GroundLevelCoffee

I received a sample of the Arabica plantation ‘Catimore’ greens from Neil today. After a quick Google, I discovered that Catimore is a variety of arabica bean, and that region of India has produced some good greens over the years. The sample was around 300 grams and so I figured on two Imex roasts rather than one SC/TO roast.

Total roast time was 8 1/2 minutes at an ambient temp of around 26C. The roast is a full city+ with some beans hitting second crack. I had intended to roast to a full city, but some beans got a little ahead of me.

Roast aroma was very good, and the aroma of the just-roasted beans is promising. The roasting beans let go of a fair bit of chaff - suggestive of a dry-processed bean rather than wet-processed.

I’ll let them rest for 24-36 hours before first sample. With the roast just hitting second crack, the beans should be suitable for plunging and espresso.

Based on the roast aromas, it’s a bean I’d be happy to grab some of. Further reports to follow.

Having returned from holidays earlier this week, that first evening I fired up the Diadema, bunged some Dominican beans in the Macap and proceeded to pull two “15 second blonde gushers”. Was it the beans? The grind? Problems dialling in the grinder? A machine that had sat unattended for a week? Poor dosing, distribution and tamping? I didn’t know.

The next day was a similar story even with a finer grind - blonde, fast, gushing.

Day three saw an improvement. I’d roasted some 1-1-1 blend a day earlier and, though it hadn’t rested enough, it was my bean of choice for that evening’s lattes. The time was better - around 22 seconds; the colour was OK - browny-red rather than blonde; and the stream was OK - about 50 ml.

Day four was a repeat of day three - “must have been the beans”. Maybe.

Day five - today - saw a slightly larger dose and harder tamp. Shots were in the vicinity of 28 seconds for the doubles, and the quantity was a tad on the small size: Ristrettos. Not bad as lattes.

The moral? Stick to basics: Beans, grind, dose, distribution, tamp. In this case it was predominantly the beans: The Dominicans were roasted for plunger and were around 9 days old. I would have eventually pulled a decent shot from them at a finer grind, but it would have taken a couple more days.

We’ll soon be embarking on a week’s holiday ‘in the country’. Since an espresso machine and grinder isn’t near enough the top of the packing list, I’ll take a lighter approach to coffee-making for the duration.

The kit will comprise:

• A SwissGold one cup coffee filter
• A Zassenhaus knee mill
• A 7 gram scoop
• Two types of pre-roasted beans: A Dominican Republic and an Ethiopian Harrar.

On the bean front, I reckon the Dominican is one of the best coffees I had last year, and the Harrar will offer a good contrast to the Dominican.

I reckon that kit is about the smallest and lightest allowing for on-demand grinding. For those times when more than one cup is required, the SwissGold also serves as a very useful filter through which steeped coffee can be poured.

Further to the other day’s post about the Yemen Ismaili, I can almost guarantee it’s underroasted. Ground some this morning in the Zassenhaus, and it was difficult due to the hardness of the bean.

Aroma-wise there is a little of the blueberry, but not much; and not much flavour, either.

It’ll keep me in plunger coffee for the remainder of the week, and I won’t be sorry to see it finished. It’s a pity and a waste. Just need to remember to let the roast progress a little further next time. I think the factor that tricked me this time is that the chaff was pretty dark around the beans.

A question posed on my previous site was for suggestions for one-cup brewers.

I’m not an expert on brewing methods, but there are a number of ways of brewing a small quantity of coffee including:

• Using an espresso machine
• Moka Pot (aka ’stovetop espresso’)
• Chemex
• Plunger/French Press/Cafetiere
• SwissGold One Cup brewer
• Vac Pots

Some of these are faster and cheaper than others. For speed, I reckon the SwissGold one cup brewer or plunger would be quickest; followed closely by the Chemex and other drip-type cones. Vac pots and moka pots are probably next up in terms of speed.

For further info, check out Sweet Maria’s for a range of products and brewing tip sheets.

For those in Aus, many of these products can be purchased from places such as Coffee for Connoisseurs, Pioneer Coffee Roastery, Peters of Kensington, Coffee Company.

