Do you folks like coffee?

[Joe Gress]

coffee

Interesting tasting notes there, Joe Gress. You'll definitely be able to taste more of what the actual bean is like with a lighter roast. I'd suggest trying some Central American or African coffees. The Africans tend to be fruity and naturally slightly sweeter. Central Americans tend to be smoother. I like Costa Rican and Kenyan coffees a lot.

Is there a coffee shop near you that does pour overs? That'd be a good way to get a better sense of what you like.

I've definitely been looking at different stuff as of late outside of the Americas. I ordered some coffee (but it's still all dark roasts) from a company called Deans Beans this past week, I'm really looking forward to trying them when they get here. I have a few different choices of coffee making; Moka Pot, pour-over, Aero-Press, frech press. I also have my own grinder as well. Can't stand machines though. Every time I get a coffee that someone else made, I usually end up not drinking all of it. Cold brew, hot, poured over ice, I love it all as long as it's the way I make it with my choice of dark roast haha.

[Joe Gress]

I've been big into Papua New Guinea beans, recently. Counter Culture works with a few farmers out there and shit is top notch. Sweet, but not as fruity as the Yrgacheffes.

Counter Culture looks damn tasty, but when I can get a pound of local organic and fair trade stuff for half the cost, it's really hard to justify.

[Chankgeez]

The Counter Culture stuff really is, as fooman says, top notch. They go above and beyond in sourcing quality beans. Well worth it if you can afford.

I feel you though. Right now I've barely been drinking coffee at all because I can't afford the good stuff. I've been drinking decent coffee occasionally, but it's just not the same.

See if you can find a roaster that you might wanna try that offers sample-size amounts of beans and order a few. I just looked at the Dean's Beans site and they do. Don't know if that's what you ordered, but other quality roasters probably will as well. Don't think I've ever tried Dean's Beans.

[Joe Gress]

The Counter Culture stuff really is, as fooman says, top notch. They go above and beyond in sourcing quality beans. Well worth it if you can afford.

I feel you though. Right now I've barely been drinking coffee at all because I can't afford the good stuff. I've been drinking decent coffee occasionally, but it's just not the same.

See if you can find a roaster that you might wanna try that offers sample-size amounts of beans and order a few. I just looked at the Dean's Beans site and they do. Don't know if that's what you ordered, but other quality roasters probably will as well. Don't think I've ever tried Dean's Beans.

Yeah I was curious and decided to go for it. I got their Ahabs revenge and Ring of Fire. The flavor profiles sound interesting and quite robust.

I mostly drink The KGBlend (dark blend) from Dazbog coffee out of Denver. I can get the stuff for less than $10/lbs and I know the local King Soopers gets it fresh. I also love their Sumatra and Mocha Java as well. There's also a little roaster here called Solar Roast, but even their darkest roast isn't quite what I like. It is the one place I can buy coffee (at a store) and enjoy the whole thing though.

[Joe Gress]

I love, love, love coffee, but I have to watch it. My BP gets too high. UGH. My favorite is Kenyan coffee! OMG it's good! I actually know a gentleman from Kenya, haven't seen him a long, long time (kind of worrisome, but that's another story), he brought over some coffee from Kenya and it was fucking amazing!

Oh and the coffee Goroth sent me is amazing too! Sweed coffee!

Have you tried making it cold to see if it's the acids that are raising it?

[Jwar]

Hmm no haven't thought of that! I'll try cold coffee and see! Thanks dude!

[goroth]

I'd go for a medium roast over a light roast. Light roasts are really hard to get right, whereas mediums give you a really strong bean flavour without the overbearing roast flavour of a dark roast. I also agree with Chanks - try an African coffee. Rwandan stuff is a nice starter I think - pretty well balanced and not as crazy as Ethiopian or as inanely individual as Kenyan.

@iommi: there is a good roaster just near the Big Pineapple. Can't remember the name.

[foomanfat]

Oh! Coffee gear thought: I switched from Chemex to a Kalita Wave "style set" and am liking the setup a lot more. Also went in on an Acaia Pearl scale. That thing is real nice.

