49th Parallel Coffee Roasters

Hello neighbors to the north ( a.k.a. Canada)! Your motto kicks ass - "Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love." How can you have bad coffee with a saying so awesome? Answer--You can't! "He" heard about 49th Parallel Roasters from one of his coffee podcasts and ordered up a pound of the Epic Espresso and a pound of the India Elkhill Estate Peaberry. Although UPS screwed up the delivery of it...AGAIN...our wait was worth it. I pulled a test shot and took a sip...tasty. Not bitter, not acidic, very smooth. 49th Parallel describes their Epic Espresso as a "well crafted espresso displaying a wonderful balance and acidity. Incredibly creamy and very sweet with a lingering syrupy finish." It was very creamy with a big fat "head" on it at the test pull. When mixed with milk it brought forth even more sweetness.

Our Thoughts

HIS SIDE: This one is very mild and sweet with a hint of chocolate. I prefer mine to taste more "coffee-like." Wasn't as complex as some of the ones we've tried in the past. Not sure I'd buy this one again for the price.

HER SIDE: I tasted caramel notes on the finish of this one and that surprised me. Not that it tasted like caramel but that I actually tasted it. Personally I really enjoyed this blend. I liked the mildness, the creaminess, and the sweetness. I didn't taste as much chocolate as "he" did, however. Guess I'll have to treat myself to this one on special occasions...like Tuesdays...or when the sun is shining.

Yet another reason to buy a Volvo

What better excuse for drinking more coffee than to have your car tell you you NEED more?! If I had this car I would never leave it. Except to get more coffee. "What's that, car? I need another shot of caffeine? Well let's go!!"

Link to article HERE. If anyone would like to purchase one for me I will happily test drive it and let you know what I think. ;)

How it really works

As I'm sure I've mentioned before I am not a techy kinda girl. When it comes to gadgets, whatchamacallits, and humdingers I get lost very easily. My brain is of the creative type so that is why I rely on "him" to help me out with anything mechanically related. Even though he has never blogged on here, and I doubt he ever will, he is there behind the scenes translating for me and telling me his opinion on everything I write about (such as espresso beans and mugs). Of course there are times when I have to ask him to explain things that I know how they work, I just don't know the why or the names. This is never pleasant because he delights in taunting me with my confusion and his knowledge of EVERYTHING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. For instance, when I wrote about the cleaning of our machine recently, this is kind of how the conversation went...

She: "What's that thing where the coffee goes through first?"
He: "Are you blogging again?"
She: "Yes. What's it called?"
He: "What's 'what' called?"
She: "That THING. You know, the THING! The screen thingies. Are there two of them or is it just one and what do they sit in? Anything?" (as I physically touch and look at the machine itself)
He: "You mean the screens?"
She: "That's what they're called? Just screens? Nothing else?"
He: "Don't you know this? You should know this. You're blogging about it and it's your machine."
(silence. evil look.)
He: "No, they're just screens. There are two of them that fit together and are surrounded by the gasket. The gasket is the seal."
She: "I know that part. "
He: "Which part?"
She: "The gasket part and how it's a seal."
He: "Well at least you know something!"
She: "You know, no one will miss you if I bury you in the backyard. And the dogs would like it because it would give them something to roll around in other then their own poop."
He: "Didn't you used to be a drafter and work for both an electrical engineering company AND a residential home builder?"
(more silence. death rays beaming from eyes.)
He: "One would presume that you would be more technically inclined."
She: "Backyard, buddy. Backyard."

Turkish coffee at Kebaba

Although BOR didn't have a great experience at Kebaba, "he" and I decided to try it out for something different one night. I will admit that the fact they had Turkish coffee on the menu helped sway the decision. This was one form of coffee that we hadn't come across in our searches for "new" and "different" coffee preparations yet, so we were really looking forward to tasting it. Turkish coffee is made from extremely fine ground coffee beans mixed with sugar (if desired), cold water, cardamom (again, if desired), and placed into a special pot called an ibrik, then brought to a boil over low heat and served in small espresso-sized cups. If done correctly there shouldn't be many grinds in your cup as they settle during the brewing process. There should also be a nice thick foam at the top with no grinds in it. Unfortunately we didn't get that part of the experience. Alternatively you can start with hot water, mix in the sugar (if desired), then add the coffee and cardamom, stir, bring it to a boil, remove from heat, then boil it a bit again.

I have no idea how they prepared the Turkish coffee at Kebaba but we were told to wait a bit to let the grinds settle. The waiter didn't tell us how long to wait, so after a few minutes "he" did the first pour. Both of our cups ended up having quite a bit of grinds in them at the bottom of the cup, however the coffee was delicious! I have to say that after drinking espresso based drinks for as long as I have I find that regular coffee isn't strong enough flavor-wise for me anymore. Like today for instance...we're out of espresso beans so I decided to make a hot toddy coffee (in my Mug Revolution mug). Even though I did the typical 1 part toddy to 3 parts water (I used 2 ozs. of toddy syrup and 6 ozs. of water) it was nowhere near strong enough to quench my coffee craving. But this Turkish coffee...this was some good stuff! At the time I didn't know they put cardamom in it and I kept telling "him" that there was some sort of spice flavor that I couldn't place. It was almost like cinnamon without the "bite." He tasted it too and couldn't figure it out either. Now we know what it was as I assume they put cardamom in it. We easily could've drank the entire pot (which isn't very big), yet we didn't want to make them stay later than we already had.

While the food was decent, the prices were awesome, and the beer selection was fabulous, I would say that even if you skipped the dinner portion of the meal, going there for some baklava (something we forgot to try) and Turkish coffee would be an awesome end cap to a hard, or not so hard.