What you should know…
- HOW DO I STORE MY COFFEE?
Store your roasted whole bean coffee in an airtight ceramic canister with a rubber seal to keep it airtight. Keep your coffee out of the light and at room temperature. Filling the canister to the top will help keep it airtight. Four elements to avoid are water, light, oxygen and heat. It is recommended not refrigerating or freezing your gourmet coffee. Proper storage will keep your coffee tasting the best.
- HOW DO I BREW GREAT COFFEE?
The only equipment you really need to make a cup of perfect coffee is an open pot, a flame and a strainer.
Brewing suggestions
Grind the coffee as fine as you can make it without losing any through the holes in the filter of the coffee maker. Never grind it to a powder. Keep the coffee maker clean and rinse it with hot water before you brew. Use fresh water. Brew with hot water. A temperature of 200 degrees F is ideal, which means bringing the water to a boil and then waiting a couple of minutes before brewing. In filter and drip systems, avoid brewing less than the brewer’s full capacity. If the pot is made to brew six cups, the coffee will taste better if you brew the full six.
-
Don't boil coffee; it cooks off all the delicate flavoring essence and leaves the bitter chemicals. Don't percolate or reheat coffee; it has the same effect as boiling, only less so. Don't hold coffee for very long on the heat for the same reason. Don't mix old coffee with new; it's like using rotten wood to prop up a new building.
- HOW MUCH DO I KNOW: WHOLE BEANS VS. GROUND COFFEE?
Fresh-ground coffee may smell wonderful, but it does not stay fresh for long. It loses its aroma and taste very quickly. That's why canned ground coffee never measures up to fresh-ground coffee. We recommend that we ship you only whole roasted coffee beans for maximum freshness.
- TIPS FOR A PERFECT CUP OF COFFEE
99% of a cup of coffee is water. If the water is not pleasant to drink, do not make coffee with it. Hard, or alkaline, water does not directly harm flavor and aroma, but does mute some of the natural acids in coffee and produces a blander cup without the acidy snap. Water that has been treated with softeners makes even worse coffee. Use bottled water or a filter system. Clean coffee pot - Old oils and soap residue make your coffee taste bad. Use a brown coffee filter as they are natural paper with no bleach.
Drink your caffeine before your meal for a bigger energy boost and fatigue-beater effect.
- WHAT IS THE BEST WAY FOR PACKAGING & SHIPPING COFFEE?
A valve sealed bag is the best method for packaging & shipping. The valve allows the moisture and carbon dioxide gasses to escape but not oxygen or moisture are allowed in. Fresh roasted coffee beans can be packaged and shipped immediately after roasting ensuring the coffee freshness and taste.
COFFEE TERMINOLOGY
Taste those high, thin notes, the dryness the coffee leaves at the back of your palate and under the edges of your tongue? This pleasant tartness, snap, or twist is what coffee people call acidity. It should be distinguished from sour, which in coffee terminology means an unpleasant sharpness. The acidy notes should be very clear and bright in the Mexican, a little softer and richer in the Sumatran, and overwhelming in the Yemen Mocha. Aged coffees, and some old crop, low-grown coffees, have little acidity and taste almost sweet. An acidy coffee is somewhat analogous to a dry wine. In some coffees the acidy taste actually becomes distinctively winey; the winey aftertaste should be very clear in the Yemen Mocha.
The sensation of brewed coffee vapors, ranging from carbony to chocolaty to spicy to turpeny. Released from the residue remaining in the mouth after swallowing. Aged A taste taint that gives coffee beans a less acidy taste and greater body. The result of enzyme activity in the green coffee beans creating a chemical change during the aging process after harvesting.
"Coffee Arabica" is the species name assigned to the coffee tree by European botanist Linnaeus while categorizing the flora of the Arabian peninsula.
