Vacuum Pots – The Mad Scientist’s Method

At least half of the appeal of the vacuum pot is the show. Here is a YouTube video.

Coffee Tasting – A Mnemonic

coffee tasting mnemonic

I’ve come up with a little mnemonic device to help remember the components of coffee tasting. Just follow the path of the coffee from your nose to your mouth over your tongue down your throat. Your nose takes in the aroma. Your mouth will taste the coffee. The body is the feeling of the thickness or lightness of the coffee over your tongue. The finish is what the coffee does as you swallow it down your throat. Got it? Nose – aroma; mouth – taste; body – tongue; finish – throat.

I typically drink my coffee on my bus ride to work. One extra vulgar bonus I find is the fruity aftertaste of some coffees as I burp them throughout the morning. Disgusting, but it sure is nice .

Vivarin or . . .

A friend of mine works six ten hour days. I saw him the other night. I asked him, “So, how are you doing?” He answered, “I’m tired. I had to take a Vivarin.” I thought to myself, “Vivarin? I’d rather have a delicious cup of coffee!”

A Life Full of Stories

Does it drive you crazy to think that you might be the same a year from now as you are today? It drives me crazy. If the stories I have to tell tomorrow are the same as the ones I tell today, then there’s been no change – just living in the status quo. Well I don’t think it has to be so. Education can change us. Certain experiences can change us. If we are driven by something within us – change should come.

Let’s get back to coffee. I began this little journey about five months ago. All I wanted was a better morning cup of coffee. Nothing overly ambitious. Then as I traveled down this path, I stumbled on some wonderful discoveries and even had an epiphany! My morning cup of coffee has definitely improved.

I now have stories: 1) eye-opening flavors by using a French press, 2) filling my house and my brother-in-law’s house with smoke, while attempting to roast coffee in the oven, 3) finally roasting coffee with a popcorn popper from Target, 4) realizing that bad tasting coffee from the supermarket may just be rancid.

Am I done yet? No way! I’m sure there is much more to discover out there. I have purposely decided to wait a little while before embarking into the universe of espresso.

I don’t have an unlimited budget. I can’t afford $600 coffee grinders or $2000 espresso machines. But I don’t think it really matters. A really good cup of coffee doesn’t demand ultra high prices. Maybe a perfect cup of coffee requires a pretty penny. But I’m still not sure that my palate can appreciate the perfect cup.

A Logical Reason to Choose a Coffee

Want a logical reason to choose a particular coffee? It your daughter’s name. Acacia is the name of my third child – second daughter.

We named her after a tree that currently grows in Africa and is referenced in the Bible. It’s a small tree, but tough and insect resistant. That’s a pretty good description of my daughter.

Actually the coffee tastes pretty good. It’s fruity in aroma and fruity to the taste when you first sip it hot. The body – or feel on your tongue – is slightly syrupy, the way I like it. The nutty and chocolaty tastes come in the back end as the coffee cools and glides down the throat. Mmm.

Another Mission Moment

I got another mission moment – you know, when some self-reflection and self-realization come. The last time I had one of these was back in December 2008. So here is is:

I’m just an average coffee drinking guy traveling the specialty coffee world. But I’m not just sight-seeing. I’m expecting to make part of the landscape my home. In this blog, I’m letting you watch how things play out.

You don’t think you have a gourmet palette to appreciate what the coffee aficionados rave about? Well I didn’t think so when I began this blog. I’m not there yet either. But let’s just see where I end up. If you want to ride my coattails, ride along! Let me know what you see on the way.

Here is my past itinerary:

October 2008 – used the French press for the first time – so much better than drip!

November 2008 – discovered the vacuum pot – mad scientist way to make coffee

December 2008 – January 2009 – failures home roasting in an oven, twice, with a cheap popcorn popper

End of January 2009 – now – Finally getting home roasting to work.

Gevalia Coffee Experiment

I had a little coffee experiement at work. A friend of mine (sorry Elise) gave me three bags of Gevalia coffee. They were ground but still vacuum packed. I took one of the bags to work and made a pot during lunch. I used parts of my drip coffee maker: coffee pot, basket that holds the filter, and a gold filter. But rather than using the drip maker, I boiled water in a hot pot and poured it into the basket myself. I let the coffee and water sit for a minute then pressed the valve on the basket to release the coffee into the pot. (You got all that?)

What’s the point of going through all that trouble? I don’t have a French press at work. But the water temperature in drip coffee makers is not hot enough. This way the water is hot and I control how fast the coffee drains through the filter, which normally I think is too fast. With good beans, I’ve made some really good cups of coffee.

Back to the Gevalia coffee – John poured himself a cup and cried, “Ugh. That is so bitter! It’s terrible! Guy, you try it. See what you think.”

