Coffee Serendipity?

[KevinD]

I already mentioned to Dennis, the info that I'm about to share with you...

First let me start with a question – What do you drink for your morning Joe (American slang for coffee)?

Not having any coffee roasters or specialty stores near to me that roast coffees, my preferred choice in coffee beans is Starbucks and of that brand, I prefer their Indonesian beans. Sumatra is a single bean type coffee while Komodo is a blend of different Indonesian beans.  Both are dark roasted coffee which I happen to also prefer.

I find it funny that my preferred coffee comes from Indonesia and that my favorite blend is named Komodo.  I'm sure we can all agree that there are at least a few great things that come from Indonesia and we especially love our Komodos so with that I give you (tongue in cheek) Komodo Joe:

Is it another bit of serendipity that the image on the bag of coffee is a dragon?  After all we seem to have a few KK's with dragon influenced names... 

Edited July 18, 2016 by KevinD

[CeramicChef]

Kevin, years ago I had a good friend who is addicted to all things coffee introduce me to what I call Cat Crap Coffee.  You know it made fro beans that are eaten by a specific cat and they pass through and are excreted in the spoor.  Then some poor fool has to gather the cat crap and process the beans.  I found it to be a very nice cup of Joe, but nothing that I'd spend the kind of money to have every day.  My friend calls me a Philistine to this day.

My go to coffee os Dunkin Donuts.  Years ago in grad school, a bunch of us went looking for the perfect cup of coffee from all kinds of available beans ... Starbucks, Community, etc.  Starbucks didn't even make the Top Five.  Dunkin Donuts was the runaway winner, followed bya chicory coffe from NOLA, then Seattle's Best.  It was a blind tasting.  I brewed all the coffee in my Bunn Coffee Maker.  Being a bunch of Statistics Geek, we twisted the data every way we could.  Dunkin Dinuts coffee really won going away.  Just plain old Dunkin Donuts.  Who woulda thunk it?

[Shuley]

I already mentioned to Dennis, the info that I'm about to share with you...

First let me start with a question – What do you drink for your morning Joe (American slang for coffee)?

Not having any coffee roasters or specialty stores near to me that roast coffees, my preferred choice in coffee beans is Starbucks and of that brand, I prefer their Indonesian beans. Sumatra is a single bean type coffee while Komodo is a blend of different Indonesian beans.  Both are dark roasted coffee which I happen to also prefer.

I find it funny that my preferred coffee comes from Indonesia and that my favorite blend is named Komodo.  I'm sure we can all agree that there are at least a few great things that come from Indonesia and we especially love our Komodos so with that I give you (tongue in cheek) Komodo Joe:

Is it another bit of serendipity that the image on the bag of coffee is a dragon?  After all we seem to have a few KK's with dragon influenced names... 

In addition to my Kamado habit my other hobby is roasting coffee. I have had my gene cafe coffee roaster for about 2 years now. The difference drinking coffee that has been roasted 2 days ago is unbelievable...at least to me. Then again I put nothing in my coffee. I order all my beans from sweet Marias. I tend to order different varieties each time and usually have 4 different varieties at a time. My husband leans towards specific coffees from Columbia. I like trying new coffees all the time so it's hard to pick a favorite.

[Shuley]

Kevin, years ago I had a good friend who is addicted to all things coffee introduce me to what I call Cat Crap Coffee.  You know it made fro beans that are eaten by a specific cat and they pass through and are excreted in the spoor.  Then some poor fool has to gather the cat crap and process the beans.  I found it to be a very nice cup of Joe, but nothing that I'd spend the kind of money to have every day.  My friend calls me a Philistine to this day.

My go to coffee os Dunkin Donuts.  Years ago in grad school, a bunch of us went looking for the perfect cup of coffee from all kinds of available beans ... Starbucks, Community, etc.  Starbucks didn't even make the Top Five.  Dunkin Donuts was the runaway winner, followed bya chicory coffe from NOLA, then Seattle's Best.  It was a blind tasting.  I brewed all the coffee in my Bunn Coffee Maker.  Being a bunch of Statistics Geek, we twisted the data every way we could.  Dunkin Dinuts coffee really won going away.  Just plain old Dunkin Donuts.  Who woulda thunk it?

This does not surprise me at all. Before I started roasting my coffee， dunkin donuts was my go to for coffee beans. Any time when I forget to order green beans in time， we always drink dunkin donuts until my shippment arrives. It's a very solid coffee in my opinion.

[ckreef]

I want to try a cup of cat crap coffee - can I start feeding my cats beans?

.

Seriously I would try it. I have no food phobias.

.

Reef's Bistro

[CeramicChef]

Charles, it was really good coffee.  But I'm wondering a couple of things about that Cat Crap Coffee.  

