Ethiopian coffee is not one of my favs, too grassy for my tastes. I do appreciate Uganda beans. The Dominican Republic has produced some outstanding coffee beans in recent years. But for the droughts, Brazil is superb coffee.
The degree of roasting is a big factor toward a great tasting cup. Next is the water--filtered water is much preferred.
Green beans are shelf stable for months. Roasted coffee is freshest for about a week. Ground coffee begins to lose its best character within minutes. So, I'm off to enjoy today's coffee delicacy...
Do you roast your coffee in the oven or do you own a roaster?
We do as well, and have been for years. We have a cash deal with a local roaster who sources beans from around the world. It’s cheaper than store-bought swill and we get access to some fairly exotic strains. Before we hooked up with this roaster, we would buy from a place called Sweet Maria’s out west.
Our roasting machine is the Hottop, a drum roaster with a cooling tray. It’s built like a tank and we’ve been using it for years with no issues. We brew in a Technivorm Mochamaster.
Good coffee is a must for me. I bring a kit when I travel, and as I sit in a hotel room right now this morning, I’m enjoying a strain from Papau New Guinea. I get up earlier in my hotel than I normally would just so I can take 45 minutes to enjoy a nice cup in leisure.
Roasting is definitely worth the cost and time. It’s the only way to truly enjoy what coffee is meant to be…
So, do you feel that the unspoken answer is the location where it is grown?
That is what I am thinking, assuming a good roast and brewing. A friend sent me some on-line beans he had roasted. They were from Madagascar and various parts of Africa. You could definitely taste the difference in the flavors.
I enjoyed the flavors, but I will say that coffee is one of those things where I don’t appreciate a great deal of variety. I know what I want it to taste like in the morning, and that is what I aim for - consistency. I don’t really need a morning surprise, even a good one.
Me too (coffee aficionado). I'm not quite as far out on the scale as you, though. I have experimented with all kinds of specialty coffees. I always buy medium roast whole beans and grind them as needed. I usually buy a 10-day supply and keep the beans in an airtight container. My water pot heats to about 200 degrees, and I use a pour-over. My 2+ daily cups go into a handheld thermos for heat freshness. This all works great for me. The coffee taste is preserved and is excellent.
By the way, this is done every day and takes about 5 minutes. One of my few splurges and worth every bit of the effort!
Now, the beans. My current favorite is Brazil. There are many regions of Arabica coffee production in Brazil, but this coffee is from Minas Gerais. I do change beans from time to time as beans come and go, but this one is one of the best. Another favorite is Yukon Gold, but it is a little more difficult to find.
Good luck to those who take this route -- and even to those who pop a k-cup house brew into a Keurig machine.:-)
I’m with you here. I built my own coffee roaster using a modified flour sifter and heat gun from Harbor Freight. I used Ecuadorian coffee beans when I lived there but now use Costa Rica and Colombian. I take my roast about 30 Seconds into second pop. I only roast seven days worth of beans and use an espresso machine to make my Americano.
I have also been a coffee connoisseur for most of my life until I lost my stomach due to stomach cancer. I was told not to drink coffee, decaf or regular as there was an acid that the lack of a stomach could not deal with correctly.
After a couple of years dealing with that loss of something I really enjoyed, I read a Bariatric Website bulletin that explained it. Dry roasting brings our five acids in various amounts. One of those particular acids was the culprit and shazam, Air Roasted coffee had little of that one acid. As the other acids remain, the taste is not impacted in my opinion.
I bought a small bag of what they had and sure enough it was something I could deal with. I happened to know an entire coffee line from my home town that was Air Roasted.
The Roasterie Coffee Company is exclusively air roasted and I used to buy it in Kansas City all the time and I knew blends of theirs I already liked. (They have dozens). I ordered a couple of pounds and problem solved. I still do black tea about 60% of the time but now I can have coffee again.
Of course, this article is dealing with dry processing, not the final roasting process, but there might be someone for which this is a useful find.