Author: Pete Denison

What’s Brewing: Guatemala Santa Clara

/ Pete Denison / 1 Comment

It’s a great time to sample some superb Guatemalan coffee in Brisbane at the moment, and I have also been in on the act by roasting some myself. Cup Coffee have a Santa Clara showcase of sorts, currently offering washed, honey and fully natural processed versions for sale, many of which have also found their way into a cup or two at Strauss Café & Bar in the CBD.

On a recent order of green beans from Ministry Grounds, I picked up some of the fully washed Santa Clara to roast and brew at home.

Coffee

  • Guatemala City (Image courtesy Wikipedia)

    Guatemala City (Image courtesy Wikipedia)

    Guatemala Santa Clara

  • City: Antigua
  • Altitude: 1600–1830m above sea level
  • Variety: Bourbon
  • Processing: Fully Washed and patio dried
  • Owner: Zelaya family

The farm has been managed since 1988 by Ricardo Zelaya, the 4th generation of the Zelaya family to have produced coffee at Santa Clara. The Zelaya family has been growing coffee for over 100 years and four generations. This renowned family owns farms throughout Guatemala and grows one of only a handful of genuine ‘Antigua’ coffees (coffees grown in the Antigua valley area bounded by three volcanoes – Agua, Acatenango and Fuego).

Information courtesy Ministry Grounds

While tracking down some information for this post, I also came across a brief interview with the owner of the Santa Clara Farm, Ricardo Zelaya, conducted when he visited Melbourne in 2013. He talks about managing the farm, plans for the future, and how he drinks his coffee. You can find it on the Market Lane Coffee blog.

Brew Methods

Hario V60 Filter, Aeropress, Espresso (+ Kalita Wave at Strauss Café & Bar)

Impressions

As I mentioned earlier, this shade grown coffee is processed by both wet and dry methods, and if you can, it is a worthwhile endeavour to sample both.

As I have now begun roasting each coffee more specifically for espresso and filter based consumption, this and most future posts will discuss my impressions from this perspective (that is, two separate roast batches with different roast profiles). In the past, I have written on the basis of a single roast profile for all types of drinks.

As a morning latte or flat white, the Santa Clara performed really well in milk. It created a creamy, smooth drink, with a good chocolatey base, and some of the fruity flavours peeking through as well. A very, very enjoyable way to start the day. As espresso, also very enjoyable, a bright cup, with a pleasant level of acidity, medium body and a lovely creamy mouthfeel.

The filter roast performed equally well in the Aeropress and V60 Pourover, the V60 resulting in a more delicate, refined brew as expected. Both demonstrated a fresh, bright cup, again the acidity was pleasant, with enough body to make a great “winter warming” brew consumed sitting in the sun on a cool winter afternoon. This perhaps clouded my judgement of the Aeropress (consumed at my office desk), given sitting in the backyard sunshine carries an obvious environmental advantage! Again, nice fruity flavours with chocolate and citrus in both forms of brewing.

Finally, a brief mention of my thoughts on the variety of processing options on offer at Strauss Café & Bar, which were all sampled through the Kalita Wave. My pick would be the natural process, which seemed to enhance the stone fruit flavours a little more, and at times was reminiscent of a juicy grape. Not the most elegant of descriptions probably, however hopefully you get my drift. That is all I have to say on this point – remember, I do not do café reviews.

Final Thoughts

Loved it.

Probably one of the more enjoyable coffees I have roasted and brewed this year. I must admit, the cool weather of late has made it a little easier to control my roasts (given they are done outside), and with a little experimentation, I feel these have been improving over time as well. I’ll be disappointed when the last of the Santa Clara goes through the grinder, however there may be something even more enjoyable up ahead. After all, isn’t that the basis for the journey?

Rating: 4.5/5

Wiser Web Wednesday

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Wiser Web Wednesday – a weekly link to posts of interest from around the web:

Les Posen’s Presentation Magic
That fabulous world of academia, where a soundly stated and well thought out hypothesis, is tested, confirmed or disproved, then reported and reviewed by peers. Important stuff. The means of presenting of such findings? Apparently much less important if conference presentations are anything to go by, and I’ve been to quite a few.

