Today’s main coffee event is the anxiously awaited Grand Opening of Café Myriade (1432 Mackay, Montreal, right by Concordia University’s Sir George William campus). I just did my first of certainly a good many coffee-savouring sessions, there.
As a disclaimer of sorts, I think of Anthony Benda as one of the main actors in Montreal’s coffee renaissance. Anthony’s the co-owner of Café Myriade. He also happens to be an espresso blogger. Chris Capell, Myriade’s manager and “espresso producer,” has become a good friend of mine, thanks in part to the Eastern Regional competition of the Canadian Barista Championship, back in June. Despite being friendly with some of the core members in the Myriade team, I still think I can judge Myriade drinks fairly and justly. I do want the café to succeed and there’s a slight bias involved, but I think my perspective on that café and its drinks is relatively unbiased.
So, a few notes on this first session at Myriade.
On Anthony’s recommendation, I started with the allongé.
The allongé was a thing of beauty. Myriade managed to craft a drink in continuity with the ristretto-to-double-espresso flavour axis. (Twitter)
What I mean is that this allongé (or “lungo“) was nothing like a watered down espresso. It wasn’t typical of Montréal’s allongés either. But that’s really not an issue. Those who would order an allongé at Brûlerie Saint-Denis, Aux Deux Marie, or even Café Dépôt (where I’ve been surprised to have flavourful allongés in the past) will enjoy Myriade’s allongé. At least, if they keep an open mind.
To my taste, Myriade’s allongé is pretty much what you would get if you “extrapolated” (in the mathematical sense) the curve from ristretto to a regular espresso (single or double). The difference in flavours and aromas between ristretto and regular espresso is not strictly linear. Some flavours are muted as some others become stronger. It also depends on a number of factors from the blend and the grind to the way it was pulled. The same could be said about this allongé from Myriade, compared to a regular espresso.
I then tried the sipping chocolate.
Myriade’s sipping chocolate is delicious as a dessert drink. Must work really well with pastry. (Tweet)
To be honest, it was on the sweet side, for me. Maybe my tastebuds weren’t ready for this but I’m used to bitter chocolate and this one was decidedly on the sweet side. In fact, I wouldn’t have called it bittersweet because the bitterness was really muted. My mention of this seemed to be surprising to Myriade’s other co-owner, Scott Rao. But I maintain that this was a sweet chocolate.
My favourite sipping chocolate in Montreal so far (and possibly my favourite chocolate drink ever) was from Juliette & Chocolat (1615 Saint-Denis). The last time I went to J&C was probably two years ago so they may have changed in the meantime. There are two types of chocolate drinks at J&C. IIRC, the “à l’ancienne” one is unsweetened and milkless. I distinctly remember having some very tasty sipping chocolate there and the taste I remember isn’t sweet, by any stretch of the imagination. Of course, I might be wrong. But I’m usually pretty accurate about these things. Myriade’s sipping chocolate wasn’t as sweet as mainstream hot chocolate, but it was definitely much sweeter than what I’ve had at Juliette & Chocolat.
I enjoyed Myriade’s sipping chocolate about as much as the one I’ve raved about, from Chocolats Privilège (7070 Henri-Julien). In Myriade’s case, it’s less about cost than about the diversity of experiences we can have at the same place.
Speaking of which, here’s my first tweet from Myriade, today:
Enjoying Myriade’s impressive array of high quality drinks: 1432 Mackay. (Tweet)
When I first heard about Anthony’s plans for a café, I was mostly thinking about espresso. Anthony Benda is a true espresso artist, and the fact that he was a finalist in the Canadian Barista Championship (for which I’ve been a judge) is a testament to Anthony’s passion for espresso.
But Myriade isn’t exclusively about espresso. In fact, it’s probably the place in town which has the widest variety of coffee options. IIRC, they do all the espresso drinks, from single shot to allongé, caffè latte to cappuccino. But they also do pour-over drip, French press, siphon, and Eva Solo Café Solo.
