GTA Coffee

[AugustusRex]

Hello everyone,

Coffee is my morning beer, and there is a ton of coffee in Toronto that is spectacular. Pilot is the Bellwoods of coffee, and I spend more money there than at any brewery. Sammy and I talk about coffee quite a bit, but we are looking for other people who have some information to share.



Possible Topics:
1. Cafe reviews/recommendations
2. What are you drinking now
3. Brewing methods/techniques (technically its steeping...)
4. Home roasting tips
5. Coffees to look out for
6. Extraction strategies



**Right now I'm drinking Colombia La Esmeralda from Pilot. It came in 11th for North Colombia at the 2015 Cup of Excellence auctions. It's a great coffee and it does well in my Hario v60.

**For those of you with cheap grinders (like me) buying a sieve works wonders or improving cup quality by removing fines and making a more even extraction. Its like day and night.

[northyorksammy]

Hello everyone,

Coffee is my morning beer, and there is a ton of coffee in Toronto that is spectacular. Pilot is the Bellwoods of coffee, and I spend more money there than at any brewery. Sammy and I talk about coffee quite a bit, but we are looking for other people who have some information to share.



Possible Topics:
1. Cafe reviews/recommendations
2. What are you drinking now

I picked up the Columbian at Crafted (owned by Pilot) and am enjoying its balance. it is a rare coffee not needing any sweetner including milk. Thanks for the tip, Daniel.
Toronto has a fair share of cafes and they are opening up all the time. It surprises me that several are at US levels in atmosphere and passion yet are rated a tad lower on yelp.

[Belgian]

Pilot is relatively close to me, and I've had local heroes Left Field brews so many times! I will have to drop by both. Thanks for mentioning it.

I'm often at the better espresso bars in our fine city. Even The Only Cafe can pull a decent shot on the other side from the bar (it's called The One Coffee Shop and now has food served every day, made two doors east at the new juice bar / kitchen.)

Jimmy's in Kensington Mkt., Dark Horse on Queen East at Davies, Rooster on Broadview, Bud's in the Beach all seem to deliver. I get the odd 'sour' pressing just about everywhere though… I don't understand the inconsistency of a freaking three dollar Americano, it should just be perfect.

[northyorksammy]

Pilot is relatively close to me, and I've had local heroes Left Field brews so many times! I will have to drop by both. Thanks for mentioning it.

I'm often at the better espresso bars in our fine city. Even The Only Cafe can pull a decent shot on the other side from the bar (it's called The One Coffee Shop and now has food served every day, made two doors east at the new juice bar / kitchen.)

Jimmy's in Kensington Mkt., Black Horse on Queen East at Davies, Rooster on Broadview, Bud's in the Beach all seem to deliver. I get the odd 'sour' pressing just about everywhere though… I don't understand the inconsistency of a freaking three dollar Americano, it should just be perfect.

you are right. Training, machinery, and good fresh coffee. Jimmy's delivers, rooster pretty good. Haven't tried Black Horse but did you mean dark horse - they also deliver and take their time about it-a quality i find in most good places, 3.5 minutes on the timer. Jimmys can do it in about half the time.
also havent been to faenheit 451 .

[Belgian]

Yes Dark Horse… as opposed to Black Rooster or Donkey or Camel LOL….

There are SO many coffee shops now that I've been in a few that had a slight flaw to them… the place smelled weird, the attitude smelled weird, or something was just a tiny bit off - and I never went back. It's gotta be a little competitive for anyone getting into it I can only imagine… of else you can pretty much sell espresso all day long now matter what you do, not sure.

[northyorksammy]

Yes Dark Horse… as opposed to Black Rooster or Donkey or Camel LOL….

There are SO many coffee shops now that I've been in a few that had a slight flaw to them… the place smelled weird, the attitude smelled weird, or something was just a tiny bit off - and I never went back. It's gotta be a little competitive for anyone getting into it I can only imagine… of else you can pretty much sell espresso all day long now matter what you do, not sure.

location, location..just like beer joints.

Waiting for a segue into coffee and beer.

[AugustusRex]

Yes Dark Horse… as opposed to Black Rooster or Donkey or Camel LOL….

There are SO many coffee shops now that I've been in a few that had a slight flaw to them… the place smelled weird, the attitude smelled weird, or something was just a tiny bit off - and I never went back. It's gotta be a little competitive for anyone getting into it I can only imagine… of else you can pretty much sell espresso all day long now matter what you do, not sure.

location, location..just like beer joints.

Waiting for a segue into coffee and beer.

I had a Peche Mortel recently, and I couldn't help notice that the coffee component tasted overextracted. (I've been going crazy researching extraction and am soon going to buy an extractometer and grab some software). Extraction is as important as freshness when it comes to coffee quality.

Coffee stouts are really interesting in that there does not seem to be a universal approach to getting the coffee in the beer. It only makes sense to me to take the cold brew approach. The Peche must have beans added directly to the beer, I hope not during the boil (it almost tastes like it).

