Coffee Product Review: Fellow's Electric Atmos Vacuum Cannister

 

Coffee beans are spoiled by oxygen, light, heat, and moisture, so storing them in an opaque vacuum canister is a great idea ... in theory. I've tried several different vacuum storage canisters for coffee over the years, and they all suck (pun intended).

They mostly don't hold a vacuum, and it's just all too common to start your coffee routine by finding that the vacuum canister has equalized overnight, exposing your beans to at least oxygen and humidity.  Some of that can be explained by fresh beans giving off CO2, so the vessel may be filling carbon dioxide (harmless) and not oxygen, but the vast majority of outgassing is done 3 days post-roasting ... and I regularly find broken seals weeks after roasting. Sometimes bits of bean build up on the gaskets, breaking the seal, but even regular cleaning didn't solve it.

So for years, I've used the Airscape canister, which was one of the best solutions inexpensive solutions out there, and it works by using a valved collapsing lid (it's the equivalent of squeezing all the air out of a plastic bag), which reduces the volume of air that comes into contact with the beans. I kept a week's worth of beans in the Airscape and stored the rest of my coffee in canning jars that I vacuum-sealed with a jar sealer.   Canning lids and rings tended to hold a vacuum reasonably (but not perfectly) reliably.

Fortunately, Fellow recently released a coffee storage solution that doesn't suck, their electric Atmos canister (it's battery-operated and only needs charging every couple of months). It's super easy to use. You push a button, and it vacuums itself closed. Push it again, and the vacuum releases so you can get the lid off.  And best of all, it monitors the pressure in the canister and automatically adjusts should the pressure change inside.  

I've been using mine for several months, and I'm delighted with it. It keeps my current bag of coffee fresher than the Airscape, but it's not cheap ($75-$85 depending on size) but it does a really good job. Whenever I put a fresh bag of coffee inside, I brush down the rubber gaskets, and along the inside/top of the canister to prevent bean bits from interfering with the seals.  The top section contains electronic equipment so it's strictly wipe-down only. No running water, and definitely no dishwasher.  But I'm finding that it doesn't need much cleaning anyway.

The bigger size is good if you tend to buy your coffee in 1-pound bags (454g), and the smaller will hold 12-ounce bags (340g).

Paradigm Shifts and the Romance Novel

It’s a little bit hard to write about this openly because for so much of my life, I was embarrassed (even a little ashamed) that I enjoyed reading romances more than any other genre. If you asked me why I liked them, or even why they were worthwhile, the best I could come up with was that I learned a lot of history (which is true - and the historical romances are still my favorite flavor). In other words, I bought into the idea that they were trashy.

Note: Click on the image to enlarge it, then step through the whole meme within the image viewer.

I know some folks think romance novels are just thinly-veiled soft-core porn, and as someone who has been reading romance novels since I was 14, I can tell you unequivocally that they are wrong.  Yes, they usually do contain (sometimes explicit) sex.  And while there IS a sub-genre called steamy romance which comes - ahem, pun intended - close to that description, the erotic scenes are not the point of the genre.  Except for the clean romance subgenre, which specifically excludes sex, those scenes exist only as a support for the story itself, usually to demonstrate that the heroine's partner is an unselfish and passionate lover who cares about the heroine's needs, both in the sack and out of it.  But, even if you remove the sex scenes, the overarching romantic story is still there.

Anyway, a couple of years ago, my daughter sent me the meme I've included here, and it was wonderfully paradigm-shifting. I felt validated, and letting go of my embarrassment was more than a little freeing. I stopped being ashamed of the woman-centered escapism that I enjoyed so much, and last fall, I got to visit a small indie romance bookstore called Tropes and Trifles in Minneapolis, and it was wonderfully COOL. There are only about 20 such bookstores across the country (up from 2 just four years ago). Even though I don’t read paper books very much anymore, I’m grateful that the store exists.  I bought a book, a T-shirt, and a tote bag, and got a recommendation for a book about a suffragette in the late 1800s.

