☕ Coffee ☕: Ingredients, Roasting, Grinding, Brewing, and Tasting

[passedpawn]

How long was it there? I wonder what "evidence"-aged coffee will taste like.

Rolling won't be tough, lighting it will be a challenge. But I'd go bong for sure.

 

[Kealia]

I'm in California, send it my way!

 

[jimyson]

It’s not pot beans, but decided to roast a batch of Guatemala Finca Santa Felisa Red Typica.

 

[applescrap]

I spoke with the inspector in charge of the non-mailable packages (aka cocaine and pot masked by coffee). He said he'd get it processed and shipped. I gave him permission to open it, not sure if he's going to. But I think he believed me.

Apparently, he said my package smells strongly of marijuana now. It's been bundled for over a week with a bunch of other packages that actually contained pot.

Damn, what a deal. Nice quick action on the followup.

 

[applescrap]

@jammin Not sure I remember your thoughts on the other geishas. Have they been unique enough, erroring optimistically for me anyways.

Side note, did i mention that that bermans konga is splendid. Nice berry coffee.

 

[passedpawn]

I guess this concludes the tale of the waylaid coffee beans:

 

[jimyson]

And here I sit wondering if @Inkleg commissioned @pshankstar to send me an unknown package of beans. Revenge? I’ll take that kind any day.

 

[applescrap]

Wow, intense. I have certainly heard that coffee has been used to mask drugs.

 

[applescrap]

Roasted a larger batch of the tej, and the rest of my konga. Tried switching to 5 of 6 power at 8 minutes for tej, and did smaller batch of konga 5 the whole way. The tej is the longer roast. Pics are of the konga. The tej timer was started 30 seconds late but still low development time. I wonder if development for hg is different than other roasters. Even though konga says 12 percent it is darker than my normal roast of it. Will see. The tej is darker to. Pics are with and without flash to try and capture it.

 

[jammin]

Not even Alanis Morissete can quantify the irony of this being delivered on INTERNATIONAL COFFEE DAY lol - @passedpawn

 

[passedpawn]

Not even Alanis Morissete can quantify the irony of this being delivered on INTERNATIONAL COFFEE DAY lol

Those crazy guys at the postal service. So diligent!

Oh yea, lick the back of those pieces of paper in there, click play below, and sit back. Enjoy the ride!

 

[jammin]

Pulled some @passedpawn espresso shots this afternoon. The USPS, being the fine coffee connoisseurs they are; rested this coffee to a mature vintage By grinding very fine & giving the shot about 20 seconds of line pressure pre-infusion @ 2.5bar I was able to get a pretty respectable shot. I would be happy to serve this straight to any guest who doesn't normally drink espresso without milk or sugar. There is nothing offensive at all about this shot. No burnt/acrid flavors, no acidity at all with a mild bakers chocolate & walnut flavor. It would easily blend right into a neat cortado or flat white. It even has a little body left after it was left in the interrogation room & likely water boarded & force fed loud Bon Jovi under non-stop flourescent lights for days on end.

 

[Kealia]

That looks delicious....

I forgot that I had ordered some decaf Ethiopian a few weeks ago so I roasted a very small amount this morning to test in a few days. I have to watch my caffeine intake due to migraines, and I'm hoping I can find some decaf that is actually good instead of just ok.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

That looks delicious....

I forgot that I had ordered some decaf Ethiopian a few weeks ago so I roasted a very small amount this morning to test in a few days. I have to watch my caffeine intake due to migraines, and I'm hoping I can find some decaf that is actually good instead of just ok.

Interesting. I get headaches if I DONT have caffeine.

Been a strange last couple months. Now that I have the Bullet I usually roast 1lb at a time, as opposed to 1/2lb on the Behmor. I'm roasting way less often now, which means I'm not getting as much time on the roaster to sharpen my skills on some of the finer things. Maybe I need to start giving more coffee away.

 

[pshankstar]

Interesting. I get headaches if I DONT have caffeine.

Been a strange last couple months. Now that I have the Bullet I usually roast 1lb at a time, as opposed to 1/2lb on the Behmor. I'm roasting way less often now, which means I'm not getting as much time on the roaster to sharpen my skills on some of the finer things. Maybe I need to start giving more coffee away.

You have my mailing address. Haha

 

[applescrap]

I might have mentioned that the burmans konga is really good and is a berry delight. just sayin, roasted my last bit of it, and it was grape. Good daisy, where is the rm konga. If it doesnt come in, no brainer, I will get more Burmans konga. For me, this is the green bean right now. Havent had kona, or geisha though, but something like that not considered, I will get more Burmans konga.

