Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: foodie, coffee, tasting, chemex, french press, metric system, james hoffmann, WBC, espresso
I was reading James Hoffman’s coffee blog, and he really opened my eyes to the world of comparative tasting. I think I’ve had an idea of what tasting ought to be, but he does a great job of distilling the spectrum of thought on that subject down to a manageable blog post. Basically, the idea is this: if you want to get a good idea of what something tastes like, try it alongside similar food items. (For instance: taste 7 coffees from Africa, or 4 types of onions. [Don't do these taste experiments too close together. Your taste buds might go on strike or leave your mouth altogether.])
Here’s what I’d like to add to the conversation, uneducated and puny as I might be.
This is Samuel. He represents my maturity in the culinary world.
Here’s the deal: when I consciously try to taste things comparatively, my main objective is twofold. First, I try to kick out as many variables as possible. I brew my coffees at the same temperature and ratio of coffee to water (60g/1l). By the way, the metric system rules because the weight and volume measurements of water are the same. For example, a liter of water weighs 1 kilogram. Since this is the case, you can measure out your coffee to milliliter precision on a simple kitchen scale. Then, once I’ve brewed my coffees, I taste them over and over again. This brings up my second goal in tasting- I seek to compare flavors I find to other flavors I already know. This is really cool because it forces me to widen my flavor horizons all the time by tasting drinks, fruits, vegetables, or anything else I can tuck away for later use.
Next time you’re eating supper or tasting coffee, try these little information nuggets, and let me know if they work out to your advantage.
Also- check out James Hoffmann’s blog. It’ll pretty eye opening.
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No, I don’t mean those big yellow things beside the highway. I mean this: I know when I’m going to be sick before any symptoms appear. You see, one of the perks of being a diabeet is that you get these little glimpses into the circulatory system, often providing insights into other systems of my body. Once again, a case for holistic medicine, but I digress. The point of my writing this, the real reason I’ve put this little diabetic anecdote out there, is that there are often other warning signs I tend to ignore. For instance, a cutting comment to a real friend, or a jealous thought is like a symptom of a far bigger problem. I don’t want to be one of those people like Jesus talked about in Matthew 15:8, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” The symptoms of a faraway heart appear as small, seemingly unrelated things, but they are just like hyperglycemia; they prove something else is going on holistically.
And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
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Oftentimes I find my mind wandering out the door of the classroom, across the Atlantic, back through the centuries to the University at Paris in the 16th century. There, I am free to learn not by writing in correct format or producing a unified thesis statement but by hearing great ideas taught and read by great men. After four years or so in their company, I take up a quill and a roll of parchment and I write down a synthesis of all they have told me. I cite them without footnotes, and I draw from as many sources as I can recall. Then, my teachers read that parchment and hand it back to me. Now I have my bachelor’s degree. What a dream…
…Now that I’ve wiped the drool from my chin and returned to myself, I have to go write twelve pages of political commentary in correct Turabian format; I have never wanted to graduate so badly, nor have I felt such a strong aversion to doing that which is necessary to deserve said graduation.
Enough whining. Please forgive my self-indulgence. I promise I’ll post something about flavors or God or something more interesting soon.
-dmo
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First of all, let it be said that ministry to middle & high school students is no small or insignificant task. If the statistics are to be trusted, then we have to face the fact that those who don’t give their lives to Jesus by the end of high school probably never will. Yet I find myself more excited than worried when I look at student ministry at the Summit. There are opportunities for worship, discipleship, and active service nearly every week—and I’m convinced no Christian will be happy until he or she pursues these aspects of their faith. You see, the truth is that these students are not the “Church of tomorrow.” We should not treat them as though they are being prepared for a fruitful adulthood. They are the Church today. Students who have repented of their sins, put their faith in Christ, and have been baptized are an integral part of the Church’s fulfilling her mission, which I take from Romans 1:5, which says, “…we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations.” The purpose of the Church, then, is to obey our calling from God (apostleship) by ushering the nations into faith in Christ. The Gospel is simple. Teenagers need to hear it, be transformed by it, and then live in obedience to it.
All that being said, I believe that the purpose of student ministry, especially at the Summit, ought to be a means to the end of the purpose of the Church, and more specifically, of the Summit’s mission to love God, each other, and our world. How do we do that? How can I be a part of seeing that dream made reality, since it is obviously God’s will for His people? Not that these are authoritative, but I can think of a few ways that have either helped me in my relationship with God in the past, or I wish had been employed when I was a student:
- Build real relationships with students. I’ve heard some great sermons, but what I really remember are the conversations I had with Christians I respected during the car ride to church or in the parking lot after church. This is where dialogue happens, where I have a chance to find out if this person is a Christian at all: testimonies are powerful things. For those who are, discipleship happens here. The concept of discipleship centers around actually spending time with people, encouraging them as well as being encouraged by them to do the things I mentioned before—to be the Church today by loving God, each other, and the world.
- Train students to lead, serve, and share their faith. Then give them the chance to do those things. If a student is a believer, he is part of the Church. This also means he or she has been supernaturally gifted by the Holy Spirit to build up the body. Do our students know that? Are they confident enough to take on responsibilities to serve the Summit as their local church? Would we trust our students to do the things listed as spiritual gifts in the Scriptures? Once again, I’m convinced that Christians who can do high school math surely can serve, teach, pray, and share the Gospel as the Spirit has gifted them, but not without the support, encouragement, and help of those who have been chosen to shepherd them.
I realize this is far from a comprehensive list of “things to do to make disciples of the Triangle’s teenager’s,” I do think it’s a good start. The way we get ‘em is the way we’ve gotta keep ‘em. By that I mean that simple is good. I won’t promise to shave my head if they bring X number of people to Elevate. I will, however, love and encourage these students not to settle for being average, immature church-attendees when God actually wants them to be much, much more. His reputation is made great by students who join in the mission of the Church—to see the nations (assembled in part at their schools!) obey Christ by faith.
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Last night I made a Chemex of some lovely Brazil Moreninha. It was earthier than I had expected, not like the Brazil Ipanema (and even Fazenda) I’m used to, with all of its honey and peanut butter characteristics. On the other hand, its body was really, really full (especially for a Chemex!) and it had a nice balance. For once, it was great to have a cup of coffee that just tasted like coffee. Cheers to Crema Coffee Roasters for this offering.
