CURRENT MISSION

conscientiously caffeinating the collective coffee community

ABOUT ME

I am 28, i run a coffee company, and i am fortunate enough to get to travel for work, sometimes out of the country. I always try to extend those work trips into a vacation, and it usually works out that way.

I scuba dive, snowboard, hike and camp in my home of Juneau Alaska. i have great friends, and we eat and drink and get merry. i love to play guitar and sing, and try to play as much as I can, although the everyday things get in the way of the everyday play.

PHILOSOPHY

pura vida

harm nothing

give more than you receive

take nothing that has not been freely given

None of this is real, it's all in your mind

all your problems are only problems because you perceive them to be a problem. Change your thoughts and change your life.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

i have surfed, and told people about this great site, and i am hoping to host people through the winter.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

august 2008 - first couch surfing! Stayed in Ketchikan, great time there.

Interests

music, reading, the ocean and everything in it, scuba diving, underwater photography and videography, adventures, relaxing, playing music, chilling out, snow, snowboarding, hiking, fishing, crabing, turning over rocks on the beach on negative tides. baking, cooking, eating and drinking.
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tbc...

• singing
• photography
• cooking
• beer
• coffee
• baking
• running
• drinking
• reading
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• fishing
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• skiing
• snowboarding
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

there is a lot that can go here. maybe i'll list what i don't like, and go from there...

i like music, in most all forms. not a fan of gangster rap, redneck country, or screaming nu metal. hair rock is out, as is any band that you cannot understand the lyrics in most their songs. That said i nod my head to Jay-Z, sing along to creedence, and love the song My Own Summer by the Deftones. but i also love classical acoustic guitar, brazilian samba, tuvan throat singing, and anything with a beat. if someone is really putting their soul into it, i will probably dig it. if its spinning and scratching on tables, im down, and if its so smoky you cant even tell its jazz, bring me a double bourbon, and i'll listen to your story.

movies
i tend not to go to the theatre, and probably watch less than 30 movies a year. but i have enjoyed the recent comic thrillers, having grown up on a steady diet of comic books.

what really turns me on though is stuff like, planet earth, that killer bbc series, or anything underwater. i probably should have gone to school to be a scientist, but maybe i still will.

books
sci-fi, fiction, fantasy guy for the most part, but i read quite a bit. i like to think i have read a lot of books, and most all have been great. currently reading player piano by kurt vonnegut, all the books of his i read i have enjoyed.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

one of the more epic things i think i would put here would be a snowboarding trip 11 friends and i had two winters ago here in Juneau Alaska. We did a backcountry helicopter trip in april on a bluebird day. epic views back into the icefields, of our local sight the Mendenhall Glacier, bears, mountain goats, beer. super fantastic.

Teach, Learn, Share

coffee should be purchased weekly, from a local roaster. keep the beans in an airtight container, most times you are best to keep the coffee in the bag it was purchased in, as long as you are able to close it up again, and tighten or roll the bag closed a ways. keep it in the cupboard so it stays cool, and grind it a couple of minutes before you use it. a burr grinder is far superior to a blade grinder, but considerably more expensive. for espresso, a burr grinder is essential for the consistency required, and a blade grinder will have a hard time achieving that required consistency.

A french press is the best way to brew a cup of coffee at home:
grind your coffee coarse, and use 1 tea spoon, more or less to your taste, per cup of coffee you want to brew, and put it directly onto the bottom of your clean french press.

Pour water that has almost boiled (202 - 206) directly into your french press fast enough to mix all the water and the coffee grounds.

start a two minute timer.

After the coffee rises to the top of the press, stir it with a spoon to re-submerge the coffee.

stir again when there are 30 seconds left on the timer.

when the 2 minutes is up, press the plunger down through the coffee slowly.

do not move the plunger up and down, that will allow more sediment into your coffee. Instead press it down slowly, over a 10 or 15 second period and immediately pour the coffee into a thermal carafe of some sort, or serve it immediately.

leaving the coffee in contact with the coffee grounds will cause the coffee to become bitter and over extracted, as well as raising the acidity of the coffee.

Countries I’ve Visited

Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Singapore, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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