First, who noticed that the beans came out of the cat unscathed?

Second, who followed the cat around collecting cat crap for beans?

Third, who was the poor schmuck that got rookied into taking the first drink of Cat Crap Coffee by his "friends"?  You know nobody would in on the joke was gonna go first!

[Aussie Ora]

I'm a mocha fan coffee and chocolate to lovley

Outback Kamado Bar and Grill♨

[tony b]

I'm a Counter Culture Coffee guy (they are out of Raleigh NC). Lots of single farm coffees from all over the world - Central/South America, Africa, Indonesia. Selection varies with harvest times. https://counterculturecoffee.com/store/coffee

If you like the darker roasted styles, try Baby's Coffee out of Key West (they have a bigger processing plant in Louisiana). https://www.babyscoffee.com/

If you want to try something a bit unique, go for Pinion Dark Roast out of New Mexico. https://smile.amazon.com/Piñon-Coffee-Dark-Whole-Bean/dp/B00PBFANKQ

[Nuprin]

12 hours ago, tony b said:

I'm a Counter Culture Coffee guy (they are out of Raleigh NC). Lots of single farm coffees from all over the world - Central/South America, Africa, Indonesia. Selection varies with harvest times. https://counterculturecoffee.com/store/coffee

If you like the darker roasted styles, try Baby's Coffee out of Key West (they have a bigger processing plant in Louisiana). https://www.babyscoffee.com/

If you want to try something a bit unique, go for Pinion Dark Roast out of New Mexico. https://smile.amazon.com/Piñon-Coffee-Dark-Whole-Bean/dp/B00PBFANKQ

Yup, they are in my backyard and what we serve at our cafe.  They are the Komodo Kamado of coffee.  Hard for some people to understand until they've had some experience with it.  Starbucks and Dunkin are not in the same league in quality but not everyone has had the opportunity to try the difference.  And honestly it takes some getting used to as palates change when you learn more about what you're drinking.  Please don't be offended...not telling anyone they shouldn't enjoy their coffee, just saying there's stuff out there that is a much higher quality product; from the species of coffee trees, to farming techniques to drying/fermentation processes to roasting and finally to cup preparation.  

Indonesia has been producing coffee for a while but often their process is not held to the highest standards when compared to the best coffee growing/producing countries such as Ethiopia or Panama.  Counter Culture has had a hard time getting farmers there to produce high quality coffee and has only offered 2 selections over the last 6 years from Indonesia.  If you've had coffees from other regions that you didn't like, often the case is the roaster doesn't know what they're doing and they're not sourcing from farms that know what they're doing.  Most farms produce coffee as a commodity and more interested in volume rather than quality.  Then you have specialty, very small farms that are truly artisanal, like Dennis is with KKs. 

Counter Culture Coffee now has a 2nd roasting facility in California so you may want to see if a local cafe carries them or order from their website.

 

 

[tony b]

Great feedback on the Indo coffee. To be quite honest, they were never one of my favorites. Much prefer Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or their nice La Golondrina. Been drinking a lot of their Apollo and Fast Forward blends lately.

[Nuprin]

2 hours ago, tony b said:

Great feedback on the Indo coffee. To be quite honest, they were never one of my favorites. Much prefer Ethiopian Yirgacheffe or their nice La Golondrina. Been drinking a lot of their Apollo and Fast Forward blends lately.

 

Ah, La Golondrina is no longer of the old from 3-6 years ago...it used to be chocolate/cherry notes, really missing that in the new batch.  Try the Los Rosales or Sipicapa for savory or any of the Sun Dried Naturals when they come out...they are usually very strong notes of either strawberry, blueberry or raspberry.   They're coming out so many new coffees (Single Origins) that it's really hard to keep up with and I sell the stuff lol.  We're usually offering at least 8-10 coffees at any given time and have had up to 20 or so when multiple microlots come out at the same time.

If you didn't know, Lem Butler, our Raleigh CCC rep & a really cool dude, recently won the US Barista Championships and placed 4th at the World Barista Championship against 60 other countries. Luckily I got a chance to try the coffee he was using for his competition back in May. 

http://baristamagazine.com/blog/lem-bultler-wins-2016-united-states-barista-championship/

https://www.worldcoffeeevents.org/congratulations-to-2016-world-barista-champion-berg-wu-of-taiwan/

Hope you guys get to try some of their stuff.

[tony b]

Way cool. 

Thanks for the tips on the newer stuff. I had only been buying their blended coffees sold at the Fresh Market. But, alas, ours was one of the 13 stores they closed in the spring. I stocked up, but will be running out soon, so back to buying from their webstore.  

[KevinD]

I will have to check out the websites - thanks for the additional insight into what is out there to be enjoyed!

