I may have been drinking coffee only for some year and a half (having been a tea-lover for all my life), but I think I’ve got a pretty good idea about ‘good’ coffee by now. I’ve certainly sampled some of the best: Ritual and Blue Bottle in San Francisco, Stumptown in Portland, Oregon, Counter Culture in Durham, NC… These are all in the US of course, but upon my return from North Carolina, where I really got into a daily coffee drinking habit, I was pleased to discover that Helsinki has picked up on good coffee as well.

Finnish Coffee Drinks (Villimpi Pohjola)

It has never been difficult to find coffee in Finland, the figures speak for themselves — Finland tops the annual per capita coffee consumption table year after year. The generic Finnish coffee has a bit of a reputation: it’s absolutely dreadful. No wonder that I got into coffee so late in life, I had simply never had a decent cup of coffee! An illustrative comic (on the right), which I take the liberty of including here (author’s website), recently made the rounds on Facebook. It’s in Finnish, but you should be able to get the general idea even if you don’t read the language. The Finns seem to mostly drink lightly roasted, acidic, cheap coffee that has been sitting in the pot for hours and hours. But things have been changing in recent years…

Good Life Coffee

So, where can you get good coffee in Helsinki? The following are no doubt among the best places: Good Life Coffee (the owner and head barista has won multiple awards), Fratello Torrefazione (the only place for siphon coffee in Finland), Kaffa Roastery (some of the best coffee in Finland directly from the roastery), and Sävy — two of these happen to be located in Kallio, very close to where I live. In addition to Kaffa, there are two small Finnish roasteries whose beans are excellent, namely Helsingin Kahvipaahtimo and Turun Kahvipaahtimo. Kaffa is expanding quickly, but things are just getting started, as there’s a new player around: Maja Coffee Roastery. Mokkamestarit, located in Tampere, also has some good beans, but they’re not readily available in Helsinki, except at Stockmann. Good Life Coffee, Fratello, and Sävy all sell beans as well, but you can generally only get Kaffa beans at Fratello and Turun Kahvipaahtimo beans at Sävy, whereas Good Life Coffee has all of these in limited quantities, plus occasional specialities, from Norway in particular. Another good place to buy beans and also coffee equipment is Crema.

Kaffa Roastery

But which beans should you try? Well, I’ve sampled (with Elizabeth) most of the beans that are commonly available in Helsinki, and some of the less common ones too, taking some notes. My reviews are subjective of course — I tend to prefer a fairly dark roast of full bodied South American (or similar) beans with robust nutty and chocolate-like flavours and low acidity — but I do occasionally like to have a fruity and acidic African bean too. I don’t have an espresso machine at home and I prefer pour overs anyway, so I haven’t reviewed many espresso beans (even though I’ve tried a good few at the mentioned coffee shops). When I do have espresso beans, I like to brew them with Aeropress (thanks sis!), using the inverted method. The beans are always freshly ground, using my Bodum burr grinder. I tend to go for a fine grind for pour overs, just two points coarser than espresso grind. Water is heated to 90 degrees Celsius and poured through the classic Hario V60 Ceramic Drip Cone.

Below are my tasting notes and ratings for many of the beans you’re likely to come across in Helsinki, plus some rarities! I list them by the roaster. As you can see, Kaffa dominates the list, mostly because their beans are readily available, reasonably priced, and their quality is very consistent. The list isn’t exhaustive by any means. We’ve had beans not listed here and tried many others once or twice at coffee shops, but I haven’t taken specific notes of those. I may update the list though (and promote the blog post) later on.

