Saving the World from Bad Coffee

Sunset on Alona Beach.

Did laundry, ate breakfast and then I went into work at Genesis by 11:30 AM. Not much was happening at all at the dive shop. Gina offered me some leftovers from the night before for lunch. I ate with the local boat crew which was nice. After Luer came back from his dive, I went to Coco Vida to do Internet and chill for the day.

In the evening, Greg managed to find me and chat a little bit. Him and his girlfriend Emma needed to do something so we agreed to meet up at 7:30 PM for dinner at Powder Keg. I ordered the Chili con Carne which was average American style chili with beans. I ate it with rice which was an odd combination. Afterwards I wasn’t sure what to do—should I go home or hang around. I decided to hang around Alona Beach so I went to the bank and then checked out Trendis. There wasn’t anything going on at Trendis so I went to Oops bar where I had a drink.

I was tempted to give the Oops bar cafe another try after recommending a few tips to the barista in training. Of course, she did nothing I told her and as a result the cappuccino she made me was what I expected—bad. In fact, my failed latte I made myself the day before tasted better. Of course, one may say that judging good coffee is completely subjective. To a certain extent, yes, however, making a good espresso based drink is highly reliant on the occurrence of certain chemical and physical changes during creation in both the steamed milk and espresso. So, proper technique has a major influence on the flavor and texture of the final cup of coffee.

While having a coffee at the Oops Beach Cafe, I managed to have a conversation with Peter, the person in charge of training the young baristas there. While talking with him about coffee, I acted a little naive so as not to offend him and to see what he really knew about making espresso based drinks. I’m not admitting to being a master barista myself, but, I have studied and practiced techniques considered correct by the general professional barista community and top baristas around the world. From what I learned, I’ve concluded Peter is a good salesman for coffee equipment and roasted beans to the naive—the only topic I really agreed with him on was cleaning an espresso machine.

There are so many problems with the way they are making coffee I’ll write a book by the time I’m done writing everything. Well, I’ve got time, lets give it a try. Warning: This is a big digression from just my blog of day to day activities. But, since I’m in the mood to try to save the world, why not start with coffee?

Coffee Bean Freshness
Peter’s big sell is that the coffee he imports is fresh from Germany. Italy, France, Central and South America are far better known for good coffee. I talked to him about this and asked him how often he imports a shipment of coffee beans to Alona Beach. He said it takes 8 weeks to ship the fresh beans from Germany! Additionally, there’s the couple weeks the coffee sits around to be consumed. And, he said he “thinks” they ship the beans the day they roast them. The general coffee community agrees that coffee goes stale after about 2 weeks. From this comment alone, I knew Peter doesn’t really know how to make a good espresso because you can’t!

Extraction Time
When the barista-in-training extracted a shot of espresso, water flowed out of the portafilter (the thing with a handle that you put coffee grinds into) far too quickly to even produce something worthy of being called an espresso. To my surprise, Peter said that was the perfect extraction rate; I would have thrown it away and started over myself. It took about 5 seconds to produce 2 ounces of “coffee” whereas the general rule of thumb is that a double espresso shot should take 25-30 seconds to produce 1.5 ounces of espresso.

Tamping
Tamping is when the barista puts pressure on the coffee grinds in the portafilter before extraction. This packs in the ground coffee which creates a seal and resistance for the pressurized hot water to flow through. The general rule is to tamp with 30lbs of pressure. Water passes through the coffee grinds too fast if the coffee isn’t tamped hard enough whereas the opposite is true if one tamps too hard. If the tamp is done at an angle other than perpendicular, then extraction will be uneven as water flows down the path of least resistance. At the Oops cafe, the only tamper they have is the one built into the grinder which is useless. It’s too difficult to get an even 30lbs of pressure with it. I probably can get a better tamp with the bottom of an espresso cup.

Heated Portafilter
The portafilter should be kept attached to the machine via the group head to keep it heated. A simple and easy thing to do that’s not done. It’s important because espresso extraction is very sensitive to temperature changes which can deteriorate the taste and texture of the espresso. When the hot water comes in contact with a cooler portafilter, crema, texture and flavor are deteriorated. That’s why it’s also important to heat the cups a barista extracts to.

Steamed Milk
It’s generally best not to reuse leftover steamed milk but hard not to when running a business with high volume. The Oops cafe reuses too much leftover milk (almost 100%) and should at least combine it with fresh cool milk. The reason why is because it’s hard to create tiny, mirco-bubbles when making foam (texturing) with warm pre-steamed milk. Who cares if the bubbles are big or small? Large foam bubbles, also known as “sea foam,” robs the drink of flavor because of the large air pockets in the drink. It’s like eating a fluffy chocolate cake versus a more dense one; which one will have more flavor per bite? Also, the fine texture of tiny bubbles is usually nicer than big bubbles.

Why Do I Care?
I would love to have a good cafe to hang out at where I can enjoy a decently good coffee on Alona Beach. I was asked by the owner of Oops Bar to train and advise the staff before they opened but couldn’t because I was out of town in Cebu. Now I see the one cafe that has so much potential is going the wrong direction with regard to making good espresso coffee. It’s still early enough though to make the proper corrections; they just need to be made.

