Short review of a coffee shop: Javana, Bruges

I was in Bruges last weekend, going to the saturday market with my mom. She used to go there long ago, when she still had a place by the sea, so she knew her way around the town of Bruges.
It is famous for it's really nice buildings, tourists travel the world to visit Bruges, I can understand this, it is a gorgeous city. Once my fiancee moves back to Belgium, we will be visiting it on one of our first weekends and on that day, I will surely also visit Javana!

It's located in the shopping street, close to the historical big market place.

From the outside, it looks a little small, the display window is nice, I step inside.
First impression, what a cool and cozy little shop this is. Much bigger than Blanche Dael in Maastricht, another one of my fav shops, it is much deeper here in Bruges. They have a nice classic display of the coffee beans behind the counter. I already knew they sold Blue Mountain and yes, they had some that day as well :)
I bought some Java Boungi Kalossi, whatever  that meant :p I am drinking it at work, it is a little gem, powerfull, spice, earthy! Needs a little more sugar than most coffees :)

But back to the store, they had a great selection of Teas as well as mugs, cups, chocolates, ...
This is a nice shop, if I ever have my own shop, I want it to be as cozy as this one.
Every time I will visit Bruges, Javana is on my visitlist, it's worth the trip!

Bad experience at a roaster's open day!

This is going to be a serious rant, because I really hate them now.

The roaster's are ROM, a "family originated roaster", but that is where the good stuff ends.

First, July 2011, I tried to schedule a guided tour of the company, I was advised they do not do this, so I was asked to just show up at the open-door days. Having to wait nearly 3 months, I reluctantly said yes, I will wait, I made my appointment by phone.

The day itself, finally, I drove there together with my mom. She doesn't like coffee, but she was interested in the entire process, you don't visit a roaster every day. It was supposed to be a fun day.

Upon entering, we were asked who we were. A little strange and I thought it was rather impolite too, later that day, it was clear why, but no explanation at the time, we replied we were just interested in coffee and wanted a look around.

After waiting nearly 10 minutes, we were taken to the back, the roasting machine was there, it was computer guided, the way I expected it to be. The handler of the machine was not really friendly, he was dissing commercial roasters like Douwe Egberts and calling them "not good", he was obviously meaning other things...

He also said some mistakes, apparently I knew more about coffee then he did, like the airhole in packages, he said it was to keep the aroma in, but he apparently didnt know they are mostly to keep the CO2 from staying inside (this ages the coffee more smoothly)

In the entire conversation with the guy, I only found out 1 thing i didnt already know, this is about the expiration dates and the policy they had, After roasting, the date will list 1 year starting at the roast date, this rule is enforced by the food agency here.

He claimed coffee remained good for 3 years, he had no reply to my claim that coffee loses its true flavour within 6 weeks, even after properly sealed, which they do.

Then off to waiting some more, before we could go upstairs, where we would be able to try the coffee coctails, which i looked forward to, I like tasting many flavours.

Disappointment, they were making "frappé", a stupid coffee/milk/ice mix, wow, that was supposed to be an awesome coctail... They put in some syrup, to spice it up.

The guy serving them, a real douchebag, ignored us and went straight ahead to the lady behind us, she asked for the amaretto flavour, which he claimed was without alcohol... I am allergic to alcohol and I can vouch for this, my doctor forbade this syrup for me, so I know it was going to be bad.

Once he was finished making them, he offered them to the lady, who told the idiot we were first, so he offered it to me. Obviously I said NO, I didn't feel like dieing because of some idiot.

He said he would give us a new one, so I asked him to rince the mixing mug, because yes, that can still hurt my body...

He then turned his head and helped the people after us.

So that meant no coffee for me, we had been there almost 45 minutes and still hadnt been able to try a single coffee... What a utter disappointment this was becoming...

Back downstairs, I did decide to buy some coffee and "Jules Destrooper" cookies, because my fiancee loves those. After having to wait 10 minutes, we finally got someone's attention and were finally helped, we were given the price of 27 euro for a giant box, which we agreed to, I would give my fiancee anything, so I wanted to pay this price too.

When the lady finally returned with our box, approx 10 mins later, she gave us a completely different price, namely 31 euro... WTF, right? turns out the first lady didnt include taxes, despite me asking if she also sold all the products to individuals (without a shop/bar, aka non-professional)

I put back the bag of 9 month old coffee I took and left.

Yes, their show room only had NINE MONTH OLD coffee for sale, disgusting really, considering it was only valid for another 3 months by law... Not something you would put on display for a open door day...

Afterwards, I emailed them about my bad experiences and they said it was all my fault, I was being dificult, they barely admitted the douchebags mistake in not wanting to clean his shit...

In short, Rom will be on my "NEVER AGAIN" list for life.

