Nakagawa Komugi-ten

Here is the best Boulangerie in Kyoto.
It'll be maybe in top five fantastic Boulangerie in this country so far.
Just try their freshly baked baguette without saying anything.  Any complaints will be accepted if you have some.

Located near Shimogamo shrine, quiet and natural, Nakagawa Komugi-ten welcomes you with stimulating aroma of freshly baked bread together with beautiful heartwarming smile of Mr. & Mrs. Nakagawa.  This bakery uses organic wheat and freshly milled flowers.  They mill just exact amount of wheat to bake everyday so that flavor of breads has depth and sweetness.

It is often say that Kyoto is the place to enjoy Boulangerie, but there are no evidence to support that urban legend.  Nakagawa komugi-ten is one of rare case so far to suggest maybe there are possibility to make Kyoto as the city for Bread lovers.  Certainly, there are numbers of family bakeries in town. Some streets have a bakery every 10m, which is unusual density we see in other places like Osaka.  They are not only OLD fashioned family bakery, but also very fashionable, cozy, artisan type, which carries often natural yeast or sour dough bread. 
Some of them says, "Learn Baking and pastry-making in France", "in Germany", or "in Belgique."  Some also, "Trained famous XXXXX in Tokyo for XXyears."  However, talented baker cannot be identified by the sing they carry. Wonderful taste can be improved by their enthusiasm to crate something impressive or to re-create the taste in their memory only with their talents and techniques.  It is easy to understand this post when you visit this bakery.

poco dolce

The Artistic Chocolate from San Francisco !!

The finest flavor comes from the finest ingredients enhanced with the finest chocolatier!   

  

Located on 3rd Street, near "Dogpatch", one of "keep your eye on" area in SF, "poco dolce" proves chocolate as Art.  Their Hand made Artisan Dark Chocolate harmonizes with signature toffee created by the finest quality ingredients.  Covered with smooth layer of chocolate, this chocolate covered toffees replace your image of chocolate, may need to say American chocolates even in such foodie town like SF...  Nothing more to say except, "TRY THEM".  Flavor impression can be proved only with real experience.  The photo comes from my the first experience of poco dolce in September 2011, and about year later, I have bought....hum...how many?  Out of all product they have, my recommendation is Toffees.  Their toffees satisfy your thirst for sweets and make the best combination with any kind of coffee!

Hawaii Kona Langenstein Farm

Beans: Hawaii Kona
Roaster: Hiro coffee , Osaka
Origin/Area: South Kona, U.S.A
Growers: Langenstein Farm
Altitude: 1,100 meters
Variety: Typica
Process: Washed, 100% Sun dried
Grade: N/A
Screen: N/A
Crop: 2009/2010
Roast: Full city roast

【Attribute scores】
Aroma 4
Acidity 3
Body 5
Biterness: 3
Mildness: 2

【Impression】
Dark full bodied,relaxant aroma and richness, well established, red wine like richness embodied, well-balanced sweetness, flagrance and body, richness as caramel cream, sweetness of extra dark chocolate, tropical fruits like light acidity, enhanced unique flavor of Hawaiian typica.  richness as a long lasting aftertaste.

Bali SHINZAN

Beans: Bali Shinzan
Roasters: Hiro coffee
Roast: Medium High
Origin/Area: Bali (Megani Factory), Indonesia
Growers:  Small farmers at Gunung Batur (Mt. Batur)
Altitude: 1,000m　～
Variety: Arabica
Process: Washed, Sun dried
Grade: N/A
Screen: N/A
Crop: 2009


【Impression】
 Dark, deep and chocolaty flavor with mild sweetness hidden.  Although the name of this beans stimulate curiosity, this cup is more than I expected.  As first experience of Bali coffee, inspire me the world, maybe mystery, of Bali coffee beans.

【Comment from Web】
In Bali, every single aspect of life connects to God.
Sinzan, cultivated in the island where God live, has well harmonized bitterness, sweetness and sourness, which made us thankful to God.  This coffee is characterized by Calamel like chocolate flavor followed by a sense of bitter sweet body 

"COLD WAR" in HAYES VALLEY?

