Tag Archives: Wine tasting descriptors

Pahleta’s Boquet winning coffee blend from Buona Caffee

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Local coffee roaster Buona Caffe stepped in lore and love for this new coffee blend from John and Pat deliver a balanced taste and is sure to bring you back for more. This is a blend of their Brazilian and other central american coffees. Wow, it’s just good. Both were medium roasts, I wonder what it would be like with some dark roast in there? I do not know but I know I like this coffee.

 

English: Coffee berries Polski: Owoce kawy

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Light acidity and light body. As is expected from Buona Caffe, it is incredibly smooth and generous in taste. A slight floral smell was coming off the coffee. This is entirely possible to just be my mind playing a game on me given the name of the blend. However this coffee was really well done, even tasted good. No bitterness, was easy to sip.

Another nice one from Buona Caffe. Pat over at Buona was the mastermind behind the name. She puts a lot of thought into naming their blends, so expect some history and significance to their blend names. This one comes from the story of Lt. Col. Francisco de Melo Palheta:

 

Coffea arabica Español: Flores del cafeto (Cof...

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“…the Brazilian government in the 1727 to enter the coffee market. Naturally there was no legal way to do that and Lt. Col. Francisco de Melo Palheta enters the scene. His mission was to obtain coffee seedlings by any means and he did it but not without the help of a woman. Being dispatched to French Guiana, the brave colonel starts his coffee mission and goes easy choosing the least resistance – the governor’s spouse. The officer’s sweetheart falls into net of the charming Brazilian and convinced by him that several coffee branches will remind Pahleta of her, gives the artful man the coffee seedlings hidden in a bouquet of flowers…”

So the coffee powerhouse that is Brazil got its start from a little ol’ boquet of flowers, and Pahleta goes down in history.

 

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Batdorf and Bronson Holiday Blend is a Gift to drink

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There is lots of holiday goodness here. This is a wonderful and special coffee. This batch was roasted on I am guessing the 13th (correct me if I am wrong there Jason), and Inner Bean got it on the 14th, not sure if they could have gotten it out the same day. Either way, well within the freshness window. How can you tell? BLOOMIN Coffee! Yep, blooms. When your coffee is fresh and you pour a bit of the heated water in the coffee bubbles up, it erupts, looks like coffee lava boiling up. So, I let it form a crust and then break that down with pouring in the rest of the water. I really let the water pour in rapidly so I get a full immersion. Yep, Clever Bloomin Dripper! 

Light acidity, light body, balanced that way, a little fruity, not over done, smoothness. Swishing it around I get a really good feel on the tongue. The coffee has good mouthfeel the caramel notes do come through for me almost as an aftertaste. Lots going on in this coffee. I find myself drinking it moving it around trying to hit all the tastebuds. This is rather pleasant coffee. It doesn’t leave you regretting it. It’s a medium roast so there is no ashy aftertaste common to darker roasts. I want to chew it. 

This coffee left me with different flavors from different cups of it. I honed in on my grind to a fine grind, using 30 or 35 grams of coffee to 350 grams of water. This coffee leaves you with a pleasant taste. I had eight cups of it over this weekend. I did not want to leave any stone unturned. Punish me you know? 

What I figured out, was that the more coarse grind did not seem to extract enough. It was a bit watery tasting. I had let it steep for four minutes total, that includes drip time. Including the drip time in the four minutes was an experiment this weekend too. Normally I let it steep for four minutes then setting it to drip. Not sure if that really has a big effect, I will try that out tonight.

Overall this was an excellent cup of coffee. I really enjoyed look forward to drinking more of it. I might take a bit of bashing at work for not bringing it in but I refuse to put that coffee in the Bunn. The aroma of the coffee however did have several of them salivating and standing near my office asking why I wasn’t making any. So have yourself a merry little Christmas and give yourself a coffee present.

Merry Christmas everyone.

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Buona Caffe – Goodness in a bag

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Where do I start? Hard to process so much information. I went over to Buona Caffe this morning to pick up some coffee before they headed out of town for the week. Wow am I glad I did. Not only would I get my coffee, I got to drink coffee, from a Chemex no less, and had some great conversation with John and Pat Curry.

