D4F Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2012 Posts: 1,222 Location: USA Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Classic PID Grinder: Preciso
Posted Fri Apr 6, 2012, 12:19pm Subject: Re: Giving a presentation about coffee to a club - advice please !
I would pick the one that you think is closest to to what they might be used to in a store coffee. They will be surprised at any fresh ground and you want to emphasize fresh vs stale, not new flavor, at least for this part of the sampling.
Posted Sun Apr 8, 2012, 12:40pm Subject: Re: Giving a presentation about coffee to a club - advice please !
I would suggest not getting too technical so that people don't lose interest. Don't describe a good espresso grind as a nonuniform bimodal distribution of particles or something like that. :P But seriously, just try to present it in a straightforward way that isn't confusing to someone who has no experience in quality coffee.
Posted Sun Apr 8, 2012, 4:30pm Subject: Re: Giving a presentation about coffee to a club - advice please !
KennyH Said:
I would suggest not getting too technical so that people don't lose interest. Don't describe a good espresso grind as a nonuniform bimodal distribution of particles or something like that. :P
Shucks! Now I have to throw out all the notes I've made :P
To be honest my main goal is just to get the group to think about the coffee they are drinking. What it tastes like, where it came from, why fresh ground and freshly roasted really is worth the trouble, etc.
I've spent decades explaining the technical to nontechnical people so hopefully I have that covered. What I have found is that when you have real passion for something it can carry over and ignite it in them. That is my hope at least.
Progress so far: Chocolate/Hazelnut/Espresso biscotti finished, Colombia roasted and a pot full worth of beans have been ground and are laying out in a sheet tray getting incrediblely stale for the fresh vs stale taste test. Club meeting is Wednesday.
D4F Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2012 Posts: 1,222 Location: USA Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Classic PID Grinder: Preciso
Posted Sun Apr 8, 2012, 4:53pm Subject: Re: Giving a presentation about coffee to a club - advice please !
KennyH Said:
I would suggest not getting too technical so that people don't lose interest. Don't describe a good espresso grind as a nonuniform bimodal distribution of particles or something like that. :P But seriously, just try to present it in a straightforward way that isn't confusing to someone who has no experience in quality coffee.
Exactly, why I suggested a bean/roast that they were familiar with, then fresh and several days old. If they taste the difference, then they will be interested in the basics, mostly that fresh is much better. Where it comes from and new flavors will spring from that.
Posted Thu Apr 12, 2012, 12:17pm Subject: Re: Giving a presentation about coffee to a club - advice please !
Well, it went better than my wildest dreams.
Thanks so much to emradguy for suggesting showing them difference between fresh and stale beans and to D4F for supporting this with the idea of using a coffee that they were familiar with.
This is how it went .... I started off by handing out samples of the stale coffee (used the Colombia that I had ground 3 days earlier). I figured more commercial blends are likely from South America and that was the flavor profile they had knew. So true. They all said it just tasted like coffee - not great but not real bad. After totally resisting giving into their insistence in knowing what "brand" it was, I handed out the freshly ground and brewed Colombia. They were blown away by the aroma and flavor. Absolutely loved it and wanted to know where they could get that one and they were all going to switch to it. When I explained it was the very same coffee and the only difference was when it was ground they were stunned. Clearly this was an entirely new concept. But the evidence was clear.
We discussed what we tasted in the coffee and I talked about my equipment, process, etc. Showed them the grinder that I use, talked about blade (good only for spices) vs burr grinders and price points. Went over how geographical differences affect coffee flavors, how I get my green beans, how I store my beans - both green and roasted, etc. And especially how to tell if beans are fresh - difference between "use by" date and "roasted on" date. Discussed grinding 15 minutes before brewing and within 15 days of roasting date.
By now, they were really excited to taste another coffee so it was on to the Rwandan. This was the first one that was ground when they were there and they insisted I pass the filter cone around so they would all smell it. Very different flavor profile with more citrus and brighter. And I very happy to see that they were able to pick out components without me first suggesting them. For total coffee newbies, their vocabulary discussing the the flavors was very diverse and usually spot-on (it is after all a book club, I guess). One of the most interesting comments I got was "they liked it but it didn't really taste like coffee". We're so used to South American blends I think that's the only taste that they expect. Another good comment was that this coffee was so sweet that it certainly didn't need any sugar. And that was from someone who always put sugar in their coffee.
At this point I read the Sweet Marias info on the Rwandan coffee and we discussed how amazing it was to get coffee from that region and how difficult it must be. I talked about my roasting process, how I got into coffee to begin with, and what can make coffee bitter (dosage, brewing water temperature, etc.). Talked about my Technivorm, the Bonavita, a Chemex, and a basic pour-over arrangement and why they did a good job. Also Swiss Gold vs paper filters. Answered lots of questions. Talked about ordering roasted coffee online and how to store the extra for a short period of time.
I'm still insisting on no milk/cream/sugar.
Now it was time for the Sumatra, which I didn't expect anyone to like as it's so different. I couldn't have been more wrong. They loved it. It was Sumatra Onan Ganjang Cultivar and is quite wonderful. Very sweet with molasses and syrupy. The comments about the flavor I got from the group were nearly verbatim with Sweet Marias comments --- I must have nailed the roast :).
At this point I let them add a bit of half and half if they wished to to see how it changed everything. With the half and half addition, some of them were comparing it to a great spiced hot chocolate drink.
Lastly, I broke out the chocolate/hazelnut/espresso biscotti. I still had lots of brewed coffee available for them (that I put in carafes right after brewing) and refills were mainly split between the Sumatra (which was fantastic with the biscotti) and the Colombia.
Many requests for an email with links to the information that was discussed (what coffees I used, what equipment to consider, where to get coffee online and locally, etc.). I still have to pull that together.
So, if anyone gets an opportunity to do this I HIGHLY recommend doing it. I had 18 people and made 10-cup pots which was perfect. I used separate foam cups for each coffee but that's probably not a requirement. I had a bowl for them to pour in any coffee they didn't finish. That's about it. Not too hard to set up. It was my house so it was especially convenient but you do it at another location without great difficulty. It ran about 1 1/2 hours so you see that there was a good amount of discussion.
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