Becoming a Coffee Purist

Discovering Single Origin Coffees
What do I mean by single origin coffees? It is a coffee that comes from only one area, such as: Sumatra in Indonesia or Sierra Nevada in Colombia. They could mix the whole farm harvest together at an estate, but it would still be only one coffee from that area. The estate might call that an estate blend, but it would still be a single origin coffee.
I got hooked on single origin coffee with my first taste of a fresh roasted Papua New Guinea.
It was on a spring Saturday morning, I had prepared a pot of fresh roasted PNG, filled my stainless steel travel cup, added sugar & cream, I used a lot back then. Grabbed the morning paper and headed for the glider on the patio. The sun was warm, the grass was still damp, there was a nice breeze and our fountain was bubbling away. There wasn’t another scene to experience, I didn’t think so anyway.
I causally took my first sip, not really paying much attention. WOW! It stopped me dead in my tracks; it almost took my words away. That is saying something.
What I tasted was like someone had put spices of some sort and citrus fruit in my coffee. It wasn’t like a taste slap, but a more subtle thing. I set the paper aside sipped again to see if I was mistaken, no it was really there. I set everything down, went inside, found the cupping note, to read what I was supposed to taste. It was right there in black and white, I tasted just what they said I would taste. Those people are good!
I couldn’t wait to tell someone I was amazed. I hadn’t had many good coffee experiences. Coffee for me had just been a time I met friends at a local coffee shop, order something with a lot of sugar, flavoring and steamed milk. I didn’t really taste the coffee. Which isn’t always a bad thing; it was bitter and needed covered up. As I learned about coffee, I found out that the bitter isn’t there if it is slow roasted and fresh coffee. Fresh really does make a difference.
Now, a new world had just opened up for my mouth. PNG was my new favorite coffee, for that day anyway. Now I have so many favorite single origin coffees, I have trouble picking what to fix in the morning, afternoon and evening.
Because we own a roastery, we have the opportunity most coffee lovers don’t even think to dream about. We sometimes have as many as 16 single origins around. Right now my favorites are:
Kenya French Mission Bourbon, it is a very complex coffee with all of these characteristics over a couple of week’s period: berry, winey, coconut finish, lemon, Crème Brulee, tropical fruit, exotic spice, papaya, chocolate, very unique.
Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Kochere DP, light, fruity with nice acidity. You think of Michigan Blueberries.
Nicaragua Apanas FT is a clean and mellow coffee, with wonderfully delicate floral-nutty-malty aromatics, with a wonderful hint of cocoa.
I drink something different most morning but had Bolivia at least twice this week. Wouldn’t it be great if you could drink your morning coffee in a small café, on a side street in the country that it came from? That would really be an international coffee adventure.
There are some great coffees out there that lend themselves well to blending. But there is nothing like the pure clean taste of a fresh roasted organically grown single origin coffee. Become a Coffee Purist, try all the single origin coffees you can find, but if you are like me, your favorite will be ever changing.
Is there room in a coffee purist pantry for a blend? What do you think?

French Roast Coffee Conspiracy Part 3

We have been experimenting with a French Roast for the past couple of weeks. We have found some surprising things.

The first being, we have recently purchase some very good coffees. They are complex and have a lot of depth. What this has allowed, is for us to roast from American roast to a Dark French and still have an excellent coffee. Even thought this definitely changed the flavor and aroma, it brings a whole new set of elements to your cup that you cannot taste without the dark roast temperatures. The Sweetness and Pungency will increase and Acidity decreases. So if you love your Bolivian coffee, you can get new taste experiences if you try different roast temperature. You may still prefer the lighter roast, but this can be a lot of fun. Bolivia was just an example; we have already found that four of our coffees create some great new tastes when slowly brought to a French Roasted. And one that burns very easily and is bests kept at an American Roast or lighter.

That last comment brings up a new thought. I have been telling you all kinds of things about when roasting the coffee beans to a higher temperature to get a French Roast, but I didn’t tell you one very important thing.

The time that it takes to get it there is the most important element. Slow, slow, slow!! Slow roasting your coffee is what will allow the internal and external temperatures to rise at the same rate. I want to create a tasty word picture here: You are baking your favor chocolate brownies; you raise the oven temperature 20° because you are in a hurry to eat them. You get a crisp on top, possibly burnt outside brownie that is gooey & under cooked in the middle. Now, in a brownie that can be very good; but that is no way to treat coffee beans. What will happen is the outside gets roasted faster than the inside, leaving the inside too moist and slightly green. Some pretty funk tastes can remain when it is still green inside. This goes back to what I said in an early article. A quality Specialty Roaster not only knows how to treat a bean special but will make the time to do it right.

I told you that sweetness and pungency increase and you may ask “what this really means?”
As you roast darker there is a development of sugars and a partial elimination of bitter flavor components, like trigonelline. This will soften the taste without making it flat, a richer body. A naturally sweeter coffee or a Dry Processed coffee could be even sweeter. Pungency is a word used to describe a distinctive bitter that we actually find pleasant. Together you get the “bittersweet” that is in my favor type of chocolate. The notes of acidy are gone, the sugars start to caramelize and that new impression is created.

