Hi Friends,
I’ll roast next on Monday, November 10, and any orders received by Sunday night will be delivered and shipped on Tuesday the 4th. If you are local, email me, and away orders are easier if they go through the website (www.freeportcoffee.com).
The holiday season is coming! Next week, I’ll have a full rundown of our new holiday coffees (5-6 of these) and some special offers for you. As a reminder, if you have a large order coming that will need custom labels, please get in touch with me ASAP. I’ll be ordering green coffee and bags in the next few days, and I am trying to line my ducks up so I don’t have to order again before Christmas.
Oh. I have 8 Barack O’Java labels left – and when these are gone, that blend will become the Jamlii Holiday Blend. If you want a souvenir bag of Barack for your shelf (or to drink it in celebration!), order now – first come, first served.
Today, I am writing about troubleshooting coffee. I’d like to share some ideas on things you can do at home to fine tune your brew and to deal with those perky little strange tastes that arise from time to time.
Lets start with a refresher on making coffee. You have a certain coffee, you store it in a particular way and in a particular form (ground or whole bean) and you then measure out an amount of coffee. You get water from somewhere and heat it to a certain temperature and introduce the water into your brewing device. Maybe there are other elements to your brewing device, like a filter. You may brew it into a cup (made of something) or into some kind of holding container, which may be insulated or not and which may or not sit on some kind of a warmer. Maybe you drink it now or drink iater. You put stuff in it (or not). Maybe it stays warm or stays cool.
Then you taste it.
Coffee is a very, very complex substance, and they say there are more than 700 separate chemicals found in coffee – many of which change with time, temperature, moisture and other factors. Some of these changes happen before I ever see the coffee, and many happen after it leaves me and goes to a café or to you. And a lot of these impact flavor.
If something doesn’t seem right about your cuppa, it may be the coffee, but it can also be factors that are under your control . . . and by changing these, you can dial in your own perfect brew.
So, based on the above refresher, here’s a step by step list of some things to consider if you want to make changes at home:
Choice of Coffee: The spectrum of available coffee out there runs from the lighter roasted origins from South and Central America through to French Roasts (and even darker, though not from us), and within this spectrum, you can find rich, fruity, light, sweet, bright and all sorts of other sensations. Changing the beans you buy really can change the whole experience. Write me back if you want some ideas?
Storage: As a rule of thumb, if your coffee is relatively freshly roasted, and you’ll use your bag within a week, seal the bag and leave it at room temperature. If you will use in longer than a week, freeze it (not the fridge)
Ground or Whole Bean: Pre-ground coffee goes stale really fast! If you buy pre-ground, the freezer is your best bet across the board. Love, the Grinder Police.
Amount of Coffee to Use: The rule of thumb here is two level tablespoons of ground coffee per 6 ounces of water. Note that brewers, carafes, etc. will use this amount as a “cup of coffee” measure (as in, this is an “8 Cup Coffee Maker”), but in reality, most of us use cups larger than this. If your coffee taste seems off, you can play with the amount you are using upwards or downwards, and don’t assume if your cup is bitter that you are using too much coffee. You may in fact be using too little.
Water: Our water comes from a well source in Freeport, and we notice a pronounced difference in the taste over the course of a year. A while back, I was getting a funny taste in my coffee, and when I drank a glass of tap water next to the coffee, there was a similarity in the off tastes. If you think your water source is the culprit, try getting some water from somewhere else (I am NOT recommending out of a plastic bottle) and tasting them side by side. There are a lot of ways out there to filter out the bad tastes, and you may want to experiment with using filtered water to brew your coffee.
Water Temperature: If you heat the water on the stove for making coffee, note that the temperature of a rolling boil (212’) is really too hot for coffee. You’d like the ideal temperature to be closer to 200, so maybe get in the habit of boiling the water and letting it sit for a minute or so before you brew – you should notice a big difference.
Brewing Device: I’ll save a discussion of the different ways of brewing coffee for another day, but for here, I’ll just say that results are very different from device to device – and you may find that using a different apparatus gets you closer to the coffee you want. Have a look at this link on the Coffee Review site for an excellent discussion of the methods available: http://www.coffeereview.com/reference.cfm?ID=164.
Other Elements: You might use a paper filter or a gold filter or some kind of metal filter as part of your brewer. Paper filters can leach flavor and should be rinsed before using. Other filter types need regular cleaning to eliminate the tastes of old coffee oils.
Cup: The material your favorite cup is made of makes a difference, and if you use a metal or plastic cup, give it a sniff, and chances are you’ll discover a strong smell you don’t equate with delicious, fresh coffee. Those metal travel mugs a lot of people drink from on the way to work can develop a buildup very quickly, and they are great at holding the scent of teas. It might be necessary to go at this gunk with espresso machine cleaner or cleanser, as these are very tenacious substances.
The Coffee Pot: If you brew into a glass coffee pot that sits on a warmer, you will have trouble if the coffee stays there longer than a few minutes – switch to storing the coffee in some kind of a thermal carafe and you’ll notice a big difference. If you are the person who gets up late in your household and you come downstairs to find something akin to sludge waiting for you in the family pot, treat yourself and brew up your own fresh one. You have rights too!
I hope this helps. I am happy to answer any questions about this, or if you are in Freeport or Yarmouth, I’ll come over and have a look at what you are using if you like.
Enjoy the weekend, and thanks for all your support.
Kent
Friday, November 7, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Coffee Processing Methods
Hi Friends,
We are roasting next on Sunday, October 5, and any orders received through noon that day will be shipped or delivered on Monday the 6th. If you are local, email me, and away orders are easier if they go through the website (www.freeportcoffee.com).
We have sadly run out of the wonderful organic Honduras, but we have a nice new organic from Costa Rica you might like to try – details are on the store page on the website. Not on the site is the amazing Barack O’Java. You can order this through us or through the Obama headquarters in Yarmouth, Portland, somewhere in Michigan and northern NC. When ordered through us, we donate $1 from each pound to the campaign and orders through their offices get a $5 donation. Go Obama!!!
