ghetto roasting

only in singapore will you find such a ghetto style of cooling after a roast

bored latte art..

poured into a small sauce container, with half of a cold shot and some remnant re-frothed milk

on hindsight, should have taken picture from different angles

japanese canned coffee

a small selection of what you may find in japan..

Interesting Coffee found in Singapore

looks promising...



but 20% sugar and margarine??



anyone fancy ROBUSTA beans??

Practices to Simple Living - the Singaporean Way

I don't need a CAR, but I want a BMW
I don't need a CONDO, but I want a BUNGALOW
I don't need you to have CASH but I want you to own a BANK
I don't need you to have a CAREER but I want you to be a BOSS

Most of you would have heard of the Singapore 5C's:
Car, Condo, Credit Card(Gold), Cash and Career

Heard of the 5B's?
B - BMW
B - Body
B - Brain
B - Billionaire
B - Bungalow

And, and addition with the 5K's...
Kiasu (scared of losing)
Kiasee (scared of dying)
Kiabor (scared of wife)
Kiaboh (scared of having nothing)
Kiachenghu (scared of government)

We've been reading about the 5C's and 5K's for Singaporeans, now comes the 5 Numerals and Malaysia's equivalent...

Singapore's "practice" for Simple Living :
1 - One Wife
2 - Two Children
3 - Three Bedroom Condo
4 - Four Wheels
5 - Five Figure Salary

Malaysia's Malays "practice" for Simple Living:
5 - Five Children
4 - Four Wives
3 - Three Figure Salary
2 - Two Wheels
1 - One-Storey Link House

coffee syphon

During my trip I bought a KONO coffee syphon, so I could experiment with yet another method of brewing

To date I have the following equpiment
plunger
moka pot
espresso machine
syphon filter

will have to go through the different methods to rediscover the different tastes

alessi jug

wow! I really want one or even two! will someone sponsor me?!

odd jug

found the oddest looking jug on the web today from illy



if I have the chance, I must get this together with an Alessi item ($$$) and try them

SNBC

entered the SNBC for fun and got the 3rd prize, not bad considering that I am only a home barista!

1st place went to ...eleen


who I have now influenced to buy all types of cool (and costly) equipment!

of course, it was interesting to meet some of the local coffee geeks & talk to the suppliers about the local scene. unfortunately, I think that the local scene won't improve much till the consumer realises that they can demand more when they pay $5 for a latte or cappucino, instead of accepting what comes over the counter

five senses!

wow! these guys are really helpful!

busted boiler!

thanks to a repairman who shall not be named, there is a crack in the boiler of my machine. now it will not keep pressure when it gets hot. efforts will be made to fix the problem.

i probably will have the strip the whole machine apart and have the crack brazed over. sigh!

Epic Latte Art course

well, heard that Epic Espresso is holding classes for latte art to be taught by their resident latte art expert (also WA latte art champion) Megan, signed up for it with Zach.

ACF cups

hard to foam!

for some reason, ever since returning from singapore, I've found it hard to froth milk properly. after asking around, I found out that during parts of the year, batches of milk will not froth properly as something happens to the cows as they change their diet. so if this happens to you, just change brands of milk and keep trying!

this is a snap

new machine!

got a 2nd hand semi commercial 1 group heat exchanger machine
now i can steam & brew at the same time!

it's a 2nd hand promac amica, a rebadged rancilio S series machine.
inbuilt water tank
4L boiler
heat exchanger
blah blah

pouring milk 101

starting product



heart/spade


first successful rosetta

milk pouring woes

can't figure out why I can't pour the milk properly into the center of the cup
sis says that my presentation is crap

perhaps it's the spout on the cheap jug we've got that is not pointy enough

so went ahead and ordered a 750ml Metallurgica Motta Europa Milk Jug from coffeeparts.com



hope it will fix the problem!

followup: the 750cc jug didn't solve the problem, the wand was too short for the jug. went forth with a 500cc jug, smaller is better!

steam wand modded!

learning from coffeegeek & coffeesnobs that the rancilio silvia wand is compatible with a little fiddling, I went ahead and ordered one from Mocopan in Melbourne. Received it overnight and mod took 30 minutes or so, now with the longer wand, steaming milk is a breeze!

got machine back from servicing

wow! a total new machine, it steams fast and has much more pressure to pump out an espresso with finer grinds.. pity the steam wand is crap. time to mod!

a little history

I've had a Gaggia Baby domestic coffee machine for awhile now.
After repeated nagging sessions from my sister, I went to a proper coffee making course and had the machine sent for service,
now to document my new found skills and relearning of how to appreciate coffee