Hot steamy Ethiopian DP action

I guess you can say that I have a sort of a thing for Ethiopian grown coffees. To me, they just taste better than anything that comes out of South America. You might also say I have a little thing for dry processed coffee beans. I guess I enjoy the complex underlying flavors that a dry processed coffee has when compared to the clean taste of the wet process. I cannot, however, claim to have any sort of a thing for organically grown coffee. Even though I have tasted some pretty damn spectacular organic coffees, I cannot claim to have a preference for them. I think this has to do with some bland taste experiences I have had with some so-called premium organic coffees some years back. This initial experience turned me off of organic coffee for quite some time, and only now am I willing to once again delve into the big O. So anyway, one of the coffees that I recently obtained from good old Sweet Maria's happens to Ethiopian, dry processed and organic, which totally brings this introductory paragraph together.

The beans of this Ethiopian Organic DP -Dale Yirga Alem, are quite small. They seem to almost look like peaberries as opposed to regular coffee beans. I decided to roast them at my usual 24 minute roast, which is I like to start all the beans out at and then tweak from there. The beans got to a nice full city roast, becoming dark brown with a slight amount of gloss. The next day, I brewed a nice pot of the stuff in my Chemex brewer and was blown away by how good it turned out. It had strong earthy undertones and a pleasant berry aftertaste that left me yearning for more. There is just something about a DP that I love. I guess, I like my coffee a little dirty, in contrast to clean and bright like other people and this Dale Yirga Alem us definitely a little dirty. But, just like my GF, it is dirty in a good way.

This coffee has now become my new favorite coffee in my stash, which is not a surprise since I have a tendency to pick a new favorite coffee every week. When compared to the the Colombian "perros bravos" it comes out as the winner, hands down. The comparison verdict is still out between it and the Yeman Moki, that I still need to explore, by have a feeling that it will remain undefeated until at least next month. After this coffee, I guess a cannot be dissing the organics anymore.

Further notes: The second day pot of the stuff was not as mind blowing as the first day. This is unusual since most coffee tends to get better on the second or thrd day of rest. Perhaps this coffee is an exception and has a flavor peak of just a day. I think I need to look into this a little more before, I render a full verdict.

perros bravos amigos

Yesterday, whilst getting ready to watch the Detroit Lions piss away yet another game, I roasted up a batch of Colombia "Perros Bravos de Huila" so that I might have something to drink today. I almost drank some last night, but stopped myself, since I knew that freshly roasted coffee just does not taste developed after a few hours of roasting and should sit for at least 24 hours unless it happens to be a coffee emergency. After roasting, the beans need time to de-gas and release the co2 that has formed during the roasting process (which is why you should never ever store freahly roasted beans in any type of air tight container for at least 12 hours-ka boom!). I have, on occasion, tried brewing up a cup of java with a new batch of beans just an hour or two out of the roaster and I have never got an good cup out of it. I find that most coffees that I roast reach thier peak of flavortude at around the three day mark of sitting and then rapidly decrease in quality from there. Of course, having a Nesco Professional Roaster, which only roasts around 5 ounces at a time, sometimes makes it hard for me keep my beans around for more than three days unless I roast several batches in a single day.



Ok now, back to the Colombia "Perros Bravos de Huila". Only knowing enough spanish to get myself a burrito "el pastor por favor" from a taco truck I decided to do a little research to try to figure out exactly what "Perros Bravos de Huila" means. After some googling the best translation that I can come up with is: "some fine bitches from Huila". I am not sure if this is a spot on translation but I can live with it (perhaps someone from Sweet Marias has a sense of humor). This batch of beans is actually a collection of beans from various micro lots from around the Huila volcanic region of Columbia. Each farm did not have enough beans to be represented on thier own so Tom over at SM decided to make a sort of blend from all of them. I roasted this batch at 24 minutes (a time in which I like to start off with all my new beans) and got a city plus to almost full city roast. The beans came out a nice cinnamon and a little lighter than what I was expecting from the roast time.

This coffee has pretty much a typical taste of a premium South American varietal. It is clean and smooth and bright: a perfect breakfast coffee. Now, I am not saying that this coffee is boring. It actually plays nicely on the palate with different tastes dancing around the tongue. I sense a nice fruity after taste along the lines of apricot and strawberry and the intitial taste has a nice robust wake up flavor that opens your eyes and makes the day just a little bit easier to face. Still I think I did roast it a bit to light for my taste and made a mental note to tack on a few more minutes on my next batch.

adios muchachos

Tanzanian Blackburn Estate AA

Today, I am drinking up the last of the Tanzanian Blackburn Estate AA that I had roasted last Wednesday and was intending to mail to a friend back and Michigan but was dissuaded by the long line at the post office. After going through the first pound of this stuff last month, I liked it so much that I decided to get myself another two LBS to add to my stash. This Tanzanian coffee is unique in the fact that it tastes just as good if not better cooled off than when it does while warm. When cooled, it has a rich nutty taste that dances around your taste buds making you feel like there is a party in your mouth. Mmm so good.

I roasted this coffee for 24 minutes, up until the beginnings of the second cracks resulting in a nice full city roast. The coffee seems to have reached its peak flavor today on its fourth day of rest, which makes me ponder whether or not I should be letting my coffees sit a little longer before I enjoy them.

I feel a little guilty about not shipping off this batch to my friend, but I will make it up to him as soon as I figure out how to print shipping labels online (the process does not seem that involved). I really need to do this before christmas time, so that I can starting spreading the yuletide cheer in the form of freshly home roasted coffee that I am planning to send to all my various family and friends around the globe. Hopefully, my little Nesco coffee roaster will survive the ordeal. The machine is not meant to raost large bacthes at a time and doing so could overheat the little guy. I am saving up for a Behmor roaster, which supposedly can roast up to a full pound of beans at a time and I hope to some day own a semi-industrial roaster that will allow me to spread my coffee love around the globe. Until then, I will just have to convert people one 5 oz batch at a time.