admin | Coffee, It's a Helluva Drug

one spritz makes a big difference

This winter I was starting to get annoyed at my grinder. More and more it was making a mess, to the point I thought there was something wrong with it or that the inner part of the collection cup had somehow disappeared. I always weigh out 16 grams of beans, and was losing as much as seven tenths of a gram in the finished product. Then one day out of the blue my college friend Tony sent me an article about the Ross Droplet Technique.

The idea behind it is adding very small amounts of water to beans before grinding reduces static electricity, resulting in reduced flyaways, a neater grind, and much higher retention. Makes perfect sense, then, that I was seeing more problems in winter. I live in an area that has high humidity for much of the year, with a significant drop in humidity in winter.

I gave it a try with one very light spritz from a spray bottle, and I’m now a convert. Much less mess, much higher retention. I’m not sure if it is improving the brew, but anything that combats channeling is going to lead to more consistent quality. I did find that too much water, particularly with oilier beans, could gum up the grind a bit.

Similar to the Weis Distribution Tool, it’s a case where I hadn’t know this existed, but since learning of it I’m seeing it in almost every Instagram clip of a barista making coffee (follow enough coffee shops and roasters, and you too will see tons of espresso making and latte art mastery). I’m going to have to watch them more carefully to see if there are other touches I should be trying. Bottomless portafilter? Dosing funnel? Distribution tool? Spring-loaded tamper? I’m game for anything that helps make better coffee.

The Decision Makers: Rossana

This is the first of what I hope will become a series of interviews with coffee entrepreneurs about the choices they make in creating, building, and positioning their businesses. We begin the series with sisters Randi and Maria Milton of Rossana, a mobile coffee business in northern Virginia.

Randi was previously interviewed by us when she served as General Manager of Northside Social in Arlington, VA.

How would you describe Rossana?

Maria: Rossana is the culmination of a long-time dream that Randi and I have had to own our own business, and our love for coffee and community.

Randi: Rossana brings more than a mobile espresso experience to you. We are handcrafting espresso beverages, coffees, teas, and small bites with the same level of love and attention of a brick and mortar café, but in a mobile setting.

What’s the meaning behind the name?

Randi: Rossana was our mother’s name. We went back and forth with different names and ideas that would fit into our concept and in the end, Rossana was perfect. Our mother impacted us in innumerable ways; our confidence in ourselves, our passion for life, and love of people, just to name a few.

Maria: Pronounced ROSS-anna. Being from the south, there is a little twang behind the name.

What were your backgrounds before starting the business?

Randi: I worked in many positions in the hospitality industry, first as a prep cook at a local establishment in our home town near Atlanta, GA when I was in my teens, and most recently as the General Manager of both Northside Social Arlington and Northside Social Falls Church. Leadership and hospitality are my passions, and coffee became a surprising bonus.

Maria: We both have had careers in the restaurant industry, and my background is heavily on the beverage side. I focused on craft beers and then moved into wine, followed by restaurant management. I worked in the Northside wine bar when I moved to Virginia, and that is where my love for coffee really started to blossom.

new series: The Decision Makers

For some time I’ve been interested in all the choices operators make in positioning their independent coffee businesses, why they make those choices, and the impact those factors have in the success or failure of the venture, and how all that contributes to the experience of the customer on the other side of the register.

I’ve begun re-reading the seminal book written by Brian Harmon, founder of Dublin’s 3fe Coffee, What I Know About Running Coffee Shops¹, to get a little more focus in those thoughts. I also decided the best way to learn more would be to ask the people who actually have to make those decisions, and what they themselves have learned along the way.

I’ll soon post the initial effort in what I hope will become a series of interviews with people running coffee businesses, which for lack of a better title I’m calling The Decision Makers. I really enjoyed putting together the first go of it, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

_{The book in physical form is really expensive (€30 or more in Ireland, and a hell of a lot more to get your hand on a copy in the US). It’s a bit more reasonably priced (though still not cheap) with the Kindle app, but either way I think it’s worth every penny} ↩︎

the annual Matty Macchiato holiday gift guide

I’ve procrastinated enough, as it’s just over a week before Christmas as of this writing, so let’s get right to it.

To borrow slightly from James Hoffmann’s gift guide:

Do: some basic research
If you have a coffee person in your life, the easiest thing to do is get them talking about coffee with a few seemingly innocuous questions. Then listen. What’s the best place to get coffee near their home? Do they make their own coffee at home? How do they make it – coffee maker? French press? Espresso machine? Pour over? Nespresso? The answers will set you up for success as a gift giver. Giving someone a bag of great coffee beans goes from being a thoughtful idea to a complete waste when it turns out they love their Nespresso machine at home.

Don’t: get them a travel mug
I hadn’t thought of this until Hoffmann’s guide, but it’s almost a universal truth these days that between the office, the car, and a drawer at home, the average person already has too many water bottles/thermoses/travel coffee cups. The exception is if they ask for one, then go nuts.

Let’s get into a few wonderful things you can get the coffee person you love – or for yourself.

gift advice from an actual expert

I’m at work on this year’s version of my annual holiday gift guide, but you might first want to check out this primer from coffee god James Hoffmann’s youtube channel. There’s a lot of really good stuff here on what to gift someone into coffee, helpfully segmented in terms of just how much they’re into the stuff as well as price points, and even better is the information about what not to get them.

I might have a very minor quibble with some of the points (opinions, everybody’s got ’em, amirite?), but well worth your time.

it’s time to throw down!!!!

Last night I attended my first Barista Throwdown. Before I go any further, if you’re not sure what that means, the good people at Boomtown Coffee have a great explanatory piece with all the deets.

My social media feeds occasionally have mentions of area Thursday Night Throwdowns, and since this edition would be held practically in our backyard at Lost Sock Roasters‘ pop-up at Brightwood Pizza & Bottle, I figured it was time to experience one for myself. And I’m so glad that I did.

I wondered what I would find when I walked in. One of the things I love about coffee shops and the specialty coffee community is that almost everyone is incredibly welcoming and happy to share their passion. I didn’t know if I would find some version of that friendly, open, positive mentality, or a highly competitive, nervous vibe, or a group of coffee pros closing themselves off from normies like me.

Well, here’s what was waiting for me:

and…… we’re back!

Something went haywire with the Matty Macchiato digital empire last week and the site has been down since October 5th-ish. It’s back up and running now.

Subscribers weren’t notified as usual when I last posted, so you may want to check my last two here and here.

Okay, good talk. Since this post doesn’t have any visual pizzazz of any kind, please enjoy this picture of Charlie.

happy coffeepalooza ’23

This was quite the weekend for coffee obsessives in the nation’s capital. Friday was National Coffee Day, Sunday was International Coffee Day, and these critically important holidays bookended Saturday’s first annual DC Coffee Festival. Held at Dock 5 in Union Market, the event sold out in advance for both sessions.

The hall was filled with roasters and cafe operators, plus a few different coffee-related businesses and a couple food purveyors. Thankfully the good people from Topo Chico were giving away free samples of cold soda water, as things got a little sweaty in a packed hall on a humid day.

this kid, he gets it

This weekend I had a coffee from a café I hadn’t tried before. Some of the staff looked pretty young. I would think the guy who took my order and made my drink wasn’t older than 15 or 16.

He seemed quite serious and deliberate as he went about his business. When he was done he paused for a second, then grabbed his phone to take a picture of the drink. Very endearing.

This is the finished product:

It tasted pretty good, too!

Well done, young man. May you have a long and joyful barista journey ahead of you.