Today's Cup of Coffee 5-8-2013

Dark Matter Coffee sounds like some sinister villain in the coffee world. Their website looks like they are leading you into a very dark place. At CoffeeCON, they lured you to their booth with samples of Unicorn Blood. The only thing dark though about Dark Matter Coffee is - their coffee. 

I was torn between the coffees I wanted to bring home. I asked the guy at the booth for a recommendation between a Mexican Chiapas and the Earlybird coffee. He told me that was akin to asking him to choose his favorite child. After a series of questions though, we determined I would try the Earlybird. 

Earlybird, is a seasonal blend of Sulawesi and El Salvadorian coffees. Dark Matter says that the Sulawesi "forms the base of this blend lending a moderate, velvet mouth feel, and sweet grassy aromatics.? The El Salvadorian part, "supplies a subtle vibrance, with flavors akin to paprika and an understated orange zest finish." 

This is a smooth coffee. If you want to ease into the day, this coffee is a good one for you. No face slapping going on with Earlybird. This is a love tap on the face. There is a spiciness to the coffee which lingers with you. Sometimes Indonesian coffees have an earthy quality I don't care for, but this is a bright and clean coffee. I think the blend with the El Salvadorian part gives it more a floral quality. 

I had not heard of Dark Matter prior to CoffeeCON. They will be on my radar now. I did try a bit of the Unicorn Blood. It is their espresso. Now that espresso really slaps your face(a Cher slap). 

You won't be lured into a dark side with this coffee, you will just enjoy it.

www.darkmattercoffee.com

Charlie

Today's Cup of Coffee 5-6-2013

I tried many coffees while at CoffeeCON. Most of the ones I didn't taste were the ones being roasted outside the exhibit hall. As I wrote on Saturday, I met Jim Smyth and Jon Parker of JJ Coffee Roasters. I enjoyed talking with them about how they got started, and why they like coffee roasting. For my first post-CoffeeCON reviews, I chose the Colombian Organic coffee they gave me.

Colombian coffee is one of the most common coffees around. It is typically what is sold in grocery stores, or served in restaurants. When you drink coffee, most times this is what is in the average cup. Most Colombian coffees have little aftertaste, and have darker tastes like chocolate or cherry.

So how did Jim and Jon do?

I used this coffee to inaugurate my new french press. My biggest worry was that I would screw up the coffee in trying the french press. Happy to say the french press worked fine. Now for the coffee.

When I opened the bag, I smelled a nice smoky aroma, if coffee could smell rich, this did. As I tasted it,  I felt, and Mark agreed that there was a mocha flavor to it. So really not chocolate, but something a bit deeper than that. It is a pretty smooth coffee. There were hints of a darker fruit(cherry?) In short this tasted like a Colombian should.

On the face slapping scale(love tap to Cher's "Moonstruck" slap), this was a solid 7. So it slaps you awake, with a bit of a sting. I liked this coffee very much. Do the guys have a future in coffee roasting? I would say they do. I would love to see what else they can come up with.

According to their Facebook page they roast a nice variety of coffees, and sell at $6 per half pound, $12 per pound. You can contact them at jjcoffeeroasters@yahoo.com.

You can also visit them on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/JJ-Coffee-Roasters/287496531260427

Charlie

Coffees to Review

When you come back from an event like CoffeeCON, you have a lot of coffees to review. For the record, I drank a lot of coffee that day. Of course, all of it was in little Dixie cups, and as the day wore on, I didn't drink them all. I would take some sips so I could experience them, and then tossed them. 

At home, I can make the coffee how I like it, and give you more of an assessment.

The coffees I will be reviewing over the next few days and weeks come from:

River City Roasters
JJ Coffee Roasters
Dark Matter Coffee
Metropolis
Oren's Daily Roast
The Dude with the Grill Roaster(the odd home roaster who wants a webcam inside the grill)
Three different processes from a farmer who came up from Honduras(he really worked the media center). 

For those new to my reviews, you will see an odd reference to Cher. One of the criteria I have for coffee, is how hard does it slap you in the face. Is it a love tap, or is it Cher slapping the heck out of Nicholas Cage in "Moonstruck". Just wanted to prepare newer readers.

Time to get to work.

Charlie

CoffeeCON Gifts

Yup....I got some good stuff at CoffeeCON and one more is coming......

I am looking forward to trying the coffees, which I will review, and trying the different brewing methods.

Charlie

CoffeeCON 2013 Lessons Learned

I wanted to share some of the things I learned today at CoffeeCON....

1) People love coffee. I didn't really learn this, but I was amazed at the number of people who came to the event today. The classes were full. The lectures were well attended. The coffee vendors were giving away a lot of coffee. Everyone looked happy to be there.

2) There is a lot of coffee out there. Today I got to revisit some old friends(I Have a Bean and Metropolis), and discovered some new friends: River City Coffee, Regular Coffee, Dark Matters Coffee and Fresh Ground Roasting. Their coffees were all good. 

3) People like to home roast. Oh my goodness there are lots of ways to roast coffee. More importantly the people who roast at home are very passionate about their coffee. I enjoyed meeting Jim and Jon(who I wrote about earlier in the day). Just two guys who love to roast beans and share. The gentleman who owns the grill roaster was talking about his desire to create a live webcam inside the grill, so people could watch the coffee roast. Keep on thinking.

4) Coffee brings friends and family together. Mark and his family came today, and by all accounts had a great time learning about brewing methods and various coffees. My friends Krys and George came and it was great fun attending some of the classes with them. 

5) Coffee goes well with pastries. 

6) Most of all it was a day to celebrate coffee. Many thanks to CoffeeCON for an amazing event. I learned alot. I enjoyed everything, and it was a terrific day.

Charlie

Sights at CoffeeCON 2013

As I get into the day here at CoffeeCON, here are some of the sights I am seeing.....

It's CoffeeCON Day in Warrenville, IL!

 

Fresh Ground Roasting making a mean espresso!

Yes....that's a heat gun. Yes that's a dog bowl.

The owner of this roasting grill wants to put a live webcam inside.

Regular Coffee

Coffee lovers and roasters are a particular group of people. They know what they like, and then there is coffee they just consider "regular." Stephen Curtis, co-owner if Regular Coffee took that a step further.

The idea behind Regular Coffee was to get really good coffee to the masses. Curtis was part of Rowster Coffee, a specialty coffee roaster and coffee house. Not every person can make it to a nice coffee house, so the idea was to get the coffee house coffee to the people. Curtis says, "The name was kind of a joke. We roasted this coffee, which to us was just regular, but as people tried it, they told us it was the best they ever had.

Regular Coffee comes in 1 1/2 lbs  cans, which look oddly like Quaker Oats containers. That is one purpose. They wanted the public to get their coffee in something familiar, and besides, bags can tip over.  Subscriptions are monthly $20 and you get the tube of coffee.

They only roast Guatamalan coffee at this time.

www.regularcoffee.com