Wednesday, January 16, 2002


let's take a moment to review: last saturday, i wrote a bit about coffee freshness and my eternal search for the freshest coffee possible without actually roasting it myself.

mary beth commented at that time on the coffee roasting operation she often passes, and how burnt the coffee seems. she writes:

Unfortunately, and I'm no expert, but every cup of coffee I've ever had there tastes burnt and over-strong.

ah, so many coffees fall victim to over-roasting! some coffees can take a careful dark roast well and produce a charming cup. but not all coffees take this roast well, and not all roasters can do it well. then there's the issue of proper brewing. you can find yourself with most perfectly roasted high-quality bean, and then destroy it with bad brewing. so i have sympathy for mary beth's plight: to see visions of fresh, delicious coffee before you, but to have it all yanked away. . .

luckily, some have taken pity on my plight. i've been in contact with a couple of brave souls who do take kenneth david's advice and roast at home. each of them sent me 1/2 pound of their best stuff. i can't wait to get home and taste the coffee. the question is: how best to taste?

serious coffee fans would arrange a real 12-step cupping. however, i can't guarantee that each was roasted to the same degree, so a cupping procedure wouldn't be really fair. however, it would help to create a quick impression of the coffees' characteristics and defects.

while these fancy terms have a well-established meaning among trained coffee tasters, how can us normal people get a better idea of how to taste coffee? there is a chart to help. would a huge, honkin' tongue map be of service? for or those with fast connections only: a video? (6.72 mg avi file!)

maybe it's all too elaborate and we should relax with doug cadmus' home tasting procedure. . .

posted by fortune | 10:12 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments