The Coffee Connoisseur

Experiences of a new coffee enthusiast

[ithecoffeeconnoisseur]

The final pourover cuppa! So my stock of V60 optimal ground coffee is now over and the next pack pack of ground coffee I'm getting is for my old French press. I used to love the caramel tasting sludgy and oily brew from the French press, yet I'm going to miss the V60 until I get the next batch. The V60 gives great tasting coffee and the cleanup is instantaneous! In contrast I usually clean my French press only when I have brew the next cup! #pourovercoffee #coffee #frenchpress #musings #thecoffeecon https://www.instagram.com/p/CQtILqCL9PC/?utm_medium=tumblr

[ithecoffeeconnoisseur]

I happen to have a very fancy "gooseneck" kettle! I am striving to be so used to making coffee that I don't need any fancy accessories like a weighing scale or a special kettle to pour water. Though with pour over method, weighing scale is quite useful, it lets me know when to stop pouring the water 😆. #coffee #coffeelover #pourovercoffee #pourover #hariov60 #lightroastcoffee #lightroast #kettles #thecoffeecon https://www.instagram.com/p/CQBjoTJHYUQ/?utm_medium=tumblr

[ithecoffeeconnoisseur]

It's the quality of the coffee that really matters, the technique is just a fine tuning. The first time I made coffee in a pour over Hario V60, I hated the brew. I had followed every tip in the book, timed my brew and all but the result was simply awful in taste! But I was still intrigued by the popularity of the pour over brewing methods. So I asked my usual roasters for recommendations and they suggested a medium roast, single origin coffee. This time, I went by my gut instinct for a coffee ratio, didn't even use a "gooseneck kettle" but the brewed coffee was amazing! The trademark citrus and floral notes of a lighter roast were evident and for the first time i appreciated the pour over coffee! #coffee #coffeelover #lightroast #lightroastcoffee #indiancoffee #hariov60 #pourovercoffee #pourover #thecoffeecon https://www.instagram.com/p/CP-MeMMHcep/?utm_medium=tumblr

[ithecoffeeconnoisseur]

A French roast and a French press: mornings are sorted again.

[ithecoffeeconnoisseur]

Got myself manual coffee grinder!

[ithecoffeeconnoisseur]

Vienna Roast & My First Coffee Blend

I recently received another assortment of coffees from Blue Tokai roasters:

Seethargundu estate (light roast, washed)

Bibi Plantation (medium dark roast, washed)

Vienna roast (beans from Chikmagalur, dark roast & washed)

Vienna Roast

I have a new favourite roast now: the Vienna roast. It’s really the roast as not much of the original coffee’s flavour remains afterwards, that I have become the fan of. By definition, the Vienna roast is a dark roast, where the beans are roasted well into the 2nd crack (learned some new coffee lingo!). It’s not allowed to go to the extent of the French roast (which is the 2nd darkest roast, only topped by Italian roast). Given that the beans are of a good quality, the roast produces a rich aroma, a very nice body, and a flavour which is so characteristic of coffee (much closer to the nescafe instant).

I learned of a surprising fact: the darker a coffee is roasted, the more caffeine it loses. It means that a strong coffee carries much less caffeine than a lighter and more flavourful coffee. This is because caffeine is water soluble. When a coffee is roasted for an extended time it starts losing water after the first crack. With water, goes out the caffeine.

I depleted the Seethargundu estate reserve first. I’ll detail it in another post.

The Bibi Plantation

I found the Vienna roast, as I had been expecting, to be well suited to my taste. So ultimately I depleted my Vienna reserves rather fast. Only a little quantity remained. I had also tasted the Bibi plantation coffee, which was way lighter than Vienna. Now the Bibi plantation coffee was not initially my favourite. It professed to have toffee flavour. It was toffee but I discovered I didn’t like the toffee flavour all that much! But anyhow I was adamant on emptying this Bibi plantation packet before Vienna. But as days progressed, I learned to live with it and even appreciate the subtle caramel notes in this coffee. Still not my favouite but I’ll enjoy it anytime.

