Coffee Review: Bee Coffee Roaster Ethiopian Yirgacheffe

Hello Everyone!!!!!

I apologize for the lack of writing of late. As you may know I suffered a heart attack 3 1/2 weeks ago, and am in recovery. I have spent a little more time writing about my recovery at my other blog - http://running-with-coffee.blogspot.com. The good news I am still able to enjoy coffee, but I have to limit my consumption to 2-3 cups a day. I can drink more decaf though. I've been having coffee in the morning, and decaf later in the day. It's worked out.

Today I want to talk about a coffee I am drinking this morning. Bee Coffee Roaster in Indianapolis should be familiar to regular readers of this blog. They were a terrific find last year, and were one of my top coffees. I also attempted to work for them(sadly it didn't work out at that time, but I love these guys a great deal).

Yesterday Mark and I hit the Farmers Market downtown and picked up a bag of their Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. I made some in the French Press this morning. There is a lot to like about this coffee. It has a light quality to it, but don't confuse that for a lightweight coffee. This is a nutty/chocolately coffee, with a hint of saltiness and citrus in it. This is a great morning coffee, as it perks up whatever you may be having with it. I had some cantaloupe, and I swear it made the already yummy fruit taste even better. This is one of the best Ethiopian Yirgacheffes I have had - period.

BJ and Andy who run Bee Coffee Roaster, clearly have the roasting down on this coffee. It's a lighter medium roast, with plenty of flavor and yes it's a strong cup of coffee. On our Cher Scale of Strength, this is a 9. This is Cher arguing with her dad in Moonstruck, as she's fallen in love with Nicolas Cage, and she found her dad cheating on her mother. That's a strong cup of coffee.

Bee Coffee has two locations in Indy. They are on the west side, near Eagle Creek Park. They are also downtown across from the convention center.  You need to see them, and experience what they call "adventures in coffee." You won't be disappointed.

www.beecoffeeroasters.com

Charlie

Same Coffee - 3 Ways: Stone Creek Coffee Box Set

What does the processing of the coffee mean to the taste and experience of the coffee? Most of you haven't thought of that. To be honest, I haven't given it much thought either. The good folks at Stone

Creek Coffee Roasters have, and in a brilliant move have created a special box set - Guatemala San Sebastian Box Set. The coffee is a Guatemala Yellow Caturra.This set is a unique opportunity to experience the same coffee, processed three different ways: Washed, Natural and Semi-Washed.

First a bit of a primer/refresher in the ways coffee is processed. Washed is when the skin from the cherry is removed, but a good deal of the pulp(or mucilage) is still on the bean. The beans are then soaked in tanks, anywhere from 12-24 hours. According to Stone Creek, this "encourages controlled fermentation, developing flavor and removing excess mucilage."

The Natural process is kind of as it indicates - natural. The cherry is whole and dries into the coffee bean. This is usually done on drying beds or patios. This process takes approximately 18 days. The beans absorb the sugars and acids from the fruit.

Semi-Washed is a combination of the previous processes. The skin is removed, with part of the mucilage on the bean, which dries onto the parchment, there is a soaking so extra sugars are in the bean. Then the beans are dried in direct sunlight for approximately 12 days.

The result of this means the coffee will taste different with each process. So what did we experience with the Stone Creek Set? In each case, I grounded the same amount of each coffee, and brewed each one in the French Press. I wanted the coffees to be on equal footing.  With the set comes an information sheet, and a postcard we can send back to Stone Creek and the farmers to give our impressions.

First up was the Natural. What stood out almost immediately was the nutty nature of the coffee. This is a smooth cup of coffee. The chocolate and almond flavors are very prevalent. The fruity nature of the coffee, the cherry essence doesn't really come through until the aftertaste. Mark wasn't fond of this coffee. I liked it, as I tried to imagine food pairings with it. This is a nice brunch coffee. Very mellow, not overpowering.

Washed was our next coffee. This was a brighter cup of coffee. More of the fruit like the cherry and apple nature of the coffee came through. It also tasted a bit stronger than the Natural. The coffee has a sweeter taste. We liked this coffee better than the first one.

Semi-Washed was our favorite. The taste jumped out immediately and we both went "Mmmmm". This is like a chocolate covered cherry. Very tasty, again very bright. This has a bit of punch to it. We had it with our blueberry pancakes this morning. Excellent pairing.

I've written about Stone Creek quite a bit this year. I know you think there is a bromance going on. It's simple, these people are producing some outstanding quality. Now they are adding an educational component to the enjoyment. The box set is $25, and is limited. Only 250 are being sold. I would grab one before they are gone.

www.stonecreekcoffee.com

Charlie

Coffee Review: Cedarburg Coffee Costa Rica Decaf...Decaf?

Hello Everyone!

I know I haven't posted here days. Some of you know, some of you don't know, that I suffered a heart attack last week, and am now in recovery.  I had a stent put in, and am on the road to recovery. Of course one question which has been asked a lot - can I still drink coffee? Yes I can, but in moderation. I can have a couple cups of coffee a day. So I think I have to make the most of those cups.  I can drink all the decaf I want. I know, I know, not the same thing.

I was given some decaf for my recovery from Cedarburg Coffee Roastery, and I thought I would review it for you. Cedarburg is another Wisconsin coffee company,  a state which is serving notice that they roast good coffee too. Typically Decaf gets a knock because it doesn't taste like coffee. That is a challenge during the Swiss Water Process, because really who wants to drink coffee which doesn't taste like coffee.

