2 Huge Truths About Coffee Flavor – And 1 Giant Lie (Part 1 of 3)

There are 2 huge realities concerning the natural flavor of coffee and here they are…

Location, location, location…

The first reality about coffee flavor is the bean itself, because each coffee bean is from a specific crop, and each crop comes from...you guessed it...a specific location.  Just as fine wine connoisseurs know wines by the specific grapes that were used to produce it, so also fine coffees are known by the beans that were used to brew the coffee.   For instance, Yemen’s coffees are known for their dominant mocha notes, the Jamaican Blue Mountain is known because of its perfectly balanced flavor and smoothness, and the Bali Blue Moon is known because of its a dominant fruitiness.  The Bali Blue Moon has developed its dominant flavor trait because it is grown between tangerine trees, and the fruit that falls from those trees is what mulches the soil in which this coffee grows.  

After considering the location where the bean was grown, we take a look at the weather in that location.  That’s right, the weather impacts the flavor of coffee beans.  Each crop of coffee has grown with a very specific amount of moisture in the air, rain fall, sunlight, and ambient temperature.  All of these “acts of God” will shape the development of the flavor from each crop of coffee that is grown.

Then, after God has had His way with growing our coffee, mankind gets our crack at influencing the flavor of our coffee through processing, roasting, and flavor additives.  Processing is a topic of another post, and please don’t get me started on flavor additives.  However, in the second part of this blog post I do want to talk about a couple of basic realities concerning the roasting of coffee.  So please stay tuned…

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ADDENDUM:  The flavor of your coffee is determined by a variety of factors (the water, freshness of the bean, and the ratio are big – see past post - but today I was speaking of the innate flavor of the bean itself.  

2 Things About Coffee...

Someone asked a couple of questions through the Anchor Bay Roasts website and I am not exactly sure who it was or how to respond to them directly so I will just use the questions as fodder for my blogs.


The first question:  "What is the best way keep coffee fresh and warm after it has been brewed?"


My answer to this depends on whether the coffee is for an individual or a group such as at an office or a church.  If for an individual I suggest getting a small french press and only making coffee as you will drink it - not leaving any coffee to sit that will need to be kept fresh and warm.


However, if this is coffee for a group I suggest an airport pot.  It is a little more costly than your average pot but it does a better job keeping the air out and the heat in.


The second question:  "Do I have a variety of different blends?"


I do not make any blends.  I am a purist and stick with single-origin coffee exclusively.  Early on I had tried my hand at blends but I now stick with single origin coffee alone.  However, when I roast I often have coffee left over that I simply throw into a jar and mix together.  There have been some of these blends that have been phenomenal (that would have made me rich) however, I can never reproduce these blends and don't try. 


Finally:


I know that this question was not asked but it is so often asked I will answer it now.  Some people will ask me if I make a French Vanilla (or other other such flavor) flavored coffee?


No, I do not make ANY flavored coffee.  I give reasons why in a previous blog but simply put - you can use any cheap coffee from Wall-Mart and add those flavored creamers and save yourself some money.  The reason that flavor is added to coffee in the first place is because it is bad coffee to begin with.  I tell my enthusiasts that if they ever drink Anchor Bay Roasts coffee and it is not naturally flavorful and good then they should find me and spit it out all over me.


Anyhow, those are my answers and I hope they help...

Keeping Your Coffee Fresh - The Freezer Myth

In a previous post I had written "...and the freezer method of keeping coffee fresh is little more than a mythical hope."  This is a bold statement since it offends the sensibilities of my beloved grandmother and most everyone else that I know.  However, it is true so please allow me to explain.

Stepping through the process of our coffee...

Coffee begins to stale the moment that it is roasted and comes into contact with the air.  This is why whole beans stay fresher longer than the pre-ground stuff - less area of the bean comes into contact with the air.  Big coffee producers know this and spend oodles of money to make sure that their roasted beans are packaged as soon as possible after roasting.  Since coffee "de-gasses" for a while after roast the beans are packaged in special bags that have one-way valves that allow the gas out from the inside and not allow the air in from the outside.

So now we have our favorite 12-ounce package of premium roasted coffee that we picked up in the store for $10 (that is $13.33 a pound) we bring it home and throw it into the freezer to keep it fresh.  Then over the next few weeks we remove the package everyday to scoop out a couple of table-spoons into our pot and then wrap the bag back up and put it back into the freezer to keep our coffee fresh.

