Date: 2nd November 2008

This second coffee jam took place at Irving’s, our host for that day. It is also the second time the three of us; Irving, KF Chan & myself attend this event. This time, we have a new company in Joseph Siew, a professional photographer.

That afternoon, it was raining heavily and it was hard for me to see the roads while driving. Even then, it didn’t dampen our spirits as all of us arrived eventually.Both KF Chan & I brought some of our tools; Chan brought his Macap grinder and Aeropress. I brought my toolbox, which inside contains plenty tools like La Marzocco custom-modified naked portafilter, 3 different milk jugs, 2 stainless steel tamper, aluminium tamper & etc.

So back to the main topic, coffee. What coffee do we have for the day?

We have several coffees from the coffee on the table, courtesy of my fellow mates. Highlander Supremo, Obama Blend & Superior Blend by Campos, Australian. Thanks Joseph for giving me some fresh coffees. It was delicious and so fresh that I needed to adjust my grind much more coarser than usual.

We made a lot of experiments with the grind , the measurement, the packing and the tamping. The coffees are bright and may not suit the fainted hearts as they were good acidity. If you are a wine enthusiast, you should understand what I mean as the coffee is fruity. I am still learning to pick up the flavours, hopefully we can organize cupping session in the future with different coffee origins.

The one coffee that stands out from the rest is the experiment that Irving made throughout the months he had with his coffee beans. He freezed his coffees and only take out the enough quantity that he needed to make the coffee. Suprisingly, the coffee still tastes so fresh and there is still crema in the cup.

After so much espressos, we moved on to the latte art part. This is one part I enjoyed a lot as I got the chance to show my fellow mates on how to steam the milk for silky microfoam and then pull a beautiful rosetta. I also do an etching on one of the capp. If you are intrigued by what you see, then go over to my videos section and watch or join us when we do our next barista jam (Probably in Feb as Irving is still recovering from a serious back injury. Take care, mate).

Lastly, Chan made us coffee from the Aeropress, a small device that you can easily buy and use it make short espresso or Americano at home. Cheaper, easier and less mess compared to espresso machine. But if you are true espress purist and want cappuccinos, then there is no comparison when you have a quality machine like Rancilio Silvia or Gaggia Classic. FYI, you can buy Aeropress here in Malaysia or through Phil from Highlander Coffee in Singapore.

So how is the coffee from the Aeropress? I do own one so I will recommend anyone to get theirs as the coffee produced is the nearest to espresso than any device in the market. The coffee is clean, bright taste where you able to distinguish the fruity taste if your taste buds are good enough and the perfect balance in the cup is evident.

One thing for sure is you do not need to be a barista to make you one and is costs less than RM200 if I am not mistaken. Also, less mess and gets you a quick cup of coffee when you need one. A quick fact: Shorter extraction time also means less fat. So you can drink more coffee from Aeropress rather than French Press.

Pictures are courtesy of Joseph using a Nikon D3 with fixed focus lens. Ain’t the captured pictures so beautiful? I am so envy and very eager to own one digital SLR camera in the future. In the meantime, I have to polish my photography skills with a normal point-and-click camera first.

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• March 25, 2009 -- Coffee Ritual @ SS14, PJ (0)
• October 5, 2008 -- 1st Coffee Lover’s Gathering In Malaysia (1)