The House & other Arctic musings

The GSI Javagrind revisited.

In May I reviewed the GSI Javagrind and was quite enthusiastic about it. Unfortunately it only took one more use of it to change my mind.

The other night I took the Javagrind and (reluctantly) GSI's french press over to Leah's parent's tent at Victor Bay, determined to have a good cup of coffee while over there. When it came time to brew the coffee I took the Javagrind and began grinding my Yergacheffe coffee beans. After about four turns of the crank, the Javagrind stopped working.

The central part of the burr mill is what turns, grinding the beans against the outer, fixed part of the mill. This turning piece is attached to the crank by means of a bolt, the hexagonal head of which sits in a recess of the mill, allowing it to turn. In only its second use the head of the bolt stripped out of its recessed fitting, causing the shaft to spin helplessly inside the mill.

Again this was only my Javagrind's second use, and it certainly hasn't seen any rough handling. I was able to finish grinding the beans by shimming the bolt in the recess with a thin strip of cardboard, but it appears that the material used for the mill can not stand up to the minimal torques of the grinding process.

Disappointing, as I was quite pleased to find a hand cranked coffee mill for out on the land. The press perfomed marginally better this outing, but still had a sloppy seal on the plunger and is not worth purchasing.

Coffee to go

For an update on the Javagrind, which failed on its second use, please go here.

Earlier this winter I bemoaned (to no one in particular) "what this country needs is a hand operated coffee mill for camping." What I didn't realize at the time was that one already existed.

The GSI Javagrind ($17.50 at Mountain Equipment Co-op) is a small hand cranked coffee mill (burr mill), and I ordered one as soon as I had learned about it. I also ordered GSI's Java Press french press at the same time, but more on that a little later.

First a short primer on why you'd want to grind your own coffee out on the land anyway. Coffee spoils rapidly and there are two rules you should follow if you want to drink good coffee, be it at breakfast in your house, or while sitting at a stream pouring forth from a canyon while you watch a Peregrine Falcon stoop at Snow Buntings. First use freshly roasted (good quality sustainable) coffee. Once the roasting process has started coffee begins to oxidize and break down.  The second rule is grind your coffee just before brewing. The process of spoilage really accelerates once coffee is ground, and (it was surprising to me until I did a quick experiment at home) the difference is noticeable quickly. Think about it in these terms, say you enjoy a fine wine and want to have some on the land, would you uncork the bottle and pour the wine into a plastic container to sit for days before you drank it? Or would you take along a corkscrew.

But back to the coffee mill, it is solidly built, though a little larger than I imagined. This isn't a major issue with me, because once again I don't backpack that much. The body of the grinder is stepped so it can sit right on brewers or containers of different diameters. A rubber dust cap sits over the mill and exit port proper, so it would removed and the entire mill is set down on what ever you are using to catch the grounds. The coffee beans would then be measured into the mill (whole beans measure out the same as the finished grounds - which is darned convenient) through a large sliding door on top and the handle cranked until all the beans have been ground. The handle reverses for storage. It all comes apart for ease of cleaning, although be careful as there are some small parts, springs and washers.

I found the grinder easy to use and quick. The coffee ground to a consistent size which is adjustable by means of a thumbscrew. Worked like a charm actually.

I wish I could say the same for their french press, but I can't. The GSI Java Press ($20.00 at Mountain Equipment Co-op) was disappointing. It is simple in design and seems robust enough for camping, the body and plunger are plastic and it fits into a neoprene sleeve, which functions as an efficient insulator to keep the coffee warm and at the same time protects the brewer.  The problem is with the plunger of the French Press, which creates the "seal" with two plastic split rings. The seal was not very good, in fact the plunger "plunged" on its own about halfway just by force of gravity. After the coffee had steeped for the four minutes I could push the plunger the rest of the way with very little resistance. I suppose that one should expect a little bit of sludge in their coffee while camping, but I prefer leaves and pine needles and will look for a better brewer to take with me.

The other aspect of the Java Press that I didn't like was the webbing handle. I realize, of course, that this is a piece of equipment meant for camping and portability, but it was awkward to pour with, and I just gave up and grabbed the body of the press to pour with it.

So all in all the Javagrind is good piece of equipment that I'm looking forward to using in the great out doors, the Java Press not so much. I'm looking for another press to take with me.

Oh, and in case I haven't made this point often enough, no matter where you drink you coffee - at home or in the great outdoors, make a point of drinking sustainable coffee, coffee that's gentler on the environment and better for producers. Many of the neo-tropical migrants, those birds that give us so much joy during the spring, summer and fall, are losing critical habitat to non-sustainable, monoculture coffee. For a wealth of information on coffee and the environment I urge you to visit my friend Julie's blog, Coffee and Conservation. Everything I learned about coffee I learned from her.

