found a surplus of grounds
in the grinder catchment
displaced them to china cup,
measured 1.7g
then set aside.
then measured 15.9 fresh grounds into
the hario switch, using a spoon to top it
up to 16.0 g. this new technique,
what’s a good name for it?
spare grounds cupping?
observe
listen
william kapell, piano, on album
here is schumann’s 3 romanzen, op. 28: 2. einfach. played this
as a teen, but not like this, with kapel’s
adult respect and long lines.
it is so important to study music in youth
then return later.
a strange thing that happens to aging
pianists, when fingers have traversed
enough keys to forget whether familiarity
means having played
a piece.
when 14, could play every piece ever learned.
a decade later, no longer the case.
now, it’s not clear
what was even played
mostly, the fingers know
by twitching.
measured the bags of both finca and guatemala this morning.
guatemala had more, so that won the slot at 16.1 g.
spilled beans while starting the RDT sequence.
picked them up, then 15.7 g beans remained. looked all around,
couldn’t find stragglers, so topped it back up to 16.1 g.
then immersed the dose in water, shook it up, and ground at 1.8.1
on the timemore, same as yesterday.
groundsniff
gave unicorn a sniff after the immersion. rich smell.
a dewy morning —🦄
for a moment, we wondered whether the brew cycle had begun
just by having too much moisture inside the grinder.
for a moment, unicorn heard the coffee grounds talking.
blink, blink. nope.
grounds weighed 16.3 g, overshooting because of the added moisture.
left a good chunk waiting in the catchment for tomorrow.
observe
it will be spring today.
listen
éliane radigue, carol robinson, julia eckhardt, rhodri davies. Occam Ocean 1.
↑ a little map of guatemala
for this morning’s wake-up meditation
in life, as in engineering, seek the source.
of course, this doesn’t do anything to help one
visualize the incredible reticulation of the huehuetenango mountains.
consider google maps on terrain mode here. looks like aluminum
foil that’s been crunched up into a ball
then expanded again because there are so many
mountains in the region.
makes the blood boil for hiking and adventure.
on npr: a bit of talk about prediction markets;
bets on kalshi and polymarkets related to iran
war.
drank some very fizzy water with apple cider vinegar
and potassium electrolytes.
brew
heated 311 g purified water.
didn’t try to change anything for today’s cup; followed
rin’s suggestions from friday:
a bit coarser grind on the timemore at 1.8.1,
and a +15” longer immersion for a total of 2’45” for 3’45”
brew time.
weighed 16.1 g guatemala beans.
grounds first came out at 15.9 g, so one more bean went through the grinder to land at 16.0 g total.
poured 256.1 g purified water.
easy immersion release at 2:45, holding the same increase of +15 seconds from the baseline.
groundsniff
“mythical purple embers and ash” —🦄
observe
the handwritten board includes a sketched map of the guatemala coffee region,
set against southern mexico, belize, honduras, and the yucatan.
it turns the cup into a small geography lesson before sunrise.
listen
columbia masterworks issue ML 2196.
Bach: Concerto in D Minor for Three Pianos and Strings /
Bach: French Suite No. 6 in E Major.
performers:
robert, gaby, and jean casadesus on pianos,
with the philharmonic-symphony orchestra of new york,
conducted by dimitri mitropoulos.
the french suite performance
credited to robert casadesus, piano.
listened to it twice through.
while normally, don’t prefer it when
earbuds pop and hiss, but for this album,
when it was finished, a little sonic pop
gave me the sense of an needle
returning to its anchor after playing
an LP
taste
deliciosity of guatemala’s sweetness.
presence, richness.
what is the difference between
the taste of cocoa and the taste
of chocolate ? what an art, to
craft these descriptions. it’s
a type of poetry.
grandma’s apple butter is, remarkably
detectable in this cup. similar acidity.
though, less cinnamon and allspice than
in the memory, more like
the preparatory roasted apple pulp,
pressed through the massive sieve
of the chinois:
of course, it’s an echo of a reflection.
or a reflection of an echo.
round acid at the edges of the mouth …
reminded of finca’s sweet valence.
sparkling water with
acv and electrolytes.
breakfast: chia seeds, slivered
almonds, kefir and blackberries.
kitchen radio: interviewing parents
whose partner is deployed to
the war in iran. trump’s quote:
a “friendly take-over” of cuba.
grind
looked at what rin said yesterday, followed that advice.
guatemala coffee again today,
310g purified water heated, 296.8 remained for preheat.
measured 16.1 g beans and 16.0 g grounds.
typical rdt procedure.
groundssniff
“frizzante!” —🦄
brew
immersion: 2’45” (15” longer)
total brew time: 3’45”
observe
listen
anne efternøler, maria laurette friis, johanna borchert we are. profoundly. predisposed. to drowning.
the land of weirdos.
talented voice manipulation.
taste
prep palette salty from electolytes
and acidic from the ACV.
first sip’s river, thick chocolate leather.
again the salty crystals.
the word, “splurge”.
something about the desert,
it’s dry smell. acid around
the rim.
research
about the producer
Asociación de Cooperación al Desarrollo Integral de Huehuetenango (ACODIHUE)
established in 1996, this is a co-op with over 40,000 farmers.
region
number of municipalities
Huehuetenango
16
San Marcos
2
Totonicapán
2
Parable’s product notes for this coffee highlight ACODIHUE’s
work across multiple municipalities in focus on
poverty reduction, food security, and
environmental stewardship.
guatemala measured 16.0 g beans, used RDT, then ground in the
timemore at 1.8.1, a bit coarser than recent cups. produced 15.9 g
grounds.
preheated 309 g purified water. after preheat, used 257.4 g water for
the brew and poured the rest back into the jug.