Kaffa

• Go’Morron Barista Blend

-Medium Dark Roast (3/5)
-50% Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, 50% Indonesia Lintong
Very fruity aroma, with citrus and berries. Wood and fruit in the taste, earthy undertones. Low acidity, but some bitterness is present. Medium bodied.
My rating: 3.5/5

• Tauko Barista Blend

-Medium Dark Roast (3/5)
-50% India Kelagur, 50% Ethiopia Yirgacheffe
Juicy fruit and a hint of chocolate in the aroma. This coffee has a nice balance, with the flavour of ripe, sweet fruit. Medium bodied. Moderate acidity.
My rating: 4/5

• Go’Kväll Barista Blend

-Medium Dark Roast (3.5/5)
-50% India Kelagur, 50% Indonesia Lintong
Chocolate both in the aroma and in the flavour. Earthy and spicy undertones. Very smooth and soft mouthfeel. Medium bodied, low acidity.
My rating: 4.5/5

• Special Roast: Guatemala Hunapu

-Light Roast (2/5)
-100% Guatemala, Antiqua, Hunapu (Bourbon Caturra)
Chocolate and orange in the aroma. Flavour starts with dark chocolate but quickly turns somewhat bitter and moderately acidic. Reminds me of raw cacao nibs. Some citrus undertones as well. Light to medium bodied.
My rating: 4/5

• Special Roast: El Salvador San Francisco

-Dark Roast (4/5)
Milk chocolate and berries in the aroma, darker chocolate and some ripe fruit in the taste. Smooth and fairly light bodied, low acidity.
My rating: 4.5/5

• Special Roast: India Monsoon Malabar AA

-Dark Roast (5/5)
Dark chocolate and dirt in the aroma. Earthy flavour with biter chocolate and tobacco. It’s promising, but just a little bit burnt. You get the feeling that some depth has been lost. Still quite drinkable though.
My rating: 3.5/5

• Special Roast India Kelagur

-Dark Roast (4/5)
Quite intense, deep roast aromas and flavour, but not burnt. Hint of chocolate, nutty. Low acidity, medium bodied.
My rating: 4/5

• Joulukahvi / Ystävänpäivä kahvi (Christmas / Valentine’s Day Blend)

-Medium Dark Roast (3/5)
-80% Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, 20% Brasil Fazenda Rainha (Yellow Bourbon)
Dark fruit and a hint of chocolate in the aroma. Dark fruit dominate the taste as well. Modeare acidity makes this a bit “jangly”. Decent coffee, but very much dominated by the Yirgacheffe. Nothing very Christmas-like about it. Indeed, it was also sold as the Valentine’s Day Blend in February!
My rating: 3.5/5

• Exclusive: El Salvador La Divina Providencia

-Light Roast (2/5)
Mild aroma with hints of chocolate. Nice round mouthfeel, robust but quite mild. Ripe peach and chocolate. Medium bodied, low acidity.
My rating: 4/5

Helsingin Kahvipaahtimo

• Syksyn Spessu (Autumn Special)

Fruity and earthy aroma. Spicy, with a little bit of citrus. Moderate to high acidity, medium bodied.
My rating: 4/5

• Talven Spessu (Winter Special)

Dark chocolate in the aroma and flavour; robust and dark roast. Unfortunately, the roasting has gone a bit far and the flavour is dominated by burnt toast. There are strong chocolate undertones though, so this could’ve been great.
My rating: 3/5

• Espresso Guta/Dolce

-Indonesia, Lintong; Brail, Daterra; Ethiopia, Yirgacheffe G1
Fruity and floral aromas, some honey and flowers in the flavour. Smooth and well-rounded, but a little acidic for my taste. Light to medium body.
My rating: 3.5/5

Turun Kahvipaahtimo

• Ethiopia Limu

Fruity aroma, berries and fruit in the taste. Some mild spices and a hint of dirt. Moderate acidity. Mellow, light bodied.
My rating: 3.5/5

• El Salvador Finca Guadalupe

-Dark Roast
-Bourbon & Catuai
Strong, earthy aroma, with burnt toast and dark chocolate. Flavour is strong and robust as well, but there is a little bit of fruitiness too; plum and dried apricot. Fairly low acidity. Medium bodied.
My rating: 4/5