On the way to visit the signature Blue Bottle, Kiosk at HAYES VALLEY, something very interesting caught our attention: Red shipping container, Kiosk of Ritual Coffee Roasters.


Ritual Coffee at HAYES VALLEY??  
In 2011? 
It cannot be real…I doubted my eyes.

Ritual dominates Mission, not Hayes Valley.  Mission is for Ritual Roaster so that Blue Bottle would not step in.  It is the tacit agreement in Third Wave coffee industry in SF area which has never been broken.  James, the owner of Blue Bottle, respects the rule and silently follows so that he had never made decisions to open café’s anywhere might compete with other third wavers.
Here is now Ritual Roasters opened up Kiosk counter at Proxy 432 Octavia St., within 5min. walk from Blue Bottle Kiosk.  At least, they are not standing face to face.  Maybe, it is better for Ritual to stand face to face with Blue Bottle to find out the reality.  Behind Ritual, there is a new ice cream shop which graved attention of SF sweets lovers and this shop, actually the trash box of this shop, reveals reality.  The trash can was filled with Blue Bottle paper cups, not Ritual.  People buy ice-cream and Blue Bottle.

Can we prove it? 

Yes.  Sales of Blue Bottle at Hayes Valley has not been damaged nor shown any irregular decline since Ritual opened.  The fact amazed me even it was something could be guessed easily.  So far, “the cold war” between Blue Bottle and Ritual seems to end up with Blue Bottle’s triumph, about which Ritual may car about but Blue Bottle doesn’t.  Blue Bottle stays calm as the surface of a mirror reflecting truth of the world…

Ritual Coffee Roasters used to be the one of top runners which launched “the third generation” history in San Francisco coffee industry.  Ritual opened in 2005 with Seattle style, dark roast with storing body, but developed their own style and create uniqueness of SF coffee history.  Their eye catching package, Red with white symbol mark, appeal to the public as well as rich flavor of their coffee.  Ritual Coffee Roaster created history.  Ritual was the top runner…  Yes, “was”, in the past.  After Blue Bottle came in, the industry map was redrawn and repainted quickly; Red to Blue.  Blue Bottle was “Rising sun”.  Blue Bottle grew rapidly in the fast-growing market. 
Founded in Oakland, The Blue Bottle Coffee Company moved slowly but consistently with the vow of “48hrs policy”; Blue Bottle roasts beans good enough amounts to sell within 48hrs and uses the finest organic, and pesticide-free, shade-grown.  The company has kept the vow with enthusiasm and devotion to Coffee Beans since the beginning of their history.

It is loyalty to the customer that helps company grows.
It is honesty that keeps their customers loyalty.
It is enthusiasm and love that fascinates and influence the industry as well as the market.

This post is written totally on Blue Bottle side, so I understand there are series of counter opinion.  However, I still believe there is no counter on gentleman-ship as well as fairness of Blue Bottle. 

Finca Miralvalle

Beans: El Salvador Miralvalle

Roaster: Doi Coffee

Roasting grade: Full city

Estate: Finca Miralvalle

Region: Ahuachapan, El Salvador

Varieties: Pacamara

Altitude: 1600-1800m

Processing: Washed & Sun-dried

【Impression】
 Light and delicate body, mild texture with soothing aftertaste.  Citrus light acidity, orange like fruity aroma and sweetness mixed with nutty almond like flavor.  Meyer lemon zest in farm stand apple juice with a butterscotch finish.  Very sensitive, but full layered flavor.

【About Finca Miralvalle】  Miralvalle Estate is originally found by Juan Urritia, who introduced Salvadoran Bourbon varietal in 1970’s, and now run by his 5th generation.  The estate owns 80ha of the primeval forest, whose wellspring supplies water to 6000 residence around the estate.  Since 2002, Miralvalle Estate starts to grow and develop Pacamara varietal and their efforts were recognized in 2007 as COE winning farm.  Their 100% shade grown coffee beans traded only with exporters, so that high level of traceability is guaranteed.  
This Estate is not only producing high quality coffee beans, but also making high contributions to the societies/environments.  Due to shade grown methods, the estate produces about 36000Lbs oxygen daily.  There are full diversity of wildlife: wild varieties of mammals, birds, insects.  Also, in total of 600 employees are fully supported by the Estate from work to their private life: The estate supplies housing, educations, medications and so on.

