Thursday, September 07, 2006

Cheating with coffee


I had an affair today. Yes, I cheated with coffee. A break from tea tasting is needed before I develop a better way to document my tasting notes.

I stop drinking coffee for a few years since I discovered a strange allergic reaction to my health. However I still drink coffee a few times a year. Strange enough I managed to learn to make an exceptional cuppa coffee that's 100 times better than Starbucks or Coffee Beans or Peet's. Peet's would be my choice when I meet with friends.

Ethiopian Harar Horse Lot 30- 03/06
Tom at Sweet Maria puts it this way: Harar is intense. A really good Harar is a coffee that is fruited (blueberry to apricot), has flowery enzymatic aromas, jasmine tea, maple woodiness, exotic hide or fresh leather, mulling spice and chocolate... in other words, good Harar is like the fragrance of an open-air Arabic market! Harars have pungent rustic chocolate roast flavors and a range of winy to fermented fruitiness.

The crop I have is an excellent Harar with blueberry flavor. Dry processed green beans, city roast - about 10 minutes on my i-roast 2 electric roaster for half a cup of beans, 4 minutes air cooling time. Roasted beans are uneven in color, which is the characteristic of dry processed beans. It gives multi-layers of flavor, add a touch of earthy tone to the cup. Using Cuisinart burr grinder, fine espresso grind, Bodum syphon vacuum coffee maker, Glacier filtered water. Whaola, a cup of fresh roasted fine coffee! A table spoon of condense milk made it silky smooth. Since the process is long and involved many steps, I roasted 1/2 cup of green beans which I won't be able to finish within 7 days, I made iced coffee with the rest of the beans. The exact richness I crave once in a long while. Tea is my love but I can use a cup of coffee every now and then.

6 comments:

Angel Feathers Tickle Me said...

Love to all....

Imen said...

Is this a random religious spread?

Anonymous said...

I'm with you. Coffee once in awhile is fine. I don't understand why so many people create this tea/coffee dichotomy. Tea is definitely my preference, but coffee does the trick on occasion.

Imen said...

Dustin,

Speaking of dichotomy, I dated people refused to try a sip of my tea. *shake head*

~ Phyll said...

Well, this is an affair that ends with a bitter taste in your mouth!

(Just came up with that line today...rather late, I know)

Anonymous said...

Imen,

I feel you. My girlfriend now pretty much refuses to drink tea. She use to enjoy it before I became a full on tea nerd. Now she doesn't even want to hear about it. But oh well, nothing I can do.