Farbror Melkers coffee! By Alexander S. Jensen Farbror Melkers opened their first store in March 2008 in the city centre of Moss. Their focus has been on creating tasty experiences that also are healthy. Malin Petterson is now opening her second store at Dilling outside Moss in the shopping center “Fokus på din helse”. The café is the firste stre you see when entering. When visiting last I cupped four different coffees together with the people of Farbror Melkers to find a a selection they know and like.  The official opening is on October 1st, but already on the 29th of September they invite guest to a pre-launch and a tasting of their coffee selection.
We wish Farbror Melkers good luck and all the best!Pairing tea with foodBy Ingri M. Johnsen, Martin Skar and Gunvor Hægstad - Food by Martin Skar - Pictures by Ola Brattås In the new edition of our customer magazine we have an article about pairing tea with food. We promised to give you the recipes on the food we used, and how to brew the teas. Here they are.
The project was finding great tea pairings for this menu:
Meat: Stake with chanterelles
Cheese: Shropshire and Comté
Fish: Sashimi made from halibut and salmon
Chocolate: Chocolate cake |
 Pairing Tea and Meat
Courses with meat are often best paired with rich and full teas. Back teas are both rich and full, but also dark oolongs can taste good with meat. The best combination will depend on what you serve with the meat and how the food is seasoned.
The steak was best paired with a 70% oxidized oolong tea from Taiwan by the name Formosa Super Fancy. The tea has a rich sweetness and a good fullness. This is a great company for a dish like this with natural flavors in focus. The combination woke a surprisingly floral note in the tea, and a light taste of caramel. The black tea Keemun has a kind of sweetness that makes it well suited to be served with this meal. For dishes with strong flavors and lots of spice you should absolutely try Jin Pai, a boiled Pu Erh tea (photo). This is a juicy and full-bodied tea, with a slightly earthy aroma and an intense taste. You can read more about Pu-erh tea at the end of the article.
Recipe for the stake with chanterelles and salad
You´ll need: A piece of good steak meat Chanterelles or other seasonal mushrooms
A fresh salad with a mild dressing
Fry the meat for your taste. I recommend panfrying it in oil and adding some butter after you have given both sides some color as you reduce the temperature. Some robust herbs and a chunk of garlic can be added to the butter as you pour it from the pan and over the meat. Fry the mushroom in neutral oil. Do not salt it until you are plating it or else they will let go of their juices.
For dressing the salad I made vinaigrette like a mayonnaise with a good splash of Dijon mustard and cherry vinegar. I used mostly sunflower oil and a little virgin olive oil. This way you get the nice creamy feeling with a bit of sting, without allowing the mustard to dominate. |
 Stake with chantarelles - recommended teas and brewing parameters:
Formosa Super Fancy, oolong tea: use 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 4 min brewing time at 85°C. You can also increase the amount of tea and do shorter brews. Both ways allow you to brew many times.
Keemun, black tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 4 min brewing time at 96°C
Jin Pai, pu-erh tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 4 min brewing time at 90-95°C. You can also increase the amount of tea and do shorter brews. Both ways allow you to brew many times. |
 Pairing Tea and Cheese
Cheese offers a whole world of different and nuanced tastes, and therefore the pairing with tea have to be tailored to each cheese.
Shropshire is an English blue cheese which is quite dry, but not very salty. For this tea we recommend Yin Zhen, a white tea from Fujian in China. It is a light and sweet tea with a fat mouth feel. The tea Green Monkey brings out the best in both tea and cheese. Its light tannins and its sweet taste works well with the dry cheese. In Dong Ding oolong a smooth and rich sweetness is enhanced, and also the floral Formosa Super Fancy is recommended for pairing with this cheese. (See also the additional text on this tea at the end of the article. The colour in Shropshires is the same that gives cheddar cheese the distinct colour, it gives a nice contrast to the mould in the cheese. Comte is a French firm cheese. The Tie Kuan Yin oolong tea with a toasted touch, a distinct sweetness and a caramelized fruitiness is a great choice. The 2010 first flush from Maharani Hills in Darjeeling is also a rich tea with plenty of tannins and caramel that goes well with this cheese. Again the fruitiness and sweetness in Formosa Super Fancy oolong enhance the taste in a good way.
The cheeses
You´ll need:
Shropshire (England)
Comté (France)
Both of them are cows milk
Some notes on the cheeses:
Shropshire is a blue cheese colored with Annatto, the same color as used in cheddar. The cheese has a firm but creamy consistency and is a medium strong cheese. It is rich a bit dry in flavor and just right salty. It is made from pasteurized cows milk. It is not actually from Shropshire in but from Nottinghamshire a bit further west in England. The cheese was first made as early as in the 1970s. A cheese maker named Andy Williamson who had been making stilton (a stronger and more salty cheese) invented it in Castle Stuart dairy, Scotland.
