Our Columbia Meridiano is now available online as an espresso. The Honduras CoE winner, Finca Bu is up as well. Keep an eye on the list as it will change over the next week.
Showing posts with label coffee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coffee. Show all posts
Friday, September 17, 2010
Soma espresso is back
Soma espresso is back in season and we are happy with the components. We have one more component on the way we will add to it as it's ready but we are happy with the silky sweet notes coming out of this coffee right now. Get a bag, have a shot, enjoy.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
It's cold!
The weather is turning a bit chilly here. It's a good time to try some new coffees.
If you are still looking for a good hand mill or a pour over kettle, look right here. We have ice brewers and other unique items coming later, so keep an eye out.
As for coffees, the Kiandu is really good right now for those of you who like a balanced light roast with deep dark berry notes. We are still working on the Guatemala coffees that arrived but the Nimac Kapeh is available now. It's red fruit and distinctly Oolong character is really unique. The other Atitlan will be available later next week but it will be roasted only as an espresso. More coffees later...
If you are still looking for a good hand mill or a pour over kettle, look right here. We have ice brewers and other unique items coming later, so keep an eye out.
As for coffees, the Kiandu is really good right now for those of you who like a balanced light roast with deep dark berry notes. We are still working on the Guatemala coffees that arrived but the Nimac Kapeh is available now. It's red fruit and distinctly Oolong character is really unique. The other Atitlan will be available later next week but it will be roasted only as an espresso. More coffees later...
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Mis-understood drip
Drip Coffee, photo by Ben KaminksyI have to admit that we too had our own bias against drip a while back. From our earlier experiences, the drip cup profile just did not have the intensity and flavor that a Syphon or Espresso profile possessed. It was not until we started to dabble in manual pour technique and have a better understanding of the roasting process that we finally understood the potential and power in drip coffee.
Just like ANY other coffee brewing techniques, when tuned with proper dose, temperature, time and roast, a cup of drip coffee can be just as flavorful, intense and satisfying as a vacpot cup. In fact, at a recent home gathering, a coffee drinking friend told me the cup of drip I prepared for him is nearly as intense and flavorful as a shot of espresso.
The following is my drip brewing technique. This method is based on the one presented in Simon Hsieh's book with my tweaks to tune for my machine/coffee/roasts.
The gears:
- Presto Scandinavian with modified shower head
- Mazzer Kony
- Melitta #4 filter - white (note 1)
Parameters:
- Use 10~14g per 6oz of water. Adjust if the cup is too intense for you...
- A fine grind (10~15 small notches from espresso on Mazzer SJ, 18~21 notches from true zero on Rocky).
Grind Setting, photo by Ben Kaminksy1. Fill the machine with approximately 8oz of water. Start the machine without coffee/filter in it. This preheats the machine.
2. Grind coffee while the machine pre-heats.
3. As soon as the machine is done pre-heating, place coffee in the basket, level the grinds (note 2), and start brewing immediately (before the machine cools down).
4. Turn the machine OFF after about 20 seconds. For me, this is about 3 "gurgles". The purpose of this is to pre-infuse the coffee and allow all the grinds to be saturated(bloom) before starting the remaining extraction. You will have to experiment with the timing of this cut-off - just pull the basket out to see if all the grinds are properly wet at various time.
Pre-infusion, photo by Ben Kaminksy5. Turn the machine back on after 20 seconds of wait time(the end of pre-infusion).
6. Complete the brew within 3~4 minutes if possible. Play with the dose to find out the optimum capacity of your machine. For my Presto, the upper limit is at around the 5 cup mark.
7. Remove the carafe immediate after brewing and serve.
Spent ground, photo by Ben KaminksyThat is it. With a little bit of care, this simple method can produce just as good of a cup as with most other brew methods!
Cup of Drip, photo by Ben Kaminksynote 1: I like Melitta filters because the small holes in the paper seem to allow a bit more oil to pass thru; not as much as a cloth filter but is better than any paper filter I've used. To me, the natural/brown paper filters are quite foul and imparts a very strong brown paper bag taste to any liquid that passes thru. If you insist on using it, please rinse it with some hot water first to reduce as much of the off flavor as possible. And for those of you who just have to use a gold/metal filter, please be aware that your brew time will be altered due to the different flow rate. It will flow a bit faster than the paper filter and will most likely require a even finer grind setting to achieve the same dwell time (which puts even more sludge to the cup... hmmm... gritty...).
note 2: Simon advocates shaping the coffee mound in the basket to match that of the shower head - putting divots where the exit holes are located (imagine using the shower head to make an indention on the coffee mound). Since I have modified my shower head to have near full coverage, it does not make much of a difference for me. For those machines with limited water exit holes, try Simon's recommendation to see if it makes a difference.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Gardening and coffee
I am out of Cambridge right now in Eastern TN to be exact. Not exactly on a coffee related mission right now therefore the lack of noise. What I have been doing involves a lot of painting, repairs, decking, flooring, and gardening.
Gardening doesn't have much to do with coffee but there is something of an analogy I was thinking about this morning while driving through the Heights. Every house had neatly trimmed shrubs and hedges, boxwood and spruce, all green and neatly cut green grass. Every house was different but every yard the same... from a distance. Hedges, decorative grasses, and the occasional Impatiens or Petunias by the mailbox. Yard after yard, the same, all green and tightly kept. Immaculately homogeneous.
Nothing wrong with that until I pulled up and looked over the garden project we had worked on earlier. Color, lots of color, heirloom Lilies and Gladiola's. In a way, that really summarizes how I often feel in coffee.
Some are focused on the trimmed hedges while I adore the blooming varietals.
To me, the best coffees have great descriptors or rather they are worthy of great description. The boring generic ones are not worthy of much beyond a generic description. I find that good coffees have a ledger full of adjectives and this is what makes it hard to relate to most regular coffees drinkers.
I get the luxury of knowing where to get good coffees and have been honored to sample a large variety of grades from many different roasters. Sometimes I get lucky and find great ones but I also spend a lot of time bemoaning the lack of access to the greatest ones.
On this trip I have only been able to taste a few home roasts so let me first apologize to all the coffees we wronged in learning how to roast. It took some time to get where we want to be but now there's a lot less bad and a lot more good. Locally for coffee, there is nothing readily available except for bottomless pots and fast food chains. I have been spared as I have been drinking a lot of tea and luckily Ben sent just enough home roast for a few vac pot brews.
Gardening doesn't have much to do with coffee but there is something of an analogy I was thinking about this morning while driving through the Heights. Every house had neatly trimmed shrubs and hedges, boxwood and spruce, all green and neatly cut green grass. Every house was different but every yard the same... from a distance. Hedges, decorative grasses, and the occasional Impatiens or Petunias by the mailbox. Yard after yard, the same, all green and tightly kept. Immaculately homogeneous.
Nothing wrong with that until I pulled up and looked over the garden project we had worked on earlier. Color, lots of color, heirloom Lilies and Gladiola's. In a way, that really summarizes how I often feel in coffee.
Some are focused on the trimmed hedges while I adore the blooming varietals.
To me, the best coffees have great descriptors or rather they are worthy of great description. The boring generic ones are not worthy of much beyond a generic description. I find that good coffees have a ledger full of adjectives and this is what makes it hard to relate to most regular coffees drinkers.
I get the luxury of knowing where to get good coffees and have been honored to sample a large variety of grades from many different roasters. Sometimes I get lucky and find great ones but I also spend a lot of time bemoaning the lack of access to the greatest ones.