The Blend

Then one fine day, I find that both the coffees are nearly depleted. I decided to put one tablespoon full of the Bibi plantation roast and half a tablespoon of the Vienna roast in my French press and brew a cuppa. The result was good. My coffee cup carried the mellow sweet toffee notes (which I had despised earlier) and the brew was strong with a good body coming from the Vienna roast. I discovered the joys of blending my roasts. In coffee it seems that two varieties don’t nullify each other but rather come together and bring the best out of each one. Next time if you don’t like a lightly roasted coffee, go ahead and add in a stronger roasted coffee like Vienna or French. It’ll make the coffee more coffee like and still let you enjoy the citrus or caramel notes from the specialty coffee.

I’m not sure the procedure which the baristas or roasters follow, but I simple mixed the two coffees in assumed quantities together in the press. I shook the mix a little. I could see the difference between two coffees- a light muddy brown of Bibi, and a dark brown of the Vienna. I went on to add near boiling water (boiled first then allowed to cool for a few seconds) and let it brew for ~4 minutes.

Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash

[ithecoffeeconnoisseur]

The No Press French Press Method

Recently I came across a method to brew coffee using a French press where in the plunger is not used. The coffee is made to rest and settle down and then directly decanted. The value proposition of this method is that it removes the fine coffee granules which are inadvertently find their way into our cups. These fine particles are usually bitter and make the French press coffee muddy.

How to avoid these?

The usual process of the French press is - heat the press, add coffee, pour over the hot water, swirl with a spoon, wait 4 minutes, swirl again and then plunge/ filter the coffee. The double mesh filters keep the coarse and medium sized coffee grounds and allow the flavourful oils to seep through. These filters also allow the micro granules to seep into the decanted coffee.

To avoid it, the alternate technique recommends -

heat the press, add coffee, pour over hot water, stir with a spoon and let it rest for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, a crust of coffee ground forms over the brew. Using two spoons, gently remove just this layer of crust from the top. Now let the brew sit for another 6 minutes while all the micro grounds settle down at the bottom. After 6 minutes, simply decant the coffee out into a cup or a carafe. It should not be filtered as the plunge will cause a turbulence in the brew and the fine granules will get mixed up again.

The resulting coffee is supposed to be free of the muddiness, while retaining the sharp flavourfulness of a French press brew.

How it really was?

I tried the technique. The resulting coffee had all the desired notes. However I felt that the result was a bit too sharp for my taste. I kind of like the muddiness, which adds to the body of the coffee. This coffee was clear, and did a break dance on my tongue. I won’t say it was bad - certainly a lot of people love this technique. I might try it again someday, with a milder coffee ground. Till then the plunge is my kick!

[ithecoffeeconnoisseur]

The French Roast

I tried my 3rd assortment - the French Roast. Its a dark roast, actually the darkest that the company provides. It comes from Chikmagalur, a known coffee plantations destination in Karnataka. Its a regular washed coffee grown at 1100 meters. Here, its the roast which works. And surprisingly, I found my preference after trying this 3rd flavour.

The Coffee

Its certainly sharp. With a lot of character. So the first thing you notice upon opening the packet is the aroma which quickly takes over your surroundings. Its pretty much similar to the ideal/ most prevalent coffee aroma (which we’re used to). I again used the French press, and the brew I got in result was strong in flavour, sharp in the bite, surprisingly not extremely high in acidity. Bitterness was handled well- the resulting taste was certainly tending towards bitterness, but it was rather enjoyable. I have used various proportions in preparing it: 14 g in 300 ml, 10 g, etc etc. I have heard on YouTube various people recommending 1:15 ratio.My standard mug of coffee is 300 ml which I usually brew. This gives me 20 g of coffee powder. I have tried reaching this level, but I didn’t exactly like the resulting brew. My happy place for this coffee (the French roast) is roughly 10 g for 300 ml water. Letting it sit for slightly more than 4 minute. The brew has the right body, which I like to be thicker, with more sediment than a clear one. 

The Verdict

Upon tasting the three coffees - the Attican, the Harley and the French, I personally have liked the French more than the rest. But that’s totally my personal flavour preference, and honestly, really depends on the mood and flavour. I’m still very happy to drink the fruity Harley estate coffee, on certain days, especially when the food I’m having with it is bland - ish in taste - like the scrambled eggs on toasted bread which I cook. The Attican estate coffee packet has long since emptied and I would really like to taste it again. 

