- "Green beans" before roasting
- Some signs of spalling, which can occur during the roasting process...
Before and After - Coffee Roasting
For a clearer view...
The particular beans that you see here are from a batch of Josuma Select Malabar Gold, a blend of coffee beans specially formulated for espresso.
In the center are the so called "green beans" before they were roasted, and on the outside are some beans after I roasted them in my home coffee roaster (a Fresh Roast Plus).
For espresso I manually grind them to a slightly gritty but still fine powder in a manual burr grinder (a Zassenhaus). This gets loaded and hand-tamped into a double basket portafilter, conventionally used to dose for a double shot, and inserted into either the La Cara or La Pavoni manual piston espresso machines. Both of these machines involve the user by having him push down on a lever to force the hot water through the tightly compacted espresso grounds.
The shot then gets pulled under great pressure into a pre-heated tazzina (a small espresso cup - I use a 68 cc feldspathic porcelain tazzina made by IPA Porcellane in Italy, pattern Bologna), for a total draw of around 1.25-1.5 ounces (2.5-3 tablespoons).
Such a very short shot is called a ristretto, which when made correctly has to be the purest form that one can enjoy an espresso - a wonderful concentration of coffee flavor with plenty of mouthfeel and a pleasant bitterness.
...and once in a blue moon when everything is right it produces the proverbial "god shot", which is actually creamy in taste. (And yes, this is all without using any milk! :-) )
Much has changed since I first posted this; here's a video on YouTube that shows my current eqiupment and workflow...
Taken with an Epson Perfection 4990 scanner.
Before and After - Coffee Roasting
At home
Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA
Jan. 9, 2006
blog sighting at:
BeautyBlog
Beauty is your Happiness
BloggBilder
Brewmeo
Cheirinho de Cafe
Columbia Board of Tourism
DariaDesign
Enterprise Blend
Fairer Globalization
Fitness y Wellness
Fotopedia
HyperCaffeinatedLife
Italian Roast Coffee
La Estrella
Maxicep
Microbiology Bytes
My Espresso Machine - Love Your Coffee
MySmartCup
PlanetGreen
PolicyInnovations
Radio Nederland
RealityEquation
Sadaf Coffee Shop
Smithsonian's Food & Think blog
Squidoo
StoryADay
ThinkingInBits
This I Do
WorshipTheGlitch
Image search on Google
Also spotted in Flickr's explore ("interestingness") blog.
Comments and faves
chimili, SorbyRock, Andy Ciordia, Spinnaker007, and 146 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Eyeshoot Photography (89 months ago | reply)
I wish I like coffee, then I could be as obsessed about it as only coffee drinkers seem to be and roast my own beans! Lovely photo!
mojodaisy (84 months ago | reply)
such perfect circles!! should be a poster in a coffee house.The World Through My Eyes
FranK!eCa! (84 months ago | reply)
what a very nice capture! i love your idea
The World Through My Eyes
Emerson Hernandez (84 months ago | reply)
Very nice idea and composition!
The World Through My Eyes
austenhaines (84 months ago | reply)
very nicely done indeed. Not sure ive seen unroasted beans before, so thanks for sharing that.
The World Through My Eyes
LittleBlackSheep (84 months ago | reply)
Wow, great idea and fantastic composition!
(The world through my eyes)
foodfreak.de (84 months ago | reply)
great shot and composition
cgfan (84 months ago | reply)
multum-in-parvo, mojodaisy, ♥FranKieBe♥, Émerson Hernandez, austenhaines, littleblacksheep, and Anzharis: Thank you all! I was pleased myself beyond all expectations. This is by far the favorite amongst the 3 "scanography" pics taken so far, inspired by the arrival of a new Epson 4990 scanner.
mojodaisy: This was created by concentrically arranging two food service rings (typically used at showy restaurants for assembling a dish into "stacks") onto a piece of paper laid on top of my scanner. I then filled in the inner circle with the green beans and the outer one with the roasted beans.
After carefully sliding-out the piece of paper from underneath the beans, I then removed the inner ring and took a scan. A final session in Photoshop was all that was necessary to "remove" all traces of the outer ring.
austenhaines: The interesting thing about green (unroasted) beans - they actually smell quite terrible, not at all like freshly roasted coffee beans! It's not an overpowering smell, just a distinct note of, say, musty grains.
nurgün (83 months ago | reply)
greatttt
cgfan (83 months ago | reply)
Thank you for your favorite and comment, nurgün!
Mr. phelps (82 months ago | reply)
the great circle of life in coffee form
Pockafwye (82 months ago | reply)
Beautiful image!
--
Seen in a discussion of The World Through My Eyes - 2 per day/ Comment on 1. (?)
j_jyarbrough (82 months ago | reply)
great idea and well composed , now i am off in search of another cup of coffee !
Have a wonderful day!!! Thank you so much for posting ..
Scavenger Hunt Theme Thread
The World Through My Eyes
Buggs Moran (80 months ago | reply)
Really great idea. Thanks for sharing the technique.
cgfan (80 months ago | reply)
Mr. phelps, Pockafwye, j_jyarbrough, and Buggs Moran: Thank you all for your comments! And Buggs, thanks for your fave!