On this trip I have only been able to taste a few home roasts so let me first apologize to all the coffees we wronged in learning how to roast. It took some time to get where we want to be but now there's a lot less bad and a lot more good. Locally for coffee, there is nothing readily available except for bottomless pots and fast food chains. I have been spared as I have been drinking a lot of tea and luckily Ben sent just enough home roast for a few vac pot brews.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
So that's what zero defect coffee tastes like...
We got a shipment of coffees from Mr. Simon Hsieh who is a roaster going by the moniker of 4-Arts zero-defects coffees in Taiwan. It's not just a fancy name when he says zero defects. Simon sorts his coffee personally to achieve a promise of zero cup defects in all of his roasts.
So you may be thinking about what zero defects means. There are obvious defects as pictured here via coffeeresearch.org. What we know is that Simon removes any obvious defects found but also sorts the coffee to a more even size and color consistency. This means cleaning a coffee up the hard way with some manual labor. When Simon says zero defects, he's not joking.
Simon can turn a bean up to five times sorting pre-roast and then once more post-roast to identify visible defects or what he determines as off beans that may ruin a cup. This is a very intense and dedicated way to get a better cup. As all searches for a better cup go, it's never easy. Sorting at the roasterie is something that would be cost prohibitive to almost everyone in our American industry beyond the fanatical home roaster. It is the home roaster who has little access to good green that this process is intriguing though because it appears that a little extra sorting could potentially clean up an otherwise funky coffee.
It is a very unique and somewhat extreme approach that at first you may be inclined to question. Rightfully so, but you should give it a go and see what he is looking at and attempt to contemplate the logic behind it a bit. There are two ways to do this. One, you have Simon do this for you and pay him well, plus shipping costs to achieve this. Two, you sit down and sort out some home roast. I suggest you do a high grade coffee like a CoE and compare it to a C-Grade Sumatra. Measure the throw away percent on both and report back to us on the results should you choose to accept this mission...
Image Courtesy of Jason Silberschlag
At first glance it would be easy to throw this out the window and say it's a bit crazy to do this. I think too many people in the industry are easily willing to ignore what others are doing without trying to understand the reasoning behind their choices. The logic may be flawed or it may be correct. Truth is, you don't know what the results are until you take the time and do the experiment for yourself.
Simon's exercise in sorting has a lesson to teach us. Sorting makes a difference. In fact, the simple exercise of sitting down and sorting a few rows of coffee will give you new perspective on exactly what defects are and how one bean can easily ruin a cup. Sort out the defects, roast them and cup them next to the sorted cup. You will then better understand what is causing each cup's components and then the mushrooms may not be so charming any more.
It's not a clean coffee rant today though. It's a question of what is in my cup and why does it taste the way it does? Can you identify the good as well as the bad? Equating input to output and identifying the causes of flavors in the cups is harder than you think.
Doing sorting is like an educational adventure. After a few episodes, you will appreciate the great lots which require less than 20% rejection rates while you will fall apart at the purchase of a green which has a 50%+ rejection rate. Something to think about next time you try any coffee.
As for Simon's coffees, we sampled a Nicaragua CoE#14, 20% CoE espresso Blend, and Idido Misty Valley Grade 1. That last one may strike you as odd for our crew but we have tried a few versions of this coffee in the US (though not Grade 1), so it was to be a comparison cup. It was a strange cup. Simon describes it as orange juice and that's pretty accurate. Not my personal choice of coffees though as I still cling to dreams about an aromatic washed Yirgacheffe that may someday resurface when our fermented Ethiopian naturals fascination ends...
All that aside, Simon achieved something I had not tasted before, previous versions of Misty Valley bordered on rank and pungent, almost rotten fruits at times ready to kick you in the face with their untamed intensity. This offering was balanced and persisted like a heavy perfume that weighed down my nostrils leaving a strong aroma and thick sweetness. It did not really resemble what we had tasted in our cupping sessions or varied trips to famous coffee houses. Shocking indeed.
The Nicaragua was a dark sugar cup, a balanced roast which came out well in the vac pot, being my pick of his offerings. The 15% at the bottom of the label is Simon's rejection rate for the Nicaragua.
The 20% CoE espresso blend was nice and very clean but I have such bias against earthiness in coffees, I would love to replace that Java Jampit component with something else. It was however, on the level with Stumptown's hairbender in that it was ripe and had good fruit in the cup and a defined sweetness. It was brewed in the low 190'sF and pulled very ristretto making for what was a lingering sweet cup with a winey aftertaste and lacking in pronounced bitterness. Again, it was balanced but complex with a heavy candied sweetness which seems to be Simon's signature style.
Go ahead and add meticulous sorting to our wish list along with fresher green and high grown coffees.
So you may be thinking about what zero defects means. There are obvious defects as pictured here via coffeeresearch.org. What we know is that Simon removes any obvious defects found but also sorts the coffee to a more even size and color consistency. This means cleaning a coffee up the hard way with some manual labor. When Simon says zero defects, he's not joking.
Simon can turn a bean up to five times sorting pre-roast and then once more post-roast to identify visible defects or what he determines as off beans that may ruin a cup. This is a very intense and dedicated way to get a better cup. As all searches for a better cup go, it's never easy. Sorting at the roasterie is something that would be cost prohibitive to almost everyone in our American industry beyond the fanatical home roaster. It is the home roaster who has little access to good green that this process is intriguing though because it appears that a little extra sorting could potentially clean up an otherwise funky coffee.
It is a very unique and somewhat extreme approach that at first you may be inclined to question. Rightfully so, but you should give it a go and see what he is looking at and attempt to contemplate the logic behind it a bit. There are two ways to do this. One, you have Simon do this for you and pay him well, plus shipping costs to achieve this. Two, you sit down and sort out some home roast. I suggest you do a high grade coffee like a CoE and compare it to a C-Grade Sumatra. Measure the throw away percent on both and report back to us on the results should you choose to accept this mission...
Image Courtesy of Jason Silberschlag
At first glance it would be easy to throw this out the window and say it's a bit crazy to do this. I think too many people in the industry are easily willing to ignore what others are doing without trying to understand the reasoning behind their choices. The logic may be flawed or it may be correct. Truth is, you don't know what the results are until you take the time and do the experiment for yourself.
Simon's exercise in sorting has a lesson to teach us. Sorting makes a difference. In fact, the simple exercise of sitting down and sorting a few rows of coffee will give you new perspective on exactly what defects are and how one bean can easily ruin a cup. Sort out the defects, roast them and cup them next to the sorted cup. You will then better understand what is causing each cup's components and then the mushrooms may not be so charming any more.
It's not a clean coffee rant today though. It's a question of what is in my cup and why does it taste the way it does? Can you identify the good as well as the bad? Equating input to output and identifying the causes of flavors in the cups is harder than you think.
Doing sorting is like an educational adventure. After a few episodes, you will appreciate the great lots which require less than 20% rejection rates while you will fall apart at the purchase of a green which has a 50%+ rejection rate. Something to think about next time you try any coffee.
As for Simon's coffees, we sampled a Nicaragua CoE#14, 20% CoE espresso Blend, and Idido Misty Valley Grade 1. That last one may strike you as odd for our crew but we have tried a few versions of this coffee in the US (though not Grade 1), so it was to be a comparison cup. It was a strange cup. Simon describes it as orange juice and that's pretty accurate. Not my personal choice of coffees though as I still cling to dreams about an aromatic washed Yirgacheffe that may someday resurface when our fermented Ethiopian naturals fascination ends...