Speaking of the Eva Solo, it’s the one drink with which I’ve spent the longest time, today. It was the first time I had coffee brewed through this method. It’s similar to French press but still different. I’d have a hard time describing all the differences (having to do with the “bloom” as well as with the body and the size of solids floating in the cup) but I did enjoy this coffee very much.
My tweets about this cup. The coffee was made with single origin Cup of Excellence beans: Lot #24 from Miralvalle farm.
Miralvalle as Eva. Berries to lemon, bright and sweet, some cocoa, bit of raw almond, faint roasted hazelnut. (Tweet)
As it cools, this Eva Solo of Salvadorian Cup of Excellence Miralvalle tastes more like candied lemon zest. With some cocoa butter. (Tweet)
These descriptions are my own impressions, at this moment in time. I fully realize that they may not match other people’s experiences. I wasn’t carefully cupping this coffee nor was I trying to calibrate my descriptors with what would be expected. I was pulling a Gary V: I was simply saying what I got from the drink in front of me, with as few preset expectations as possible. It’s all part of my attitude toward hedonistic tasting (e.g. in my tasting notes about Cuvée Coffee Roasters’ Sumatra beans as Brikka).
Which wraps it up for my tweets about Myriade. Through Twitter’s search, I notice that James Golick also went to Myriade today. I don’t know Golick but I notice that he has also blogged his Myriade experience, along with Daniel Haran. Haven’t read their posts (actually, a single post forked on two blogs) but glancing at the text, it sounds like the three of us have a fair bit in common.
I should also say that Myriade has an impressive selection of high-quality teas and that I really enjoyed their Sencha when I’ve had the opportunity to try it (in a private tasting) a few days ago. I kept thinking about those very tasty baby clams that my then-wife had brought back from New Brunswick, a few years ago. The tea was still subtle and I’m assuming other people would not pick up this flavour nearly as strongly as I did (if at all). But I enjoyed those clams so much (and for such a long time) that my experience of that tea was enhanced through my prior sensory experiences.
Keeping with my RERO resolution, this is probably as long as I should make this post.
5 Comments | tags: 1432 Mackay, allongé, Anthony Benda, Aux deux Marie, Brûlerie Saint-Denis, Brikka, Café Dépôt, Café Myriade, Café Solo, Canadian Barista Championship, Chocolats Privilège, Chris Capell, Concordia campus, Concordia University, Daniel Haran, espresso allongé, Espresso appreciation, espresso bloggers, ethical hedonism, Eva Solo, French press, Gary Vaynerchuk, hedonism, James Golick, Juliette et Chocolat, lungo, Mackay, Miralvalle, Montreal coffee scene, Montreal Espresso Scene, Myriade, New Brunswick baby clams, pour-over, pour-over drip coffee, press pot, ristretto, Scott Rao, siphon coffee, sipping chocolate, tea | posted in bloggers, Brikka, café, cafés, Coffee, coffee scenes, comment-fishing, culinary, Cup of Excellence, espresso, experience, Food, hedonism, linkfest, Montreal, pleasure, reviews, shameless plug, taste, tasting
Been attending sessions by Meri Aaron Walker about online methods to get paid for our expertise. Meri coaches teachers about those issues.
MAWSTOOLBOX.COM
There’s also a LearnHub “course”: Jumpstart Your Online Teaching Career.
Some notes, on my own thinking about monetization of expertise. Still draft-like, but RERO is my battle cry.
Some obstacles to my selling expertise:
Despite all these obstacles, I have been thinking about selling my services online.
One reason is that I really do enjoy teaching. As I keep saying, teaching is my hobby (when I get paid, it’s to learn how to interact with other learners and to set up learning contexts).
In fact, I enjoy almost everything in teaching (the major exception being grading/evaluating). From holding office hours and lecturing to facilitating discussions and answering questions through email. Teaching, for me, is deeply satisfying and I think that learning situations which imply the role of a teacher still make a lot of sense. I also like more informal learning situations and I even try to make my courses more similar to informal teaching. But I still find specific value in a “teaching and learning” system.
