Flame-Roasted Artisan Coffee...

I am happy to present a new product that I call Flame-Roasted Artisan coffee.  This is a single-origin bean but it is roasted by hand-and-flame only.  There is nothing electrically driven or heated in this roasting process - it is just me versus nature, in the age old way of cooking that our great-grandparents had mastered, attempting to roast a perfect coffee.


I roasted a test batch of the Indian Monsooned Malabar and sampled the product.  WOW!  This roasting method produces a raw and rich coffee as many of the beans roast to perfection while others are less roasted retaining the intrinsic flavor of the bean.  This coffee is certainly roasted just as as our elders used to know, love, and enjoy.


I presently (12/27/2011) have 9-6C packages prepared as samples for people who want to try the brew.  These packages are FREE while they last for anyone who wants to come and pick one up.  The only string is that I want you to tell me your opinion of the product after you have tried it.  These are available to people on a first-come-first-serve basis.  Please shoot me an email if I may expect you.  

Jamaican Blue Mountain

One of my clients who had gotten coffee for Thanksgiving said that one of his friends had some of the coffee and asked if I would roast some Jamaican Blue Moon?  So he asked me to look into it and get back with his friend.  So I did look into it and decided that I could do it for $48.00 a pound.  I called the friend and he ordered 2 pounds without batting an eye.


When the Blue Mountain I ordered came in I first inspected the green beans themselves.  Perrrrffect, absolutely perfect.  Each bean appeared to have been hand chosen and hand washed.  Each was a beautiful shade of light green and each was as clean as freshly washed infant.


When I began to roast the Blue Mountain, many of the beans began to blow out of the machine to the waste bin - Eeeek!!!  At $48.00 a pound I was burning my hands trying to save these most precious and expensive beans.  I told my wife how the price changed in my mind the value of the individual beans themselves.  The fact that many of the beans were blowing out of the machine indicated that the water-content of the beans themselves were much lower than the standard beans that I was used to cooking.  Proving that it was indeed unique.  The chaff was less than normal and they roasted up without any complaint.  I was careful to not roast too much past the first crack in order to retain the natural flavor of the bean.


I would never had paid the price for this coffee but since I had some in the house, and I was selling it to a client,  I decided that I had better brew some and taste it.  I have decided to refrain from an extensive review of this coffee here (lest my praise be deemed not worthy) but I will point out that the flavor of the Jamaican Blue Mountain has the best balance that I have ever tasted in a coffee before.


PS.  If you are still looking for the perfect Christmas gift, I still have Gift Certificates available that I can wrap and drop ship for you.  Email me for details.

Mexican Chiapas

On the Southern most edge of Mexico, just before you get to Guatemala, is Chiapas (chee-ah-pass).  Once there you may ask the locals for a cup of cafe and they will give you a brew from of their home-grown beans.

The Chiapas is a mild cup that sports a dominant fruit-wine flavor.  Roasted just 60-seconds into the second-crack this bean's profile was just slightly Full-City roasted.  Here the flavor of the roast is obvious while the intrinsic flavor of the bean remains present.

While this bean is roasted a strong smoky-nut aroma is revealed making the roaster assume that nut will be present in the flavor however that flavor never materialized.  Only a sweet aroma that had a dry-wine effect was present.  Overall it was a clean cup that nosed sweet and sipped brightly a midst a panorama of floral notes.

Sumatra Tarbarita Peaberry

One of my favorite coffees is the Peaberry.  This coffee has a unique flavor like the added chicory of Louisiana but it is not as dominant and it is natural to this type of bean.

The aroma is very pleasant sporting a mocha scent that is a touch sweet.  The flavor is so good and smooth that it makes me want to cry with delight.  Alright, maybe crying is a little much but it really is a great flavor.  It has a smoothly sweetness that finishes very clean.  We tried it with some 90% chocolate and the sweetness of this brew exploded and brought a generous cacophony of flavor to be delved into by the taster of deep exploration.

I have always been partial to the Peaberry from Papau New Guinea but this Sumnatran ranks right up there with one of the best.