All that aside, Simon achieved something I had not tasted before, previous versions of Misty Valley bordered on rank and pungent, almost rotten fruits at times ready to kick you in the face with their untamed intensity. This offering was balanced and persisted like a heavy perfume that weighed down my nostrils leaving a strong aroma and thick sweetness. It did not really resemble what we had tasted in our cupping sessions or varied trips to famous coffee houses. Shocking indeed.
The Nicaragua was a dark sugar cup, a balanced roast which came out well in the vac pot, being my pick of his offerings. The 15% at the bottom of the label is Simon's rejection rate for the Nicaragua.
The 20% CoE espresso blend was nice and very clean but I have such bias against earthiness in coffees, I would love to replace that Java Jampit component with something else. It was however, on the level with Stumptown's hairbender in that it was ripe and had good fruit in the cup and a defined sweetness. It was brewed in the low 190'sF and pulled very ristretto making for what was a lingering sweet cup with a winey aftertaste and lacking in pronounced bitterness. Again, it was balanced but complex with a heavy candied sweetness which seems to be Simon's signature style.
Go ahead and add meticulous sorting to our wish list along with fresher green and high grown coffees.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Cupping coffee clubs
Cupping coffee is one of the things I enjoy most. To cup is divine. In truth, it could be Tea or anything in the cup and if the flavor is there I would be happy.
Cupping is traditionally something you do when evaluating coffees in a professional capacity. Many of the best barista I know spend extra time and money cupping outside of work to build a better palate and understanding.
When I sit down for a cupping, it's largely a group of friends getting together to evaluate a coffee and enjoy it. That's not the norm but I think more people should consider this type of event. A coffee club if you will.
I think Ben originally called our group the Saturday Afternoon Coffee Club but that was a long time ago. A lot of faces came and went. In the end, we tightened up and had a small group of us who were really serious and no nonsense.
It doesn't need to be serious though and it can just be fun.
Photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
Coffee can be fun but you have to distance yourself from the personal nature of the business. Inviting someone who works at a company to bring their own coffee to cup is not a good idea. If the invites don't keep an open mind, you can end up with someone who simply critiques everything but their own products.
When I was in Guatemala though, I got a big reminder of the joy of cupping.
Edwin fetched us all personal cupping spoons, looney toons and the likes. it was a statement made unintentional. We were not the rock stars or the big egos, just the coffee people. No silver spoon, just ready to try something new.
Some of the joy gets sucked out of coffee when people become unwilling to see other perspectives. A lesson I took away from the trip is appreciation for others and their views. The flip side is that it left me with a bit to chew against the myopic and narrow minded people in the business.
All that aside, cupping an amazing coffee with a group of friends is great fun. We will be looking to get together with some of our local buddies and tap some old friends soon. It's time to start doing something and culture a bigger community.
Ideas or participants welcome...
Photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
Cupping is traditionally something you do when evaluating coffees in a professional capacity. Many of the best barista I know spend extra time and money cupping outside of work to build a better palate and understanding.
When I sit down for a cupping, it's largely a group of friends getting together to evaluate a coffee and enjoy it. That's not the norm but I think more people should consider this type of event. A coffee club if you will.
I think Ben originally called our group the Saturday Afternoon Coffee Club but that was a long time ago. A lot of faces came and went. In the end, we tightened up and had a small group of us who were really serious and no nonsense.
It doesn't need to be serious though and it can just be fun.
Photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
Coffee can be fun but you have to distance yourself from the personal nature of the business. Inviting someone who works at a company to bring their own coffee to cup is not a good idea. If the invites don't keep an open mind, you can end up with someone who simply critiques everything but their own products.
When I was in Guatemala though, I got a big reminder of the joy of cupping.
Edwin fetched us all personal cupping spoons, looney toons and the likes. it was a statement made unintentional. We were not the rock stars or the big egos, just the coffee people. No silver spoon, just ready to try something new.
Some of the joy gets sucked out of coffee when people become unwilling to see other perspectives. A lesson I took away from the trip is appreciation for others and their views. The flip side is that it left me with a bit to chew against the myopic and narrow minded people in the business.
All that aside, cupping an amazing coffee with a group of friends is great fun. We will be looking to get together with some of our local buddies and tap some old friends soon. It's time to start doing something and culture a bigger community.
Ideas or participants welcome...
Photo courtesy of Gabe Rodriguez
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Sugars in coffee
Trust me on this. Sugars mean a lot more than you may realize in coffee. They are an incredibly complex topic when you approach them and especially as it relates to flavor formation in roasted coffee.
I did a little research a while back on sugars in roasted coffee. I found out shortly thereafter that others had already done this research quite thoroughly but it was largely ignored by our coffee community. Still, for a small amount of time invested and a little money invested in Benedict's Solution, you can easily determine for yourself where and when measurable sugars disappear in your own roasts and begin again in that search for peak sweetness with more knowledge.
You are wondering what I mean by disappear?
So you are thinking what makes coffee sweet?
Then you are thinking, is roasted coffee actually sweet?
That's the tricky part. All green coffee has sugar but not all roasted coffees have easily measurable amounts of sugar(I was only measuring reducing sugars anyway.) Some times in roasted coffees we taste sweet because the coffees do have measurable sugar content (a lot rarer than you think). A lot of the time it is simply a combination of chemicals that gives us the 'perception of sweet'. According to Coffee Flavor Chemistry
, there are a multitude of chemicals in coffee that create a sweet or ethereal like sweet perception on the palate. So sweet isn't likely from sugars but sometimes it may be...
You can see where I began to have one of those turning points again.
It was our early cupping notes that led us to believe that fruity coffees were perceived as sweeter and that chocolate heavy roast coffees were not 'sweet' simply because the roast obscured that perception. We thought that the bitters of these darker roasts were obscuring the perception of sweet rather than it being a case where there were no actual sugars present in the darker roast. We did not know there was any possibility of measurable sugar in roasted coffee at the time. We turned a corner when we discovered this new layer of complexity.
I entirely re-thought my use of the term sweet and have been trying to establish what it really means now. I'm still working on it. The results were just one more thing that made me reconsider the whole running conversation on coffee.
When I did my research, I found something quite interesting. You can still measure sugar content in a rare few roasts, but as they get darker in roast, there is a point where no more sugar is easily measurable for each specific coffee.
Some green are much sweeter than others, but that would take a lot of research to really define so we must rely on our observation and what is commonly held as facts about different processing methods. Simply the fact that some coffees which should have more sugar content because of their processing method would be darker roasted to cover the defects of that same processing leave the entire picture very muddy.
The simple answer is 'there is no simple answer in coffee and be wary of those who offer them!'
In fact, the sweetest coffee I measured was the production roast of Terroir's Kenya Mamuto(a big reason in not offering detailed results publicly). Not exactly a chocolate and caramel coffee, Mamuto's a medium roasted fruit heavy coffee. I found that my results were tied to one roast profile and therefore only pertinent to that profile from that roaster. A radically different roast profile, even to the same visible color may yield much different results. The processing methods (obviously) seemed the key to sweetness paired with the level of roast. This is to say, there is no magic point I can refer to and say there, that's the point you killed the coffee or likewise, that's where it's always going to have the most sugar.
