GroundLevelCoffee

I’ve had a few other things on my plate for the past few months and haven’t had much ‘head space’ for coffee-related posts…

But there are some new coffees starting to flow into my stocks from OzGreens and The Green Guys and so more will be forthcoming from me soon.

The beans I’m particularly looking forward to are all Arabian/North African namely an Ethiopian Harar and two Yemen beans - the Mattari and Ismaili. All are renowned for their fruitiness. They’re all dry-processed and so can roast unevenly, but all should be distinct as a plunge (or blended with something with a base or mid flavour like a Sumatran or Kenyan). I’ve also got some Balinese beans on the way and so may try a blend of Yemen and Balinese. Previously I’ve blended Yemen’s in a ratio of around 15-30% for machine use (cappa or latte style), but with a reasonable quantity on the way, I can try a few different ideas over the next few months.

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.

Roasted up a couple of batches in the Imex last evening. That’s one of the good things about summer and daylight saving - an opportunity to roast coffee after work and still see the results.

My current blend is based on a ‘low - medium - high’ philosophy, or a base (usually Brazilian, or a Sumatran), a middle bean that rounds out the blend (usually a Central American or Asian bean), and a highlight bean (a flavoursome dry-processed hit from Ethiopia or Yemen).

The specific beans at the moment are Brazil Yellow Bourbon Pocos de Caldas, Kenya Masai and Yemen Ismaili. The Masai doesn’t fit my standard profile of a Central or Asian bean, but I’ve got a bit of Masai that I need to finish up and it adds a big meaty, winey backdrop to the blend. The proportions are 1-1-1 to make it easy. The name is just as easy ‘1-1-1′.