Some thoughts from a true master of the conference Keynote (yes – that Keynote):
Why Academic conferences need to change, and why Powerpoint is a dead technology walking

April Zero
At the time of writing, San Francisco based entrepreneur Anand Sharma had been “tracking everything about himself” with an iPhone and a few key apps for 107 days. The results are published on a great looking site:
April Zero

Asian Efficiency
The final part of a series by Mike Schmitz for AE on tools for taking care of the quick capture phase of a GTD workflow. This time how to configure Drafts to sync with nvALT on your Mac, allowing effortless iOS capture and transfer of information to your Mac for processing:
Quick Capture Part 4: nvALT & Drafts

Teespring
Sporting one of my favourite tag lines of all time, The Cramped now has an official T-shirt campaign that appears to have reached its funding goal. With only a day to run, show them a little more support and grab one before they are gone. You know you want one:
The Cramped Official T-Shirt

The Cramped
Of course I’d follow it up with this. A brilliant article from a writer about writing, whatever the tool used to get it done. In which you will find:

But it turns out that there’s nothing that motivates quite like the sight of your friend covering pages with ink. Are you going to sit there like a loser, with your blank page? No, you are not.

Always Open To The Possibility of Writing

The Writing Arsenal
If the above article inspired you to get writing by hand, perhaps a new notebook is in order. Tim at The Writing Arsenal reviews the Word notebook, with its built-in bullet point mark-up system:
Word. Notebooks “Indigo” Review

The Pen Addict
An interesting post on two fronts. Firstly, being a fan of felt tip or fineliner type pens in my teens, and was thinking I must give them a run once more. With seven tip sizes and multiple colours, I’m sure there is a Pigma Micron to suit.

Further, Brad discusses how a fascination with finer tip or nib sizes has perhaps seen him miss some great writing experiences with the medium to broader end of the spectrum. I had been thinking along those lines as well recently, however for me the reverse is true. I have traditionally never used anything finer than medium, though am now enjoying an exploration of some finer tips and nibs.

I’d best order some fine Pigma Microns as well then:
Sakura Pigma Micron Blue Black Review

Pens! Paper! Pencils!
Pen buying budgets are interesting things. What next? A big purchase, a bag of cheaper ones or something in between? Whichever one the needle points to when it stops spinning, reliable information is your friend. Ian Hedley with a very well-balanced review of the Kaweco AC Sport fountain pen. Red is probably not for me:
Kaweco AC-Sport fountain pen review

Same blog, new name – mine

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Regular readers may have noticed a new name and URL for the site – petedenison.net, or if you have arrived via a link, are perhaps wondering why you are not on Dept 4. The content itself? All imported across and identical – simply a name and domain relaunch for the blog.

Why the change?

As of 13 July 2014, I will no longer be posting to dept4.net, albeit with a redirect to petedenison.net in place for all links and general traffic going to the original site. This redirect appears to be functioning well, with a kind link to Dept 4 from Ray at The Fountain Pen Quest seeing traffic at this new domain. As you can see, everything else is pretty much the same – at least for now. So why the change?

First and foremost, the site name now aligns with the @petedenison handle I use on both Twitter and Instagram. Those social media outlets and this blog are personal accounts, and I have no desire, nor would it be appropriate, to post any content associated with my professional life to them.

Dept 4 commenced prior to my presence on both Twitter and Instagram, and at the time I decided to use something other than my name as a kind of pseudonym of sorts, perhaps lacking a little confidence in how this all works. With varied topics, a specific coffee or pen blog name would not have accurately reflected the content, and over twelve months on I feel this remains the case.

So, when thinking about a page header redesign over the weekend, my wife and I both felt the more we looked at Dept 4, the more it seemed a little “off”, both in meaning and in what the blog represented. In the interests of incremental change, the header design remains the same, not so the name or URL.

Just me – petedenison.net

As I mentioned above, this is a personal blog, the views are my own, and cross a few different topics of interest. Writing posts is one of my favourite activities, and to date I still seem to have a few things to say, though finding the time to get them down can sometimes be a challenge.

For me, putting my name to the site is probably now a more accurate reflection of the nature of the blog, and what it will continue to be. I will always be me, and consider my personal blog to now have what will be a permanent home – whichever direction the topics and overall evolution take.