Some people seem to assume that teaching a course is the same thing as “selling expertise.” My perspective on learning revolves to a large extent on the difference between teaching and “selling expertise.” One part is that I find a difference between selling a product or process and getting paid in a broader transaction which does involve exchange about knowledge but which isn’t restricted to that exchange. Another part is that I don’t see teachers as specialists imparting their wisdom to eager masses. I see knowledge as being constructed in diverse situations, including formal and informal learning. Expertise is often an obstacle in the kind of teaching I’m interested in!
Funnily enough, I don’t tend to think of expertise as something that is easily measurable or transmissible. Those who study expertise have ways to assess something which is related to “being an expert,” especially in the case of observable skills (many of those are about “playing,” actually: chess, baseball, piano…). My personal perspective on expertise tends to be broader, more fluid. Similar to experience, but with more of a conscious approach to learning.
There also seems to be a major difference between “breadth of expertise” and “topics you can teach.” You don’t necessarily need to be very efficient at some task to help someone learn to do it. In fact, in some cases, being proficient in a domain is an obstacle to teaching in that domain, since expertise is so ingrained as to be very difficult to retrieve consciously.
This is close to “do what I say, not what I do.” I even think that it can be quite effective to actually instruct people without direct experience of these instructions. Similar to consulting, actually. Some people easily disagree with this point and some people tease teachers about “doing vs. teaching.” But we teachers do have a number of ways to respond, some of them snarkier than others. And though I disagree with several parts of his attitude, I quite like this short monologue by Taylor Mali about What Teachers Make.
Another reason I might “sell my expertise” is that I genuinely enjoy sharing my expertise. I usually provide it for free, but I can possibly relate to the value argument. I don’t feel so tied to social systems based on market economy (socialist, capitalist, communist…) but I have to make do.
Another link to “selling expertise” is more disciplinary. As an ethnographer, I enjoy being a “cultural translator.” of sorts. And, in some cases, my expertise in some domains is more of a translation from specialized speech into laypeople’s terms. I’m actually not very efficient at translating utterances from one language to another. But my habit of navigating between different “worlds” makes it possible for me to bridge gaps, cross bridges, serve as mediator, explain something fairly “esoteric” to an outsider. Close to popularization.
So, I’ve been thinking about what can be paid in such contexts which give prominence to expertise. Tutoring, homework help, consulting, coaching, advice, recommendation, writing, communicating, producing content…
And, finally, I’ve been thinking about my domains of expertise. As a “Jack of All Trades,” I can list a lot of those. My level of expertise varies greatly between them and I’m clearly a “Master of None.” In fact, some of them are merely from personal experience or even anecdotal evidence. Some are skills I’ve been told I have. But I’d still feel comfortable helping others with all of them.
I’m funny that way.
