Espresso Enthusiasts

[Macky-Mac]

I just don't think it was roasted long enough for cold brew. It simply wasn't the appropriate type of coffee.

I've read that a dark roast, or at least a medium roast, is the recommended roast level for cold brew. I make my iced coffee the old fashioned way of brewing it hot and then letting it cool.....then ice if desired and possibly a shot of some adult beverage when appropriate

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I've read that a dark roast, or at least a medium roast, is the recommended roast level for cold brew. I make my iced coffee the old fashioned way of brewing it hot and then letting it cool.....then ice if desired and possibly a shot of some adult beverage when appropriate

That makes an awful lot of very good sense.

Enjoyed an Ethiopian coffee with organic hot milk earlier today.

 

[Macky-Mac]

Starting the month with a new supply of coffee; the first of the new arrivals that I've tried is from the Harrar region of Ethiopia. I've not had Harrar coffee previously.

A little bit of reading about the region's coffee tells me it's typically a forest crop, unlike coffee from other regions in Ethiopia where coffee is a farm or a garden crop.

The beans I received are a medium roast and processed by the "natural" method. The roaster suggests it has notes of strawberry, blueberry and peach....so yes, a please and fairly bold fruitiness.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Starting the month with a new supply of coffee; the first of the new arrivals that I've tried is from the Harrar region of Ethiopia. I've not had Harrar coffee previously.

A little bit of reading about the region's coffee tells me it's typically a forest crop, unlike coffee from other regions in Ethiopia where coffee is a farm or a garden crop.

The beans I received are a medium roast and processed by the "natural" method. The roaster suggests it has notes of strawberry, blueberry and peach....so yes, a please and fairly bold fruitiness.

Enjoy your Harrar coffee; sounds delicious.

In my experience, Harrar coffee tends to be one of the Ethiopian coffees with a stronger or more pronounced flavour profile.

 

[Madhatter32]

Starting the month with a new supply of coffee; the first of the new arrivals that I've tried is from the Harrar region of Ethiopia. I've not had Harrar coffee previously.

A little bit of reading about the region's coffee tells me it's typically a forest crop, unlike coffee from other regions in Ethiopia where coffee is a farm or a garden crop.

The beans I received are a medium roast and processed by the "natural" method. The roaster suggests it has notes of strawberry, blueberry and peach....so yes, a please and fairly bold fruitiness.

Strawberry, blueberry and peach notes -- that sounds really interesting and good. Let's us know if you agree with the fruitiness description.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

There is something uniquely pleasant about the relaxed enjoyment of a mug of coffee on a Sunday afternoon.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Alas, I have just noticed that I am running rather low on coffee......it is high time to replenish my supply.

A task for tomorrow.

 

[Madhatter32]

There is something uniquely pleasant about the relaxed enjoyment of a mug of coffee on a Sunday afternoon.

Personally enjoy a morning coffee with a newspaper -- an actual paper one. Coffee and internet browsing is good but not the same kind of stress free enjoyment.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Personally enjoy a morning coffee with a newspaper -- an actual paper one. Coffee and internet browsing is good but not the same kind of stress free enjoyment.

Oh, yes.

Agree completely.

Coffee and a morning paper is a matchless, peerless, timeless delight.

This is something that is lovely at home, but is rather special in a classic café, where the coffee is excellent and you can take the time to relax, and - as my mother used to say "watch the passing parade" as life, in all its multi-faceted glory, carries on around you.

 

[decafjava]

Personally enjoy a morning coffee with a newspaper -- an actual paper one. Coffee and internet browsing is good but not the same kind of stress free enjoyment.

Depends what the news is though even in a newspaper. Yes I did that this past weekend in a nice Portuguese bakery. Had a tasty tomato and cheese quiche with a couple of good coffees and read an actual paper. Just the local news though as international news is too upsetting (well except reading about balloons those are fun). 😉

 

[Madhatter32]

Depends what the news is though even in a newspaper. Yes I did that this past weekend in a nice Portuguese bakery. Had a tasty tomato and cheese quiche with a couple of good coffees and read an actual paper. Just the local news though as international news is too upsetting (well except reading about balloons those are fun). 😉

Indeed. I usually enjoy reading the financial news most. I went from the comics as a kid to the sports pages as a teenager to reading about companies being run into the ground.

