Panama Estate Select- Elida

friday.29.july.2011

The Social coffee stocks have been depleted and so we’ve moved on to some freshly roasted Panamanian coffees. The website http://www.coffeefrompanama.com/ offers a one stop shop for coffee beans from a variety of Panama’s leading coffee estates in the Boquete region. These coffees are labeled by estate and not individually named. I haven't been able to figure out why it works that way; but it does seem that each estate produces just one or two coffees every harvest. This same Boquete region is home to the famed Esmeralda coffee, which comes from the Geisha coffee plant variety. These Geisha coffees grow extremely well in Boquete and are the feature coffee beans of the region.  As a result of the focus of Geishas, coffees from these estates are classed as either Geisha or non-Geisha varieties.

The Elida estate coffee is consistently judged as a top 10 non-Geisha coffee. In 2007 it was actually chosen as the top non-Geisha in the Best of Panama competition.

Over the last week, we’ve been using these beans for our espressos and regular drip coffee. This medium roast coffee has a mild yet full and rich flavour, which is more floral than fruity.

The Silk almond milk has been able to complement the Elida’s flavour quite well. In other coffees the almond simply presents as a different aftertaste. Although, I’m still taste testing to figure out whether the brand of almond milk also affects the taste.  Will follow-up on that at a later date.

The Proof is in the Rosetta

thursday.28.july.2011

The components of a first-rate latte: a well-prepared espresso shot and good microfoam.

The proof of well-formed microfoam: pretty latte art holds its shape from first sip to last.

Just as I’d given up hope of getting a good latte until I’m back on regular milk, Father Dearest pulls off a great Almond milk based one! Yummy! Firstly he had to pull an excellent espresso shot, which he did thanks to the Elida Estate coffee (more on that in another post); then he had to manipulate the milk into the perfect microfoam. As I’d mentioned before, the Silk almond milk is a thicker, creamier milk than the Almond Breeze. This therefore made it much easier to achieve the desired microfoam. Also, the Silk has a less pronounced flavour, which makes it less likely to overpower the coffee flavour. However, it’s still a new flavour to the coffee and what I ended up with could be compared to an amaretto flavoured café latte; and it was topped with a little rosetta too. Not bad at all!

Almond Milk

Having a young baby seems to be an open invitation for all sorts of advice- some good, some not so good and some just plain crazy and logic defying! I’d say that we’ve been getting all types. However, one very trusted source (actually several sources repeated the same thing) explained that in her very vast experience, avoiding dairy products while breastfeeding markedly reduced the incidence of colic. So for the last two months I’ve been staying away from two of my most favourite things in the world- cheese and milk!

The cheese was one thing. But how am I supposed to be taste testing lattes and cappuccinos without milk?! And what about my Milo and Ovaltine drinks? And cereal? And calcium? (I mean there’s only so much broccoli you can eat)! Enter a strange concoction called Almond Milk. I’ve been using two brands: Almond Breeze and Silk. So far the only difference I’ve noted is that the Silk seems to be a slightly thicker milk.

In general, Almond milk is the consistency of fat free/ skim milk and has a pronounced nutty flavour. It’s not the best accompaniment to coffee as the nutty flavour introduces a whole new dimension. I’ve been enjoying my coffee black as a result… not hard to do since Father Dearest has stocked us up on yummy Social coffees. I did try a latte with the Almond milk but the thin texture made it all but impossible to produce a good microfoam!

As an addition to black tea, the Almond milk isn’t too bad. It goes quite well with Milo and Ovaltine and adds great flavour to most cereals. All in all, not too bad for a substitute. However, I am looking forward to getting back to the good stuff eventually!

As for the colic? No problems so far. Coffee Bean has been doing quite well and suffers from no prolonged bouts of unexplained crying or major digestive issues. I guess I’ll be enjoying the benefits of the Almond for a bit longer!