Rising prices of coffee preserving materials welcomed a trial and error experiment at the Mahalia Coffee House – to evaluate the efficiency of a potential replacement option for our 3 kg sealable foil storage bags! Excitement. With many variables to be analyzed and considered, we set to work with a control batch of Blend # 4 in our ridiculously pricey present method of storage and a trial batch of the same blend in a 7Kg, food grade, air-tight container. Assessing the influence of these differing environments on the coffee beans, their aroma and flavor profiles and consistency in the cup, as a result of their corresponding methods of storage, over a 10 day period was our motivation.
Upon opening of each, the control foil bag hit us with a dominating jand fervent wave of beautiful vanilla, chocolate with the Blend # 4 signature kick of pungent spice. That’s what it’s all about!! Crossed fingers and wishful thinking spurred our confidence on for the aroma results for the experimental tub. A musty trickle of smoky spice and cocoa crept from the pores of the abnormally oily beans; surprising us with a profile for our senses not yet experienced before. Disappointment followed however, as awareness of Blend # 4 needing the sweet to balance its big punch dawned. It just wasn’t there damn it! The turpeny aspect to the bucketed beans became truly apparent as the beans were ground for double shot blacks and ¾ latte pours. Keeping the doses 16 gm each for extraction of 56 ml, the oil licked bucketed beans required a grind far courser than its bagged component. Crema of both cups held well, but our oily beans lacked the sweet complexity that is the true appeal of this roast!
The girls, Mahalia, and I concluded that the integral buttery mouth feel of the coffee was substituted for assimilation to liquefied cling wrap with a splash of chemical, submerged in an undesirable muddy water. Ewww.
The initial concern of the exhaling CO2 from the beans being trapped in the food grade bucket, without means of escape became trampled by the problematic nature of the beans to adopt the plastic taste from the container material…
Oh dear! Another experiment shall be necessary to test the valve theory again? Or can the superman strong containers be lined to prevent the tainting of the bean flavor? (If the absence of a valve proves to have no detrimental effect on the coffee.)
Clear results and lessons learned today – how it TASTES is absolutely paramount.
Lauren.
No comments:
Post a Comment