Lets talk about COFFEE



A Y said:

So I had the washed version of the bean (Blue Bottle El Salvador – Plan De La Batea Alicia), and it's quite a bit better than the pulped natural version (El Salvador – Plan De La Batea Rincon Del Tigre) in that there is a bit more complexity, and the flavors are more balanced. In the washed, I get more herbs, and the citrus component is in much better proportion. I've had the pulped natural again in a French press preparation, and then there is a lemon dishwasher soap component instead of the cardboardy note, and it doesn't have the metallic tang (which is perhaps masked by the French press preparation). The washed has a lingering sweetness but it's tied to the metallic tang.
I'm starting to think perhaps that central American beans are not for me. Give me a washed Kenyan any day for a clean, acidic citrus coffee, and a natural Ethiopian for a funkier coffee.

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I do agree with your regional choices. African coffees are always more interesting to me than all of Central America. Some South American come to par with Africa, imo.

I have never liked Indonesian coffees except in espresso blends. They just taste like burnt dirt.



patrickBOOTH said:

I have never liked Indonesian coffees except in espresso blends. They just taste like burnt dirt.

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The Sumatran that my old cafe sold had employee tasting notes of "hot garbage" and "marijuana smoke". Just gross.

Two recent coffees. The first one is a special selection from Aida Batlle's farms and roasted by Counterculture. It's very well balanced and the citrus is under control though prominent. The tangy sweetness is also well-controlled. Lots of things going on, and actually kind of understated. It's a Central American bean I could drink for a while, but it's not really my thing, and pretty expensive ($70/lbs, but they include shipping). Preparation is in a CCD.

The 2nd is a recent favorite: a natural Ethiopian with the biggest chocolate aftertaste I've had. It was almost like having a mocha. This one is definitely on the reorder list before it goes out of season, and it's not too expensive either at about $25/lbs.

Looks beautiful.

how'd you brew the second one?

The Ethiopian was was done with an Aeropress in an upside-down config with a paper filter. 15ish grams of fine grounds, 215 g of water at around 205F. 45 seconds total steep time, gentle, continuous stirring for the first 15 seconds. The cap and filter were dunked in near boiling water.

In case anyone's wondering, the first is one is a Clever Coffee Dripper with around 24 g of fine grounds, 360 g of water at 204ish F. 4 minutes total steep time, stirring gently for a few seconds after 90 seconds, and drainage started after 4 minutes. I used a bleached Filtropa paper filter which was rinsed with near boiling water in the CCD.

interesting. you ever try metal filters?


also anybody have recs for an electric kettle where i can fine tune the temperature and see how much water is in it?

I have the Coava/Able metal filter, and it's okay, but these days I find myself preferring the tighter filtration of paper for a cleaner cup, but with a bit less body. I think the flavors stand out more, too, but you can try both and see what you think.

For a kettle with temperature control, I use a Pino, which is available from a number of places, including Sweet Maria's. The temperature readout is OK, but it doesn't have super precise control of the temps so it tends to jump around a bit when it's in maintain mode. It's generally OK with something like either of these two methods as they are relatively forgiving of small temperature variations. It would be fine with French press, too.

The Pino also has little 0.25L steps on the inside so you can tell how much to fill up, but it doesn't have the transparent window like the Bodum Isis which lets you see how much you've poured out. If that's important to you, I'd get a glass measuring cup, measure the water in there, and pour from there.

doesn't the water evaporate as it's heating up tho?

i looked at the pino but i didn't know if i would like a kettle where it'd be finicky or difficult to read the temperature, but i did my research and didn't see anything as well priced as it for the same functionality

I guess a little does evaporate but it's not a big deal. I usually put almost twice as much water as I need because I use some of it to prerinse the filter and warm up the CCD, and I weigh the water when I pour it into the CCD.

The controls for the digital Pino are a little crude, but once you figure it out, you can make it do what you need it to do. It's not hard to read the temp.

oh. weighing the water would be a good idea. thanks for the rec



indesertum said:

oh. weighing the water would be a good idea. thanks for the rec

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Yeah, weighing water is important when you heat it up since it gets less dense, so you cannot use volume measurements (eg. oz or mL) to determine the right amount of water.

i dunno why i didin't think of weighing water before. volume is usually imprecise. thanks for the tip

I too preferred the clinical approach to brewing coffee in my early days. Now, with so much grit under my fingernails, I wing it with the eyeball. Using the same equipment allows the eyeball to maintain calibration LOL. I like to bring my water to a boil and introduce my pre-measured amount of coffee into the water which has been pulled from heat. After 30-45 seconds of stirring, I pour water/coffee mix through paper filter of my Chemex...perfect every time. I will also vary my grind by the coffee I use. I find I like to grind high altitude coffees finer than lower altitude coffees. For the most part, IMHO, I find high altitude coffees produce a harder bean which is usually roasted longer.

Oh, my new interest is Fonte from Seattle. A really well done coffee, respectively roasted with good flavor points and maintains mildness and appropriate acidity.