Strictly speaking, aroma can't be separated from acidity and flavor. Acidy coffees smell acidy, and richly flavored coffees smell richly flavored. Nevertheless, certain high, fleeting notes are reflected most clearly in the nose of a coffee, as some tasters say. There is frequently a subtle floral note to some coffee that is experienced most clearly in the aroma, particularly at the moment the crust is broken in the traditional tasting ritual. The best Colombian and Kona coffees are particularly noted for their floral aroma, and the Yemen Mocha is most likely to detect its fresh floral note. The sensation of the gases released from brewed coffee, ranging from fruity to herby, as they are inhaled through the nose.
When tasting coffees for defects, professional tasters use the term to describe a coffee that does not localize at any one point on the palate; in other words, it is not imbalanced in the direction of someone (often undesirable) taste characteristic. The Mexican sample should be most balanced, but it has less to balance than the other two coffees. If you tasted the Yemen Mocha against a standard Ethiopian Harrar you would probably sense how the Yemen coffee is similar to the Harrar, but much more balanced. A well-balanced coffee contains all the basic characteristics to the right extent.
A basic taste characterized by solution of quinine, caffeine, and certain other alkaloids, perceived primarily at the back of the tongue. Generally normal characteristics of coffees connected with their chemical constitution, influenced by degree of roasting and the method of preparing the brew.
Lacking coffee flavor and characteristics. A primary coffee taste sensation created as the sugars in the coffee combine with the salts to reduce the overall saltiness of the coffee. Found most often in washed Arabica coffees grown at elevations below 2,000 feet, such as a Guatemalan. Bland coffees range from soft to neutral.
A mixture of two or more individual varieties of coffees.
Body or mouth feel is the sense of heaviness, richness, and thickness at the back of the tongue when you swish the coffee around your mouth. The coffee is not actually heavy; it just tastes that way. The Mexican coffee should have the lightest body and the Sumatran the heaviest, with the Yemen Mocha somewhere in the middle. If you can't distinguish body, try pouring milk into each coffee. Note how the flavor of the heavy-bodied Sumatran carries through the milk, whereas the flavor of the Mexican dies away. If you drink coffee with milk, you should buy a heavy-bodied coffee. If you drink black coffee, you may prefer a lighter-bodied variety. The physical properties of the beverage resulting in the tactile sensations perceived in the mouth during and after ingestion.
An aromatic sensation created by a moderately volatile set of pyrazine compounds found in coffee's aftertaste that produce sensations reminiscent of unsweetened chocolate of vanilla.
Roasting term meaning dark brown beans with a shiny surface; equivalent to espresso or French roast.
Coffees are decaffeinated in their green state. Three principal processes are used today: the traditional or European process, the water-only or Swiss-Water Process, and the CO2/water or Sparkling Water Process. All are consistently successful in removing all but a trace (2% to 3%) of the resident caffeine.
Special process taste often found in decaffeinated coffees due to something lacking or to additional flavors.
Literally a dirty flavor, not earthy or musty.
Earthiness is a flavor defect deriving from careless, primitive processing that in some contexts may be seen as virtues. Some Harrar coffees sold in specialty stores may have a hint of wildness or earthiness to them. Roasters from Italy often like to include some earthy-tasting Brazilian coffees in their espresso blends. If a New Orleans blend is at all authentic it also should have some Brazilian wildness in it. If the earthy taste dominates to the point that the coffee tastes distinctly sour or harsh, this quality becomes a flavor defect; you won't find such coffees in specialty stores. Your Sumatran sample may have a hint of earthiness or mustiness to it, but it shouldn't.
Espresso is a dark, rich, full-bodied coffee made from finely ground Italian or dark roasted coffee. Espresso machines force a small amount of water at high pressure through a special filter. The actual contact time between the coffee and water is approximately 25 seconds.
Flavor is the most ambiguous term of all. Acidity has something to do with flavor, and so do body and aroma. Some coffees simply have a fuller, richer flavor than others, whereas other coffees have an acidy tang, for instance, that tends to dominate everything else. One can also speak of a distinctively flavored coffee, a coffee whose flavor characteristics stand out. The Yemen Mocha is probably the most distinctive, the Mexican the least distinctive, and the Sumatran the richest.