I used to enjoy the truly small local newspapers -- even appeared in a few when I was younger. But, truth be told, in the United States -- outside of the major cities -- most local papers have been gobbled up by large news purveyors and the truly local newspapers are either gone or are now more regional in nature and a far less interesting.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Damnation.

I never did manage to bestir myself today, and - worse - I am now completely out of coffee.

Coffee supplies shall be replenished tomorrow, and my first coffee shall - of necessity - be conusmed in a coffee shop.

 

[Madhatter32]

Damnation.

I never did manage to bestir myself today, and - worse - I am now completely out of coffee.

Coffee supplies shall be replenished tomorrow, and my first coffee shall - of necessity - be conusmed in a coffee shop.

As Mario Draghi would say -- do "whatever it takes."

 

[Scepticalscribe]

As Mario Draghi would say -- do "whatever it takes."

And worse, my favourite (small, actually, very, very small) local coffee shop (where I buy artisan coffee sourced from small, locally owned, ethically run and environmentally aware producers and roasters) closes each week (most inconveniently for me) on a Tuesday.

So, it seems that fate has decreed that my coffee shall be purchased in my second favourite coffee shop, or, perhaps, a cup might also be consumed in the French bakery (also small)......

And the library have been writing to me; books need to be returned, while some others await collection.

On a separate but related matter: Is anyone here familiar with (or, even acquainted with) the method of coffee preparation with a Chemex coffee maker?

 

[Macky-Mac]

On a separate but related matter: Is anyone here familiar with (or, even acquainted with) the method of coffee preparation with a Chemex coffee maker?

I've owned and used Chemex coffee makers. I currently have the Funnex model and in the past I've used the classic model. It's basically a pour-over but using their own special filters. It produces a very clean tasting coffee.

Strawberry, blueberry and peach notes -- that sounds really interesting and good. Let's us know if you agree with the fruitiness description.

it's proven to be a very pleasant although not the strongest fruitiness I've encountered. There are some that make me think "fruit punch", but this isn't one of those. As for the notes themselves, for me, the strawberry has the most noticeable presence

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I've owned and used Chemex coffee makers. I currently have the Funnex model and in the past I've used the classic model. It's basically a pour-over but using their own special filters. It produces a very clean tasting coffee.

I have had coffee prepared by a Chemex, around a decade ago, in a restaurant, subsequently closed, (a recent post-Covid, cost-of-living, casualty) that - shortly after my visit was awarded a Michelin star - and - exactly as you say - it produced a very clean coffee, the coffee in question was Ethiopian (I asked) which I liked a lot; precisely because I liked the coffee so much, the owner gave me a bag of Ethiopian coffee to take home - the coffee he used - and that was my introduction to Ethiopian coffee (which, as anyone who encounters my posts here - or, even, my signature - will know I have come to love).

However, I do wonder whether the method of preparation has had anything to do with this.

For now, this week, since I ran out of my own ordinary coffee earlier in the week, I have been surviving on Bosnian coffee, my emergency supply, my emergency (back-up) supply, purchased when I was in Bosnia; actually, purchased from a small coffee stall/roaster/producer in the centre of the Old Town of Sarajevo the day before my return; I bought quite a few bags, intending to give them as gifts (and most met that fate; however, I reserved one for myself).

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Damn and double damn.

Not only am I out of the coffee that I like, (tomorrow and tomorrow) but the (organic) milk has gone off.

Now, this is something I expect to happen in summer - organic milk has a short enough shelf life, after all - but, in winter? When the milk is still within the "best before date" inscribed on the carton?

Now, to replenish my milk supplies.

 

[Macky-Mac]

I have had coffee prepared by a Chemex, around a decade ago, in a restaurant, subsequently closed, that - shortly after my visit was awarded a Michelin star - and - exactly as you say - it produced a very clean coffee, the coffee in question was Ethiopian (I asked) which I liked a lot; precisely because I liked the coffee so much, the owner gave me a bag of Ethiopian coffee to take home - the coffee he used - and that was my introduction to Ethiopian coffee (which, as anyone who encounters my posts here - or, even, my signature - will know I have come to love).

However, I do wonder whether the method of preparation has had anything to do with this.

For now, this week, since I ran out of my own ordinary coffee earlier in the week, I have been surviving on Bosnian coffee, my emergency supply.

If you were to do a side by side test using a coffee brewed with your usual Hario cone compared to the same brewed using a Chemex, you would notice a cleaner quality of the Chemex.....it's the result of the composition of the Chemex filter paper.....but it wouldn't be as amazing as your first cup years ago. I think our memory tends to improve wonderful things over time.

