Filtering by Tag: coffee

Brewing a Cup of Mamuto AA from George Howell Coffee

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This week’s coffee is a washed SL28 from the Mamuto farm in Kenya. This is a medium roast.

I paid $35 for 8 ounces, which works out to only $4.38 a cup (beans only). I forgot to get a picture of the roast date, but it was a March 10 roast. This means that the coffee has been resting for about three weeks, which could be a perfect amount of time.

Lovely aroma from the whole beans. Quite a bit of chaff on the grind.

Do you even sift, bro? It’s extremely important that you sift out your fines when making pour over. The fines will muddy everything up and ruin your beautiful cup of coffee. Set them aside!

Comandante C40 notes:

25 Clix: 1100 microns: 12.5 grams, 800 microns: 8.1 grams

25 Clix (another grind): 1100 microns: 11.2 grams, 800 microns: 8.7 grams

25 Clix (yet another grind): 1100 microns: 11.2 grams, 800 microns: 8.9 grams

25 Clix (yet yet another grind): 1100 microns: 11.0 grams, 800 microns: 8.8 grams

24 Clix: 1100 microns: 11.5 grams, 800 microns: 8.9 grams

24 Clix (another grind): 1100 microns: 9.5 grams, 800 microns: 9.6 grams

23 Clix: 1100 microns: 6.5 grams, 800 microns: 10.3 grams (WAY too fine, never ever use Comandante C40 below 24 Clix for pour over)

20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 200-degree Fahrenheit water, 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”

Bloom pour of 50 ml.

Second pour of 100 ml to 150 ml total.

Final pour of 150 ml to 300 ml. Lovely dark color. Drained to drip at the two minute 45 second mark.

Brewing a Cup of La Negrita Yellow Gesha from Blendin Coffee Club

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This week’s coffee is a honey-processed Gesha from Finca La Negrita in Colombia.

I paid $35 for 100 grams, which works out to only $9.80 a cup (beans only). I forgot to get a picture of the roast date, but it was a March 11 roast. This means that the coffee has been resting for about two weeks, which could be a perfect amount of time.

Blendin Coffee Club has the bad habit of scrubbing the web page for these coffees after they sell out. They should stop doing that and keep them up there permanently.

These are the tiniest coffee beans I’ve ever seen … Tiny and hard and give lots of chaff.

Do you even sift, bro? It’s extremely important that you sift out your fines when making pour over. The fines will muddy everything up and ruin your beautiful cup of coffee. Set them aside!

Comandante C40 notes:

27 Clix: 1100 microns: 16.0 grams, 800 microns: 6.2 grams, sub-800 microns: 5.2 grams.

24 Clix: 1100 microns: 12.8 grams, 800 microns: 7.9 grams, sub-800 microns: 6.8 grams.

21 Clix: 1100 microns: 8.6 grams, 800 microns: 9.6 grams, sub-800 microns: 10.0 grams.

20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 200-degree Fahrenheit water, 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”

Bloom pour of 50 ml.

Second pour of 100 ml to 150 ml total.

Final pour of 150 ml to 300 ml. Lovely color. Drained to drip at the three minute 30 second mark.

Brewing a Cup of Finca La Soledad Cold-Ferment Typica from Bean & Bean Coffee

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This week’s coffee is a cold-ferment Typica from Finca La Soledad in Ecuador.

I paid $45 for four ounces, which works out to only $11.25 a cup (beans only). I forgot to get a picture of the roast date, but it was a March 8 roast. This means that the coffee has been resting for about two weeks, which could be a perfect amount of time.

Beans are a little more oblong than usual… lovely color and aroma. Easy to grind and not a lot of chaff.

Do you even sift, bro? It’s extremely important that you sift out your fines when making pour over. The fines will muddy everything up and ruin your beautiful cup of coffee. Set them aside!

20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 200-degree Fahrenheit water, 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”

Bloom pour of 50 ml.

Second pour of 100 ml to 150 ml total.

Final pour of 150 ml to 300 ml. Lovely color. Drained to drip at exactly the three minute mark.

I’ve never had a cold-fermented coffee and it is different… complex sour of course, but a stronger coffee flavor on the tongue than I like. I’ve been drinking a lot of Geisha recently so when I go back to Typica, I’m always sort of shocked by the coffee flavor up front. I’m not sure if I’m a fan of this … it may be a little bit too unusual. I’ll try it again tomorrow and post some more thoughts.