Sight Glass to come?

One year feels very short but long enough to make a big change. 

"SIGHT GLASS " has "re-opened" fully with modern and simple, but warm and earthy feelings all together. 

 It was the last September that took a sip of the very first cup right next to SIGHT GLASS sign.  It was the last September that the windows were covered for construction but there were not much progress found in spacious room beside the roaster…  Here we are now, we all see “Sight Glass" Coffee bar and Roastery!! 

 

The historical German roasting machine is there as I saw on last visit in 2010, working diligently with an enthusiastic roaster, who might be called " the third wave mafia" who carries typical posture of SF coffee geeks.

Brew bar is equipped with Hario ceramic dripper.  I couldn’t check espresso machine this time, but I am sure that they carries the same machine before the grand opening.  It is funny to find out that most third wavers of SF/South bay are settled in equipments with same brand name among all the others.

 

For the next step, the Morrison brothers, Jerald and Justin, will opens brew bars and espresso bars on loft, which you can see in the picture on right.  When we were there, both Jerald and Justin told us about their plan, which I am looking forward to see and wishing to be the first one to have a seat there with them.  Mybe, they will be crazy busy by then, because we found the press setting up their camera for shooting.  Whatever happens, we believe both Jerald and Justin will be as friendly and enthusiastic as they are now. 

If there is a space to make a request, I would like to place one for “food & pastry” developments…  I know they buy them from the doughnuts shop, very popular one around that area.  I basically think they are not bad, but, at the same time, find a little room to work on.  Taste of Sight Glass might deserve something better: something more simple and plane to create better harmony, or flavor.  It is maybe because I am not doughnuts person.  It may be because I am not one with sweet tooth.  On top of all, I still think they might hire, or contract with, someone who can create, develop, special treats for Sight Glass…

Kenya AA Kainamui

【Impression】
Fresh and cool flavor like summer tangerines!  Light and Clear body, but deep and full flavor.
    Sharpness and citrus, lemony acidity, with lightly bitter aftertaste.  Flavor of this cup softly touches like a nougat melting in mouth: Sweetness gradually spread with a small size of bitterness, sourness in a center, melting a little by little. 
The best coffee to have summer morning or any time to refresh.
Sharp fruity Kenya taste may pair with salt crackers with blue cheese dip.
Strongly recommend to serve as BLACK.  

Aleta Wondo

Beans: Aleta Wondo
Roaster: Barefoot Coffee


Origin: Sidama region, Ethiopia
Varieties: Typica
Process: Washed


【Cup Characteristics】
"Aromas of tangelo and berry torte. Melon-like acidity with notes of Bergamot throughout the cup. Cognac nuttiness with a pleasant finish."
(Copied from a bag)

 【Impression】
Medium to medium dark body, lemony flavor and fruity aroma.  Acidity on top, cherry like sweetness to touch, earthy flavor with spice.  Mixture of bitterness and lime like flavor to finish.


Micro sized beans with cacao like aroma.

Typica Fully Matured

Beans: Typica Fully Matured
Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee
Roasting Degree: Medium
Origin: Mexico


【impression】
Light body, fine texture  clear aroma and flavor.  Americano type clear sharp flavor with mixture of even degrees of sweetness, bitterness and acidity with a tint aftertaste.  Mild sheer nutty sweetness to finish.
Light and clear flavor, mild but mixture of well refined flavors, very low degree of bitterness slightly lays on the bottom.  

Akai-mi Coffee...again!

Akai-mi Coffee for  good treats!

