Coffee is terrifying, isn’t it?

As baristas we usually screw up the coffee more than anyone else before us; that’s if we’re paying attention and at least a little lucky. Temperature, dose, dwell time, pressure, bloom, tamp, extraction time, agitation, coffee rest, grind. The variables are daunting.

Should you dose 18 grams? 18.5? 19 grams? Should the temperature be 200.5f? 201? How much should the shot yield? How long should it take? 25 seconds? 28 seconds? Pre-infusion? And what about tomorrow when the coffee is older, the air pressure is different and the door opens?

As professional baristas, the variables that face us from day to day are some of the most critical and finicky of any at any point in the chain.

It isn’t our responsibility to add to the coffee. It’s our responsibility not to screw it up. To pay attention. To learn. To educate. To adapt. To showcase everyone else’s hard work while making ours look effortless.

If that isn’t terrifying to you as a barista you need to reset your focus.

-bry

It’s an interesting read, well, interesting I suppose:

Here you go.

Unfortunately, I am misquoted naming a water kettle’s price tag at an apparent $250, when it is most certainly about half that cost.  Oh well…

Was happy to see that my quote was the “emphasis” closing quote, though.

-bry

Yemen Anesi is on the cupping table. I LOVE a good Yemen coffee.

It’s a long weekend and I’m going to actually relax a little bit…

Oh… and we bought another location. You know. The usual.

More in the coming days about the Anesi and also about some exciting new coffees going into our lineup and how you can get a hold of some.

Spectacled Bear

Sorry for the late reply from the other post, but I haven’t had anything blow me away recently.  There have been some interesting coffees, but interesting and mind-blowing are very different things when you get the chance to drink as much coffee as I (fortunately) do.

I tasted a Kenya Thicka French Mission Bourbon that was really surprising.  It did everything I thought it was going to: fruity-citrus-bomb from it “being Kenyan,” but also a rounded, smoothed out mouthfeel from it “being Bourbon.”  Quite the interesting cup and tomorrow I’m going to play with it as a single origin espresso shot.

Perhaps the most interesting coffee that has come across the table as of late is a Columbian that I have started calling “The Bear.”  It has to do with a mission that the import company (Cafe Imports) is undergoing to help save the Spectacled Bear (no, not a Speckled Bear, Spectacled) in Columbia.  It’s a pretty cool mission, pretty cool coffee, and, well, it’s a really cool bear.

The coffee itself is really fruited, but balanced.  I haven’t tasted it enough to comment on it a whole lot yet, and the samples I have had have all been very young, but the coffee isn’t as deep and chocolaty as I thought it would be.  It has a really nice cran-cherry jamminess to it and a pleasantly brisk acidity.  If frisky could be used to describe a coffee, it would be appropriate here.  Think about it…

-bry

The best summary I can come up with for these Burundi coffees is that they carry the typical profile of an African coffee, but are much cleaner and less dynamic.  It isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  I know I don’t always want over-the-top crazy fruit flavors, but I don’t always want the floral and citrus attributes of a Central American coffee.  These Burundi samples filled that void for me.  Both coffees were very similiar.  I’m not sure I would have picked out much difference at all if I hadn’t known up front that they were different lots.

Coffee drying on "raised beds" in Kayanza, Burundi. (Click for enlarged image)

Final stats for Burundi Kayanza Yandaro Bourbon:
4/12
Aroma: 7.0
Flavor: 7.0
Acidity: 6.9
Body: 7.0
Finish: 7.0
Total 84.9
4/13 (Lighter)
Aroma: 7.0
Flavor: 6.8
Acidity: 6.9
Body: 7.1
Finish: 6.8
Total: 84.7
4/13 (Darker)
Aroma: 6.8
Flavor: 6.9
Acidity: 6.7
Body: 7.3
Finish: 6.9
Total: 84.6

Final Stats for Burundi Kirimiro Mwurire Bourbon:
4/12
Aroma: 7.1
Flavor: 6.9
Acidity: 7
Body: 7.1
Finish: 7.0
Total: 85.1
4/13 (Lighter)
Aroma: 7.1
Flavor: 6.9
Acidity: 7.2
Body: 7.0
Finish: 6.7
Total: 84.9
4/13 (Darker)
Aroma: 6.9
Flavor: 6.9
Acidity: 6.8
Body: 7.2
Finish: 7.0
Total: 84.8

So like I said, nothing over the top outrageous, but some really nice, balanced and overall clean coffees.  We call these coffees “coffee coffees.”

Today I’ll be tasting some of the new Panama offerings that came in and I’ll be reporting on them later in the week.

-bry

So I started roasting my own.

Now we are trying to break down all of the different components to go into our chocolate blend, and well… crap.

