Extract Mojo-ing

This will be short to echo the time I have spent playing on the extract mojo.

What I realize is that most of the brewing methods I have learned, been taught or have read about are for the most part on the over-dosed under-extracted side of coffee brewing.  Having spent a few hours trying to dial in a coffee using extract mojo and comparing it against my pallet, I seem to be finding that what I am experiencing is mimicked in the program.  It is also helping me put a more precise idea of what is going on in the cup descriptively.

I gotta say that it is really freaking cool... expensive, but shifting my mind...
My new favorite borrowed toy... I may just have to buy a refractometer to do this all the time...

Meaning, Michigan, & My Home.

It has been an exhausting few weeks.  We arrived in Grand Rapids with the help of my parents and the hands of a few friends.  Courtney and I made the decision to move back to our home state of Michigan, settle down and start planning our futures in coffee and life.  We have set up our professional residence at Madcap Coffee, the place where a kid can be a kid.  Wait! No! That's another place.  Madcap, from my perspective, is a place where we can work with other coffee professionals in developing ourselves and help in shaping Michigan into a coffee hub of sorts.  I am not going to name drop, but many a coffee professional hail from Michigan. But, just as we once did, these coffee professionals tend to leave the state for more lucrative coffee opportunities seeing as there are not many in Michigan.  Madcap, with the aim of the good souls that started the place, have put their gun-sights on quality, and what can be done to improve quality in all aspects of the coffee expierence.  I remember leaving Madcap the first time I visited, peering into the windows of this newly opened cafe and wondering to myself if Michigan was ready for the experience I had just had.

I now find myself serving up single brewed by the cup coffees to the fine people of Grand Rapids.Their open ears hanging on my every word.  They are looking for every nuance in the coffee I am serving and describing to them.  I find myself elaborating in great detail the benefits of providing Grand Rapids with the best quality cup brewed to the best of its ability.  I find myself empathizing with the needs of an ill informed public and raising their standard of living by giving them something only found in some of the biggest and most advanced cities around the world.  I find myself fine tuning the details of my routine in order to better understand what and why I am doing what I am doing.  I tell people that the emphasis that has been for so long been put on quality espresso and espresso based drinks has consequently left brewed coffee devalued  and under-appreciated.  We are filling that void by putting a single cup of brewed coffee in its proper place.  A cup of coffee is a gesture of romance and class, culture and soul, it gives real emotional value.  I do not mean value in a sense of monetary means but value in that a single cup of coffee can be worth far more than any action during a day.  A cup of coffee creates meaning and tells a story, the story, your story.

NOW!!!

I have moved to Michigan.  I have just had the internets hooked up.  I am working at Madcap Coffee Company in Grand Rapids. I have not had time to stop and write.  My laptop died.  I have things to write soon. Sorry I have not called, I have been super busy.