From top to bottom, left to right;

Columbia
Mexico
Tanzania
Kenya

Basic, clean, Earthy.  Mexico typica is the beans with unusual Mexican coffee flavor.  The very first COE in mexico may hold in 2012 and this may be the one on the list.  

Cuba TL

Beans: Cuba TL
Roaster: Kimameya Hompo
Roasting degree: Medium
Area: N/A, Cuba
Altitude: N/A
Varieties: N/A
Grade: TL
Screen: SC17
Processing: Fully Washed


【Flavor scale】
Bitterness: 2
Richness: 2
Aroma: 3
Acidity: 3
Sweetness: 4
※Grade 1 to 5

【Impression】

Light body, airy texture, lime like citrus and flowery aroma.  Sweet almond flavor, light acidity, a tint bitterness, sweet jasmine like aroma to finish with clear aftertaste.  Sweetness as core flavor with light lemony aroma, with gradually growing acidity to throat.  Americano like light cup, body & flavor,  fits any occasions.

【Note】

The Cuban grading system evaluates beans by size and # of defects as follows:Crystal Mountain Screen 19, ETL 18, and TL up to 19.  This beans has typical Caribbean light and soft touch, which fits for who likes a mild flavor coffee. 

Cuba has never been known as a volume producer of the coffee beans, but there are concrete coffee culture developed especially after Italian Espresso machines is introduced.  Introduced by Spaniard Don Jose Gelabert in 1748, the very first variety planted was Typica.  Cuban coffee culture was refined at the end of the 18th century by French emigrants at the time of the social revolution in Haiti, who also brought the humid pulping method.  As a result, Cuban coffee became and has been one of the highest quality coffee in Europe.  Cuban coffee market has limited its expansion by The U.S. embargo, European and Japanese has been blessed to enjoy their wonderful Cuban coffee beans.

Colombia Andes Condor

Beans: Columbia Andean Condor
Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee
Roasting Degree: Medium
Area: Takengon Boyanaca, Colombia
Varieties: 100% Typica
Altitude: 1700m
Processing: Washed, 100% Sun-dried
                      Traditional Columbian fermentation process




【Impression】
Medium dark body, silky texture, thick layer of flavors, light fresh citrus aroma..
Clear but well balanced moderate flavor.   Dark chocolaty Cacao sweetness and bitterness as core flavor.  Light mild acidity of orange and juicy concord grapes,  bitterer caramel like heavy sweetness with reduced cane juice as bottom flavor, nutty sweetness and cacao bitterness as finish.  Short aftertaste with acidity left.  No outstanding character or uniqueness in flavor and aroma, but well matured and balanced in total.

【Note】
Andes Condor is very rare coffee beans to enjoy as single origin.  In recent years, Columbian traditional coffee trees have been overtaken, or replaced, by Variedad Colombia to combat blights.   Variedad Colombia is a hybrid of the Canephora (Robusta) and Arabica species developed by the Colombian Coffee Growers’ Federation with a federal support, which has disease resistance, precocious and high -yielding.

Against federal project, some farmers have chosen Typica, low-yielding with poor resistance to blights and requires a lot of labor: Andean Condor is one of them.  It has low-yielding, but entertain us with its unique and fascinating flavor.  
Andes Condor upholds Traditional Columbian fermentation process, using "fluid" remain in coffee cherries.  This method carries original rich flavor of cherries and add richness, sweetness and depth to coffee beans but requires high technique to control/to maintain fermentation process.

Panama Peaberry

Beans: La Berlina Estate Peaberry
Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee
Roast: Full City
Origin/Area: Boquete, Chirqui, Panama
Altitude: 1,450~1,600m
Variety: Typica､Peaberry
Grade: SHB
Screen: 11-13
Process: Fully washed, 100% sun-dry







【Impression】
Medium body, honey like sweetness, but light in texture. A tip of bitterness remained as aftertaste with mild sourness.  Since Peberry, in general, tastes lighter and soft to me, this beans feels same but leaves strong impression with its sweetness and clearness in taste.
Black is recommended to enjoy this soothing and refreshing cup.