I am sending these messages now from my home email address, as some of you have spam filters that don’t like hearing from the ISP behind freeportcoffee.com.
As promised, I am writing today about the processing of coffee – taking you all the way from the harvest through to the roaster. Coffee travels a long road to reach your cup, and I think it is interesting to understand the many steps along the way.
What is Coffee?
What we call “coffee beans” are the seeds of a woody perennial evergreen tree grown in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. These seeds are found in a fruit typically referred to as “cherries,” though they aren’t actually related to the more common fruit of the same name.
Usually, these seeds are found in pairs facing each other – you can imagine this pairing by placing the flat surfaces of two beans together. In about 5-10% of the cherries, only one bean is found, and these “peaberries” are more rounded and oval in shape.
Broadly speaking, there are two main species of coffee, formally known by their Latin names, Coffea Arabica (aka “Arabica”) and Coffea Canephora (aka “Robusta”). The specialty coffee we enjoy in the US is virtually all Arabica, and you are unlikely to encounter Robustas unless you drink very inexpensive instant coffees or blends. About 70% of world production is now Arabica, but Robusta, which is cheaper to grow, continues to flourish in commodity markets. I tasted it in its pure form exactly once, and it reminded me of a cross between cough syrup and paint thinner. Yuck.
The cherries are covered in a thick skin, and between the skin and beans is a sticky layer called mucilage. We’ll learn more about these below, as the methods for removing the skin and mucilage have a lot to do with the taste of your coffee.
When we talk about “processing methods,” these describe what happens in the removal of the skin and pulp, the removal of the mucilage and the drying of the bean. The other steps I’ll discuss have a lot to do with product quality, but you aren’t likely to hear about them in the descriptions of coffees; these are more the responsibility of the growers, processors, importers and roasters.
Picking
Coffee cherries grow in tight clusters along the branches of the tree – and an important thing for you to know is that the cherries don’t all ripen at the same time. Green and red cherries can both be found in abundance on the same branch.
The cherries can be picked from the tree selectively by hand (meaning only taking the ripe red fruit), “stripping” the branch (a faster method where all fruit is pulled off a branch at once) or through mechanized methods that shake the trees to loosen the ripe fruit so that it falls into a collector below.
So you can see that in the first method above, the fruit collected is all ripe and is all picked by hand. And, in the other two, some number of unripe cherries ends up in the mix. From here forward, the degree to which the unripe fruit is sorted out has a major impact on coffee quality.
The decision for the farmer on which method to use is based on a tradeoff between his or her cost of production and the likely price to be received when the coffee is sold to a broker or processing facility. In small farms, it is much faster to strip the branches, but the quality (and probably the price) goes down. To pick more selectively, the price needs to justify the longer labor hours (or expense of picking machines).
Processing Methods
The expression “processing method” for coffee refers to one of three techniques used to remove the fruit surrounding the coffee beans (pits of the fruit). The method used is, for the most part, a matter of local convention, though the care taken in executing the method can vary greatly from place to place.
Dry/Natural Processing:
In the oldest method, “dry” or “natural” processing, the just-picked cherries are spread on open terraces or raised “beds” (elevated tables with screened surfaces to allow air to circulate around the coffee) and then dried in the sun. A careful program of monitoring and turning the beans assures they all dry evenly, and at night the beans are stacked and covered to guard against moisture.
When the cherries are dried to a target moisture level, the fruit is stripped away and the beans moved to storage to await milling and shipping.
Dry processing is used in areas with abundant sunshine and low rainfall – and most coffees from Brazil, Ethiopia, Yemen and Indonesia use this method. You’ll find these coffees to be sweet, complex and full bodied. Most espresso blends (ours included) use dry processed Brazils as a “base” coffee to provide these characteristics.
Wet Processing:
“Wet processed,” or “washed” coffees go from the harvest through water-based sorting steps in which unripe and defective cherries are sorted out of the mix via differences in weight and buoyancy. The cherries then pass through a “pulping” machine that removes the skin of the fruit and the pulpy layer beneath. These machines range in size from homemade, hand-cranked apparatus used by small farmers and cooperatives all the way up to the scale of major industrial machinery.
What remains are coffee beans covered in a dense, sticky layer called mucilage. The coffee moves to fermentation tanks where soaking for 16-36 hours softens and loosens this layer so it can be removed. The amount of time the beans remain in each tank varies a great deal from region to region, and new research is coming out shortly that will compare fermentation methods to see which has the greatest impact on cup quality and flavor. I’ll pass this along when I see it.
While passing through the fermentation process, additional sorting of the beans for defect removal and grading can be done based on bean density.
These now clean beans move to a drying step, either outdoors in the sun or using mechanical dryers, with the choice of method based on local weather conditions and access to drying equipment.
Washed coffees are typically “cleaner” tasting, fruity and sweet.
Pulped Natural Method:
This is a hybrid of the two methods above, with the cherries undergoing the pulping step, but then dried without undergoing fermentation. Coffees processed in this way have a nice sweetness and body like those of the natural process, but they retain the citrus-like “acidity” of the washed coffees.
Environmental Issues
The processing of coffee can yield very substantial amounts of waste, including the pulp of the cherries and sugar-infused fermenting water – and in many cases, these have been dumped into local rivers, having a dramatic impact on aquatic ecosystems. The handing of these wastes via composting or reuse is now an important element of more progressive farms and “beneficios” (processing stations).
Milling, Shipping and Distribution
What results from the processing steps is now called “parchment coffee,” or “pergamino.” The coffee beans are covered in a thin yellow hull, and they will be kept in this form until just prior to shipping. By keeping the coffee in this hull, the moisture content of the beans can be maintained in the often very hot conditions of the ports used to transport coffee.