Here’s to roasting cocoa nibs and to Alchemist John who is more or less going to have to hold our hands as we cross the ‘roasting cocoa nibs to perfection’ road.

http://chocolatealchemy.com/

-bry

So, to get back to the point, this coffee was tagged as Burundi 2152.  After I tasted it I logged onto the importer’s site and read up on the farm and washing station so I could become a little more informed about the coffee before posting my findings here.

Burundi Kayanza Yandaro Bourbon
Bourbons are usually a very buttery, smooth coffee and this one was no exception.

About the farm:
The Yandaro washing station is located in Northern Burundi, near Kayanza on the border of the Kibira National Park.

"Le ville de Kayanza" photo by Irakoze

The farm is located west of the other Burundi I tried this morning.  Just like the other coffee the farms carry an average altitude of 1750 meters and smallholder farms bring their coffee to the washing station.

In the cup:
The coffee wasn’t as dynamic as the Mwurire for me.  Lots of the same characteristics and qualities, and if I broke down the description into flavor terms it would almsot mirror the Mwurire, but everything just wasn’t as pronounced.  It was a little bit more buttery, but that was about it.  The finish was pretty non-existent.

Final Stats:
Aroma: 7.1
Flavor: 6.9
Acidity: 7.2
Body: 7.0
Finish: 6.8
Total: 85

More later.

-bry

Burundi Kirimiro Mwurire Bourbon
In the Cup:
Trail mix.  Yup.  To give a little more detail, we make a trail mix that has dark cocoa chips, sunflower seeds and raisins and this totally reminds me of that.  It’s winey from start to finish.  You grind the beans and it’s red wine.  You add hot water and it’s red wine.  You break into the grounds and start tasting and it’s red wine.  It caught more and more chocolate as it cooled off, which is where it started reminding me more of that trail mix we make.  Also as it cooled, the “grape” part started becoming sweeter and sweeter, which is where it started turning toward sweet tomato sauce for me again.  There was a little flash of blueberry for just a second.  Only caught it once, but it was pronounced enough that it stuck with me.  The finish was clean and simple.  The flavors present in the cup lingered for about 20 seconds and then faded gently.  It was a really pleasant cup.  We have it at a couple different roast levels, the level that I tried today was extremely light. We brought it out of first crack and dropped the beans.

Final Stats:
Aroma: 7.3
Flavor: 7.2
Acidity: 7.4
Body: 7.8
Finish: 7.5
Total: 87.5

Losing a couple points from 1 hour past roast until 12 or so hours after roast is pretty normal.  Right out of the roaster everything is very vivid.  The coffee is really bright and dynamic.  Then those flavors kind of go away for a few days before reappearing in the realm of 72 hours after roast.  We’ll really get a feel for this coffee on probably Tuesday or Wednesday.

-bry

Chocolate:
We are currently trying to figure out the best combination of high-end and not so high-end cocoas to use for our chocolate.  Sure if we could we would run with Bernard Callebaut at 100%, but our mochas would also probably cost about $5 for a 12oz, which some might be willing to pay, but then we also turn into “that” shop, and I enjoy not having to wear a suit to work, thank you very much.

So we purchased some different cocoas and tried them out.  Scharffen Berger, Ghirardelli, and plain-ole Costco bulk.

Now, I can’t do a full break down of everything flavor related because I haven’t developed a palate for tasting chocolate the same way I have for tasting coffee.  What I can tell you is that Ghirardelli tastes like crap.  I never would have thought so, but break it down into a straight cocoa sauce (cocoa and water) and it tastes like you are swishing a role of dimes around in your mouth.  Absolutely disgusting.  In the coffee realm we would describe these flavors as medicinal and metallic.  You get the picture for sure.  It’s like when someone tries to fake cherry.  It tastes nothing like cherry and just gets way too sweet.  There’s always something a little off, whether or not you can put your finger on exactly what it is, you know something is off.  That’s exactly what happened with Ghirardelli for me.  On the other hand, the uber-bulk Costco was actually leaps and bounds better than Ghirardelli.  Both cocoas were a little gritty, but the Costco had no off flavors like the Ghirardelli.  And at something like 1/3 the cost of Ghirardelli, I’ll take the one that doesn’t taste like crap, thanks.  The Scharffen Berger was about 100% better than the Costco, but that was to be expected.  The cocoa is something like $12.50/lb when you buy it in super bulk, not cheap at all.  However, also not gritty at all, no off flavors, just super smooth, dark, rich, velvety, “full” flavor.  The true taste test will come later when we compare the Bernard Callebaut to the Scharffen Berger to see which is the high end that we carry (although, I suppose we could end up going with both).  We’ll move forward with adjusting the ratios once we have a better handle on what all of the raw ingredients have to offer (or in the case of Ghirardelli, how catastrophic their nuclear mouth blast zone is… seriously, it took a lot of water to get that taste out of my mouth).  More to come on the chocolate side of things in the coming days.

