Tasting: Green Mountain’s Special Reserve Colombian Dos Quebradas

I’ll admit some prejudice—not altogether unwarranted—against Colombian coffee. Let’s face it, we’ve all been told for years now how Colombian coffee is mountain-grown; that only the ripest beans are picked by Juan Valdez (and his faithful little burro). And even while the Colombian Coffee Federation was feeding us this hugely successful marketing campaign they were rounding up beans from all over and carting them to vast processing mills and creating a single, homogeneous flavor profile. And we consumers were most all of us buying our 100% Colombian coffee—the best coffee in the world, mind you—pre-ground in its little red vacuum-packed can and we were satisfied, perhaps… if a little underwhelmed.

The campaign helped to create a market for single-origin coffee… still it failed to deliver on its promise. Today, Colombian coffee growers have some ground to cover—the very gap that their Federation created between our expectations of Colombian coffee, and our experience. And so, even while the latest incarnation of Juan Valdez smiles his mustachioed smile at us—Colombian coffee farmers are racing to discover the true flavors and identity of their beans, their growing regions and micro-climates. In Colombia, as elsewhere, the Cup of Excellence competition is proving a particularly effective vehicle for discovery.

When you cup the field of winners of the Colombian First Harvest Cup of Excellence and your gut reaction is—okay… so what else ya got?—you just might be a coffee snob.

Colombian coffees—even specialty-grade coffees—are rarely knock-your-socks-off kind of beans. The character of Colombian coffee is often described as “classic”... medium bodied, gently acidic, and mildly fruited. For a coffee snob, those descriptors can spell a code word that doesn’t require Dan Brown to cypher out: m-e-d-i-o-c-r-i-t-y. And to be perfectly candid, there were cups in this year’s field of jury-selected winners that struck me as altogether… mild. Soft flavors, acidity that offered monotoned, mostly-lemon brightness in a cup that, at this level, should offer technicolor.

Make no mistake, this year’s Colombian C.O.E. program offered some exceptional beans, with flavor profiles that ranged far and wide—beans you might mistake for a huge and winey Kenya, or a dusky chocolate Nicaraguan—and with an intensity of flavor and nuanced complexity that such a competition demands. The most remarkable cup of all, however—the cup I bid on at auction, and which Green Mountain now offers as its third Special Reserve selection—is one we very nearly disqualified.

A single bad bean—one that is under-ripe or overripe, one that’s been fermented too long or otherwise mishandled in processing—can ruin an entire pot of coffee. In cupping the Colombian C.O.E. we had five cups of each lot of coffee on the table… and one of the five samples cups for this lot had a flaw. A serious flaw. You could smell it. You could taste it. It was unmistakable, and perhaps unforgivable in competition… except that the four other cups from that particular farm were arguably the most exciting of all the coffees on the table.

In the end—after another round of cupping that proved entirely without flaws—it was learning more about the farmer of this coffee that won us over. Don Alonso Sevilla Zúñiga has grown coffee for more than 60 years. He treats his coffee with respect and patience, and manages his land carefully. So was it something of a risk to put this particular coffee—a coffee that may prove to be a little edgy —on our Special Reserve list? Absolutely. But the rewards immediately reveal themselves in the cup.

Green Mountain’s Special Reserve Colombian—named after Don Alonso’s farm in Pitalito, Dos Quebradas—is an exceptional, and exceptionally balanced coffee. It’s a lovely chestnut-hued bean, roasted just on the full side of City. Just ground it’s intensely fragrant of coffee flower, orange blossoms and sweet cedar, and while it brews it offers grace notes of caramel and green apple. Its body is round, its acidity is crisp and snappy—assured but not overpowering—while its flavors are a rich and complex compote of summer fruits; melon and pear while the cup is very warm, peach and apricot as it cools. Its finish is just as dynamic, as its lingering acidity fairly dances on the tongue.

Kudos to the coffee team at Green Mountain—Lindsey, Patty, Deb, Shannon and Ed—for taking a chance on this remarkable bean… and for sparking my own renewed respect and appreciation for “classic” Colombian coffee.

Source: Coffee & Commentary

Blending the Rules

In the latest issue of Roast Magazine, Willem Boot offers an article that in many ways echoes a post from Bloggle’s pre-history pages (and don’t miss the wayback machine version!) though he digs much deeper where I merely scratch the surface… and offers a much better ratio of hints and tips to irony and wisecracking. He’s a pro. ;)

One day I believed I had found the ideal marriage between three coffee types: Panama, India Mysore and Tanzania AA. Each component was roasted to its own distinct degree, and after blending the beans I brewed some regular drip filter, followed by a French press preparation. The blend was delicious; the refreshing acidity of the Panama and the nutty flavor tones of the India Mysore combined beautifully with the chocolate and berry notes of the Tanzania AA. When I tried to re-create the blend, I realized that I hadn’t kept any bean samples of the individual coffees, nor had I made any detailed notes during the roast process. Despite many frantic attempts, I have not been able to successfully craft my “phantom” blend again.

