Ristretto Roasters Blog

Yet More Evidence We Are Not Dutch

While last week reading The Atomic Bazaar: The Rise of the Nuclear Poor, I was taken by this sentence, "It is a scientific fact that no other people, anywhere, are as moralistic as the Dutch," a sentence that made me think back to the 1980s, and my brief engagement to a Dutch boy, and the formality of his parents, and his father taking me into the den, and with great solemnity, offering me the family-crested ring...

Reading just now that Dutch coffee shops may stop selling pot if they are too close to secondary schools, I thought, moralistic, with a twist.

Health Benefit of Coffee, #612

From the Science Times of today's NY Times:

In Study of Men, Lots of Coffee Appears to Lower Risk of Gout

Also, from C. Claiborne Ray's always insightful Q + A column:

Q: What makes coffee bitter?

I'll let you read for yourself, but as I reached the end, I thought, she could be talking about Ristretto:

"The [Coffee Research] institute also suggests using medium-roast coffee, which has a lower level of soluble solids; brewing using a drip system, which also cuts down the release of soluble solids; and perhaps using a coarser grind."

Editorial Ristretto

I have been lax in linking Ristretto-related articles. So what if two of them were written by me? These, via a weekly column for Pajamas Media, one on medium roasts, the other, on cupping. Infinitely more thrilling than the piece is the YouTube video my editor linked, of the lovely Nana Mouskuori singing, Black Coffee.

Also this month, the June issue of Bon Appetit has my recipe for blueberry-bran muffins, in the RSVP section. Though I'd like to be known the world-over for my writing, it seems I am currently famous as some chick who bakes muffins. I told Din, I really would prefer he did not have a popping muffin carved on my headstone. He said, "How about the recipe?" Until then:

    Blueberry-Bran Muffins      

    Preheat oven to 350

    Spray 12 large muffin cups (I use metal pans) well with pan spray.

    2 cups sour cream
    3 eggs
    1 cup sugar
    1 cup vegetable oil
    1 cup dark unsulphered molasses (not blackstrap)
    2 cups unbleached white flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    1 tablespoon kosher salt
    6 cups wheat bran
    2 cups frozen blueberries
            
  In  a large bowl, which together sour cream, eggs, sugar, oil and molasses.  Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and whisk until  combined. With a spoon or spaultula, stir in bran, then blueberries.
 
Divide between muffin tins. Bake about 30 minutes, until tops are set but still spring back when touched. Cool muffin tins on racks. When slightly cooled, remove muffins from tins, loosening around the edges with a butter knife, if necessary.