50 beans | the clover

Last week I ventured into the Starbucks on Newbury Street in Boston with my old coffee buddies (i know...we've taken it east coast) and we happen to see a pretty little machine on display: the clover. Now, I've only seen the clover in magazines and on coffee blogs. Never have I seen this thing in the flesh until that day. Holy moly...this thing is pretty cool.

The story behind the clover is that a seattle company designed and built the machine to let the user control all aspects of the brewing, from steep time (variable to the second) to temperature. The machine uses a combination of a reverse french press and a vacuum pot to steep and extract the coffee.

This machine had an initial run of 100 units, and at $11,000 each, it's easy to see how these machines can be a rare find. The first year the clover was available, the machine was sold out and sales tripled (according to the economist). Then, a few years ago, Starbucks bought out the company and announced that it was going to be available exclusively at starbucks. Now, 5 years after it's invention, I'm staring at one of these bad boys and my eyes are glistening.

For $2.80 you can get a tall cup of brewed-to-order single origin coffee (well not really direct sourced but that's a different story). After a short grind period, the machine was ready to jump into action. The overall process occurs inside the machine, so I won't bore you with the details. Needless to say, since it's a reverse french press, the puck of grounds appears at the top of the machine after the extraction is complete, and clean up is as simple as scraping the puck off the top.

My first sip gave notice to why this machine was so special. People who go to Starbucks for brewed (drip) coffee are usually greeted with coffee that may have been sitting in the pot for over 30 min (unless it's in a store that has brisk business). This machine brews the cup to order, and the difference can be noticable. The aroma of freshly ground beans is sweeter and the taste is a far cry from the burnt sensation of regular drip. This was something special.

Well there ya have it. If you ever go into a coffee shop like Starbucks or Blue Bottle (they got theirs before the mermaid in green bought out Clover) and you see one sitting on the counter, give it a shot. You won't be dissapointed.

8:36 stats

Well it’s been a fun and interesting year…I leave you with a few stats from the 8:36 project:

2 – 8:36 albums (fb capped albums at 200)
86 – taken at home
27 – featuring televisions
63 – featuring food
29 – taken outside
22 – taken in a car
7 – taken in the bathroom
27 – taken at work
12 – featuring animals (live & stuffed)
22 – featuring coffee

I came across this poem today on the Writer's Almanac...it's nice in it's own little way...

My Own Heart
by Gerard Manley Hopkins

My own heart let me more have pity on; let
Me live to my sad self hereafter kind,
Charitable; not live this tormented mind
With this tormented mind tormenting yet.
I cast for comfort I can no more get
By groping round my comfortless, than blind
Eyes in their dark can day or thirst can find
Thirst's all-in-all in all a world of wet.

Soul, self; come, poor Jackself, I do advise
You, jaded, let be; call off thoughts awhile
Elsewhere; leave comfort root-room; let joy size
At God knows when to God knows what; whose smile
's not wrung, see you; unforeseen times rather — as skies
Betweenpie mountains — lights a lovely mile.

I am no longer Mr.

Since my credit card snapped in half yesterday, I had to get on the phone with the good people at chase and explain why I needed a new card. Apparently I have a bad habit of bending my card back and forth when I'm standing in line for something...so I suppose it was bound to happen. However, being ever the optimist, I viewed this as a chance to re-invent myself.

Ever since I got the card a few years back, I've never given much thought to the name listed on the card: Mr. Jack Zhu. I'm not sure why it's listed that way...it just was. But people have been giving me crap about it everytime I go pay for something. I suppose it made me sound like such a diva...like the guy equivalent of miss diana ross. Not quite the message I try to send when paying for a box of cheerios.

So while I was on the phone with the chase ppl I asked them to please remove the "Mr." on the new card. After 5 min of convincing, I am officially no longer Mr; I've got my identity back.