Earlier:

Brewing a Cup of Finca Momoto Natural Geisha from Proud Mary Coffee

Brewing a Cup of La Bendición CoE #1 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Hawaii Kona Extra Fancy from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Monte Llano Bonito El Kinkajou CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Momokiemo CoE #2 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Sítio Santa Luzia CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Ponderosa CoE #4 from Proud Mary Coffee

Brewing a Cup of El Injerto La Calaca from George Howell Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club

Brewing a Cup of Finca Momoto Natural Geisha from Proud Mary Coffee

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This week’s coffee is a natural-processed Geisha from Finca Momoto in Panama.

I paid $35 for 100 grams, which works out to only $9.80 a cup (beans only).

I forgot to get a picture of the roast date, but it was a March 7 roast. This means that the coffee has been resting for about ten days, which could be a perfect amount of time.

Beautiful beans, almost like little jewels. Not a lot of chaff on the grind.

Do you even sift, bro? It’s extremely important that you sift out your fines when making pour over. The fines will muddy everything up and ruin your beautiful cup of coffee. Set them aside!

20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 200-degree Fahrenheit water, 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”

[Forgot pic of bloom pour]

Bloom pour of 50 ml.

Second pour of 100 ml to 150 ml total.

Final pour of 150 ml to 300 ml. Lovely color. Drained to drip at exactly the three minute mark.

Brewing a Cup of La Bendición CoE #1 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This week’s coffee is a honey-processed Pacamara from La Bendición in El Salvador. I am buying almost all of my coffee from Bean & Bean now since they deal in the best of the best and the young woman who runs the place is on the ball.

I paid $70 for 4 ounces, which works out to only $17 a cup (beans only).

I forgot to get a picture of the roast date, but it was a Feb. 10 roast. This means that the coffee has been resting for about a month, which could be a perfect amount of time.

Pacamara is a big bean, fairly hard to grind, but gives off little chaff. [UPDATE: the whole beans have the aroma of cocoa for sure.]

Do you even sift, bro? It’s extremely important that you sift out your fines when making pour over. The fines will muddy everything up and ruin your beautiful cup of coffee. Set them aside!

20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 200-degree Fahrenheit water, 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”

Bloom pour of 50 ml.

Second pour of 100 ml to 150 ml total.

Final pour of 150 ml to 300 ml. Lovely color. Drained to drip at exactly the three and a half minute mark.

This is a #1 CoE and I can see why … not full mouth acidity, but sort of back of tongue acidity, and it diminishes quickly while leaving a strong coffee flavor. Pacamara is a great variety. I’ll drink another cup tomorrow and update the post with aroma and flavor notes. Honey-processed doesn’t mean any honey is involved … it’s just that the mucilage is sticky like honey, I guess. [Update: main impression of this coffee is it is CLEAN … not a whole mouth sour but a tongue-only sour, very nice. CoE #1 for a reason.]

Earlier:

Brewing a Cup of Hawaii Kona Extra Fancy from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Monte Llano Bonito El Kinkajou CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Momokiemo CoE #2 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Sítio Santa Luzia CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Ponderosa CoE #4 from Proud Mary Coffee

Brewing a Cup of El Injerto La Calaca from George Howell Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club

Brewing a Cup of Hawaii Kona Extra Fancy from Bean & Bean Coffee

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This week’s coffee is a washed Kona Typica from Lions Gate Farms in Hawaii. I am buying almost all of my coffee from Bean & Bean now since they deal in the best of the best and the young woman who runs the place is smart, hard-working, and responsive.

I paid $33 for 4 ounces, which works out to only $8.25 a cup (beans only). “Extra Fancy” is the Hawaiian Department of Agriculture term for this grade of coffee, I guess.

I forgot to get a picture of the roast date, but it was a Feb. 25 roast. This means that the coffee has been resting for about two weeks, which could be a perfect amount of time.

Haven’t had Kona coffee before, the whole beans have a distinctive fragrance which I can’t describe, fruity anyway … quite a bit of chaff after the grind. Lovely aroma… again, I have no words to describe it.

Do you even sift, bro? It’s extremely important that you sift out your fines when making pour over. The fines will muddy everything up and ruin your beautiful cup of coffee. Set them aside!

20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 200-degree Fahrenheit water, 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”

Bloom pour of 50 ml.

Second pour of 100 ml to 150 ml total.

Final pour of 150 ml to 300 ml. Lovely color. Drained to drip at exactly the three minute mark.

Full-mouth acidity, not unpleasant, doesn’t linger overly … it’s clean, very nice. I wish I could describe the flavors and aromas better, but I’ll have to update the post later when I have a second and third and fourth cup. I think I’ll be able to identify Kona coffee on blind taste tests later since it is very distinctive. Jiyoon notes “brown sugar” which I think I can smell/taste in there.

