Coffee Guide

Coffee is the second most-highly traded commodity in the world next to oil. It?s an enormous industry involving many players in the supply chain?the growers and farm workers, the processing mills, exporters and importers, small-batch roasters and huge commercial roasters, coffeehouses and cafes?all of who do their part to bring coffee to you, the final consumer.

Take a walk down the coffee aisle of a grocery store and read the labels. You?ll find one word dominates the label rhetoric: ?Gourmet.? Gourmet, it?s such a over-used term. By definition, it implies rare, expensive, high-quality, or at least sophisticated in some form of its preparation and service. Which, unfortunately, doesn?t seem to apply to the coffee most Americans drink on a daily basis. Considering how large the coffee industry is, how much of what?s marketed as gourmet could actually be considered truly gourmet coffee?

Sad to say, it?s estimated only 10 percent of coffee sold on the global market is of excellent quality. Meaning, 90 percent of coffee sold is considered poor to satisfactory in quality. That being the case, it becomes hard to believe the ads and labels on store shelves claiming rich, delicious, gourmet coffee. In fact, the reality is they?re much likelier selling the exact opposite of high quality coffee beans.

For instance, consider the ever applauded Dark Roast. Somehow the influential marketing gurus at roasting companies have managed to convince the masses that dark roasted coffee equals gourmet coffee. Not necessarily true. While there are some specific coffees that taste wonderful as a dark roast, there?s a reason most coffee today is roasted so dark. It?s precisely because of their low quality. Dark roasting covers a multitude of sins, including any flavor flaws.

And then there?s flavored coffee?a low-quality bean masquerading as gourmet coffee. Why use expensive, high-grade beans for flavored coffee, since the natural flavors themselves will never be detected over the added flavorings of Irish cream, French Vanilla, or Hazelnut.

Though the marketing says otherwise, coffee that is indeed gourmet should never require extensive roasting. Similar to grilling a steak, a great coffee will often taste great as rare to medium, or, in coffee terms, light to medium. Of course the actual lightness of the roast will depend on your personal taste. A lighter roast shows that the roaster has confidence in the quality of the beans. And for a true connoisseur of coffee, that?s what you should be looking for.

– Denver Wilkinson is founder, and currently head roaster of Cafe Avion, a roasting company based in Coeur d?Alene, Idaho, that specializes in small-batch roasting of exclusively organic and fair trade coffees. ?There?s a whole world of coffee out there (quite literally) and so many natural flavors to experience, don?t settle for the mediocre stuff. The darker the roast, the less likely you?ll experience the subtle apricot flavors in a great Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, or the blueberry notes in a wonderful Harrar, or the earthy, ripened notes of a great Sumatran Mandheling.? Adds Wilkinson: ?I?m on a personal mission to undo the myth of the dark roast.?

Consider the last time you bought a bag of coffee. Perhaps it?s wrong of me to assume, but would I be correct in guessing the coffee you purchased was a dark roast?

Most of the coffee available to the home consumer today is a dark roast. And by watching coffee commercials and reading the ads, without hesitation, one would easily believe the dark roast is, by far, a superior coffee. But when it comes to the roast of your coffee, while a great deal of it simply has to do with personal taste, don?t believe mass marketing that says the dark roast is the ultimate expression of quality coffee. It?s not. In fact, it?s often quite the opposite.

There are reasons the dark roast has become so popular. For one thing, the coffee industry is extremely large. It?s the second most-highly traded commodity next to oil. Just think of the massive volume of coffee that hits the consuming market each year. Then consider this: only 10 percent of that coffee qualifies as excellent in quality. The remaining 90 percent is considered somewhere between average to poor. Meaning there?s nothing very special about it, no inherent flavors that set it apart from any other coffee. And if there are intriguing flavors, most likely they aren?t desirable. For instance, a typical low-grown Robusta coffee can taste medicinal, even rubbery.

So, if so much of the coffee grown is of mediocre quality, why is it that people so happily consume so much each and every day? The answer: The Ubiquitous Dark Roast. (Well, and a lot of cream and sugar too. I?ll cover that some other time.)

Dark roast simply means that the coffee bean has been roasted to a higher temperature and typically for a longer period of time. This process causes all of the flavor molecules stored within the coffee beans?both the good and bad flavors?to be burnt away. By roasting so dark, the end consumer (you) can?t tell whether it?s a good bean or a bad bean because all the natural flavors have been turned to charcoal.

Think of it this way: a fine filet mignon and a strip of utility beef; if they?ve both been very overcooked, even a culinary expert would never be able to tell the difference between the two. Same with coffee.

So if you?re a large coffee company, what do you do? You roast dark, then, market the heck out of it and try to convince the mass market that it?s a wonderfully rich and complex coffee. Now you can?t really blame them can you? What else are they supposed to do, admit why they?re roasting your coffee so dark?