What does all that mean? I am still pondering it and I have little to offer but more questions. I encourage everyone to do the research themselves and find that point in the roast where the sugars die and correlate that to something in the cupping notes. Don't take my word for it, invest your time and effort into it and find your solution for your own roast style.
The topic is too overwhelming and requires too much investment for me to give one size fits all answers.
I would suggest this however...
Moderation, don't over roast it, and always be willing to scrap the profile and to look for something new and different... especially when the coffee is good enough!
Always do the research and don't just take some one's word for it. There is plenty more to coffee than what we see on the surface. Whether it be that nifty black light for sorting green or a little Benedict's for sugar research, do your own research on everything and you may find something amazing all your own.
I did a little research a while back on sugars in roasted coffee. I found out shortly thereafter that others had already done this research quite thoroughly but it was largely ignored by our coffee community. Still, for a small amount of time invested and a little money invested in Benedict's Solution, you can easily determine for yourself where and when measurable sugars disappear in your own roasts and begin again in that search for peak sweetness with more knowledge.
You are wondering what I mean by disappear?
So you are thinking what makes coffee sweet?
Then you are thinking, is roasted coffee actually sweet?
That's the tricky part. All green coffee has sugar but not all roasted coffees have easily measurable amounts of sugar(I was only measuring reducing sugars anyway.) Some times in roasted coffees we taste sweet because the coffees do have measurable sugar content (a lot rarer than you think). A lot of the time it is simply a combination of chemicals that gives us the 'perception of sweet'. According to Coffee Flavor Chemistry
, there are a multitude of chemicals in coffee that create a sweet or ethereal like sweet perception on the palate. So sweet isn't likely from sugars but sometimes it may be... You can see where I began to have one of those turning points again.
It was our early cupping notes that led us to believe that fruity coffees were perceived as sweeter and that chocolate heavy roast coffees were not 'sweet' simply because the roast obscured that perception. We thought that the bitters of these darker roasts were obscuring the perception of sweet rather than it being a case where there were no actual sugars present in the darker roast. We did not know there was any possibility of measurable sugar in roasted coffee at the time. We turned a corner when we discovered this new layer of complexity.
I entirely re-thought my use of the term sweet and have been trying to establish what it really means now. I'm still working on it. The results were just one more thing that made me reconsider the whole running conversation on coffee.
When I did my research, I found something quite interesting. You can still measure sugar content in a rare few roasts, but as they get darker in roast, there is a point where no more sugar is easily measurable for each specific coffee.
Some green are much sweeter than others, but that would take a lot of research to really define so we must rely on our observation and what is commonly held as facts about different processing methods. Simply the fact that some coffees which should have more sugar content because of their processing method would be darker roasted to cover the defects of that same processing leave the entire picture very muddy.
The simple answer is 'there is no simple answer in coffee and be wary of those who offer them!'
In fact, the sweetest coffee I measured was the production roast of Terroir's Kenya Mamuto(a big reason in not offering detailed results publicly). Not exactly a chocolate and caramel coffee, Mamuto's a medium roasted fruit heavy coffee. I found that my results were tied to one roast profile and therefore only pertinent to that profile from that roaster. A radically different roast profile, even to the same visible color may yield much different results. The processing methods (obviously) seemed the key to sweetness paired with the level of roast. This is to say, there is no magic point I can refer to and say there, that's the point you killed the coffee or likewise, that's where it's always going to have the most sugar.
What does all that mean? I am still pondering it and I have little to offer but more questions. I encourage everyone to do the research themselves and find that point in the roast where the sugars die and correlate that to something in the cupping notes. Don't take my word for it, invest your time and effort into it and find your solution for your own roast style.
The topic is too overwhelming and requires too much investment for me to give one size fits all answers.
I would suggest this however...
Moderation, don't over roast it, and always be willing to scrap the profile and to look for something new and different... especially when the coffee is good enough!
Always do the research and don't just take some one's word for it. There is plenty more to coffee than what we see on the surface. Whether it be that nifty black light for sorting green or a little Benedict's for sugar research, do your own research on everything and you may find something amazing all your own.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Edwin Martinez on fermentation: The critical point in processing
Photo Courtesy of Edwin Martinez
"The above picture remains in my opinion the start of what is ultimately the critical point for most estates in Guatemala, be it 1/4 of an acre or a few thousand acres. It is in my opinion quite an achievement in the development of coffee (particularly for a country that is so much smaller than Colombia or Brazil) to have such a high level of consistency and quality control exercised by all even the smallest growers who have less than 1/4 of an acre. The conflict with fermentation is that if one crosses the line and goes too far, the coffee is ruined as “over fermentation” is in fact the worst and most identifiable defect." -Edwin Martinez
Read the full discussion here
Edwin's recent post on fermentation gives great insight into this process and his undeniable commitment to quality while his recent gutsy post on the professionals only coffee forum coffeed.com showed his intense commitment and dedication to the betterment of his community.
Fermentation is a touchy subject, but it really needs to be addressed and people really need be made aware of just how much labor, skill, water quality issues, and costs are associated with a good washed process coffee when compared with traditional naturals.
Edwin adds, "These topics aren’t for those who want to look over and see what the next guy is doing rather (it's) for those who want to define the cutting edge and are willing to go out on a limb risking falling on (their) face in the genuine pursuit of excellence." We agree, and believe those are the topics we want to cover and see others cover in the future but are very curious who the rookies are that Edwin speaks of!
A whole-hearted Barismo.com crew endorsement of Edwin "commit to excellence and quality with out compromise" Martinez as he is quickly rising the ladder to the top of our coffee champions list.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Green coffee ages but what does that mean?
Stale: Having lost freshness, effervescence, or palatability.
Is it that simple for your green coffee? Is it possible that over time, something changes, and your coffee can lose it's flavor even before it is roasted?
The answer is surprisingly complex. In fact, to what level could depend completely on the coffee itself and the original flavors present. There is most definitely no catch all answer. Some coffees may show this "agey" flavor change whereas others may not show perceivable age. The important part in analyzing this is roasting in a way that you can perceive a difference. The one thing that is certain is that 'something' is changing whether we can perceive it or not.
Chemical and structural changes happen over time in storage that have been well documented. Temperature, humidity, and light seem be the things that can expedite those changes. It should be a given that exposure to chemical agents, molds, and other contaminants should be avoided but these can also contribute to biodegradability.
George Howell has pointed to lignins previously as proof of the biodegradability of coffee seeds. Lignin is a biodegradable plant material that is hydrophobic. This means it is water resistant and resists pathogens entering or possibly flavors escaping while acting like a glue binding the seed together. Coffee seeds are very waxy, so it really brings up the question of how hydroscopic the coffee is in the green state and what part that plays into the flavor changes. Lignins are only about 2% of the total coffee mass so it remains to be seen if this 'glue' is the sole culprit in bean decomposition or plays a part along with volatile flavor components that may escape over time.
What is truly curious is the relationship between sugars and how flavors form as well as the overwhelming topic of moisture content. Sugars are increasingly interesting according to the research on low molecular weight sugars in green and roasted coffee collected in Ivon Flament's 'Coffee Flavor Chemistry.' Poor storage was believed to result in an increase of glucose which correlated with a marked increase in woody/rubbery notes in the coffee. There was also an increase in water content during the same period, so it remains that moisture content of the bean is an easier measure of green quality than a quantitative sugar analysis. Storage in tropical temperatures (such as at origin) can even induce chemical changes such as the Maillard reaction in the green coffee.
So what does that tell you food scientists?
