Coffee review: Best Coffee Ever

[Bill J.]

Poison, Coffee is a lot like any other crop. Some years the quality is better from a certain growing area, then the next year the "top" rated crop comes from somewhere else. It varies by local climatic conditions.

The secret is in the blending and roasting, where the shortcomings of one bean are balanced by the strengths of another. The composition changes constantly from batch to batch.

Kona coffee is rarely consumed as straight Kona, it is almost always blended with other beans, as pure Kona coffee by itself is very bland and uninspiring.

Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, all the rage, is bought up mostly by the Japanese who pay dearly for Wallingford Estate Jamaica coffee. The price for Wallingford Estate coffee is set by the government, and this artificial high price adds to the aura and perception. Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee from nearby estates is much cheaper.

Coffee is second in value only to oil, as the world's most expensive traded commodity, legitimate commodity that is. Idi Amin made his millions from it.

Only a couple of small coffee roasters wash their beans before blending and roasting. Check this place out this is where i've been shopping. web page

Hayes Coffee

 

[Pablo]

Anyone made coffe via the Brazilian sock method?

I like the French press method, too.

 

[Al]

I think over the last 40 years or so I have tried every coffee known to man. I have concluded that you must have the restaurant machine that brews about 50 cups at a time. My son has the best coffee machine money can buy (it makes little coffee bricks when its done

) and he buys unroasted beans and roasts them himself. Still no better than good ol Folgers Beans (which are pretty dan good). Probably one of the best coffees is illy coffee but again its the brewer.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by poison:
[QB] I agree about the roasting and blending. Part of a coffee roasters job is to cup, or roast and taste-test, a small sample of coffee from each bag he recieves.

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There is a roasting method that is more keeping with the BITOG credo. Do a Google for "air popper" and coffee. You will find a boatload of info on roasting your own coffee with a converted popcorn air popper. I lucked out and have one of the better air popper models for conversion stored out in my garage. One of these days I'm going to try it.

 

[poison]

quote:

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Originally posted by XS650:

quote:

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Originally posted by poison:
[QB] I agree about the roasting and blending. Part of a coffee roasters job is to cup, or roast and taste-test, a small sample of coffee from each bag he recieves.

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There is a roasting method that is more keeping with the BITOG credo. Do a Google for "air popper" and coffee. You will find a boatload of info on roasting your own coffee with a converted popcorn air popper. I lucked out and have one of the better air popper models for conversion stored out in my garage. One of these days I'm going to try it.

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Honestly, I strongly dislike air-roasted coffee. Because of the short roast time, 3-7 minutes, the beans do not have time to fully and uniformly cook, and the sugars inside the bean do not have time to fully carmelize (which lends that deep, sweet, chocolaty coffee flavor0. As a result, air-roasted coffee is very acidic-tasting (not PH: coffees PH is lower than orange juice; Acidic coffee has a tartness or fruity citrus flavor to it). You really have to modify an air popper to be able to control the temperature (or get a Variac).

The Coffee Emergency coffee is roasted in a home-made BBQ grill. Standard backyard grill. There is a basket on the rotisserie spit, a faster motor, a custom thermometer, and modified gas valve for more BTU's. How is that for adhering to the BITOG credo??

The drum/heat/flame method takes about 12-17 minutes, depending on the roast and amount of beans. That additional time allows the flavors of the coffee to fully develop.

If you are interested in learning more, go to www.coffeegeek.com .

I apprenticed for over a year at a coffee roaster in LA, and learned to roast on a 12 Kilo (25 lb per batch) Diedrich roasting machine.

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by poison:
I strongly dislike air-roasted coffee.

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I have to agree. They are no better-even the very expensive beans.

Thanks for the good information

 

[VaderSS]

For just a plain-jane cup of coffee, I feel like Community Coffee Medium-Roast blows the doors off of Folgers or any other regular coffee. Course, it's what I grew up with, but I've converted a lot of people...

 

[moribundman]

Actually, if you're a hardcore coffee connaisseur, you'll roast your own beans according to your own taste. Arabic beans are best, and Turkish coffee is great. Personally, I prefer black tea, but occasionally I do need a cup of good cofee.

 

[poison]

quote:

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Originally posted by moribundman:
Actually, if you're a hardcore coffee connaisseur, you'll roast your own beans according to your own taste. Arabic beans are best, and Turkish coffee is great. Personally, I prefer black tea, but occasionally I do need a cup of good cofee.

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Not necessarily. Though freshness is the of utmost importance in coffee, if you have a good roaster nearby, you will probably get better coffee from him/her. An ameteur can't beat the years of experience a good roaster has in tasting, choosing, and roasting nor the dedicated professional roasting machine they will be using.

It is a fun hobby and very informational, though. You could become a professional by roasting at home, but most don't have the time, interest, or drive.

As I stated above, the Coffee Emergency ships the same day it roasts. I get mine 2 days later. No freshness problem there, in fact coffee is at its peak after 2-3 days rest (after roasting).

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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Though freshness is the of utmost importance in coffee, if you have a good roaster nearby, you will probably get better coffee from him/her. An ameteur can't beat the years of experience a good roaster has in tasting, choosing, and roasting nor the dedicated professional roasting machine they will be using.

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Well, an amateur wouldn't be a hardcore connaisseur, would he?

