|
July
2008 Newsletter
What's happening with the
newsletter?? Has been a frequent
question over the last couple
of months, for good reason. It has
become impossible to send out
the newsletter by email via my
normal ISPs (both of them) as
they have introduced filtering
programs which limit the number
of emails you can send at a time.
The actual figure seems to be
38 emails in around 30 minutes,
which means my normal mailing
list would literally take days.
At the same time my secure server
host has been having frequent
breakdowns (fortunately not with
security, just going offline so
customers can't place orders.)
Having got heartily fed up with
all these problems, and what
passes for "Help Desks" these days,
I've opened up my wallet,
chased out the moths and commissioned a
complete rewrite of the
order pages with a new secure hosting
company.
Part of the job will be a new
subscribe/unsubscribe process, mail
shots via the secure server
and a number of other tweaks. We are
looking for a seamless
changeover sometime late this month.
You'll see a few other changes at
the same time, mostly increases
in courier and postage rates. I
don't think anyone will be
surprised that the increases in fuel
costs are now flowing
through the system, particularly if
they've filled up their car
lately.
I know I bang on about the need
for cleanliness when it comes to
espresso machines, but you only
have to look at the photo here
to see why. No wonder the machine needed
servicing!
|
|
| Who knows what
evil lurks beneath the showerscreen? In this case, 2mm of
solidly encrusted coffee tars and complete blockage of the
screen itself. |
Anyway, to get back to the
important things in life (COFFEE!!)
coffee producers are
starting to realise that they can improve
and differentiate
their product by changing the way they process
it. One of the
newer methods now getting popular in Central
America is the Miel
process.
In this method the tough skin is
removed from the coffee cherry
but the sticky fruit (mucilage)
is left clinging to the beans.
The beans are then sun dried on
raised platforms. This allows the
sugars and flavours in the
fruit to be absorbed by the green
coffee. The end result is a
roasted coffee with less acidity,
more body and more sweetness
than the same coffee processed by
normal methods has.
This month you will
be able to compare the coffees side-by-side
if you want to,
because the monthly special is
Costa Rica
Dota Tarrazu Miel
$40.00/kg
"Miel" means "Honey", and when you
taste the fruity sweetness and
smooth body which comes from this
processing method you'll
understand why.
And finally, the last couple of
months have produced a flurry of
interesting email. Some of the
questions have been fun, "How do
we get rid of a cockroach
infestation in our Silvia?", some have
been challenging, "I'm
having chemotherapy and most coffees taste
metallic. Can you
suggest a blend to overcome this?" but the
prize goes to the
following email for most exasperating.
"I have just purchased a
*$5000* brand espresso machine and a
*$2000* matching grinder
but I'm finding the shots taste thin and
bitter with no crema.
Please advise."
A bit of to-and-fro determined
that the $26.00/kg beans from the
local supermarket ("Best
before 2009") combined with zero actual
espresso experience had
a lot to do with the problems!
Alan
| 