There are changes in coffee in the time it is stored that need to be addressed by expedited shipping, better storage method, and possibly freezing green.
Is that conclusive proof that we should all start flying coffee from origin and freezing green? No. What it points to is that we need to set up conditions where we can do a qualitative analysis of the changes coffees in storage go through and continue pursuing the upgrades you see from pioneers like Daterra Farm in bagging.
From a recent experiment we did with a CoE quality green stored in air conditioned storage and one frozen over the last year, we had a very stark contrast in the two. The differences we have noted are that floral citrus notes in wp centrals, wp Yirgs, and clean Kenyas appear to disappear over time to be replaced with a woodsy dull lifeless note and an unpleasant wheat or barley flavor. Aromatics disappear first, followed by changes in the citrus notes. Naturals turn quickly from the soft over ripe fruit into very muddy rotten fruit flavors over time in storage. We don't have enough notes on controlled dry process to state definitively what is changing.
Those are just our evaluations and this is a challenge to roasters to make their own evaluations and share their observations. Keep in mind that if the green quality isn't already very high, you may not notice the changes. This is not something to invest in your Sumatra at $1/lb but might make sense for that $20/lb CoE Guatemala.
Point being, if you paid a lot for this coffee, you should research keeping it in it's best shape as long as possible whether you are a professional roaster or the home variety.
Is it that simple for your green coffee? Is it possible that over time, something changes, and your coffee can lose it's flavor even before it is roasted?
The answer is surprisingly complex. In fact, to what level could depend completely on the coffee itself and the original flavors present. There is most definitely no catch all answer. Some coffees may show this "agey" flavor change whereas others may not show perceivable age. The important part in analyzing this is roasting in a way that you can perceive a difference. The one thing that is certain is that 'something' is changing whether we can perceive it or not.
Chemical and structural changes happen over time in storage that have been well documented. Temperature, humidity, and light seem be the things that can expedite those changes. It should be a given that exposure to chemical agents, molds, and other contaminants should be avoided but these can also contribute to biodegradability.
George Howell has pointed to lignins previously as proof of the biodegradability of coffee seeds. Lignin is a biodegradable plant material that is hydrophobic. This means it is water resistant and resists pathogens entering or possibly flavors escaping while acting like a glue binding the seed together. Coffee seeds are very waxy, so it really brings up the question of how hydroscopic the coffee is in the green state and what part that plays into the flavor changes. Lignins are only about 2% of the total coffee mass so it remains to be seen if this 'glue' is the sole culprit in bean decomposition or plays a part along with volatile flavor components that may escape over time.
What is truly curious is the relationship between sugars and how flavors form as well as the overwhelming topic of moisture content. Sugars are increasingly interesting according to the research on low molecular weight sugars in green and roasted coffee collected in Ivon Flament's 'Coffee Flavor Chemistry
.' Poor storage was believed to result in an increase of glucose which correlated with a marked increase in woody/rubbery notes in the coffee. There was also an increase in water content during the same period, so it remains that moisture content of the bean is an easier measure of green quality than a quantitative sugar analysis. Storage in tropical temperatures (such as at origin) can even induce chemical changes such as the Maillard reaction in the green coffee.So what does that tell you food scientists?
There are changes in coffee in the time it is stored that need to be addressed by expedited shipping, better storage method, and possibly freezing green.
Is that conclusive proof that we should all start flying coffee from origin and freezing green? No. What it points to is that we need to set up conditions where we can do a qualitative analysis of the changes coffees in storage go through and continue pursuing the upgrades you see from pioneers like Daterra Farm in bagging.
From a recent experiment we did with a CoE quality green stored in air conditioned storage and one frozen over the last year, we had a very stark contrast in the two. The differences we have noted are that floral citrus notes in wp centrals, wp Yirgs, and clean Kenyas appear to disappear over time to be replaced with a woodsy dull lifeless note and an unpleasant wheat or barley flavor. Aromatics disappear first, followed by changes in the citrus notes. Naturals turn quickly from the soft over ripe fruit into very muddy rotten fruit flavors over time in storage. We don't have enough notes on controlled dry process to state definitively what is changing.
Those are just our evaluations and this is a challenge to roasters to make their own evaluations and share their observations. Keep in mind that if the green quality isn't already very high, you may not notice the changes. This is not something to invest in your Sumatra at $1/lb but might make sense for that $20/lb CoE Guatemala.
Point being, if you paid a lot for this coffee, you should research keeping it in it's best shape as long as possible whether you are a professional roaster or the home variety.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Finca Vista Hermosa via Brown Coffee Co
"The lot that Aaron (Brown Coffee Co.) has I believe is from El Eden which means Eden. I think it was my aunt Delmi that gave this parcel it's name after the Garden of Eden in the Bible because it has two springs on it that yield 2 creeks that end up merging and it reminded her of the Tigris and Euphrates river in the middle east that is supposedly where the garden of Eden was. It is very very steep, but has great trees (non coffee) and of course the water and great partial exposure as it is it's own mini ridge...
This was 1 of 3 lots that Anacafe Awarded (the Martinez Family) earlier this year granting (them) the lock on this years supply to Ancafe for what they use to promote the region of Huehue with around the world at trade shows and such." - Edwin Martinez of Finca Vista Hermosa
When we first cupped this coffee, we were largely interested in why it was so even and how it was so clean. It seemed that for this price, this coffee was a heck of a steal. It was so evenly sorted and so few visible defects that we couldn't believe the price. When I got the low down from Edwin, the quality we were seeing made sense. The coffee is solid because it comes from an area with potentially good terroir and they must take care of it in processing.
We cupped this coffee and got a satisfying experience. It was clean and sweet, the roast smoothed out and the cup clarified as it began to cool.
The cupping notes yielded a light layer of roast cocoa, mineral notes, dark sugar, and clean fruit toned acidity underneath. The coffee could go lighter because of it's quality, but I would not enjoy darker. The roast was part of the flavor balance and did not overwhelm the origin flavors allowing them to show through.
Making a snap judgement on this coffee was hard, but it really seemed I preferred the clarity of filter over french press in this case. The 'El Eden' was very representative of what I have come to associate with the good flavor characters of the Huehuetenango region of Guatemala and I will probably sample it again in the future.
Friday, December 08, 2006
First look at Paradise Roasters
"FINCA HARTMANN is a small family farm owned and operated by Ratibor Hartmann and his sons and daughter. The land use is predominantly shade-grown coffee, under towering remnant rainforest trees, and intact pre-montane highland forest that serves as a buffer zone to Parque Internacional La Amistad. At elevations between 4000-6000ft there are a number of accessible dirt roads that pass through many habitat types that are excellent for birding, hiking, and exploring. The family is very supportive of conservation and research and often has Smithsonian affiliated researchers living and working on the land." - Paradise Coffee Roasters
A nice even roast that was clean and balanced and let the coffee speak for itself.
This is not a love letter to a coffee. This is about a roaster letting the coffee speak for itself.
In the last week I have been pleasantly suprised by offerings we sampled from Paradise and Brown Coffee Co(more to follow on Brown). Solid coffees where the roaster had a soft touch.
