Today's Cup of Coffee 1/30/2013

Today I tried a new coffee from a new roaster for me. BJava in the Indianapolis area offers many types of coffees. I recently purchased their Guatemala Huehuetenango coffee. This morning was my first chance to sample it. 

First of all you should know I am a big fan of Central American coffees. They generally have a flavor I really enjoy. Costa Rican and Nicaraguan are usually my favored regions. I'll be honest, I'm not sure I've ever had a Guatemalan coffee. 

I fired up the old coffee maker, and soon I was ready to try to new coffee. Central American coffees usually are a medium roast, as such, there is a flavor I've come to expect. Not quite smooth, but not quite rustic. I was really surprised at the smoothness of this coffee. Now, I will tell you I'm bad at the chocolate or carmel undertone kind of description, but in this case, I detected a hint of a carmal aftertaste. I liked it, and I enjoyed this coffee very much. 

BJava has their own roasting capabilities, and I know they offer cuppings. I am hopping to attend one of their cuppings at some point, and definitely plan to purchase more of their coffee.

http://www.bjavacoffee.com

Thumbs up!

Charlie

$11,000 Coffee....Really?

This morning I was reading this article....

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11822490/1/harrods-11000-coffee-is-it-worth-the-price.html

Harrods is selling a coffee fermented through a civet cat's digestive system for $11,000. I have had this coffee, and there is nothing about it that tastes like it is worth $11,000. Oh Harrods!

There are some wonderful coffees in this world which are in the $30-$50 per pound range. I dare say though that there are also wonderful coffees which costs under $20 a pound, and I am willing to bet that unless you have an amazing palette, you would not know the difference. So what should you be spending on coffee? Really that is up to you.

I am fine spending $12-$18 a bag for coffee. I have spent $4 a bag for coffee, and in that case, you get what you pay for. I say break it down into how many cups you will get out of the bag of coffee. If you get 25 cups of coffee out of a $18 a bag coffee, that will be under $1 a cup(compare to what you pay at Starbucks).

I have very few luxuries in this world, but I know I want good coffee. I just don't want $11,000 coffee.

Charlie

The Romance of Coffee

There are two beverages which elicit quite a bit of romance: wine and coffee. I can't think of other beverages which can cause people to wax poetic or philosophical. The story of the origins of coffee is even romanticized. An Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi stumbled upon his goats munching on coffee berries. Upon seeing how energized they became he too ate the berries, which later were developed into the coffee we now drink.

In addition to an exotic origin story set in Ethiopia, the history of coffee has been littered with stories of sea faring traders in far away lands, introduction to royalty and clergy, and claims of the Turks developing such a strong drink, that none other could equal(Turkish Coffee). Explorers would carry coffee on their journeys and introduce it to new societies. The past if filled with romantic notions of coffee.

The present has its share of coffee romantic moments. For generations a kindly coffee grower and his burro were shown in television ads bringing coffee to the people. Mrs. Olsen could be depended on to giver motherly advice over a cup of Folgers. Instant coffee brought neighbors together as a romantic couple. Every Christmas, coffee greets a family waking up to find their son has returned to the fold.

If you look at various coffee company websites, you see photos of exotic coffee lands or inviting shots of coffee and espresso drinks. When you go into a coffee house, many baristas dazzle you with latte art, which lends more romance to the cup you are about to drink.

When people describe coffees, you see words like: bright, warm, hints of chocolate, or cherry like flavor. Coffee even smells romantic. Go to a roaster and inhale. The first time I watched a roaster, I too fell under the spell of the coffee. It smelled like Heaven.

When people look at opening coffeehouses, their heads are full of romantic notions of a warm meeting place, a center where people come together to join in coffee. Home roasters want to duplicate the wonders of coffee they have experienced with their creations.

Yes, coffee is full of romance, and that's a good thing. Our wine drinking compadres may think they have the corner on the romance market, but coffee is there, and waiting to seduce you as well.

Charlie

The Elephant in the Room - Starbucks

There is a misperception about me I need to clear up. For years I have had people tell me how much I love Starbucks, and how it's my favorite coffee. I do talk about Starbucks a lot, and have been a stockholder in the company at various times. I am fond of Starbucks, but it is not my favorite coffee.