I don't read exclusively romance - I read a lot of science fiction, WW2 historical novels and nonfiction, and really a smattering from nearly all genres (whatever catches my fancy, really), and I have an ongoing project to read as many Great American Novel (GAN) candidates as I can.

Dudley Do-Right Escorts an Old Train

Prompt - Murder on the Train (500 words): Imagine you are on a train or at a train station when a murder takes place. Expand upon this scenario by writing a story of 500 words or fewer. Use the title of your story to maximum effect. Can it infer backstory, help characterization, or lead us directly to the action?

***

 

   Constable Dudley Dougal stood next to an 1880s-era train car, nodding to each passenger as they climbed aboard. Jesus… an RCMP officer named Dudley.  He’d taken the ribbing at the academy and tried to laugh off the photoshopped images of him sitting a horse backward. He couldn’t believe his first ceremonial duty was to escort an old train across Alberta. The railfans petitioned the RCMP for a Mountie to lend authenticity, and Dudley had been selected as his dad had worked the railroads for 43 years, and he’d chosen to wear the red serge to make the train nutters happy, even if it wasn’t authentic.  Bored, Dudley glanced around. Ahead of the passenger car was the dining car, then a coal car. The black-painted engine was enormous.

    He knew there were train experts aboard, but the engineer seemed less . . . experienced than usual. He had a surprisingly long full beard and kept tugging it and singing a train whistle “Woo-woo!” in time with the pulls.  Dudley sighed.  We’re going to be a good four hours late to Jasper. At least the fireman seemed knowledgeable.

    “Mom!  It’s Dudley Do-Right!”   

    Dudley closed his eyes for a moment, then smiled at the mother and son.  

    “Constable Dougal?” The mom asked, brandishing her phone questioningly.  He nodded and posed for a selfie with them. He heard the the engineer and the fireman arguing, and revised his estimate.  Five hours.  He texted his wife Nell that he’d return home tomorrow. 

    After the last passenger boarded, he went to the engine and climbed up, interrupting the bickering fireman and engineer. The firebox door stood open, and glowing red light spilled out; the fireman had spent hours gradually bringing the temperature up. Unfortunately, the engineer had little self-restraint, fiddling with valves at random.   

    The fireman flinched, snapping, “Stop fucking around!  I promised you could drive, but only if you did what I told you!” He glanced sideways at Dudley before muttering, “…and I called in favors for this.” 

    Six hours. “Ready?” Dudley asked.  He ignored the sullen engineer, and waited until the fireman nodded before returning to the passenger car.  He took his seat and gestured to the conductor who enthusiastically sing-songed, “Aaalll aboooard!”  The train began to move, and everyone cheered, almost drowning the shouting up front.   

    Mercifully, the arguing eventually died off, and Dudley was able to relax into the clacking rhythm of the train. Pork chop scent wafted back from the dining car, making him hungry, so he started in on his packed lunch.  The passengers detected the smell, too, and the selfie boy made his way to the dining car, only to come back shaking his head.  “They just have boxed lunches. Choice of cheese or chicken salad.”

    Almost on cue, the stench of burning hair hit, and everyone recoiled. Dudley dropped his lunch, shot to his feet, and sprinted toward to the front, radioing for backup.  

    It wasn’t such a boring assignment after all, but he was never going to live this down.

--March 8, 2020

***

Knitting Techniques - Cables

Cables are magic.  They are super cool, look incredibly complex, and make the knitter look quite talented.  But I'll let you in on a little secret: cables are easy and are barely more than beginner-level in difficulty.  

Cable crosses change the order of the stitches on the needle, crossing them in front of or behind the ones next to them.  And by combining cables, you can make incredibly complex textures and designs.

There are two main kinds of cables: 

• Right (or back) crosses - the cable leans or travels to the right
• Left (or front) crosses - the cable leans or travels to the left.