There are a number of competing thoughts in my head about buying, storing and managing a coffee stash. These include:

• Buy a reasonable quantity of whatever you may like so you have enough of it to last 12+ months.
• Buy a smaller quantity to be able to sample and enjoy the beans for around 6-12 months before they go baggy since coffee is a seasonal crop.
• Have enough to last around 12 months at any point in time.
• Don’t keep more than 6 months supply around since good coffees come around frequently enough and you’d prefer to be able to buy 5 kilos of a good coffee without wondering where to keep it or what else won’t be used as a result.
• Don’t have so much that it’s hard to store and locate coffees.

My stash currently runs to around 35 kilograms - which, at my latest calculation of around 48 kilos used a year, works out to around 9 months supply. I think I’m aiming at around 6 months supply; or around 25 kilos. More than that and some coffees get relegated to the bottom of the pile and don’t get used often. That creates its own problem since I then feel compelled to reduce my holding of ‘older’ cofee and so use them whilst ignoring the latest purchases.

But not only the total quantity of coffee in the stash, but also what sort of quantity of each bean, and from what region or country? My initial purchases were in 5 kilo lots, but more recently I’ve gone to 2.5 kilo (and even a few 1 kilo bags). My current thinking is to go for a maximum 2.5 kilo unless there is a compelling reason to go higher (Yemen Ismaili, for example). I also try to maintain a balance of coffees from the different regions: Centrals, South Americans, Asian, African.

Additionally there is the expected or intended usage of that particular coffee. Is it for plunging or espresso machine use? Is it for me or to give away?

Lots of questions and issues, but for the moment my approach is to aim for:

• 25 kilos of coffee
• its age doesn’t exceed 12 months from purchase.
• of which at least a third is suitable for plunging
• the remainder is suitable for espresso machine use
• of that coffee for the machine, I hold stock of coffees that are suited to my low-medium-high blending approach.

One of my favourite coffees is the Yemen Ismaili. I’ve had 7.5 kilograms move through my stash over the past couple of years - and I’m down to my last couple of kilos.

It’s been a part of my standard espresso blend for the past 12-or-so months either in equal thirds or as the minor highlight bean. It’s a fantastic bean for flavour, but can be difficult to roast well due to its small size and dry-processing. I’ve had some lots with an overwhelming bluberry aroma in the roasted, unground bean; and the flavour in a plunger can be very pastoral and floral.

I roasted a batch yesterday and perhaps underdid it a bit. Cleared first crack, but no hint of second - probably a ‘city plus’. It’s for plunging so brightness isn’t an issue. I haven’t got any of that blueberry aroma yet. Tried some today in a plunge and it’s fairly bland. It’ll be interesting to see how it develops as it rests and whether those blueberries come through. I’ve had this lot of beans for about 15 months and I’m trying to run it out soon. I haven’t detected any baginess or off-notes in it, and I’d really prefer not to.

It’s a hard bean to come by. Few bags make it to us and it’s much more expensive when it does get through. For comparison, the usual price/kilo for a good quality arabica bean from the broker is around $6 (but ranging from $4-10) whereas the Yemen is around $20. Still cheaper than buying any bean from a roastery, and good for what it brings to a blend.

I’m not sure how I’ll manage when my current stock is depleted. A Harrar can be a good replacement, but in my limited experience the Yemen brings a floral punch that almost defies description.

The Macap MC4 arrived today.

One of the joys and challenges of a new grinder is ‘dialling it in’. In laymans terms it means figuring out the best spot on the dial to produce different grinds for different brew methods.

Attilio had given me a kilo of beans with his compliments with the grinder - much appreciated since it’ll probably take several hundred grams to get the dialling in started.

After some fiddling with doses and grinds, I finally managed to find a reasonable spot on the dial for espresso. I pulled a few shots too coarse/too fast; and a few that choked the machine. After a bit of yo-yo-ing I finished back where I started from suggesting to me that sorting out my dose, not my grind, was my problem. I rationalise that in the thought that I didn’t (and still don’t) know how much coffee got stuck in the gizzards of the machine. 17 grams may go in (OK, 15-18 grams thereabouts), but how much comes out depends on a few factors.