Many households in the middle East roast their own coffee. So does my Lebanese neighbor, and I sure like his coffee.

 

[poison]

quote:

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Well, an amateur wouldn't be a hardcore connaisseur, would he?

Many households in the middle East roast their own coffee. So does my Lebanese neighbor, and I sure like his coffee. [/QB]

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Well, you can be a hardcore connaisseur and know lots about coffee without having the knowledge to blend or roast beans, just like you could be a hardcore auto mechanic, but not be able to design a car.

That is something you pretty much have to apprentice for. I bet someone showed your neighbor how to do it, he didn't just pick it up himself.

You are lucky, though! I bet it is great.

 

[moribundman]

I just wish most professional mechanics could actually diagnose and fix problems better than an amateur like me.

By the way, despite lack of training, I can out-cook and out-bake many professional chefs.

 

[poison]

quote:

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Originally posted by Bill J.:
Poison, Coffee is a lot like any other crop.

The secret is in the blending and roasting, where the shortcomings of one bean are balanced by the strengths of another. The composition changes constantly from batch to batch.


Only a couple of small coffee roasters wash their beans before blending and roasting. Check this place out this is where i've been shopping. web page

Hayes Coffee

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I agree about the roasting and blending. Part of a coffee roasters job is to cup, or roast and taste-test, a small sample of coffee from each bag he recieves. Sure, the coffee may be from the same plantation or farm and from the same crop, but variations in altitude, sunlight and other variables can affect the flavor. If last years best coffee was El Salvador Finca El Jaguar, it is the coffee roasters job to find this years best coffee, usually with the help of the coffee brokers, who buy the green coffee and bring it to the US.

Both Kona and Jamaica are HIGHLY over-rated. I have had both, and I dislike Kona, and Jamaica was OK.

I have not tried Hayes coffee, thanks for the tip! Here are some of the top roasters in the specialty coffee business today:

www.intelligentsiacoffee.com
www.stumptowncoffee.com
www.zokacoffee.com
www.espressovivace.com
www.terroircoffee.com
www.hinescoffee.com

 

[VaderSS]

quote:

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Originally posted by moribundman:
I just wish most professional mechanics could actually diagnose and fix problems better than an amateur like me.

By the way, despite lack of training, I can out-cook and out-bake many professional chefs.

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Professional mechanics, usually, do not have the intimate knowlege of a specific car that an informed amateur has. Having sat on both sides of the fence, I don't envy them, as the average person has no clue on how to describe the problem either.

 

[moribundman]

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What like about the pros a lot less, is that fact that their wormanship is often sloppy. Missing fasteners, things reassembled maladjusted, messy work ....

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As punishment I've always kept the tools I've found in my car. The nicest was an adjustable spanner wrench that was just resting inside the belly pan.

But going back to coffee, how much time do you think I'd have to invest to become proficient at roasting my own coffee beans? A couple years?

 

[GSV]

In the US it was common for people to roast their own coffee before the last century. A dry cast iron skillet was probably the most common method used.

see link 1 or link 2
or link 3
I'm going to have to try it.

[ August 29, 2004, 09:21 PM: Message edited by: GSV ]

 

[pbm]

quote:

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Originally posted by Pablo:
Anyone made coffe via the Brazilian sock method?

I like the French press method, too.

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Pablo: No offense but I don't like anything French these days.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by VaderSS:
Professional mechanics, usually, do not have the intimate knowlege of a specific car that an informed amateur has. Having sat on both sides of the fence, I don't envy them, as the average person has no clue on how to describe the problem either.

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In addition to what you said, the pro-mechanic does not get near the time to dignose a problem that an informed amateur usually gets.

I'm sure my rate of correct diagnosis on my automotive problems is higher than the average pro's. One of my big advantages is that if it's a minor problem, I might continue to drive the car for days or weeks while I try differnet operational scenartios and cogitate on what the problem is.

What like about the pros a lot less, is that fact that their wormanship is often sloppy. Missing fasteners, things reassembled maladjusted, messy work ....

 

[poison]

quote:

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Originally posted by moribundman:

quote:

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What like about the pros a lot less, is that fact that their wormanship is often sloppy. Missing fasteners, things reassembled maladjusted, messy work ....

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As punishment I've always kept the tools I've found in my car. The nicest was an adjustable spanner wrench that was just resting inside the belly pan.

But going back to coffee, how much time do you think I'd have to invest to become proficient at roasting my own coffee beans? A couple years?

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Well, you could learn to roast fairly quickly. There are plenty of books out there, just google 'home coffee roasting'. It just takes trial and error, and a couple burned batches

. Green beans are cheap, and you could use a simple stove-top whirly-pop popcorn popper as the cheapest method. Anything you do would be better than supermarket crap. Plus, you could serve it to guests, then drop the "hey, BTW, I roasted that yesterday"...

But to learn to judge what roast time is optimal for a certain bean; to learn which beans to blend; to learn to become consistent (ambient and roast temps, humidity, barometric pressure all affect the roast and make your life difficult); those things can take a lifetime, just like becoming a great chef or wine-maker.

Give it a go!

 

[obbop]

Oh Lawdy..... the herd is gonna start in next about the best dern filter to use in a drip coffee maker!!!!!!