Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Choosing a roast that fits your tastes.

Coffee Tip # 3

Coffee beans are unlocked by the roasting process. As green coffee is roasted it goes from being a hard little light green bean with little taste to how it tastes when you brew up a cup of your favorite New Roots coffee, aw...(wait for it)...some!

Our coffee tip this week is a quick guide to coffee roasts.

Light Roast

After coffee reaches the "first crack" in the roasting process at about 380 degrees F, it begins to develop as a light roast coffee. This is generally considered the lightest coffee most people would want to drink.

Light Roast Characteristics

High Acidity, medium body, low sweetness and maximum amount of origin characteristics.
This means that when you brew a cup of our light roast Ethiopia Yergecheffe you get a full dose of the citrus, floral and melon notes that make a great referred sing.

Medium Roast

Medium Roast coffee can also be referred to as a full city roast. This is the point around when the coffee reaches "second crack" and "pops" a second time. This is the lowest level that is usually used for an espresso blend.

Medium Roast Characteristics

Fully developed aroma and complexity, medium acidity and increased sweetness
Our Sawtooth Autumn Blend, Colombia Decaf and Rwanda are medium roasts.

Dark Roast

Little coffees from the green mermaid place (*bucks) fall below this roast level. My mentor, Victor Allen Mondry, got me hooked on light and medium roast, but we do offer a few dark roast coffees. At this roast level, the beans have a shiny surface and can have oil droplets on the outside of the bean.

Dark Roast Characteristics

Low acidity, full aroma, full body, full sweetness and the minimum amount of origin characteristics
Our Midnight Blend, Peru and Sumatra at dark roast coffees, with the Sumatra being the darkest.

Beyond

After this you reach super dark roast territory which includes French and Italian Roasts. We don't offer any beans this dark because at this point all of the origins just seem to taste the same. It's just not our style, because all of the hard work we did sourcing exceptional beans kind of goes of the chimney.

Enjoy your Autumn,

Joseph Zimmermann
New Roots Coffee Company

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Choosing a coffee that fits your tastes- part 1

Choosing a good coffee that you will like can be very daunting. Just a few years ago I would just randomly pick a bag off the shelf and unfortunately I had a hard time telling the difference from one to the next. When I decided to start roasting coffee, I was my basic goal that no one would be indifferent about the coffees that I roast. I carefully choose the coffees that I roast so that each of them have a very unique flavor and aroma profile. We don't expect anyone to be in love with all our coffees but we believe that almost everyone will be able to find the one the best fits them.

Coffees is grown in more then 40 countries around the world. The following is a breakdown of the world's main coffee growing regions.

Americas
This group includes that coffees grown in Central and South America as well as Hawaii. Coffees from Guatemala, Colombia and Costa Rica are know for the punch of bright acidity that they bring to the cup. Our Guatemala Huehuetenango and Colombia Decaf are great examples of these coffees.

Coffees from Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Panama, El Salvador, and Nicaragua are generally more mellow and nice breakfast coffees. The also make sweet and chocolaty dark-roast coffees. Our Mexico Decaf and Peru are smooth dark roasts.

Africa and Surrounding Countries
Coffees from this growing region really shine in the cup with their unmistakable wine and fruit note following full acidity. This includes the coffees of Ethiopia (Harrar, Sidamo and Yergecheffe), Yeman, Rwanda, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda. Our bestselling Ethiopia Yergacheffe with its delightful citrus, floral and melon notes, and our winey Rwanda are some of the region best coffees.

Indonesia and surrounding Pacific Islands
The jungle coffees of the third growing region have whole flavor profiles of their own. They can have rich deep acidity and funky earth tones that can occasionally be a bit musty (in good way). They can include coffees grown in Sumatra, Sulawesi, Papua New Guinea, India and Timor. Our Sumatra Mandheling and Papua New Guinea AA showcase some the this regions best.

Next week we will look at some more aspects of choosing a coffee that is right for you.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Real Coffee Tip #1

Keeping Coffee Fresh

Coffee peaks out in its flavor and aroma about 24-48 hours after it's roasted. This is why many roasters will let the beans rest for awhile after they are roasted. During this time the beans are releasing significant amounts of carbon dioxide. If you look on the bag of a good coffee roaster you will find a small dime-sized valve on the back of the back. This is a one-way valve that allows carbon dioxide to escape from the bag, while keeping oxygen out. Oxygen is coffee's enemy, making is stale and stripping it of its flavor.

The best way to enjoy coffee is to get it within a few days of roasting. Ideally you should enjoy you beans within a week of opening the bag. If you can't use it up in a week, put it in a sealed bag and place it in the freezer. Then pull the beans out and grind what you need putting the rest back in the freezer. Never put your coffee in the refrigerator or it may take on the flavor of last nights leftover meatloaf. Coffee beans love to absorb odors.

If you don't have a grinder consider getting one. It's a little extra work but you will be amazed at the difference in taste and aroma. You can pick up a simple propeller grinder for about $20 or consider investing in a good burr grinder for $60-100. I will have more about grinding in future Coffee Tip emails.
Enjoy your Autumn,

Joseph Zimmermann
New Roots Coffee Company

Coffee Tip #1