This is my first trip to Urban Mill located on Michigan Ave. in Grand Rapids, MI. The establishment has provided a nice quiet atmosphere conducive to studying. There are plenty of tables with a variety of classic wooden chairs and your more comfortable type. The music is slow and soft, it acts as a perfect white noise. The menu is ample. Their moderate selection of espresso drinks (which you can order hot, iced or frozen) is accompanied by a slightly smaller list of beverages for those who prefer something of a different variety. The menu is completed with a compilation of salads and sandwiches and finished on the sweet note of an ice cream bar, stocked with Hudsonville ice cream.

The above mentioned is all well and good, but I am here to bring judgement to their brewed coffee; which leaves something to be desired. My preferred coffee profile is bright, with a fruity acidity and some nice milk chocolate overtones, which are flavors that when in beans, are most prevalent and lighter roasts; naturally I chose to purchase the lighter roast. Sadly my cup was lacking all desirable flavors. In their place was taste of your typical cheap, old beans; which coincidently are the flavors most people know coffee to contain. This is because large coffee companies let their beans sit out for months in order to achieve a consistent flavor in their product. I can only assume this is the process that Urban Mill’s beans go through.

To conclude this unfortunately disappointing review I remind you that Urban Mill is a great place to come and study, and, if you have not refined your palate such as I have you may find the coffee enjoyable as well.  

libertarians asked:Nope, I had completely forgotten about it! Thank you for sending it again. Tat’s so cool you have a separate blog for coffee. Hahaha Charbuck’s. I hate their coffee so much. It always tastes burnt and shitty. I’ll have to try the 8 o’clock coffee since I’m on a tight college budget, but I’ll check if there’s a roaster in the area when I go back home to North Carolina. Why is it important to grind your own beans, and how do I go about doing that?

I love all of this information. It reminds me of when I was getting into cigars.

The longer the grounds sit after being taken from bean form to ground form, the more flavor they lose. Grinding them immediately before you brew gives you maximum flavor. You can get little crappy grinders for fairly cheap, I used one for a while until I got a nicer Burr grinder, and make sure you buy whole beans if you are going to do this. Once you get started you can research different granule sizes depending on brewing method and experiment to see how to get the best size with you grinder.

libertarians replied to your post: Coffee enthusiast huh? What’s your favorite?

What would you recommend for me just beginning to drink coffee? I always get mine sweet if that has anything to do with it.

This question was asked on my political blog.

If you are just starting I would suggest avoiding places like Charbucks or Seattle’s Best. What they serve is not worthy to be called coffee. Find a place that roasts their own beans if you want the best beginning experience.

If you are brewing your own get a grinder and buy whole bean, if you are on a budget I would recommend 8 o’clock coffee, and the beans are not bad either. If you are not on a budget see if their is a roaster in the area.

For Just any old cup though I would recommend trying it black, if you are not fond of that stick with your sweeteners and slowly bring the sweetness down until you can drink it black.

And remember. Grind your own beans!

I skipped roast #7 because I gave it away, also I completely forgot to do a roast journal entry.

My latest bean is an Indian bean, a monsoon malimar. It is a weird bean to roast since when unroasted it is yellow instead of green, which through me off when I was roasting. I tried to take it to a medium-ish roast (recommended is vienna, I like to start lighter and work up to recommended). It was difficult to tell when it was there by colour. I might be unhappy with this roast, we will see tomorrow.

I made my way over to Rowster today, a local coffee shop that roasts their own coffee, and I must say that it is an absolutely wonderful place. The atmosphere is quite lovely. It is very open with minimal seating, although a nice variety of bar stools and comfy chairs. There is jazz music playing softly in the background and the sounds of lively discussion between customers and staff, it is truly an inviting noise.

On to the coffee. They deal mostly in brewed coffee but they have a decent selection of espresso drinks as well. The selection of brewed coffee is what has impressed me the most. They offer three different ways to have it prepared, press pot, siphon pot and pour over drip, and three different methods of pour over drip at that. ‘New American Style’, ‘V-60’ and the ever classic ‘Chemex’. For espresso they offer a double shot with dairy in a variety of sizes and have some flavour shots if you wish for a more interesting latte. What really intrigues me though is some titled ‘Long Pull’. I have not experienced an espresso in this manner, although I am convinced I must.

Today I went for 10 oz. prepared in the way of the ‘New American Style’. I am not quite sure on the bean that I received, but it sure did gain my approval. This brew had some fruity overtones, so I can only assume it was a lighter roast, probably something along the lines of full city. It was a very smooth cup of coffee, that is a side effect of the pour over drip brewing method and a very good side effect at that. It was served in a metal pot with a ~3.5 oz. ceramic cup to drink from. This allowed me to take my time and enjoy the beverage without much worry of the bottom of the mug losing heat on me, a very smart way of doing things if I may have an opinion.

Basically Rowster has captured beautifully the dream of my perfect coffee shop and the idea of one that I want to open one day, with maybe a slight change in music to a more folkesque sound. I give Rowster a giant thumbs up and would highly suggest it if you are ever in the Grand Rapids area.

In the meantime I will be making Turkish coffee. Delicious.

(via haereticum)

take a long time to brew.

letpenmeetpaper:

Father: Did you just put pepper in your coffee???

Mother: Did I?

Father: Yes, I think you did… Why?!

Mother: Because I was watching you, and you put pepper on your egg!

These are my parents (for real, letpenmeetpaper is my little sister).

Sounds interesting. I may have to try some sometime.

you brew the first pot with your latest roast and forget to do a taste profile? I did figure out the right setting on my burr grinder for proper granule size for syphon pot brewing though.

Edit: And then you continue to do it for the following three pots?

workinginthebasement:

coffeeblog:

We have relished many of Oliver Strand’s coffee writings in the NY Times. Here’s one for the other than espresso crew; Coffee’s Slow Dance

Nice photo.

Nice method of brewing coffee.

I need to get myself a pour over drip to go with my press pot, syphon pot, ibrik and espresso machine.

(via workinginthebasement-deactivate)

I took the Sumatra a little lighter again, somewhere between a medium and an espresso roast. I will try it both press pot and syphon pot.

for roast #6.

Well friends I finally got around to trying out my syphon pot (vac pot) this afternoon. The brewing time is long, roughly ten minutes, but the taste and body are wonderful. This method produces a very smooth beverage with a nice full flavour. There is no bitterness because the way that it brews does not allow boiling water to hit the grounds, which is wonderful. Now i just need to perfect the grounds to water ratio.