I don't think you can talk coffee in this world, without talking about Starbucks. Starbucks is responsible for changing the way we look at coffee. Chariman/CEO Howard Schultz wanted to create an atmosphere that people would consider another home, office, or other central place in our lives. He has succeeded. Kudos to him. Even now I am at a Starbucks, and the place is packed with students, businessmen, and others having coffee, conducting business, studying, catching up with friends, etc..

Starbucks coffee is pretty good. If I were to give it a grade, I would say B-. No doubt this shocks some of my friends. A stronger grade would come with more consistency in the coffee they put out. I know Starbucks has worked hard to put out a consistent cup of coffee, but with thousands of Starbucks all over the world, that's tough to do. 

Some of their coffee<coughPikePlaceRoastcough> is horrible. Some is quite good. Their limited edition coffees like the Christmas or Thanksgiving Blends are very good. Their basic though....er.....not so much. 

Starbucks strives to make coffee relevant. They do this with espresso drinks. I wrote yesterday about how these exotic drinks have helped boost coffee to surpass soda as a drink of choice. Clearly they know how to market coffee.

They also know how to cultivate coffee. The trip I took to Costa Rica was a Starbucks endeavor, and I believe they do very well by the farmers and growers they work with around the world. Starbucks is THE coffee company known around the world.

The problem is they are trying to cater to the broadest audience possible. When you do that mediocrity seeps in. In the specialty field, you now see Stumptown in Portland and Intelligentsia in Chicago growing and expanding. So far they have been able to maintain a quality to their coffee which is outstanding. Their coffee doesn't taste mass produced. I am hoping as they enter new markets they work to keep their quality where it is. Starbucks can't do small batch roasting like the the smaller coffee companies, therefore I believe high quality is tougher for them. No doubt they would disagree, and I know they have tons of people who work on their quality.

So what coffee do I like? I have already mentioned Stumptown and Intelligentsia. I am also fond out Sterling Coffee Roasters of Portland, Stone Creek Coffee Roasters of Milwuakee, Metropolis in Chicago and Hubbard and Cravens in Indianapolis. I am always interested in discovering more coffees and I will.

Charlie

Coffee is the New Soda

Derek Thompson has written for "The Atlantic" about how soda consumption is on the way down, and coffee is on the way up in the last 10 years.

"Ten years ago, Americans drank enough soda every year to fill a small aquarium. Fifty-three gallons of the stuff per person. That's half a liter of Diet Coke on an average day. Compare that to our other favorite liquid-caffeine companion. For every cup of coffee we consumed in 2003, we drank two cups of soft drink. For $1 we spent on joe, we spent $4 on soda?

I think he is missing something in the article, and that is the rise of specialty coffee companies and the drinks they create. When you go to your local coffeehouse or Starbucks, all you have to do is listen to a typical order, "I'd like a triple grande soy sugar free caramel latte, with whipped cream." Never mind how wrong that drink sounds for the moment. That isn't a "Coke" being opened. That is someone heading to a local place and getting a variation of coffee. 

Starbucks can easily be linked to this, as every year they come up with a new coffee concoction. Whether iced or cold, Starbucks introduces younger generations to coffee via specialty drinks. It costs more than soda to be sure. We can argue if a drink like I listed is better for you. I weigh in on the side that it's probably not any better for you than Pepsi. 

Never the less, the advent of the innovative coffee drinks can be tied to the downward spiral of soda consumption. I wonder though, are these people also drinking a regular coffee, or are they just going for the exotic? My guess is they do both. I am betting they have coffee at home, and the specialty drink when they go out. 

My drink of choice is coffee, but when I have a special drink, it's usually a soy latte.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/graph-how-coffee-drank-sodas-milkshake/267318/

Charlie

Mixed Beans Coffee

Have you ever had mixed beans coffee? What? You don’t know what mixed beans coffee is? No, you aren’t missing a fancy coffee term. It’s one I made up in my mind a long time ago. This is when you are at the end of a bag of coffee, and you don’t have enough for that pot you want to make, so you open another coffee and mix it in the grinder with the left over beans. 

An example of this happened this morning. We were at the end of the Tanzanian Peaberry, and in order to make a pot of coffee, I added Ethiopian coffee into the mix. Different roasts, different varietals. Sometimes what comes out tastes great. Other times, well let’s just say that’s when gas station coffee might be a good alternative. Today’s made a good pot of coffee. 