Coffee, clones, and cartography

I heard of a writer, whose name I don't recall, responding to a question about writer's block something along the line of "You know, my father was a trucker but he never had 'trucker's block'". And I suppose its true to a point, but just like there are days when his father probably rued climbing into the cab of his truck for want of being inspired, this writer is feeling uninspired.

After coming up with better than a post a day for the last little while, I'm stuck. Its a beautiful time of the year, even at 11pm there is a glow in sky, the inky blackness of our winter skies suddenly gone. I should have things (and do) to write about, but can't bring any cohesive thoughts down onto the "page". So I'm going to rely on others this morning.  Here are three distinct and diverse things that caught my eye this morning online.

It bears repeating, but if you are not drinking a sustainable coffee you're not only drinking an inferior beverage but you're contributing to the deforestation of the tropics, Developing World poverty, and the loss of critical migratory and tropical bird habitat, including critical habitat for some of our most endangered neo-tropical migrants. It is a simple, and relatively inexpensive way to do some good by switching to a sustainable coffee. Really a win-win-win situation.

Julie, one of my all time favourite writers/bloggers/friend was recently down in Guatemala on a sustainable coffee finca banding birds. It behooves you to visit two of her blogs, Coffee and Conservation and Net Results all of the time.  But if nothing else go to them now and read her reports on her visit down there. Great photos, fantastic birds.

Wanderin' Weeta is another blog I regularly visit. Like many of the authors I enjoy, Susannah has an eye for detail and a curiousity about the tiny lives around us. Check out her latest post on the moth that is most unmothlike, and a fascinating study. She discovered a bagworm, Dahlica triquetrella, an introduced species of moth that, as an adult, has no wings, no mouth, no eyes, and in Canada at least is a population that only consists of females. It reproduces by parthogenisis, so essentially all of its (all female) offspring are clones of itself. What is more, depending on how many individuals were introduced from Europe, it may very well be a clone of a single individual. Nature is so utterly fascinating.

Finally be sure to visit The Arctic Bay Atlas, a joint mapping project of Nunavut Youth Consultants (a local youth group/business) and the Inuit Heritage Trust. The project is mapping the area around Arctic Bay and is fascinating. Hover your curser over a spot on the map and you'll hear (faintly) the Inuktitut name of the place. Click on the spot and you'll get information on the Inuktitut name, English name, features and on some, photos of the location. For instance you can see photos of Qurlurniq, the place I had coffee on my last adventure.

For those Nunavumiut who are interested, the official launch of the website is at the Nunatta Campus of Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit (Iqaluit? Why not Arctic Bay?) on March 30th, 2009 from 10:15 am to 12:00pm. Light refreshments will be served.

Roll up this rim, and the earth wins

It is time for one of Canada's most well known promotions, Tim Horton's R-r-r-roll up the R-r-r-rim to win. So I thought it was an opportune time to point you towards the coffee you should be drinking, iconic Canadian Businesses and contests aside.

Let's talk about what we'd like to do today while we drink our morning cup of coffee. I'll wait while you have that first sip. Okay, while I have that first sip. Got any plans? How about making a pledge that will 1) help reduce poverty in the world, 2) help slow the degradation of forests in the tropics, 3) reduce the use of pesticides around the world, 4) make the world a better place for birds, including neo-tropical migrants - those birds that we love to see return to us every spring, and 5) give you a much better tasting cup of coffee than that one you just took your first sip from?

Let's talk about sustainable coffee. First things first, there are others out there who do a masterful job of explaining sustainable coffee. If you don't already do so, make it a point to read my friend Julie's blog - Coffee and Conservation. Bookmark it. Add it to your Feed Burner/Reader. And if you haven't visited it before, explore it, poke around. It is filled with resources that succinctly explain the positive impact that the simple choice of choosing sustainable coffee over corporate brands. Julie is passionate about a number of things, birds, coffee and making the world a better place are chief amongst them.

In North America we drink a lot of coffee. It is the number one food import in the US and probably in Canada also. Over half of us over the age of ten drink coffee, and coffee drinkers average over three cups a day. Corporate coffee, brands such as Folgers, Nestle, Maxwell House, Tim's etc makes up the largest volume of that coffee drank. It accounts for 80 % of the coffee in the US and some 40% of the coffee bought world wide.  Coffee drinkers, by demanding something other than the junk that comes out of those cans, could make a significant difference in the health of the environment, for not a great deal more money. I know my situation is somewhat different given where I live. But my coffee, that I mostly get from Equator Coffee (free shipping), costs me roughly the same as Maxwell House or Tim's from the local store.

