A New Experience

Please do not worry, I am now and will always be a coffee drinker, but I need to discover a fun experience for my non-coffee drinking clients.  Today, I made a pot of tea with something called a "flowering" tea.  This is a hand-stitched bunch of teas that are sewn into a ball and when boiling water is added it slowly absorbed the water and blooms into a beautiful flower. After 4-5 minutes the tea is ready to be drank.

This was a fun experience for the whole family because the kids liked watching it bloom as well as tasting the result.  The tea seems to me to be what tea should be but the experience made it something that I would have loved to have done on a first-date. ;-)

On another note.  There is still time to visit www.anchorbayroasts.com (the landing page) and find the easter egg to be put in the drawing for the free coffee.  Good luck!

El Salvador Organic - Cuzcachapa

The fun of this coffee began the moment that I tried to pronounce its name. I finally have it phonetically but I am quite sure that my accent is way off. ;-)

I roasted this bean to just through the 1st crack and it ground just slightly darker than cinnamon. The flavor is very full and is supposed to have a definite chocolate note. I did not notice this, what is dominant to me is the floral qualities of this bean. I am sensitive to the florals because I'm especially fond of them.

The body of this cup is wonderful! As it cooled and I could take a full swallow I realized that this is a very viscous coffee which makes it more a meal than a warm and comforting drink.

The next time I roast this bean I will take it through the 2nd Crack and explore the flavors through caramelized sugars.

Blend #3

1/2 oz. of Ethiopia's-Harar Horse
1/2 oz. of Costa Rica's-Tres Rios La Magnolia
1 oz. of Kenya's-Gichi Kiambu

I roasted this recipe together until I heard the Second Crack begin - "Full City+ to French Roast" The beans emerged a soft mocha brown without any caramelizing and escaping of the oils.

I ground the beans very coarse as I brewed 2 TBS. of the coffee in the French Press for 4 minutes. The aroma was pleasing -floral and chocolaty. Quite enjoyable.

The flavor reminds me of a Peaberry with a full bodied mouth feel. Slighly sweet from the floral attributes of the Horse and the Magnolia. These two flavors seem to play very well together. I consider this recipe to be my first successful blend.

CIAPEC (100% Organic) - 2

Bolivia

All I can say is "YUM!!!" I re-read the post of the original CIAPEC tasting and it still holds. This bean is a very flavorful bean roasted at Full-City and it smells wonderful. I know because my wife commented to the fact.

Washed Bourbon - 2

Rwanda

I roasted this bean for the second time using the Popcorn Popper. This was a City Roast being removed from the heat just after the First Crack finished.

I made two cups using two methods. The first was with the French Press and the second was with a very coarse ground and my wife's tea infuser. Both cups turned out well. The flavor was highly floral / fruity and very mild.

It seems to me that this is a good coffee if I ever figure out how to make it well. I will keep you posted when I figure it out.

CIAPEC (100% Organic) -2

Bolivia

This round was roasted to firm Espresso. The beans were so oily that they stuck to each other when they dried. It made for a very dark coffee and it lost some of the nuance in flavor that it had before but it did retain its extravagant aroma.

The body was not as deep as I had hoped it would be with this dark of a roast. I am still trying to decide if Body quality is a function of the roast or the ground to water ratio.

All in all, not a bad coffee but not one that I consider great either. The next time I roast this bean I am going to try a lighter City-Roast to examine its more raw qualities.

Salimba

Zimbabwe

At city, to full-city, this is a very pleasing and surprising cup. You know that it is a good cup when you take a sip and say "wow" and you look for your wife to try it.

The coffee has a dominant floral quality that hits you with a definite floral sweetness right off. There is a nutty quality to this brew which is only slightly noticeable upon the finish.

The aroma did not stand out as one of distinction - smelled like coffee. I will comment later about how it tasted over ice.

From 1 to 10 I rate this coffee a 6.

CIAPEC (100% Organic)

Bolivia

The aroma of this Bolivian brew was very enjoyable. If you have ever smelled chocolate pudding on the stove-top while it was cooling (but only not so sweet) then you can begin to imagine the richness of this brew's aroma.

I roasted this bean to a full-City roast and the flavor is earthy and floral with a touch of fruity sweetness which blends this coffee together nicely for a balanced feel in the mouth and palette. I like this coffee and really expect it to perform well when served over ice but I do not think it unique enough to enter into a contest.

What makes coffee organic? I will have to do some investigation into this question. In my naivete I have visions of Juan Valdez walking leisurely around a mountain picking a bean here and a bean there from wild coffee bushes to deliver to me organically grown coffee. I will post when I learn about this.

From 1 to 10 I rate this coffee a 4.