flydhest Senior Member Joined: 28 Jul 2003 Posts: 274 Location: Washington, DC Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: ECM Giotto Grinder: Mazzer Mini Roaster: Hottop
Posted Thu Mar 11, 2004, 1:39pm Subject: My sins and my (hopeful) redemption
I feel like there may be something wrong with me. I just have to come out and admit it. I . . . I . . . oh, ok, I don't think I like Kenyan coffee very much. I feel like I should. It's got such a following. But . . . it's just not for me. Too bright, too acidy, too . . . I don't know, not enough deep bass tones and such.
Whew, I'm glad I got that off my chest. As redemption, however, a colleague who shall remain nameless (Matt) never drank coffee before a month and a half ago. He's now picking out flavor profiles of coffees, noticed a big difference between 2 days past roast and (whatever) past roast from the store bought coffee and today, he proclaimed himself a Kenya coffee lover. I feel a bit like a pusher, in some ways, as I kept giving him samples of things and I saw him get more and more hooked. hee hee hee hee.
I believe I'm well on my way to converting a different colleague--who was already a coffee lover--into a home roaster.
flydhest Senior Member Joined: 28 Jul 2003 Posts: 274 Location: Washington, DC Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: ECM Giotto Grinder: Mazzer Mini Roaster: Hottop
Posted Thu Mar 11, 2004, 2:56pm Subject: Re: My sins and my (hopeful) redemption
Ian,
Hmm, maybe I don't have the terminology down . . . I have it for wine, but perhaps not coffee yet. Anyway, they are not the freshest, they were given to me a couple days ago from a friend who brought them back from a trip to Kenya. I can't tell when they were roasted. There was an acidity that I think of as brightness . . . maybe I'm using the word wrong. It tastes like what the other Kenyans I have before (more or less) and I was hoping this would be the batch that turned me around.
There's a sharpness and an intensity, but not particularly full bodied. Very long finish. Acid . . . yep, pretty sure of that, and I usually associate that with brightness, but maybe I oughtn't.
flydhest Senior Member Joined: 28 Jul 2003 Posts: 274 Location: Washington, DC Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: ECM Giotto Grinder: Mazzer Mini Roaster: Hottop
Posted Thu Mar 11, 2004, 3:17pm Subject: Re: My sins and my (hopeful) redemption
Ian,
So, I shouldn't have read your reply while I was waiting for that computer program to run, because now, all I can think about is the way to describe the coffee. Basically, I'd like to blame you for my reduced productivity :)
Seriously, though, I went to SMs site and Tom suggests "bright" as a description for two of the coffees they have now. Now, I'm not interested so much in which way to use that word yet, but what really got me was one description he compared to a ripe lemon. Bango. That's pretty close to this coffee. There are also hints of other flavors--spices perhaps--but that acidy, lemony thing is quite well represented.
It's also a fairly light roast.
What range of flavors ought I expect from Kenyans? In some ways, it's an academic excercise since I only drink drip in the office and one of my colleagues darn near insists on Sumatra and at home, I'm doing espresso, so straight Kenyan does not figure in large in my future. Nevertheless, I always like to learn more.
jim_schulman Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 3,772 Location: Chicago Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Thu Mar 11, 2004, 3:36pm Subject: Re: My sins and my (hopeful) redemption
flydhest Said:
What range of flavors ought I expect from Kenyans? In some ways, it's an academic excercise since I only drink drip in the office and one of my colleagues darn near insists on Sumatra and at home, I'm doing espresso, so straight Kenyan does not figure in large in my future. Nevertheless, I always like to learn more.
You have it right, Kenya produces the most acidic coffees on the planet. These are the "citrus" Kenyans. Roasted correctly, they should be almost effervescent like champaigne or a young Riesling, but sweet enough not to taste sour; a Riesling bubbly is about the best description for these (including the petrol nose on the really good ones) Indifferent ones in this class can be quite sour, are then roasted too dark, and get bitter too. Cheap AAs, using the new high yield cultivars and fast ripeneing, are almost always in this class, and emphatically not good (think of "high yield" acidic wines)
There's also the "red wine" kenyas, with blackberry, cherry flavors, an added hint of acetone in the nose, moderate acidity, and sometimes a strong note of allspice. The roast flavors can be quite bitter with tobacco notes (think "firm tannins"); but I much prefer those that have caramel flvors down there (think "soft tannins')
Finally, there's the "horse blanket" Kenyans; if you get one of these, change your coffee supplier.
Ian Moderator Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 1,161 Location: England
Espresso: Euro2000,Rancilio Grinder: Mazzer,La Cimbali Vac Pot: Cona-->CraigA Drip: Belgique for emergencies Roaster: Primas with variac
Posted Mon Mar 15, 2004, 5:18pm Subject: Re: My sins and my (hopeful) redemption
You’re both right of course, I mistakenly likened bright to being a synonym of light instead of acidic. As you can tell, I don’t read others’ cupping notes, instead prefer a blind approach to one possibly biased by preconceptions. When I drink Kenya I think of deep, mellow, blackcurrant, wine.
Surprisingly, not too many of the locals appear to drink coffee at least during the day; maybe because of the heat and also perhaps they can’t afford it. It seems to be thought of a just another crop (i.e. not a gourmet item) much like we would think of wheat or rape here. That is until the inevitable Starbucks opens up in Nairobi. Unfortunately, I got pickpocketed in Mombasa but that hasn’t prejudiced me against Kenyans in the least and they certainly are one of my favourites.
Seth, what you could do is keep the acidic stuff to one side until you get something that is flat and dull (bound to happen sooner or later) and then experiment with some post-roast blending – you may get some interesting results (or not...)
Posted Mon Mar 15, 2004, 6:21pm Subject: Re: My sins and my (hopeful) redemption
Personally, I roast my own beans and I have found that the Kenya does not make for a good cup of drip. However, I do think it makes a beautiful expresso!
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 