Doh! I hate it when that happens.
This is one of those bits of Roast’s writing that should be required reading for anybody who’s considering the possibilities of fire and green coffee beans, whether you’re a home-roaster or the proprietor of a coffee-house thinking of roasting your own.

Source: Coffee & Commentary

Summer Coolers

I’ve long been ambivalent of flavored coffees. I tend toward the naturally nuanced flavors of a single-origin cup, or the many-layered flavors of a well-balanced blend. So it feels like something of a dirty little secret to reveal that I’ve been drinking a lot of flavored coffees of late.

Sure, I could plead extrinsic circumstance; justify it in the name of research. I could, that is, if I hadn’t thoroughly enjoyed the experience. So here’s the whole truth — flavored coffees are a pretty nifty way to make refreshing summer iced coffee without sugar syrups and the calories and carbs they add to the mix. Add a cocktail shaker full of ice and some cow-juice (or for the Atkins inclined, heavy cream) and you’re on the fast track to a fiendishly frosty coffee concoction.

Coffee’s not just for breakfast any more… or the blustery days of winter, either. When the mercury climbs – or whatever that stuff is they put in thermometers today – all you need are a few handy tools and a little know-how and you can make easy and refreshing treats to see you through the summer heat.

The tools.
You may think you need a fancy blender to make a smooth iced coffee drink. Not so! Your author’s favorite drinks require little more than ice, coffee and some kind of leak proof container to shake ‘em up. Of course, there’s really no better tool for the job than a cocktail shaker… I like those that are made of durable, dishwasher-safe stainless steel, and feature a built-in strainer.
For drinks that are stirred, not shaken, you might also consider ice-cube trays. Even if you’ve got one of those automatic ice-maker gadgets in your freezer, the humble ice-cube tray has its uses… and one of those is to freeze coffee into cubes so that as the ice melts it doesn’t dilute your lovely iced coffee beverage.

The ingredients.
Iced coffee fairly screams for a bit of creamy dairy goodness (Vermont is a dairy state, after all) and—at your option—a little bit of sweetener. Having said that, you’ve got a lot of options… you can use skim milk, or heavy cream, or anything in-between. (Heavy cream often has carrageenan, a natural thickener, added to it to give it added body – this is especially nice in frozen coffee drinks.) As for the sweet stuff: sugar is fine, honey is heavenly, but calorie and carb-neutral sweetening products will work as well – sometimes better. (More about that in a moment.)

The basic technique.
Brew fresh coffee. This is important! Who wants to drink coffee that’s been left to cool (and loose its aromatics and flavor?) We like coffee that’s to be iced brewed strong… even double-strength. If you’re adding sweetener, add it to the just-brewed, hot coffee and stir to dissolve. Neither sugar nor honey are especially soluble in cold liquids (but many sugar substitutes are… you can add those directly to your cocktail shaker.)

Fill your cocktail shaker with ice. Don’t skimp… too little ice will leave you with a luke-warm, watery mix.

If you’re adding dairy products, pour them over the ice in the cocktail shaker. It’s a good idea all around to keep cold with cold until we’re ready to bring them all together.

Shake, shake, shake! Add your hot coffee to your cocktail shaker, top with its lid and shake vigorously, all at once rapidly chilling the hot coffee, mixing coffee, sweetener and dairy, and frothing the whole mixture. Shake for no less than ten seconds and rarely more than twenty.
Shaking done, simply strain your coffee concoction into a tall, cold glass – maybe even a classy martini glass or two – and enjoy.

Source: Coffee & Commentary

Columbian Medellin Excelso Bolivar Reivew

Here's the story this offering, proving that you can't choose good coffees by name or reputation: I had no intention of buying this coffee when I received the sample. Medellin is one of the three large growing areas in Colombia responsible for the majority of Colombian coffee that is pooled by bean size grade (eg Excelso). Medellins are usually not as fruity as the Popayans, and have a lighter body. Even the Huila/Caucas can be brighter in acidity, and hence more lively in the cup. I roasted a sample and let it sit there.

