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Roasting Your Jolt, continued
Blending Coffees
Eventually I medium-roasted and tasted Costa Rican, Brazilian,
Mexican, Guatemalan, Colombian, and Panamanian coffees. They were all quite good, but they were not all the same. I could divide them into two categories:
The Category I coffees pretty well stood alone and were very lively, maybe a little too lively; the Category II coffees were good, solid, but not spectacular. Up to this point I had steered away from any coffees from Africa and Asia; I'd get to those eventually. Could I blend a good drinking coffee or two and a good espresso that would brew well on my home coffee makers? I turned to the book and my friend Bill again. To make a never-ending story short, blending combines softer coffees (Category II) with a classic or two from Category I to achieve a taste with strong body and an interesting personality. I used Brazil for the base and Terrazu for the highlights, blended 50/50. Later I reduced the pushy Terrazu to 30%. Results were good, but I've got more to do before I'm satisfied. | |||||
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I'm No Fanatic
I want a coffee blend (or two, or three) that I can enjoy
drinking at home. I don't want a coffee obsession–just a functional way to make good coffee with interesting variety. Roasting my own beans has been an easy, satisfying way to achieve that at a fairly reasonable price. The coffee is good, the aroma is great. I make only what I want. Roasting my own has actually reduced the amount of coffee I drink every day. It's better coffee, so I'm not searching for satisfaction. I'm pretty sure I'll never buy a special coffee roaster; the popcorn popper works fine. When it wears out I'll get another one, probably from my local flea market.
What's next?
Espresso! That dark, mysterious, bitterish brew! It's one of my
favorite treats. I'm starting work now on a blend which will be good on my little Krups espresso maker, a plain home-type machine. The book says I won't succeed; the machine's not as good as a real espresso machine. But they don't know me! As with the roaster, I'm sure I'll never sink a lot of money into an expensive espresso machine. Hey! I'm not starting a coffee bar. I just want to enjoy some of the interesting things in life.
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Of course you can.
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Could You Do It?
A good way to start is to read Kenneth Davids' book on home roasting. Just click the book jackets here or on the previous page to connect to Amazon.com. Next, see if you can find a coffee roaster in your area that will sell you green beans. There are lots of sites on the internet that deal in green coffee and advice and articles on home roasting. Contact me via our feedback email address if I can help:
 The brain work, like matching roast colors, you'll have to do yourself, which is what makes it fun. The pictures I've included in this article are as accurate, color-wise, as I could make them, but color matching on the web is not really very accurate at all. Go by Davids' descriptions and keep your eye on the beans.
It's A Gift
For Christmas I gave my family members little packages of my
fresh home-roasted coffee as stocking stuffers. I've also given some to my friends to try, and to Bill Hoffart, who was so helpful while I was starting. He pronounced it drinkable. I agreed.
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