I mentioned in a few threads that I was going to do this but I have started to drink the worlds best coffee. My technique as kifed from James Hoffman:
Fill a pyrex bowl with water. place my Hario 60 upside down in it and heat for 5 minutes.
Use the hot water to clean and wet the filter
Place the freshly ground (in my grinder while the water is heating) coffee in the Hario
Fill with hot water so all the grounds get wet. I use the hot water nozzle on my spring water dispenser.
Every 10 seconds or so, pour more water around the side so all of the grounds are used.
Drink while hot.
So far I had Jamaican Blue Mountain, both from the store and a coworker that went to Jamaica. Very smooth and probably the archetype for coffee. I will get some more and update with tasting notes.
Kona. Unfortunately due to circumstances it was the dark roast so I need to redo this one with a lighter roast.
Honduran Roatan. You will never see this on the list of worlds best coffee but when I was in Roatan I stopped by a place that had the $2 coffee for tourists. OMG, that was some of the best coffee I ever had. Dark, rich, absolutely no bitterness whatsoever. Mrs. Cad hates hates hates coffee because of the bitterness but I made her try a sip and she absolutely loved it.
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe: Very earthy but in a good & complex way with notes of flowers and even citrus on the backend. It is a light-medium roast and very little bitterness. Making a second cup now … very smooth. Yeah, just a hint of bitterness and definitely two flavors as it hits you tongue then lingers. I’m curious if Mrs Cad will try a sip and if so her reaction. Food pairing: a solid morning coffee that can hold its own. Pair with bacon and eggs or an omelette.
I will be updating this thread as I go through the coffees but please share your best coffee explorations and any suggestions you may have.
2 issues with Kopi luwak
It involves civet enslavement
In the wild, the civets eat the coffee berries at the peak of ripeness and many feel THAT is why Kopi luwak is among the finest coffees in the world. The luwak you get retail is from caged civets awashed in their own filth and are fed whatever coffee berries the owner gives them thinking the magical digestive properties of the civet will turn shit coffee into shit-coffee.
There’s not much I can add to your connoisseur level of coffee appreciation, except to express surprise at the absence of any mention of Guatemalan coffee. According to one coffee blog,
Guatemala is one of the world’s leading producers of coffee, and Guatemalan coffee beans are prized for their distinctively moderately acidic and fruity flavour. Depending on the growing region, they also tend to be very sweet, with chocolate undertones and caramel.
My favourite coffee is Guatemalan medium roast, from a store that has its own roaster, so most of its bulk beans are really fresh. Unfortunately I don’t think their Guatemalan bulk bin has any more details about its provenance. On the occasions when I manage to make it just right, it’s a delightfully rich, mellow, medium-bodied coffee that, when accompanied by a few well-buttered thick slices of toasted baguette, makes mornings worth getting up for!
Damn! Now I have to choose between civet shit and elephant shit for my morning coffee!
Meh, I’ll just stick with regular freshly roasted, freshly ground Guatemalan coffee beans that have not been previously digested by any creature.
Also, in reference to an FQ thread that surfaced recently, I’m such an archaic Old Fart that when I open a bottle of champagne tomorrow night, I will NOT be doing it as sabrage, breaking off the top of the bottle with a replica of a Napoleonic sword. I’m just going to pull the cork out. I’m boring, I know.
Final update. A really good coffee but IMO not the OMG coffee it is supposed to be. Maybe later I’ll retry it from a different distributor. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad but on par with really good organic small-batch roasted coffee. An A but not an S on the coffee pyramid.
Now taking my second cup of Tanzanian Peaberry
(sip, sip, sip)
Wow! Taste like coffee. No seriously. Best way I can explain it is it is the taste of coffee distilled into a pure flavor with very little bitterness. That might make it a little one note or it may make it the coffee equivalent of a single-malt whiskey. Not sure yet.
Best coffee product I ever drank was a ristretto brewed by the barista at a local roaster’s coffee bar. An amazing godshot. I return there every few months, and it’s always great and it’s another godshot about 50% of the time.
When I am not drinking that, I settle for cold brew I make at home.
Did you ever watch the TV show, “Dangerous Grounds”? This coffee shop owner traveled the world and sought out the rarest and best coffee. They were often the crop of a single farmer in the hills. He had to hire mercenaries as security and more then once was chased at gunpoint. It was a fun show.
