An Experience Experiment - Pt. 2

An Experience Experiment - Pt. 1

THE VARIABLES:

There are a few variables in this experiment which likely effects the outcome. These are how the coffee was actually brewed, the grounds used in each brewing method, and the very subjective nature of our testing group's (me and my wife) perspective.

While this subjectivity is not scientific it is the best that I could do.

BREWING PROCESSES:

1. Drip
2. French Press
3. Percolator
4. Turkish Boil

DRIP:

The drip coffee maker is the standard way that people make coffee in our country. My drip coffee maker is standard but it has a coned screen filter which allows the oils to be released with the brewed coffee.

An oversight in this experiment is that I did not include a drip coffee maker with a paper filter. Ah well, I will have to remedy this for another day and another post.

FRENCH PRESS:
The French Press is a very popular method for brewing coffee among coffee enthusiasts. I like mine simply because it will brew a single cup of coffee without leaving me with left overs to microwave for two days. I know that true coffee snobs will never, ever, drink microwaved coffee but this proves that I am more of a cheapskate than a real snob.

PERCOLATOR:
I bought this percolator just for this experiment. I have not had much experience with the Perk but I am looking forward to doing coffee for company with it. It looks quite elegant and it reminds me of my grandmother's from the 1970's. All I need is a lime green table cloth and people will call me Carrol Brady.

TURKISH BOIL:
Although I could not make a genuine Turkish coffee (because I could not find my Cezve) I did use a sauce pan to slow brew the coffee to make a Turkish style brew. It turned out pretty good and I think it accomplished the mission of the experiment.

When I re-run the experiment with the paper filters (in a drip coffee maker) I will also use a cezve for a genuine Turkish Coffee.

THE GRIND:
The grind was an unavoidable variable. Each brewing method requires a certain grind in order to make the coffee that it produces "good".

The Drip Method requires a moderate grind (not too fine and not too course) to make the optimum coffee. From 1 being the finest grind and 17 being the most coarse - the Drip was ground at a 6.
The Press Method does not require a very fine ground as it steeps the grounds in hot water for 4 minutes. I ground the beans for the Press at the coarsest 17 setting.
The Percolator Method washes the grounds continuously with hot water and does not need a fine ground. So I also ground this at a 17.
The Turkish Method uses a very fine ground as to get every last bit of goodness out of the bean. I used the finest grinding setting - #1.

I am sure that the different grinds effected the resultant brews but I felt that I had to use the grounds that the individual brewing methods methods required.

THE TESTERS:
Me and my wife are the last of the variables. It was our job to taste and evaluate each brew against all the rest. It was quite difficult at times to decide between a couple of them but in the end we did our best. The fact that my wife and I did not come to the same conclusions indicate that this whole experiment is really about our individual experiences rather than a scientific conclusion.

Please return as tomorrow I will detail the results of the experiment...

An Experience Experiment - Pt. 1

The next couple of posts come about because of a reader's request. Van (the reader) wanted to know what happened to the flavor of coffee based upon the brewing method. So, I put my 7th. grade science class thinking cap on and devised the following science experiment. (I hope you are reading Mr. Kawalski)

• HYPOTHESIS: The same exact coffee brewed by different brewing methods produces differing results. (Mr. Kawalski should be proud)

THE STANDARD METRIC:

1. COFFEE: Bolivean - CIAPEC (100% Organic)
2. ROASTED: Full-City+
3. WATER/COFFEE RATIO: 5 oz. (liquid) : 1 Tbsp. (ground)
4. WATER: Filtered by Brita

TOOLS:

• Green Beans
• Popcorn Air-Popper (coffee roaster)
• Coffee Grinder
  
• Weight Scale
• Pyrex Liquid Measure
  
• 1/2 Cup Measuring Cup
• 1 Tbsp. Teaspoon
  
• Knife
• Sauce Pan
• French Coffee Press
• Drip Coffee Maker
• Percolator Coffee Maker
• 4 - Coffee Cups
• Filtered Water
  

Tomorrow I will begin to describe the variables of the experiment. Stay Tuned...

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.

Turkish Coffee

Ahhhh... For Christmas morning I was planning on a big plate of Jesus' birthday cake and ice cream but after my daughter tossed her cookies everything went a different direction. So while my whole family is sick or just plain not feeling well and camped out in front of the tele, I was allowed to make some Turkish coffee.

So I searched the internet to learn how to make it and then I spent 20 minutes searching the house for my Cezve. A no-go on the Cezve so I made it in my small sauce pot. While Turkish coffee snobs aschew the use of a sauce pot I did not figure that it would matter much but I think I was mistaken.

I ground the beans very finely and I added 1 heaping teaspoon of the grounds to 12oz. of cold water in the sauce pan then I set the brew to heat slowly until it boiled. I let it boil for a minute or so and then I poured some of the coffee into a cup - which I let sit for a minute or two allowing for the grounds to settle.