And as I walked past that sample all day, I picked up a bean and munched on it from time to time (I call it "caveman cupping" ...not reliable, not recommended). And each time I did that, I had a little burst of spicy flavor and a neat almond-cherry flavor. Since I had unceremoniously dumped the sample in a tray, not even bothering to mark it, I really was not sure what it was, but I knew it had great cup potential, and was a special coffee. The next day it dawned on me that it was the lowly Medellin Excelso sample, so I re-roasted it and cupped it.

I am not saying this is a penultament coffee, but this is excellent Colombian with a warm spice pungency and great body. And it's always fun to find a good cup from a simple undecorated pooled coffee lot. (When the coffee arrived I found it was a farm-specific coffee). It may seen to fly in the face of espresso-blending laws, but try an espresso made with 100% of this coffee ...it is excellent roasted just a bit into 2nd crack.

This coffee bean can be purchased from Juice & Java now.

Source: Sweet Maria's Coffee Cupping Reviews

Tasting: Uganda Bugisu Mbale

Pondering my coffee cup, my thoughts inevitably turn to the land where the coffee was grown. And when that land is locked in a civil struggle I’m frequently curious and wary… Who grew this coffee? Which side are they on? Which side is right? (That’s rarely an easy answer.) And most importantly, are my coffee dollars part of the problem, or a potential solution?

Uganda—five years since last mentioned here—is still a nation struggling for rule of law, for the safety of its children, for its identity and place on the world stage. Landlocked, Uganda is besieged by threats from without and within, and has been largely abandoned by most all of the world powers and much of Africa, too. There is no oil in Uganda (or there hasn’t been… it seems there’s some reserves only just discovered.) And so unlike the Middle East, instead of being on the brink of war Uganda is for two decades now on the brink of a peace that is always just out of reach.

The coffee-growing lands of Uganda—butted up against Mount Elgon in the east—have been spared much of the struggle that’s come to define the nation’s north. In fact, it seems the only struggle of late that matters to the folks of MBale centers around competing soccer clubs. That’s a healthy sign. So too is the continued success of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority. In Uganda, success remains a relative term… but it appears that coffee farmers and processors are, in fact, the beneficiaries of coffee dollars.

My last taste of Ugandan coffee came from the Bugisu cooperative. It was a striking cup—heavy bodied and, well… inspiring:

In the cup this is a deep, dark mysterious liquor. It’s muscular, musky and oozes languidly on the tongue. Its deeper tones are bitter chocolate, its high notes ripe fruit… very ripe. It’s slightly wild, rich, fat and funky. Not the fuzzy stuff of a monsooned Malabar—it’s far too smooth for that—but still it’s earthy and intense. The Bugisu has got the body of a Java, and while its finish is long and syrupy, it is decidedly not sweet.

Today’s Bugisu is now organic. Whether or not that comes into play in its flavors, it is less funky, somewhat more refined, but still a heady, rich and rustic cup. This lot offers a bit more fruit —a musky, tropical melon note. It’s still gentle on the acidity, and very, very round in the cup, and its finish has characteristics of a refined black tea. And still, it’s so very unlike its Kenyan neighbor it’s hard to imagine it’s grown just the other side of the mountain… and still a world away.

Recommended.
Available (green) at Sweet Maria’s.

Source: Coffee & Commentary

Want Decaf? Swish and Flick.

It reads like an invention of Hogwart’s own Professor Flitwick, but this magic wand appears real enough. Introducing… the decaffeinating swizzle stick.


The scientific innovation, called molecularly-imprinted polymers, or MIP, is applied and used on the surface of traditional coffee stirrers or cups. The stirrer or cup is coated with harmless molecular polymer beads that specifically attract caffeine molecules. As the consumer stirs the beverage, the caffeine molecules bind to the MIP-imprinted stirring sticks or MIP coated sides of the cup, rapidly reducing the levels of caffeine within the drink itself. The longer the consumer leaves the stirrer in the cup, the more caffeine is removed. With just a few swirls, caffeine can be reduced to up to 70 percent in most drinks

The Amazing decaffeinating swizzle stick

Incredible!

Source: Coffee & Commentary

The Coolest Brewer You Never Heard Of?

Bodum has done it again… in spite of themselves. The Bodum Mocca Brewer ups the ante on the traditional Italian stovetop espresso maker in much the same way that the eSantos Va Pot raised the bar for the traditional vacuum coffee maker. At the same time they’ve made such a mess of marketing the new brewer it’s a wonder they’re actually selling any of them. (I’ll get to that in a bit…)

You’re no doubt familiar with the Bialetti Stovetop Espresso Maker — you may know it as a moka pot — long the staple of little Italian grandmothers, everywhere. Dead simple and robustly made, it’s not unusual for these little coffee makers to be handed down from one generation to the next. ‘Course, they’re cheap (read, inexpensive) enough it’s an altogether sentimental thing. You can buy one for your stovetop, buy another to use exclusively on camping trips (they make great camp coffee) and buy one for Nonna to have as a spare and you’ll still get change for a 50 dollar bill.