[popvulture]

Yirgacheffe (or more broadly Ethiopia in general) is by faaaaaar my favorite, especially natural process. I like em fruity as hell... I know some people find those fruit bomb coffees a bit much, but I guess they'll always remain my fave because they really turned me on to how crazily unexpected a coffee's profiles can be. Madcap Ardi is probably my favorite, also have loved offerings from Counter Culture, Olympia and Ruby. Oh and BOW TRUSS... out of Chicago, don't think they get enough love. So damn good.

Anyway, v jealous of your Acacia, foomanfat! I've been thinking about getting one of those for a while. That said, I went super nerdy for a couple years and acquired nearly every pour over/immersion method, totally burned myself out after a while and am now being lazy with a Bonavita drip machine. It's pretty great

[Joe Gress]

Oh! Coffee gear thought: I switched from Chemex to a Kalita Wave "style set" and am liking the setup a lot more. Also went in on an Acaia Pearl scale. That thing is real nice.

I probably should get a scale for more consistency, but most of my coffee making is pretty much by feel, taste, and smell haha. Very non-scientific, but I know what I am looking for, and I've got it consistent for my tastes. Everyone else says stuff like: "Joe this is like 16oz of pure espresso!" "It's too strong!" "Really Joe, another shot of bourbon in it?"

[Joe Gress]

Yirgacheffe (or more broadly Ethiopia in general) is by faaaaaar my favorite, especially natural process. I like em fruity as hell... I know some people find those fruit bomb coffees a bit much, but I guess they'll always remain my fave because they really turned me on to how crazily unexpected a coffee's profiles can be.

What kind of fruity though? Is it sour-ish like grapefruit (IPAs), sweet citrusy like mandarin, rich like ripe dark cherrys, or darker like figs and dates?

[popvulture]

Yirgacheffe (or more broadly Ethiopia in general) is by faaaaaar my favorite, especially natural process. I like em fruity as hell... I know some people find those fruit bomb coffees a bit much, but I guess they'll always remain my fave because they really turned me on to how crazily unexpected a coffee's profiles can be.

What kind of fruity though? Is it sour-ish like grapefruit (IPAs), sweet citrusy like mandarin, rich like ripe dark cherrys, or darker like figs and dates?

I'd say it's kind of in the plum zone. It's funny because I always thought coffee tasting notes sounded tremendously pretentious and unbelievable... then one day a barista told me that a particular Ethiopian coffee of the day was "jammy..." and it really tasted like fruit preserves to me. Grape jelly, even. That moment pretty much made me a believer.

Another descriptor I hear a lot when it comes to Ethiopian coffee and find pretty fitting: tea-like. If brewed a little weaker, this quality's much more pronounced, and I think in general it goes along well with the plummy/jammy sort of thing I just mentioned. A lot of oolong and pu erh teas have those stone fruit kinds of notes.

I feel like I should be twiddling my mustache with my pinky.

[Joe Gress]

See plum is a good go for me. It's not as sweet, but it also is a little lighter than say fig tastes; a little more reserved for a morning coffee. I think I'll try some Ethiopian stuff soon.

It's funny, my tastes and how I describe them come directly from beer and my love of all things beer. I've always loved trying and finding different tastes, but found describing the tastes harder. Tasting actual food that the beer tastes like (say grapefruit or citrus with IPAs, coffee and chocolate with stouts) while drinking said beer really helped. I've started doing that with coffee too. I don't think it's mustache twiddling, just knowing you taste profile, and how to detect and describe it.

Till like this morning when I put chili and a tiny sneeze of nutmeg into the grounds, to over exemplify the roasty smokiness of the coffee, and then some bourbon to sweeten the vanilla and caramel notes in the back end.

I think I like my coffee like I like my stouts. I love stouts.

[popvulture]

Haha yep, I don't think it's too mustache twiddly if you actually taste it. Those notes can be so comically left-field-sounding sometimes though that it almost seems like they're made up. With Ethiopian coffees though, I'm a firm believer that those crazy descriptions are 100% the real deal.

You should try to get a natural process Ethiopian if you can find one, or better yet one natural and one washed. The difference is crazy!

I'm not a drinking man anymore, but my favorite beers were/are Saison Dupont and Schneider Weisse—I guess the fruitiness in those two would parallel my coffee tastes, although they're more in a citrusy direction.

[Chankgeez]

Himmelstrutz roasting his own:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejYUEcuo6to[/youtube]