Mandheling

I have been very busy at work, so I havent had a lot of time to properly enjoy my coffees, been making my travel book from my last trip to China. I visited many very cool places, like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau, I guess this is the advantage of having a great family of my future wife, I love her like crazy :)

So let's get to the coffee of the day, Mandheling. I had heard a lot of positive comments about this one on various fora, so I had to try it out. My roaster is fascino (again) for this one, they always do a great job, worth an order, I swear :)

Like usual, some background information on this coffee.This coffee has the nickname "Mena Gold", but didnt find any information about that.

Mandheling is Indonesian in origin, processed the 'Giling Basah' way, which is wet-hulled, this is supposed to bring a full body and more intense flavours.

Wet-Hulling means the outside layer of the cherry is removed after the harvest and they are then dried in the remaining pulp, which is later removed when the right moisture level is reached. This is around 30 to 35 percent, adding to the dificulty in preparing the coffee for roasting. The cherries are processed two or three times prior to selling them, eliminating the imperfect ones, at least for export, the imperfect ones are usually sold on the local markets, the best quality is sold for export purposes (the general way coffee is sold btw)

In the end this results in a complex coffee with a full body, beautyfull fruit- and berrytones and a mildly spicy aftertaste.

First impression time!

When I opened the package, it smelled great, a little acidy even, must have been the berries, but mostly not strong. Not the usual "power" you get from some coffees, most espressos carry some sort of punch in the smell, well this one is the opposite. I am a lover of milder coffees, this is looking good!

Second impression!

It smells incredibly soft, I never got any sense of high caffeine in this one. I can smell some of the berries in it even, I am expecting a very mild coffee now.

Third impression, tasting the coffee!

Wow, very mild. A little too much even for my likings. It needs sugar. I am having a bad feel in my mouth when I used the tagatasse, like it was stale, but I know it isnt.

A new experience this one, with real sugar, it is good, though I tend to use more than normal.

I am split between liking it or disliking it.

I will go for liking it, because the sugar version really makes it very likeable, any other version kinda ruins it. Maybe I could try it with my beloved cinnamon syrup, will try it tomorrow.

All in all, a good coffee, I can surely understand the hype and positiveness it is getting from other drinkers, even if it doesnt allow for a sweetener.

Rating: 7/10

Full Characteristics:

Region: North of Sumatra, Seribu Dolok North-West of Lake Toba

Grade: Mandheling MenaGold, Grade 1 special, hand-picked

Altitude: 1100- 1500m

Variety: Catimor, Cattura, Tim-Tim, Typica

Screen: 17/18

Processing: Giling Basah (wet hulled)

Harvesting: October – June

the 3 cons of ordering online!

to be honest, I see more cons than pros, when it comes to ordering online!

First big con = roast date

Only a few online shops actually mention the roast date or sell prepackaged coffee from big brands. I had a few occasions where the shop owners told me not to worry, their coffee would be good for at least 18 more months....

Bullshit!

I am a true asshole when it comes down to this, because I actually reply them they are wrong, telling them the coffee will lose its pure power and scent, the aromas are gone within weeks after burning, my own personal limit is currently 6 weeks, this allows me to appreciate coffee when it is still fresh.

Second big con = variety

I just love to vary my coffee slurping, a new flavour every few days, I love it. Some bad, some good, some awful :)

When you buy online, the ones with the biggest variety almost never roast their own beans, they will sell the usual suspects like bazzara, lavazza, Blaser, Kona, .... But I want my variety.

I also like a "1shop stop", 1 place where I can just order everything, ranging from my syrups to my sugar sachets, from the descaling kit to a tamper.

One of my favourite shops, koffiebean.nl sells many syrups, sugars, ... But I seldom use them to order coffee, not because I dont trust them, but cuz I like the variety of other shops (for coffee) much more. Fascino-coffee, the latest place I ordered from, they have a great variety of products, freshly roasted beans and other things, after mailing them a few times, they actually accepted some of my suggestions and will incorporate those soon AND most importantly swift delivery times, which brings me to the third con, time...

Third and probably biggest con = time

I am not talking about roasts here, but the actual time it takes to deliver the stuff at home. Not all online shops use DHL or Fedex, but snail mail... Imagine waiting for 3 weeks before your "freshly roasted" coffee arrives. Not being home is another such problem.

I had quite a few encounters before with TNT (they suck) where they claimed I wasnt home, but hey, I am lucky enough to have my coffee delivered at work, where there is always someone there to accept the package.

I hate waiting for something i look forward to... dont you?

I also dislike high shipping prices, some shops in the past asked 15 euros to ship 500 grams to my country, the coffee itself was a mere 8 euro... gotta love it :)

From my previous experiences, many shops failed, so far only 2 really did the trick for me.

Koffiebean.nl though this one is mostly for non coffee items, you know, the syrups and stuff

Fascino-coffee.net is the other, a very big variety of coffee beans, they actually listen to suggestions, which is an obvious bonus and the speed, i ordered just once, but once they have syrups and the brita filters, I think they will be my only suppliers for a long time :)

And Another coffee in a can, the Singapore "Pokka"

Right after the Iceccino, I tried the Pokka, Singaporean coffee in a can.