That’s not to say there isn’t room for improving the traditional stovetop espresso maker. Firstly they’re a bit of a bugger to clean (all those corners in the octagonal base can prove tricky,) and over time—depending on just what kind of water you’ve got—the aluminum can oxidize. Still, it’s nothing some elbow grease and a pot or two to re-season things won’t fix. However… you do need a stove-top. Or a hot-plate, or—did I mention?—a campfire. Finally, if—like me—you don’t have a little Italian grandmother to school you, it can be a rather haphazard learning experience to know just when a traditional stovetop espresso maker is finished brewing. And, er… messy, too.

Bodum scores on all three marks: materials, heat source, and —maybe most important— making the brewing process transparent. Quite literally, as it happens.

Let’s begin with materials. The Bodum Mocca sports a stainless base—a round one—that’s easy to clean. Like the eSantos, it features a corded base that uses induction to heat the contents of its cordless pot, and the base features electronics that turn the espresso maker off—automatically—when the brew cycle is done. Finally—and again like the eSantos—the Mocca makes really good use of heat-safe polycarbonate so you can see the brewing cycle. It’s not just a coffee brewing appliance, it’s kitchen-counter theater! (And it doesn’t really need a kitchen… which makes this an office- and travel-friendly accessory.)

The result? Identical in every way to what you’d achieve with a traditional stovetop espresso maker… rich, dense, strong espresso-style coffee. With crema. A wee little bit, anyway. Stovetop espresso makers do brew under pressure, but it’s not quite the same as what you’d get with a pump-driven espresso machine, and that’s okay. So long as you understand the analog is to Bialetti, and not to say, La Marzocco, then you’ll be perfectly content with the Mocca.

Which brings us to Bodum’s problem. It would seem the folks tasked with marketing this coffee maker didn’t really understand it’s analog, themselves. Consequently, they simply labeled it as a six-cup coffee-maker. For good measure—and blissfully unaware they were talking about an espresso maker—they added, “24 ounces.” Its actually capacity, of course, is rightly measured in cups of espresso, or about 7 to 8 ounces of brewed espresso coffee.
Oops.

Worse, they continued to market the Mocca just this way on their own web site until only just a week or two ago… and because web marketers steal product copy all the day long it remained likewise unchanged on virtually every one of their online retailers. (Today I note the product is no longer in Bodum’s online catalog. Perhaps they’ve finally realized their error and have taken it offline to correct it?)

Marketing issues aside, there’s a lot to be said for this nifty little brewer, not the least of which is the great coffee it makes. This style of coffee can manifest hidden qualities of given bean… those subtle tones that might typically play bit parts and secondary roles are suddenly at center stage. I’ve just tasted the complete set of Green Mountain’s Special Reserve series all over again—yes, I’ve kept some bags of each bean in cold storage—and I’ve found new and interesting flavors in each.

At the same time, I’ve also found coffees that prove stubbornly one-dimensional. That’s not a surprise, really… a great many single-origin coffees lose their composure when pulled as an espresso shot. Same difference.

If you’re in the market for an espresso maker —and if inexpensive and user-friendly are qualities you admire over E61 group-heads and naked portafilters— you may very well be thrilled with the Bodum Mocca. I think even Nonna would approve.

Source: Coffee & Commentary

Drip filter

The drip filter, either manual or automatic, is nowadays, together with the espresso and the Mediterreanean method, the most popular method of brewing coffee worldwide.

The drip filter system consists of two compartments, an upper and a lower one, divided by a filter.

Manual drip

In the manual drip filter the ground coffee is placed in the cylindrical or conical upper part and water (just off-boiling) is poured over it in steps. The brewed coffee drips through the metal, ceramic or plastic filter. The grind size of the coffee should be as fine as the holes in the filter allow. This means that the holes should not clog and no grounds should be in the coffee brew. Generally coarsely ground coffee is used in the cylindrical filter. In the conical filter, filter paper and finer ground coffee can be applied.

Electrical drip

The procedure can also be done by the numerous electrical drip filter machines that are available. The upper part is usually cone-shaped and contains a filter paper or a gold filter with very small holes. The water is near-boiling and sprayed over the coffee grounds. Because the holes in the filter system are smaller, the coffee can be ground finer. In the electrical machines there is generally also a device to keep the coffee warm, but keeping the brew on the heating plate too long is often detrimental to quality. Other factors which affect the quality are the contact time and the water/coffee ratio.