This Panama had that signature flavor you would associate with it's origin. Good terroir, if you will... It was pleasant and had a dark sugar sweetness. The roaster, Miguel Meza, did a great job on all the offerings we had. It really came down to personal preference in terms of the bean choices though. I didn't like the dry processed SOE Yirgacheffe, but it was honestly the most balanced 'strawberry' ferment(almost cherry-like though there was a lot of debate about potential blueberry!) I have tasted in a Yirg. I just don't enjoy that level of ferment in any coffee. A hell of a statement actually, where I didn't have to bemoan the lack of clarity in the roast and could just look at what I liked/disliked about the bean. When you have sourced from as many roasters as we have, this is refreshing to find.
Meza has this very round and soft flavor profile that leaves a very velvet texture to the coffee, even in drip. Kudos to Miguel Meza, we will be ordering some more in the future!
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Definition: Grand Cru
'In theory, and many times in practice, vineyards are designated "grand cru" (literally, "great growth") when they have shown the highest potential for greatness. It is emphatically not a classification of wine quality per se, but rather the potential of the site. An underachieving winemaker can easily make characterless wine from outstanding terroir, and a conscientious one can make a superior wine from a less-favored site. To help increase the quality of grand cru wines, they typically have the lowest maximum yields...' Source wikipedia.org
I heard this term being thrown around a lot and I thought it might be a good idea to explain it a bit. Grand Cru relates to terroir, so you might want to plow through the terroir article. If not, the simple of it is that the farm lots with the highest potential and best terroir can be considered Grand Cru. This applies to coffee most often when you see the term Grand Cru Kenya thrown around. You could however use the term to describe any agricultural site with great potential in wine, coffee, or even in teas.
The Cru classes have their roots when, in 1855 Emperor of France, Napoleon III ordered the chamber of commerce to set up a classification system for the most famous wine estates.
According to the 1855 Bourdeux classifications, below grand cru are premier cru, deuxièmes cru, troisièmes cru, quatrièmes crus, cinqièmes crus, and finally cru bourgeois.
I heard this term being thrown around a lot and I thought it might be a good idea to explain it a bit. Grand Cru relates to terroir, so you might want to plow through the terroir article. If not, the simple of it is that the farm lots with the highest potential and best terroir can be considered Grand Cru. This applies to coffee most often when you see the term Grand Cru Kenya thrown around. You could however use the term to describe any agricultural site with great potential in wine, coffee, or even in teas.
The Cru classes have their roots when, in 1855 Emperor of France, Napoleon III ordered the chamber of commerce to set up a classification system for the most famous wine estates.
According to the 1855 Bourdeux classifications, below grand cru are premier cru, deuxièmes cru, troisièmes cru, quatrièmes crus, cinqièmes crus, and finally cru bourgeois.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Coffee and terroir:
The 'Somewhereness' of the seed
Originally uploaded by asteri design.
Terroir in a direct translation from French yields us simply 'earth' or 'land.' The basic interpretation of this is to say that a product has a distinct association with the land on which it was produced. Stating that the product is representative of it's origins would be the same as saying a product is expressing it's terroir. The term is difficult when trying to apply this to coffee or tea given the disagreements over the specific definition of this topic in wine.
The most simplistic definition of terroir I came across in my research was simply that terroir is a 'sense of place' that a product has. The terroir of a coffee is very broadly defined as the site or region influences that cumulatively give the coffee an attachment to it's origins. It is not simply the taste of earth but all the contributing factors therein that add to flavor. There are two ways the term terroir is approached in wine from which we draw parallels, but we first must have a better understanding of French culture and the approach they have to terroir in not just wine, but an array of products not limited to only the agricultural ones.
The French approach terroir as a philosophy in life. The love of dining and appreciation for local farmer's markets along with a focus on fresh ingredients are important to the French food culture. To the French, terroir seems to be applicable to any product, even clothing, which exemplifies the unique characteristics of a specific area. The traditions or methods of production can be added to the unique (soil, geography, climate) and physical(minerals, soil acidity, etc.) characters of that producing region in describing the product's terroir.
Much like Champagne is only truly a Champagne if produced in the Champagne region of France, this is the predominant view of terroir. The attitude is to preserve this uniqueness where in some cases it may not be viewed as desirable. In France it appears that saying something has terroir is to say that it represents where it was produced well.
The French focus is very much based on the importance of where it was grown over what varietal is used or the producer. The French love of terroir has worked to produce both quality and diversity in the French food, wine, and cheese market. In essence, the opposite to the mass produced commodity cultures you see in other countries.
There are two approaches to the concept terroir we must be aware of. The Old World approach and the New World approach.
The Old World approach is simply the previously mentioned French approach to terroir. To say, in wine specifically, that the flavor of the cup comes from the soil, geology, aspect, altitude, and other factors. An example is to draw a direct corollary between the flavor and the inputs from the soil. This would be to say that since this tastes of mineral and there is strong mineral content in the soil therefore it must be associated and therefore preserved. Each areas unique character is presented in the cup. It could be stated that Old World philosophy is more about restrictions placed on the product to achieve a specific representative quality much like AOC. In essence, the French label would focus on the growing region over the varietal or producer. For example, the French would say it is not a Pinot Noir produced in Burgundy but rather it is a Burgundy that happens to be made of Pino Noir.
New World philosophy seems predominantly based on viewing all the inputs as part of quality. They aim to use the terroir of the region to achieve a product they deem more quality. This is to say, they break down their lots into similar producing groups and attempt to achieve something of greater ripeness and evenness. Terroir is in essence an approach to quality in where defined standards are not traditional defined for the producing regions. The focus leans on the varietal used and not so much on the region. A means to an end if you will, where preservation of the traditions is not such a defining factor.
Applying terroir to coffee is very difficult to understand and this is why I have undertaken this project. Since the term is being thrown around a lot these days in the coffee cognesceti(as one roaster put's it), I feel it's time to begin thinking about this and research it more. Once we can begin to comprehend the term terroir, you begin to see how it is applicable in quality coffee. Silas believes the closest approach in Tea is that of Biodynamic teas, but that's an article for him to write.
Now, when someone speaks about the terroir of this coffee, you will understand what they are saying. Next time you are at your local roaster and they say, 'This is an exemplary Kenya, very expressive of what a good Kenya coffee should be!' Once tasting it, to agree your response could be, 'Yes, I see the terroir in that coffee!'
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Coffee: Repeating that great experience
The romance of your first great cup and getting back to that feeling. Be it coffee, tea, or wine, this is what we are searching for. That one defining moment where everything is beautiful and the cup was glorious. It could have been the moment, the people you were with, or simply the lack of a good cup in a long time. The problem is repeating the 'in the cup variables' of that great experience are a lot harder than we would like and we need to do something about that.
There are plenty of great drinks out there to be had right now. The wine and liquor industry has a long established pyramid of quality in which at any point there is a unique experience waiting to be found. Coffee though, is still finding it's own quality pyramid and we don't really have a handle on how many great coffees are out there or what prices are fair. In fact, so few people have had the truly great coffees, it's often very hard to relate paying for a great cup. There is very little perception in the general public of what great coffee can be right now. If you do manage to find that great defining cup, the very real problem arises that we want it again.
In essence, the great drip coffees are somewhat like bottles of wine. Taking a simplistic look, they are typically similar for each year's crop from the same area or same lot. There can be inconsistencies from roast to roast in the coffee, but the ability to repeat the experience with the right roaster exists. The irony of typing this is one amazing coffee experience I had this year literally yielded me a single good bag while the rest were far less than amazing. With that said, your 'top of the top' drip coffees are typically easier to prepare and will likely yield more consistent bang of the buck than that high grade espresso.