Tampereen Mokkamestarit

• Brasil Senhora de Fátima Organic

-Medium Dark Roast (3/5)
Deep chocolate, very smooth and tasty. A little earthy. Low acidity, light bodied.
My rating: 4.5/5

• Brasil Daterra Bruzzi Espresso

-Dark Roast (4/5)
Seems a little burnt and bitter. There are some earthy and chocolatey flavours, but any subtleties are lost. We have in fact been drinking this mostly as a traditional pour over. It’s a very robust coffee, but it seems that it may have been roasted too much. Low acidity, medium to heavy body.
My rating: 2.5/5

Solberg & Hansen (Norway)

• La Amistad, Colombia

-Typica, Caturra, Castillio
Mild floral & milk chocolate aromas. Light and tasty, some fruity sweetness and woody or tea-like flavours. Low acidity, very soft and smooth mouthfeel.
My rating: 4.5/5

• Black Coffee, Finca Santa Rita / El Salvador

-Red Bourbon
Strawberry and other berries in the aroma. Juicy fruit and berries! Rather silly for a black metal themed coffee, the flavours are very delicate. Low acidity, medium-bodied, a little oily.
My rating: 4/5

That’s it for now, but stay tuned for more!

I’ve just started teaching a course entitled ‘Essence, Modality, Reality’ in Helsinki. It’s in English and open to graduate and undergraduate students. Some people have expressed interest in the syllabus, so I’m posting the provisional syllabus below. It’s rather demanding and I may in fact have to change it a little as I go on, but at least it gives you an idea about the themes and literature that I find interesting in this area at the moment. By the way, if you happen to be in Helsinki and are interested in attending the course, do get in touch with me (even if you’re not a student at the University). The course will run until Christmas.

Syllabus for the course ESSENCE, MODALITY, REALITY
University of Helsinki
Dr. Tuomas E. Tahko

For links to online versions of most of the articles and much more resources, see the PhilPapers Modality and Essentialism and De Re Modality categories (both of which I edit).

Meeting 1: Introduction
Outline of course, brief introduction to the notion of essence.

Meetings 2-3: Kripke-Putnam Essentialism
I expect that most will be familiar with the classics in this area, but if you haven’t read Kripke’s Naming and Necessity and Putnam’s ‘The Meaning of Meaning’, now is the time! I will remind you of some key issues, but this course is not an introduction to the classics, but rather an overview of emerging work in essentialism and related topics.

Compulsory reading:
• H. Putnam (1990). ‘Is Water Necessarily H2O?’ In J. Conant (Ed.), Realism with a Human Face (Harvard University Press).

Suggested readings include:
• A. Bird (2009). ‘Essences and Natural Kinds.’ In R. Le Poidevin (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics (Routledge).
• S. Soames (2006). ‘The Philosophical Significance of the Kripkean Necessary Aposteriori.’ Philosophical Issues 16.
• N. Williams (2011). ‘Putnam’s Traditional Neo-Essentialism.’ The Philosophical Quarterly 61 (242).

Meetings 4-5: Natural Kind Essentialism
Natural Kind Essentialism has been a lively topic after Kripke and Putnam as well. In particular, there has been an abundance of (critical) input from philosophy of science. We’ll examine the prospects for scientifically motivated natural kind essentialism in biology, chemistry, and physics.

Compulsory reading:
• A. Bird and K. Hawley (2011). ‘What Are Natural Kinds?’ Philosophical Perspectives 25 (1).

Suggested readings include:
• A. Bird (2012). ‘Are Any Kinds Ontologically Fundamental?’ In T. E. Tahko (Ed.) Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics (CUP).
• M. Devitt (2008). ‘Resurrecting Biological Essentialism.’ Philosophy of Science 75.
• E. J. Lowe (2011). ‘Locke on Real Essence and Water as a Natural Kind: A Qualified Defence.’ Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 85 (1).
• P. Needham (2011). ‘Microessentialism: What is the Argument?’ Noûs 45 (1).
• J. van Brakel (1986). ‘The Chemistry of Substances and the Philosophy of Mass Terms.’ Synthese 69.