Domains of Expertise
French
- Conversation
- Reading
- Writing
- Culture
- Literature
- Regional diversity
- Chanson appreciation
Bamanan (Bambara)
Social sciences
- Ethnographic disciplines
- Ethnographic field research
- Cultural anthropology
- Linguistic anthropology
- Symbolic anthropology
- Ethnomusicology
- Folkloristics
Semiotics
Language studies
- Language description
- Social dimensions of language
- Language change
- Field methods
Education
- Critical thinking
- Lifelong learning
- Higher education
- Graduate school
- Graduate advising
- Academia
- Humanities
- Social sciences
- Engaging students
- Getting students to talk
- Online teaching
- Online tools for teaching
Course Management Systems (Learning Management Systems)
- Oncourse
- Sakai
- WebCT
- Blackboard
- Moodle
Social networks
- Network ethnography
- Network analysis
- Influence management
Web platforms
- Facebook
- MySpace
- Ning
- LinkedIn
- Twitter
- Jaiku
- YouTube
- Flickr
Music
- Cultural dimensions of music
- Social dimensions of music
- Musicking
- Musical diversity
- Musical exploration
- Classical saxophone
- Basic music theory
- Musical acoustics
- Globalisation
- Business models for music
- Sound analysis
- Sound recording
Beer
- Homebrewing
- Brewing techniques
- Recipe formulation
- Finding ingredients
- Appreciation
- Craft beer culture
- Brewing trends
- Beer styles
- Brewing software
Coffee
- Homeroasting
- Moka pot brewing
- Espresso appreciation
- Coffee fundamentals
- Global coffee trade
Social media
Blogging
- Diverse uses of blogging
- Writing tricks
- Workflow
- Blogging platforms
Podcasts
- Advantages of podcasts
- Podcasts in teaching
- Filming
- Finding podcasts
- Embedding content
Technology
- Trends
- Geek culture
- Equipment
- Beta testing
- Troubleshooting Mac OS X
Online Life
Communities
- Mailing-lists
- Generating discussions
- Entering communities
- Building a sense of community
- Diverse types of communities
- Community dynamics
- Online communities
Food
- Enjoying food
- Cooking
- Baking
- Vinaigrette
- Pizza dough
- Bread
Places
- Montreal, Qc
- Lausanne, VD
- Bamako, ML
- Bloomington, IN
- Moncton, NB
- Austin, TX
- South Bend, IN
- Fredericton, NB
- Northampton, MA
Pedestrianism
- Carfree living
- Public transportation
- Pedestrian-friendly places
Tools I Use
- PDAs
- iPod
- iTunes
- WordPress.com
- Skype
- Del.icio.us
- Diigo
- Blogger (Blogspot)
- Mac OS X
- Firefox
- Flock
- Internet Explorer
- Safari
- Gmail
- Google Calendar
- Google Maps
- Zotero
- Endnote
- RefWorks
- Zoho Show
- Wikipedia
- iPod touch
- SMS
- Outlining
- PowerPoint
- Slideshare
- Praat
- Audacity
- Nero Express
- Productivity software
Effective Web searches
Socialization
- Social capital
- Entering the field
- Creating rapport
- Event participation
- Event hosting
Computer Use
- Note-taking
- Working with RSS feeds
- Basic programing concepts
- Data manipulations
Research Methods
- Open-ended interviewing
- Qualitative data analysis
Personal
- Hedonism
- Public speaking
- GERD
- Strabismus
- Moving
- Cultural awareness
8 Comments | tags: Academia, Advantages of podcasts, Audacity, Austin, baking, Bamako, Bamanan, Bambara Conversation, Bambara Greetings, Basic music theory, Beer, Beer Appreciation, Beer styles, Beta testing, Blackboard, Blogger (Blogspot), Blogging, blogging platforms, Bloomington, bread, brewing software, Brewing techniques, Brewing trends, Building a sense of community, Business models for music, Carfree living, Chanson appreciation, Classical saxophone, Coffee, Coffee fundamentals, Communities, Community dynamics, cooking, course management systems, craft beer culture, Creating rapport, critical thinking, cultural anthropology, Cultural dimensions of music, Data manipulations, del.icio.us, Diigo, Diverse types of communities, Diverse uses of blogging, Education, Effective Web searches, Embedding content, EndNote, Engaging students, Enjoying food, Entering communities, Entering the field, equipment, Espresso appreciation, Ethnographic disciplines, Ethnographic field research, ethnomusicology, Event hosting, Event participation, expertise, Facebook, Filming, Finding ingredients, Finding podcasts, Firefox, Flickr, Flock, folkloristics, Food, Fredericton, French Conversation, French Culture, French Literature, French Reading, French Writing, geek culture, Generating discussions, GERD, Getting students to talk, Global coffee trade, globalisation, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps, Graduate advising, Graduate school, hacking, hedonism, higher