Alien Coffee

These are unusual times -- so unusual that flavored coffee has invaded the galley at Whaling House. The image below is so incongruous that my most devoted coffee students will immediately have questions. For everyone else, this is a good opportunity to share a few ideas about coffee, particularly flavored coffee.


Rather than write a lengthy post, I have decided to make a video about this weekend's coffee. The video will include a reference to this blog and also to A Story About Coffee by Pam Hayes-Bohanan.



It will be featured in my Coffee Week course this summer, which will be offered online for the first time. Since the Coronavirus crisis precludes the usual visit to Whaling House, I am bringing a few words about Whaling House to the course.



And although I spent 15 minutes explaining the milk in this coffee, I do have two things to add.

First, I forgot to mention that the residue of the flavored coffee stays in the grinder, even if it is used only once. This might necessitate a thorough cleaning; in my case I compromised by grinding some unflavored coffee that I put right in compost. It is a waste in one sense, but allows for proper enjoyment of the next cup. I can still detect the aroma while grinding, but it is not present in the cup.

Second, Pam found a clever way to redeem some of the flavored coffee. She blended vanilla ice cream, coffee milk from our local dairy, chocolate syrup, and a few ground mint-choco coffee beans for delicious milkshakes (or maybe they're frappes) yesterday afternoon.  Delicious! (And yes, I ran some extra coffee through the grinder after she did this.)

Lagniappe

Thanks in advance to Bones Coffee for being good sports about this.

CoffeeWeek Movie: The Sequel

COVID-19 NEWSFLASH: As of April 9, we have decided to move this course 100-percent online. There will be a Zoom meeting each morning June 15-19, with special guests and with online assignments each day. Work will be due Monday, June 29.

Some coffee art from my most recent travel course,
which was my first visit to Costa Rica.
Among many other things, Coffee Week students will
learn the significance of each form that coffee takes in this photo.

I am leaving the film below in place because it is fun and captures the spirit of this course. But the mode of delivery will be very different. Taking the class online means that we miss the fun of driving all around the state to different coffee venues and all the sites, tastes, and aromas that entails.

BUT doing this remotely ALSO means that we have some opportunities we otherwise would not have: mainly, we can draw in the expertise of coffee professionals near and far (in some cases very far), either in real-time video conferences or in video presentations they record for us. This will include some of the people who participated in the class before, and some who are too far away. They will include at least.a couple of coffee farmers.

We will also have time to watch and then discuss several coffee-related films, available for streaming at little or no cost.



We are pleased to be offering a 1-3-5 coffee course for the third time:

        1 van / 3 credits / 5 days

This class meets all day, each day for a week, giving us the opportunity to visit many -- but not nearly all -- of the amazing coffee places in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Specialty roasters and cafés are integral to their local communities while connecting our region to some of the most interesting coffeelands throughout the world.

This summer course will follow on the heels of a spring season full of coffee-related activities that have been organized by the Bridgewater One Book One Community Committee, which has chosen the delightful Thanks a Thousand for its spring read. All members of the wider Bridgewater community are invited to talks, tastings, and tours throughout March and April.

NOTE: Most of the events mentioned above were canceled, but some will be taking place online.