Madcap Coffee Cupping at Woodberry Kitchen

Last Friday I took the morning off to spend some time at a very special coffee cupping. Our beloved Allie invited us to come "cup" some of Madcap's beans that they sent from Michigan to get people buzzing about their arrival coming soon on the East Coast. Madcap will be opening a shop in DC shortly. E. sadly had to miss it as his work schedule doesn't allow him to take off much time during the week. He was mildly jealous to say the least.

We were just in Grand Rapids, Michigan at Madcap Coffee and I wrote about it here. Eric really enjoyed the Santa Lucia and he's been enjoying the beans at home. After my detox I have given up all caffeine so E. gets to enjoy all the beans in our home at his leisure without any fear of me stealing a shot here or there.

Last week we cupped four beans; Santa Lucia from Costa Rica, Fazenda Rainha from Brazil, San Sebastian from Columbia, and the Gacokwe from Burundi. They were all so, so different. This was my second cupping. It was just as complicated as the first one. I felt like I could really smell the difference in the ground beans but again had a terrible time describing the aroma and flavor after the coffee was steeped with water. The flavor however was very clear to me and some coated my mouth with a creamy sensation, vs. the sensation of juice. The Santa Lucia and Gacokwe both did this in the mouth feel. It was awesome!

When I arrived Timothy made me my very own French press of decaf. So, so nice.

I couldn't help but notice these precious enamel espresso cups with Spike and Allie's names on them. The hand made masking tape label is too adorable for words.

I noticed a few new additions to the coffee bar. Woodberry's fans and famous people sign the coffee cups. Peter is from Counter Culture.

Madcap

Gordon Ramsey

These wall of fame cups are the most fun.

It was fun going around the table at this cupping and hearing how people brew their coffee at home. Jay from Spro, Kris and Becka from LAMILL and a few other seasoned coffee people were there. There were many fans of the V60 pour over brew method and one I think was called a "bee" pot brew method.

Not your average cup of Joe!

Timothy measured out each bean and ground them prior to the cupping. He and Allie both swear by a scale they found at Target.

My favorite smell test made me think of STEAK. Yes, the Gacokwe coffee smelled like a big freaking juicy steak to me. Amazing. I picked up notes of peanut butter in one and lime in another. You really are supposed to write the first thing that comes to mind and I let myself go CRAZY with my descriptors. 

The class was diligent in writing notes and keeping their thoughts to themselves. Cuppings are oddly quiet.

It was much harder writing what I thought I smelled at this stage. It is very subtle. I think I have a pretty good nose. The dynamic of the coffee changes so much from the ground bean to the "wet" stage. I honestly have a hard time writing anything during this part of the smell test. You are supposed to get really close to the cup and sniff the heck out of it. Still, I got nothing. Stumped, truly.

Once the coffee is "broken" Allie scoops off the foam and bean grounds. I let the new "cuppers" break the coffee and shied away since I felt my nose may have been broken. And then we slurped. 

I took a little video of Allie's "slurp" demonstration. The recent article in the Sun suggested that you can't be a "Ruxton Dowager" while slurping. I love their Downton Abbey reference! It felt like I was back in business after slurping. The flavors were robust for my Steaky bean. One person commented it had wild rice flavors. I love hearing what people wrote afterwards. 

It was a very large class with so many newcomers after the article about Baltimore's coffee scene. Thanks again Allie for your education and open way of teaching. It truly gets easier each time...even though it is still pretty tough to find words. We had the Santa Lucia for brunch this past weekend and our guests were really impressed with the lingering mouth feel that I described earlier. The easiest way to explain it is how a wine feels "big and chewy". The Santa Lucia and the Gacokwe both had a big, lingering mouth feel that was smooth and lingering. I am sure it makes no sense to anyone reading. So if you live in town you can find a cup at Spro on the Avenue while you wait for Madcap to make its way East.

Thanks for signing my Sun Allie and Jay! Kris, I'm coming to find you to get your signature. Who knows, maybe we will open a coffee shop one of these days. I have to start collecting our "wall of fame" items too. I'm hoping a Coffee Pilgrimage to Costa Rica may be necessary soon.

Madhatter Tea Party at LAMIL

I attended a Mad Hatter Tea Party at LAMILL on Tuesday morning. Local area coffee shop owners were invited from around the city, coffee enthusiasts and LAMILL patrons as well. It was delightful. The macaroons were scrumptious as well as gorgeous to photograph. They make me want to be a food photographer. The light was simply marvelous, don't you think?