Coffee from Hawaii is necessarily expensive because slave labor can’t be exploited to farm it. An 11 ounce bag of this costs $81 which, when you think about it, is probably the price you should pay for coffee from anywhere in the world.

Earlier:

Brewing a Cup of Monte Llano Bonito El Kinkajou CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Momokiemo CoE #2 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Sítio Santa Luzia CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Ponderosa CoE #4 from Proud Mary Coffee

Brewing a Cup of El Injerto La Calaca from George Howell Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club

Brewing a Cup of Monte Llano Bonito El Kinkajou CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This week’s coffee is an experimental San Roque from Sumava de Lourdes in Costa Rica. I am buying almost all of my coffee from Bean & Bean now since they deal in the best of the best and I like Jiyoon, the young woman who runs the place.

I paid $35 for 4 ounces, which works out to only $8.75 a cup (beans only).

I forgot to get a picture of the roast date, but it was a Feb. 4 roast. This means it has been resting for about a week, which could be perfect.

Haven’t had San Roque before. Getting a lot of chaff on the grind which is unusual for these high-end beans.

Do you even sift, bro? It’s extremely important that you sift out your fines when making pour over. The fines will muddy everything up and ruin your beautiful cup of coffee. Set them aside!

20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 200-degree Fahrenheit water, 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”

Bloom pour to 50 ml.

Second pour to 150 ml.

Final pour to 300 ml. Lovely color.

I like this better than the Mexican one from last time. There’s some complex sour going on here, but it’s not overwhelming and the aftertaste isn’t bad. I’m going to circle back to this one in future days so I can flesh out the flavors some more. I’m drinking all the various coffees blind from now on. (Update: I guessed what this was after drinking it blind at a later date… it gave full-mouth acidity and lingered longer than I like, but not bad. Wouldn’t get it again though.)

I’ll have another cup tomorrow and then give away the rest of the bag since I’m not really into coffee.

There’s some more coffee on the way, so I’ll have a different cup next week to write about. But I’m not really looking forward to it since I don’t enjoy the taste of coffee. :-)

Earlier:

Brewing a Cup of Momokiemo CoE #2 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Sítio Santa Luzia CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Ponderosa CoE #4 from Proud Mary Coffee

Brewing a Cup of El Injerto La Calaca from George Howell Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club

Brewing a Cup of Momokiemo CoE #2 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This week’s coffee is a washed Marsella & Costa Rica from Rancho Momokiemo in Mexico. I am buying almost all of my coffee from Bean & Bean now since they deal in the best of the best and I like Jiyoon, the smart and hard-working young American who runs the business.

I paid $39 for 4 ounces, which works out to only $9.75 a cup (beans only).

I forgot to get a picture of the roast date, but it was a Jan. 31 roast. This means it has had four full weeks of resting, which may be too long? You never know…

The Marsellesa & Costa Rica beans strike me as being on the small side. There is a tiny bit of difficulty on the grind (which is a good thing) and some chaff for once… the last couple coffees I’ve had had zero chaff, which was interesting.

Do you even sift, bro? It’s extremely important that you sift out your fines when making pour over. The fines will muddy everything up and ruin your beautiful cup of coffee. Set them aside!

20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 200-degree Fahrenheit water, 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”

Bloom pour to 50 ml.

Second pour to 150 ml.

Final pour to 300 ml. Lovely color.

This has a strong stone fruit flavor for sure, maybe apricot? and it’s sort of bitter, tamarind maybe? … this is the first CoE coffee where I can say, “I don’t like this.” The aftertaste is also fairly strong and not pleasant. Bah. (UPDATE: I know what it tastes like now, prune juice! That’s the stone fruit I’m thinking of… dried plum > prunes > prune juice.)

It’s interesting because I had a Mexican (also from Chiapas) coffee from Verve once and I didn’t like that one at all either. It’s a distinctive flavor for sure, but not a pleasant one for me. I think I’m going to Hard Pass all Mexican coffees from now on, even the CoEs… there’s something about the terroir that disagrees with my tongue. (Update 2: I’ve been able to identify this coffee in every blind taste test because of the distinctive back-of-tongue prune juice aftertaste, which I find fairly unpleasant … but I am very pleased that I can identify this coffee blind!)

I’ll have another cup tomorrow and then give away the rest of the bag since I’m not really into coffee.