What I'm drinking is a Decaf Costa Rican Royal Select. Cedarburg says the coffee is a light roast, but the look of the beans and the taste of this don't indicate that. The beans are darker and fairly glossy. To be honest, I don't know if this is an effect of the decaf process.

I have been diligently drinking the coffee this week, and while I think it's better than a good many decafs I've had, it still feels like I'm not quite drinking a cup of coffee. Now, I don't think this is the roasters fault. I just think when you pull out the caffeine, you pull out a lot of the flavor.  Still there are flavors to experience in this decaf. It's a bright coffee, and I do get some fruity notes to it.

No strength, so I can't give you a  number on the Cher Scale of Strength. This is nice to have in the evening if I want a cup of coffee, but can't have a cup of coffee. So there is a convenience factor.

I would be interested in sampling some of the other coffees Cedarburg roasts, as I have a feeling they are pretty good.

I am slowly integrating coffee back into my life, just a couple cups at a time though. Happy to be alive, and happy to be back in the coffee world.

Charlie

Coffee Review: Hubbard and Cravens Estate Greats

I imagine blending different coffees is quite a challenge to a roaster. As I've have said before, there is a science and an art to roasting, but to roast and blending different roasts must be a challenge. Today we are drinking Estate Greats from Hubbard and Cravens. This is a blend of Central American and Indonesian coffees.

Information on the coffee is limited, but Hubbard and Cravens describes of the coffee as having citrus and floral notes. This would make sense with the infusion of Indonesian coffee. I opened the bag of beans, and I got the floral essence immediately.

As I said, the blending part of coffee must be a challenge. I will say when I made our first pot a couple days ago, I didn't care for it.  I resisted writing about it, because I usually write after a couple brews of the coffee.  I'm glad I did.

There is a woman at Hubbard and Cravens who got me to like their Sumatra coffee(I'm not a big fan of Sumatra coffee).  She knows who she is. When I asked about this coffee, she told me since I liked that, I should like this one.

What I didn't like at first was the earthiness of the coffee, typical of Sumatra. What changed my mind was when I started tasting more of the citrus, that pushed that earthy quality out of the way. I needed the second brewed pot to help me with that.

In the end I really like this coffee. The citrus gives it a brightness that I didn't expect. If a coffee could be bouncy, this would be it. On our Cher Scale of Strength, I get quite a bit of punch out of it. I give it a 7.5, which is Cher being sassy with Jack Nicholson in "The Witches of Eastwick."

Enjoy!

www.hubbardandcravens.com

Charlie

"It's Too Fancy"

I was talking to a friend of mine recently who told me she normally buys coffee at the grocery store. She asked me for some suggestions of coffees she could try, and I offered a few. She told me, "Oh I can't drink a coffee like that it's too fancy."

Part of my journey is to de-mystify coffee, because really, there isn't a mystery or anything fancy about it. The coffee she buys and the coffee I buy are both at heart, seeds of a cherry. People have taken the time to pick, process, roast and package them so we can drink coffee. She uses a drip maker. I tend to use a French Press. Now, there is maybe where the fancy comes in, but that isn't the coffee, it's the brewing method.

Good fresh roasted coffee is not something out of reach for people. For my friends in Indianapolis, the three I have gone to and enjoy are Bee Coffee Roaster, Hubbard and Cravens and The Daily Brake. All have coffee I enjoy. None of them are pretentious(thought the Carmel location of Hubbard and Cravens comes close). Everyone who sells the coffee is friendly, and more than willing to talk to you about the coffee(especially BJ and Andy at Bee Coffee Roasters). Now is it fancy to pay $12-$17  a bag for coffee? I can see that argument, but it's still a better value than the $8.99 a bag coffee(which may already have been ground).

I think the fancy comes in when you order a Carmel, Half Skinny, Double Foam, Macchiato, with Hazelnut, and a twist of whatever. Good lord, that's more complicated than anything.

The more you learn about coffee, the less mysterious and fancy I think it becomes. It's just coffee....but it's really good.

Charlie

How Comfortable Are You?

This morning as I sip my coffee, and read coffee news from around the world, I keep reading about the failure of Fair Trade Coffee. I believe Fair Trade was started on the best of intentions, after all we want farmers to make a good living producing the coffee we love. Studies are showing more and more that money is not going where it really needs to go - to the farm worker.

The University of London has recently announced a study showing that farm workers are mostly unskilled labor, and they may make between $500-$1000 a year. These are the people who go out into the fields and pick and then process the coffee. I have been on coffee farms, and the terrain is mountainous and muddy in Central America. I can only imagine what conditions are like in other farming regions.

Farm workers usually means a family travels from farm to farm picking coffee. They have children out there filling HUGE burlap bags of coffee cherries. This is what families do to stay alive. Is that a life though?

Fair Trade needs to be re-evaluated. It was built on the premise that the farmer(owner) needed to be helped, but somehow that money is not getting to the ones doing a majority of hard work. I'm hoping the practices can be changed so the worker will benefit too.

If not, how comfortable are you with this?

Charlie

If I Were to Own a Coffee House.....

Right off the bat, let me be clear, I don't want to own a coffee house(at least at this point in my life). If I were here is what it would be like.....

Coffee roasted at the coffee house
Just coffee, no Frapps, or bizarre drinks that require a dictionary to rattle off. Simple coffee drinks. You want complicated - go to Starbucks.
Free WiFi
Exposed brick and beams on the ceiling - a loft/warehouse atmosphere.
Coffee workshops to educate the public
Minimal food items - scones, muffins, but no meals
Live music events
80s music playing during the day
Coffee cupping parties
Event/party space
Lots of fun

So who would go to that coffee house?

Charlie