There were miles of warm, fresh out-of-the-fryer beignets for the taking. I've spoken of my LAMILL beignet love before but I learned that they use McCallan scotch *jaw drops to floor* in their butterscotch sauce. Be. Still. My. Heart! Lemon curd and chocolate are other options. I'll stick with scotch thank you very much. 

The Sun wrote a great article about Baltimore's up and coming coffee scene that morning. All of the people mentioned in the article were at this event. Kris Fulton, our host from LAMILL, ran the demo and a latte art contest.

Becka started off teaching how the V60 worked and it's benefits. The V60 is the white porcelain single serving drip cone photographed. I gave one to E. for Christmas and he proceeded to then buy the glass container below and the uber fancy water pot for perfect pouring. I may have rolled my eyes just a tiny bit regarding his obsession but do think it is cool that my Charlie loved coffee before coffee was cool.

It is always a pleasure to see our friend and lovely Allie Caran. The Sun article boasted of her new shop that is opening in March called Artifact. We couldn't be more tickled that it is less than a mile away from our home. She's holding my addiction, LAMILL jasmine pearls in this photo. They sell it loose and boxed in tea bags. I've gone through a minimum of five boxes since Thanksgiving. The floral notes are to die for and just make me feel like I'm on vacation during my afternoon tea break. I've even polished my silver and pulled out my good china to drink this decadent tea. (Charlie deserves an eye roll facing my way.) You can see the V60's lining the community table behind Allie. My darling Charlie would have been in coffee bliss. They are having free coffee clinics a few Saturday's at LAMILL beginning at 10:00 am so we can go back my darling, with pleasure.

There was a syphon brew method demonstration as well. This is the coolest little contraption. You can see the blue flame of the Bunsen burner heating up the last bit of water that rises through the top of the syphon. It's a dramatic finish when the coffee filters back down into the bulb. 

In my earlier post I neglected to photograph a key element of the Four Seasons' LAMILL espresso machine. It was custom made for the hotel at Espresso Parts in Washington State. Rumor has it this little baby was upwards of $40K.

Jay Caragay, owner of Spro Hampden, was also in tow with Lindsay, now at LAMILL. We met Becka and Lindsay when they were working at Spro when it first opened nearly four years ago. There was a wonderful sense of kinship at this party and many spoke of this video I neglected to add a few days ago.

Hilarious, but they forgot the part where they talk about latte art competitions.

Lindsay, Jay, Allie and Becka....awwwww!

March Madness it wasn't but there was a little Barista Bowl that morning. Kris invited the visiting barista's to a latte art challenge. There were only 15 hands and 16 were needed. Who do you think volunteered?

Me! Ha! and I pulled the number two spot so had to go FIRST! WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Adrienne from Charmington's and I went head to head in the battle of the barista's. Kris pulled the shots and actually even steamed my milk. Allie gave me a ten second refresher course and encouraged me that shaking makes it better. 

I may have been shaking a bit taking this fuzzy photo.

We had our choice of cups which were warm on the resting station of the machine. I LOVE that my camera caught the drips of espresso eking out of the fancy dancy machine.

Adrienne had cup A.

I was the proud owner of cup B. The vote was (11) for A and...wait for it...(10) for me. I lost by one point! I was so excited. The variations were good and I was told I had great contrast. My heart was upside down and not symmetrical. I am totally okay with that. As @WitWisdomTavern put it @Baltiville nice try! No risk, no glory!! #madhatter.

It was such a blast doing something totally out of my comfort zone. It was great to be part of it.

One of Eric's buds, Diane, from Spro was also there. I introduced myself to her as, "Eric's wife". No one knows me at coffee shops unless I remind them that I'm Eric's wife.

The competition rolled out in four rounds. It was crazy fun to watch the different designs come out from behind the bar. They were created blindly so we didn't know until afterwards who the artist was. I loved Becka's funky pine and heart.

I can't remember who belonged to this one but think it was Allie. Correct me if I'm wrong please guys.

Didn't take good notes, but Becka won this one since she went on to the next round.

I wish I wrote down who owned what cup. Both were so gorge.

Allie got third, Becka (beating her boss Kris-you go girl) got second and Linsdaybarista's were hurt during this competition.

The prizes were hip as hell too; vinyl records, an E.T. board game, and Grease on VHS!  LAMILL even gave all the participants gift bags with coffee, caramels and other special treats. 

Thank you LAMILL for hosting such a lovely gathering and inviting little ole me. Allie, thanks for the fun ten second latte class. I'm looking forward to our behind the scenes tour of Artifact. To all of our coffee buds, thanks for treating me like I'm part of your fold, even if it was for mere seconds. I'm buying whole milk to practice at home.