Saturday, May 01, 2004


johnny the black does it all

ok, after all the excitement of the hines public market espresso yesterday, today i had to cup it.

now, we have to begin by noting the coffee's 8-10 days old, and has travelled in a brown kraft paper coffee bag from humid atlanta to humid new york on a dry airplane.

not the best storage and handling. . . but hey, that's what we've got. the beans have probably suffered a bit.

the incomparable oren cupped this coffee and guessed it was a blend of a dry-processed ("natural") brazil, a central american, and an african, probably a harrar.

after a couple of decades in the coffee business, you'd expect oren to know, hmmm?

but i decided to taste for myself. so i ground some of the coffee today, set out 3 cups, boiled the water, etc. and got out my silver scaa cupping spoon. (thank you, scaa chief ted lingle! as long-time readers know, i worship him.)

finally, i pulled out my lingle flavor wheel, then jean lenoir's nez du cafe. (thanks again, ted!)

and after 4 min., i broke the crusts to begin the whole slurp-n-spit routine. "how not elegant," my husband remarked. but hey, what can ya do?

here's my description of this espresso: the hines public market coffee smells more darkly roasted than it is. in reality, it's only a little shiny, and very few beans even show pinpoints of oil.

the fragrance of the dry grounds is strongly cucumber. the aroma is earthy, with roasted walnuts, leather, and cooked beef.

there's a little turpeny thing going on there too, maybe even a touch medicinal. this probably is a roast product flavor.

the blend has a long, dry aftertaste, and there's no doubt it's a smooth, low-brightness coffee with a thick body.

i thought it was little different in the second cup, so i'm going to call it a bit wild.

after cupping, i pulled out the cards from le nez du cafe to look at lenoir's discussion of these terms. what leapt out at me?

cucumber: lenoir says this is characteristic of natural brazils! earth: lenoir notes this is often found in a harrar.

walnut: again, lenoir associates this with a natural brazil. cooked beef: lenoir describes this as characteristic of a central american coffee, mentioning guatemalan in particular.

leather: lenoir ascribes this to harrars. medicinal: lenoir remarks it is a sign of a darker roast, esp. noticeable in some brazils.

and there it was, staring me in the face. without knowing it, using a different terminology, i had bumbled my way to the same conclusion as oren.

hmm. and now i understood how oren had come to his speculation on the roots of the blend. . . .johnny the black came through for me today!

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