Comté is a firm AOC-certified cheese from Burgundy, East France. It is a bit sweet but rich in flavor and it gives nutty associations. This cheese dates back to the 1200s. It is matured for 12-24 months and you can find different quality’s based on how the cheese is matured and other criteria’s like quality of rind, appearance inside and overall appetence. Extra is the best quality, and the one you see on the picture.
Cheeses - recommended teas and brewing parameters:
Yin Zhen, white tea: use 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 5 min brewing time at 75°C. Also try a longer infusion. This tea will not get bitter/over extracted unless you use to high temperature.
Green Monkey, green tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 3 min brewing time at 75°C
Dong Ding, oolong tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 5 min brewing time at 85°C. You can also increase the amount of tea and do shorter brews. Both ways allow you to brew many times.
Formosa Super Fancy, oolong tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 4 min brewing time at 85°C. You can also increase the amount of tea and do shorter brews. Both ways allow you to brew many times.
Tie Kuan Yin, oolong tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 4 min brewing time at 85-90°C. You can also increase the amount of tea and do shorter brews. Both ways allow you to brew many times.
First Flush Darjeeling, black tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 4 min brewing time at 90°C |
 Pairing Tea and Fish
Fish and sea food will in general pair well with green teas. They are often rich in tannins and have mineral hints, both qualities well suited for a light fish course. If you prefer a rounder and sweeter tea green oolongs like Ding Dong is a good alternative.
For salmon sashimi (in Norwegian: rå laks) with spring onions and dark soy sauce (with licorice-like flavor) the Green Monkey gives a good contrast. The fat and sweet salmon meets the sweet tea with light tannins. Dong Ding, a softer and smoother tea with floral notes, is also harmonizes with the rich fish meat. For halibut sashimi (in Norwegian: rå kveite) with lemon grass, lime filet and ligt soy sauce the tea Green Monkey is also a good choice. This is because of the tannins that reminds of the acidic lime filet. Also Genmaicha from Japan (this is sencha with toasted rice) makes a good pairing. The toasty character of the rice gives an interesting contrast that brings out the flavors of the food.
Recipe for Sashimi made from halibut (kveite) and salmon
You´ll need:
100 g salmon (Sashimi quality)
100 g halibut (Sashimi quality)
Lemongrass
Chili
One light soy sauce, and one dark and heavy
Spring onion Lime
Cut the fish into thin slices. The halibut is dressed with filets of lime (simly remove the skin of the lime and cut along the walls in the fruit to get the flesh out as small filets), the soft and tender core part of the lemongrass and finely chopped chili (without the seeds). Remove the core if you want to. Top off with the light soy sauce. For the salmon you use the dark soy sauce. This is darker in color, heavier flavored and has a licorice-like flavor. Garnish with some sliced spring onions. You can also include classics like pickled ginger and wasabi. |
 Sashimi - recommended teas and brewing parameters:
Green Monkey, green tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 3 min brewing time at 75°C
Dong Ding, oolong tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 5 min brewing time at 85°C. You can also increase the amount of tea and do shorter brews. Both ways allow you to brew many times.
Genmaicha, green tea and rice: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 3 min brewing time at 75°C |
 Pairing Tea and Chocolate
The amount of cocoa in the chocolate (the darkness) will decide which tea to match.
This chocolate cake resembles a chocolate fondant of dark chocolate, for which we have some great tea recommendations. Super Fancy Formosa is again because of its fruitiness and caramel like texture a good match. This is a genuine food tea that is compatible with vastly different flavors. Our roasted Tie Kuan Yin is also great. It is a rich, sweet tea with lots of caramelized fruit character.
A more classic combination is the black tea Keemun which has a lot of honey like sweetness. For those who want a taste that is more special Lapsang Souchong can be an intense taste experience. This tea is smoked and is well suited to our cake even though it is most often combined with milk chocolate.
Recipe for our Chocolate cake
You´ll need:
200 g dark, good quality chocolate
200 g butter
4 eggs
2 dl sugar
2,5 dl wheat flour
1 ts baking powder
Set the oven for 225 degrees Celsius. Melt the chocolate and butter. Cool down as you whisk egg and sugar until thick and foamy. Mix in the chocolate/butter into the eggs carefully. Add the dry ingredients little by little so you don´t destroy the air bubbles that is in the eggs. Pour in a round 20cm spring form pan. What you want to achieve is a soft, fluid center like a big fondant. You can eat it warm and runny or cold and soft like on the picture. Put the cake in the middle of the oven and take it out after 12-15 minutes. You may serve it with whipped cream, but remember that this will influence the flavor of the tea you are pairing with the dish. This recipe is for a big 20 cm spring form.
Chocolate cake - recommended teas and brewing parameters:
Formosa Super Fancy, oolong tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 4 min brewing time at 85°C. Brew several times.
Tie Kuan Yin, oolong tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 4 min brewing time at 85-90°C. You can also increase the amount of tea and do shorter brews. Both ways allow you to brew many times.