Ok, enough ranting. Didn’t I warn you not to talk to me about coffee?


- jason

Finally, Fun Diving

Junior leading the dive.

I did two dives at Arco and Kalipayan today with my camera for the first time in a long time—I needed to test it out to see if it still works. Thankfully, it worked fine. I dived with Gunther and Phil but the dive eventually turned into a solo dive because I was taking pictures.

Coral spiral.

A snake eel alongside a moray eel.

Scorpionfish takes cover.

Fresh sea urchin lunch was not worth the pricks or the effort.

Sponge corals.

Clownfish in their home.

For lunch, on the boat, I tried eating raw sea urchin with the boat crew. I was surprised that there was so little meat to eat in each urchin. It was a little salty and I did prick myself with spines. I prefer someone else to do the dirty work for me.

After diving, I hung out at the dive shop with Gunther, Phil, and Ingrid. Ingrid is a friend of Sander whom met in Fiji. She’s a nice half Filipino half Swedish girl who’s really into pygmy seahorses.

Milo and Stephanie party it up at Oops bar disco.

Ingrid and I at the Oops disco.

For dinner, I went home to try cooking dried Danggist fish again. As usual, the fish reeks when you cook it. This time though I cooked it better and it tasted better than last time. After dinner I hung out at home and watched more of The Unit and then went to the Oops bar disco.



- jason

Hadlok, Stormy Weather, and Drinking the Worst Beer

"Hadlok"—scaried—tries to escape his transport container.

Hadlok is ready to be transferred.

The weather for teh day was stormy. When it's like this, most people stay inside and do very little.

A slow day, Elna plays a German word puzzle game.

New happy hour beer—Beer Na Beer—was absolutely the worst beer I have ever had. I wasn't able to finish off the beer because it was so bad. Though, people say it's more drinkable when it's ice cold.

Mae steps up to help a customer.

Marilen and Ethel playing Liar Dice at Oops bar.

Mutant Fish

Alona Beach palm trees.

My good friend Ren of Coco Vida.

My dinner—two backboned fish?

Bartenders at Coco Vida.

- jason

Back Home to Bohol

Taeko drinking one of her last mango drinks before she goes back to Japan.

After a late night clubbing, I woke up at 8 AM to go to the pier to catch our 9:20 AM ferry ride back to Bohol. Coincidentally, I saw Teresa whom I met in Boracay, then Cebu, and now going to Bohol. On the ferry, the movie they played from their iPod was Mission Impossible 3. Once we arrived in Tagbilaran, we took a tricycle to Island City Mall where we ate at Mongul Bowl. We still had some more time before Taeko and Yuhka had to catch their flight for their journey back to Japan. We shopped at the supermarket where Taeko and Yuhka bought some last minute souvenirs.

Saying goodbye to Taeko and Yuhka in their tricycle bound for the airport beginning their journey back to Japan.

Traditional Filipino dance competition.

More dancing.

Since I was at the mall already, I decided to see the movie Righteous Kill which wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. Back to Alona Beach I hung out at Genesis for a little bit. Elna, a kitchen staff showed me some Filipino cooking. Being inspired to cook my own Filipino food, I went home and cooked some dried Danggit fish and rice. The fish reeked but tasted good with some rice and vinegar. I wanted to chill out at home so I just watched some episodes of The Unit on DVD.




- jason

Visiting Cebu Nightlife

Nightlife in Cebu.

I met up with Taeko and Yukha for breakfast at their resort. I ate pancakes and had some fresh fruit juice. After breakfast, we went to Genesis to do another dive in Doljo. I guided Taeko while Yukha was guided by Noel. The dive was good and there were no problems. We rushed back to Alona Beach, cleaned up, and got ready for a night in Cebu city.

Yuhka in Cebu.

Taeko after some coffee and dessert.

We took an afternoon ferry to Cebu city from Tagbilaran and then took a taxi to my second job at HPI. There, Taeko and Yuhka got to meet all my coworkers there which was really nice. Afterwards we went back to the condo where we were staying to drop off our bags.

Pump disco and the girls that dance there.

At night, we ate at Golden Cowry which I feel is a good place to go to get a good taste of various Filipino foods. After that, we went to IT Park where we got some coffee at a nice little pastry shop. Then, we went to Loft lounge to have some drinks and then finally we went to Club Pump where we stayed out late into the night. Fun times.


- jason

Surfing to Diving

Surfing in Alona Beach? Locals take advantage of the waves to surf. It's very rare that there are any waves to surf in Alona Beach.

Taeko, Yuhka, and I went to Alona Beach from my place because Taeko wanted to do an introductory dive and Yuhka wanted to do a refresher course; they’re basically the same. Since there was a tropical storm off the coast of Alona Beach, we had to do the dives on another side of Panglao Island—in Doljo beach.

Che dancing for Taeko and I.

Palm trees blow in the wind. "Hangin Kaayo" - very windy.