John and Pat Curry are the owners and operators of Buona Caffe in Augusta, Georgia. They have been home roasters for years now, and have within the last year or so put that knowledge and experience to use in establishing their brand and product. Many of you in the Augusta area know them from the Augusta River Market, I think it is safe to say they could be a fixture there. It is time to take that River Market coffee experience with them and take it year round. They are featured at Sundrees Urban Market Crums on Central in Augusta (they are next door to Crums, literally). You can contact them via their website or phone and order some coffee. You should.

So going into their shop one of the first things you see is their red roaster. This is a 10lb. Primo model. This is apparently the roaster that started Land of a Thousand Hills Coffees. They got a good deal on it. This enabled Buona to really pick up the pace and quantity. Their skill is impressive. Their coffee is consistent from bag to bag. I got to see the large bags of green beans. I was mildly surprised when I heard how much a pound they paid. I did not expect it to be cheap but there you go. They have to be quick and clever when buying coffee. John was telling me about one time where he had to buy the beans while the ship was in transit because the bags were selling off at a constant stream. So imagine, you have to buy coffee before seeing it. That’s risky. It worked out for them though.

As an artisan roaster you have to be able to change the attitudes or expectations of potential customers. The coffee industrial giants are so ingrained on the restaurant industry that it can take efforts to change perceptions. Buona just did that with a local restaurant in downtown Augusta. The coffee alone will get them more business.

Roasting coffee is not something you do just to do it. It is not even something necessarily you go do to make money. You have to be passionate about it. John and Pat are definitely passionate about roasting their coffee. Talking to them listening to them getting a feel from them. They do care quite a bit about what they are doing. They have a standard on how they will roast and serve their coffee. They own their brand they own image. They know their product is more than a pretty label. Heck they even got coffee chairs and a table. Like with coffee cups in the metal work. How cool is that? Pat has putting a lot of effort into learning about coffee and its history. She also showed me her copy of “Uncommon Grounds” which reinforced my want for the book. She has made a study of coffee history. Understanding coffee better is never a bad thing. They understand coffee culture and are using it to provide good coffee. In speaking of good coffee…

Wow the coffee we had was good. I had never had coffee via a Chemex. It produced a clean cup. I witnessed a coffee bloom. I have seen it before, but I was unaware that it had a name, also breaking the crust. We all talked about coffee brewing and how peoples eyes were opened to coffee by experiencing it via different brew methods. We first had the Brazilian Mogiana, this coffee presents a welcome bouquet of aroma. The taste is a flavor explosion. It has a little nutty flavor and is balanced. In speaking of flavor, John was telling me that they did have one rule, they would not flavor their coffee. I applaud them greatly for this. Coffee comes with flavors naturally grown in. If the coffee is roasted and brewed correctly, it can have lots of flavor. We also had their Ethiopian Sidamo, wow, good. I am a fool for African coffees, this stuff is a knock out. Fruity wine tastes, wonderful.

Pat you are a sweetheart for talking with my son so much. My child is very inquisitive and wants to know what everything is and does, not only did she find time to talk to me about their shop tell me its history their plans but she managed to watch my son while being endlessly patient.

So check out Buona Caffe, if you are in the Augusta area stop by and pick some up, it is well worth your time to take a trip to Central Ave. If you are not in Augusta, order online from them. They even have a map of the US on a wall with push pins showing where they have shipped their coffee. The country is looking red.

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Full City, Cinnamon Roast, City, Vienna Roast, Spanish Roast, what?

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I would like to clarify what a roast means to you when you hear the description. When I go to a coffee roaster I hear light, medium and dark. When I have been to non-roasters I hear the more fanciful terms of Italian Roast, Viennese Roast and what not. I want you to know what that means. There is no reason not to be able to request the right roast of coffee for your tastes.

There are plenty of descriptors out there for how your coffee is roasted. Many of these are regional and your use of them is important to determine the characteristics of the coffee you want to drink (not to mention the caffeine levels). A few things you should know, there are many methods for determining the degree of a roast. Color, temperature, time on roasting device and sound. Yep sound. When coffee beans are roasted, they start to crack. The coffee bean is a seed, as it heats up, there are tons of chemical changes going on inside the bean that is altering the structure. The bean expands and at certain points the casing of the bean just cannot take it anymore and cracks. Caffeine content decreases as the roast progresses. So your lighter roasts will have more caffeine. Flavor profiles will also change. A more full bodied flavor is achieved with darker roasts. Too dark and you are left with charcoal. So on to descriptors we go.