Here's where the science becomes mythical.  

Every time that the package is opened to get some of the coffee out we are at the same time allowing the moist air in.  Then we wrap it up and put it back in the freezer.  So while the freezer is busy keeping our coffee fresh the moist air has been invited into our bag every day that it is opened and the exposed coffee begins oxidizing again.  It is a Catch-22.  How in the world are we expected to get our coffee out of the bag without opening it and exposing it to the air?  Unless we are Houdini we can't.

The myth is further propagated because we assume that the coffee that we buy at the store is fresh to begin with - but if you know anything about 'stock rotation' then you know that the freshest stuff is not in the front of the line on the grocery shelf.  In my estimation, coffee begins to go off after just 14 days.  Not Cinderella off but more like how spices on the spice rack lose that certain something over time.

My solution to the staling problem is two-fold.  

First, I only roast as much coffee as I (or an enthusiast) will consume in a 14-day period of time.  This causes some people to not become one of my enthusiasts but I am protective of having people drink the coffee that I roast.  I would rather not sell than sell something that will sit on a shelf (or in a freezer) for weeks and than have the the enthusiast notice that Anchor Bay Roasts is "not really all that special".

And second, I bag each pot of coffee individually by weight.  This means that you only ever open a bag of coffee that you are going to use in that sitting and all the rest of the coffee is free from exposure to the air thus keeping it fresh.  The freezer is not necessary because it is in its stored in its own bag enveloped by it own natural gasses and it will be consumed sooner rather than later.  This packing process is more expensive in supplies and labor but it really is the better solution.

Some will disagree...

Yes, there are some people who will disagree with me and that is OK.  I admit that I am a bit of a snob where coffee is concerned and a little zealous in the pursuit of fresh coffee.  I like Single Malts while others are happy with Canadian Club, I like Dom. Romane Conti 1997 and others like Mad Dog, and I like a Rare to Medium-Rare Fillet Mignon while others like Well-Done Hot Dogs...

Yes, good taste really is in the taste-buds of the consumer.

3-Keys to Great Coffee

There are really only three keys to a great cup of coffee and I am going to share them with you here...

1.  Coffee must be fresh!  

Some coffee brewers promote the freshness of their coffee because it is brewed a few minutes before you get it and then it is poured into the drain when it becomes so-many minutes old.  That is commendable but it is only half of the fresh equation - the other side of the fresh coin is that the coffee needs to be roasted fresh. Coffee begins to stale the very moment that it is cooked.  It oxidizes from the air just as metal begins to rust. The process of staling coffee is impeded in a variety of ways but stale it still goes. (And the freezer method to keep coffee fresh is little more than a mythical hope).  I give coffee 14 days before it goes off, not Cinderella off but off enough that one can tell the difference. 

2.  Coffee must be made with good water!

Coffee too easily takes on the flavor of the water that is used to make it with.  I once made Michigan Snow Coffee and I also made coffee using good old-fashioned rain water - I don't suggest it without good filtration because it was nasty. Even with the tap water you can tell the difference between filtered and non-filtered--So get yourself a Brita or something like it if for nothing else but your coffee.

3.  The Coffee-to-Water Ratio must be Correct!

And here is the greatest of the three...We've all done it. We get the coffee container out of the freezer and use a spoon to fill the filter with grounds, we stop adding grounds only when we "feel" like there is enough caffeine and from pot-to-pot we wonder why we cannot get it to taste the same.  The fix to this is to weigh your coffee (ie. For every ounce of water you need a set amount of grounds to go with it).  I use a standard .042oz. (by weight) to 1oz. of water (by volume) for my ratio.   

Of course, coffee flavor will always be subjective according to the tastes of the person drinking it. There are a thousand things that factor into the flavor of your coffee (what you ate earlier, the roasting profile of the bean, the origin of the bean, the specific crop that the bean has come from, the blend, the cleanliness of the cup that is used, etc. etc.) but getting these three keys under control are huge and will lead to consistency and a better cup of brew.

For those who are purists:  Although I did not include it here there is something that needs to be discussed in another post - The idea of the Single Origin bean. Just as a single-malt scotch is preferable to a blended scotch or how a bottle of wine is known for the specific grape that is used to produce it so also a single-origin coffee bean is preferable to the blended grind.  At least that is my position as a coffee snob. ;-)