Not to be misunderstood, I?m not saying a dark-roasted coffee is always poor quality. There are some wonderful dark roast single-origin coffees and blends out there. Just don?t assume the dark roast is as ?rich and flavorful? as many roasters say it is. Most of the time there is a reason it?s roasted so dark.

Instead of going with a dark roast next time you?re picking up your bag of coffee, consider trying a freshly-roasted bag of something slightly lighter, perhaps a ?city? roast or even a ?full city? roast (almost a dark roast) if you?re not wanting to leap into lightness with reckless abandon. When shopping, keep in mind that the lighter the roast, the more confidence the roaster is showing in the quality of the raw bean.

– Denver Wilkinson is founder, and currently head roaster of Cafe Avion, a roasting company based in Coeur d?Alene, Idaho, that specializes in small-batch roasting of exclusively organic and fair trade coffees. ?There?s a whole world of coffee out there (quite literally) and so many natural flavors to experience, don?t settle for the mediocre stuff. The darker the roast, the less likely you?ll experience the subtle apricot flavors in a great Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, or the blueberry notes in a wonderful Harrar, or the earthy, ripened notes of a great Sumatran Mandheling.? Adds Wilkinson: ?I?m on a personal mission to undo the myth of the dark roast.?

How Do You Make A Perfect Cup of Coffee? To make a perfect cup of coffee every time you need:

- A Drip coffee maker

- A Stainless steel or gold mesh coffee filter, brown unbleached paper if you are insistent on paper

- A stash of vinegar and baking soda for cleaning

- A good quality whole bean coffee bean not the 1.99 a pound kind

- Fresh clean filtered water

- 30 minutes of you time (start to finish)

If you want a perfect cup of coffee, instant is not going to be in your vocabulary. To make an absolute unadulterated cup of coffee you need a little time and a few essential ingredients.

First off, almost any drip coffee maker will work. The 19.99 one all the way to the 99.99 ones all do the same thing. They heat the water and siphon it over coffee grounds. As the water is soaked into the coffee, picking up the flavor it is then drained through a filter into a glass pot. Honestly the coffee pot is not what makes the cup of coffee. If what you are looking for is the best tasting cup of coffee for your money and time, here is how to do it yourself.

A clean glass coffee pot is what you need to start off with. To clean this well, you need to place about ? cup of baking soda into the glass pot and with your fingers add a few drops of water. Use your fingers to spread the baking soda all over the pot, up the sides and such. After you have used this as a mild abrasive, add 1 cup of vinegar. Swirl and swish allowing the baking soda and vinegar to bubble away. Next, use a clean cloth to wash the inside of the glass pot. Now, rinse well under hot water. When you think it has been thoroughly rinsed, give it one more good rinse. We are trying to make sure our pot is clean with no residues of soaps, coffee oils, or vinegar and baking soda. A clean pot will make a lot of difference. No more washing the pot once a week, or just running it under the water and calling it good.

Second step to a great cup of coffee is the filter you use. Most of us buy the cheap white 150 for 1.25 coffee filters. Why are they cheap? Because, they are not good. Not only are they paper, but they add chlorine and bleach, and starches to your coffee. How are you supposed to have a good cup of coffee if you add those things to it. I recommend a metal strainer. Gold mesh or stainless steel is good. These are a little more expensive, but are not disposable so you can reuse them for a good long time. Average cost for these run 12.99-19.99. Clean these the same as the coffee pot. Rinse well!

Third step to a great cup of coffee is using good filtered water. I am not saying you need to use bottled water. But getting a Brita filter and filtering your water before brewing will take the extra minerals and chlorine and any other extras often found in tap water. Since coffee is mainly water that is heated and flavored doesn’t it make sense to use good quality clean water?

And of course the last step to a great cup of coffee is using a good whole bean coffee. No, coffee that is sitting on the shelf at Safeway will not do. You need to buy coffee beans from a good small company that buys their coffee in small batches, that are roasted daily or weekly. Only then can you be sure that the coffee you are getting is fresh. Choosing coffee this way runs about $12 a pound. But remember this is whole bean, you are getting a lot of coffee for the price. Grinding your own coffee bean at home is the best way to assure your very own perfect cup of coffee.

One more tip, do not reheat your brewed coffee, or leave it on for hours and hours. Brew only enough coffee that you will drink within the hour or so. Reheating and micro waving coffee just breaks the coffee down even faster. Yes, coffee does break down. When this happens you end up with a strong, sour taste. Not the perfect cup if you ask me. How do you brew just a few cups of coffee at a time? For every 6 ounces of water you add to your pot, add only 2 tablespoons of fresh ground coffee beans to the filter. When putting the ground coffee beans into the filter make sure it is level and spread evenly across the bottom of the filter. This assures even brewing. You now have no excuse to not enjoy your own perfect cup of coffee.

Owner of Oregon Gourmet Food sand Gifts. Offering FRESH roasted coffee direct from the Roaster. Visit us at http://www.oregongourmetfoods.com