Lessons from the Beans themselves

For the past two weeks, Dawn, James, Carl and I have been going through our coffee offerings and retasting everything systematically, in preparation for the debut of our new bin labels. The new labels will feature more precise descriptions of the coffees, (even the decafs!) as well as quantitative ratings for each one: Roast Level, Body, Acidity and Aroma. It has been great to get re-acquainted with some old favorites, as well as discovering that even I might mistake our Carl's Blend Decaf for regular coffee, it's that good!

Every time I sit down to taste coffee in a focused way (or tea, for that matter), I learn something. And this series of tastings has been no different. For starters, I learned that I can't have Red Beans and Rice for lunch (or curried chicken salad) and still expect to be able to accurately taste coffees that afternoon. Spicy foods over stimulate the sensory capacity of the mouth. I had always heard this, but it was quite another thing to verify it first hand. After spicy food, my ability to identify nuances and to critically analyze the coffees is virtually gone. We'll have to keep this in mind on our trip to Costa Rica!

Apparently it's the same way with our sense of smell. My sister and brother-in-law just got back from France, where they visited the Fragonard perfume factory in Grasse, Provence. They learned about the profession of being a perfumer or "a nose", a person who can recognize about 3,000 different smells. There are about 1000 perfumers in the world, but only about 50 "noses". These people cannot drink alcohol or strong beverages (maybe coffee is among them?), or eat spicy food, and they certainly can't smoke. So, as my brother-in-law said, "that would be lifestyle choice". But they do get paid well and have great job security!
http://www.fragonard.com/@en-us/3/5/16/article.asp

Interestingly enough, I also read recently in mental floss magazine about The International Superior Institute for Perfume, Cosmetics and Food Aroma in Versailles, France. Most students have a bachelors in chemistry or biochemistry. They study olfactory, gustatory and tactile senses. The program last two years and in order to graduate students have to create their own fragrance or other cosmetic or flavored product, and also manufacture, package and promote their own special scent. http://www.aeae-isipca.com/en/?page=isipca

Another thing I learned throughout these tastings is that the duration of the flavor profile in your mouth is another metric to keep in mind. For example, Continental Blend has a concise flavor burst. It's simple, maybe at least in part because this blend now contains some Blue Moon, one of our simplest tasting coffees. Yemen and Sulawesi on the other hand, are complex, long lasting, and hard to analyze because the sensations in the mouth continue to change from the second the coffee enters your mouth, and then for several beats after you swallow.

I am noticing as I write this that it's easy to slip into sexual innuendo when describing sensory experiences. Like at the training class I did last night at Sean's Place on Clifton... whew, every other sentence had a double entendre! I think I'll leave this post at that!
Happy coffee drinking to you!

Sustainability Initiatives

We brought our first load of styrofoam to the recycling plant this past Friday. A small thing, maybe, but it felt big. Without even having signs up at the stores yet, we managed to collect a gaylord (4 feet x 4 feet x 4 feet) box full of styrofoam to take to Tymex Plastics off Harvard Ave here in Cleveland. A gaylord full of marginally clean styrofoam has a subtle, peculiar odor to it, but as I have learned over the years, that is simply the smell of recycling. We'll have to learn to appreciate it, I guess.

Carl Skala from Blue Pike Farm picked up another batch of chaff from the Roastery today, which he and his fellow gardeners will be using at their community garden. Then, Dawn and I were brainstorming about how to collect coffee grounds for Carl to also collect, and I think we finally figured out how to do it. We just make a separate trash bin outside, near the dumpsters, where the baristas will pour the coffee grounds. We just collect them in a separate bin, near the coffee makers at the cafes, and dump them, batch by batch, into a bigger receptacle by the dumpster. It would have to be covered container, and it probably would get moldy, and get frozen in the winter, but if Carl had a second set of containers, he could just switch them out. Having the collection bin be outside was a big "aha" moment for me. That way, we don't have to smell it if it gets yucky. Furthermore, up to this point, Carl has really been the missing ingredient in this; I am thankful that he is willing to come pick up so regularly. Hooray!

If we now have just about gotten rid of styrofoam and coffee grounds, and we already recycle cardboard, that just leaves paper and glass and plastic and newspaper. Hmmm. I wonder how little we actually could throw in that dumpster every week?

Thanks to Dameon at Jakprints for being so inspiring on this issue. And, of course, Julie at the Lakewood store, who has always been completely commendable on the sustainability front. You guys rock.

New! Lower roast temp on the El Salvador!

We got more body out of our El Salvador by lowering the roast temperature today. It's new roast index is 75 as compared to the 86 where it was before. Now you taste the coffee more than the roast. I had been warned by Ricardo Espitia and Geoff Watts (at their SCAA seminar) to roast it lightly, especially if it contained Pacamara beans, but sometimes we are stubborn. Apparently, even though this is a Bourbon, the lighter roast allows the body to come out more. I was amazed at the creamy texture of this coffee. I think it will get the honor of coming with me and my French press as I travel this weekend.
Body rating: 3.5 out of 5
Acidity rating: 2.5 out of 5
Aroma rating 2 out of 5

Buy a pound here:

http://www.phoenixcoffee.com/shop/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=42&cat=Rainforest+Alliance+Coffee