Before shipping, the beans go through a final milling step to remove the parchment layer, are packaged into 60-70K bags and then transported via ship to destination ports around the world. (If you ever need one of these bags for a project or just to hang on your wall, drop me a note and I’ll save you one.)
In the US, coffees enter the country typically via the large west coast ports (Long Beach, Oakland or Seattle), New Orleans (they lost a LOT of coffee during Hurricane Katrina) and New Jersey. Importers take over at this point and become the conduit by which reaches roasters like me.
Defect Evaluation by Importer and/or Roaster
An important part of the purchase decision for a coffee broker making the decision to buy coffee in an origin country or a coffee importer buying from a broker is related to the cleanliness of the coffee. In this case, we’re not talking about a “clean” taste sensation (as in the washed coffees above), but more an assessment of how well the coffee has been sorted to remove defects. In a very low-grade coffee, you would see immature beans, beans damaged by insects and mold, and broken beans. A score based on the number and type of defects found in a sample in part determines the value of the coffee and whether it will achieve “specialty” grade status. All of our coffees (and those of most reputable roaster) are true specialty grade coffees.
That’s all for today. Thanks again for your wonderful support, and feel free to write back with any questions or if I can help in your purchasing or brewing of great coffee.
Kent
We are roasting next on Sunday, October 5, and any orders received through noon that day will be shipped or delivered on Monday the 6th. If you are local, email me, and away orders are easier if they go through the website (www.freeportcoffee.com).
We have sadly run out of the wonderful organic Honduras, but we have a nice new organic from Costa Rica you might like to try – details are on the store page on the website. Not on the site is the amazing Barack O’Java. You can order this through us or through the Obama headquarters in Yarmouth, Portland, somewhere in Michigan and northern NC. When ordered through us, we donate $1 from each pound to the campaign and orders through their offices get a $5 donation. Go Obama!!!
I am sending these messages now from my home email address, as some of you have spam filters that don’t like hearing from the ISP behind freeportcoffee.com.
As promised, I am writing today about the processing of coffee – taking you all the way from the harvest through to the roaster. Coffee travels a long road to reach your cup, and I think it is interesting to understand the many steps along the way.
What is Coffee?
What we call “coffee beans” are the seeds of a woody perennial evergreen tree grown in Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. These seeds are found in a fruit typically referred to as “cherries,” though they aren’t actually related to the more common fruit of the same name.
Usually, these seeds are found in pairs facing each other – you can imagine this pairing by placing the flat surfaces of two beans together. In about 5-10% of the cherries, only one bean is found, and these “peaberries” are more rounded and oval in shape.
Broadly speaking, there are two main species of coffee, formally known by their Latin names, Coffea Arabica (aka “Arabica”) and Coffea Canephora (aka “Robusta”). The specialty coffee we enjoy in the US is virtually all Arabica, and you are unlikely to encounter Robustas unless you drink very inexpensive instant coffees or blends. About 70% of world production is now Arabica, but Robusta, which is cheaper to grow, continues to flourish in commodity markets. I tasted it in its pure form exactly once, and it reminded me of a cross between cough syrup and paint thinner. Yuck.
The cherries are covered in a thick skin, and between the skin and beans is a sticky layer called mucilage. We’ll learn more about these below, as the methods for removing the skin and mucilage have a lot to do with the taste of your coffee.
When we talk about “processing methods,” these describe what happens in the removal of the skin and pulp, the removal of the mucilage and the drying of the bean. The other steps I’ll discuss have a lot to do with product quality, but you aren’t likely to hear about them in the descriptions of coffees; these are more the responsibility of the growers, processors, importers and roasters.
Picking
Coffee cherries grow in tight clusters along the branches of the tree – and an important thing for you to know is that the cherries don’t all ripen at the same time. Green and red cherries can both be found in abundance on the same branch.
The cherries can be picked from the tree selectively by hand (meaning only taking the ripe red fruit), “stripping” the branch (a faster method where all fruit is pulled off a branch at once) or through mechanized methods that shake the trees to loosen the ripe fruit so that it falls into a collector below.
So you can see that in the first method above, the fruit collected is all ripe and is all picked by hand. And, in the other two, some number of unripe cherries ends up in the mix. From here forward, the degree to which the unripe fruit is sorted out has a major impact on coffee quality.
The decision for the farmer on which method to use is based on a tradeoff between his or her cost of production and the likely price to be received when the coffee is sold to a broker or processing facility. In small farms, it is much faster to strip the branches, but the quality (and probably the price) goes down. To pick more selectively, the price needs to justify the longer labor hours (or expense of picking machines).
Processing Methods
The expression “processing method” for coffee refers to one of three techniques used to remove the fruit surrounding the coffee beans (pits of the fruit). The method used is, for the most part, a matter of local convention, though the care taken in executing the method can vary greatly from place to place.
Dry/Natural Processing:
In the oldest method, “dry” or “natural” processing, the just-picked cherries are spread on open terraces or raised “beds” (elevated tables with screened surfaces to allow air to circulate around the coffee) and then dried in the sun. A careful program of monitoring and turning the beans assures they all dry evenly, and at night the beans are stacked and covered to guard against moisture.
When the cherries are dried to a target moisture level, the fruit is stripped away and the beans moved to storage to await milling and shipping.
Dry processing is used in areas with abundant sunshine and low rainfall – and most coffees from Brazil, Ethiopia, Yemen and Indonesia use this method. You’ll find these coffees to be sweet, complex and full bodied. Most espresso blends (ours included) use dry processed Brazils as a “base” coffee to provide these characteristics.
Wet Processing:
“Wet processed,” or “washed” coffees go from the harvest through water-based sorting steps in which unripe and defective cherries are sorted out of the mix via differences in weight and buoyancy. The cherries then pass through a “pulping” machine that removes the skin of the fruit and the pulpy layer beneath. These machines range in size from homemade, hand-cranked apparatus used by small farmers and cooperatives all the way up to the scale of major industrial machinery.
