Bali Blue Moon

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Just South-East of Vietnam in the Flores Sea comes the Bali Blue Moon.  Highly regulated and hand-washed this bean looked very promising.


While I roasted I noticed that there was very little chaff.  It smoked a little on the initial heat-up and then it did not smoke again until the end of the roast.  I read that this coffee was better when the bean was roasted to a Full-City Roast so I took it in to the Second Crack when the flecking was quite evident.  The beans looked very good and dry except for a couple that showed signs of oiling.


I brewed with the syphon pot which uses a slightly higher than normal grind/water ratio.  The coffee I would say was strong because of this but not so strong that bitterness became a factor.  

On a scale from 1 - 10 I rate this coffee a 9 - Right up there with the Peaberry.  The aroma is fruity like a sweet-and-sour sauce and very pleasing to the nose.  The flavor was solid and smooth as it boasted of a cocoa-bean note as well as a mellow tone.  The brightness of this cup was medium though it was quite complex and deep.  The body of this cup was buttery and weighed on the pallet long enough to let you know it was there and lingered on the tongue like a fond memory.

The Coffee Goddess

I needed to roast some coffee for myself today and my daughter wants to learn the art - so I started her on her training.  She roasted her first batch of beans today to a Full-City roast- a Rwandan Bugisu.   This is not my favorite bean and I certainly would not serve it to customers, however it is a perfect bean for learning how to roast with.


She is pictured holding her first batch.  She learned how much bean to put in the roaster, how to assess its color and listen for its two-separate cracks.  As I write this she will not let me forget that we still yet need to grind and brew a cup for sampling.  


Ahhh, my little snob is blossoming...


Please visit anchorbayroasts.com and find this month's easter-egg for your chance to win FREE coffee.  This is the good stuff too, none of the bland stuff.  I figure that when you taste fresh single origin coffee that all other coffee you drink will suffer in comparison.

My New Love

Regina the Coffee Roaster

Please allow me to introduce to you the latest member of our family.  Her name is Regina and she is my knew coffee roaster.  My wife tells me that I had a smile from ear-to-ear when she was delivered. ;-)

I was scheduled to do a coffee roasting demonstration at church (VOX Church) on Sunday and by Saturday the new roaster had still not arrived.  But then, that afternoon (around 3pm) a package was hand delivered by the Fed-Ex guy - it was Regina.  So that evening I learned how to use and present her and I was in my glory because I was indeed ready for Sunday morning.

Indian Monsooned Malabar

I took a picture of Regina and the resultant beans - the beans were perfectly Full-City Roast and you wanted to cry they were so yummy.

www.anchorbayroast.com

Kona Coffee

A friend of ours gave me a new expired bag of Kona coffee from the Gold Coffee Company.

I will not say that I did not like it but it certainly was not as good as some have made it out to be. Of course the problem could have been that it was stale, or it could have been that is just the nature of mass produced coffee, or it could even be that their website said that they were proud of their Full City Roast and so I suspect that that dark of a roast did not let the intrinsic flavors come through. Whatever the deal was I think I will have to roast my own beans to get a true assessment of Kona.

Kimel Peaberry - 3

Papua New Guinea

I roasted the last of my Peaberry to give as a gift to friends. Thankfully I had enough to roast myself a pot.

This was City Roast which is going to really impress. It has an outstanding aroma and an exquisite flavor. If you ever get a chance to get some of the PNG Kimel Peaberry don't let it pass you by because it is excellent.

Kimel Peaberry - 2

Papua New Guinea

I prepared a 12 cup pot of this Papau New Guinea at a Full City roast (2 oz. of grounds) and took it to a meeting for people to try. Some people drank it black (as coffee is intended to be enjoyed) while others put all kinds of creamers and sugars in theirs (really, why bother with coffee in the first place?) but everyone enjoyed this coffee. One guy in particular knew that this was freshly roasted but forgot as it was 5 minutes before hitting his drink. He literally interrupted the meeting with a surprised exclaimation of how good the coffee was.

As I was brewing this pot my wife came out of the other room and asked me what I was cooking. She said that from the other room it smelled like I was cooking some sort of breakfast meat. It must have been the spiciness in the aroma.

I am sorry now that I did not buy more than 1 pound of this bean, it has been one of my favorites.