What I have found from my l’experience petite is that washed coffee beans are more sharp tasting and closer to the instant coffee smells we know, and that the naturally extracted ones (one’s which are left out in the open to ferment) have a very characteristic and deep flavour or rather flavours - of citrus and sweet fruits. It’s amazing how flavours of nature can be mimicked through natural processes. The characteristic tang of an orange can be created by allowing a berry of coffee to ferment!

Next up - my experience with the popular no press technique of using the French press, which they say, results in a lot less sediment in your cup.

[ithecoffeeconnoisseur]

The Harley Estate coffee

I couldn't resist and opened up the second coffee pack titled "Harley estate". Specification wise, it's a naturally processed coffee which means that the berries are not washed instead they are left out to dry and rot to extract the beans. This method is supposed to lend a number of flavours to the coffee due to fermentation. Also, this coffee is grown at an elevation of 950-1040 m which is almost half a km lower than the attican estate. It comes from Salkeshpur, a hill town in Karnataka. The roast is medium.

Now, about the taste. This was my first time drinking a fruity coffee. First thing I noticed was the mild and nice flavour which was in contrast to the sharp flavour of the Attican. At first I felt the coffee is a bit watery, with low body but soon I realised it's not the case. Instead I experienced a blast of fruity flavours. At one point it almost felt as if I'm drinking hot juice! But it was nice. The pack says, strawberry, blood orange and green apple. I tasted lots of citrus blended nicely with the other tones. On the other hand, this coffee is light in colour - almost light brown, milk chocolate colour. I drank it some time before bed and I didn't really feel the caffeine disturbing my sleeping pattern. It's either that the coffee is mild or that I already have too much caffeine in my system to feel any effects (lol).

Comparision to the Attican estate, which BTW comes from B.R. hills in Karnataka -

I can't compare the two. It's chocolate vs oranges! You'll enjoy Harley as a specialty coffee which carries a lot of sweet taste and fruity tones. Attican meanwhile is more mainstream and strong.

[ithecoffeeconnoisseur]

Blue Tokai - Attikan Estate

I ordered some coffee from the blue tokai the coffee roasters some days ago and got my ordered delivered today. The roasting date was 27th May, so the time elapsed since the beans were roasted would have been between 24 hours to 12 hours.

I’m kind of new to the coffee scene and have only started drinking home brewed coffee (i.e., brewed from grounds and not instant coffee) only from January this year. Prior to that I was oblivious to the depth of the coffee drinking around the world.

This post is intended to record and showcase my experience with this new coffee I received.

So I ordered an assortment of 3 coffees. I realized later that all 3 would be roasted the same day so my reviews would be biased unless I opened them the same day. Since I still am at a 1 cup per day stage (and tend to stay there), I’m opting to open just one variety and keep the other two packs intact.

The one which I opened and brewed is called “Attican Estate”. It’s a single origin coffee, Arabica beans, grown at an elevation between 1200-1650 m, and the berries are washed to get the beans. The pack says the beans were roasted to a medium dark roast. I have a French Press so I ordered the grind to be coarse. Surprisingly, their website allows customers to select roasts according to the method/ equipment instead of offering size options. Which means that the website offered “French Press” as the grind option instead of coarse/ medium/ fine etc. So I had to trust them and order according to the equipment. Here’s what I got while opening the pack and brewing a cuppa:

First thing I felt was that the grind was finer than expected. And after brewing, it was not a problem but there was evident muddiness/ dredged at the bottom of my cup. But it was nothing which ruined the cup for me.

Brewing -  I chose to use roughly ~10 g coffee for ~300 ml water. I found I was used less coffee than I should have. But I’ll give credit to the coffee - there was no loss of body or notes- just dilution.

The coffee - Its just been 24 hours since the roasting so the coffee might not have taken its full flavour yet. First thing I noticed when I took the first sip was the flavour or the notes. The very woody flavour was evident and was dominant. But as I progressed into drinking more, more and newer flavours made their presence felt. There was some sweetness - the packet says it has notes of figs and yes sweeter notes were present, albeit lesser than woody ones. One thing which was evident was the body. This coffee has a good amount of body. Also was present -  a tinge of acidity, which gives a little sour under-taste but very little.

Summarizing, I’m looking forward to drink my second cup of the Attikan. I’ll be using more than 10 grams for my 300 ml cup. I hope the flavour becomes better. But this coffee is good. Compared to my only benchmark - Starbucks’ Indian Estates Blend - Its different but it surely stands up!