There’s some more coffee on the way, so I’ll have a different cup next week to write about. But I’m not really looking forward to it since I don’t enjoy the taste of coffee. :-)

Earlier:

Brewing a Cup of Sítio Santa Luzia CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Ponderosa CoE #4 from Proud Mary Coffee

Brewing a Cup of El Injerto La Calaca from George Howell Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club

Brewing a Cup of Sítio Santa Luzia CoE #3 from Bean & Bean Coffee

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This week’s coffee is a naturally processed Catucaí 2SL from the Sítio Santa Luzia farm in Brazil. Like Proud Mary, Bean & Bean also buys a lot of Cup of Excellence winners. I was thrilled to discover Bean & Bean since they are providing exactly what I’m looking for: the best of the best. I am going to become their top customer. Thank you, Jiyoon!

I paid $51 for 4 ounces, which works out to only $12.75 a cup (beans only).

I forgot to get a picture of the roast date… I think it was February 3, which means that the beans have been resting for several weeks, which is perfect.

The Catucaí 2SL beans are light colored and tiny! I’ve never seen coffee beans like this. No chaff and easy to grind. [Update: aroma of ground beans is like chocolate cake.]

Do you even sift, bro? It’s extremely important that you sift out your fines when making pour over. The fines will muddy everything up and ruin your beautiful cup of coffee. Set them aside!

20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 200-degree Fahrenheit water, 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”

First pour following the bloom pour. 150 ml.

Two and half minutes to drain completely. Lovely color.

Never had Catucaí 2SL before … it’s not like Gesha and not like Pacamara … the acidity is full mouth at first but rapidly diminishes. It’s interesting, it’s different. Don’t know how to describe it. I need to start drinking these wonderful coffees side by side. Maybe then I can find some descriptive words, but probably not. Ah, dark chocolate in there for sure. [Update: this is not “full mouth acidity,” more like full tongue acidity. It lingers quite a while, with full coffee flavor. It lingers longer than I like.]

I’ll have another cup tomorrow and then give away the rest of the bag since I’m not really into coffee.

There’s some more coffee on the way, so I’ll have a different cup next week to write about. But I’m not really looking forward to it since I don’t enjoy the taste of coffee. :-)

Earlier:

Brewing a Cup of Ponderosa CoE #4 from Proud Mary Coffee

Brewing a Cup of El Injerto La Calaca from George Howell Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club

Brewing a Cup of Ponderosa CoE #4 from Proud Mary Coffee

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This week’s coffee is a naturally processed Pacamara from the Ponderosa farm in Guatemala. I asked Sagebrush Coffee’s Matt Kellso, who is extremely knowledgeable and a very nice guy, how I can buy only the best of the best coffees, and he suggested I look for roasters who buy Cup of Excellence lots at auction. This is how I found Proud Mary.

They package the coffee in a 100 gram tin instead of the usual nipple bags. I paid $33 for 100 grams, which is less than what I’d like to pay, but I should be able to get four cups out of it, and I do like to slum it from time to time.

It looks like it was roasted on January 31st and packaged on February 12th, so the beans have been resting for about three weeks, which is perfect.

I’ve been drinking so much Gesha of late that I forgot that not all coffee is a fruit bomb. This Pacamara is very pleasant on the nose, but not what I’d call fruity. Lovely aroma though.

The beans are very easy to grind unlike Gesha, and there’s next to no “chaff,” which I always think is a good sign. 28 grams of beans yields…

(Do you even sift, bro?)

20 grams of perfectly consistent grind after sifting. The usual recipe, 15:1 … 50 ml and 30 seconds to bloom, second pour of 150 ml, final pour to 300 ml total. Of course I use a hand-blown Chemex because it costs three times as much, which means it’s three times as good. It’s also important that you pronounce Chemex, “sha-may.”

Two and half to three minutes to drain completely.

A deeper color than the Geshas…

Unlike the Geshas, which taste like tea, this tastes like coffee on the tongue. It is good! Balanced, rounded, clean … yes, sour, but a good sour, a complex sour … a delicate amount of acidity, not overwhelming, which quickly vanishes. This is a very good cup of coffee and a steal at around $9.25 a cup (beans only).

They say I’ll taste notes of peach, caramel, cinnamon and grapefruit. Nope, nope, nope, and nope. It tastes like coffee, but a very good coffee. A complex sour for sure.

I’ll have another cup tomorrow and then give away the rest of the tin since I’m not really into coffee.

There’s some more coffee on the way, so I’ll have a different cup next week to write about. But I’m not really looking forward to it since I don’t enjoy the taste of coffee. :-)

Earlier:

Brewing a Cup of El Injerto La Calaca from George Howell Coffee

Brewing a Cup of Finca La Mula from Blendin Coffee Club