OLD Colombia

Beans: Old Columbia
Roaster:  Cocktail-Do

Area: Columbia
Varieties: 100% Arabica
Altitude:  1,100～1,800m
Amount of rainfall: 2,000～3,000mm
Average Temperature: 7～18℃

【Roaster's Comment】
Columbia often refer as synonymous with mild coffee.  Columbia is desirable beans for aging because of their full body flavor and aged Columbia enables to give variety of richness and sweetness in wide range of roasting degrees, from cinammon to dark roast.  Coktail-do often creates our blend coffee with Columbia as core flavor, sometimes using 2 different aging degree beans.

【Impression】

Medium body, mild texture, rather silky, citrus lemony aroma.  

Nutty flavor and delicate bitterness Flavor has less acidity.  Old Coffee, often refered as aged coffee, has less acidity than fresh beans as well as deeper in flavor.  Layer of bitterness gives depth in flavor and well matured aroma.

Talking about Aged or Old coffee, time and temperature do have strong impact on coffee flavor.  It is widely known fact so it has no need to be mentioned, but aging green beans is just like maturing wine.  Sourness literary changes, is sublimed to merged into rich flavor to harmonize bitterness/sweetness. 

Aged beans hide their capabilities, characteristics, potentials and so on until they came out of roasting machine.  Aged Beans sometimes ended up just like charcoal flavor if aging temperature is not appropriate.  There are a few coffee roaster can offer more than 10yrs wonderful aged coffee beans.
This roaster is not the one, but good enough to experience what aged coffees are.and to float the basis of an entrance for deeper coffee world.  

Cocktail-do ~ OLD COFFEE SPECIALITY

Here again, the old coffee specialty: Cocktail Do coffee roaster. 

Cocktail Do offers so called Aged beans, also called aged coffee or old coffee, just like CAFE DE L'MBRE with much bigger business scale.  In terms of food “business”, bigger in size often means poor in quality.  Fortunately, Cocktail Do does not follow that formula, although taste of their beans cannot hit center of my expectation for “aged beans”.

Old coffee should be categorized separately from new crops and thought separately from images generally given by the word, “OLD”.  So, what is Old coffee?  Suffice it to say that Old coffee has some similarity to Wine.  New crops are stored and aged under certain desirable conditions for several years, some several ten-years and others several years.  Green beans gain mellow or matured flavors and aroma with this aging process as well as lose sharp acidity of fresh crops.

Here are Cocktail-do specialties single beans and blend beans: Old 5 blend, Columbia, Brazil, (from Left to right)

If there is a chance, I would like to try fresh beans and aged beans at the same time to compare their flavor.  Unlike CAFE DE L'MBRE’s decades aging, Cocktail do’s beans are aged shorter periods of time, assuming several years.  However, still amazing to find that acidity of single beans actually softened and gain mellow flavor in a cup.

It is often said that aging process is betting: not every harvest is well matured or developed to survive through over years of aging process.  The owner of CAFE DE L'MBRE said that it has been getting more and more difficult to find “Good Quality” green beans for aging.  It is easily come to my mind that aging length at CAFE DE L'MBRE might be much longer, by decades, their requirements and expectations must be much higher than other aged coffee roasters.  Widely commercialized coffee business changed style of farming.  Conversion to mass farming seems to have some relations to berries qualities and, hopefully, recent specialty coffee boom will push farming styles back to small, non-machineries farming.

 

Aceh Long Berry

Beans: Aceh Longberry

Roaster: Akai-mi Coffee

Roasting Grade: Medium

Area: Takengon Aceh, Indonesia

Varieties: 100% Native Typica

Grade: G-1

Screen: 17up

Altitude: 1200 - 1300m

Processing: Semi-washed Pulped Natural, Sumatra methods

           100% Sun-dried

【Impression】

 Medium body, clear smooth texture, nutty aroma with floral, dark chocolate flavor with rush of caramel with refreshing spice, nutmeg, grapefruit like acidity, lomony acidity as aftertaste.
soothing acidity and transparent clarity bottomed with rich sweetness, which derives from processing method.  Especially, sweetness always enhance and improves through Sumatra methods and this long berry has both in addition to enhanced uniqueness of beans given by nature. 




