee bags a chance I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

Water quality in Coffee making

Water flowing out of a kitchen stainless steel tap into the sink. Wasting water by leaving a chrome faucet tap running. Overusing household water. Water misuse in domestic duties and activities. (Water flowing out of a kitchen stainless steel tap into

How important is water quality in coffee making? Well, if you live in a hard water area very important. Not only will hard water effect the taste of your coffee it will leave deposits in your coffee maker and break it.

 

Water Quality

 

Hard water is formed when ground water percolates through chalk, limestone or gypsum. There is nothing wrong in drinking hard water per se but hard water will leave deposits in equipment and eventually clog up the boiler or water pipes.

Soft water on the other hand has either percolated through sandstone or been filtered and or treated. Soft water poses no threat to your coffee maker.
So how do you get soft water, simple you filter it. There are many types and methods some costing thousands but essentially a simple home filter will suffice for coffee making.
It’s really down to you but if you have invested in one of the super new bean to cup machines then I would definitely only use filtered water.

Coffee Grinders

If you take a look over the previous coffee blogs you will see that I really do favour the ritual of making coffee at home. Yes, the pod system is very convenient and really takes the pressure off having to have any coffee knowledge. But we just cannot help loving the idea of taking a little time and patience to honour the ritual of making great coffee at home.

So why would you even have a home coffee grinder and what kind, how much do they cost? Well, a good and reasonably priced home coffee grinder allows you to buy beans instead of pre-ground. Being able to grind your own holds two massive advantages, freshness and versatility. The freshness is just so easy to appreciate you can smell it, I would also say that you can achieve at least 10% more taste than with pre-ground. The technical term for this is oxidation, fresh roasted coffee will degrade quickly in the open air so fresh ground means less time for oxygen to degrade your coffee.

Next is versatility, having your own grinder will allow you to refine grind to your own taste. It also means that you can use one bean for all of coffee making methods, cafetiere, moka pot, filter even re-usable pods! A good grinder is so important to any respectable coffee shop and a good home grinder will pay dividends over the course of its life.

moka coffee pots

Which one and how much to they cost? Well, the only home grinder you should use a burr grinder. These have a grinding wheel with notches and this wheel breaks up the beans to your desired setting. Fine grind for a moka pot, medium for a cafetiere and in-between fine and medium for filter. At the end of the day, you are your own expert and you know what you like, the beauty is with your own grinder is that you have a choice.

Blade grinders are not very good, they have propeller type blade and I have found them to be less than perfect and inefficient.

Cost? Well from £20 to £40 more if you want designer curves just make sure it’s a burr grinder. A great gift for a coffee lover watch this space we will be stocking our own soon.

Coffee Factoids

Stove Top Moka

Cafetiére / French Press