What remains are coffee beans covered in a dense, sticky layer called mucilage. The coffee moves to fermentation tanks where soaking for 16-36 hours softens and loosens this layer so it can be removed. The amount of time the beans remain in each tank varies a great deal from region to region, and new research is coming out shortly that will compare fermentation methods to see which has the greatest impact on cup quality and flavor. I’ll pass this along when I see it.
While passing through the fermentation process, additional sorting of the beans for defect removal and grading can be done based on bean density.
These now clean beans move to a drying step, either outdoors in the sun or using mechanical dryers, with the choice of method based on local weather conditions and access to drying equipment.
Washed coffees are typically “cleaner” tasting, fruity and sweet.
Pulped Natural Method:
This is a hybrid of the two methods above, with the cherries undergoing the pulping step, but then dried without undergoing fermentation. Coffees processed in this way have a nice sweetness and body like those of the natural process, but they retain the citrus-like “acidity” of the washed coffees.
Environmental Issues
The processing of coffee can yield very substantial amounts of waste, including the pulp of the cherries and sugar-infused fermenting water – and in many cases, these have been dumped into local rivers, having a dramatic impact on aquatic ecosystems. The handing of these wastes via composting or reuse is now an important element of more progressive farms and “beneficios” (processing stations).
Milling, Shipping and Distribution
What results from the processing steps is now called “parchment coffee,” or “pergamino.” The coffee beans are covered in a thin yellow hull, and they will be kept in this form until just prior to shipping. By keeping the coffee in this hull, the moisture content of the beans can be maintained in the often very hot conditions of the ports used to transport coffee.
Before shipping, the beans go through a final milling step to remove the parchment layer, are packaged into 60-70K bags and then transported via ship to destination ports around the world. (If you ever need one of these bags for a project or just to hang on your wall, drop me a note and I’ll save you one.)
In the US, coffees enter the country typically via the large west coast ports (Long Beach, Oakland or Seattle), New Orleans (they lost a LOT of coffee during Hurricane Katrina) and New Jersey. Importers take over at this point and become the conduit by which reaches roasters like me.
Defect Evaluation by Importer and/or Roaster
An important part of the purchase decision for a coffee broker making the decision to buy coffee in an origin country or a coffee importer buying from a broker is related to the cleanliness of the coffee. In this case, we’re not talking about a “clean” taste sensation (as in the washed coffees above), but more an assessment of how well the coffee has been sorted to remove defects. In a very low-grade coffee, you would see immature beans, beans damaged by insects and mold, and broken beans. A score based on the number and type of defects found in a sample in part determines the value of the coffee and whether it will achieve “specialty” grade status. All of our coffees (and those of most reputable roaster) are true specialty grade coffees.
That’s all for today. Thanks again for your wonderful support, and feel free to write back with any questions or if I can help in your purchasing or brewing of great coffee.
Kent
Friday, September 26, 2008
Coffee and Disneyland
Hello, Friends . . .
We are roasting next on Monday, September 29, and any orders received through noon that day will be shipped or delivered on Tuesday the 30th. If you are local, email me, and away orders are easier if they go through the website (www.freeportcoffee.com).
Barack O’Java has now become our best-selling coffee, and we’ll continue to offer this through the November election. We donate $1 of each package sold to the campaign. For the very few of you who have asked, I am sorry but we don’t offer a McPalin coffee.
I write you this week from the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California, where I am running a conference. Imagine the strange bedfellows of very small children, frazzled parents and several thousand pharmaceutical scientists, and this is my world for five days. Because of a last minute construction project here at the hotel, we enter our conference through the main entrance of “Goofy’s Kitchen,” weaving our way through an armada of parked strollers and costumed Mickies, Goofies and Daffies (who enable the Disney Corporation to get $30 each for a breakfast buffet). In the morning, the gazillion kids are fired up for a day in the park; in the afternoon, they assume a slumped position as they sleep by the hundreds in their strollers.
Predictably, the coffee here sucks.
I knew before I came on this trip that there would be no hope for coffee at Disneyland, so I came equipped with a small electric teakettle, a hand grinder, a filter brewer and two coffees – a Guat and an El Salvador Peaberry – both roasted the day before I left. They have poured well on this trip. And yes, I am obsessed with good coffee. :)
So, I can’t invoke your pity by complaining that I have to drink the whitebread swill they serve here, but I will take the liberty of using Disneyland as a metaphor for the menace that is generic coffee.
I think now and then about coffee as a food, rather than a beverage unto itself. And when I think about coffee in this way, I consider coffee as it is served at places like Disneyland.
It comes from no place; it is only “coffee.”
It was roasted by no one; it is only “coffee.”
It has no brand; it is only “coffee.”
It was not ground in a grinder you know about, and it was prepared only in a “coffee maker.”
It is not special. In this setting, it is allowed no adjectives.
Would we allow this to happen with any of our other favorite foods?
Would we eat only “Cheese”? “Meat”? “Sauce”, “Juice”, “Sandwiches”, “Bread”?
“Food”?
I come to Disneyland harboring two addictions, caffeine and good coffee. It would be easy enough to bring some No Doz to satisfy the former, but the latter is harder, and it is often a need that is impossible to satisfy on the road. Airports, business hotels, gas stations and roadside diners insist on serving only “coffee.”
In the world of specialty coffee, roasters and cafes think a lot about coffee education. We know that most of the coffee drinkers in our country still drink this very generic brew – and that in many other countries, instant coffee (made largely from cheap, bitter Robusta beans) is still the market leader. Some simple rules about coffee buying and preparation can really change the experience of coffee for people, and even for those who won’t move all the way into the higher end coffees like those we sell, the daily cup will be better.