I remember regularly having gazpacho in a favorite restaurant, and having moved away long ago, I find the memory of that soup overwhelms every other gazpacho I've had ever since

 

[Scepticalscribe]

If you were to do a side by side test using a coffee brewed with your usual Hario cone compared to the same brewed using a Chemex, you would notice a cleaner quality of the Chemex.....it's the result of the composition of the Chemex filter paper.....but it wouldn't be as amazing as your first cup years ago. I think our memory tends to improve wonderful things over time.

I remember regularly having gazpacho in a favorite restaurant, and having moved away long ago, I find the memory of that soup overwhelms every other gazpacho I've had ever since

You could very well be completely right; that particular meal was amazing, but I have - and still hold - a very clear memory of the absolutely superlative coffee, which astonished me at the time; I think I can honestly say it was one of the nicest cups of coffee I have had in my life.

Now, - as, firstly, until then, I didn't drink Ethiopian coffee, and that was my very first introduction to it, a coffee that I now know I love, and that everyone here knows that I will drink in preference to almost any other coffee - and, secondly, until then, I had never had a coffee prepared by the Chemex method, which I also loved, - that clean note, a feature of both Ethiopian coffee and of the Chemex method is something I am very partial to - and thirdly, this coffee was personally prepared by a man who was (and is) a good friend of my dining companion (the cheesemonger, who is a good friend of mine), for he joined us for coffee that evening - and who, within a period of a very few months, had been awarded a Michelin star (ergo, exceptional quality in everything), or - fourthly, your equally valid explanation, the rose tinted lenses of a very positive memory of an exceptional coffee at the conclusion of a superlative meal with some exceedingly congenial company, or some combination of the above, I cannot say.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Actually, I have learnt - by experience how best to deal with my supply of Bosnia coffee:

Milk has been purchased (the local store keeps organic milk for me each week).

Bosnian coffee (well, they also prepare something akin to Turkish coffee, and their espresso is astonishingly good) is stronger than I have been used to; simply use less coffee in the coffee filter, and add a bit more hot milk than is usual, plus a generous dash of organic, double cream, and you have a coffee that is exceedingly palatable.

Tonight's coffee was delicious.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Sipping some Bosnian coffee with organic hot milk and a generous dash of organic double cream.

 

[Macky-Mac]

This morning I'm having some black honey processed coffee from Costa Rica.

A medium roast and the roaster says "well balanced, complex with cupping notes of strawberry, peach jam, fig and coco.

I'm not spotting the coco, but the strawberry and peach jam are certainly present....clean and pleasantly sweet

 

[Scepticalscribe]

This morning I'm having some black honey processed coffee from Costa Rica.

A medium roast and the roaster says "well balanced, complex with cupping notes of strawberry, peach jam, fig and coco.

I'm not spotting the coco, but the strawberry and peach jam is certainly present....clean and pleasantly sweet

Sounds delicious. Do enjoy.

Costa Rica has been to the forefront in developing the various "honey processed" methods of processing coffee beans; black honey processed coffee is the most rare (and most time-consuming, and possibly, the most expensive) method of processing within the category of honey processed coffees, and, to my palate, it is certainly the one I am most partial to, even if I have not had that many opportunities to lay hands on it, as it is not readily available.

 

[Madhatter32]

I really thought this debate had been settled decades ago. I encourage everyone here to read this piece from the Wall Street Journal's Thursday, February 9, 2023 edition concerning a resurgent market interest in the benefits of Robusta coffee beans, mostly grown in low elevation Asian countries, versus the tried and true Arabica bean available at specialty shops everywhere. It is the Arabica bean which we all know and love. As the article posits, I suppose I am firmly part of the old guard coffee purist crowwd that will have none of this nonsense but, alas, I will concede that perhaps the Robusta bean does work in certain applications -- just not any I think I would enjoy.

The Underdog Coffee Bean That Java Snobs Hate Is Finally Getting Some Respect

Coffee geeks are trying to elevate scorned Robusta from the instant-coffee market to premium status.

www.wsj.com

 

[adrianlondon]

I use robusta regularly, as I've posted somewhere in this long thread before.

For me, a decent espresso has 10-30% robusta blended with the arabica beans. And Vietnamese coffee is, I believe, almost all robusta - and I like vietnamese coffees.