Meetings 6-7: Essence and Modality
We will focus on non-modal accounts of essence and attempts to ground modality to essence, rather than the other way around. This approach has been defended by Kit Fine, E. J. Lowe, Scott Shalkowski, Fabrice Correia, David S. Oderberg, and myself. We’ll read Fine’s classic paper and discuss some more recent developments.

Compulsory reading:
• K. Fine (1994), ‘Essence and Modality.’ Philosophical Perspectives 8.

Suggested readings include:
• F. Correia (2011), ‘On the Reduction of Necessity to Essence.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 84 (3).
• E. J. Lowe (2008), ‘Two Notions of Being: Entity and Essence.’ Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements 83 (62).
• D. S. Oderberg (2011), ‘Essence and Properties.’ Erkenntnis 75 (1).
• L. A. Paul (2004), ‘The Context of Essence.’ Australasian Journal of Philosophy 82.
• S. Roca-Royes (2011), ‘Essential Properties and Individual Essences.’ Philosophy Compass 6/1.
• E. Zalta (2006), ‘Essence and Modality.’ Mind 115 (459).

Meetings 8-9: Counterfactuals and Modal Epistemology
One important, open question that we must discuss concerns the epistemology of essence and modality. We will look into this by analysing Timothy Williamson’s recent an account of modal epistemology in terms of counterfactuals. This alternative account attempts to avoid some of the mysteries of essentialism, and it has received a lot of critical attention.

Compulsory reading:
• T. Williamson (2007), ’Philosophical Knowledge and Knowledge of Counterfactuals’. Grazer Philosophische Studien. Or Chapter 5 of his The Philosophy of Philosophy (2007, Blackwell).

Suggested readings include:
• K. Fine (forthcoming). ‘Counterfactuals without Possible Worlds’, to appear in the Journal of Philosophy.
• S. Roca-Royes (2011). ‘Modal Knowledge and Counterfactual Knowledge’, Logique Et Analyse 54 (216).
• T. E. Tahko (2012), ’Counterfactuals and Modal Epistemology’. Grazer Philosophische Studien 86.

Meetings 10-11: Essence and Ontological Dependence
In order to understand the role of essence in metaphysics, it is necessary to study the different kinds of relations that essences stand in. These can be grouped under the general title of ‘ontological dependence’. An overview of different kinds of ontological dependence, such as existential and essential dependence will be presented and some of their applications outlined.

Compulsory reading:
• R. Cameron (2008), ‘Turtles All the Way Down.’ The Philosophical Quarterly 58 (230).

Suggested readings include:
• F. Correia (2008), ‘Ontological Dependence.’ Philosophy Compass 3 (5).
• K. Koslicki (2012), ‘Essence, Necessity, and Explanation.’ In T. E. Tahko (Ed.), Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics (CUP).
• K. Koslicki (2012), ’Varieties of Ontological Dependence.’ In Correia and Schnieder (Eds.), Metaphysical Grounding (CUP).
• E. J. Lowe (2009), ‘Ontological Dependence’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Meetings 12-13: Essence and Ground
The notion of ground is closely related to that of ontological dependence. It is a type of metaphysical explanation. One major theme on this course is whether and how modality might be grounded in essence. We will look into some of the latest research on this topic and discuss a number of applications of grounding.

Compulsory reading:
• P. Audi (2012), ‘A Clarification and Defence of the Notion of Grounding.’ In Correia and Schnieder (Eds.), Metaphysical Grounding (CUP).

