m i s c e l l a n e o u s m i n u t i a e
tips, tricks & how to's to survive the world of coffee
HOW TO TELL IF YOUR ROASTER IS GIVING YOU THE RUN AROUND
People ask me all the time why Brown does not have a "liquid coffee" retail outlet. The simple answer is that we're doing our best to learn everything we can about roasting exceptional coffee before we venture into a whole other world of retailing exceptional coffee. The two don't necessarily go hand in hand. Heck, sometimes roasters do their best to pull the proverbial wool over their customers' eyes with pyrotechnic mumbo-jumbo and other business slights of hand. Here's a rundown of what to look for from a roasting company that is doing their best to bring you the best every time.
TRANSPARENCY Quality-focused roasters love it. Mediocre coffee purveyors like to talk about it. Sub-par slingers sicken at the very sound of it. What is it? In a nutshell, transparency is the ability and willingness of a roaster to tell you as much as you, the consumer would like to know about where the coffee you purchase from them came from--what farm, cooperative, mill, importer/exporter, crop season, processing method, any relevant certifications attached to the coffee, etc. A really honest roaster will even give you a reasonable justification for any extra price you are asked to pay versus other coffees in their lineup. (Examples of price premiums would be special protective packaging to protect freshness, higher premiums paid directly to farmers to support certain farm community projects, etc.) Look for packaging or other info from your roaster about as many details as they can provide for you about where your coffee came from and how it has been processed as just a couple signs of quality as it pertains to open transparency.
GETTING YOUR DATES STRAIGHT We're not talking about a young buck keeping his little black book in good working order. We're referring to the dating system used (if any) of your roaster. Quick. Go to your kitchen and get the package of coffee you most recently purchased. What information does it give you about quality as it pertains to freshness? Does it merely SAY it's fresh on the package? Does it give you any suggestions for how long you have to wait before you should throw out your coffee? Or does your roaster take the extraordinary step of printing on the packaging the actual date it was roasted? This may seem like a minor issue, but freshness is everything in achieving caffeinated nirvana and if your coffee is too old--or gives you only very vague information about its age--then you are put at a significant disadvantage in the pursuit of the perfect cup.
So, to review, when understanding coffee freshness, which of these choices is the best?
A) Packaging marketing hype that only says it's fresh
B) A note that tells you "Use By" a certain date, or
C) Information telling you exactly how fresh your coffee is by printing a date certain right on the bag when your coffee was roasted
? ? ?
If you guessed "C" you are the winner. Consider that your roaster may have something to hide if he only talks freshness or gives you a "Use By" date. (i.e., He can't move beans quickly enough to justify telling you truthfully when your coffee was actually roasted.)
BE WARY OF THE HUGE BAG O' BEANS Anyone knowingly and willingly selling a retail customer a package of coffee bigger than one pound is simply trying to move more product and doesn't care about quality. Yes, all roasters would love to sell every customer five pounds as opposed to just one. But in their heart of hearts they know that the customer has very little chance of getting to the bottom of that coffee purchase freshly. It's just nigh unto impossible to maintain freshness--even with resealable packaging--once that package has been opened and the roasted beans exposed to freshness-stealing oxygen, light and moisture. Very, very few people drink that much coffee in a week or two, which is your basic time frame for purchasing fresh coffee.
There are other things to watch out for, but these are some of the basics. So keep your eyes peeled for these and other "tricks" of the trade.
BE WARY OF THE HUGE BAG O' BEANS Anyone knowingly and willingly selling a retail customer a package of coffee bigger than one pound is simply trying to move more product and doesn't care about quality. Yes, all roasters would love to sell every customer five pounds as opposed to just one. But in their heart of hearts they know that the customer has very little chance of getting to the bottom of that coffee purchase freshly. It's just nigh unto impossible to maintain freshness--even with resealable packaging--once that package has been opened and the roasted beans exposed to freshness-stealing oxygen, light and moisture. Very, very few people drink that much coffee in a week or two, which is your basic time frame for purchasing fresh coffee.
There are other things to watch out for, but these are some of the basics. So keep your eyes peeled for these and other "tricks" of the trade.
THE FOUR KEYS TO STELLAR COFFEE
Keep in mind that the way to hit a home run in the game of home brewing is to hit all four bases: Proportion, Grind, Water and Freshness. If any of these are awry you will end up committing the cardinal sin...mediocre (or worse!) coffee.
Proportion--The recommended portions for brewing coffee are two tablespoons of coffee to six fluid ounces of water. That's not Brown's recipe for coffee...it's the recipe for coffee. Don't listen to your Grandma Jones talk about how they had to use a thimble full of coffee per gallon and then reuse the grounds to conserve it during the days of the Great Depression. Remember: two to six. Two to six. Two to six.
Grind--It's important to grind only what you plan to brew immediately. And it's important to grind your coffee appropriately for the kind of brewing method you intend to use. As a general rule, the longer the coffee will be in contact with hot water the coarser the grinds should be. If you're unsure the coarseness/fineness, invest in a burr grinder that has the little pictograms on the side for different settings.
Water--Considering that your coffee is almost 98% water, it's pretty important that the water be good water; and good water means cold and fresh. Bottled water is good. Filtered water from home is also fine. The tap? Right out. Lord only knows what's in your city's sewers.
Freshness--Roasted coffee will keep freshest for 10-14 days. Once you grind it, however, that number plummets to 1-2 days. And just as it's a good idea to grind only what you plan to brew immediately, it's also a keen idea to buy only what you think you can consume within about two weeks. Brown (and any other fine coffee purveyor) would rather you buy less coffee more often than to stock up once a quarter and know that coffee will not be at its optimal freshness peak. No, it won't go sour like bad milk. Think of it more like a loaf of freshly baked bread. Getting to it at its peak freshness is the key to its fullest enjoyment.
Now, a quick word about fridges/freezers. Don't. For one, you're only going to buy what you can consume in fairly short order, right (see paragraph above)? Second, coffee acts very much like baking soda you put in your fridge/freezer...it absorbs all the surrounding odors and flavors. Plus, since oxygen and moisture are among roasted coffee's biggest enemies, leaving them in the fridge/freezer is like giving them a healthy dose of both of those. Your kitchen countertop--or any area of your home that is room temp and away from direct heat, sunlight, is fine. And no need to buy expensive containers. Cheap Tupperware works perfectly fine so long as you burp it as you close it.