@Scepticalscribe I have to ask where do you get the Yemeni coffee from, I imagine it must be relatively expensive given the current situation?
One of the small coffee roasters I use had a small batch of Yemen coffee available a short while ago, - for around a week or so - and I immediately bought two bags of the coffee.
As I love Ethiopian coffee, and really like Kenyan coffee, I was pretty certain that I would like the coffee from Yemen, and I did - I have really come to like the coffees of the region of the Horn of Africa, and I know some of the area as I have spent some time there.
There is one US company - run by someone with contacts in Yemen - who appear to be able to source Yemen coffee. Despite everything that is happening - not least the horrific war, civil war and other crimes and problems arising from that - it seems that some of the more remote coffee producers are still producing (excellent) coffee; the challenge is to get it out of the country to markets outside of the country.
Do you keep notes on the ratios of beans you use for each coffee? I'd probably buy a "Scepticalscribe's special blend" bag of beans!
No, it is not exact, but is pretty much of the 50%, 30% 20% style of mixing. I play around with the ratios - at the moment, I have two types of Ethiopian coffee, the Kenyan and the Yemen. Once the Yemen is finished, for the reasons mentioned above, it will be exceptionally difficult to lay hands on further quantities.
Now, while I normally include Ethiopian coffee (and the idea of different percentages for the respective coffees grew out of my belated realisation that Ethiopian coffees are so lightly roasted, that you need to increase the percentage of Ethiopian in a given blend for it to have any influence at all on the final version of the blend), for the past two mornings I decided not to do so, as my palate always favours Ethiopian.
I wanted to see what the Kenyan and Yemeni were like by themselves. In terms of profile and taste, Yemeni coffee is closer to the Ethiopian (than to Kenyan) - but somehow, these characteristics (brightness, clarity, a 'clean' mouthfeel) are even more pronounced.
This particular Kenyan is not the best Kenyan available, - but it is a rarity, and one I doubt I will manage to lay hands on again, unless I pay a return visit to Nairobi. This is because it comes from the Government's own development farm and agricultural college where they pioneer coffee varietals that are robust, disease and pest resistant, and bred to offer high yields.
(After a series of disastrous harvests in the 1970s, which destroyed the coffee crop, threatening the export trade of coffee on which so much of Kenya's foreign trade earnings - apart from tourism and tea - derive, the Government realised that state support was necessary and sought to develop some robust varietals - Kenya Arabica coffee grafted onto strains of robusta coffee imported from Uganda, as I was informed when I was given a private tour of the place two months ago.)
Thus, this particular coffee has been bred for resilience (against pests and disease) and for crop yield, (both in quantity - increased - and time - accelerated), which can sometimes come at the expense of quality. Having said that it is an extremely good coffee, just not the best - in terms of taste - of some of the better Kenyan coffees (but far better than most Kenyan coffees available in Europe).
Re blends, I would argue that the same principles apply as in some of the regions of France, (or Italy) where they make the case the food from a region will match or complement, wine from that region.
I have seen far too many blends comprised of - let us say - Brazilian, Mexican, or Colombian, coffees and then, maybe 10% Ethiopian coffee. They are missing the point completely, because they are snuffing out the particular elements that give Ethiopian coffee its special flavour.
Ethiopian coffee is lightly roasted, and has a "clean" taste sensation, with "bright, clear" notes; therefore, it is completely overwhelmed - I would say massacred - by "heavier" coffees, more darkly roasted robust things, and the taste - and element of clarity and refinement - is entirely absent.
To my mind, blends from central America would match each other well (and I do like some of the good coffees from El Salvador - Los Inmortales from Intelligentsia - which I love - is available at the moment), as would blends from South America, and blends from west Africa. Coffees from a given region blend exceptionally well with other coffees from that same region.
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Do you keep notes on the ratios of beans you use for each coffee? I'd probably buy a "Scepticalscribe's special blend" bag of beans!
When I use Ethiopian coffee, it is usually at 40%, 50%, or 60% - even up to two thirds, or 70%, which will allow the heft of a more robust coffee (at 25-30-40%) to emerge, giving depth, but will not allow it to dominate.
However, now that I have found that the Yemeni coffee is like an even more intense version of Ethiopian coffees, that will complement the Ethiopian coffees extremely well.