The unique flavors and aromas that can be appreciated in a truly fresh cup of coffee are well worth the effort it takes to get that cup. Comparable to a fine wine in depth and complexity, a single-origin varietal or a well prepared blend may offer fruit or floral notes, rich chocolate or caramel, hints of toasted nuts or exotic spice. Its finish may be crisp and clean, or syrupy and lingering. One varietal in particular is justly famous among coffee connoisseurs for its intense fruit and floral aromas.
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. When Counter Culture Coffee hands you some of their fresh roasted organic Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Ambessa, you can make something even better than that. Ethiopia is the original homeland of coffee. The coffee plant was first discovered growing naturally in Ethopia, and was first transplanted and farmed as a crop in Arabia. The indigenous people of Ethiopia used coffee, but not as a drink. They ate the coffee cherries, beans and all, as a stimulant and as a source of nutrition. It was the Turks who first roasted the beans and brewed them into a potent drink, often with the addition of spices such as clove, cinnamon, cardamom and anise.
The Ambessa doesn’t need any extra spices to blow you away with complex and crystal-clear flavors. The fruit and floral notes in this coffee are really amazing. If someone had asked me before I'd tasted this whether I'd enjoy a coffee that tasted like lemon blossoms, roses and honeysuckle, I would have eyed them in disbelief, tapped my temple gently and suggested that those flavors probably wouldn't go over too well in a cup of coffee. But through some alchemy of flavor magic, it really does work.
It tasted like a sin to muddy this delicate cup with additives, but in the name of experimentation I added a bare sprinkle of Splenda about halfway down. It was like drinking a delicious lemon candy, with just a tiny amount of sweetener bringing out the natural sweetness of the brew. A small splash of cream towards the end of the cup did obscure most of the delicate flavors. Even if you don't normally drink your coffee black, this is definitely one that is worth drinking in its pure and natural state.
How does a coffee get to be so good? Mark Overbay of Counter Culture explains how his company takes the time to select varietals for roasting that can yield these kinds of powerful and complex flavor nuances. “Seed, soil, altitude, weather, fertilization, cultivation, harvesting, processing, shipping, storing, and roasting all dramatically influence cup quality before the end consumer even fires up his or her grinder. We pay close attention to all of these factors and more when deciding on a green bean purchase.” From picking the green beans to carefully controlling how they are roasted – and even more importantly, when they are roasted – Counter Culture certainly does do a superlative job of transcending the ordinary cup.
The Ethiopian Sidamo from the same roastery (
http://www.counterculturecoffee.com) is well known for its potently delicious aroma of blueberries. Sweet Maria’s Yirgacheffe has subtle notes of dried apricots and rum, with a corresponding depth and richness. One thing that all of these delicate gourmet beans have in common is that they are at their best in a lighter roast, rather than the dark, oily, high-temperature roast popularized by the bigger chains such as Peet’s and Starbuck’s.
There aren’t quite as many ways to roast your coffee as there are to cook your food, but there are distinct degrees of roast that bring out different aspects of a coffee’s flavor profile. Once again Sweet Maria’s web page offers an excellent guide, with photos of the roasting process.
http://www.sweetmarias.com/roasting-VisualGuideV2.html Briefly, the stages of roasting are City, City Plus, Full City, Full City Plus, Vienna or Light French and Full French.
Over-roasting does bring out some of the more intense flavor notes in a coffee, making it easier to taste the strong coffee in a typical latte or mocha drink. But it also mutes the more complex and delicate nuances of the bean, and over-roasting can be used to disguise a poorer quality bean that simply doesn’t have any really interesting or desirable flavors and aromas. It is almost impossible to find a commercially offered coffee in any other style than a dark roast (Vienna or darker). That itself is a telling commentary on the quality of big-chain coffee.
If you’re ready to expand your coffee horizons and become a true connoisseur, why not give the premium stuff a try? Check out the links below to learn more.
Counter Culture Coffee
http://www.counterculture.com
Sweet Maria’s
http://www.sweetmarias.com
Popcorn popper coffee roasting:
http://www.ineedcoffee.com/05/poppery/
Coffee Geek reviews and forums:
http://www.coffeegeek.com/
Cupping overview:
http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/cupping.htm
Home espresso machines:
http://www.home-barista.com