I did not have such luck the next 5 min trying to convince them to give me a card build out of carbon fiber tho...ehh...you win some and lose some I guess.

tea with jam and bread

I don’t know about you, but I grew up watching The Sound of Music. Recently, in an uncontrollable urge for nostalgia, I re-watched the movie, partly to re-live some good old childhood memories, partly because I was bored and wanted something playing in the background when I’m working from home. I went out and got the DVD which was digitally re-mastered and blah blah. The weird thing this time is…I saw a bunch of stuff this time I never saw before! Not new as in new scenes and stuff, but little stuff I never noticed before. For example, Captain Von-Trapp is super flirty, doesn’t like Uncle Max, and is pretty open with his disdain of certain guests. The children all have their own personalities and aren’t just a bunch of goodie-two-shoes. The nuns aren’t all good old ladies that sit and pray all day. And did you know the butler is a nazi?! Totally didn’t catch all that when I watched it the first time back in elementary school, but then of course, I was still going through ESL and had no clue what they were saying…

economics at 80mph

Today as I was coasting down the north side of the grapevine, I put my car into neutral and zig-zagged through cars, letting gravity take over and watching the speedometer climb. The thrill of the speed coupled with the fact that I was getting over 100mpg in neutral was enough to get me giddy. Ok not really giddy, but you get the idea. 50 miles later, I’m cruising along with a few cars sprinkled here and there on the long straight stretch of I-5, when suddenly I see the dreaded red taillights. Traffic.

Let me clarify the exact location for you so you get an idea of just how busy this place normally is. It’s 50 miles north of the grapevine. I’ve just passed Bakersfield, and the scenery is grass. Miles and miles of grass (and taillights). As we all slowed to a crawl, I had an opportunity to observe my fellow occupiers of I-5. every couple of minutes the lane next to mine would get faster and immediately, a few cars would switch over and it would then get slower than mine. Then a few cars would switch over to my lane, and that lane would speed up.

This traffic tango would go on for a few minutes, and since I had nothing better to do than watch cars go back and forth, I began to track them. The red ford fusion, the turquoise 525i, the baby blue Toyota highlander (license plate: FERDS…not sure what it meant either) and the bright bright purple scion TC (seriously bud, set fire to your car immediately and ask for insurance $$...you deserve a better color). As I tracked these four cars over the 3-4mile stretch of traffic, I noticed something weird take place. FERDS, the 525i, and the red ford fusion were switching back and forth everytime one of the lanes got faster (purple misery was too busy lamenting his color choice to bother switching lanes). Sometimes they got lucky, other times they made it in just as it was slowing. As I watched these cars, over the first half mile or so, they seemed to be making steady progress, getting to the point where I couldn’t even see 525i anymore. FERDS was still noticeable as it was an SUV and higher than some of the others. Over the next mile, their luck ran slower, and they began to lag. Everytime it seemed like they were about to get ahead the other lane would speed up. By the end of the 3 mile stretch, the three cars that exercised an active lane-change policy ended up in roughly the same spot as purple TC.

This trend on the open road is akin to the free market trending toward economic equilibrium. While a disequilibrium exists in the short run, and cars will move faster in one lane vs. another, various factors (demand for one lane or the other, available space in said lane, etc) will adjust itself over time and in the long run any disequilibrium (one lane being faster than the other) will soon disappear. This explains why the three cars that switch lanes will ultimately not be that much better off than Purple Misery.

So…moral of the story…stay in your lane. And to think...some people said I would go nuts being in a car by myself for 7hrs straight…ha!

jefferson lives

Fifty years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, on July 4th, 1826, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two great giants, lay on their deathbeds. Throughout the public careers of these two men, they have always been good friends and better rivals. As co-authors of the declaration they had labored together over the founding of the country. Although that document was written primarily by Jefferson, Adams spearheaded the debate on its adoption. Years later, Jefferson hailed Adams as "the pillar of [the Declaration's] support on the floor of Congress, its ablest advocate and defender against the multifarious assaults it encountered.” As political rivals, they lead opposing parties and debated over the specifics of daily governing. Jefferson’s road to the presidency culminated in the defeating Adam’s bid for reelection. On the Fourth of July, as Adams laid on his deathbed, he famously uttered his last words: “Thomas Jefferson survives”, not knowing that a few hours earlier, Jefferson had passed. Two lives dedicated to public service, it’s almost sort of fitting that they both passed on the 50th anniversary of their greatest work.

Happy 4th!