("Leaf" by Nick Box)
(sighs)
- Hi there.
Hopefully your first question is, why am I sat in a park?
And I have a good answer for that.
Today is a very exciting day.
And I think a day a lot of you are excited about as well,
'cause I'm gonna get to taste something very, very old.
Let me explain.
I was recently contacted by a young man called Ben,
who had found some family coffee dating back to the 1950s.
And it was his family who roasted the coffee,
but I'll let him explain in a minute.
Now he said, did I wanna taste this?
And I said, of course I wanna taste this.
But he had one condition, which I think was very fair.
And that was that he was here when we opened the tin
and when we tasted it.
Now, initially, I was gonna do that in the studio,
but COVID restrictions would make that kind of reckless.
So here we are in Hampstead Heath with a lovely view,
some coffee equipment on a camping table,
to taste some coffee from the 1950s.
And to tell you a little bit more about the coffee,
I'm gonna hand you now to Ben to give you the backstory.
- My name's Ben Schofield.
I'm from Oxford, but I live in London now.
And this is my relative's coffee.
So this was started by my great great great grandfather
Adam McKinlay out of Glasgow.
I think in the early to mid-1800s.
And then his son, Thomas McKinlay,
who I have a lovely picture of,
he traveled up to Sao Paulo and he was selling machine lace,
hatchets and also hand mills.
And in return, on the ships that he sent up there,
they were loaded up with coffee
and they were sent back to the UK,
where they roasted and distributed it
under the names of Rio One and McKinlay's Extra.
This tin I believe,
is no younger than 70 years old.
It has been sat in my great grandparents' cupboard
for probably, it was probably about 20 to 30 years
of its life, and then was moved to my grandparents' house
where I found it,
and then decided that you might want to try it.
- So now we have the tin.
Here it is in my hands, and if you shake it.
(tin rustling)
I think it's beans.
It sounds like beans.
It's been pointed out.
If it's not beans, that's terrifying.
So, let's open it up.
Oh.
So this is great news in that we are sealed.
This is airtight, which stands at a reasonable chance.
So it looks like there's a little mechanism here
where there's a little tooth here.
I'm gonna try and bend it down and then push it into the can
and then see if we can twist it round to open the can.
I think that's what we're supposed to do.
So I think I'm supposed to just bend this out.
Oh.
So you're pointing down.
Just go a little bit more, a little bit more.
This is terrifying.
Again, there are people out there
who believe that this should go to Antiques Roadshow
and never be drunk, and they're wrong.
(groans)
I'm gonna go back the other way now.
Ooh.
There's a mixture of smells.
There's definitely some age in this.
I'm just gonna pry this open a little bit
with my thing.
We've got two layers here, which is super interesting.
So there's like,
this top tin layer that's quite thin.
And then underneath, what appears to be paper?
I think that's instant, I think that's instant coffee.
That doesn't smell bad.
I honestly felt this would smell much worse.
It's got a...
little bit of coffee, a little bit of chocolate,
a little bit of...
Quite a lot of chocolate actually,
that's really interesting.
It's sweet smelling.
It doesn't smell great.
There's also something about the smell
that's totally wrong and terrifying.
And you know, I'm glad that boiling water
acts as a pasteurizing agent here.
But here we go.
All right, we're drinking it.
We're drinking it.
I brought the necessary tools just in case,
but I think we got some instant.
Hey, buddy, how're you doing now?
Now I'm extremely confused by the contents of this tin.
And I came prepared to pull shots of espresso.
I'm actually prepared to do a kind of pour over as well,
because I was warned in advance
of the kind of instructions on the back of this thing.
Now it does say, measure out coffee required
on the basis of one heaped tablespoon for each two cups.
Boil water in a saucepan,
remove from the fire.
Pour in the coffee.
Stir vigorously, vigorously.
Return to the fire, remove immediately.
Give a final brisk stir.
pour full content through a fine muslin strainer
into a previously heated pot, serve black, piping hot.
Missing some punctuation.
Anyway, the point is that the presence of a strainer
implies there's stuff in here,
that it's not just instant coffee,
it might be instant coffee and bits,
it might be something else.
I have no idea.
So as a first test, I'm gonna fire up the Jetboil,
boil some water, and then just in a shot glass,
see if this dissolves.
See if bits stay behind,
just so we can understand what we've got.
And then probably brew the way that this suggests to brew.
I'm terrified.
It's not instant.
It's definitely got bits.
Doesn't smell as good now.
I'm not tasting this like this.
I'm not drinking with the bits in.
All right, let's brew it,
as is the traditional way.
Let's get a pot of water on the boil.
Let's get a bunch of coffee in it.
And let's strain it through a cloth filter,
which I have with me.
And then it's tasting time.
We've got some boiling water.
Now I'm gonna add,
what was the measure?
I'm supposed to add one heaped tablespoon.
So I'm gonna do maybe two or three of these.
Making a mess, but that's okay.
I think I give it a brisk stir,
or is that later?
Vigorous stir at this point.
So a vigorous stir.
And then I'm gonna pour it.
Got my little travel set up,
these are interesting little things.
I'm gonna pour it through a little cloth filter.
Sadly, today was not to be your day hand grinder.
(sighs)
Oh, wait, one more stir.
Get all that flavor.
There is a little foam on this, which is kind of surprising.
That's enough, I don't need a lot.
This is not my morning brew.
Just...
it's a whole other smell.
I don't think this smells like coffee,
this smells like a whole other thing.