Keemun, black tea: 2 grams for every 2,5dl, 4 min brewing time at 96°C
Additional info on two of the teas:
Pu-erh Tea
The history of Pu-erh dates back to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). It can be stored for several decades as the flavors develop. Jin Pai is a pu-erh with intense flavors. Almost rusty brown, fooling you to think it´s coffee you have in the cup. A clear transparent and juicy yet still a bit dirty and earthy mouth feel. This matches very good with the juicy meat and mushrooms. Jin Pai is a cooked/ripened pu-erh. To speed up the post-fermentation the tea is sprayed with water to imitate the aging under damp conditions the original process tea was stored under. This is the newest way of making pu-erh dated back to 1972. It is a loose leaf version of this tea that often can be compressed into different shapes to make them easy to transport. Now these shapes are the most common way to store this tea for aging. Pu Erh originates from Yunnan, China. Most of the production is still happening in Yunnan today. It is recognized to produce the best cup quality.
Formosa Super Fancy Oolong
What surprised us the most during the tasting prior to this article was how well “Formosa Oolong Super Fancy black Dragon” stood through all dishes. It can safely be used as a good tea with food in general, except perhaps raw fish. After matching all our dishes we learned that it totally changed personality and character. This was of course depending on what you had with it. We were impressed by this great product and its diversity shown when paired with different foods. This Oolong is pretty dark due to that most of the leaf has been oxidized. Although you can still see some green spots when the tea unfolds in the cup. Oolongs can be almost green and almost black depending on how much the leaves are allowed to oxidize(10-90%). Oolongs are rolled by hand and can be brewed several times. With short brewing time it can still give a lot of delicate flavors even after the 6th or 7th brewing. Generally you should brew this type of teas at 85 degrees Celsius and at least three times. |
Cup of Excellence Rwanda 2010 – Kayonca 23rd – 27th of AugustBy Andreas Hertzberg Rwanda is the first and (still) the only country in Africa to execute the Cup of Excellence program.This year, their second program was held in the Eastern Region – in Kayonca. The event was held in a brand new laboratory (build for the occasion) suiting our needs perfectly.Seems like a good plan to house the program in different areas of the country and with this contribute to a better QC and infrastructure – last time CoE was held in Rwanda same thing happened in the southern region! This year the national jury received appx 200 samples and they were screened down to 45 to be rigidly cupped by the international jury.The international jury consisted of jurors from: Rwanda, Burundi, Japan, Korea, USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, UK, Poland, Iceland, India, Czech Republic, and finally Norway. After 5 days of cupping we ended up with the 22 best coffee of Rwanda 2010 going to auction the 12th of October (www.cupofexcellence.org). I’ll keep my fingers crossed till then and hope we are able to bring some of this coffee to Norway.  PS - The average farmer in Rwanda has 150 coffee trees, one tree produces in average 1kg (cherries). Meaning that each farmer in average produces about 60-75 kilo per year! Last auction we bought lot #1 (1320 kg) that was delivered by a cooperative with appx 100 farmers! La Marzocco Strada introduced in NorwayBy Alexander S. Jensen |
 Thursday the 12th of august the new La Marzocco Strada was introduced at Tim Wendelboe. The machine is developed on the basis of a brainstorming, where a group of baristas discussed what features the ideal espresso machine should have.
The machine has three separate boilers with a separate pump for each group. This makes it possible to program three different temperatures, while one can vary the groups pressure from 1.5 to 13 bar in different pump profiles. This also means that you can use all the groups at the same time without it affecting the pump pressure in the separate groups. You can adjust the pressure by moving the lever on top of the groups to the left for higher pressure, and return to starting position to stop the brewing cycle.
Once you have found the correct profile for your coffee, you can save it so it can be repeated. The programming is set by the pressure profile and the time of the shot. The amount of water that passes through the coffee, will be determined by the coarseness of the grind. |
 According to Tim, one of the challenges is that the freshness of the coffee will affect your profiles from day to day. You can’t necessarily use the profile from yesterday on the same coffee you used yesterday. Blends are also a challenge, maybe because the composition of the beans will vary from brew to brew, while a single-origin coffees provide a more stable resistance.
The advantage is that you now have control of all factors in your brew, which provides you with endless possibilities. And that is a pretty big advantage most people would agree.
Tim served his Kenya Mugaga and Honduras Cielito Lindo with different profiles and they tasted delicious.Festival coffeeBy Ola Brattås Thanks to our good friends in Stockfleths you can enjoy coffee from Solberg & Hansen again this year at Øyafestivalen in Oslo. The festival requires that everything being sold is certified organic, so Stockfleths chose the washed coffee from the Koke Coop which lies in Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia. It's a clean and transparent coffee with taste and aroma of bergamot, hibiscus and lime.
They serve it both as a drip-brewed black coffee and as a single origin espresso. Having been there and tasted it personally I can confirm that the festival crowd at Øya are lucky bunch even though the rain might be pouring down.
Take my advice, though: Don't put milk in that espresso! It tastes so good on it's own! | |