Next step was to figure out a decent spot for plunger. I took the grinder to its coarsest setting (without having to remove the hopper-retaining screw) and it was a touch too coarse. I asked various family members to compare grinds from my Lux to the Macap and reached consensus about which was coarser/finer until we reached the point where most people thought they were identical. That’s where the fun began. My starting point for espresso is ‘3′, and an ‘8′ for plunger; but when I tried to set the dial back to an espresso setting from plunger setting, the adjustment ring came up against steady resistance. Not sure what was going on. I originally thought the lower burr was loose and riding up in the chamber, but I’ve since discounted that. It’s still not right and I assume some grounds get stuck in or around the lower burr and that stops the upper burr being lowered to effect a finer grind.

I’ll get there - it’ll just take some time. Early impressions are that the grinder is fast, looks good with the Diadema, and the grind appears very even. The only problem is moving speedily from plunge to espresso settings.

UPDATE:
I spoke to Nicole from CosmoreX today (6 January) and she confirmed my early experience with the grinder. Viz:

• that the Macap needs to be adjusted when the motor is running.
• that there is a deal of resistance and a ‘whine’ when moving from a coarse to a fine grind.
• that moving from coarse to fine should be done slowly.

It’s good to hear that all is well. Now I can get on with it.

For the past few days we’ve been drinking some Ethiopian Harrar as a single origin (SO) bean through the espresso machine.

The bean was roasted in the SC/TO on Christmas eve. That’s eleven days ago. This bean is exhibiting a huge chocolate aroma and flavour as whole beans, ground beans and in our standard doppio latte style drink.

My previous experience with this bean has shown a fairly fruity aroma, but that’s nowhere to be seen in this batch. I’ve previously described Harrar as being ‘pastoral’, but not this roast in this brew method. I’d say the roast is full city - taken to the edge of second. The chocolate flavour is perhaps diminishing - being strongest on the weekend at around 7 days rest. I tried this bean when it was two days old, but there was no chocolate evident. I then let it rest for another 5 days and so I can ‘t comment on how the flavour has changed or developed over time.

Given all of the above, the next time I roast for espresso (every week - usually on a weekend) I’ll try some more Harrar but this time I’ll track its progress from a day or two out of the roaster through to around a week old.

I’ve been in the market for a new grinder for a few months now. The grind on my current Lux has seemed a little inconsistent for the past 6-or-so months; and I’m not 100% trusting in the electricals.

And so I’ve considered a new grinder. What factors came into my thinking?

• Price
• Doser or doserless
• Stepped or stepless
• Aesthetics
• Supplier/distributor

Pricewise I’ve spent more than I would have ever dreamed of spending on a grinder, ever. I don’t envisage buying any sort of replacement for 5+ years.

Doser or doserless? 95% of my coffee is ground into a glass for single-serve use and so a doser was an unnecessary overhead requiring more cleaning and more time. My current Looney Tunes year 2000 glass is a perfect fit in the Lux, and I’d envisage it being similar in the Macap.

Stepless or stepped? Most people in my position seem to opt for a Mazzer Mini - stepless, doser. For my use - about 60% espresso, 35% plunger and the balance for moka pot (for home) or drip (for other people) I’d be changing setting each morning for plunger and back to espresso for the evening shots and so a stepless seemed more trouble than going for a stepped grinder where the machine can be reset easily. If stepless offer such fine adjustability (the primary claim to fame), then the variable grind present due to continually swapping from one brew method to another seems to suggest a stepless is a disadvantage.

Looks? Since my machine is stainless, and my current grinder is also stainless, I thought a stainless or chrome finish would be appropriate. Aesthetics do matter - at least to some people for a short period of time.

Distributor? There aren’t a huge number of distributors of the Macap in Australia. I think there is one to be precise. CosmoreX Coffee is the supplier, and I’ve been more than happy in my dealings with Attilio from there over this and other issues.

And so I’ve opted for the Macap MC4 - the doserless model with the chute and the shorter hopper. The grinder can be viewed at the Macap and the 1st-line equipment sites. The chute also has a bag clip so grinding for my work colleagues and family is a little easier.