Lets talk about COFFEE

[DavidLane]

My local roaster just took 4th place in the US Roaster Championship. They are a small shop, but have been my go to for several years and have some wonderful coffees. Worth a look if you want to try something new from a relatively unknown roaster.

https://shop.joebeanroasters.com/collections/coffee-by-the-bag

DL-

 

[otc]

almost any blend you buy from any coffee roaster is a post-roast blend. because different coffee varietals require different temperatures, air flow settings, and roast times, it is near impossible to blend pre-roast with any decent results.

I guess I meant more like post-grind blending (or pre-grind, but like...blended to order). Like you walk up to the counter and say you like the sound of X but it is a little too bright for you so he tosses in some Y when he brews your cup.

Makes sense that the blends are still roasted separately--although I am not sure I have ever bought a bag of beans and had obviously different roasts (like a really dry light bean next to a dark oily bean).

 

[A Y]

I guess I meant more like post-grind blending (or pre-grind, but like...blended to order). Like you walk up to the counter and say you like the sound of X but it is a little too bright for you so he tosses in some Y when he brews your cup.

I haven't heard of anyone doing pre-brew blending, but the original Starbucks would keep index cards with information about each customer's blends, and mix it up for them when they came in to get beans. I've also seen people do this at Peet's but more informally.

 

[igordelnorte]

Started using a French press recently. Question: How long should I let it steep before pressing?

4 minutes.

Total Brew time is depend on a how coarse your grind are. So for a "coarse" grind (around 1200 microns) it will be 4 minutes. Steep for 30 seconds and stir, then brew for 3:30. Hope this helps. Good guide here about How to Brew with French Press.

 

[K. Nights]

So I have an aeropress but looking to get a chemex for when I want to brew multiple cups. Can anyone comment on whether the 6 cup or 8 cup size would be better for my purposes? I will typically be using it for just two people, but occasionally 3-4 when I have company. My understanding is that the sizes refer to actual volume of the chemex, not the amount of cups of coffee you can make in them at one time

 

[once a day]

a great tune, for your coffee moments:

Just so happen to quote the origin story of our brand

 

[Summertime345]

What do you guys drink and like? How do you make it and take it?

Drinking some Sumatra right now, probably 3 tablespoons to a cup so it's nice and thick. Black, no sugar or milk.

I grind my own beans (coarse) and use a french press.

I usually drink green tea, but sometimes I like coffe, buuuut with no lactose milk or almond milk

 

[am55]

@once a day one more SG spot for you: Haritts. Ben uses Cowpresso beans, pulls a great espresso, and is a very nice guy who works too hard. Obviously the main draw is the fresh donuts. On the downside there is no indoor sitting, and outdoors is next to probably the busiest crossing in the country. Best DM them ahead on Instagram/Facebook to check they have donuts left (or reserve a few).

 

[once a day]

@once a day one more SG spot for you: Haritts. Ben uses Cowpresso beans, pulls a great espresso, and is a very nice guy who works too hard. Obviously the main draw is the fresh donuts. On the downside there is no indoor sitting, and outdoors is next to probably the busiest crossing in the country. Best DM them ahead on Instagram/Facebook to check they have donuts left (or reserve a few).

@am55 - great stuff - https://www.facebook.com/haritts.sg/ will be on the list for the next singapore trip!!! We're in Stockholm now, and will visit a few gems here, i'll share some photos here later on.

 

[edinatlanta]

I just wanted to say that the discussion about roasters and having access to quality beans was an interesting discussion. It would also explain why so many small roasters just fall flat with producing good coffee. Like, it doesn't seem terribly hard to figure out the technical aspect of roasting but it intuitively seems like it's harder to obtain quality base materials. Like how much of the world's coffee is going to craft roasters? .00005%? To get a fraction of that fraction...

 

[edinatlanta]

And I just read this article and now I see why Panther had the Bkon: they are partners with the company (not that that's a problem. I was semi-curious how, really, any shop could afford such a device).