One of the great joys I have about supplying The Royal Bean cafe is that I get to spend a lot of time hanging out and watching the interactions between the staff and the customers. Quite often, someone who is new to the café will not have had the opportunity to choose from among multiple coffees when they order – and this gives Jim and his staff a great opening to talk about the flavors and textures and smells of different coffee origins in relation to each other. These talks are so cool, because the minute that customer tastes a new coffee, they learn something – and using this learning takes them to a greater appreciation of the value of taking more care in buying and brewing their own coffees.
And inch-by-inch, these folks will go out in the world to places like Disneyland, and ask for something more. And maybe, just maybe, someday, they will make a difference and those who would genericize this wonderful beverage will try a little harder to serve coffees labeled by origin country and roast level.
On our website, at the bottom of the coffee stories blog, there is a long article I wrote about finding good coffee on the road. This quest can be a lot of fun, and I hope you will read this someday and engage in your own explorations when you travel.
I look forward to being back in Maine this weekend. Enjoy the beautiful fall days you are having there . . . and as always, thanks for your ongoing support.
Cheers,
Kent
We are roasting next on Monday, September 29, and any orders received through noon that day will be shipped or delivered on Tuesday the 30th. If you are local, email me, and away orders are easier if they go through the website (www.freeportcoffee.com).
Barack O’Java has now become our best-selling coffee, and we’ll continue to offer this through the November election. We donate $1 of each package sold to the campaign. For the very few of you who have asked, I am sorry but we don’t offer a McPalin coffee.
I write you this week from the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California, where I am running a conference. Imagine the strange bedfellows of very small children, frazzled parents and several thousand pharmaceutical scientists, and this is my world for five days. Because of a last minute construction project here at the hotel, we enter our conference through the main entrance of “Goofy’s Kitchen,” weaving our way through an armada of parked strollers and costumed Mickies, Goofies and Daffies (who enable the Disney Corporation to get $30 each for a breakfast buffet). In the morning, the gazillion kids are fired up for a day in the park; in the afternoon, they assume a slumped position as they sleep by the hundreds in their strollers.
Predictably, the coffee here sucks.
I knew before I came on this trip that there would be no hope for coffee at Disneyland, so I came equipped with a small electric teakettle, a hand grinder, a filter brewer and two coffees – a Guat and an El Salvador Peaberry – both roasted the day before I left. They have poured well on this trip. And yes, I am obsessed with good coffee. :)
So, I can’t invoke your pity by complaining that I have to drink the whitebread swill they serve here, but I will take the liberty of using Disneyland as a metaphor for the menace that is generic coffee.
I think now and then about coffee as a food, rather than a beverage unto itself. And when I think about coffee in this way, I consider coffee as it is served at places like Disneyland.
It comes from no place; it is only “coffee.”
It was roasted by no one; it is only “coffee.”
It has no brand; it is only “coffee.”
It was not ground in a grinder you know about, and it was prepared only in a “coffee maker.”
It is not special. In this setting, it is allowed no adjectives.
Would we allow this to happen with any of our other favorite foods?
Would we eat only “Cheese”? “Meat”? “Sauce”, “Juice”, “Sandwiches”, “Bread”?
“Food”?
I come to Disneyland harboring two addictions, caffeine and good coffee. It would be easy enough to bring some No Doz to satisfy the former, but the latter is harder, and it is often a need that is impossible to satisfy on the road. Airports, business hotels, gas stations and roadside diners insist on serving only “coffee.”
In the world of specialty coffee, roasters and cafes think a lot about coffee education. We know that most of the coffee drinkers in our country still drink this very generic brew – and that in many other countries, instant coffee (made largely from cheap, bitter Robusta beans) is still the market leader. Some simple rules about coffee buying and preparation can really change the experience of coffee for people, and even for those who won’t move all the way into the higher end coffees like those we sell, the daily cup will be better.
One of the great joys I have about supplying The Royal Bean cafe is that I get to spend a lot of time hanging out and watching the interactions between the staff and the customers. Quite often, someone who is new to the café will not have had the opportunity to choose from among multiple coffees when they order – and this gives Jim and his staff a great opening to talk about the flavors and textures and smells of different coffee origins in relation to each other. These talks are so cool, because the minute that customer tastes a new coffee, they learn something – and using this learning takes them to a greater appreciation of the value of taking more care in buying and brewing their own coffees.
And inch-by-inch, these folks will go out in the world to places like Disneyland, and ask for something more. And maybe, just maybe, someday, they will make a difference and those who would genericize this wonderful beverage will try a little harder to serve coffees labeled by origin country and roast level.
On our website, at the bottom of the coffee stories blog, there is a long article I wrote about finding good coffee on the road. This quest can be a lot of fun, and I hope you will read this someday and engage in your own explorations when you travel.
I look forward to being back in Maine this weekend. Enjoy the beautiful fall days you are having there . . . and as always, thanks for your ongoing support.
Cheers,
Kent
Friday, September 5, 2008
All About Grinding
Hi All,
We are roasting next on Monday, September 8, and any orders received through noon that day will be shipped or delivered on Tuesday the 9th. If you are local, email me, and away orders are easier if they go through the website (www.freeportcoffee.com ).
We have a tasty new organic Costa Rica, Lomas Al Rio, and if you’d like a small sample thrown in with your order next time, let me know.
This week’s sermon is about the proper grinding of coffee. I spend a lot of time talking to people about how they prepare coffee at home, and this subject comes up more than any other, even those about brewing methods.
I’d like to try and simplify the role of grinding for you, and then offer some suggestions of how to get the most out of the method you use, when to change your grind settings and then (if you are so inclined) how to take the next step and buy an upgraded grinder.
Why Does Proper Grinding Matter?
In every coffee brewing method, the ground coffee is exposed to hot water – and the amount of time it is exposed to water is different, depending on the method you use. At one end of the spectrum is the French Press, where the ground coffee steeps for about four minutes, and at the other is a shot of espresso, where the pressurized water goes through the coffee in around 25 seconds.
