How to Change the Taste of Coffee Drinkers

The Drug Dealers' Approach

I’ve been at my brother-in-law’s for the the past five days. He normally drinks at least one whole pot of coffee, if not more, throughout the whole day.

Since we’ve been here, I’ve been making coffee in either my French press or the Vacuum pot. We tried the El Salvador coffee. He felt the taste ended too quickly. So we’ve been drinking Starbuck’s Sumatra.

This morning, while rushing to get the kids ready for church, my brother-in-law made a pot of Maxwell House lite. Oh man! Did that taste bad!

The same thing happened to me with my 8 O’ Clock beans.

So I’ve been wondering how to start up an online coffee business. Aha! What better way than the drug dealer method. Give away one or two pounds of good coffee until they can’t go back to bad tasting coffee.

the winner is . . .

El Salvador from Tazza D’Oro

nutty and chocolaty

I picked up a pound of this El Salvador Finca Siberia Pacamara. I like it. It’s on the nutty and chocolaty side. But not real heavy straight out of the pot — so for the dark roasted lovers – you may not like it at first taste. As it cools, it gets sweet and sticky in the mouth.

Have French Press, Will Travel

French Press in Junk Bin

This is the junk bin between the two front seats of our mini-van. After making my cup of coffee for the road, I quickly washed out my French press. No time to properly pack it. So I threw it in the junk bin. Won’t leave home without it as I continue my trek through the world of coffee.

Want More Flavor? Cool Your Cup Down

Let me begin by telling you that I normally like my liquids piping hot. Soup’s gotta be steaming  hot. Leftovers’ gotta be steaming hot – nuke it for 3 minutes. For the longest time – my cup of coffee had to piping hot. I typically take comfort in the warmth the hot cup of coffee can give to my hands, especially when it is 10F with a 10 mph wind blowing at the bus stop.

Then I read a post by Rich at Aldo Coffee (dated Dec 09, 2008). He was raving over his cup of Guatemala Itzamna from Intelligentsia. I bought the same beans from his shop and was wrestling with why my cup of Itzamna was not “a complex, bold brew of fruits and spices.” What was more pronounced to me was the dry tannin taste you normally find in teas.

Then my cup of Itzamna cooled down. Oh no! My coffee is cooling down! But when I tasted it, guess what? It was “a complex bold brew of fruits and spices.” Now I’m not talking lukewarm. It just cooled down to perfect hot chocolate temperature. Just warm enough to keep your insides warm, but cool enough to chug if you wanted to.

I know I’m probably speaking heresy for many coffee drinkers. But it actually worked!

Coffee Roasting with Guy @ home

Burned Darker than Starbucks

Sorry for the blurry picture – maybe it’s for the best.

At La Prima (see previous post) I met someone who roasted his own coffee beans at home. His sister-in-law was there during the tour and said the coffee tasted great. He told me he just put it in the oven on a cookie sheet at 500F and let them roast. But he warned me that the smoke filled the house with the smell of dry hay.

So I decided to give it a try myself. I used my wife’s Pampered Chef stoneware cookie sheet, thinking it may give a more even heat and not run the risk of burning the beans.

I poured about 1/2 pound of unroasted (green) coffee beans on the cookie sheet. Turned on my gas oven to 500F – waited for it to preheat. Once the oven was hot, I put the cookie sheet in the oven, turned on a kitchen timer, and waited in anticipation for the “first crack”.

At 16 minutes:  I heard my first pops.

At 18 minutes: “first crack” in full swing – popping like popcorn.

At 20 minutes: end of “first crack”

Now I thought, let’s just wait until I hear the beginning of the second crack. My oven light doesn’t go on and I didn’t want to open the oven and run the risk of cooling the oven down. So I waited.

At 22 minutes: no sounds of a “second crack” but smoke began to pour out of the oven. I quickly opened the door. There it was! My black charred coffee beans!

I poured the beans off of the Pampered Chef sheet onto a metal cookie sheet and stepped outside into the 20F weather, shaking the beans to cool them off. The beans then went into a tin. Freshly roasted beans are supposed to sit for 24 hours before brewing so let them de-gas. I made myself a cup of coffee with these beans using my French press. They smelled good – but they sure tasted like charcoal.

Fun fact: I read on another coffee blog that the French roast (which is probably what I would have had if I got the beans out at 21 minutes) originated from the culinary tastes of Louis XIV. He was obsessed with his bowels and like the higher carbon content in his French roast coffee to keep him regular.

Coffee Roasting with Phil @ La Prima

Phil at La Prima

Coffee roasting is an art – just like cooking. There seems to be a certain level of science that can be employed – but in the end educated judgment calls must be made – making it, according to my definition, an art.

I got to watch Phil at La Prima roast coffee on the first Saturday of December. Watching him was like watching a master chef. Phil relied on the color and the smell of the beans, the temperature of the roaster, and the sound of the roasting beans. Full sensory awareness was needed.

According to my observation and my reading of various articles on the Net, it seems that the key to coffee roasting is what goes on with the “first crack” and the “second crack”. As the beans heat up it reaches a temperature where it “cracks” – sounds just like popcorn popping – maybe not as loud. Then a few minutes later it gets to the “second crack” which also sounds like popcorn popping but more muted. The art is in getting the beans to the “first crack” then how quickly the beans are taken to the “second crack”. All the magic of producing the various flavors and aromas from the beans are related to these two “cracks.”

unroasted green on left, green-blush on right

Phil roasted an espresso blend of Central and South American beans. He noted the water content an the density of the beans. This determined how quickly he heated to beans to get to the “first crack”. Since the beans seemed to have quite a bit of water he heated them up more slowly to drive off the water until beans were a  “green blush” color. Then the heat was turned up to get to the first crack. The smell at this point was more like wood drying out than the “coffee” smell we expect.