Right Cross (back) instructions: Slip the called-for number of stitches purlwise onto a cable needle. Dangle the cable needle with those stitches to the BACK or behind your fabric.  Work the appropriate number of stitches from the left needle, then pick up the cable needle, and work the stitches from the cable needle. In effect, these stitches crossed behind the ones you already worked.

Left Cross (front) instructions: Slip the called-for number of stitches purlwise onto a cable needle. Dangle the cable needle with those stitches in FRONT of your fabric.  Work the appropriate number of stitches from the left needle, then pick up the cable needle, and work the stitches from the cable needle. In effect, these stitches crossed in front of the ones you already worked. 

Here's a pretty good video that demonstrates how to create cables:

The terminology varies from pattern to pattern, but some use the front/back notation with abbreviations like C4B or C4F (ex., C4B = Cable 4 stitches in total, two onto the cable needle which you hold to the back of the work, plus the next two stitches from the left needle) and some use the left/right (ex., LC 3/3 = left cross three stitches by putting 3 stitches onto a cable needle, holding them to the front, working the next three stitches from the left needle, then working the three stitches from the cable needle).   

I myself prefer the front/back notation because it tells you what to DO, whereas the right/left tells you how it looks when you are done, and I have to translate where to hold the cable needle in my head. But the charting software that I use to create my charts uses the left/right notation, so when I'm designing, that's what I use as well.

There's a nifty pneumonic that helps, though:  "I left through the front door, but I'll be right back!"  Left crosses dangle the needle to the front, and right crosses dangle the needle to the back.

Links to other cable tutorials and informational articles.

• TECHKnitter - an excellent, in-depth explanation
• Purl Soho
• Cabling without a needle (I only do this if I'm working 2, 3 or 4 stitch cables, crossing only 1 or two stitches - more than that, and I'm not confident I won't lose a stitch or two).

Note: When cabling without a needle, I do my right crosses a little differently. I don't like pinching the loose stitches on the back of the needle, both because I can't see what I'm doing and I prefer to pinch with my thumb, and at some point I realized you could accomplish the same result by reversing the left/right needles:

1. Slip all stitches to be cabled to the right needle.
2. Insert the tip of the LEFT needle into the first (far) stitches slipped onto the right needle behind the work.
3. Pinch the left/near stitches against the left needle with your left thumb. 
4. Withdraw the RIGHT needle from all stitches to be cabled. 
5. Immediately insert the right needle into the loose stitches
6. Slip those stitches back to the left needle.
7. Knit across.

1944-2024: Eighty Years of Grandpa's Armband

 For as long as I can remember, my grandfather's framed Maquis armband hung on the wall of his study in Tulsa. It was so important to him that when he immigrated to the USA in 1947, he made room for it in his suitcase. My grandparents immigrated with three months' worth of salary, two young daughters, and two suitcases, so space was tight.  At some point after they built the house on South Gary, he hung it on the wall of his study, where it stayed for the next 45 years.

Note: Click on the images to enlarge.

Arthur Lubinski's Maquis/FFI armband.

In 1988, when I was 19, I recorded his WW2 stories, and he told me a little about the armband:

• It was intended to be an Allied military uniform, but the Gestapo considered the FFI civilians (not soldiers) and therefore terrorists, and summarily executed anyone wearing it.
• On the back of his armband, which you couldn't see because it was in a frame, he'd written his code name: Biscuit. (I found out later that he'd also written his unit - 2nd battalion, 4th company - and it also has some sort of official seal stamped on it.)

Reverse side.
Unit info is on the left, the seal is in the center diamond,
and his nom de guerre is on the right

That year for Christmas, Mom and I decided to have it re-framed with a second layer of glass on the back so you could see his code name.  So she snuck it out of his study and brought it to Fayette (Grandpa and Grandma were going to be visiting for the holidays).  Miraculously, my grandfather didn't notice its absence (by that point, he was using a back bedroom more frequently than his study).   But we didn't have time to have it reframed before Christmas, so Mom wrapped it up as is.