Sort of an update. I'm at Panther right now. No Bkon. It also appears Bkon is no longer a thing because their Twitter hasn't been updated in two years.

 

[Belligero]

I just wanted to say that the discussion about roasters and having access to quality beans was an interesting discussion. It would also explain why so many small roasters just fall flat with producing good coffee. Like, it doesn't seem terribly hard to figure out the technical aspect of roasting but it intuitively seems like it's harder to obtain quality base materials. Like how much of the world's coffee is going to craft roasters? .00005%? To get a fraction of that fraction...

You have no idea what you're talking about. It's not at all difficult to order high-quality specialty-grade green beans.

 

[edinatlanta]

I dunno, a lot of words here saying it's not that easy to make good coffee.

FWIW

What you are describing isn't isolated to NYC, but is an industry problem in general. Roasters under a certain size can't afford to really manage their own sourcing, and so they end up "spot buying" coffee from a small group of importers who are willing to work in small volumes. The result is that microroasters all over the country are buying the same exact green coffee as each other.

I'm not sure I'd even characterize this as a problem, so much as a reality that most consumers are misled about. The truth is that coffee roasting isn't like beer brewing. Microbreweries make sense to me because so much of it is about taking commodity ingredients and getting creative with the actual brewing process. In coffee, sourcing of good green is SO MUCH MORE important than roasting, and most small specialty roasters are all sourcing the same stuff.

Most small roasters have nothing unique to offer consumers and have no reason to exist. I think it's a bubble that's happening right now because everyone who runs a high quality cafe thinks they need to be in the roasting business to attract consumers. I think that it will begin correcting itself over the next few years.

Yeah, that all makes sense. I am baffled as to why there aren't cafes out here that sell beans that aren't roasted here. At first I thought it was a money thing having to buy the beans vs. roast, but the price of real estate here is stupid and you have to hire a roaster, who was taught to roast a certain way and on and on. It is a shame that anywhere you walk into these days you're drinking the same cup of coffee. Even other cities I feel have more variety in styles though. In Seattle there are tons of different roast profiles and such. Doesn't exist here. You have Starbucks and then everything else.

I think roasting is a whole different beast than many people imagine. It isn't just "cook these beans at 400 degrees for 15 minutes" however I feel like all of these local roasters playing around put out a lot of garbage/suboptimal beans not having any "real" instruction. If I were opening a cafe I am from the mindset that there is probably somebody else roasting coffee that knows a lot more than I do so why mess with it.

Could buy in a roasted bean for the main customer and then small batch the interesting stuff in the back. I've so far been unable to secure a cup of Esmeralda from my local roaster who sells them out within hours of letting us know he's done a batch. The $400 investment is recouped in 20-30 cups of geisha (or a Corretto for the cheapest reliable large batch method, although it takes time)

Sourcing is important but I think the roast is at least equally important. I have ruined perfectly good beans then followed up with a great tasting batch. Same beans different process and decisions. Now I follow a number of roast profiles when testing out a new bean to figure out how it works best (including tastings at daily intervals to spot the peak).

The NYC situation reminds me of the sushi scene in Singapore where all the restaurants get their Tsukiji fish air flown by the same supplier. Sometimes the economies of scale and experience are too great. However green beans are such a cheap, durable and easily shipped commodity I do not quite understand what is so hard about sourcing some...

 

[A Y]

Ed, I think those posts are all saying that everyone has access to good beans, which means that a particular roaster's claim to exclusive access from some farm is overblown. Roasting those beans to turn out a good coffee is harder, and the same bean roasted by two different people can be completely different. So just being able to order the same beans doesn't necessarily make two roasters the same.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

You have no idea what you're talking about. It's not at all difficult to order high-quality specialty-grade green beans.

Maybe for you at home, on a small scale, but sourcing the best beans wholesale takes an insane amount of money. What you can buy as a consumer is what is left over after the big players have already made their moves.