If we do venture into espresso, that's where it gets tricky because espresso is not like wine. Espresso is really like a bottle of those more expensive single barrel Bourbons. You really only know what you will get from batch to batch and it's the intensity that is at the root of the drink. One week, the coffee's roast may be a tiny bit darker and your espresso may have more chocolate flavors, the next, it may be lighter citrus. This is the nature of espresso. While it may magnify all those delightful flavors, it also magnifies any tiny change in the roast. This means it is in constant flux and the Barista needs to adjust.
All this makes coffee a very frustrating product for even the best trained and obsessive Barista. While the Barista is constantly adjusting and attempting to compensate for every little detail, the consumer just really wants to repeat that experience. They want to come in every time and get the beautiful cappa or perfume Yirgacheffe with no excuses. That's easier said than done, but it shouldn't be so hard.
After all the issues with consistency and repeatability, I still feel that espresso has the greatest untapped potential, because there are so few cafes that exist which simply pull acceptable shots of a decent grade espresso much less great shots that qualify as culinary experiences. Aside from those hurdles, the great redeeming factor in espresso is that the intensity makes the flavors obvious to even a beginner. A great Barista can call their shot and the customer will be simply wowed or at least go 'I get it'. Imagine walking into a shop and hearing 'This is a Brazil Daterra Reserve 2004, you should get a creamy sweet buttery almond flavor.' That's rarefied air though and only a few shops in North America have this caliber of Barista.
Today's great coffee experiences will only be shadows when compared to our future experiences as long as we continue to move forward. What I thought was great only a year ago is sad in comparison to what I have today and what I find tomorrow may overshadow it all. We will keep looking for that great cafe Barista to show me the way, but in the meantime, I will nurse a good french press of a nice coffee assuming I get that good bag!
There are plenty of great drinks out there to be had right now. The wine and liquor industry has a long established pyramid of quality in which at any point there is a unique experience waiting to be found. Coffee though, is still finding it's own quality pyramid and we don't really have a handle on how many great coffees are out there or what prices are fair. In fact, so few people have had the truly great coffees, it's often very hard to relate paying for a great cup. There is very little perception in the general public of what great coffee can be right now. If you do manage to find that great defining cup, the very real problem arises that we want it again.
In essence, the great drip coffees are somewhat like bottles of wine. Taking a simplistic look, they are typically similar for each year's crop from the same area or same lot. There can be inconsistencies from roast to roast in the coffee, but the ability to repeat the experience with the right roaster exists. The irony of typing this is one amazing coffee experience I had this year literally yielded me a single good bag while the rest were far less than amazing. With that said, your 'top of the top' drip coffees are typically easier to prepare and will likely yield more consistent bang of the buck than that high grade espresso.
If we do venture into espresso, that's where it gets tricky because espresso is not like wine. Espresso is really like a bottle of those more expensive single barrel Bourbons. You really only know what you will get from batch to batch and it's the intensity that is at the root of the drink. One week, the coffee's roast may be a tiny bit darker and your espresso may have more chocolate flavors, the next, it may be lighter citrus. This is the nature of espresso. While it may magnify all those delightful flavors, it also magnifies any tiny change in the roast. This means it is in constant flux and the Barista needs to adjust.
All this makes coffee a very frustrating product for even the best trained and obsessive Barista. While the Barista is constantly adjusting and attempting to compensate for every little detail, the consumer just really wants to repeat that experience. They want to come in every time and get the beautiful cappa or perfume Yirgacheffe with no excuses. That's easier said than done, but it shouldn't be so hard.
After all the issues with consistency and repeatability, I still feel that espresso has the greatest untapped potential, because there are so few cafes that exist which simply pull acceptable shots of a decent grade espresso much less great shots that qualify as culinary experiences. Aside from those hurdles, the great redeeming factor in espresso is that the intensity makes the flavors obvious to even a beginner. A great Barista can call their shot and the customer will be simply wowed or at least go 'I get it'. Imagine walking into a shop and hearing 'This is a Brazil Daterra Reserve 2004, you should get a creamy sweet buttery almond flavor.' That's rarefied air though and only a few shops in North America have this caliber of Barista.
Today's great coffee experiences will only be shadows when compared to our future experiences as long as we continue to move forward. What I thought was great only a year ago is sad in comparison to what I have today and what I find tomorrow may overshadow it all. We will keep looking for that great cafe Barista to show me the way, but in the meantime, I will nurse a good french press of a nice coffee assuming I get that good bag!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Tea and coffee: Can I afford the great ones?
Photo of very expensive tea by Ben Kaminsky
We typically don't drink good tea in North America. I know Americans don't drink very much good coffee either. The real question is do we have access to good examples of both?
If you want good coffee there are literally a handful of roasters in the US and then it becomes a roast preference to get those coffees roasted the way you like them. You will probably have to pay more for a freshly roasted coffee, spend more on the equipment to brew it, and put some energy into brewing it correctly, but you could find it and it would be affordable to most consumers. The most expensive coffees coming out of the Cup Of Excellence still break down to affordable per cup prices if you brew them at home. A pound of coffee produces a lot of cups making even a $20/lb bag steep but still affordable as a once in a while treat. Even as these microlots creep higher in price, we are still able to access them if we want to pay the price.
Pulling a double espresso for a milk drink(don't tell)
The problem with tea is it's a largely inaccessible market. Sure, we can all buy commodity grade tea bags or even pay a lot for a famous named tea, but those aren't the truly great ones. The great teas of Taiwan and mainland China don't make it to the American market. The price paid for them there is so high due to demand, we have little ability to buy them. What we do get is often stale or poorly processed remainders. Even if we had access, the top teas sell for such exorbitant prices, we would never even get a sniff! A competition grade tea in Taiwan of 300g recently sold for $15000. (yes, that's 15k) And to think we still complain about a $12/lb bag of decent coffee.
Photo of Oolong Tea by Ben Kaminsky
Right now, we can afford the great coffees coming out. Of course, all of this has little to do with your free refill diner coffee or that phony Starbucks black apron offering, but that Brazil for $50 a pound doesn't sound as unreasonable now. The truth though, is that good teas are much rarer than we like to admit. You can get great herbal teas but you get largely poor grade broken leaf teas for everything else.
Unless you've got a connection in Taiwan or China, it's going to be hard to get that mind blowing Oolong or high grade tea. Want a good coffee, browse the CoE buyers. Until someone truly taps the foreign markets for fresh picked high grade whole leaf teas, a lot for us will have to be content with cupping these CoE coffees. It's rough being a mouthwatering cupper.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Coffee Blog roll sound off...
- NORTH AMERICA -
A quick run down of the coffee blogs I read these days. There are many more out there that are great and amazing, but these are the people I follow enough or know well enough to discuss them on site.
Jason Haeger
The coffee fanatic. Jason lives in Buddy Holly country down in Lubbock Texas and is available for barista training if anybody in the area needs it. When Jason updates, there are often some good soul searching tidbits about what it's like to be a barista who really cares in a culture that doesn't... yet!
Chris Owens & Mike White
Chris Owens and Mike White of Gimme Coffee in Brooklyn, NY. I know Chris fairly well and have huge anticipation for what he will do in the future. He gets it in a way few people do. No suprise, since he was trained by former World Barista Champ Tim Wendelboe and what more can I say. His recent trip to the Nordic Barista cup is a good read(and the photos are primo too!).
