Back in the Coffee Roasting Business

Well not business per se - I'm not actually selling my coffee. But, yes after a long hiatus, I roasted my first batch of coffee in a long while. I did manage a few batches in late August while I was on vacation with my family, but they were coffees that I had previously roasted on many occasions - my stock favorites of Ethiopia Harar and Arabian Mokha Sanani. The present goal is two-fold: to produce a great espresso blend or two, and build a repertoire of coffees for general drip and French press brewing. I have found a few coffees that work as single-origin espressos, but no blend has yet grabbed my attention.

My most recent roast is the Brazil Jakabu Bird Coffee. As you might guess this is one of the rare "animal-processed" coffees, which means that an animal, sometimes a monkey and in this case a bird, eats a coffee cherry, which is "processed" as the cherry is digested and passed through the bird's system. The waste product is a perfectly unharmed coffee bean, which is subsequently washed and readied for shipping. To be quite honest, this is not an amazing coffee in and of itself. The initial flavor is a strong nutty, roasty flavor which increases as the coffee cools. At lower temperatures, the flavor is overpowering and quite nasty. However, at brew temperature, the coffee is good, but not great. It has great body, which makes a hardy cup of coffee. A light chocolaty sweetness is detectable on the finish preventing the nuttyness from being too overwhelming. The only perk to his coffee is knowing where it comes from, although some might be a bit too squeamish for that sort of thing. It's a novelty and nothing more.

More tasting notes to come!