The principles of brewing great coffee

The principles of brewing great coffee are always the same, no matter which
type of equipment you use:

• Always make sure your coffee maker is clean


• Use fresh water to brew the coffee


• Rinse the coffee pot well before you start


• Use fresh coffee. After opening the packet, keep the coffee in a tightly-sealed container


• Buy the correct grind for your machine


• Use the same amount of coffee each time, in order to gain as consistent a flavour as possible


• Make sure the coffee is evenly distributed within the filter bag


• The best drip filter and French press coffee is brewed at around 96 degrees Celsius. Moka express and Espresso coffee is ideally brewed at 90 degrees Celsius. The ideal temperature to serve it at is around 80 to 85 degrees Celsius.


• Coffee is at its most delicious directly after being brewed.


• For a uniform flavour, the coffee in the pot should be stirred before pouring.


• Do not leave coffee standing on the hot plate for too long, or the fine aromas will be lost. If you wish to keep the coffee longer, use a thermos flask.


• Remember to de-scale the coffee machine every so often. How often you need to do this depends on the hardness of the water in your area.


• Use clean crockery

Free Coffee

FREE Coffee did I say! Yes! That's right come on down to the Juice and Java Lounge!

Each and every week you stand the chance to win a week’s FREE coffee. Just join our loyalty program and win. This is really something to get excited about as their will be a new winner every week. This could be you!

For infromation about the location of the Juice and Java Lounge or wanting to find out more about their coffee visit their website.

Coffee History

According to legend an Arabian goatherd named Kaldi found his goats dancing joyously around a dark green leafed shrub with bright red cherries in the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Kaldi soon determined that it was the bright red cherries on the shrub that were causing the peculiar euphoria and after trying the cherries himself, he learned of their powerful effect. The stimulating effect was then exploited by monks at a local monastery to stay awake during extended hours of prayer and distributed to other monasteries around the world. Coffee was born.

Despite the appeal of such a legend, recent botanical evidence indicates that Coffea arabica originated on the plateaus of central Ethiopia and some how must have been brought to Yemen where it was cultivated since the 6th century. Upon introduction of the first coffee houses in Cairo and Mecca coffee became a passion rather than just a stimulant.

Coffee Drip Brewers

This is the commonest and one of the best coffee makers. You probably have one at work, and maybe at home too. You just put ground coffee in a paper filter, fill a reservoir with water, turn the brewer on and watch the glass carafe fill with coffee.

So long as you have a good model, and the water hits the coffee grounds at the right temperature, drip brewers can make a great cup of coffee.

But they do have one disadvantage. And if you have ever poured yourself a cup of coffee an hour or two after it was made in a drip brewer, you know what that problem tastes like.

Here’s what happens...these glass carafes are on a hotplate, to keep the coffee hot. The trouble is, after a while, the heat from the hotplate starts “cooking” the coffee.

Coffee Detective Tip: If you are going to use a Drip Brewer, make just enough coffee for the amount you want to drink over the next thirty minutes or so. If you want more coffee an hour or two later, make a fresh brew.

Rarest Coffee

It sounds like an urban myth of some sort. You can’t keep yourself from laughing the first time you hear of it. As strange as it may be, Kopi Luwak is not an urban myth but in fact one of the rarest and most costly coffees in the world.
Kopi Luwak gains it's legendary status from the way it is “processed”, as opposed to its origin. There is a small cat-like animal called the Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) found in Indonesia that reside in the coffee trees. Civets were considered pests because they constantly ate the ripe red coffee cherries of the trees. Just like the rest of us, what Civets eat, Civets digest and excrete. One fine day some rather bored locals gathered the expelled beans to find them still intact and wrapped in their thin layers of cherry mucilage. We’re not too sure how the story goes from this point but they decided to roast these beans.

They found that the Civet’s stomach enzymes added uniqueness to the flavor of the coffee. This process of natural fermentation using stomach acids and enzymes has a different effect than the typical fermentation with water. We personally have yet to try it, but those that have, described it as having a heavy caramel taste, gamy flavor and a musty and jungle-like aroma.

Because of this “process” it obviously takes a long time to collect enough beans to roast. It can be found priced upwards $300 a pound and seems to have become more of a novelty coffee. If you do ever get a chance to taste it you just might be able to appreciate its uniqueness and rarity. Or not. Either way, we’d love to hear what you thought of it!