We got our gear sorted, and I did an extended dive briefing with Taeko and Yuhka which ran a little late. Once we got our equipment sorted, we took the Genesis truck to Doljo beach which was only a few minutes drive from where I live. The new instructor Ricky came along with us and wanted to watch me do the course. Conditions were better but still not good to practice shallow water skills.

For someone who barely knows how to swim and whose second language is English, Taeko did exceptionally well doing the dive skills. She had no problems clearing her mask, equalizing, or breathing underwater and she was completely comfortable underwater. I was impressed. Yuhka also was really good underwater also and needed little assistance. During our Open Water dive, I can tell Taeko was interested in a lot of the things she saw underwater because she would always try to swim off to things she saw. Several times, I had to hold on to her to slow her down. I didn’t mind, I got a free ride while she could towed me around.

Even Janet doesn't like the wind so much.

Elna frying fish for dinner.

Jolie gets ready to pour the Flaming Lamborghini.

Taeko and Yuhka drank the drink so slow the flame melted their straws.

Taeko, done with the drink for now.

In the evening, I hung around Genesis where Elna showed me how to cook fish Filipino style. Quite simply, you just deep fry fish in oil and eat it with rice. I like simple and open to any way to eat more cheaply. I hung out and watched Elna cook until about 7 PM when I met up with Taeko and Yuhka at Oops bar. There we had some drinks, played a lot of Genga, and Taeko got drunk. Good times.


- jason

Wind, Rain, and Mud Water

Pig heads for sale at the local market.

Weather windy and bad.

Tropical storm just off the coast.

Possible typhoon.


For brunch, Taeko and Yuhka wanted to make ramen they brought from Japan. We first needed to get some eggs, and green onions. Since its Sunday, there’s a great local market just 5 minutes from my house in the town of Panglao. I’ve never seen it and it was the perfect time to check it out. All three of us drove there on my little motorbike.

Mostly live baby moray eels sold at the local market in Panglao.

The market was busy and there was a lot of fresh vegetables and even a small area for seafood and meats. Additionally, there were household goods being sold from different vendors. Taeko really wanted to buy fresh mangos because she fell in love with them. She told me that sweet mangos in Japan cost $300 USD! She better stock up now. Oddly, we couldn’t find a lot of fresh mangos.

I wandered off and visited the meat section of the market. I actually was a little disgusted of what I saw—pig heads, and live but dying baby moray eels slithering about. It was depressing to see the eels which were suffering and also to see so many of them when its already hard to find enough of them diving in the ocean.

Back at my place, Taeko and Yuhka cooked some very good pre-packaged ramen from Japan. It was so good, it was better then most ramen restaurants in Los Angeles. I was impressed. After lunch, we went to Alona Beach to see what was going on.

Lots of wind makes the look like mud.

Taeko at Oops.

Unfortunately there was a storm just off the coast and so there were a lot of surf which stirred up the water which made it look like mud. Not the best timing. Regardless, the sun was out at least which made it a windy but sunny day. We all just hung around the beach until nighttime where we went to Oops for some drinks and hung out with Ricky who’s a new dive instructor at Genesis.


- jason

Taeko Visits from Japan

Tropical storm off Alona Beach threatens to become a typhoon. Weather sucks, windy and muddy waters.

It was raining heavily in Doljo and the surf was rough on Alona Beach. I went into Genesis by 9 AM where they were diverting their dives to Momo Beach. I waited at Coco Vida for my friend Taeko and her friend Yuhka to arrive from Japan.

Taeko arrives with her friend Yuhka from Japan. A very joyous moment.

Walking along Alona Beach Taeko is very happy.

Yuhka, Taeko's friend is also very glad to be on the beach.

Taeko and Yuhka arrived at 10:30 AM and Taeko was so excited to see me. Its been about 5 months since I last saw her when I visited Japan. When they arrived I bought them fresh mango juice at Coco Vida and then took a walk with them along the beach. Again, it was a little surreal to see a friend visit me in the Philippines.

They booked a room at Oasis resort for two days after they stay at my place. For some reason they really wanted to stay at my place even though it was 8 kilometers away. Their room was on the beach and was a nice 2 story condo type place. They really wanted to eat at local Filipino food so I took them to a little eatery on the beach that I’ve only eaten a few times but I always see locals at. It was decent, regardless, I think they liked what they had.

Hanging out with the dogs Bella and Rambo at my house. It was great to see the dogs immediately get along with Taeko and Yuhka.

Taeko and Yuhka take a afternoon nap.

To get to my house, we had to hire another motorbike driver to drive us to my house. There, they immediately fell in love with the two dogs—Bella and Rambo. They also were very happy about my place. We hung out at my house until dinner when we decided to go eat at Oops bar. I figured we should at least eat on the beach for the first night.

Yuhka analyzes Taeko's dinner.

Taeko already happy after a few San Miguel beers (SMB).

Yuhka removing a piece and hoping it doesn't topple in Genga.

There, we had happy hour drinks and stayed around for the Saturday night disco. At the bar, Yuhka and Taeko played lots of Genga. They seemed to have a great time.


- jason