【Note】

Very rare 100% native typica from Takengon Aceh, located the northern end of Smatra island.  There are only two varietal  available, but this long berry is specially unique in Aceh area. 

Yemen Noah Super Sanani

Beans: Yemen Noah Super Sanani (Mocha)

Roasting Level: Medium Dark  

Roaster: Pussy Pussy-na

Area of Production: South Yemen

Grade: Super Sanani

【Note about this beans】
Yemen Noah Super Sanani is high quality Arabian Mocha cultivated in Yemen, which are rather small and irregular in size, but have wonderful body, aroma and flavor.  Legend has it that Noah, Yemeni capital Sana, is the oldest city in the world where had built by Noah after the Deluge.  

【Impression】  Floral deep aroma, earthy, spaicy flavor.  Dark but mild taste but light testure with sweet aftertaste.  Well harmonized flavor, different layers of sweetness with bitterness in bottom, gradually expand, gently "land-on" and mildly engage as flavor.  Fruity and flavorfull body.  "Flavor of this coffee...body...aroma....Hmmm.........  This certainly tastes COFFEE....but...."  There is a group of coffee sometimes makes me feel "too worthless to evaluate" and this Yemen coffee belongs to there.  Taste of beans and roasting grade, or maybe some other factors, are well harmonized enough to give strong impression: "I LOVE THIS!!  Why do I need to "chop" this well developped taste piece by piece??"   This coffee can be enjoyed anytime, no recomendation.  Have anytime to refresh your feeling!  Even you are in rush, this cup will pull you back and make you want to sit for while.      

Recommendation:  For preparation, it's better to use Burr mills or Roller grinders.  Using blade grinders, somewhat Pussy-pussy-na's beans were unevenly ground.  Basically, the blade grinders grinds unevenly and makes undesirable micro-level "coffee powder" more than other types of grinders.  For some reason, Pussy-Pussy-na's beans happen to have "beans" left in powdery ground beans, which make a cup bitter and taste charcoal-like.

Ecuador ANDES MOUNTAIN

Beans: Ecuador ANDES MOUNTAIN

Roaster: Pussy Pussy-na

Roasting degree: Full city

Area: Cascol, Manabi, Ecuador

Altitude: 500 ～ 2000m

Varieties: Catura

Grade: over 90% of SC18

Processing: Washed, Sun dried

                   Fully matured beans are washed,

                   sun-dried on patio to 12% of water amount.

RFA certified.

【Roaster's Comment】

Full flavored mild cup with light body, less bitterness, mild acidity.

【Impression】

Medium Body, bright and clear taste, airy texture.  Charcoal like bitterness from roasting, not from beans, but clear and sharp taste with a touch of lemony acidity hidden.  Sweetness of matured berries adds smoothness and softness to coffee flavor.  ANDES MOUNTAIN might fit better with lighter roasting grade, like light or city, since beans itself has thin and light flavor with light acidity.  This may fit with Vietnamese coffee serving methods.

     

Tove Blend

Beans: Tove Blend
Roaster: Ayako Tomio, PUSSY PUSSY-na Coffee
Roasting Degree: Medium Dark
Pussy Pussy-na's house blend Coffee, which affers Full body and dark mild flavor.

【Impression】
Dark body with creamy, silky texture.  Nutty, almonds like aroma mixed with citrus, lime like sourness and Jasmine like flowery aroma.  Bitterness as core flavor, light acidity and sweetness of grape, with bitter but nutty short aftertaste.

Good for Cafe au Lait or Cappuccino sweetened with honey.  Not surgery sharp sweetness, but mild natural sweetness might fit well with this coffee. 
 

【Note】PUSSY PUSSY-na's beans are somewhat fit better with Manual coffee grinder, cone type grinder, than blade grinder .  I usually use a blade grinder but, with PUSSY PUSSY-na's beans, I always ended up with having "whole beans", un-ground beans, left in powdered beans.