Do others do this, or do they just finish a bag, and start fresh with a new bag, especially if it is a different kind of coffee? I like to think of it as creating a new blend of coffee, which will only happen once, because you can’t really duplicate it. 

 For the more seasoned coffee expert, have I just made you faint? Or are you nodding your head in agreement because you do this as well. Maybe you make an art of it. In fact this could be how blends are made at the professional level, and I am just an at home coffee blender.

In any case, the mixed beans coffee can be very enjoyable. Today’s coffee had a deeper flavor than the Peaberry. No doubt the stronger roast of the Ethiopian took over. 
It made for a satisfying cup of coffee.

Charlie

Journey to Costa Rica

In 2008 I got a call form Starbucks saying I had won a contest. Huh? I did? I enter contests from time to time, so I don't always remember what I enter. I was told I had won a trip for one to Costa Rica. A trip for one? Isn't that usually for two? Not in this case.

Starbucks in partnership with Earthwatch Institute awarded all-expense paid trips to 10 people to go to the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica to "assist" with research they were doing with coffee growers in the region. I had to get approval for the trip from three sources: work, the doctor and Mark. The first two were the easy part. Go ahead and tell your spouse you're going on a trip to Costa Rica without them, and see how pleased they are. Mark did understand that this was a once in a lifetime trip, and he gave me his blessing. Off I went.

I met some amazing people on the trip. Winners were a combination of average coffee joes like me and Starbucks employees. Some of us weren't quite sure remembering entering this contest(we did).

If you haven't been to a coffee growing region, it is amazing.

You are in high elevations, very mountainous terrain, and lots of rain(at least during the time of year we were there).

Data Entry Afternoons

So what did we do? Every morning, we got up at around 5:00-5:30, had breakfast, then headed out to an area, and we counted coffee cherries, or we looked at the distance between plants, or we checked organic plants, or any number of things which involved us jotting down data. In the afternoon the rains came, and we were in the lab entering all our data. In short, we were free help for Earthwatch, but we didn't mind one bit.

The people of the community were warm and friendly. Every day a family brought us lunch or dinner. I don't think I have ever had so many black beans in my life. Their food and generosity were outstanding.

The people we met were always willing to talk to us about their lives. We were helping farmers who are part of a cooperative. The cooperative negotiates fair payments for the coffee grown. Monies paid are given to the families over the course of a year, so there is always a constant flow of revenue for the farmers. The cooperative also provides educational programs which help the farmers and their families. Health care programs are also provided to the farmers.

Roasting Time

The negotiated prices for the farmers will more often than not, be a better price for their coffee than if they negotiated on their own. Also, companies such as Starbucks, or other specialty roasters can work with these groups to develop higher quality coffee. Earthwatch helps with this, and helps them create more sustainable growing practices.

During the two weeks were were there, you see coffee from cherry to finished product. We visited the roasting plants. We got to participate in cuppings. We got to drink LOTS of coffee.

Cupping

Cuppings are fascinating, because there is a purpose to them, but looks ceremonial at the same time. The point of the cupping is to check the quality of the roasted coffee. It needs to smell, taste  and have the consistency you are striving for during the roasting process.

As I said we got to drink lots of coffee.....and it was GOOD! Safe to say that coffee from this part of the world is my favorite coffee. Admittedly, the taste includes the wonderful memories I have of that experience. That aside, Tarrazu coffee is some of the best coffee in the world....in my humble opinion.

An amazing experience furthered my love of coffee, and my fueled my desire to learn more.





Charlie

Today's Cup 1/16/2013

This morning we are drinking Tanzanian Peaberry coffee. Peaberry coffees are actually grown in many places in the world, but they are most commonly associated with Tanzania. As I read various coffee distributers descriptions of it, I giggled as they all made it seem like this wild rare find. The truth is about 5% of all coffees are peaberry. Granted that isn't a huge percentage, but it also isn't Indiana Jones finding the Lost Ark.

Most coffee cherries have two beans inside, and when they are come out are rather flat and oval shaped. The peaberry is one bean which was fertilized within the cherry, without a partner bean to grow and flatten with it. When it comes out, it is oval and round. For roasting purposes, these beans roast more evenly due to the rounder nature of the bean.