I only brought espresso cups
because I'm not planning on drinking a mug of this.
It looks a bit weak, for which I'm not entirely upset.
And...
Here's one for Ben.
I think the rain has temporarily paused
so I can luxuriate in this cup of coffee
that is old.
1950s.
If it's grounds, maybe we should try grinding it very fine
and pulling a shot after this.
I think maybe we should.
Oh dear God.
That's really...
That's bad, that's really bad.
That is...
I don't think I'm gonna throw up,
you know, what I mean?
Like, I'm not there.
Like, I don't think this is necessarily helpful,
but it is pasteurized.
I tell myself that every sip.
It's got this acidity
that is weird and papery.
And it's got this cacao nib thing in there as well
that should be pleasant but is just unwelcome at this party.
I think I'm done, I think I'm done drinking that.
Let's make an espresso out of it,
what could be more sensible?
But before I pull a shot of espresso,
I have to talk to you about a couple of things.
Now, it's obviously been a tough time
for people around the world.
And over the last few months
I've been doing a coffee giveaway,
where anytime there's a sponsored video,
I would give away 10 bags of coffee
to people who need it around the world.
And I gave away, I think around 200 bags of coffee,
but I really feel I need to go further.
Starting today, with this video, for the next 10 videos,
I'll be giving away five grinders per video.
Each of them a Baratza Encore.
Thanks to Baratza for helping me out.
I still bought these grinders
but they helped make the logistics possible.
This means that everyone has a warranty
for the grinder they receive,
but it does mean there are only 37 countries
that we can actually ship them to at the end.
So if you enter the competition,
link is down below,
then just know that there are some restrictions
around where we can ship them.
This is a competition for people who are down on their luck,
who are having a hard time, who need a grinder.
If you can afford a grinder,
please go and support a local business and buy one.
But if you can't afford a grinder and you're eligible,
click the link down in the description
and we'll give away five every video
for the next 10 sponsored videos.
And actually in this video, it's gonna be six,
because I'm gonna give a brand new grinder to Ben.
A nice little upgrade for your set up
to say thank you for kind of giving me
this very rare opportunity for which I'm very grateful.
And all of this is possible
because this video has a sponsor, which is Squarespace.
If you need to build a website or a domain
then I would strongly recommend using Squarespace.
And it can be a website about anything,
it can be a website for your cafe, for your business.
It can be a passion project.
It can be the top 10 greatest parks in London
to drink old cups of coffee.
Using Squarespace makes it super simple and easy
to take an idea in your head
and turn it into a stunning, stunning website.
And by using Squarespace,
you don't have to worry about much.
It's gonna look great on every device, across every browser.
There's nothing to upgrade or patch.
And if you have an issue,
there's 24/7 email customer support.
But don't take my word for it.
Click the link down below and sign up for a free trial.
Build something, and after 14 days
when you're ready to launch,
use code JAMESHOFFMANN for 10% off any website or domain.
Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this video.
Now to get this to brew as espresso
we're gonna have to grind it much finer.
So I have a Comandante.
I have a little Flair PRO with me
just to up the ante a little bit.
I got my Jetboil, so I can boil some water.
So I'm gonna grind some coffee, tamp it down
and see if I can pull a shot with this,
because I know all of you in the comments
want me to drink an espresso from the 1950s.
This is the weirdest grind profile
I've ever seen in my life.
Okay.
It's a simple light roast, which is interesting.
(grinder grinding)
So, I'm not gonna lie.
This is probably a very stupid thing to do,
to try and do a sort of manual espresso on a camping table.
I feel like that's probably not
what the smarter people of the world do.
So, I'm just gonna fill you.
Piston in.
Ooh.
We got some pressure.
Not the greatest looking show if I'm honest.
Might've gone a bit fine.
Got the grind about right it would seem.
So, like a...
Like a scummy foamy layer of...
So, espresso from the 1950s, 70 years to get to this moment
in a park in London with an idiot.
Cheers.
Mm-mm, mm-mm.
Mm-mm.
Oh.
Oh no.
That was bad, that was...
that was really bad.
That was a terrible mistake.
Oh wow.
I kind of wanna go again, but I don't.
Oh, the finish.
It keeps going.
It's like metal and battery acid,
and pain.
That is traumatic.
My taste buds may never forgive me
for what just happened there.
I don't know if I'll ever taste again.
Ugh, Should I taste it again?
One more sip, one more sip.
I don't know why, but one more sip.
Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm.
I think if I drank that I would throw up,
that's how I feel about that.
So there it is.
That is coffee from the 1950s,
brewed and pulled as an espresso.
Got to be honest, never again.
Never, ever, ever again.
If you have some of this stuff lying around in your house,
if you discover it in your grandparents' basement
or attics or somewhere, maybe just keep hold of it.
Maybe just keep it sealed.
Maybe just look at it from time to time.
Maybe don't don't crack it open and drink it.
That's my advice to you.
But I'd love to hear from you down in the comments below.
Did I miss out here?
Did I not do it the way I should have done?
Was an espresso ridiculous?
Are you fearing for my safety?
Don't worry, I'm fine.
I'm really fine.
Some of you are gonna freak out,
we're pasteurized, we're okay.
The tin was sealed, we're okay.
But yeah, don't do this at home.
Really don't do this at home.
And again, apologies for not having a nice tray
to set this out on.
Anyway, that's all from me.
Thank you so much for watching, I hope you have a great day.