The best way to brew any coffee is the way that you most enjoy it, but if you really want to experience all that this coffee has to offer you’ll need to follow a few simple guidelines. What makes this coffee so special is its deep and layered flavors, to taste every note in this coffee we’ll need to make a coffee that as transparent and clean as possible.
Step One: Use a paper filter. Paper filters, especially thick papers like Chemex will strip away almost all of the oils and fines from the brew leaving a clean canvas for the coffee flavors to be painted on. The coffee oils and fines from a metal filter will cling to your tongue and coat the sides of your mouth, providing a rich texture but covering up the delicate flavors of the coffee.
Step Two: Get the ratio right. Like most pour overs you should use around 16:1 water to coffee ratio but you’ll be much better off adding extra water than adding extra coffee. A brew that is too strong will compress and muddle the flavors. Don’t worry about getting a heavy body for this coffee, the softer and more tea-like it is the more likely you are to taste the delicate jasmine and mint notes.
Step Three: Grind fine and fearlessly. You’ll need a high extraction to unlock all of the flavors in this coffee. If you grind too fine you’ll probably end up with something very syrupy and slightly bitter, but too coarse and you’ll get a watered-down pineapple juice. With a coffee this intense and flavorful it is easy to think that you have captured all of the flavors at a low extraction but keep pushing finer to ensure that you unlock this coffee’s full potential.
Step Four: Let it cool down. I know this is a hard rule to follow but it is impossible to taste all that this coffee has to offer when it is hot. You’ll get some cherry and dark fruit notes on your first sip but if you wait until the coffee has cooled to ~125F you’ll find a layer of cooling jolly rancher and eucalyptus under those dark fruits. Letting the coffee cool helps to define flavor notes so the syrupy sweetness that you tasted when the coffee was hot will separate into distinct fruits as it cools.
Step Five: Practice sensory drinking. Most of the time when we drink coffee it is 12-16oz’s at a time, with big sips, in a heavy mug. For this coffee try doing the opposite. Drink a little bit at a time out of a shallow glass or bowl, I like using my whiskey glasses or tea cups. Take small sips and spray the coffee over palate with a slurp. This will coat your taste buds with a thin layer of coffee making it easy to pick out individual tasting notes. You don’t have to use a spoon or become a professional coffee taster, but a little extra attention to detail will allow you to experience the intricacies that are easy to miss when you drink out of a big mug.
Step Six: Enjoy! Make time and space to savor this special coffee. And once you get to know it a little try it as a Japanese iced coffee or espresso. Have fun with it and make it your own.
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Each new coffee that we bring in is another puzzle, another mystery to unlock. Different harvest times, bean densities, origin characteristics, and processing techniques all have subtle effects on how a coffee roasts. Finding the perfect roast profile for a coffee is a pseudo-scientific process of trail and error, best guesses, and lots of tasting. It usually takes 5-10 roasts to find a roast profile that we are happy with and every little mistake along the way teaches us something new about the coffee. So after a little over a month since our first roast and many cupping sessions here are our initial cupping notes; everything strange, magical, and delightful about our first Anaerobic Honduras.
Our first roasts of a new coffee are all about seeing what flavor’s can be unlocked at different roast levels so we will pull samples from various points in the roast to find which notes to bring out in the final product. Most coffees offer a fairly narrow range of drinkable brews with notes of hay and raw vegetation in the under-roasted beans and bitter, medicinal, ashy notes in the over-roasted beans. The Orlando was surprisingly drinkable across a broad spectrum of roasts with lime and tropical spice notes on the lighter side and a mouth-coating chocolate raspberry syrup on the darker side. We knew that somewhere in the middle was the perfect balance of verve, body, and clarity. The cupping notes from our first roasts were overwhelming and I thought we might be better off just crossing things off the flavor wheel because it seemed like we could taste every fruit flavor. Most natural processed coffees have a very intense aroma that carries into the taste but eventually gets lost in a mess of muddled funky flavors. The Anaerobic fermentation and raised bed drying give this coffee layers of flavor without sacrificing clarity or body. Some of the early roasts reminded me of fruit punch or tiki cocktails but we knew we were getting close to a great profile when we started pulling out notes of Campari and passionfruit syrup from the coffee. From there it just took a few little tweaks to make sure the citrus note wasn’t coming in too sharp and the roast level was just enough to make the fruit notes ripe and chocolatey but not stewed or burnt.