Even though it may have sounded like I didn’t like French Roasted coffees in Part 1 & Part 2, I willingly tell you, I appreciate the sweetness and pungency that comes into the coffees in the dark roast that just are not there in a lighter roast. My roaster is a different story. He still prefers an American Roast. Maybe that is the artist in him. Not wanting to lose that special God given gift to the particular origin of coffee bean. Or it could just be his taste preference.

I am sure that I have left some stone unturned in the examination of the French Roast Coffee Conspiracy, but right now I don’t know what it could be. If you have some other angle to look at this subject or you know of something that is still under a stone. Let me know, I am sure I can keep talking about coffee, it is one of my favorite subjects.

French Roast Conspiracy Part 2

In part one I gave you the technical part of what is happening to your coffee as it is French Roasted now we can get down to the heart of the matter.

What happens to the flavor? You will get as many different opinions on that one as there are coffee drinkers.

I have heard it said that most French Roast coffees have a flat, dull finish with a bitter after taste. Some call it chard or burnt taste and unpleasant to drink. Another coffee aficionado said French Roast coffees are known to be, smokey-sweet, light body but quite intense and that none of the inherent flavors of the bean are recognizable.

Now I will throw a few words at you: Acidity, Body, Aroma, Complexity, Depth, Varietal Distinction, Sweetness and Pungency. These are the terms used in determining what we taste in our coffee. They are usually rated on a scale of 1-4, 4 being the highest (good). This can all be very complicated when we just want a good cup of coffee. When you change the roast level of any coffee bean, you will change all of these characteristics. It could make your cup better or worse. Finding a roaster that studies his coffees and know how far to go with the roast will make all the difference. Just to let you know, there really are people out there that their job is to judge coffee this way. And it is a job that would have a pretty good buzz going most of the time.

Now I know what I like and don’t like and my mouth is probably doing all of that judging and I just don’t know it. My mouth is smarter then it speaks sometimes. But the point is all these things are affected in the roasting process. The good qualities of a coffee can be roasted right out of the bean and new ones can be brought into your cup. What you like is a very personal thing.
A general rule of thumb is that the darker the roast the less acidity and varietal distinction there will be. The body, aroma and complexity will decrease and the sweetness and pungency could increase. There are a few origins that are known to be wonderful all the way from a light roast to a dark roast. A good Kenyan coffee can hold its varietal distinction, complexity and depth. Most other origins of coffee cannot tolerate this darker roast and they are the best at lighter roasting temperatures, retaining the complexity, depth and varietal distainction.

So if you have a really great coffee roasted to 415°F to 435°F (Medium, Medium-high, American or Regular City) the best qualities are still present in the coffee. Why would you want them removed?

Start believing your taste buds; compare a French Roast to a Medium Roast of the same origin. You are the judge; don’t give into the French Roast Conspiracy.

For those of you who disagree with anything I have said here, now is your opportunity to chime in.

How do you like your coffee roasted? Why? Did you even know that there are different roast temperatures and that it would change the taste and aroma of your coffee?

Midwest Organic Coffee Company is offering a French Roast Taste Test to our clients. You will pick up your sample with your regular order. Watch for more details.

French Roast Coffee Conspiracy Part 1

To French Roast or Not to French Roast? That was my question. I thought we would start at the beginning with what is a French Roasted coffee; here is the science part of my answer.

Technically speaking French Roasted coffee is brought to temperatures between 435°F and 465°F over a predetermined time. This goes all the way from a light French Roast and a dark French Roast. As the temperature of the bean rises, moisture in the bean starts to evaporate and the oils are being brought to the surface. At this point the bean has gone through first and second crack. It sounds like popping corn, smells like toasting wheat and will start to smoke. If you ever get the opportunity to watch a roaster in action, take advantage of it.

A French Roast coffee beans will be medium dark brown to dark brown and about two days after the beans has been roasted it will have tiny droplets of oil forming on the medium dark and the dark will have an entirely oil surface.

There are many names for this same roast, depending on where you live in the world and even which area of the US you live. Starting with your medium dark roast they could be called: Viennese, Full-City, Light French, Continental & After Dinner, moving into moderately dark roast: French, European High & Continental and on to the dark roast: French, Italian & Dark Turkish. Now at some point in recent years a new terms started being used to refer to a roast and that is Espresso. The term Espresso is often used in all three groups, but Espresso is really a blend of coffees and can be roasted to any of these temperatures depending on the quality of the coffee and the care of the roaster. Espresso is another topic that can be address all by itself. There is a lot to be said about Espresso. We can talk later on that one.

Have you drunk a French Roast coffee? What origin? What did you and your mouth think of it? Do you have any questions so far?

In part two we will talk about the taste and do I really want my coffee French Roasted, or did some well know roaster spend a lot of money to convinced us all that it is good and oh so chic that way?

I will drop in some more technical terms for the fun of it.