Edited July 21, 2016 by KevinD

[dstr8]

Londinium LI lever, Arrarex Caravel, EspressoForge and a Mahlgut Grist MG-1 are my coffee tools; er espresso tools.  

Tight small cappas in the morning and espresso in the afternoon.   Affogatos too :).    There is so much great micro roasted coffee beans on the market today...but all things Ethiopia naturals (Wote Konga is one of my faves) are a favorite here.   But I pull a wide variety of beans.   Starbucks?   Nope.

Have been drinking espresso for 30-years plus.   And its the only food thing I have everyday and never tire of.  Never.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Nuprin]

13 hours ago, tony b said:

Way cool. 

Thanks for the tips on the newer stuff. I had only been buying their blended coffees sold at the Fresh Market. But, alas, ours was one of the 13 stores they closed in the spring. I stocked up, but will be running out soon, so back to buying from their webstore.  

If you buy from retail stores, make sure to check the roast dates.  Some bags can be really only and at most most of those coffees are good up to one month out, sometimes just two weeks.  Sadly the most of the public doesn't realize they are drinking stale coffee because it's usually months if not years from roast sitting on the shelves and warehouses.

 

 

[Nuprin]

11 hours ago, dstr8 said:

Londinium LI lever, Arrarex Caravel, EspressoForge and a Mahlgut Grist MG-1 are my coffee tools; er espresso tools.  

Tight small cappas in the morning and espresso in the afternoon.   Affogatos too :).    There is so much great micro roasted coffee beans on the market today...but all things Ethiopia naturals (Wote Konga is one of my faves) are a favorite here.   But I pull a wide variety of beans.   Starbucks?   Nope.

Have been drinking espresso for 30-years plus.   And its the only food thing I have everyday and never tire of.  Never.  

 

 

 

 

 

 Nice collection there!  One day, when I'm retired and have the time, I'd love to have a lever to play with at home.  Love the old school Electras. 

[tony b]

3 hours ago, Nuprin said:

If you buy from retail stores, make sure to check the roast dates.  Some bags can be really only and at most most of those coffees are good up to one month out, sometimes just two weeks.  Sadly the most of the public doesn't realize they are drinking stale coffee because it's usually months if not years from roast sitting on the shelves and warehouses.

 

 

That was the nice thing about the CC coffee at Fresh Market. The bags has stickers on them with the roast date. That's why I am scrambling to get through my stash. 

[dstr8]

37 minutes ago, tony b said:

That was the nice thing about the CC coffee at Fresh Market. The bags has stickers on them with the roast date. That's why I am scrambling to get through my stash. 

 

FYI:  Glass canning jars, canning lids, a jar sealing attachment will enable you to store coffee beans under vacuum in a -10ºF deep freeze for a fairly long time without flavor degradation.    You could vac seal & freeze at or near peak then they're ready to use from the freezer.  I portion out 3-5 days worth of beans in small 1/2 pint or pint jars so I'm always pulling shots with beans at or near their peak.  

 

 

[tony b]

Good to know. I have a Food Saver and do vacuum seal up bags of coffee when I buy bulk (e.g., 2lbs of the NM pinion). But, I don't store them in the freezer because I've read  that it was bad for the coffee. 

How good are the original bags that CC coffee comes in? They are vacuum sealed, correct?  

[dstr8]

The degradation of beans in the freezer is dated information and/or resulted from not storing properly (non-vac'd beans; freezer temps > -10ºF).   On coffee forums, Home Barista especially, there have been blind/semi-blind taste tests and the results have shown if there is a flavor degradation most coffee aficionados can't taste the difference.   

Having said that nothing gets better in the freezer.   I keep my roasted frozen bean storage to generally less than 1-year and most often 6-months or less.  

I have not had Counter Culture beans/bean bags in hand but suspect they're similar to what most roasters use.   They are not vacuum sealed but generally just sealed.  Roasted coffee beans give off CO2...which is arrested apart of proper deep freeze storage.   The problem for me with freezing the entire bag...I can't consume the beans before peak flavor has lapsed.   And opening/closing a frozen bag isn't ideal...with the moisture accumulation (relatively warm & moist air condensing onto the cold dry beans...).

Do your own taste test.   I think you will discover, as I have, there is no taste degradation for properly frozen whole roasted beans.   Just be sure to freeze them on the uphill side of the bean's degradation/rest period.  Or even fresher...then let them sit at room temp in the jar to rest to where you like the respective bean's flavor.

FWIW:  Beans have different peak post roast flavor periods.  Some beans, especially naturals, are peaking 4-6 days or so post roast.  Whereas I've had some beans, notably Rwandan beans and lighter roasts in general, that hit their peak 2-3 weeks(!) post roast.