All those settings on grinders result in different particle sizes – coarsely ground coffee has large particles, and fine ground coffee has very small particles.
Now, take a single coffee bean and measure the surface area. Write it down (not really, but bear with me). Take an identical coffee bean and grind it coarse. Measure the surface area of all the particles. Write that down. And last, take another identical coffee bean, grind it very fine and then somehow measure the surface area of all THOSE little particles – write that number down.
What you’ll see on your list is a small amount of surface area for the whole bean, a much larger number for the coarse ground coffee, and a really large number for the fine grind.
When you expose ground coffee to water, this surface area is what is exposed. Meaning that, if you dunk a bunch of whole coffee beans in hot water, you’ll be lucky if it turns a little murky in color. There is very little exposed surface area (and the pores aren’t open as they are through grinding). Grind those same beans coarse and expose those to the same amount of hot water and you’ll get something more like coffee. Grind them fine, and you will also get coffee, but since there is WAY more surface area, much more flavor will be extracted from the same amount of coffee.
Still with me?
Matching Degree of Grind to Brewing Method
So, what we are trying to do with grinding is to match the grind setting with the brewing method. The French Press needs a coarse ground coffee for best results. Here, if you grind too fine, you are exposing TOO MUCH surface area, and you’ll end up with a bitter brew.
If you took that same coarse ground coffee and used it for drip (with exposure to the water for 30-60 seconds), you’ll get very weak coffee, and using those grounds in an espresso machine will result in a tea-like shot that pulls very quickly.
Use an espresso grind in a French Press, and you have SO MUCH surface area that the coffee is horribly over-extracted (and it will also clog the screen).
“Dialing In” Your Grind Setting
If you go over to my buddy Jim’s wonderful Royal Bean café (in Yarmouth – the BEST place to hang out and enjoy great coffee) before they open in the morning, you’ll see the staff at their three grinders working hard to adjust their grind settings for the day. They grind, brew a cup, taste, adjust the grind, taste again and do this over and over until each machine has a grind setting that results in the very best taste.
You can do this too. If your coffee is too bitter (and you know you have good, freshly-roasted beans), grind a little coarser and try it again; maybe you were over-extracting the coffee. Too weak? You might not have enough surface area exposed for your brewing method – grind finer.
The Problem with Blade Grinders
The most affordable and therefore most common household grinder is the blade grinder. I spent 25 years using these so I know them well.
Most people use these by adding the coffee beans, holding down the trigger and then keeping it there for an amount of time that varies by day (and by member of the household). This results usually in a lot of powder and some chunks of different sizes. As we’ve learned above, the powder will cause over-extraction of the coffee and the chunks will be under-extracted. In your cup will then be a bad-tasting stew of bitter coffee and weak coffee. Not good.
Burr Grinders
Ideally, what you want in a grinder is a way of adjusting the grind setting so that your particle sizes are consistent. This is best achieved with burr grinders, where two sets of “burrs,” or grinding disks are adjusted at a distance that allows consistent results for each setting. The big grinders at the supermarket, espresso grinders, and good quality home grinders are all based on this technology. Buyer beware – there are “burr grinders” on the market for as little as $25, but these have stamped or molded burrs rather than those machined of steel. They aren’t worth it, as the burrs will go dull very quickly. You’ll need to spend about $100 to get a good one.
Getting Good Results
With a blade grinder (I know some of you well enough to know you’ll never upgrade), PULSE the button rather than hold it down – and be consistent in how the number of pulses every time. Open the chamber and see what the coffee looks like after every few pulses, and work toward particles that are the right size for the brewing method you use.
With burr grinders and grinding at the store, don’t get stuck on one grind setting. Experiment a little, and see how it affects the taste of your coffee. Grind finer, and see if you enjoy the increased strength. Grind a little coarser and see what happens.
Upgrading Your Grinder
As I mentioned above, to get a good grinder with commercial-grade burrs and the range of settings you’ll need, you will need to spend at least $100 – and if you are a gearhead, consider taking the leap to the next step above that (starting at $200-$300), as you’ll probably end up there sooner than later.
I’d recommend starting with the CoffeeGeek consumer reviews (http://www.coffeegeek.com/reviews). Here, you can explore recent, very in-depth commentary from people like you using different equipment. They have a whole section devoted to grinders, and there is a huge amount of very easy to access information there.
Then, find a grinder you like, and alongside the review will be a list of good online discount sources for it. Look at a few sources to make sure you are getting the right price.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I know this was a long one.
Next week, I’ll change gears and talk about a coffee-growing country. Is there one you’d like to hear about?
Thanks again for your support – enjoy the weekend.
Kent
We are roasting next on Monday, September 8, and any orders received through noon that day will be shipped or delivered on Tuesday the 9th. If you are local, email me, and away orders are easier if they go through the website (www.freeportcoffee.com
We have a tasty new organic Costa Rica, Lomas Al Rio, and if you’d like a small sample thrown in with your order next time, let me know.
This week’s sermon is about the proper grinding of coffee. I spend a lot of time talking to people about how they prepare coffee at home, and this subject comes up more than any other, even those about brewing methods.
I’d like to try and simplify the role of grinding for you, and then offer some suggestions of how to get the most out of the method you use, when to change your grind settings and then (if you are so inclined) how to take the next step and buy an upgraded grinder.
Why Does Proper Grinding Matter?
In every coffee brewing method, the ground coffee is exposed to hot water – and the amount of time it is exposed to water is different, depending on the method you use. At one end of the spectrum is the French Press, where the ground coffee steeps for about four minutes, and at the other is a shot of espresso, where the pressurized water goes through the coffee in around 25 seconds.
All those settings on grinders result in different particle sizes – coarsely ground coffee has large particles, and fine ground coffee has very small particles.
