How I’ve Been Making Coffee During Quarantine

Beautiful homemade honey syrup in an upcycled jar.

Hey all, I have some huge posts that I’m working on lately but, while I keep plugging away at those, I wanted to have a lighter post of how I have been making coffee while at home. Up until a couple weeks ago, I was still working in coffee so I’ve been working on my homebrew set up ever since.

My Go-To: Batch Brew, 5-cup Brewer
I’m a simple person when it comes to my everyday morning coffee. It may not be the most elaborate or perfect set up, but I really love the ease and consistency of my regular coffee maker. It is reminiscent of waking up and walking downstairs to my mom making coffee and breakfast on the weekends when I was a kid. The sound of the water moving through the machine, and, honestly, it produces a good cup of coffee. Plus, it is pretty forgiving when it comes to grind size.

Special Brews: Recipe Development and Product Testing
As with most specialty coffee people, we have a backlog of coffee in our stash. I have had some pretty old coffee that I’ve been using to fine-tune my specialty brewing methods and troubleshooting areas where I’ve struggled in the past. For the longest time, I had two plastic pour over cones that I used early in my coffee career that I never liked. When I finally found a ceramic one at a thrift store, I tried it but encountered a slew of problems. The hole at the bottom was bigger, grind size issues, and I did not have a scale. I’ve been a barista since 2017, been making coffee since I was 18, and just got a scale a few weeks ago. To say I’ve been excited is an understatement. My pour over problems were solved, so now it’s just a matter of dialing in my coffee. The actual recipe needed work.

I’m always eyeing new products to add to my arsenal of coffee products, and one that I’ve been eyeing is a Melodrip. I’m typically pro-agitation, but have seen the melodrip over on Umeko Motoyoshi’s Instagram and I was curious. I saw a tip from someone to try using a cupping spoon to replicate a melodrip’s effect of a gentler pour, so when I made a pour over this morning that was the technique that I tried. It worked fine, but I don’t have a gooseneck kettle so the effect wasn’t as controlled as I would like. Oh well, that’s what quarantine experiments are for!

Pet Projects: Syrups
Lastly, I’ve been really making syrups in those “I’m bored in the house and I’m in the house bored” moments. (I also started a Tiktok where I make silly coffee/shop life videos which is why I know that song.) I started off with a lavender syrup that I used to make at one of my old jobs, then a Jasmine syrup to replicate a drink that I like at a shop that is closed because of the pandemic, and made honey, cinnamon, and vanilla syrup this morning. I really try to not waste where I can and this honey syrup was a (successful) attempt at trying to find a use for some beyond the point of no return crystallized honey.

The honey syrup was also based on a drink idea that I made a couple years ago called a teddy bear breve, but it never went anywhere outside of my personal test kitchen.

 

Hope you all are staying safe and sane in quarantine!

Also, my friends over at Coffee At Large are raising money to support out of work baristas in Washington State. If you are able to donate, please consider donating here. They’ve already raised over $4000.

The Dangers of Essentialism in Coffee

This last paycheck, I clocked in at a whopping 83 hours. By the end of that pay week, I was exhausted and burnt out. All of us were frustrated and trying to acclimate to this new world of ours. If I’m being honest, there were so many moments when I thought about quitting my job, texting exes, and even moving in with my mom (love you, mom). Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful to still have a job but I was running on fumes.

Well, it’s a new week and I’ve had some days off to gather my thoughts on life, career, and word definitions.

Why words?

The word essential has been thrown about lately by both civilians and the government with the implication that only something that saves lives, something that people depend on, is deemed essential. With many shops closed, many baristas have come to realize that coffee is a luxury item.

But, while the product may not be essential, we are. The experience is.

Amongst all the stress of the last few weeks, the amount of love my shop has received and the love I see for other shops points to just how vital we are. The people that order from us have told us time and again how what we are doing is helping them get through this time. One of our customers comes to our shop after his dialysis appointments and told us that he is so grateful that we have stayed open because his condition is getting worse but coming to our shop is what he looks forward to these days.

In my own life, coffee shops have been vital. Yes, it is through them that I pay my bills for the last three years but I’ve leaned on shops during some of the hardest times in my life. I wrote half my book in Lavender and Honey Espresso Bar before I worked there. When my marriage ended, I got through that time by going to Ambrose Cafe and Intelligentsia. Case Study Coffee was my safe place to fight the overwhelming feelings of moving to a new state by myself and work on writing when moving to Portland seemed like a mistake.

Times are indeed rough, but in addition to giving yourself grace in how you handle quarantine (whether employed or not), I urge you not to reduce your impact down to its smallest part. Baristas are essential because baristas are people. We make drinks and food, we smile and make conversation, and we make a safe space for ourselves and others to deal with life. All the good like meetings with friends and nice dates to the bad moments that make us stop to grab a latte made on the house because our cheeks are still red from crying. We build bridges beyond what happens behind the bar.

So, I want to close this post with a challenge:

The next time you make coffee, make it with intention. Take a minute and let this be your only focus. Once it’s done, write down a time when you felt like what you were doing was essential (to you, to your boss or coworker, to a customer, etc.).

But Brit, this sounds like some cheesy school assignment. I’m always intentional… I’ll think about it while I get ready for the day, and really? Why do I need to think of it at all?

Do it.

Because we all stay in this industry because we love it.
Because it has become so a part of our lives that people have begun to give us weird looks when we talk about it with as much passion as we do.
Because we all need a physical reminder that we aren’t wasting our own time.

Post it on social media or don’t, it is up to you but remember that you are an essential part of this world. That what you do makes an impact, even if you can’t see it.

And hopefully, I’ll be in to visit everyone soon. (I can dream that this will be over soon, can’t I?)