for easy immersion, poured in two stages from the gooseneck kettle:
first at 175 ml, then a second pour with the remaining water.
turned on the timer before finishing the grind, to prevent some lapse of
measurement. nevertheless, while writing, immersion lasted one minute longer.
depressed the hario switch at 3:30. whoops.
groundsniff
viscous, malty, maroon —🦄
right richness.
observe
recall the moon
the waxing gibbous night
light trickling in the window,
with disco joe
bathroom vine
drinking in tangles
of rich milklight
crying over tehran too .
fellow humans, nobody
deserves this
the night i was born, i swear the moon turned a fire red —jimi hendrix
enjoyed this track, but by the end of the album, felt a bit
of vertigo from all the flanger flagella.
taste
first impression watery
with coffee’s classic flavor, sure
with darker roasts, words still blunt
near to dark chocolate shavings,
bitter curls. viennese
torte topping
ensh!tt!f!cat!on
while looking for the term “viennese torte” so as
to finish morning coffee poem,
chatgpt shoved in a bunch of products
for purchasing pleasure on the $20/month plan
nope, didn’t ask for that.
what’s next, meta raybans with
advanced adblocking rays
for the low, low price of all the information
a bit of fog; some not-so-critical mistakes.
while talking to the 🦄.
thought a bit about the term “happy accident.”
what does it mean to hope for the best?
how many things had to go accidentally right
for this moment to be possible?
observe
listen
here is “the sun roars into view” by saxophonist Colin Stetson
and violinist Sarah Neufeld, from their 2015 album,
Never Were the Way She Was. buzzy undercurrent, brighting the overtones, voice worship.
the morning may greet us raw.
dinosaur howl@6:34
calling from/to horizon:
give the type of love
that’s just intonation
or take the kind of love
that’s messy around
the edges of the art
on bbc this morning, oil prices up,
people down in bomb shelters.
“The … dinosaurs were around for 165 million years and … humans so far only 300,000.” — Dr Henry Loomis, Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) source
so much depends upon decayed remains
taste
first and second sips off balance for finca.
but by the sixth, the sweet, bubbly fizz
gave synesthesia with stetson’s buzz.
it’s a type of para-noia, an extended technique
finca brings to the mouth.
makes me wonder about the types of suffering
plants endure, finca’s farm has seen
rough times.
παράνοια (paránoia) meant “madness” or “derangement” being outside one’s mind || beyond reason
second day using handwritten notes.
already preferred to audio transcription.
more contemplative, less dictatorial.
notes
the catchment of the timemore feels just a bit loose now. it’s 1.5 months new.
not a problem, just hold it with the hand in grind.
still, how hard could it be to magnetize it DIY?
a single gentle fmoment shared with 🦄, complex and rich. caramel.
observe
listen
here is “seventh etude” from kevin volans and jill richards, from the whole album of etudes
inquisitive yet approached without hesitation.
near-reverance. later, the fourth etude is like
combining a slow shutter with flash photography :
the resonant blur etched with the stillness of
a moment’s coincidence.
evokes berio’s six encores, particularly, the first one, “brin:“
transition
primed the entry during pre-heat this time, worked well.
still having troubles with codex. need to set the problems
aside and live in the vim of the moment to truly
be here.
taste
took until fifth
or sixth sip to taste finca’s sweet
acidity aftertones, little sugar crystals
sticking at the back of front teeth. probing them.
letting the “resonance” saturate the mouth’s
apprehension of the flavor.
happy surprises.
sometimes precision and plan is not everything.
still, what is the plan for
tomorrow’s cup?
embraced 🦄 holding space for witnessing the present
for u.s. attacked iran this morning.
brew
prepared with electolytes and sparkling water with apple cider vinegar.
meant to return to baseline, accidentally deviated.
notes
diffs
[[technique/new]]
use time of grinding beans
to measure preheat of the Hario Switch glass and filter
groundsniff
measured 16.0 g grounds in the pre-heated filter of the Switch.
changes the experience - heat of the water gets in the way, warming cheeks
… does the hot, wet filter carry an aroma of its own?
🦄 prefers sniffing the grounds in the grinder catchment. agreed.
observe
listen
album Marjan Mozetich: The Complete Piano Music.
first rec from spotify in a long time that really hit the mark.
last track evokes the moment’s anxiety. worth two listens today.
used the same slightly finer grind setting 1.8.4 from yesterday by accident.
groundssniff
smells of amber and musty tobacco this morning. delicious. —🦄
re-ceive
got a valentine in the mail from a young and dear Friend
The Heart
has many roomsdoors that opendoors
that don’tstill a lock to picka key to find or borrow
or have carved by the right smith
some doors only open when another shuts
some never openthe locks red with rust and glazed
with spider’s websometimes I think I want no doors only arches
or windows you have to scramble through when no one’s watching
you might think it was but it’s not a storage spaceneither holding cell
nor jailyou have to let the light come and go as it pleases
the heart can’t be bought or ownedit’s terribly difficult
but not impossible to losesweet friend I found a room
inside my heart I think could suit you
a place I hope you will returnyou can turn the fire on
or leave it coolyou can shut the shades or leave them open
write your poems on the wall or only lie on the floor dreaming
-Brionne Janae
ob-serve
mind
pulled off by technical ruminations and investigations.
listening
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli playing Beethoven, Chopin and Brhams live in Arezzo in 1952.
the beethoven at the start has such a firm, warm, generous sound.
Michelangeli’s spooky funeral march is, in contrast, sub-zero
taste
a bit sour. why? yesterday’s was watery, too.
maybe attention needs to be more rapt to pull
the honey from the divet in the tongue.