On Tasting Coffee and Sensory Memory

I was fortunate enough to learn the fundamentals of cupping coffee at Barry Jarrett’s elbow. Of the many, many things I learned from Barry, one really tattooed itself on my brain, and it has to do with how our perceptions of aromas and flavors can be deceptive, and how our attempts to describe those perceptions can be inadequate and confusing, ‘cause of everybody’s personal “taste histories”. By way of example, here’s a snippet of Barry’s thoughts in a thread in alt.coffee:

“...take “grassiness”... is it fresh mown grass, dried grass, or plucked grass? bluegrass, fescue, or zoisia? is it the green bit at the top, or the whitish bit at the bottom. all these tastes are different, and yet all convey a sense of “grassiness” to the taster. and yet, one taster’s “grassiness” can be another’s “straw” or “hay” or something else.”

I don’t know about you, but simply reading that puts a whiff of fresh-mown lawn on the breeze, even in the middle of a Vermont winter. And this is certainly not the first time that simply reading about a particular sensory quality triggers an echo of it on my palate… just as actual aromas and flavors can trigger other, deeper and altogether unexpected memories.

Green Mountain’s Lindsey Bolger bolstered the concept of sensory experience and memory when she shared with me some of her experiences teaching coffee cupping in Rwanda. She found that many of the flavors and aromas that we so nonchalantly use to describe coffee’s characteristics—lemon or citrus brightness, cocoa or chocolate flavors, ripe and dried fruits—were entirely out of the Rwandans’ sensory experience. The aroma of steeping grains, however, brought about instant and terrible recollections of time spent in refugee camps during the height of the murderous Rwandan struggles.

Clearly, our experiences of aromas and flavors are deep-seated, personal, even visceral. Aromas, in particular, can elicit powerful memory responses—whether it’s the sweet smell of new-mown alfalfa, or the gruel served day after day after day in a refugee camp.

When I try to describe aromas and flavors I encounter in a cup I make every effort to be precise based on my own taste history. But it’s only by comparing notes with other people—people more knowledgeable than me—that I can hope to be accurate. Recently cupping with Lindsey I came to realize that what I have long described as a “woody” or “bark” flavor is what Lindsey describes as “fermenty”—precisely because it is the very flavor imparted to coffee by the fermenting process… and especially so when the coffee has spent a little too long fermenting. So’s that mean those coffees no longer taste to me like the bark of tree? No… ‘cause that’s deeply seated in my taste history… and in my memory. But I know now that I can describe a coffee as fermenty when I’m talking to coffee pros, and I can tell more casual coffee drinkers that it tastes kind of woody, and that’s likely because it was fermented too long.

Flavors and aromas and the persistence of memory… who knew coffee could affect us so deeply?

Source: Coffee & Commentary

Review: Papua New Guinea - Kimel Estate

Origin:
Wahgi Valley, Western Highlands Province, Papua New GuineaNotes: Kimel Estate is a large farm founded by Australians but now owned and operated by local tribal groups who claim traditional ownership of the land. It is located in the Wahgi Valley, near the town of Mount Hagen. The Roasterie is a leading, quality-oriented specialty roaster that emphasizes its commitment to "air roasting," a technology utilizing a column of hot air rather than the conventional turning drum to agitate the roasting beans.
Visit http://www.theroasterie.com/ for more information.

Blind Assessment:
Sweet-toned, delicate aroma with butter notes and hints of chocolate and Mediterranean spice. Even sweeter in the cup, still delicate but rich, softly acidy and quietly complex with distinct floral notes and a crisp, subtle fruit that suggests Riesling table wine or perhaps black currant. The fruit notes turn toward cocoa in the long, continuing sweet finish.Who should drink it: Those who value sweetness and subtlety.

You can purchase this coffee at Juice and Java

Source: Coffee Review.com

The Art of Coffee Roasting

What different kinds of roasts are there and why?
Now, here’s a topic that cries out for clarification. Many misconceptions about grades of coffee roasting have almost taken on the status of urban legends.

A professional coffee roaster will tell you that there are three basic shades of roast: light, medium and dark. Many of the terms used to describe the in-between shades such as “Full City” and “Vienna” are trendy terms that have recently turned up in the coffee vernacular. Understanding a few simple facts about the shades will go a long way in helping you decipher the implied characteristics of the roast.

First and foremost, aroma and the degrees of bitter and acid tastes vary in accordance with the roasting temperature. The hotter the roast, the more bitter (and less acidic) the coffee. Conversely, lightly roasted coffees display more acidic and less bitter tastes than darker roasts.

Remember, in evaluating coffee, acidity is a very complex characteristic. It covers a wide range of tastes, particularly among Arabica beans.