Does the coffee you drink make a difference? Yes it does. Does sustainable coffee taste better? Oh yeah. Don't just take my word for it, apart from comments about the House itself, I get more compliments about the coffee I serve here than anything else. Coffee, once it is roasted, spoils quickly. Even more quickly once it is ground. That is the main reason that your stomach might get upset after a cup or two of coffee. Since I began writing this this morning I've drank a whole pot of Yirgacheffe (Organic, Fairtrade) and my stomach isn't complaining at all. My tastebuds are doing little happy dances though.

Look, it is a complex subject, just the different certifications - Fairtrade, Bird Friendly, Shade Grown, Rainforest Alliance etc. can make your head spin, and have their strengths and weaknesses. This one post is not going to do the subject justice. But here is what I'd like you to do. Go visit Coffee and Conservation and learn more. But more importantly, make a pledge that after you're finished with that can of coffee that is in your cupboard you'll switch to something better. Roll up the Rim of a bag of sustainable coffee. You won't regret it, the birds and environment won't regret it (and if you're a birder and haven't yet switched for shame - this is one of the simplest things you can do to help those birds you love), and you'll have a much better cup of coffee in the morning.

Committees, coffee and clouds

Okay, I've been a bad blogger. And I can't help it. Well I can, but I've been occupied of late and tired, and so when I sit in front of a blank composing screen my mind matches it, blank. I actually almost fell off the office chair a couple of days ago when I fell asleep in front of the "Compose Post" screen.

I've got things to write about, its not a lack of material by any means. I finally got to watch Passchendaele the other day and want to write a review, but I've got so many expectations and come at it from different interests and levels and I still can't decide whether I like or dislike it.  Probably both.

Mostly I've been spending time in meetings and committees and such. Four this week. And they've been long, or some have. Kids to the dentist, a pile of work for the B&B (and that sound was a deadline swooshing by), and endless pots of coffee for meetings taking place at the House and it seems like I actually work for a living for a change.

Clouds? Well, today the sun was supposed to be above the horizon, but the weather gods, with their infinite sense of humour decided it was time for the first truly overcast day in weeks. There was a beautiful sort of lemony light at noon today though. So I suspect the sun still exists, and the human sacrifice worked yet again. Tomorrow is supposed to be clear, so perhaps there will be photos.  And a video if an idea comes to fruitation.

Edited note: The Sun was back yesterday. Proving that 1) I have no clue what date it is. 2) I apparently ignore my son who told me about the Sun last night and 3) I apparently don't look outside.

While I'm rambling all over the place. It's Bob Marley's birthday.  Do yourself a favour and go to your iPod and play some Marley.  A lot of it actually.  And if you don't have some on there, for shame.

I had another poem that I planned on sharing with you today but it will wait for the return of the Sun post. Instead, here is one from the Writer's Almanac today that made me chuckle.

Uncle Jim

by Peter Meinke

What the children remember about Uncle Jim
is that on the train to Reno to get divorced
so he could marry again
he met another woman and woke up in California.
It took him seven years to untangle that dream
but a man who could sing like Uncle Jim
was bound to get in scrapes now and then:
he expected it and we expected it.

Mother said, It's because he was the middle child,
and Father said, Yeah, where there's trouble
Jim's in the middle.

When he lost his voice he lost all of it
to the surgeon's knife and refused the voice box
they wanted to insert. In fact he refused
almost everything. Look, they said,
it's up to you. How many years
do you want to live? and Uncle Jim
held up one finger.
The middle one.

2008 Weblog Awards

Voting for the 2008 Weblog Awards has now opened and a friend of mine is in the running for Best Food Blog. Julie's amazing blog on sustainable coffee and the impacts of our coffee choices on both the environment and our palates, Coffee and Conservation, is one of the nominees. 

Please take a moment and go vote for this great blog. You can vote once every 24 hours.  And if you haven't taken the opportunity to check out Coffee and Conservation please make a point of doing so. You'll probably discover some amazing coffees and learn about some choices that will help birds such as the Cerulean Warbler.

Public Service Announcements

Megan, she of Reflections in The Snow-covered Hills, has changed her blog's address. With the change in locations comes a great new look. If you're a fan, (and really why wouldn't you be?) make sure you update your link/feed.

I know that several of my readers are Tim Horton's fans. Timmy's is by far the biggest purveyor of coffee in Canada and has skillfully positioned itself as a Canadian Icon. The inestimable Julie Craves knows far more about coffee than I ever will. In fact, now that I think of it she knows far more about most things than I ever will, such is the cross I bear. While checking out her latest post at Coffee and Conservation (and if you are a fan of coffee and care about the environment you MUST read this blog, regularly. Seriously it isn't an option.) I found a link to a year old post about Tim Horton's and the environment. Very much worth a read, although the info is a year old and things may have changed (although I suspect not).