- Part One
- Part Two
Matt Brinski
The 'Mile High' home user in Colorado. Brinsky has gone through the same evoloution as Jason, Chris, and our Barismo kids of finding out what all this 'flavor concept' stuff is. Origin flavors, finding the right volume and temp for each bean... Brinsky did it all alone with only Tacy's archive to work from and what he got from analytical observation and forum discussions.
When Brinksy does update, it's interesting.
Aaron Blanco
Aaron Blanco of Brown coffee company is roasting out of San Antonio, Texas. Aaron has a lot to say and has this intriguing idea of an all coffee bar. Using a clover brewer and all high end drip methods to give many beautiful coffees a stage. Coffee like wine in a way.
- the beautiful view
- a glimpse of the past. a picture of the future of coffee.
Steve Ford
Steve Ford, formerly of Blue Bottle in SF is now working with Andrew Barnett at Ecco. While this is Steve's blog, his real blog is the FlickR one. Steve is an avid photo hobbyist who takes a photo of every morning's cup of coffee. While the photos are cool, the commentary and introspection is better.
http://www.aldocoffee.com/event_calendar/index.html
Rich is the part owner of Aldo coffee in Mt. Lebanon, PA. You'll need to search throught the site to figure out what aldo means! Rich is a frequent updater who blogs about everything from the cafe floor to non coffee stuffs. Good reads and often a good chuckle or two in there if you read between the lines...
Daryn Berlin
Daryn Berlin is the account rep for Counter Culture Coffee in NC... The blog is more of a watching Daryn's coffee tree grow. How it got so big, I don't know... but it's worth the look.
Dwelltime
I was a big reader of Dwelltime back in the day when Nick Brown was manning the keyboard. These days this Vancouver BC blog is fairing just fine post NB. Hopefully Nick will spring some new coffee blogs in his Toronto location if he can find an outlet...
Other notables:
Chris Tacy - Now limited to Archives, an interesting read to follow if you have the time to read it from the beginning. BenC plans a best of Tacy at some point for Barismo.
Tonx Tony is a flickr junkie like Steve so keep an eye on the photos. The blog is largely archival right now but seems to have some recent life again as Tony gets closer to his new project.
A quick run down of the coffee blogs I read these days. There are many more out there that are great and amazing, but these are the people I follow enough or know well enough to discuss them on site.
The coffee fanatic. Jason lives in Buddy Holly country down in Lubbock Texas and is available for barista training if anybody in the area needs it. When Jason updates, there are often some good soul searching tidbits about what it's like to be a barista who really cares in a culture that doesn't... yet!
Chris Owens and Mike White of Gimme Coffee in Brooklyn, NY. I know Chris fairly well and have huge anticipation for what he will do in the future. He gets it in a way few people do. No suprise, since he was trained by former World Barista Champ Tim Wendelboe and what more can I say. His recent trip to the Nordic Barista cup is a good read(and the photos are primo too!).
- Part One
- Part Two
The 'Mile High' home user in Colorado. Brinsky has gone through the same evoloution as Jason, Chris, and our Barismo kids of finding out what all this 'flavor concept' stuff is. Origin flavors, finding the right volume and temp for each bean... Brinsky did it all alone with only Tacy's archive to work from and what he got from analytical observation and forum discussions.
When Brinksy does update, it's interesting.
Aaron Blanco of Brown coffee company is roasting out of San Antonio, Texas. Aaron has a lot to say and has this intriguing idea of an all coffee bar. Using a clover brewer and all high end drip methods to give many beautiful coffees a stage. Coffee like wine in a way.
- the beautiful view
- a glimpse of the past. a picture of the future of coffee.
Steve Ford, formerly of Blue Bottle in SF is now working with Andrew Barnett at Ecco. While this is Steve's blog, his real blog is the FlickR one. Steve is an avid photo hobbyist who takes a photo of every morning's cup of coffee. While the photos are cool, the commentary and introspection is better.
Rich is the part owner of Aldo coffee in Mt. Lebanon, PA. You'll need to search throught the site to figure out what aldo means! Rich is a frequent updater who blogs about everything from the cafe floor to non coffee stuffs. Good reads and often a good chuckle or two in there if you read between the lines...
Daryn Berlin is the account rep for Counter Culture Coffee in NC... The blog is more of a watching Daryn's coffee tree grow. How it got so big, I don't know... but it's worth the look.
I was a big reader of Dwelltime back in the day when Nick Brown was manning the keyboard. These days this Vancouver BC blog is fairing just fine post NB. Hopefully Nick will spring some new coffee blogs in his Toronto location if he can find an outlet...
Other notables:
Chris Tacy - Now limited to Archives, an interesting read to follow if you have the time to read it from the beginning. BenC plans a best of Tacy at some point for Barismo.
Tonx Tony is a flickr junkie like Steve so keep an eye on the photos. The blog is largely archival right now but seems to have some recent life again as Tony gets closer to his new project.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Why the North American cafe culture is a negative on coffee quality
We pull up to a table at the nearest cafe and nestle ourselves in with a 20oz to go cup of coffee flavored milk and sit. Content to settle in for a few hours of work. Comfortable watching all the others in the cafe sitting on their laptops, headphones on, happily typing away on study projects and work assignments. We just want a cheap tea or coffee that will justify our sitting in the cafe for hours on end, taking up space that the owner would surely love to have for other paying customers.
We should be ashamed of ourselves that this is what our cafe culture has come to. Isolated individuals who no longer converse and talk. Too easily irritated by the commotion around us. Impatient with the people behind the counter and complaining about the lack of ambiance. We miss out on great coffee experiences because the perception of cafe owners is that they will be over run with students or laptops so why pay more for good coffee? Why invest in training good barista? Why work on making the coffee prep consistent? Why buy the good equipment when the consumer will only douse their coffee with milk and sugar? They cynically believe consumers are a bunch of people who will come in and choose the cheapest menu item and pull up taking table space for as long as their conscience will allow. Many shop owners believe customers won't pay a nickel more for bettter coffee and they may be right in many cases.
The sword cuts both ways when we complain about the coffee or tea, realize that we, as the consumer share a fault in this. As long as we settle for less, we should expect only the minimum. The majority of us will miss out on great coffees coming out of the Cup of Excellence program. We will miss out on great barista who can pour and know tastes like a sommolier.
When it comes down to changing this, consumers need to see these tiny developing sections of coffee no longer as a commodity but as a true specialty that has nothing to do with syrups or chemical flavorings. These are the micro-lots of coffee that have distinct floral and naturally sweet flavors which need to be recognized as unique by themselves. Each region and microlot being distinct and unique in taste from the next.
When you demand to know the name of the farmer and the specific farm it comes from as well as it's growing climate and then begin to educate ourselves about what this means, we can begin to challenge things. We can demand the division of more auction lots of coffees into smaller lots too small for large commercial chain roasters but just right for artisan roasters who can focus on perfection of roast. We can get past burnt bitter over roasted coffees and defect laden under roasted grassy coffees to perfectly roasted ripe defect free coffees. We can learn to accept these disctinct coffees as quality experiences of flavor and not something based on volume or quantity. We can stop trying to get the most volume for the cheapest price and focus on the best tasting drink where caffeine is an afterthought. When we demand fresh ground, fresh brewed, AND fresh roasted(with dates), then we will see things begin to change.
When consumers and shop owners head in the direction that the Cup of Excellence is going, then the debate over what is good coffee will change from what goes good with milk to what flavors are inherent in a Grand Cru Kenya or is the Brazil CoE really worth $50/lb? That's a beautiful thought.
-Jaime
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