The aroma. The taste. The ritual of the preparation, and the anticipation. It’s more than just a drink.
Coffee is an integral part of cycling and cyclists lifestyles. But, like Campa versus Shimano, or white socks versus black, the way we imbibe the magic bean can be just as polarising.
We received an email from a reader with a suggestion for The Rules. Rob infers that anyone partaking in a soy-based brew, or a ‘lite’ milk additive, should be ceremonially beaten. “Harsh but fair” he believes, such as we always imply with The Rules.
Already I am receiving unflattering, downright tempestuous emails from my fellow Keepers regarding my soy intake confession. Yes, I unashamedly admit to this ‘foam pas’ and will accept any abuse like a man. A soy-drinking man, dammit!
But no matter how you enjoy your bean, there’s one thing for certain; coffee is good. Some say it should only be consumed black, sans sugar, in a ceramic cup. Others, like Rob, suggest it can be enhanced with a small amount of milk, i.e macchiato. While everyone has different tastes, I’m sure most of us would agree that caramel, butterscotch and excessive amounts of foam, sprinklings and flavourings have no place in any cup.
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@Steampunk
Jeff's a talented man.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
Oh here we go. Maybe we should replace the mid life crisis with the mid life tantrum. Actually I get the feeling that that's already happening, somewhere for someone...
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That is all.
@Steampunk
Very, very cool. But that's a sloppy tape job.
Where does your Cafe Domestique guy get his bikes? He must have a direct Cervelo connection, yeah?
@frank
The tape job surprised me, too. I'd like to think that's Andy's sweat on the tape"”which makes the wrap 3+ years old"”but it's still a little sloppy.
Yes: very tight with Vroomen, White, and the rest of the Cervelo crowd (he serves a Phil White coffee); I'm a little confused with the chronology, but I think he worked at Cervelo at some point (was Canadian national team mechanic and started out in Michael Barry's dad's bike shop in Toronto. Thor's rainbows are on the wall to the left of the bike, and we've had Zabriskie's 2005 TdF TT bike and A. Tafi's bike come through. Cervelo also launched the S5 at the coffee shop during the Tour.
In short, this is a good place.
My rig for ride preparation. Usually just espresso but occasionally a cortado.
@All
there are some nice setups there, as for mine it is basically the VMH.
All Turkish coffee is served in the tiny little cups you would expect for an espresso. Basically she gets the freshly ground coffee powder which she gets shipped over regularly and then adds a few spoons of it per serving to her chosen coffee stewing pot which is capable of doing no more than three cups at a time. She then turns the gas to medium and allows it to brew for about 5 minutes in total with some gentle manouvering as required. Close to the end she will add a couple of sugars to my empty cup. Just as the coffee is ready it also starts to produce a foam and with just the right jiggery pokery she will add the coffee to my cup and hers but the foam equally distributed across both. There is no need to stir the sugar in as it is dissolved and distributed by pouring. Finally once fully consumed you will see some remaining coffee powder in the bottom of the cup, this can be eaten if you are suitably V enough. It is however never filtered out as this would remove the fine coffee powder and a significant amount of its flavour from the resulting drink, or so I am told.
Can anyone recommend a good Moka Pot. While it isn't real espresso its still damn good coffee. I was introduced to them in France when at a bed and breakfast a year ago, and despite being a tea drinker I enjoyed the coffee.
From what I've seen the Bialetti Brikka is best, and even produces a foam by reaching higher pressures than a standard moka pot.
I would buy a real espresso machine, but I'm broke and have no space in the kitchen.
@minion
WARNING: Do not try one of these if you are going to ride immediately afterwards; I think these need to be limited to post-ride or"”better"”I peaked a couple of months ago. There's a no swimming after eating kind of effect that you must take into account. Seemed to get a little more condensed milk (and, subsequently, less espresso) today and I just couldn't move my legs on the bike for the first hour of the ride. Legs felt heavy and stomach felt blah. Not fun. Still, tasty as all get out and it's hard to pass up a solitary autumn ride in the sunshine. I actually sighed in satisfaction at one point; the Principle of Silence was such that the sigh was quite formidable, which made it even more satisfying.
@Steampunk
Even worse, my flatmate has just been on holiday to Vietnam, where they sweeten black coffee with about 2 cm of condensed milk in the bottom of the glass: ideally paired with 95% humidity, 2 packs of cigarettes and riding everywhere on a tuktuk. They make my kidneys ache just thinking about it, and are no match for the euro cache of the bob bon. Even SWMBO is hooked on those and isn't a coffee drinker at all: though as an after dinner sweet.
@Minion
I've actually decided that this is wasted on fine coffee. But it's a major solution to most places that think they're serving espresso"”from Starbucks on down. I take great pleasure showing up with my own shot glass with condensed milk at the bottom and ask for an espresso. And then explain that their coffee is shite without it...