 

[applescrap]

Update, and you know im sad I didnt see the burman konga today. They did have this though. It is pricey but sounds nice. I will try to ride the rest of the Tej as long as I can and then maybe get some bodhileaf sale coffee to remind myself how good the ethiopians are!

Roasted a pound of tej this morning. 5 of 6 power whole way through. Cracked at 16 20 instead of closer to 10. Still pulled a little early. Not fully trusting yet of this process. Less tipping. And looks surprisingly similar to 9 percent development previous roast.

 

[applescrap]

 

[jammin]

@applescrap - that Ethiopian you posted sounds pretty good. If you get some I would be curious how you it tastes.

That timer app ya'll are using is really cool. Seems like it has some good features & is simple to use. The screenshots everyone is posting shows helpful benchmarks to understand how the coffee was roasted

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Well I got home Sunday after a weekend away and noticed something didn't look right at my coffee station/bar. After a couple mins we realized the issue - a water line had leaked and caused a lot of water damage around the area my coffee cart was on. Fortunately the espresso machine, grinder, and kettle were spared. Unfortunately, my ceiling, walls, and hardwood were not. It's unbelievable...I had just finished my kitchen project, and now this comes up.

Oh well. The nice thing is I can still wheel my cart around and put it in a different area so I can still have good coffee. However...my kitchen area is currently being ripped apart. Probably won't have a ton to post about for a little while haha.

 

[Kealia]

Wow, sorry to hear about the leak. Best wishes for a speedy repair.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

On a slightly more positive note, I had given my brother in law some coffee and he told me it's the greatest coffee he's ever had and he wants more of it. Problem is, when I gave it to him I just dumped some beans in a bag and didn't label it. I've given him other good stuff since then (what I consider really good) and he liked them but not as much. Lesson learned - label everything haha.

 

[pshankstar]

That sucks @HarborTownBrewing! I wish you the best with the repairs.

 

[Kee]

Wow, intense. I have certainly heard that coffee has been used to mask drugs.

When I put bags of coffee in my checked luggage, flying from Colombia to the USA, little holes get poked into the bags by customs agents. So now I always carry coffee in my carry on.

 

[applescrap]

I noticed all the beautiful teas on burmans website and it got me curious. If I recall correctly, some of you are tea aficionados. Could you please give me a hand in picking some. And other basic information like Brewing. I would appreciate it very much. Seems they range from $2 an ounce to $20 an ounce. I'm looking for something kind of like Ethiopian coffee and I don't think I really need to buy anything to cheap. Thanks!

 

[jammin]

I roasted my 2lbs of this year's Panama Elida (Natural) from RM's. Ive had this coffee several times times over the last 6 years or so & this is a good year for it. Reminds me of a tropical Ethiopian coffee. Low acidity but still has fruity flavors. Ive pulled some exceptional shots with it & the pour over is terrific.

Roasts predictably & easy

 

[applescrap]

That sounds good jammin. Will let you know if I order it. Glad i found one pound of nitsu ruz. I have been drinking only the tej. I dont like to drink the same great coffee too many weeks in a row. I like to enjoy it over time and in contrast to others. Excited to try the nitsu.

I have settled into going full power and fan till around 8 then switching to 5 of 6 power. That and the timer have helped. The timer at least gives me something to work from. The coffee can go a lot longer than I have given it credit for, at least at lower temps. Have been stopping at 12 or 13 percent development. Less tipping, light cracks and darker shells. Decent medium roasts. Wonder if this will work and retain berry flavors with frutier Ethiopians. Its almost like some things are improved and some hard to tell vs faster roast. Some pics with and without flash. The glass jar bean is the tej. The strainer nr.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Roasted today, only my second time in the last three weeks. On my roast of the Ethiopia Hambella Hassan, below, I thought I had everything going for me. I was hitting all the numbers I wanted to, I was easing it down just before 1C. And then I never heard 1C. I think maybe I just ran out of steam right before 1C, but I'm not sure. Slightly disappointing, but what do you expect without much practice recently.

 

[jammin]

^the graph looks a lot better! Did you adjust any settings?

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I found where I could un-check the "actual" ROR line and instead select an "average". I may have set a duration for the average to collect it's points but I can't recall.

All in all I've been really bored by coffee lately, and it's really weird to say that. I think it's mostly because I haven't been roasting my own very much, just drinking old old coffee I roasted a while back, so nothing is really popping. Today I roasted the Ethiopia and a Peru, so I'm hoping these kind of wake me up a bit.