While peaberry coffee can come from any region, it is a bit of a mystery as to why Tanzania is so well known for their version. None of my readings could shed light on this. Still most coffee you buy from Tanzania will be peaberry.

I like the taste of it. It is bright, not very bitter, in fact pretty smooth.

Cheers!

Charlie

5 Reasons to Drink Coffee

Of course I love coffee. I know many others who love coffee as well. For those of you on the fence, I offer this to suggest you come to the coffee side of life.

1) Coffee is good. Seems simple enough. The problem is too many people are fine with 7-11 coffee and think that is the way God intended coffee to taste. Nonsense. Coffee has no one flavor, it has many. Depending on the varietal of coffee, you can taste suggestions of chocolate, caramel, cherry, and dozens of other wonderful tastes. Put down the styrofoam cup, and find some good coffee.

2) Coffee helps you make friends. You've seen it, or been a part of it. You are in a coffeehouse, minding your own business on your computer, and soon someone sits next you and and voila - conversation. Soon you are buddies. When I was in college, I became best buds with two coffee house owners. One even taught me the finer points of Backgammon.

3) Coffee is healthy. Yeah, I know for every medical study which shows a health benefit, there is another that tells you coffee will kill you. I have been drinking coffee since I was 18. Not dead yet.

4) Coffee provides jobs. Think about it. That cup of coffee was created by a farmer in Asia, Africa or Central or South America. The coffee was transported to the U.S., roasted by someone in Seattle, Portland, or many other communities, and was sold or dispensed by someone locally. If you don't drink coffee, think of all the unemployment you will cause.

5) Coffee isn't Soda. If you have to reach for a beverage with some caffeine, coffee is so much better for you than Mountain Dew. Come on, Mountain Dew looks like radiator fluid. Do you really want that in your body?

There you have it. Some good reasons to drink coffee. Pour yourself a cup.

Charlie

Investigating Your Coffee

Do you know where your coffee comes from? Do you know if it is fair trade? Organic? Arabica? What do you know about your coffee? Does it matter if you know anything about it?

This morning we are drinking coffee from The Fresh Market. I got to thinking about where the coffee comes from. Fresh Market tells its customers it uses Fair Trade and Organic Certified coffees. I have no reason to doubt them, but it you look through their marketing, it appears they are the ones who are making the arrangements with farmers and roasting coffee. They aren't.

Coffee Bean International(CBI) sells coffee to Fresh Market and other retail chains(i.e. Target) to sell to the public. CBI roasts about 10 million lbs of coffee per year. They strive to provide good relations with the farmers they work with. They work with the farmer to produce high quality coffee. They offered a tiered system of payment, so the farmer is getting a fairer price for their coffee. CBI is transparent with their economic transactions. They promote sustainable practices. Their partnerships in the communities create better economic and educational opportunities for the families living there.

Now you may not need to know where your coffee comes from, or if it is fair traded, or grown in an environmentally sound manner. It's important to me. For example - Walmart coffee mostly comes from Brazil on farms created out of the deforested regions in the country. In other words, part of the deforestation going on in Brazil is for industry and farming. This coffee is being produced in essence in created coffee companies, where coffee did not traditionally grow.

Again, this could or could not be important to you. I think there is a strong reason to support and promote sustainable growing practices, and entire rain forests do not have to come down for my cup of coffee.

Future posts will look more into this. I was just thinking about this during my morning coffee.

Charlie

The K- Cup

In the last few years we have seen the growth of the single serve coffee makers. Many are known as "K-Cups", due to Keurig's success in this field. Now we see single serve coffees from Green Mountain, Starbucks. Dunkin Donuts, etc.

The machines are convenient. If you can't have a coffee maker, or if don't want/can't to go to the local coffee house, these are simple to use. There are some things to note about the coffee in these cups. Depending on the cup you are using, there is between 5-10 grams of coffee in a cup. That's not a lot of coffee, and that small amount of coffee adds up cost wise.

Oliver Strand who was written on coffee for the New York Times has looked into this, and he estimates people are spending $51 a pound on coffee in these cups. Let's say you go to Intelligentsia, Stumptown, or another specialty roaster, you may be paying $15-$20 per pound for coffee. One way to lower the cost, is to grind your own coffee for the cups. Truth be told you will be getting fresher and better coffee if you do it this way.