Suggested readings include:
• F. Correia (ms.) ‘Metaphysical Grounds and Essence.’
• S. Dasgupta (ms.) ‘The Status of Ground.’
• K. Fine (2001), ’The Question of Realism.’ Philosophers Imprint.
• K. Fine (2010), ‘Some Puzzles of Ground.’ Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, vol. 51, no. 1.
• K. Fine (2012), ‘A Guide to Ground.’ In Correia and Schnieder (Eds.), Metaphysical Grounding (CUP).
• K. Fine (2012), ‘The Pure Logic of Ground’. Review of Logic, vol 5, no. 1.
• J. Schaffer (2009), ’On What Grounds What.’ In Chalmers, Manley, and Wasserman (Eds.), Metametaphysics (OUP).
• K. Trogdon (Forthcoming), ‘An Introduction to Grounding.’ In Hoeltje, Schnieder, and Steinberg (Eds.) Basic Philosophical Concepts (Philosophia Verlag, Munich).

I’m giving a talk entitled ‘Natural Kind Essentialism Revisited’ at the Departmental Research Seminar at Helsinki on November 1, 4-6pm. The talk takes place at Room A110, Metsätalo, 1st floor, Unioninkatu 40A. The basement is rather difficult to get to, so if you’re interested in coming but don’t know where the venue is, do get in touch with me. A full draft of the paper is available here, the abstract is below — any comments are welcome!

Recent work on natural kind essentialism has taken a deflationary turn: biological and chemical kinds in particular have come under scrutiny. The assumptions about the grounds of essentialist truths concerning natural kinds familiar from the Kripke-Putnam framework are now considered questionable. The source of the problem, however, has not been sufficiently explicated. I will focus on the Twin Earth scenarios and demonstrate that the essentialist principle at its core (which I call IDENT), namely that necessarily, chemical substance A is identical with chemical substance B if and only if A and B have the same molecular composition, must be re-evaluated. The Twin Earth scenarios also assume the falsity of another essentialist principle (which I call INST): necessarily, only the actual molecular composition of any chemical substance can produce the chemical properties of that substance. I will call this assumption into question and argue that, in fact, the best strategy for defending IDENT is to establish INST. I will then assess the prospects for natural kind essentialism and microstructural essentialism regarding chemical substances, with reference to some recent work in the philosophy of chemistry.

Funnily enough, I don’t think I’ve ever attended a conference in Helsinki, even though it’s my home town. The 4th EPSA conference might very well change that. I haven’t participated in strict philosophy of science conferences for a while, but I’ve been to several before, including the second EPSA where I organized a symposium. This time I might consider submitting a normal paper. Plenty of time until the deadline though. Helsinki should still be nice towards the end of August (it is at the moment), so this is certainly worth recommending!

4th Conference of the EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE ASSOCIATION

EPSA13

Helsinki, Finland, 28-31 August 2013

http://www.helsinki.fi/epsa13/

Submission deadline: 15 January 2013

The Fourth Conference of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA) will be organized and hosted by the Finnish Centre of Excellence in the Philosophy of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki, Finland, 28-31 August 2013.

EPSA invites contributed papers and proposals for symposia.

The conference has eight sections:

1. General philosophy of science
2. Philosophy of the physical sciences
3. Philosophy of the life sciences
4. Philosophy of the cognitive sciences
5. Philosophy of the social sciences
6. Philosophy of technology and applied research
7. Formal philosophy of science
8. Historical, social and cultural studies in philosophy of science

INVITED SPEAKERS: Alison Wylie (University of Washington), Martin Kusch (University of Vienna), Hannes Leitgeb (University of Munich)

CONTRIBUTED PAPERS: Please submit an abstract of 1000 words prepared for blind review. Abstracts should start with the number and title of the relevant section. The allocated time for delivering contributed papers at the conference will be 30 minutes, including discussion.