Many people are under the misconception that “dark roasts” are preferable because they produce a “stronger cup.” This is incorrect. In fact, huge production facilities do not dark roast expressly to produce beans for stronger coffee. Rather, dark roasting helps produce and maintain consistency in taste; it can even out variations among very different beans. Thus, it’s important to realize that dark roasting does not refer to any specific variety of coffee or any type of bean. Any coffee can achieve the basic flavor characteristics of a dark roasted coffee. More tellingly, dark roasting is often used to mask the tastes of inferior beans.

The Coolest Brewer You Never Heard Of?

Bodum has done it again… in spite of themselves. The Bodum Mocca Brewer ups the ante on the traditional Italian stovetop espresso maker in much the same way that the eSantos Vac Pot raised the bar for the traditional vacuum coffee maker. At the same time they’ve made such a mess of marketing the new brewer it’s a wonder they’re actually selling any of them. (I’ll get to that in a bit…)
You’re no doubt familiar with the Bialetti Stovetop Espresso Maker — you may know it as a moka pot — long the staple of little Italian grandmothers, everywhere. Dead simple and robustly made, it’s not unusual for these little coffee makers to be handed down from one generation to the next. ‘Course, they’re cheap (read, inexpensive) enough it’s an altogether sentimental thing. You can buy one for your stovetop, buy another to use exclusively on camping trips (they make great camp coffee) and buy one for Nonna to have as a spare and you’ll still get change for a 50 dollar bill.
That’s not to say there isn’t room for improving the traditional stovetop espresso maker. Firstly they’re a bit of a bugger to clean (all those corners in the octagonal base can prove tricky,) and over time—depending on just what kind of water you’ve got—the aluminum can oxidize. Still, it’s nothing some elbow grease and a pot or two to re-season things won’t fix. However… you do need a stove-top. Or a hot-plate, or—did I mention?—a campfire. Finally, if—like me—you don’t have a little Italian grandmother to school you, it can be a rather haphazard learning experience to know just when a traditional stovetop espresso maker is finished brewing. And, er… messy, too.
Bodum scores on all three marks: materials, heat source, and —maybe most important— making the brewing process transparent. Quite literally, as it happens.
Let’s begin with materials. The Bodum Mocca sports a stainless base—a round one—that’s easy to clean. Like the eSantos, it features a corded base that uses induction to heat the contents of its cordless pot, and the base features electronics that turn the espresso maker off—automatically—when the brew cycle is done. Finally—and again like the eSantos—the Mocca makes really good use of heat-safe polycarbonate so you can see the brewing cycle. It’s not just a coffee brewing appliance, it’s kitchen-counter theater! (And it doesn’t really need a kitchen… which makes this an office- and travel-friendly accessory.)
The result? Identical in every way to what you’d achieve with a traditional stovetop espresso maker… rich, dense, strong espresso-style coffee. With crema. A wee little bit, anyway. Stovetop espresso makers do brew under pressure, but it’s not quite the same as what you’d get with a pump-driven espresso machine, and that’s okay. So long as you understand the analog is to Bialetti, and not to say, La Marzocco, then you’ll be perfectly content with the Mocca.
Which brings us to Bodum’s problem. It would seem the folks tasked with marketing this coffee maker didn’t really understand it’s analog, themselves. Consequently, they simply labeled it as a six-cup coffee-maker. For good measure—and blissfully unaware they were talking about an espresso maker—they added, “24 ounces.” Its actually capacity, of course, is rightly measured in cups of espresso, or about 7 to 8 ounces of brewed espresso coffee.
Oops.
Worse, they continued to market the Mocca just this way on their own web site until only just a week or two ago… and because web marketers steal product copy all the day long it remained likewise unchanged on virtually every one of their online retailers. (Today I note the product is no longer in Bodum’s online catalog. Perhaps they’ve finally realized their error and have taken it offline to correct it?)
Marketing issues aside, there’s a lot to be said for this nifty little brewer, not the least of which is the great coffee it makes. This style of coffee can manifest hidden qualities of given bean… those subtle tones that might typically play bit parts and secondary roles are suddenly at center stage. I’ve just tasted the complete set of Green Mountain’s Special Reserve series all over again—yes, I’ve kept some bags of each bean in cold storage—and I’ve found new and interesting flavors in each.
At the same time, I’ve also found coffees that prove stubbornly one-dimensional. That’s not a surprise, really… a great many single-origin coffees lose their composure when pulled as an espresso shot. Same difference.
If you’re in the market for an espresso maker —and if inexpensive and user-friendly are qualities you admire over E61 group-heads and naked portafilters— you may very well be thrilled with the Bodum Mocca. I think even Nonna would approve.