The combination of ripe red fruits, bitter orange, and a syrupy sweetness give this coffee the nostalgic comfort of a Hawaiian Punch and elegant finesse of a Negroni. And what I love most about this coffee is that it can still be enjoyed as coffee. Experimental fermentation coffee can often end up like sour beers or Natural wine- fun for a few sips but hard to drink everyday. But this coffee is able to keep my attention with its flavors while still delivering a rich texture and lingering sweetness that makes me want to come back for another sip.
At home I’ve been brewing most of my Orlando Arita on Chemex. The thick filters and lower concentration(1:16.5 ratio) gives the coffee exceptional clarity and makes it easy to pick out all of the individual notes. Be sure to grind a little finer to bring out all of the rich fruit notes, you’ll know you went too fine if the coffee taste bitter and the dried coffee bed looks muddy and takes more than 6 minutes to drain. If you want to accentuate the punchy-ness of this coffee try it on espresso or mocha pot. What the coffee looses in clarity it makes up for in sticky sweetness and a lingering tangy acidity. I taste great on its own, over ice, or in an Americano. I hope you enjoy getting to know this coffee as much as I have, don’t be afraid to experiment and find your own favorite way to enjoy this exceptional coffee.
]]>I drink coffee because it is delicious. As a member of the roasting and QC team at Groundswell I get to drink every batch of coffee and take meticulous notes on every subtle difference and flavor nuance. With each roast and cupping session comes another opportunity to unlock flavor and learn more about beauty and mystery of the coffee.
I realize that the relationship most people have with their coffee is much less complicated and as the ice thickens outside of my window and spring feels a lifetime away, I find myself craving the comforts of simple muddy coffee. It is easy to get caught up in tasting notes or pour-over techniques but some of the most pleasurable cups of coffee are the ones that bring warmth or a little lift of caffeine to make shoveling slightly less daunting.
When I am brewing coffee for myself in the winter and not tasting for work I usually use my French Press or moka pot. Both create a deliciously thick and slightly syrupy brew. Without a paper filter, the coffee retains its natural oils giving it a rich buttery texture like biting into hot pudding. Lots of coffee pros prefer filter coffee for its clarity and ability to showcase bright and fruity flavors. But the experience of a coffee is about more than just the sum of its flavors. This morning I’m drinking Nido de Aguila, Mexico on French Press and while I could pick out some cherry or hints of rosewater, I find myself savoring the creamy cocoa butter texture and deep fudge-y sweetness that lingers between sips. It creates a blissful coziness to sink into as the rattle of the radiator sings along with the spinning tires of the car stuck in ice outside.
In my years of making coffee I have thrown away countless undrinkable pour-overs, but I never mess up a French Press. Full immersion techniques like French Press are very forgiving so you don’t need to worry about getting the perfect grind or pouring the water at the precise temperature for the exact amount of time. I usually go with a medium to corse grind at a 15:1 ratio for 4 minutes. But don’t be afraid to try something different, like I said, it's hard to mess up a French Press.
One of my favorite things about making coffee is the ritual of preparations and creating a time and place to sit with something warm before starting the day. A 12 or 16oz brew gives me up to an hour of warmth and contemplation. But sometimes I want something a little bit denser and quicker in the spirit of an afternoon espresso- that’s when I reach for the moka pot. I’ve had my Bialetti 3 cup for more than a decade and it is as consistent and delicious as the day I bought it. Moka pot brewing can be a little trickier than French Press but with the right grind and little attention you can make it easier and more consistent than a real espresso machine. I use a fine grind(finer than drip, more course than espresso) and I pre-boil the water before adding the coffee. I never worry about weighing the coffee or water, I just fill the basket and water chamber, pull it off the heat once you hear it start bubbling and it turns out excellent every time.
I’ve been using the Expedition Blend in my Moka Pot because it makes incredibly syrupy and rich coffee that is perfect complemented by a bit of cream or splash of creme de menthe. The moka pot makes a brew that is about twice as concentrated as a traditional drip method so it is perfect for pouring over ice or to use in baking if you need to pack a lot of coffee flavor into a dough or glaze.
Winter won’t last forever and I know that by the time there are flowers on the trees and boats back in the harbor I’ll want some super fruity natural Ethiopian coffees, but until then I’m looking forward to a few more lazy mornings sipping muddy coffee in my fuzzy slippers.