Cheers to more Pilot-Bellwoods collaborations.

[northyorksammy]

I had a Peche Mortel recently, and I couldn't help notice that the coffee component tasted overextracted. (I've been going crazy researching extraction and am soon going to buy an extractometer and grab some software). Extraction is as important as freshness when it comes to coffee quality.

Coffee stouts are really interesting in that there does not seem to be a universal approach to getting the coffee in the beer. It only makes sense to me to take the cold brew approach. The Peche must have beans added directly to the beer, I hope not during the boil (it almost tastes like it).

Cheers to more Pilot-Bellwoods collaborations.

Bellwoods used a lot of pilot cold brew. Cold brewing takes out aroma and acid and leaves...flavour. Rainhard IS used cold brew.
In the early years of coffee beers, the idea was to get coffee aroma, a misguided effort, sometimes a gimmick.
For Bellwoods and Rainhard it worked, there was good coffee flavour.

[DeMarco]

I personally like cut coffee (Sam James) as it kinda reminds me of more of the west coast style of roasting. I never was a big fan pilot and it's reasons that escape me because it's been a few years since I bought one of their bags. Pig Iron was my go to for a while, but since a retail outlet has vanished from my neighbourhood I've been no longer able to grab their beans.

In the morning I'll use my 8-cup chemex if it's my girlfriend and I having coffee together. If not than I use the 2-cup hario pour over. At work I'll use my aero press as I don't need a special spout to pour water in. I have a Barista encore burr grinder which does the trick.

I don't often frequent coffee shops unless it's a Saturday and I am need of a little something. Yeah it's really hard to find a good shot in this city and it really takes some knowledge to be able to pull one. I remember having an espresso 4 years back at blue bottle in NY and just being overwhelmed at how well it tasted, no harsh bitter backing, just smooth through out with loads of fruity notes.

[Craig]

I'm not personally a fan of the Pilot blends (Big Bro, Little Bro, etc.) but I do like their single-origin roasts. I normally just pop in and pick whichever American bean they have on that's freshest. At home I use a vacuum pot, which is a nice foolproof method of getting a decent cup of joe.

[napoleon]

I want to plug a totally under-the-radar coffee roaster, Moonbean in Kensington. It has none of the brand cache of Pilot or Dark Horse, but the guy that does the brewing knows his stuff. He sources a lot of the micro-lots directly and focuses on freshness. Lots of the beans are roasted within the week, and the prices are $12-$15 per pound. That's where I buy almost all of my whole bean coffee.

Oh, and ditto on the cold brew for beer. I've been underwhelmed by coffee beers in the past and loved the Bellwoods effort. None of the bitterness/astringency one encounters in many of the other attempts.

[beerstodiscover]

I order from Dark City Coffee. Order by phone or email and they roast it the same day, and it arrives the next day. Only $2 for shipping if you order 2 lbs..

[Belgian]

I had a Peche Mortel recently, and I couldn't help notice that the coffee component tasted overextracted...

Um no Belgian didn't write that nested quote… definitely over-extracted on that extract.

[ercousin]

Next time you go to Muddy York for one of their Pop-Up bottle days stop by Cultured Coffee Bean on O'Connor. www.culturedcoffeebean.com/default.asp They had a pretty good selection, by my novice coffee drinker standards.

I've done a few coffee beers over the last few months and I'm starting to think that the best two methods to infuse coffee falvour are cold brew and dry bean, depending on the beer. For a more malty or roasted beer I think that cold brew might be the way to go. I blended 1 oz Te-Aro cold brew with 11 oz of my robust porter and won 2nd BOS at the Brew Slam comp. The coffee flavour and aroma are beautiful. I'm starting to think that dry beaning would best be left for light coloured beers, like the Coffee Blonde Ale I did. None of the colour extraction, but lots of aromatics.

GTA Brews has a coffee vanilla mild in the homebrew section at Cask Days that we did with dry beaned ethiopian coffee from Sam James coffee bar, and split vanilla beans.

11 oz of dry beaned coffee for 10 gallons, and 4 vanilla beans.

[zane9]

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Possible Topics:
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3. Brewing methods/techniques (technically its steeping...)
4. Home roasting tips
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**For those of you with cheap grinders (like me) buying a sieve works wonders or improving cup quality by removing fines and making a more even extraction. Its like day and night.

Great thread, and thanks for starting it.

I have been roasting greens at home for a few years, currently with a nano-sized fluid-bed roaster (FreshRoast SR500). The challenge comes in the colder months, as I must roast outdoors! I participate in a couple of FB Groups: FreshRoast Coffee Roasters and Home Coffee Roasters. Much valuable information from both groups.

My favorite brewing methods are pour-over and Aeropress, but the daily grind usually begins with the common "coffee-maker".

I have a cheap burr grinder, and thanks for the tip on using a sieve. If you're using a blade grinder you need to prevent overheating the beans due to friction. So make sure to vary the speed, and stop/start during grinding.