Source: Coffee & Commentary

Coffee Notes from All Over

The New York Times offers an expansive look at the renewal underway in Rwanda thanks to specialty coffee and, in particular, the PEARL project:

Rwanda, a tiny East African country recently rent by a famously savage civil war, has found hope in that most colonial of crops: coffee. By riding booming demand in the developed world for specialty brews — and, to a certain extent, by turning its own challenges to its advantage — Rwanda has made premium coffee-growing a national priority. That has not only brought in a trickle of money to a country with little else to trade, but provided a stage on which one-time blood enemies can reconcile their terrible history.

A highly recommended read.

Meanwhile, Ken Davids has posted a hat full of reviews of Special Reserve coffees, and in so doing encounters much the same scenario we faced at Green Mountain with our choice for the Colombian First Harvest Cup of Excellence—a single bad bean that threatened the entire lot:

In one very surprising case, a coffee that was headed for a 90+ rating and had won a first-place award in a prestigious international cupping competition turned up with one cup utterly undrinkable owing to a sewery-tasting “stinker bean.” The rest of the cups were consistently impressive.

Such occasions demonstrates how difficult it is to assign numerical ratings to coffees. Do we ignore the one bad cup and give this coffee a great rating on the basis of the other, outstanding cups? Assign a terrible rating because one bad bean snuck through the cleaning and grading? Or average the “good cup” rating and the “bad cup” rating, making the coffee appear mediocre rather than excellent yet flawed?

Unfortunately, Americans tend to buy by the numbers rather than read the fine print, so we didn’t run the review at all. I await accusations of cowardice.

Our take: if you’re not pushing your coffee to the brink in its processing, you may never reach the summit. (But you may miss the final round of judging.) It’s with more than a little relief I find that it wasn’t our Colombian that was thusly dismissed from the resulting reviews. (It wasn’t, and it scored a 91. I can live with that.)

Finally, a teaser from Jim Seven on what appears to be a lifting trend: marketing vintage coffees. Hey, I’ve got a few aged coffees on my big shelf o’ greens. Mind you, some are vintage on purpose—a well-aged Sumatra can do some really interesting things to a blend—but others are remaindered for one reason or another. Anyone care for a 2001 vintage Hawaiian Molokai Dry Process “Muleskinner” Peaberry, or— I kid you not —a 1997 vintage Private Estate Jamaica Blue Mountain? I should roast those up and see how they’ve fared…

More: coffee news rwanda special reserve reviews vintage coffee

Source: Coffee & Commentary

Introducing Chef Felix!

Yes, that’s right – we now have a new Italian chef and we’re busy putting together menus. Last weekend we launched our new breakfast menu with much success. You can now bring your friends and family to enjoy full cooked breakfasts, specialty omelet’s and stacked pancakes with the added bonus of receiving your coffee absolutely free. Watch this space as there is plenty more to come. Lunchtime foods are being enhanced and we’re introducing a range of soups available from next week. If you have any food ideas that you would like to see us provide then let us know! We’re excited about this new development and we look forward to seeing you at the Juice and Java Lounge for breakfast or lunch in the near future.

Kenya AA Coffee Review

The Kenya Coffee Board classifies coffee by bean size and holds weekly auctions in Nairobi. Kenya AA is the finest grade of coffee from Kenya and has a full body, intense flavor with a delicate acidity and a smooth winey flavor.

Considered by many to be near the top among a list of the world's finest Arabica coffees, it's certainly one you should put high on your "to taste" list – if you haven't already.

Always Premium Quality – Never Less
One of my favorite times to enjoy my gourmet coffee is late at night after having spent the evening visiting friends. When I'm visiting friends, relatives and acquaintances, I often have to force down a cup of their commercial-grade supermarket coffee. You know the kind – those with the fleeting aroma and charred taste. I do this quietly and politely because I know that I always have a welcome treat like Kenya AA waiting for me at home.

To get the most out of your coffee (and your money), heed these suggestions:

Always get your coffee from a reputable coffee dealer, like Juice & Java. Premium-grade quality can make all the difference.

Make sure that your brewing equipment is cleaned of leftover coffee oils and grounds.

Keep your coffee beans away from light and air. One-way valve bags are suitable for storing your coffee beans.

Buy premium grade whole beans only, and grind your coffee only when you are ready to brew it.

Use the right amount of coffee – about 2 tablespoons per 6 ounces of coffee. Then, adjust to your personal taste preference.

Most importantly, savor your coffee. Look for what makes each cup of coffee uniquely great.

For more information or to order, visit Juice and Java.com.au

By: John DeBartoloNew York's Coffee Meister