 |
Buying Coffee Good coffee is one of life’s least expensive luxuries. It’s also one that is made best at home, where you can make it fresh and just the way you like it. I brew my coffee at a ratio of .04 lbs. coffee to one cup (12 fl. oz.) of water. At that ratio I get 25 cups per pound. For coffee costing $11 per pound, that comes to 44 cents/cup, which is much cheaper than you can get it for in a coffee shop.
So, how do you know where to buy your coffee? Well, how do you know where to eat out? You try different restaurants until you find one you like and you frequent that establishment.
It’s the same with coffee. You will have to try different roasters before you find the one that roasts coffee just the way you like it. Most roasters have their own technique of roasting. I taught myself how to roast by reading and trial & error. I also found roasters that roasted coffee with an exaggerated taste profile, and I would try to find out how they did it. In this way, I learned how to manipulate time and temperature to roast coffee to the flavor profile that I was after: balanced acidity, good medium body and true, good coffee flavor. I wanted a coffee that you didn't have to learn to like but naturally wanted another cup when the first was done. Most of the coffee I tasted at coffee shops or bought and brewed at home was either underroasted and tasted sour and had a very thin body or tasted burnt. Very few roasters got it just right. That's why I started to roast my own.
One other point: don't judge a bean by its color. Beans can look very much alike but taste very different. That's because color doesn't tell you how long or at what temperature it was roasted to get to that temperature. Decaffeinated beans, for one, can have a dark, almost oily shine to them but not have a dark roasted flavor. |
|