education, homebrewing, homeroasting, Humanities, Influence management, Internet Explorer, iPod, iPod touch, iTunes, Jaiku, language change, Language description, Language studies, Lausanne, LearnHub, Learning Management Systems, Lifelong learning, linguistic anthropology, LinkedIn, Mac OS, mac os x, mailing-lists, Meri Aaron Walker, Moka pot brewing, Moncton, monetization, Montreal, Moodle, music, Musical acoustics, Musical diversity, Musical exploration, musicking, MySpace, Nero Express, network analysis, Network ethnography, Ning, note-taking, Oncourse, online communities, Online Life, Online teaching, Online tools for teaching, Open-ended interviewing, Outlining, PDAs, Pedestrian-friendly places, Pedestrianism, Pizza dough, podcasts, Podcasts in teaching, PowerPoint, Praat, Productivity software, Public speaking, public transportation, Qualitative data analysis, Québec, Recipe formulation, RefWorks, Regional diversity, Research Methods, RSS, Safari, Sakai, Semiotics, Skype, SlideShare, SMS, social capital, Social dimensions of language, Social dimensions of music, social media, social networks, social sciences, socialization, sociolinguistics, Sound analysis, Sound recording, South Bend, Strabismus, Symbolic anthropology, technology, trends, Troubleshooting Mac OS X, Twitter, Vinaigrette, Web platforms, WebCT, Wikipedia, WiZiQ, WordPress.com, workflow, Writing tricks, YouTube, Zoho Show, Zotero | posted in ramblings
First Myriade Session
Today’s main coffee event is the anxiously awaited Grand Opening of Café Myriade (1432 Mackay, Montreal, right by Concordia University’s Sir George William campus). I just did my first of certainly a good many coffee-savouring sessions, there.
As a disclaimer of sorts, I think of Anthony Benda as one of the main actors in Montreal’s coffee renaissance. Anthony’s the co-owner of Café Myriade. He also happens to be an espresso blogger. Chris Capell, Myriade’s manager and “espresso producer,” has become a good friend of mine, thanks in part to the Eastern Regional competition of the Canadian Barista Championship, back in June. Despite being friendly with some of the core members in the Myriade team, I still think I can judge Myriade drinks fairly and justly. I do want the café to succeed and there’s a slight bias involved, but I think my perspective on that café and its drinks is relatively unbiased.
So, a few notes on this first session at Myriade.
On Anthony’s recommendation, I started with the allongé.
What I mean is that this allongé (or “lungo“) was nothing like a watered down espresso. It wasn’t typical of Montréal’s allongés either. But that’s really not an issue. Those who would order an allongé at Brûlerie Saint-Denis, Aux Deux Marie, or even Café Dépôt (where I’ve been surprised to have flavourful allongés in the past) will enjoy Myriade’s allongé. At least, if they keep an open mind.
To my taste, Myriade’s allongé is pretty much what you would get if you “extrapolated” (in the mathematical sense) the curve from ristretto to a regular espresso (single or double). The difference in flavours and aromas between ristretto and regular espresso is not strictly linear. Some flavours are muted as some others become stronger. It also depends on a number of factors from the blend and the grind to the way it was pulled. The same could be said about this allongé from Myriade, compared to a regular espresso.
I then tried the sipping chocolate.
To be honest, it was on the sweet side, for me. Maybe my tastebuds weren’t ready for this but I’m used to bitter chocolate and this one was decidedly on the sweet side. In fact, I wouldn’t have called it bittersweet because the bitterness was really muted. My mention of this seemed to be surprising to Myriade’s other co-owner, Scott Rao. But I maintain that this was a sweet chocolate.
My favourite sipping chocolate in Montreal so far (and possibly my favourite chocolate drink ever) was from Juliette & Chocolat (1615 Saint-Denis). The last time I went to J&C was probably two years ago so they may have changed in the meantime. There are two types of chocolate drinks at J&C. IIRC, the “à l’ancienne” one is unsweetened and milkless. I distinctly remember having some very tasty sipping chocolate there and the taste I remember isn’t sweet, by any stretch of the imagination. Of course, I might be wrong. But I’m usually pretty accurate about these things. Myriade’s sipping chocolate wasn’t as sweet as mainstream hot chocolate, but it was definitely much sweeter than what I’ve had at Juliette & Chocolat.