The reason that I suspect that I really did need a Cezve for the coffee is because my brew never developed the expected foam on top of the coffee. Would this have changed the flavor? I don't know but I suspect that the body and the mouth feel would have been different. I will have to find the Cezve and let you know.

The coffee that I did end up with was actually pretty good. It had no discernible attributes to speak of but it did have a full bodied mouth feel and a genuine standard coffee flavor. I used some Starbuck's Zambia Kasama for this and I was surprised that the Starbuck's flavoring seemed to vanish leaving just a plain coffee taste.

One Of My Fondest Coffee Experiences

I came across this photo of me having coffee on the beach of Lake Huron at Lakeview State Park. I blogged about this experience before and since I just came across the picture I thought I would post it.

I doubt if tea drinkers could ever have this sort of experience with their Earl Grey.

Addicted

I was diagnosed with MS in 2001. My doctor put me on Beta Seron which was an every-other-day shot that I administered myself. The drugs made me really sick for about 3 or 4 months. During that time I was going to college and the only thing that helped me through was a pot of coffee that I took with me to school in a thermos. During that time I developed an unhealthy addiction to caffiene. If I did not have it in quantity I would develop headaches and my body ached as well.

I woke up this morning and felt as though I had been hit by a Mac Truck. After hours of feeling like death I decided that I had forgotten to drink my morning coffee.

My wife says that she is gald I am not addicted to Alcohol...

Palhu Huehuetenango SHB - 3

Guatemala

This is now the third batch of the Huehuetenango that I have roasted and the other two samplings did not score very high. However, just to show how subjective coffee tasting is (see Palhu Huehuetenango SHB & Palhu Huehuetenango SHB - 2) and how difficult it is to be consistent (at least in my world) I have to say that I really liked this batch. It had a very crisp chocolate aroma and the flavor was smooth and full. I liked it so much that I have roasted a batch and will be taking it with me to my small-group bible study where I am sure that everyone will ga-ga over it.

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.

Idiot Proof Coffee? A Rant of the Righteous...

I feel like somebody entered the Musée du Louvre and desecrated the Mona Lisa with a mustache. I feel violated, like that time when Coca-Cola changed to the New Formula or when I learned that Santa Claus was not real. Today, my world is sad because the art of coffee has been reduced to a meaningless mechanical process. I am usually quite supportive of technology but this time the technicians have gone too far!

I went into the local grocer last night to pick something up for dinner and I noticed a group of people gathering around a vendor who was giving away something for free. Mmmmmm, so I got in line. The vendor was giving away free cups of coffee. Mmmmmmm, I waited. When I got closer I learned that they were promoting a coffee maker that used coffee discs. It's called the Tassimo Brewer and it claims to brew the perfect cup.

I read a review of the disk/pod coffee brewing system and the writer said that brewing coffee this way was "idiot proof". Ooooooooo, that makes me so mad - if idiots want something hot to drink let them stick with tea! The perfect cup of coffee is supposed to be sought after like Indiana Jones seeking after a relic, Bobby Fisher seeking to win the Chess championship from the Russians, the Detroit Lions seeking the Superbowl. The power of creating a perfect cup of coffee is not supposed to be given to just anyone who can afford to buy the machine, that's like giving a nuke to terrorists just because they can afford it.

Ach, this is a sad day indeed. What's next for coffee? Will they design a Terminator that will excrete coffee from its bladder?

Michigan Snow Coffee

Well, since I have heard good things about Colorado Coffee I decided to take a stab at making some Michigan Snow Coffee. I set out a large stainless steel mixing bowl during the snow flurries that we had yesterday and today and then tonight I had better than a quart of raw, untreated, water from the Michigan sky.

I brought the water inside and poured into a glass Pyrex container. I inspected it for contaminates and found that the water was perfectly clear without anything that even whispered that it should be filtered. So, I poured it into my aluminum pot, added 5 tablespoons of Maxwell House grounds and boiled it for 5 minutes. I then poured the coffee through a filter to remove the grounds and viola - Michigan Snow Coffee was served!

The brew was the color of brown tar nicotine - which is a vulgar thought but a good descriptive tool. It was not a clear and clean brown but almost solid as it looked quite viscous however the body had no discernible functionality. The flavor reminded me that I should have filtered the water before using it to brew with. The dominating sensation was that of a metal in the nose. The metallic sensation reminded me of well-water that was straight from the ground - a tad bit rusty.

As I thought about how this Michigan Snow Coffee might be considered "good" (like the Colorado Coffee) I figure that I would have to create an experience much like hiking the trail by the Colorado River. I figure if I can get people to pay me $2000.00 to spend a week in my home (lodge) and make the last night a hike along the St. Clair river with a sleep in a tent during the Winter, my customers would find that my Michigan Snow Coffee would be the best thing that they had ever tasted. So if you are ever coming to the Anchor Bay area and have $2000.00 to spend, please call on me and I will give you the works - even Michigan Snow Coffee.