I poured myself a cup and tasted it. “It’s not bitter. It’s just rancid. You can smell it. That is what makes my stomach upset. When people complain about coffee bothering their stomach, I don’t think it’s necessarily the caffeine, but that the coffee has gone rancid.” Well, I was in a daring mood, so I poured some creamer and a packet of hot chocolate into my cup with the Gevalia coffee. Rancid or not, I drank that thing down. Immediately, I felt the rush of caffeine.

Two thoughts: either that taste is coffee gone bad or the taste of Robusta beans rather than Arabica. I haven’t tried straight Robusta coffee beans. Might be interesting to get some fresh roasted Robusta to finish out my experiment. If someone can tell me that Gevalia doesn’t use Robusta beans, then the coffee was rancid.

Kudos to the Coffee Community

The coffee community typically gets a bad rap. Most consider coffee lovers, “coffee snobs.” But since beginning this blog in October 2008, I have received comments, especially from home roasters, that are extremely supportive. I’m just in an appreciative mood right now. So thanks to Rich at Aldo Coffee, Phil and John at La Prima, Derek at Bongo Java, Stephen Leighton, and many others.  While I’m at it, thanks to my brother-in-law for letting me smoke up his house, and to John and Chris at work for helping me brainstorm while on our coffee breaks at work. My point is this: I really like having this blog.

Sleep Deprived Rats Benefit from Coffee Aroma

Now I don’t know if this study was funded by the coffee industry, making this information essentially propaganda. But it doesn’t seem so. Actually this type of research is what I do for a living and it seems legitimate.

Researchers have found that even the smell of coffee produces positive effects in the brain. A scientific study was done on rats to see the effect of coffee aroma on their brains. 30 rats were divided into four groups:

(1) control rats – no stress, with no coffee aroma,

(2) stressed rats – with no coffee aroma,

(3) no stress rats – with coffee aroma,

(4) stressed rats – with coffee aroma.

Rats from group (3) – the no stress rats with coffee aroma, showed 17 genes that were more active (the technical term is expressed) compared to rats from group (1), the control rats (no stress – with no coffee aroma). So coffee aroma has a definite effect on the brains of rats.

When the rats from group (2) – stressed rats/no coffee aroma – were compared to rats from group (4) – stressed rats/with coffee aroma, coffee exposure made 11 genes more active, and 2 genes less active. Rats stressed with sleep deprivation were affected by coffee aroma.

When the proteins in the rat brains were studied and compared, 25 differences were seen among the four groups. The protein levels in the brains of the stressed rats who enjoyed the wonderful aroma of coffee had antioxidant and stress relieving activities.

So tell your friends that don’t like the taste of coffee. You don’t even need to drink it for its benefits. Even smelling the wonderful aroma will make your brain do things helpful to your body.

This study was done by three institutions: 1) the Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Human Ecology, at the Seoul National University, 2) Smell and Taste clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Dresden [Germany] Medical School, and 3) Human Stress Signal Research Center (HSS), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Health Technology Research Center, Tsukuba Japan. The article was published in The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 2008, 56, 4665-4673.

A Caveat for using the Nostalgia Electrics Hot Air Popper from Target

My Nostalgia Electrics Hot Air Popper from Target

ffgeeks inquired if I would recommend the Nostalgia Electrics Hot Air Popper from Target. My quick answer is YES. For $39.99 plus tax, bring the box home, open it up, plug it in, pour in 1/2 a cup of green coffee beans, turn it on, turn your timer on, and in 8-9 minutes you’ve got yourself some home roasted beans. It is that simple.

But let me describe the battle wounds my Nostalgia Electrics Hot Air Popcorn Popper has received after using it for the last 5-6 weeks every 2-3 days. Remember that the popper was not made to maintain the higher temperatures for the length of time needed for roasting coffee beans. So things MELT.

Inside the plastic cover

So here is the inside of the plastic cover of the popper. As you can see the plastic is melting. When the popper was brand new, there was a aluminum cylinder used to guide the popcorn that is poured through the hole in the top of the popper. A measuring cup, that also doubles as the container to melt butter, is supposed to sit on top of the hole while the popcorn is popping. The very first time roasted coffee in this popper, I kept the measuring cup covering the hole, just in case it would help help maintain the temperature in the popper. Well it certainly helped maintain the temperature. Actually the popper got so hot that the aluminum cylinder melted from the plastic cover and fell into the hot air chamber.

I’m a little slow, so I kept the measuring cup over the hole in subsequent roasting sessions. The plastic around the hole continued to melt, producing little red plastic stalactites hanging down. A couple times the plastic stalactites melted onto some of the beans. Then I finally got the idea – I no longer kept the measuring cup over the hole.

So the Nostalgia Electrics Hot Air Popper from Target is not perfect, but nothing is. The popper was not made to roast coffee beans. But it was made with enough power to roast coffee adequately. I don’t know how long it will last. But I will let you know when my popper coughs its last breath.

In the meantime – ffgeeks, welcome to the wonderful world of home roasted coffee. It’s been only a couple months for me. But I’ve enjoyed every day of it. It is really hard for me to drink coffee I have not roasted. I’m really spoiled.