From cherry to your cup: a summary of coffee production in Central America (with photos)

[acidboy]

awesome awesome thread, mi amigo.

 

[CalTex]

Great thread, subscribed!

 

[applky]

Excellent thread. Subscribed.

I hope the trend toward lighter roasting continues. Dark-roasted coffee tastes like carburetor juice.

 

[applky]

This New Yorker article (subscriber only, unfortunately) about Aida Batlle is really interesting for anyone looking to learn more about "new wave" or "third wave" coffee from a production perspective.

 

[A Y]



I hope the trend toward lighter roasting continues. Dark-roasted coffee tastes like carburetor juice.

I would say instead that I hope the trend towards good roasting continues. Dark or light doesn't matter as long as it suits the character of the bean and it's done well. I've had some pretty bad light roasted stuff from well-known roasters (Intelligentsia, Verve & Blue Bottle), and some really excellent dark-roasted stuff (many from Peet's).

 

[whodini]

Agreed. While people have inherent biases for flavor, no dark roast done correctly should taste "bad." If you can't taste a dark roast's signature (dark chocolate, caramel, etc.), then you might want to question the source.

 

[BubblyMasquerade]

I'm a lazy person and I like drip coffee, and recommendations for a good rip machine?

 

[A Y]



I'm a lazy person and I like drip coffee, and recommendations for a good rip machine?

How much do you want to spend? The Technivorm and Bonavita drip brewers make good coffee.

http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/coffee-brewers/electric-brewers.html?source=side

 

[applky]

^ I have heard that the Technivorm is the best drip coffee maker that money can buy -- it just takes a lot of money (for a drip machine).

N.B. that grinding your own beans fresh will improve the results from any brew or extraction method dramatically.

Also re dark/light roasts -- sure, you can do a dark or light roast well or poorly. The most interesting coffee I've had over the past five years or so has been on the medium or light end of things. A good dark roast isn't impossible to pull off, but it does seem harder, or at least less common. I'm thinking of Gorilla Coffee, for instance, whose espresso tastes almost burnt to me.

 

[mjt73106]

Thanks! Very well done.

 

[shubham vaidya]

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[Firefox]

I just discovered this thread. An incredibly interesting and well-constructed summary of coffee production. Thanks whodini!