On Christmas morning, we handed him the gift, and he was completely confused when he opened it and found his armband.   We explained our plan and his face LIT UP, and he flipped it over, only to be a little disappointed when the back was still blocked.

Mom handled getting the work done after the holidays - the frame shop simply cut a window in the cardboard backing, just big enough to reveal the back of the armband, and inserted a sheet of very thin plexiglass between the armband and the cardboard, then put the frame back together. A rather simple and elegant solution.

Then, after my grandparents died in the late 1990s, I asked to have the armband.   As soon as I got it, I found a museum archival business that sometimes did work for the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and took it to them for reframing, this time with the intent to preserve it long-term.

Back of the frame.
Beautiful work - They even double-matted the window.

So, two panes of UV-blocking glass, and acid-free, archival-quality materials. It cost me more than $300 over 25 years ago, so it was really quite expensive, particularly given how small it is: the outer dimensions of the frame are (in inches) 21 x 8.75 (approx. 53 cm x 22 cm).   

Alas, I don't have a photo of the armband on the wall of Grandpa's study.  The room was dim, so despite the original frame not having UV-filtering glass, it was well-protected from sunlight.  I've also always placed it on walls that got no direct sunlight, and it's in beautiful shape - barely faded at all: 

Maquis armband (brassard du maquis) lower left.

Just above the armband, you can also see a mosaic I created, inspired by the armband. Except for the round plate at the top, all of the artwork surrounding the armband was created by my husband, daughter or me.

Closeup of the Cross of Lorraine (croix de Lorraine),
the symbol of the French Resistance.
Note how the ink has remained remarkably dark and crisp.

Closeup of buckle.

Closeup of his unit
(2nd Battalion, 4th Company of the Drôme FFI)

Closeup of the official seal stamped on the back. It's faded,
but I suspect the ink pad was running out.

Grandpa wrote his code name on the back: "Biscuit"
("Cookie" in American English).
I'm not sure of the significance of the numbers underneath - perhaps a date?

First impressions: Aeropress Premium Review

Aeropress Premium - Glass and Metal

 I love coffee, and one method of brewing that I fell in love with years ago was the Aeropress, which is an oddball brewer that is basically a giant syringe, but the plunger pushes concentrated coffee through a filter instead of a needle.

It's an incredibly flexible way to brew, and there are thousands of recipes out there. I've created my very best cups of coffee using the Aeropress.

The only problem? It's made of plastic, and I don't like brewing in plastic, because plastic absorbs off-flavors, and I don't believe that even BPA-free plastic isn't leaching something into my coffee.  I do use plastic for food storage, but I try to limit its use to things that are room temperature and below, as chemical leaching happens far more at hot temperatures than cold.

But that means that I decided not to use the Aeropress as an every-day brewer, and limited its use to traveling (it's lightweight and nearly unbreakable), and for a few days each month to mix it up with other methods of brewing.  I've wanted a glass or metal version ever since.

Alan Adler, the inventor (incidentally, he also invented the Aerobie frisbee), resisted the call for a glass or metal version for nearly two decades because he thought it was a terrible idea.  And, to be fair to Mr. Adler, there really are significant downsides. Glass and metal get hot, and are heat sinks, expensive, breakable and heavy.   The AP was also beloved because not only did it make excellent coffee, it was also cheap. They were originally sold for $20 back in 2005. Even today, the basic versions retail for $30-$40. 

But, eventually, Mr. Adler got old and sold the company, and the investment firm that bought the business started releasing new versions left and right (Adler was notoriously cautious about implementing new ideas), but most didn't interest me. But a year and a half ago, they teased coffee lovers with a glimpse of a glass and metal version, which DID, and a few weeks ago (finally!) they released the Aeropress Premium, made of double-walled borosilicate glass, steel, aluminum, and silicon (the plunger disk/seal).  It came with a premium price tag, too, one that rather shocked the world of specialty coffee: $150. Even I think it should have been priced in the $80-$100 range.  I had a coupon, so I got mine for $120, but still.    

