What I've learned about great coffee in these past number of years you could write a small book about. There are videos on how to brew it. There are books on how to store it. You can even groups and associations that study the most complex parts of it. If you really wanted to, you could spend an entire year in search of the perfect bean only to find that some ancient tribe in the Amazon has been serving a variety that's just a bit better.
In the world of Specialty Coffee, the quest for the perfect cup goes on and on. Each new batch that comes out of the roaster is tasted and compared to the last batch. And that batch was compared to the one previous to it. I've found that after each cupping I still question whether or not I could have attained that "Sweet Spot", that place of Nirvana, tranquility, perfection. Frustrated yet not deterred I plan on the next opportunity.
Take for instance my last encounter with a Organic Peruvian. Now I know what some of my coffee geek friends might be saying. "You are roasting a what?" But before your eyes roll completely into the back of your skull let me tell you what happened.
Now the Peruvian, admittedly was a practice lot that we purchased. It was to act as a sampling lot, not as a Specialty, to serve to the populous variety. It was grassy, flat, not at all appealing to tell you the truth but that was before the Coffee gods began speaking to me about how to secretly extract some flavor.
I spent a week working with this bean, light, medium, light, medium and then I thought, "What the heck, let's go to almost second crack and with the airflow at half opened." By doing this, the heat level in the beans went from 390 to over 420deg. I waited for the fire department to come but an amazing thing happened.
The beans plumped but did not burst. They swoll but did not pop. Have you ever seen a balloon expand to its limits as you held your breath. All that was missing was the explosion. That is what happened to this batch. They were a Full City+ and there was no denying it.
The taste was fantastic. I mean these babies went from grassy shortstops to RockStar pitchers. I was amazed and surprised that a once throwaway bean would now become the foundation for an espresso, breakfast blend and maybe even a single origin. Time will only tell.
In the world of Specialty Coffee, the quest for the perfect cup goes on and on. Each new batch that comes out of the roaster is tasted and compared to the last batch. And that batch was compared to the one previous to it. I've found that after each cupping I still question whether or not I could have attained that "Sweet Spot", that place of Nirvana, tranquility, perfection. Frustrated yet not deterred I plan on the next opportunity.
Take for instance my last encounter with a Organic Peruvian. Now I know what some of my coffee geek friends might be saying. "You are roasting a what?" But before your eyes roll completely into the back of your skull let me tell you what happened.
Now the Peruvian, admittedly was a practice lot that we purchased. It was to act as a sampling lot, not as a Specialty, to serve to the populous variety. It was grassy, flat, not at all appealing to tell you the truth but that was before the Coffee gods began speaking to me about how to secretly extract some flavor.
I spent a week working with this bean, light, medium, light, medium and then I thought, "What the heck, let's go to almost second crack and with the airflow at half opened." By doing this, the heat level in the beans went from 390 to over 420deg. I waited for the fire department to come but an amazing thing happened.
The beans plumped but did not burst. They swoll but did not pop. Have you ever seen a balloon expand to its limits as you held your breath. All that was missing was the explosion. That is what happened to this batch. They were a Full City+ and there was no denying it.
The taste was fantastic. I mean these babies went from grassy shortstops to RockStar pitchers. I was amazed and surprised that a once throwaway bean would now become the foundation for an espresso, breakfast blend and maybe even a single origin. Time will only tell.
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