Coffee and the Winemaker Part 2

We've covered the fact that I like and drink a lot of coffee. Not all the coffee I drink has been high quality in 2015, because my coffee choices are often limited and based on expediency rather than quality. The idea of a "perfect pour-over" does not exist outside major metropolitan cities, ski resorts or wine country. 

A good example of the expediency choice is driving at night on Highway 99. I like stopping at well traveled, well lit rest stops with a wide variety of services, Jack Tone Road in Ripon and Winton Parkway in Livingston are the only two places I stop along Highway 99. They are easy on-and-off locations with plenty of choices for gas and food. Both stops have Starbucks and McDonalds, but not street tacos (downside).

Good examples of quality coffee options are Bean Affair and Flying Goat in Healdsburg. True, there is a Starbucks in Healdsburg, but I'm less likely to go there for coffee when I have higher quality choices in the area. The Peet's Coffee in Windsor is gone, of which I was a frequent visitor in 2014, so I've substituted Peet's on Nave Drive in Novato as an all-inclusive food, gas, and coffee stop on my travels up and down highway 101.

Because I'm a statistic driven guy, it's only fair that I highlight where I've been drinking coffee over the last year in a graph. Graphs are cool.

Frequent Coffee Stops in California

Coffee and the Winemaker

Coffee is an important part of my daily regimen. Coffee and wine making are hand in glove.

There were some major issues on the crushpad this season with regards to the type and method of coffee served. One such matter, K-Cups vs. Drip. Stashes of emergency K-Cups of Starbucks were hidden in the lab, behind barrels, in the cave, even the glove compartment of a car, just in-case someone needed a late-afternoon fix. There's nothing worse than getting ready for a fresh cup of coffee and having to settle for a K-Cup of Lemon Zinger non-caffeinated nonsense. A second matter on the crushpad, Yuban vs. Starbucks vs. Peet's. I can assure you, I consumed Yuban coffee exactly one time this summer. Yuban is an abomination.

As I travel around California, I've been known to carry a backpackers stove and Moka pot or percolator with me, along with fresh beans, coffee grinder and car inverter just so I can have fresh ground coffee in the morning. Most mornings in Healdsburg, I'd brew up a fresh Moka pot to start my day.

Coffee, or more to the point, caffeine is serious business.

Number of Coffees or Espresso Consumed in 2015

Don't judge me for all the K-Cups and Pods. They're convenient, fast, and no one feels left out because you didn't make "a fresh pot" or get the "stink eye" (like I have an addiction) for brewing up a batch of drip at 3pm. Most of the K-Cups were consumed on the crushpad or in the office. Imagine the stink eye I'd get for grinding beans for my Moka Pot? Ohhh, the arrogance...he can't drink Yuban drip like the rest of us. Guilty as charged.

The pure math says I drink about 1.72 coffees per day, which seems about right, as I can easily have 3 espresso per day, which gets my numbers up. There are some days that I have no coffee, so I think my numbers are fairly accurate for the year.

Cold coffee (different than Cold Brew) has an additional benefit to the winemaker...acid. Nothing cleans the palate better than a cold coffee and a Pellegrino.

The Week that was Charleston, SC

Charleston, South Carolina…they have Bulldogs, the best looking food truck I've ever seen, gourmet chocolates and pastries, a Hipster coffee house, and rock star chefs. Fortunately for me, I had great company to dine with every afternoon and evening in Charleston. I’d like to personally thank Margaret Mays and Bill Lehew for the time they spent taking care of me in the Palmetto State.

On my first evening in Charleston, we went big; which translates as STEAK. I’ve been to steak houses all over the country and Hall's Chophouse rivals any one.

The action in the downstairs bar is fierce; upstairs in the main dining room, plenty of wood, leather, and dim lighting…heaven. Looking at the menu is a mere formality, as I naturally selected the classic steakhouse line-up...steak tartare, wedge salad, dry-aged rib-eye with truffle butter, creamed spinach, sauteed mushrooms. If a steakhouse doesn’t have these, my standard order, there’s a problem already. There wasn’t a single problem. The entire meal paired perfectly with Mastro Scheidt Family Cellars Blueprint and Signature.

The following afternoon, it was suggested we stop into a boutique chocolatier Christophe in the Historical District, for a quick treat and prepare for dinner at Anson Restaurant. A treat indeed; plenty of chocolate, in addition to a full-blown patisserie. Everything one would expect from a fine patisserie, breakfast, lunch or a snack. I logged the location of Christophe into memory for the next morning.

The following morning, I drove directly to Christophe for an almond cream-apple torte.  Absolutely knocked my socks off. I didn't dine inside, instead, I brought my perfectly boxed pastry outside, placed the craft cardboard box on the hood of my rental silver Hyundai Sonata, ripped open the box and proceeded to eat my pastry like a wanton savage. I would have taken my pastry French style, simply wrapped with waxed paper and eaten out-of-hand, but I can see where the sealed craft cardboard box takes my rather pedestrian approach to breakfast to another, more refined level, as the craft cardboard box protects the pastry for the ride back home.

Black Tap Coffee exudes hipsterism, but I can't malign the coffee. The coffee is roasted by Counter Culture in Charlotte. Black Tap has a Japanese cold brew system and a proprietary cold brew methodology; which I think is: 

• Add Tap water to coffee grounds for 24 hours and filter 

I had their Black Tap cold brew for a late-afternoon pick-me-up. The flavor was intense, deep, dark chocolate flavors on the back palate with a solid linger. 

I'll round out The Week that was Charleston in a second post.