I decided to skip the new stand/caddy they were offering to go with the Premium, because it too was shockingly expensive; $100 for the caddy. No thanks. I just hoped my existing stand might work.

The packaging was well-designed to protect the glass

Besides the price tag, am I happy with it? Yes and no, but mostly yes. I can get delicious cups of coffee with the thing, just as good as with the plastic one. But the damn thing feels a bit like a showpiece (it is undeniably attractive) rather than a convenient, practical, everyday piece of equipment for one reason: IT IS NOT DISHWASHER SAFE. What the hell were they thinking?  

The plunger and (I think) also the collar at the bottom of the brew chamber are made out of coated aluminum, and aluminum does ugly things in the dishwasher. Even the brew cap filter holder is made of coated stainless steel, and the coating isn't dishwasher safe.    And in the end, if the coatings aren't safe in the dishwasher, are they safe for coffee brewing?  Hopefully.

So, it is not exactly what I was looking for. I would have preferred they not use aluminum or coat the stainless (which don't need coatings anyway), and make the collar that holds the brew chamber and the plunger out of heavy-duty plastic or hollow stainless steel. I'd have been fine with plastic parts as long as they don't touch the coffee.  We called for a metal/glass version not because we wanted something fancy but because we wanted something that couldn't leach unwanted chemicals into our coffee.

Now, handwashing aside - I'm happy with the fact that they used double-walled borosilicate glass.  The outer diameter is the same as before, so existing accessories might still work.  But the double-walls are MUCH thicker than in the Original, which means they had to make the Premium significantly taller in order to keep the capacity the same (both hold about 320 ml if you are curious). That also means the plunger and stirrer had to be longer as well. So my existing Aeropress caddy only sort of works with the Premium. 

Here it is first with the Original AP, then with the new Premium:

Existing after-market stand holding plastic AP Original.

Premium AP in the existing stand.
Note how the brew chamber extends down over the funnel

Note the changes in shape between the tools.

The stand accommodated the plastic funnel that came with the AP Original, though the AP Premium ditched the funnel entirely. I actually use the funnel and will keep using it.

The new scoop doesn't fit in the scoop spot, but DOES fit in the existing stirrer slot, though I pretty much never use the scoop much anyway (I brew by weight).  The new stirrer is too fat to fit in the stirrer slot, but it can be suspended inside the plunger instead.  The only true problem is the way the funnel is enclosed inside the bottom of the brew chamber. I don't just use the funnel for the AP, but also when I'm brewing with the Stagg dripper - the funnel works way better than the one Fellow included with the dripper.  So the inconvenient access to the funnel (you have to use two hands, one to lift the brew chamber out of the way, and one to grab the funnel) is annoying.

AP Original funnel in use with Fellow's Stagg dripper.

Then it occurred to me that the stand is held together with screws and that we could "just" replace the legs with taller ones.  I talked to my husband who disassembled it, and after spending $11 at Menards, he replaced the legs with 12" (30 cm) threaded steel rods, a few nuts, and 4 plastic feet, and voilà:

$11 worth of materials and
my old stand now fits nicely.

As for how it works ... well, about the same as the original. You have to be a little gentler with the glass, and pre-heating the brewer is a must to avoid dropping the temperature of the water too much.  The new stainless filter cap isn't valved, so I may have to go back to inverted brewing, which is a little annoying (I hope they add a metal valved filter cap later).

Inverted brewing (left), and normal (right)

When using the brewer as intended, you set it on a mug or carafe, and because the filter cap has holes in it, coffee drains slowly out while brewing except when the plunger is in place, and then the liquid stays in the brewer for the same reason it does when you cover the end of a straw: capillary action, surface tension, and air pressure (and yes, I just looked that up).  When you push on the plunger, pressure builds in the chamber as you force the coffee through the grounds and the filter, and into the mug.