I thank you, my loyal readers, for taking an interest in what I have to say, and hope my efforts in redirecting links and traffic to this new domain continue to be successful. I would appreciate any comments below if you come across any issues.

Thanks for stopping by.

Those you belittle are always bigger than you

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By accident, without thought, or exquisitely crafted. It matters not, and is just as disappointing whichever form it takes. When directed at me it is meaningless. When overheard in conversation towards my friends and those I care about, another matter.

I’m talking about the over developed sense of self-importance of some, who so easily project this over others without so much as a second thought – or so it seems anyway. Whilst the purpose of this blog is certainly far from ranting about aspects of the human condition I find equally saddening and maddening, occasionally you will come across a post on such a topic (there are many written and unpublished which in all likelihood will stay that way).

Of course I am not about to delve into specifics, suffice to say, people performing roles or in occupations judged as “inferior” by some, are more than likely working just as hard, if not harder than those that judge them – again whether the judgement occurs on purpose or without thought. In my experience, something repeatedly done by accident or without thinking, is generally a purposeful action. Or at the very least, indicative of a certain kind of person.

Success can itself be judged internally, by those inching closer to mastering their craft, even if mastery is always a little out of reach. There is something extremely satisfying in working towards a long-term goal. Taking each step with the seriousness and precision required. The sweat and focus which will provide that extra few percent of improvement. The kind of effort (and in some cases risk) that shames a dusty university degree hanging on a wall somewhere as a shrine of achievement, which perhaps peaked when the frame was hung. Yet, we are somehow meant to revere that item on the wall, as though it should somehow afford the holder some right of superiority.

Sorry, actions speak louder than words, and infinitely louder than words written on heavy paper stock, framed and hung on a wall. Congratulations on your achievement, and I mean that sincerely, however that gives you nothing more than the right to work in certain occupations, belong to certain associations, and perhaps add some letters on your business card. Beyond that, nothing. Your treatment of others, and ill-perceived superiority more quickly relegates you to inferiority than you might imagine, as there are certain things in this world that really matter (respect, integrity, empathy and understanding for starters – none of which you need a university degree to exhibit), whereas the bastions you hold on to are the things that really don’t.

So go ahead, belittle those you see as inferior, however as far as I and many others are concerned, they will always be bigger than you.

Wiser Web Wednesday

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Wiser Web Wednesday – a weekly link to posts of interest from around the web:

Study Hacks
Although specifically referring to mathematical proofs, there are enough hints here for broader applications. My favourite? Idea 1 – sometimes we just need to be specific, have clear aims, and deal with it:
How to Read Proofs Faster: A Summary of Useful Advice

1Password for iOS Tip of the Day
Along came this little gem in my Twitter feed recently – swipe right on 1Password (iOS) entries to copy the password. A cracker. It appears many others needed a little reminding about this great feature I was unaware of:
1Password Status

The Sweet Setup
As someone with less than 12 months Mac experience under my belt, tips like these come in very handy:
Quick Tip: Enable Hot Corners on OS X

Pens! Paper! Pencils!
Nothing wrong with a little tech, but where are the pens and ink? Why here for starters:
Diamine Ochre ink review

Hastily Written
Lately I’ve been drawn to the red/orange/brown spectrum of ink colours, however on the opposite side of the rainbow, am also in need of a new blue. Food for thought here:
Ink Drop: July 2014

Office Supply Geek
If a little colour in a notebook is your thing, Brian takes a look at the turquoise Rhodiarama hard cover. Same Rhodia quality – just a little louder:
Rhodiarama Notebook Review

The Atlantic
Did you read my previous post on penmanship? Maybe a slightly different tangent from such an idea (which by the way wasn’t written this quickly):
How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

Still Drinking
Of course punctuation matters, however as much as we think it does? Need I say more:

English is a mutt of a language, inheriting ludicrously contradictory spellings and grammars from other languages.

Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.

Barista Magazine Blog
I’m all for someone having a stab at the often elusive “where did this originate?” – perhaps the Dutch Traders in the South Pacific were the lucky souls that invented out of necessity. Although this low-acidity brew is not new, and something I have written about before, I’m interested to see how the trend has caught on in the modern Cafè scene. This series might be one to follow:
Completely Cold brew: Part 1 of a series