Hello Good Readers, I figure, before going on ahead with coffee reviews, let me share some terms, some reference, some guidelines for coffee. DO NOT WORRY. It’s a simple introduction, so that coffee reviews in the future can be understood better. 1- Coffee comes from coffee berries. The beans from the berries are extracted and called the “green bean” 2- There are three general types of beans. Two of which is commonly used in our coffee drinks. 3- The two common ones are Arabica & Robusta. The third one is Liberica, and is less common than the other two. 4- Arabica is preferred in most part of the world. It has lower caffeine content compared to Robusta. 5- NOT NECESSARILY, a good coffee is graded by its bean type/origin. Some famous bean types are Kona beans (from Hawaii), Ethiopian (from Ethiopia), and Sumatra (from Indonesia). 6- Most of the time, a good cup of coffee is a result of its roasting and preparation. 7- SO THAT IS WHY, when we go to Starbucks and buy coffee beans, we can see the characterization is mixed. On one hand we have the French Roast (a method of roasting), and on the other hand we have Sumatra Dark (a type/origin of bean + method of roasting) ROASTING 1- Can be generally categorized in to three: Blonde, Medium, Dark 2- Dark roasted beans are beans that were roasted for a longer period of time. The taste will be bolder, and more sugary. 3- Blonde or Medium roasts has more complex characteristics, this is due to leftover acids+fats that are still retained within the beans. Sometimes, I personally crave for this kind of coffee. However often I find myself drinking the dark roasts. PREPARATION 1- The most preferred method to prepare coffee around the world is Espresso. Meaning shooting steam of hot water thru ground beans. Resulting in concentrated coffee taste. Shooting half of Espresso will result in even more concentrated coffee, called the Ristretto. 2- Though sometimes coffee is brewed, or cold brewed, to harvest the more complex taste – since Espresso method shoots steam too fast, it failed to capture some of the complexity in the beans. Most commonly brewed coffee is the Ethiopian, or the Hawaiian coffee. 3- Through various methods and mixtures, different kinds of coffee drinks are created. Latte, macchiato, Americano etc etc. 4- Most of the time, to really evaluate the coffee itself (meaning its origin + roasting + method of preparation, without the techniques used to mix with other ingredients), people drink the espresso or the Americano. IS THIS A GOOD COFFEE?? 1- Sip a cup of coffee, and if you like it… Well, who are other people to deny your tastebuds? If you think your cup of fancy sweet coffee is good, why listen to some elitist or connoisseur that says it’s not original? 2- But if you want to know more, the explanation can be made simple. Coffee can be evaluated in simple term – Boldness, Acidity, Complexity & Finishing. To evaluate these characters, you will have to take espresso, Americano, or Brewed coffee. 3- Most of the time, nobody (except serious coffee lovers)cares about these characteristics. I mean, who cares if the coffee has deep, sweetly bright taste, with honeysuckle and crisp hint of cacao nib. Rich resonant chocolaty finish? 4- For starters, go to your nearest Starbucks, and order an Americano. Then, head to the nearest Espresso Lab, and also order an Americano. Compare the taste between the two, and this can be the start of your benchmarking! I personally, really enjoy the coffee at Espresso Lab. Many would say it’s too commercial. Some would prefer the Artisan coffee, or Gino coffee, or some coffee in some hipster-garage-shop-somewhere. In the end, nobody can win in the real sense. In my future entries, I will evaluate coffee based on how much effort is being put to choose, roast, and techniques used to prepare the coffee. A bad coffee would mean: it’s plain, near tasteless, premature, wrong combination with milk to make the latte, lazy preparation, blunt, dull, too earthy. A good coffee would mean: Can be bold or complex, has identity, combines well with milk showing good selection, prepared with a lot of effort to bring out the characteristics, identifiable characters An excellent coffee would mean: Bright, strong identity (bold or complex), characteristics can be clearly identified (some people play safe by selecting beans with smoky aroma and finish), AND GOOD/EXOTIC ORIGINS will give bonus points Syabil the Cofee Maniac
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 14:31:41 +0000
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