The coffee.
More of the same, but also some new ones.  I revisited the two Ethiopians I tasted the other day to see how they had developed on a couple of days of rest.  The results were quite positive!  I also ran Burundi coffee past my taste buds for the first time in my life and was happy enough with it that I’m going to keep trying it throughout the week.  I’ll start with the Ethiopians I gave you a preview of the other day.

Ethiopia Yirga Cheffe Koke Co-op:
Final Stats:
Dry Fragrance: 4.1
Aroma: 4.2
Acidity: 9.1
Body: 8.9
Flavor: 8.9
Finish: 8.9
(add 50)
Total: 94.1!

In the cup:
A couple more days rest on this coffee made it quite impressive.  It gained a ton of sweetness and balance.  The flavors have really come forward.  There are more flavors and each of the flavors are more pronounced and easily detectable.  Maybe I’m just having a “good palate” day… who knows.  The citrus note that I was tasting before isn’t really as present anymore, but has been replaced by an extremely pronounced blackberry flavor.  It reminded me of a blackberry Izze soda, if that resonates for anyone.  The little citrus that I did catch today was more like Ugli fruit, if anyone has tried that.  Think a mixture of tangerine and grapefruit and you’ll get an idea.  Really sweet, though.  Fantastic cup.  If we can scrounge the money together we are going to try to snag up like 60 pounds, not sure if it’s possible yet.

Ethiopian Sidamo Guji Shakisso, Maduro, Haile Gebre
Final Stats:
Dry Fragrance: 4.3
Wet Aroma: 4.4
Acidity: 8.9
Body: 8.9
Flavor: 9.2
Finish: 9.1
Total: Ninety Four Point friggin Eight!

In the cup:
I score coffees low.  Truly I usually do.  For me to give a 90 takes a lot and the difference between a 90 and a 93 for me is like the difference between a $3 bottle of beer and a $7 bottle of beer- i.e. those $4 go a long way, and so do those 3 little points.  So for me to give a coffee a 94.8 is saying something.

I haven’t tasted this much blueberry in a coffee in 3 years.  It isn’t like it is fermenty or anything, far from it.  The blueberry taste is so fresh and pleasant, it’s amazing.  Blueberry on the nose, blueberry when it’s hot, and blueberry as it cools.  Floral aspects are laced all throughout the cup, but today they reminded me much more of rose than of the lilac and honeysuckle I was getting the other day.  Truly an exceptional coffee.  I could go on all day about how much I enjoyed this coffee and how glad I was that I decided to taste it first thing this morning.  It really put me in a good mood all morning and afternoon long.

Burundi Kirimiro Mwurire Bourbon
Like I stated earlier, I’ve never tried coffee from Burundi before.  Not sure why, they produce some awesome coffees and I’ve known this for a while, just never gotten my hands on any.

I used a different scoring system for this coffee, and I think I like the system a lot.  The new categories for grading are all based on a scale of 1-10, with the different categories being aroma, flavor, acidity, body and finish.  There is an additional “Cupper’s Correction” category, but I rarely award bonus points to a coffee.  At the end you add 50, just like in the other system.

About the farm (what I’ve gathered by scouring different internet sources):
This coffee comes from the Mwurire washing station, located in Kirimiro, which is in central Burundi.  The farms have an elevation of approximately 1785 meters.  Different smallholder farmers bring their coffees to the Mwurire mill.  The coffee is of the Bourbon varietal, but has different Bourbon derivatives (among them Jackson and Mibirizi).  The coffee is fully washed, undergoing double fermentation (18 hours dry, 18 hours wet, then 12 hours soaking) before being dried for 5 days on raised (“African”) beds under shade screens.

In the cup:
The enticing aroma had me hooked early.  It wasn’t really complicated, but that almost made it more complicated.  I realize that makes no sense, but I often go “hunting” when I’m tasting a coffee.  I try to seek out an outlying flavor or attribute, and in the aroma I couldn’t.  It was clean, fruited and a little floral.  I guess I could summarize it as being a little like a merlot.  The flavor had me even more hooked.  Extremely sweet (I know I’ve been tagging a lot of coffees as sweet earlier, but if you were tasting them, you’d agree).  It was rather complex, berryish and winey, but also a little toasty with glances at some sort of sweet roma tomato sauce or something.  Quite interesting.  The acidity was brisk, with continued sweetness and mirrored the winey attributes of earlier (think dry red).  It had a pleasing medium body, or mouthfeel, something like what a 2% milk would give you over a skim milk.  The finish was very long and lingering, still giving weight to the winey flavors (so I suppose overall you’d be stupid not to say this coffee was very winey).

Final Stats:
Aroma: 7.3
Flavor: 8.0
Acidity: 8.1
Body: 7.1
Finish: 7.8
Correction: +0
Total: 88.3

The Burundi was only 1 hour old when I cupped it, so it should do a lot of changing over the next 6 days or so of tasting it.  I’ll post my findings.

Busy, fun day.

-bry