Coffee Demonstration - January 2012

John explaining the functions of the roaster

Today I roasted the Malawi Mapanga Estate - Washed "AAA" for a few guests of a coffee tasting and demonstration.  I explained the processes of bean growth & harvesting, processing, roasting, and tasting.  The guests were invited to help me sample this new bean and to help me decide if it was a good bean for me to stock and sell or not.


While the coffee was roasting I made a pot of Blooming Heart flowering tea for the guests to sample while we talked about coffee.  Even though nobody was real excited about the tea, it went over exceptionally well because it had a splendid flavor and was fun to watch steep.


The coffee took about 40 minutes to roast and cool then I brewed 2 pots of it.  The first pot was in the Siphon Pot and the second was in the French Press.  While people liked both they agreed that the siphon pot made the better brew. It really was good but to be fair to the french press, I muddled the ratio and made the coffee too strong.  Some of the comments about the coffee from the siphon pot was that it was very smooth - clean and neutral.

Sampling and tasting the Malawi Mapanga Estate - Washed "AAA"

Guests observed a chocolate note which had a note of a citrus.  The body was slightly buttery which weighed lightly on the palette. Overall, everyone enjoyed this coffee and approved it as a fine coffee to sell to my coffee enthusiasts.


After the tasting was through and everyone had sampled the coffee everyone was marked as an official coffee snob with the ABR tattoo.  Then, the $25.00 gas-card door prize was given to one of the guests.


After about 2.5 hours the demonstration concluded and everyone went home just a little more joyful than they had come.  Thank you to the guests of this demonstration and thank you for helping me assess the Malawi coffee.