With a pound of coffee, you typically get 20-25 cups of coffee. With K-Cups, you are getting between 10-16 cups depending on which one you buy. Again, from a cost standpoint, getting regular coffee makes more sense.

Now it may seem I am making the argument to not own these machines. I'm not. I think if you just want a cup, don't want to deal with the mess of coffee grounds, and want it fast, this is a way to go. The coffee is ok taste wise. But if you are thinking K-Cups are a way to save money....think again.

Charlie

Dunkin Donuts Coffee

Perhaps someone can explain this to me. Why do people like Dunkin Donuts coffee? A co-worker offered to buy me a cup this morning. I thanked her, but said no thanks. The coffee they sell tastes as close to brown water as I can imagine. It has almost no flavor. Still people buy it and like it.

Not being snarky, I am just curious why people like it?

Charlie

Barista to the Stars

Once upon a time I was a barista, well we didn't call ourselves that. During my time in Nashville, TN, I would at the Second Story Cafe at Davis-Kidd Booksellers. This was at a time that a cafe in a bookstore was rare. Starbucks was not quite the presence it is today.

Our drink specialties were hazelnut coffee and fruit tea. We had regular brewed coffee and other specialty drinks. I was pretty good at frothing milk in the day. We also sold the best Peanut Butter Pie I have ever had - period.

Because this was Nashville, and because this was THE bookstore in Nashville, stars, authors and other celebrities all came into the cafe. A week didn't go by when the late Minnie Pearl would stop by for a "Howdy!" Of course she wasn't dressed as Minnie. To the staff she was Sarah Cannon, and always friendly.

Wynona Judd would sit occasionally in a corner and work on songs. My personal favorite was singer/songwriter Janis Ian. Some of you will remember her from the 1970s for the song, "At Seventeen." Brilliant writer.

Old story of mine Janis Ian always enjoyed coming in when I worked so I could make her drink. She was fond of my drink making ability. One day she and her partner invited me and a guest to their new home for a house warming party.

I took my friend David, who was as star struck as I usually was. We toured the home, and it was all lovely. In her living room, on her grand piano, was her Grammy Award for Best Female Vocalist for "At Seventeen." I had David cover me, as I picked it up, and practiced my acceptance speech. Don't worry, I didn't drop it, but it sure was heavy.

During my barista days I met Ivana Trump, Garrison Keillor, Wendy's founder Dave Thomas(who didn't appreciate my biggie cappuccino joke), Don Henley(who gave me a poinsettia) and Lily Tomlin. among many. I did my best to not be starstruck. These are folks after all who just want a cuppa joe.

I enjoyed the work, though I might not have truly appreciated it at the time(I was too young). This was where I learned how to make the drinks, how to appreciate coffee, and started my life long desire to know more about coffee.

One thing to note....that hazelnut coffee we made? It smelled great, but I drank too much of it, and have learned to hate flavored coffees.

Charlie

Thoughts Over a Cup of Sumatra

This morning I am in my local Starbucks, having a sup of their Sumatra coffee. For those not entirely clear, a Sumatran coffee comes from Indonesia. I typically find them to have an earthy quality, for lack of a better term. Sometimes this bothers my stomach, but today no issues. Anyone out there have an idea why it would bother my stomach? Is it the acidity of the coffee? It doesn't happen all the time, just sometimes.

I don't know much about coffees from this region. One of my goals this year is to learn more about them. Occasionally you hear about the coffees from this region which have odd origins. These are the ones where a cat or an elephant have eaten the coffee cherry, and the beans have been picked out of their poop. Yes, I know it sounds gross.

I have had one of these coffees. I'll be honest, I didn't notice any taste out of the ordinary. It tasted like coffee. Perhaps it was a bit more earthier than it normally is. Still I'm glad I tried it.

I think we coffee lovers need to experience the different coffees out there. Just as I encourage people to go beyond their comfort zone in life, the same can be said for our coffee experiences. Just don't ask me to pick out the beans from elephant poop.

Charlie

The Art and Science of Roasting Part 2

Here is part two of my series on roasting coffee. Again, my source material comes courtesy of Blue Bottle.