Now, take a single coffee bean and measure the surface area. Write it down (not really, but bear with me). Take an identical coffee bean and grind it coarse. Measure the surface area of all the particles. Write that down. And last, take another identical coffee bean, grind it very fine and then somehow measure the surface area of all THOSE little particles – write that number down.
What you’ll see on your list is a small amount of surface area for the whole bean, a much larger number for the coarse ground coffee, and a really large number for the fine grind.
When you expose ground coffee to water, this surface area is what is exposed. Meaning that, if you dunk a bunch of whole coffee beans in hot water, you’ll be lucky if it turns a little murky in color. There is very little exposed surface area (and the pores aren’t open as they are through grinding). Grind those same beans coarse and expose those to the same amount of hot water and you’ll get something more like coffee. Grind them fine, and you will also get coffee, but since there is WAY more surface area, much more flavor will be extracted from the same amount of coffee.
Still with me?
Matching Degree of Grind to Brewing Method
So, what we are trying to do with grinding is to match the grind setting with the brewing method. The French Press needs a coarse ground coffee for best results. Here, if you grind too fine, you are exposing TOO MUCH surface area, and you’ll end up with a bitter brew.
If you took that same coarse ground coffee and used it for drip (with exposure to the water for 30-60 seconds), you’ll get very weak coffee, and using those grounds in an espresso machine will result in a tea-like shot that pulls very quickly.
Use an espresso grind in a French Press, and you have SO MUCH surface area that the coffee is horribly over-extracted (and it will also clog the screen).
“Dialing In” Your Grind Setting
If you go over to my buddy Jim’s wonderful Royal Bean café (in Yarmouth – the BEST place to hang out and enjoy great coffee) before they open in the morning, you’ll see the staff at their three grinders working hard to adjust their grind settings for the day. They grind, brew a cup, taste, adjust the grind, taste again and do this over and over until each machine has a grind setting that results in the very best taste.
You can do this too. If your coffee is too bitter (and you know you have good, freshly-roasted beans), grind a little coarser and try it again; maybe you were over-extracting the coffee. Too weak? You might not have enough surface area exposed for your brewing method – grind finer.
The Problem with Blade Grinders
The most affordable and therefore most common household grinder is the blade grinder. I spent 25 years using these so I know them well.
Most people use these by adding the coffee beans, holding down the trigger and then keeping it there for an amount of time that varies by day (and by member of the household). This results usually in a lot of powder and some chunks of different sizes. As we’ve learned above, the powder will cause over-extraction of the coffee and the chunks will be under-extracted. In your cup will then be a bad-tasting stew of bitter coffee and weak coffee. Not good.
Burr Grinders
Ideally, what you want in a grinder is a way of adjusting the grind setting so that your particle sizes are consistent. This is best achieved with burr grinders, where two sets of “burrs,” or grinding disks are adjusted at a distance that allows consistent results for each setting. The big grinders at the supermarket, espresso grinders, and good quality home grinders are all based on this technology. Buyer beware – there are “burr grinders” on the market for as little as $25, but these have stamped or molded burrs rather than those machined of steel. They aren’t worth it, as the burrs will go dull very quickly. You’ll need to spend about $100 to get a good one.
Getting Good Results
With a blade grinder (I know some of you well enough to know you’ll never upgrade), PULSE the button rather than hold it down – and be consistent in how the number of pulses every time. Open the chamber and see what the coffee looks like after every few pulses, and work toward particles that are the right size for the brewing method you use.
With burr grinders and grinding at the store, don’t get stuck on one grind setting. Experiment a little, and see how it affects the taste of your coffee. Grind finer, and see if you enjoy the increased strength. Grind a little coarser and see what happens.
Upgrading Your Grinder
As I mentioned above, to get a good grinder with commercial-grade burrs and the range of settings you’ll need, you will need to spend at least $100 – and if you are a gearhead, consider taking the leap to the next step above that (starting at $200-$300), as you’ll probably end up there sooner than later.
I’d recommend starting with the CoffeeGeek consumer reviews (http://www.coffeegeek.com/reviews). Here, you can explore recent, very in-depth commentary from people like you using different equipment. They have a whole section devoted to grinders, and there is a huge amount of very easy to access information there.
Then, find a grinder you like, and alongside the review will be a list of good online discount sources for it. Look at a few sources to make sure you are getting the right price.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I know this was a long one.
Next week, I’ll change gears and talk about a coffee-growing country. Is there one you’d like to hear about?
Thanks again for your support – enjoy the weekend.
Kent
Friday, August 29, 2008
How to Buy Coffee
Hi All,
We are roasting next on Monday, September 1, and any orders received through noon that day will be shipped or delivered on Tuesday the 2nd. If you are local, email me, and away orders are easier if they go through the website (www.freeportcoffee.com).
This week, I’d like to share some thoughts on buying good coffee.
As we get further into this business, I find myself drawn to the coffee aisle of any store I go to – and I spend a lot of time out there looking at how coffee is sold.
This morning, I was down at the supermarket, and I took a few minutes to try to find out WHEN the coffee there had been roasted. At this store (Shaws in Freeport, to be specific), they had coffees from about twenty roasters on the “specialty” side of the aisle, and NOT ONE of these had the date the coffee was roasted. Here’s a sample of what I saw there:
> Major National Chain Famous for Dark Roasting Coffee: No roasting date. No expiration date. No valve. (No valve, by the way, means that they have to “stale” their coffee before they package it, or the bags will pop!)
> Peets: Freshness Pledge: Peet’s Coffee is Within 90 Days of Roasting
> Major Donut Chain: Best by 7/2009 (That would be TEN months from now.)
> Regional Maine Roaster: 4721408 (I personally thought 4621234 was a better year – how about you?)