Harshness and sourness are two of the most widely used negative epithets. Harshly flavored coffees are unpleasantly bitter, sharp, or irritating. Terms like grassy, hidey, barnyard fermented, musty, and Rioy (medicinal) describe even more dramatically undesirable flavor characteristics. All of these characteristics derive from careless processing. Presumably the coffees you taste will be superior, hence free from such defects.
The sensation of the gases released from ground coffee as they are inhaled through the nose. Ranges from sweetly floral to sweetly spicy.
When applied to roasting coffee, it means that the bean is roasted high enough to bring the natural oil of the coffee to the surface. Gives a roasted flavor to the cup.
A positive characteristic applying to freshly harvested and roasted coffee whose flavor is particularly vivid. An aromatic highlight in the coffee bean and brew that is highly pleasing.
An aromatic sensation created by a highly volatile set of aldehydes and esters found in coffee's aroma. Either a sweet sensation reminiscent of citrus fruit or a dry sensation reminiscent of berry fruit.
An intensity description of bouquet indicating gases and vapors are present at a moderately pronounced strength.
Coffee beans roasted to a very dark brown, with a shiny surface; equivalent to Italian roast.
Term applied to coffee that has been roasted darker than French Roast. Much used by Italians, as well as in many of the coffee producing countries.
Coffee beans roasted to the American norm.
A primary coffee taste sensation created as salts in the coffee combine with sugars to increase the overall sweetness. Characteristic found most often in washed Arabica coffees grown at elevations below 4,000 feet, such Kona coffee from Hawaii. Mellow ranges from mild to delicate.
A secondary coffee taste sensation characterized by a predominantly sweet tingle just past the tip of the tongue. Caused by high concentrations of both sugars and salts. Typified by a washed Sumatran coffee.
An aromatic sensation created by a moderately volatile set of aldehydes and ketones that produce sensations reminiscent of roasted nuts. Characteristic of poor quality beans, that float, remain lighter in color and have a peanut flavor.
Organic is an important descriptive term in the contemporary coffee world. An organically-grown coffee must be certified by an international agency as having been grown without synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Somewhat lower yields and the considerable cost of the certification process account for the higher prices demanded for many organic coffees.
- PRIMARY COFFEE TASTE SENSATION
Acidy, mellow, winey, bland, sharp and soury.
Richness partly refers to body, partly to flavor; at times even to acidity. The term describes an interesting, satisfying fullness. The Sumatran should be the richest in body and the Yemen Mocha should have the richest acidity. The term rich would probably not be used in any context with the Mexican coffee.
Terms describing the characteristic collective flavor complex of darker roasts. The acidy notes are gone, replaced by pungent notes combined with a subtle, caramel sweetness. Some people call this often unnamed group of sensations "roast taste" or the "taste of the roast."
High in caffeine and rather bitter. Generally less acid and less aromatic than Arabica coffee. Often slightly woody.
- SECONDARY COFFEE TASTE SENSATIONS
Piquant to nippy, mild to delicate, tangy to tart, soft to neutral, rough to astringent, hard to acrid.
A primary coffee taste sensation created as acids in the coffee combine with salts to increase the overall saltiness. Characteristic found most often in unwashed robusta coffee. Sharp coffee ranges from rough to astringent.
A moderately low level of oily material suspended in the coffee beverage. Result of fats in the beans present in perceptible amounts.
A secondary coffee taste sensation characterized by an absence of any predominant taste sensation on any part of the tongue, except for subtle dryness. Caused by a concentration of salts high enough to neutralize the acids but not high enough to neutralize the sugars. Typified by washed Arabica coffee from Santos, Brazil.
A basic taste characterized by solutions of tartaric acid, citric acid, or malic acid. The unpleasant acidity of a sour coffee cannot be confused with the natural acidity of some coffees in which this quality is prized. Perceived at the tip of the tongue.
An aromatic sensation created by a slightly volatile set of hydrocarbon compounds in coffee's aftertaste that produces sensations reminiscent of either wood-spice (cinnamon) or wood-seed (Clove).
Coffee giving a pungent impression in the cup, rich in flavor. Developed by roasting or having a consistent mouth-feel.
|