The roaster has started his machine. The green beans are in the drum. At this point the roaster(person) is waiting for the roaster(machine) temperature to bottom out. ONce this happens the first stage of roasting is complete. 

Beans are typically held in a warehouse at a certain temperature. According to Blue Bottle:

The thermal mass of the coffee brings the much greater mass of the roaster down from about 380F to its lowest point - usually 180F to 190F depending on the weather and the batch size. The amount of time it takes to get to the lowest point tells you how much energy you’ll need to put back into the coffee to get it through the roast.

Science is truly at play, because you have to deal with weather, temperature, mass. You have a lot of estimating to do to get those beans to where you want them roast-wise. Because you are dealing with issues of taste and aroma, this is also art. From this science, you are creating something which will please the mouth, eyes and nose. 

Once these beans have bottomed out temperature wise, it will begin to rise, and the roaster’s mission at that point is to prevent the temperature from climbing up too fast. You want a steady climb. Too quick a rise, and coffee dries too quickly. 

The steady rise in the temperature goes until there is the first cracking. The first crack is a chemical reaction , similar to the first pop of popcorn. This popping means there is now an increase in the size of the beans, and a decrease in the density of the bean. Coffee is now beginning to be drinkable with this first crack. 

There is a balance at play now. Moisture is leaving the coffee, but you don’t want it too dry. The coffee is getting browner as the temperature rises. The roaster has some decisions to make. He knows there is a certain roast he is going for. Whether it is a lighter roast, or a darker roast, he has to tinker with the machine and watch the time and temperature to achieve the roast and taste he wants in a coffee. 

Blue Bottle explains it this way:

The short period of time before, during and after first crack - approximately 120 seconds total - is when we are most consumed with changes in roasting variables. We want the temperature of the coffee to rise, but we want to manage the rate very carefully. If the temperature rises too quickly, momentum will carry the coffee past where we want it to be.

It’s a challenge. You need to work towards a goal, and if you fail, you have wasted beans, time and money. That is a lot to juggle.

Next, I will discuss what happens after first crack.

Charlie

Coffee Pet Peeve

This morning I was going to talk further on roasting, but I wanted to work on that a little more. Instead I am going to talk about one of my coffee pet peeves. Those who following my running blog(Running With Coffee), know I have several running pet peeves. Coffee is no different.

Let's say you have a cup of coffee at work, and it has gotten a bit cool. Common sense says,"I'll nuke it a few seconds and heat it up." Those poor coffee beans survived all kinds of elements, picking, drying and roasting for you, and you treat it like that? What did the coffee do to you? Why don't you just put a filet mignon in there, and let it go for an hour.

Microwaved coffee ruins the taste of the coffee. The composition of what made your coffee good is now destroyed. Instead of that delicious cup of coffee, you are left with coffee that no longer has the taste God and the roaster intended. It is more bitter. In short it tastes like crap.

If you want that kind of coffee, head to the nearest truck stop and get some 14 hour old coffee. It will achieve the same thing.

Be good to your coffee. Don't nuke it. If you have stale cold coffee....get another cup, a fresh cup.

Charlie

The Art and Science of Roasting Part 1

Roasting coffee is both an art and a science. It’s one of those areas where both sides of the brain are used to create something very special. That something special starts with green beans. 

Green beans are what coffee looks like before it has been roasted. This the product of the coffee cherry, in which the seeds have been extracted from the fruit and dried. The result is a light greenish bean, which is sold to coffee companies to be roasted. 

There are three main kinds of roast: light, medium and dark. What determines which roast, depends on how long the beans are roasted. Seems simple, but it isn’t. This is where art and science come into play. 

Most coffee roasters are what are known as drum roasters. It usually looks like a huge circular contraption, much like the inside of a clothes dryer, with a hopper on the top. Beans are loaded into the hopper which go into the drum. 

Blue Bottle Coffee from San Francisco, has produced a wonderful book titled, “The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee,” which details what the roasting process is like:

The beans roast through a combination of conductive heat(contacting the drum and each other) and convective heat)the flow of warm air through the drum). In the process, the beans gradually lose water content and begin to undergo chemical reactions, their precise nature determined by the amount of heat, air and moisture. You know where you want this coffee to go, so you set the timer and then take notes, recording batch size, varietal, and other crucial details.

