Pursuing Perfect Coffee (long)

I am a closet coffee snob. 'No coffee' is better than 'bad coffee'. Until Starbucks came along, the general state of coffee in the USA was appalling. First, Seattle’s Best Coffee and Starbucks duked it out Pike Place Market & the rest of the Seattle area. We all know who won and who proliferated. In fact, I believe that Starbucks eventually bought out SBC (Seattle’s Best, not Southern Baptists)… Hmm I wonder what how things would change if Starbucks took over the Southern Baptists?

While Starbucks is by no means the last word in coffee, I still have poor coffee more often than I have good coffee unless at an actual coffee house. I quickly learned that the quality of the beans is quite important, and located some better sources of beans. I also learned that coffee stays fresher longer if you buy whole beans and then grind your own in small batches. Then keep them sealed in a cool, dark place.

Most people still buy good coffee and then let it sit exposed to the light and/or in an unsealed container – and it goes stale. Or they just keep it too long. They say most people have never (or rarely) tasted fresh roasted coffee. Considering that coffee loses 90% of its freshness within 4 weeks of roasting, that shouldn’t be any surprise. And I drink coffee in small enough quantities that half my bag-o-beans goes stale before I get to it. When I lived in Houston, I found a place in Rice Village that roasts their coffee beans fresh every week. You are guaranteed to get coffee roasted in the last 2-5 days. Now that’s some good coffee (provided you don’t make it so weak that it tastes like brown water)! But I still drink little enough, that half my bag goes stale before I get to it.

Friends gave us a Bialetti stovetop espresso maker for our wedding, so I never have to worry about too weak coffee! A Bialetti is infinitely less expensive than the fancy espresso appliances, and simpler to use as well. And it makes great espresso; half espresso and half milk and I’ve got great latte. And if I’m not too lazy, I froth the milk.

Then I moved to the UK, land of coffee! No. Tea. Surprise, you can find Starbucks here; and they also have Costa, which is a coffee café of Italian extraction. And half the English people I know drink coffee as much or more than tea.

I’ve finally found an approach that I think will work for me. I roast my own beans… not with those $300 home roasters, but in an iron saucepan! I started reading about home roasting a couple years ago and found you could use a hot air popcorn popper. So I bought one and then never used it. Then I moved to the UK and rendered that appliance useless. You can’t use a 110 volt appliance in a country with 220 volts! And you can’t even by a voltage converter powerful enough to handle a hot air popper, not even for $150 – which would be a stupid thing to do to make a $40 popper work!

I read a couple places online that said you could roast your own in a frying pan, but it sounded a little hit and miss. Then I found a site that gave detailed instructions on how to do it a little more consistently with an iron saucepan. It has high sides that distribute the heat and hold it in better. I had a hard anodized pan, with similar qualities and so I started playing with that, 5 oz of beans at a time. My first batch was exceptional, and my next four batches were in search of that early success. They were good, just not exceptional. On the last batch I realized a mistake in not roasting long enough and I think I now have a means to consistent results, roasting batches small enough that I rarely have roasted coffee around for more than 2 weeks. And the bonus is that green (unroasted) coffee beans will stay good for a year or so.

So now I have fresh roasted coffee all the time. If you are too much on the go, don’t bother roasting your own. You’ll waste your money and then get bored. But I kind of like the process of sitting over the stove, stirring constantly for 17 minutes while I the sight and smell of the beans gives me anticipation for the cup.

While Sweet Marias keeps coming up as a highly recommended source in the USA, Has Bean proves to be a great source in the UK. Both give good information to help you select the best beans for your palate and your brewing/roasting methods.