The light roast is also called the city roast, cinnamon roast, there are a host of descriptors here that will further break down into + categories. Some of these you will see as City + to describe a slightly darker variant of a lightly roasted coffee. Light roast coffees will traditionally have the highest caffeine contents. So if you are seeking that buzz you need a light roast. What does this tell you? You have to go to a real coffee joint to get a light

 

Afrikaans: Geroosterde pitte van die koffiepla...

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roasted coffee to drink. Something that can grind per cup for you. Most all coffee joints I have ever seen have only a medium and dark roast available for immediate drinking. Heck most won’t even have a light roast available. Usually this roast is considered done at first crack or shortly there after in the roast process. They will still have some silver skin (or chaff) on them. Light roasted beans will be about 426°F and this usually takes 10 minutes or so on a drum roaster.

A medium roast, this is also called a full city roast (with the + iterations), New England roast, American Roast, again a plethora of descriptors. These roasts are a little more full bodied in taste, a little less caffeine content and so much more common. Pretty much any

Roasted coffee beans.

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roast shop should have a selection of medium roasts on hand. These beans have been on the roaster for maybe 11 minutes and have a temperature of 454°F. Once sitting for a few minutes some oils will work out to the surface of the coffee giving it a satin looking finish. Right as the second crack starts a medium roast has been achieved.

Your dark roast coffees are also known most famously as French Roast, also as Viennese or Continental Roast, New Orleans Roast and Espresso Roasts. It’s all in the degrees (get it, heat joke there). Espresso roasts are on the high end of a dark roast. The subtle nature of roasting coffee really comes into play here. When we get to a dark roast you can go from a full bodied rich warm (flavor not temp) tasting coffee to ash and carbon in seconds. Tom at Sweet Maria’s notes that when you get to a dark roast, roasting

Dark roasted coffee beans

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characteristics can over take origin characteristics in flavor. Be careful! The temperature range of dark roasts is anywhere from 444°F on up to 474°F or so. It would really take some skill to manage the temperature at this level. From low dark to dead I think was 30 seconds or less. This is an exacting activity and not for the faint of heart!

So as I stated in my post titled “If you would not order dinner burnt, why burn your coffee?” be aware of your taste preferences. Know what you want to taste. If you want to taste that bean you just paid 14 or 15 dollars for a pound of, get it in a medium roast. Taste that country, the hill side, the forest it came from. Not the carbon it got turned into. Dark roasts are alright, but you have to watch it carefully or the flavor will get away from you, permanently.

 

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Starbucks Christmas Blend, does it lead to Yuletide glee?

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Hey everyone, usually when I write up a coffee review I go through and do a number of cups. One of the key reasons for this is to practice my brewing skills, and work to find the consistency in the cup of coffee. Consistency is key, I want to make sure that I am getting the full flavors of it out. Usually I keep notes and sum it up in a review. This time I am going to use more of a diary or log book method. Let me know what you think of the formatting.

Morning 11/25

A member brought in some coffee for the girls at work. A 1lb bag of Starbucks Christmas Blend. I was asked to bring in a coffee grinder so they could taste it. So after grinding up some beans for them and getting their coffee brewing in the machine at work, the coffee was well, deplorable at best.

You see every step of the coffee making process matters. You cannot overly skimp on any one part of it. For example at work, we have those Bunn coffee makers. They are designed to produce coffee FAST. And I do mean FAST. It can brew a full pot of coffee in literally something like three minutes or less. This provides no immersion time, no time for extraction to the proper degree needed to produce good coffee. Also at my workplace and many others, water is an issue. Then of course coffee is also an issue. My work place provides Maxwell house. If there was ever a coffee to make you appreciate good coffee, that would be it.

You cannot brew a full pot of coffee in three minutes and have it taste worth a darn. Life does not work that way, somethings, take time. Coffee is one of those. I make one cup with my clever in about eight minutes total if I don’t have downtime. That is fast coffee. You must take the time to get things set up and lined up properly for your home coffee brewing to be a success. The Starbucks suffered mightly from this. It was weakly flavored. There was no body a watery taste and a real lack of desire to even finish the cup.