CliffNJ (77 months ago | reply)
Wow, that's beautiful. Great shot, and looks like great beans as well!
cgfan (77 months ago | reply)
CliffNJ: Thanks for the comments! And yes, the Malabar Gold is a sure bet for a tasty shot of espresso!
few pigeons in suburbia (76 months ago | reply)
Hi,
I just wanted to drop by and tell you that I've added this photo to a photo album on facebook about fair trade. I found it after a creative commons licensed search for 'coffee beans.' This is a such lovely picture =)
cgfan (76 months ago | reply)
few pigeons in suburbia: Thanks for the inclusion... I guess I'll have to find out what facebook is all about!
borealnz (74 months ago | reply)
So beautiful and so interesting! Great shot!!
Your "Most Interesting" theme at:
The World Through My Eyes
cgfan (74 months ago | reply)
borealnz: Thank you for your comments! In this case, it was "shot" with a flatbed scanner...
Nontlatocátzin (74 months ago | reply)
Good photo, I think is great your desing.
cgfan (74 months ago | reply)
Nontlatocátzin: Thanks for your comment and for visiting!
bilder2blogg (71 months ago | reply)
I made special with coffe on my blog with some good photos of coffee with the creative commons license. This photo among some other:
bloggbilder.wordpress.com/2007/07/08/nagra-fo ton-pa-kaffe/
Good luck with your photos!
/Hans
♥babybee (68 months ago | reply)
Very creative and lovely composed shot.
Thanks for sharing your 50+ FAVES photo with us @
The World Through My Eyes
cgfan (68 months ago | reply)
♥babybee: Thank you for dropping by, and for your comments.
livatlantis (66 months ago | reply)
A very interesting effect. Very illustrative!
So in compliance with your Creative Commons license, I've used your photo in this blog post about coffee: Coffee 101: An Introduction to the Art, attributed and with a link back.
Great shot, and hope you like the article too.
esquareda (65 months ago | reply)
Love this!
esquareda (65 months ago | reply)
I too, used your photo - it's part of a channel banner on Vimeo.
www.vimeo.com/brewmeo
cgfan (65 months ago | reply)
livatlantis and esquareda: Thanks for both of your comments, and for the links as well!
livatlantis (65 months ago | reply)
You're welcome, it's an excellent shot!
invisible consequential (65 months ago | reply)
Thanks for sharing with Creative Commons. I used this to accompany a review of the film Black Gold.
cgfan (65 months ago | reply)
invisible consequential: Great use of the photo! I'm glad that, in its own small way, the photo was of help to your review.
Steph Meslin-Weber (65 months ago | reply)
Lovely composition and lighting.
cgfan (65 months ago | reply)
Steph Meslin-Weber: Thank you for your comments!
dragonfly901 (61 months ago | reply)
You are invited to post this photo to the
COFFEE * CAFFE' contest
by the #FLICKR# Over The Shot Group (posting end May 26th)
#FLICKR# Over the Shot
emwee1948 (61 months ago | reply)
wonderful image. Perfectly done
Over The Shot Award!!!
Seen in:
#FLICKR# Over the Shot
cgfan (61 months ago | reply)
emwee1948: Thank you for the kind words!
arnettb (60 months ago | reply)
I needed a good coffee photo, and this one won. Thanks for making it CC. Here's where I used it:
storyaday.net/2008/06/17/79-qualifications/
cgfan (60 months ago | reply)
arnettb: No problem! Glad you could use it!
TheCoffeeNut (59 months ago | reply)
Cool shot!
cgfan (59 months ago | reply)
TheCoffeeNut: Thanks for visiting!
Soleil is me. (59 months ago | reply)
Congratulation! Great composition:) This is the inspiration art worked.
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful photo to flickr friends. I pleasure and honor to give the awards. BE HAPPY & ENJOY to display your BEST photos; OR feel free to be the member;
[Dear flickr friends, If you do not prefer to join; do leave it, PLEASE DO NOT RUDE statement, all people are friends, thank you]
Honor to invite you to be happy at:-
SPLENDID PHOTO!!YOUR PHOTO IS
INVITED TO MY SPECIAL GALLERY!!
Kornrawiee's Gallery!!Invite ONLY!
** Come and join us "The PURPLE CONTEST":)
SPLENDID PHOTO!! YOUR PHOTO WINS
THE INSPIRE INVITATION!
INSPIRE!! Invite ONLY!!
You are INVITED to display this wonderful photo
in the INSPIRE Pool, and give 2 awards!
This amazing image really is In Fine Style
and this serves as an invitation to
In Fine Style
Please tag your image with "infinestyle"
*CezCze* (off-line) (59 months ago | reply)
You are invited to add this image to:
Score 1 to 20 on 20
Please accept the group rules
and SCORE on the previous 20 photos (to the immediate right of yours).
ah_lo527 (54 months ago | reply)
Hi CG is it possible for me to use your photo offline? just as an art piece because I really love this photo and I also love coffee.
cgfan (54 months ago | reply)
ah_lo527: Thank you so much for asking, and for the kind words!
Certainly I would have no problems with you using this photo offline, so long as you continue to honor the CC (Cretive Commons) licenses of attribution, non-commercial, and share-alike.
Does that answer your question?
IFGD (53 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Coffee Porn, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
theodordh (51 months ago | reply)
Hi! I'm admin of a new group called Great Stock Shots
We find your photo greatly suitable to our subject and would love to have it added to the group.
Jen's Photography (48 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called ((( transcend dépassez supere 超越しなさい ))), and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Chica_de_marte (48 months ago | reply)
I´m asking for your permission to use this photo in a coffee museum I´m creating in Veracruz , Mexico...