I enjoyed Myriade’s sipping chocolate about as much as the one I’ve raved about, from Chocolats Privilège (7070 Henri-Julien). In Myriade’s case, it’s less about cost than about the diversity of experiences we can have at the same place.
Speaking of which, here’s my first tweet from Myriade, today:
When I first heard about Anthony’s plans for a café, I was mostly thinking about espresso. Anthony Benda is a true espresso artist, and the fact that he was a finalist in the Canadian Barista Championship (for which I’ve been a judge) is a testament to Anthony’s passion for espresso.
But Myriade isn’t exclusively about espresso. In fact, it’s probably the place in town which has the widest variety of coffee options. IIRC, they do all the espresso drinks, from single shot to allongé, caffè latte to cappuccino. But they also do pour-over drip, French press, siphon, and Eva Solo Café Solo.
Speaking of the Eva Solo, it’s the one drink with which I’ve spent the longest time, today. It was the first time I had coffee brewed through this method. It’s similar to French press but still different. I’d have a hard time describing all the differences (having to do with the “bloom” as well as with the body and the size of solids floating in the cup) but I did enjoy this coffee very much.
My tweets about this cup. The coffee was made with single origin Cup of Excellence beans: Lot #24 from Miralvalle farm.
These descriptions are my own impressions, at this moment in time. I fully realize that they may not match other people’s experiences. I wasn’t carefully cupping this coffee nor was I trying to calibrate my descriptors with what would be expected. I was pulling a Gary V: I was simply saying what I got from the drink in front of me, with as few preset expectations as possible. It’s all part of my attitude toward hedonistic tasting (e.g. in my tasting notes about Cuvée Coffee Roasters’ Sumatra beans as Brikka).
Which wraps it up for my tweets about Myriade. Through Twitter’s search, I notice that James Golick also went to Myriade today. I don’t know Golick but I notice that he has also blogged his Myriade experience, along with Daniel Haran. Haven’t read their posts (actually, a single post forked on two blogs) but glancing at the text, it sounds like the three of us have a fair bit in common.
I should also say that Myriade has an impressive selection of high-quality teas and that I really enjoyed their Sencha when I’ve had the opportunity to try it (in a private tasting) a few days ago. I kept thinking about those very tasty baby clams that my then-wife had brought back from New Brunswick, a few years ago. The tea was still subtle and I’m assuming other people would not pick up this flavour nearly as strongly as I did (if at all). But I enjoyed those clams so much (and for such a long time) that my experience of that tea was enhanced through my prior sensory experiences.
Keeping with my RERO resolution, this is probably as long as I should make this post.
5 Comments | tags: 1432 Mackay, allongé, Anthony Benda, Aux deux Marie, Brûlerie Saint-Denis, Brikka, Café Dépôt, Café Myriade, Café Solo, Canadian Barista Championship, Chocolats Privilège, Chris Capell, Concordia campus, Concordia University, Daniel Haran, espresso allongé, Espresso appreciation, espresso bloggers, ethical hedonism, Eva Solo, French press, Gary Vaynerchuk, hedonism, James Golick, Juliette et Chocolat, lungo, Mackay, Miralvalle, Montreal coffee scene, Montreal Espresso Scene, Myriade, New Brunswick baby clams, pour-over, pour-over drip coffee, press pot, ristretto, Scott Rao, siphon coffee, sipping chocolate, tea | posted in bloggers, Brikka, café, cafés, Coffee, coffee scenes, comment-fishing, culinary, Cup of Excellence, espresso, experience, Food, hedonism, linkfest, Montreal, pleasure, reviews, shameless plug, taste, tasting