Roasters constantly have to work with the temperature of the drum. Too hot, and you risk burning the beans. Too cool, and you may not have a successful roast. You also have to factor where the beans come from. Were they cultivated at higher or lower elevations? Why is this important? Where the beans come from determines how they handle the various temperatures. Different coffees will taste better when you factor where they came from, the roast and the temperatures of the roasting. 

The roaster is attempting to create a unique taste of the coffee. The problem is he/she doesn’t know at the point of roasting if all their figuring temperature, time, and beans will create what they want to accomplish. 

In the next posting, I will go into more detail about the roasting process.

Charlie

Not a Snob

I have friends who joke that I am a coffee snob. I’m not. I am simply a person who enjoys a good cup of coffee. My parents have been the same way. My parents traveled around the world, and they judged the success on the following criteria: did they like the food, did they like what they saw and was there good coffee. 

When I was young I watched my mom make coffee in a Mr. Coffee. She was known for strong coffee. Her coffee was so strong, it could walk over to you, slap you in the face, and tell you the wake up. Now, that’s a strong cup of coffee. Mom took her coffee black. My dad uses cream and sugar. When I started drinking it, I took it black, then I added sweetener and now I use sweetener and cream(soy cream if there is any). I’m sure there are coffee purists out there who are aghast that I would add anything to coffee. I know what I like though, and I have learned, there is no one way to drink a cup of coffee. 

Is there a coffee I hate? Yes - ground coffee. What a horrible thing to do to coffee! If you were to read a can of coffee, or a package of ground coffee, the contents would tell you, “100% coffee.” Yeah....and I’m George Clooney. Years ago, a friend of mine worked for a leading coffee company. She was in packaging. She told me about the amount of sawdust they put in a can coffee. The sawdust helps keep the coffee fresh.

I will talk about coffee freshness in another post. Needless to say sawdust is not well known for its freshness properties. Now it may add to the roasted quality and aroma, but in all honesty, I didn’t care. I didn’t want to drink sawdust. From that day, I buy only whole bean coffee. 

My folks bought whole bean coffee. First they got it at Kroger’s grocery, then later they discovered Starbucks. Of course they did the odd thing of putting coffee in a freezer. I will explain later why this is not too good to do to coffee. It’s amazing I grew up to have an appreciation of coffee with all that sawdust and frozen coffee I had. 

Now this isn’t to say I won’t have old ground coffee from time to time. I do, usually on a long road trip. I tell my partner Mark I need some bad coffee to slap my face and keep me awake as I drive. He looks repulsed as I drink it, but it does the job.

As I said at the start, I am not a coffee snob. I simply enjoy a good cup of coffee. Enjoying coffee is subjective. What I enjoy may not be what you enjoy, and that’s ok. What I don’t like is when people apologize for their coffee. Mark’s mom is always apologizing for the coffee she serves. I wish she wouldn’t. I drink it, and I drink plenty of it. Is it my favorite? No, but I am happy to have a cup of her coffee. 

Coffee isn’t always about the taste. Sometimes its about the experience you have with the coffee. Besides, if you like the coffee, it shouldn’t matter if I do or not. Now that doesn’t mean I won’t try to introduce you to coffees I like, or encourage you to back away from the canned coffee. I am opinionated about coffee, but no, I am not a snob.

Charlie

The Journey Begins.....

Welcome to my new blog. Some of you will know me from "Running With Coffee" others are just discovering this blog. Either way, welcome.

Coffee is a staple of life for many of us. For some, it's the way to start the day.  For other people, it's how we get through the day. Still for more, coffee is just simply a part of life. Wherever you are on this journey, I am happy to have you join me.

My love of coffee started, as it does for most, in college. Back then, it was fuel to keep a student studying. I learned early on what I like in coffee, and what I don't like. I have learned a good deal about coffee that I will share over time.

In this blog, I will talk about coffee history, varieties of coffee, how to brew, how not to brew, and anything that is coffee related. I will in some cases be reinventing the coffee wheel, so forgive me.

I want people to comment, ask questions, etc. Don't be shy.

So for now....pour a cup of coffee, and let's start our journey.

Charlie