Because baristas wanted the coffee to stay in the brew chamber during brewing, they invented the inverted method, brewing upside-down; then when you are ready to plunge, you put the filter/filter cap on, flip it, and plunge. It takes some practice, but it can be done without making a mess.  But it's still a hassle, and I loved my valved filter holder that held the coffee inside even when brewing right-side up.  But it, like the rest of the AP, was plastic, so now that I have a glass brewer, I probably won't use it anymore.

The diameter of the flanged end of the plunger is very slightly wider (maybe 2 or 3 mm?) than on the Original and between that and the added weight, the Premium is actually a little more stable in the inverted position which is a Very Good Thing.  

Between the added height in both the brew chamber and the plunger, it's nearly 4" (10cm) taller when inverted, which puts it roughly even with my breast-bone (I'm on the short side, at about 5'3"/1.6m), which is decidedly less convenient (I prefer to pour 200F/93C liquids into vessels that are a little lower than that). But, it is not the end of the world by any means, and it is probably a non-issue for folks who are taller than I am.  

Most people who have an AP have knocked over an inverted brewer at least once, and I'd hate to do that with this expensive (and breakable!) version, and right now I'm thinking I'm just not going to use inverted brewing anymore, and I'll modify my inverted recipes to work right-side up.

Inverted brewing height:
Original (L) and Premium (R) 

How does it brew?  Fine.  My first brewing was delicious, and there isn't that much difference in quality between what comes from the Premium vs. from the Original, but I didn't really expect it to, as the brewer is essentially the same. Because plastic can absorb odors and flavors, the Premium should remain more neutral-smelling over time. And if you are careful to preheat the brewer, the glass being a heat sink should become a non-issue, with the temperature remaining steady during brewing. I preheat all of my brewers anyway, so it doesn't even represent a change in my brewing habits.

I never upgraded to the AP Clear that the company released a year or so ago, so this was the first time I could actually see the coffee brewing in the brew chamber, and that was really neat.  

The filter cap is easier to screw onto the brewer than with the plastic version, and that is quite nice.

All in all, it is a pleasure to use and felt nice in my hands. It's not perfect due to the ergonomics and lack of a metal flow control filter cap, but really, really nice.  And yes, I think it'll be worth the handwashing hassle, though I hope the company releases a dishwasher-safe version at some point.

I do plan to continue using my Aeropress Original while traveling through. 

An act of petty cruelty

 I witnessed an act of petty cruelty today that has left me rather shaken. 

I was at Jay Cooke State Park, walking down to the swinging bridge to get my weekly photo, when I saw two teenage girls watching the tiniest snake I’ve ever seen sunning itself on the sidewalk. From where I was, about 10-15 feet away, it looked like an earthworm.  Suddenly, a woman returning from the bridge walked right up to the girls, looked down, and deliberately stomped on the baby snake. I looked right into her face and noticed three things: she had dark hair, she was wearing a black sundress, and she was grinning as she walked away.

"Oh, I think she might’ve just killed it!" one of the teenagers exclaimed in dismay. 

"Is it a snake?" I asked when I reached them a couple of seconds later.  The proportions were all wrong for an earthworm. Far too slender and quick-moving to be a worm.  

"Yes," the girl answered as she walked slowly away.  

The snake, which was no more than 4" long and maybe 1/4" wide, didn't appear badly damaged. I didn't see any blood, but it flipped momentarily onto its back, exposing its red belly, which is not the behavior of a healthy snake.   I spent a few moments moving the snake off the sidewalk - it was so tiny I couldn't get ahold of it on the cement, so I scooted it off the sidewalk and into the grass where I was finally able to pick it up and place it in the shade, where it could either recover or die unmolested.  

That woman's actions harmed and probably painfully killed a tiny harmless snake (her behavior may well have been illegal, too - killing wildlife in a state park?), but horrified three other people who aren't going to forget her vicious act.  

I will be honest: I wanted to assault that woman. And call her obscene names.  But I did neither because I was just frozen.