Just before the “first crack” the smell became rather sweet, just like sugar beginning to carmelize. Then the “first crack.” This was exciting. Popping like popcorn. The smell began to be more nutty – closer to what we think coffee should smell like.

Phil did his magic by quickly dropping the temperature of the roaster for just a bit, the raised it back up. The “second crack” came – popped like the first. Then just before the “second crack” was in full swing, Phil poured the beans out of the roaster to be cooled.

Sight of beauty!

Crossing the Bridge – Average Coffee Drinker to Specialty Coffee Drinker

This morning I went back to Old Faithful, cheap, Giant Eagle-bought 8 O’ Clock. Oh man! It was bad! It’s raw bitterness (not the same bitterness as Maxwell House though) bit me in my recently specialty coffee initiated taste buds. Ouch!

I guess that means for me that there is no turning back. Can’t stay on the same side of the bridge. Gotta cross over to the other side.

Here is the good thing about the other side of the bridge – where specialty coffee reigns: the world of coffee is broad and diverse. In whatever way I want my palate tickled, tantalized, or traumatized, there is probably a bean out there to satisfy me.

With me 1/4 cup of beans and my 4 cup French press, steep time of 4 minutes, I am ready to embark on my journey. I can now travel the coffee globe – visiting Africa, Central and South America, even Asia and a few Pacific Islands. Once I have travelled, I can then become a travel guide to other fellow coffee drinkers.

Bigger Scoup – More Coffee

Bigger scoup - more coffee

Yesterday I posted about using more coffee for my morning cup. This morning I realized that the scoup I had been using for the Intelligentia beans was smaller than the scoup I normally used.

The scoup on the right is a 1/8 cup scoup. I normally use two scoups for my four cup French press. Two of the left scoup was just too little coffee for me.

So from now on I am standardized! 1/4 cup of beans, ground and placed into my 4 cup French press.

Bridging the Gap – double the beans in a French press

This morning I decided to double the amount of beans I normally use in my French press. Will this be “stronger”? I’m using a direct trade Itzamna, Guatemala from Intelligentsia that I bought from Aldo Coffee. It was definitely “stronger”. But I also noticed that the flavor was also “stronger”. The one taste that stuck out a little too much was the dryness similar to the dryness of the tannins in tea. That would hit with each sip and stayed in my mouth for a long time – maybe even hours after drinking the coffee.

I think I like this method of tasting the coffee: make a cup  of coffee in a French Press using twice the amount of beans.

Does that mean that I liked the dryness lasting in my mouth for hours? Not really, but I like the attack of the tastebuds. This provides me a way to try many types of beans.

Bridging the Gap Between Average Coffee Drinker to Specialty Coffee

This past Saturday was my coffee Saturday. I had a tour of the roastery at La Prima. Then my first cupping session at Aldo Coffee. It was really a great time.

The tour at La Prima consisted of 25 people. I really liked the makeup of the group. They were people that I wouldn’t mind hanging out and having a cup of coffee with. Phil was great to watch and talk to while he roasted the coffee. One comment during the talking session that has stuck with me -  Matt said, “When customers come to the coffee bar and ask for a strong cup of coffee, it is usually hard to know what they are referring to. Strong in acidity, in body, in taste?” (Don’t let this thought go, I’m going to address it.)

At Aldo Coffee, Rich and Melanie as well as the baristas there were very friendly and great to be around. There was only three of us in the class – a newly wed couple and me. It was first experiencing cupping. I would even say that it was my first experience tasting real specialty coffee – coffee roasted to bring out the characteristics of the particular beans. It was a real education to my palate. I liked the challenge to distinguish the nuances with each cup.

One particular coffee was from Kenya. It had a very fruity and floral aroma and taste. Being my first experience of specialty coffee, I would say that it was an attack to my tastebuds. I liked that challenge to my palate. But I also considered, “Would I want that kind of palate attack every morning?” My quick answer was no. It was too novel. Give me something a little more balanced. The novel I will drink once a week or in the evenings to maintain its novelty.

That was Saturday. Today is Sunday. My thoughts never really solidify until at least 24 hours of processing. Here is my thought today: I’m not sure if many of the friends and family that consider themselves coffee drinkers would like the many of the specialty coffees. Many would consider them “weak” even approaching the taste of tea. Rich at Aldo Coffee even said that some people don’t like the Panama Esmeralda because it tastes like Earl Grey Tea!

So what to do? I think my coffee drinking friends and family would like the challenge to their tastebuds, but I don’t think they will ever give up whatever it is they consider to be “strong” or “bold.” So what is that? The body of the coffee? The carbon content in the darker roasts? I’m not sure yet.

Maybe the overly dark roast that Starbucks does to all of their beans was their answer to the question. I think the answer is the bridge to the gap between the average coffee drinker and the specialty coffee drinker.

I am going to see if Cafe Americano – a shot of espresso put into a cup of hot water – is a step in the right direction. Maybe there is something in espresso that will bridge the gap.