I had already tasted this one before so I knew I was getting a good can. They sell these in brussels too, close to my previous job there.

I bought two cans of this brand in maastricht, together with the iceccino.

First the smell,

A little sweet on the nose, it had a creamy smell to it as well, i like what i am smelling.

The taste was great, pure and simple. Sweet, creamy, pure. Those are the 3 keywords.

I love it, I will be buying it again a few times in the future, most canned coffee is not so good, but this one actually tastes like u want more, making it my third favourite in the world.

First is the delicious Mr. Brown, second surprisingly enough is the Starbucks one, while i am no big fan of their coffees, their espresshot is awesome!

Pokka is a singaporean company, so if you want it, your best chance of finding this one is a Asian supermarket!

Rating : 9/10

Purchased : Oriental Maastricht

Another coffee in a can, the one called Iceccino

Iceccino is from Amsterdam, I bought these 2 cans when I was in Maastricht for the World championships. I was excited to try a new "coffee in a can".

There are almost no such products where i live, so i am always excited to find any new ones. In China, they have more in the local 7-11 than I think we have in our country........ 4 more months and i can finally have a Mr. Brown again, God I love those :p

On to the tasting and smelling

First, opening the can, real easy, just a regular can opening, nothing special

I put my nose on the top and sniffed! But hey, did i really buy a cold coffee or was this cold chocolate...

After inspecting the ingredients, I saw the added chocolate powder, so this was indeed a mix between coffee and chocolate, the smell is leaning more towards the chocolate though. This might be a disappointment after all, most Mokka blends tend to disagree with my taste buds

Second test, the tasting.

Cold chocolate all the way! Kind of a bummer though, I had expected some sort of iced cappuccino, not a chocolate type drink. The taste itself was very decent, if I was rating it as a chocolate drink, it would probably get a 7, maybe higher, but as a coffee, I am giving it a flat out zero.

I honestly think there is less than 5% of coffee in these cans, it was rather sweet too. A dealbreaker when u are expecting coffee.

Will I be getting it again? Most likely yes, it is a good drink, but next time, I will drink it as a cold chocolate instead of a coffee ;)

This was pretty much another failed experiment. I had higher hopes.

Rating: 0/10 because it tastes more like chocolate milk

purchased at a dutch supermarket

How to properly compare coffees

Before we begin, this is the best way in my opinion, because it allows you to be completely neutral in cupping, the art of tasting coffee. Some other methods exist, like using the aeropress, ... but i tend to disagree with those. As far as I am concerned, this is the better way.
Let's get started with the basics, rule number 1, you need a friend to help out with this!
Ok, in a more practical way, first off you need all the coffees you wish to compare, then you need a friend to help you make them.
but not just make them, they need to be prepared in a specific way to really be able to grasp the true character of the coffee.

First step!
Let your friend pour a little ground coffee, I'd say around 8 grams, into a plain cup. Repeat that for all the coffees you got on the table. Write down the scores, which smelled the best, what the impressions are, ... His sole mission in this round of tasting is basically prevent you from knowing which coffee is in which cup. If you don't know, you don't automatically start favouring one or the other !

Second step!
pour hot water into the cup, all the way to the top, this will form a crust on top of the cup, this is how it is supposed to be. But the trick is to wait at least half a minute, this allows the hot water to really suck in the flavours of the coffee, resulting in more clear results for your test. The subtle nuances found in some coffees will come out much more easily this way.
if you want the test to be as accurate as possible, measure down the temperature and the amount of water. The amount of water is the more important one here! You should do your best and make sure the same amount is added to each cup, as not to influence a taste.
More water can make coffees less flavourful, sometimes it will improve things, this is under the condition of minimal changes. Water amounts are like bean grinders, they can influence the experience!

Third step!
Take a big spoon. Get your nose ready and break the crust on top of the cup of coffee. Start smelling! After you finish one cup, make sure to clean your spoon, the trick here is to avoid "cross contamination" of flavours.
Remember to write down your new findings, this just makes it easier to compare afterwards.

Fourth step!
After the smelling test, remove the crust and the tasting begins! The first part is easy, just use a clean spoon to remove the crust, the tasting itself is the final part.
Slurping is the keyword here. As loudly as possible even. Sounds crazy, but there is a reason behind this silly behaviour!
When you slurp, you take air into your mouth, this allows for the scent to move around in your mouth, increasing the sensations you will experience!

Once you compare notes on all coffees, your helping friend can tell you which is which! You can be surprised by the outcome or not at all. Last time I tried this way, I ended up labelling the Brazilian Yellow Bourbon as my favourite of 5 coffees, to my surprise, I generally am no big fan of the Brazilian beans myself :)