SYMPOSIUM PROPOSALS: Please submit a full proposal that includes the number and title of the relevant section, the title of the proposed symposium, a general description of the topic and its significance (up to 1500 words), and titles and abstracts of all papers (up to 300 words for each paper). The symposium proposals should be prepared for blind review, but make sure that you provide separately a list of all participants (including the chair) and their contact information (institutional affiliation and e-mail addresses), and indicate the organizer(s) of the symposium proposal (who may or may not be a proposed speaker). Accepted symposia will be allocated 120 minutes, including discussion. They can have any format but the maximum number of speakers is 5. Symposium proposals that explore connections between different areas or research programs in philosophy of science or between philosophy of science and sciences are encouraged.

Please note that no one will be permitted to present more than one paper (either a symposium paper or a contributed paper including papers jointly authored with others) on the EPSA 13 program. All submissions will be reviewed, but in case both a symposium paper and a contributed paper by the same author(s) are under consideration for the program, the priority will be given to the symposium paper. Symposium participants are kindly asked to inform their symposium organizers if they are involved in more than one symposium proposal. Similarly, co-authors of papers are kindly asked to inform their co-authors if they are authors in other papers.

All questions about submissions should be directed to the co-chairs of the Program Committee for EPSA 13: Stéphanie Ruphy (stephanie.ruphy@wanadoo.fr) and Gerhard Schurz (gerhard.schurz@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de). Members of the Program Committee and Local Organizing Committee for EPSA 13 are listed at

http://www.helsinki.fi/epsa13/

All submissions have to be made electronically through the EasyChair system at

https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=epsa13

Please notice that first time users have to register as users of the EasyChair conference system.

IMPORTANT DATES

15 January 2013: Submission deadline (contributed papers and symposia)
15 April 2013: Notification of acceptance
15 June 2013: Early registration deadline
28-31 August 2013: Conference

Not really in my area, but I guess I should advertise stuff happening in Finland, and Helsinki in particular. So, make a note of this if you work in philosophy of science, or more specifically on methodological issues concerning models and simulations. I won’t be in the country anyway…

Call for papers

MODELS AND SIMULATIONS 5

Helsinki, 14-16 June 2012

The Finnish Centre of Excellence in the Philosophy of the Social
Sciences is delighted to host the 5th Models and Simulations (MS5)
conference in Helsinki.

Conference website: http://www.helsinki.fi/ms5

The previous MS meetings have taken place in Paris, Tilburg,
Charlottesville, and Toronto. As before, the overall theme of the
conference will be the philosophical and methodological issues of
simulations and models, broadly construed.

Papers on any aspect of this theme are welcome from both philosophers
and practicing scientists. One focus of the 5th meeting will be on
models and simulations within and across the social sciences. Of
course, submissions of papers related to the natural sciences in
particular and modeling and simulating in general are also welcome.
Possible topics include the following: Models, simulations, and
scientific representation. Models, simulations, and scientific
explanation. Fictions vs. idealizations. The role of simplicity,
generality, robustness, unifying power, and other non-empirical
epistemic virtues in modeling. Styles and conventions of modeling in
different disciplines. Transfer of model templates and modelling
methods across disciplinary boundaries. What kinds of inherent biases
do model-based research heuristics involve? What standards should be
used in assessing model-based expertise in policy applications? How to
combine different sources of evidence within a model? How to render
model-based evidence commensurable with other evidence?

Keynote speakers

• Rosaria Conte (ISTC-CNR, Rome)
• Mary Morgan (LSE)
• Tim Benton (Leeds)

SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS

Abstracts of 100 words and extended abstracts of 800-1000 words

The deadline for submission is 5 February 2012

Abstract submission is electronic. To submit, please prepare a PDF
file of your extended abstract. Make sure that the extended abstract
is prepared for blind review. Then follow this link:

https://www.easychair.org/account/signin.cgi?conf=ms5

If you do not already have an EasyChair account, you first need to
create one when you enter the site. When logged in, click on the new
submission link. Include your 100 words abstract and upload the PDF
file of your extended abstract. You will be able to revise your
submission any number of times before the deadline.

For further information and inquiries, please contact
jaakko.kuorikoski@helsinki.fi