> Others: Best by Jan/09, Best by 3/14/09, Best by 4/20/09
Interesting, huh? Want to know WHY they won’t tell you this? For the most part, it’s so that the roasters can ship large amounts of coffee to the store and then allow the store to not worry about that coffee expiring (as milk or cheese does). In some cases, there are dates here, but they are in CODE so people like you and I can’t figure them out.
What does this matter? Coffee starts going stale right when it comes out of the roaster – and its best between 2 and 15 days after roasting. A fancy package slows down the process somewhat, but that packaged coffee goes stale MUCH faster after its open.
What do we do differently? Everything, really. We package the coffee within 10 minutes of cooling. We use three ply bags with valves and heat seal them. We deliver or ship ALWAYS within 24 hours of roasting. And our bags show the roasting date (in my own handwriting) on the front of the bag.
So if you don’t buy your coffee from us, this message will give you some food for thought. Look for small roasters who aren’t afraid to tell you when their coffee was roasted. Around here, I’ll throw out a plug for Matt in Pownal who does this. Try really fresh coffee and you’ll notice a difference.
I am taking suggestions for next week’s coffee sermon. Send me your ideas and I’ll give you a pound of coffee if I pick yours.
Thanks again for your support – enjoy the long weekend.
Kent
We are roasting next on Monday, September 1, and any orders received through noon that day will be shipped or delivered on Tuesday the 2nd. If you are local, email me, and away orders are easier if they go through the website (www.freeportcoffee.com).
This week, I’d like to share some thoughts on buying good coffee.
As we get further into this business, I find myself drawn to the coffee aisle of any store I go to – and I spend a lot of time out there looking at how coffee is sold.
This morning, I was down at the supermarket, and I took a few minutes to try to find out WHEN the coffee there had been roasted. At this store (Shaws in Freeport, to be specific), they had coffees from about twenty roasters on the “specialty” side of the aisle, and NOT ONE of these had the date the coffee was roasted. Here’s a sample of what I saw there:
> Major National Chain Famous for Dark Roasting Coffee: No roasting date. No expiration date. No valve. (No valve, by the way, means that they have to “stale” their coffee before they package it, or the bags will pop!)
> Peets: Freshness Pledge: Peet’s Coffee is Within 90 Days of Roasting
> Major Donut Chain: Best by 7/2009 (That would be TEN months from now.)
> Regional Maine Roaster: 4721408 (I personally thought 4621234 was a better year – how about you?)
> Others: Best by Jan/09, Best by 3/14/09, Best by 4/20/09
Interesting, huh? Want to know WHY they won’t tell you this? For the most part, it’s so that the roasters can ship large amounts of coffee to the store and then allow the store to not worry about that coffee expiring (as milk or cheese does). In some cases, there are dates here, but they are in CODE so people like you and I can’t figure them out.
What does this matter? Coffee starts going stale right when it comes out of the roaster – and its best between 2 and 15 days after roasting. A fancy package slows down the process somewhat, but that packaged coffee goes stale MUCH faster after its open.
What do we do differently? Everything, really. We package the coffee within 10 minutes of cooling. We use three ply bags with valves and heat seal them. We deliver or ship ALWAYS within 24 hours of roasting. And our bags show the roasting date (in my own handwriting) on the front of the bag.
So if you don’t buy your coffee from us, this message will give you some food for thought. Look for small roasters who aren’t afraid to tell you when their coffee was roasted. Around here, I’ll throw out a plug for Matt in Pownal who does this. Try really fresh coffee and you’ll notice a difference.
I am taking suggestions for next week’s coffee sermon. Send me your ideas and I’ll give you a pound of coffee if I pick yours.
Thanks again for your support – enjoy the long weekend.
Kent
Monday, May 12, 2008
One Morning in North Beach
Submitted by Joe G. from San Francisco
I remember my very first real espresso, pulled by the barista and owner of Cafe Trieste in San Francisco's North Beach. I had taken my partner Tanji there on our last morning in town, after a morning walk through Chinatown. Just after that cuppa, we had to bolt back to our hotel and then head to the airport.
Before this trip, I had promised Tanji she would see a real rock star on the streets of SF, boasting that they were "everywhere."
And as we sat enjoying the most perfect ever cappuccino, I reflected that I hadn't made good on this one. Sigh.
We finished that wonderful cup and headed out the door - and right outside, enjoying a morning smoke and some good conversation was Paul Kantner, former leader of the Jefferson Airplane. Just sitting there like a regular guy.
I beamed, then quickly hussled Tanji across the street. "Don't look, don't look," I muttered under my breath.
"What?"
Shhhhh - don't look."
Then safely from the other side of the intersection. "OK, look - know who that is?"
"No, who?"
The movie "Diner" crosses my mind. "Its Paul Kantner - your rock star."
"Wasn't that the BEST coffee? Who's Paul Kantner?"
Sigh. It really was the best coffee.
I remember my very first real espresso, pulled by the barista and owner of Cafe Trieste in San Francisco's North Beach. I had taken my partner Tanji there on our last morning in town, after a morning walk through Chinatown. Just after that cuppa, we had to bolt back to our hotel and then head to the airport.
Before this trip, I had promised Tanji she would see a real rock star on the streets of SF, boasting that they were "everywhere."
And as we sat enjoying the most perfect ever cappuccino, I reflected that I hadn't made good on this one. Sigh.
We finished that wonderful cup and headed out the door - and right outside, enjoying a morning smoke and some good conversation was Paul Kantner, former leader of the Jefferson Airplane. Just sitting there like a regular guy.
I beamed, then quickly hussled Tanji across the street. "Don't look, don't look," I muttered under my breath.
"What?"
Shhhhh - don't look."
Then safely from the other side of the intersection. "OK, look - know who that is?"
"No, who?"
The movie "Diner" crosses my mind. "Its Paul Kantner - your rock star."
"Wasn't that the BEST coffee? Who's Paul Kantner?"
Sigh. It really was the best coffee.
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