Evening 11/25

I used 350 grams water to 30 grams coffee. This produced a drinkable decent cup of coffee. I got some of the spicy notes they talk about, a bit light on the body though. Nothing special about it.

Morning 11/26

Starbucks went a little too dark on the roast, at 350grams water to 35 grams coffee I am getting an ash component. That should not be. Their proffered flavor notes are spices and I would assume an earthy body since they state they use Aged Indonesian and Central American (the central american component?)

Central American beans bring a balanced act to the earthy nature of the Indonesian. I can taste some acidity. Again the ash component is too much. This is the problem with dark roasts. Especially dark roasts they do in bulk like starbucks does.

Later I will trim the coffee to 30 grams to a full 384 grams. Not much I can do beyond that. I had a cup last night with 350w to 30c that was not bad.

11/26 9:45am

284w to 30c ash taste gone. Gone are any spicy notes, body and much flavor. Oh it has some flavor and it is better than say, Maxwell House or Folgers.

11/27 01:10 am

384w to 35c medium grind. Bitter, bitter and more bitter. Not sure what the issue is. On previous cups I had used a fine grind so I wanted to see if I could get a difference in flavor. I certainly did. Not really one that I would care for though. This afternoon I will use the same measurements as above but switch back to a fine grind. Scratch that, this evening I will switch back to the 350 grams of water and 30 grams coffee. I want a drinkable cup to report on.

11/27 6:30 pm

Sadly using the 350w to 30c just did not really work out as well as I was hoping.

So let me sum this up. It was hard to get a consistent cup of coffee out of the bag. Overall I have to say it was a bit of a let down. I could try a batch of drip from Mr. Coffee in the morning, but the Clever is a far superior brewing method and in all cases thus far has provided a better cup. So, If you want some advice, skip the starbucks this year. Order a pound of freshly roasted coffee from your local roaster or your favorite roaster online.

 

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Where does that taste come from?

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Coffee comes from many parts of the world. All within 1500 miles of the equator. Typically found at higher altitudes. Some broad statements can be made as to what types of beans from a given region taste like. Again, these are broad statements and do not mean that you cannot get a wine tasting bean from Latin America but you mostly get those from Africa and the Middle East.

coffee tasting @ trabant

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Ethiopian, Kenyan, African coffee tends to have spicy notes, wine tastes mixed with fruity syrupy flavors mixed in.

Indonesian coffees tend to come in low and strong in their flavors. Noted for an earthy taste these coffees are robust and can have a flowery overtone. There can be bitterness to these coffees but I think that helps it not fall too deep.

South American/Latin American coffees are something most Americans are familiar with. Not for the good reasons I might add. This is where the bulk of the big coffee companies get their beans. You have no doubt seen the claim “100% Colombian beans”. Coffees from this region tends to be well balanced light and fully flavored.

So what does this mean to you?

I just went through some flavors that are typically noted to be present in those regions. Coffee being a beverage can also be ascribed other drinks (notably coffee tasting is starting to ascribe itself a wine tasting style). Here are some of those characteristics:

Body, Acidity, Aroma, Aftertaste or Finish

Body is mouth-feel. How does the coffee sit in your mouth? Does it seem to have weight to it, or is it light and airy feeling. This is often noted in beers and wine.

Coffee tasting at Notes Music & Coffee

Image by Yukino Miyazawa via Flickr

Acidity is the crispness of coffee. A sharp aftertaste. This is also called liveliness. Generally you won’t notice this in coffee with a lot of body.

Aroma, you just cannot overstate the importance of this. Smell is the secret ingredient here. The flowery or chocolatey or any number of smells that come from coffee make the taste better. It just does.

Aftertaste, finishing whatever you want to call it, this is what you are left with. This should not be overlooked. After all this is what you are left with! What did you remember most about that coffee?

A note for all of these. ALL of this is affected by the water in your coffee. If you are not using filtered water, you are altering the taste of the coffee irrevocably and you might not be getting the real flavor.

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Premium Joe

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Simple Joe Coffee’s “Premium Joes” blend is a solid hit. This is a smooth coffee that does not go to far off the dark end of the spectrum. You will get some smokey caramelized notes from the coffee which are timely when it hits your mouth. The aroma, wonderful. Smooth finish, not too heavy. It leaves you with a little bit of a tang in your mouth. Andrew there at Simple Joes knows how to put together a solid cup of Joe…

 

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