Coffee Beans: Round 3

I just received my third shipment of green coffee beans. Here is my haul.

Guatemala Fraijanes - Finca Agua Tibia - 2 lbs

Uganda Organic Mbale Bugisu - 1 lb

Honduras Organic Marcala -Cocosam Coop - 1 lbs

Sweet Maria's Moka Kadir Blend - 1 lb

Brazil Joao de Campos Yellow Catuai - 1 lbs

Tanzania Nyamtimbo Peaberry - 1 lbs

Rwanda Gkongoro Nyarusiza - 1 lb

Ecuador Zumba Microlot Especial - 1 lb

Sumatra Grade 1 Mandheling - 1 lb

What have I learned from roasting my own coffee, you ask? Well, let me share with you some wisdom.

1. Never roast in the house. This work gets too smokey to do indoors and the whole place smells like Dunn Brothers for a week. You might think that sounds nice, but it can be annoying. It is best to keep the roasting to the garage.

2. Everything pretty much roasts the same. Since the temperature of my popcorn popper stays the same, the only variable I have left is long to heat the beans. This really limits the ability to mess around with things.

3. I have a better ear for crack now. When coffee heats up it makes a loud "crack" sound at two different intervals.

4. Coffee beans from one farm taste completely different from what you get at Starbucks. All the coffee that you get at Starbucks and Caribou are blends. This is done for two reasons. It can be hard for someone to replicate the taste of a cup of coffee if the beans used and they can protect their recipe. They also create blends to help balance flavors and fill out the palate when you drink it. A single type of bean will not have the diversity of flavors that a blend will, but there will be amazingly strong flavors that you will never get from a "breakfast blend".

5. The longer you roast coffee, the less caffeine you will be drinking. When you see coffee beans that is really look oily, that is a sign of caffeine burning off. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but is a fun fact.

Time to enjoy my peaberry.

Check out the stats on this bean.

Country: Tanzania

Grade: Peaberry

Region: Nyamtimbo-Songea Ruvuma, South Tanzania

Mark:

Processing: Wet Process

Crop: March 2010 Arrival

Appearance: .2 d/300gr, 17 PB Screen

Varietal: Arusha, and Hybrids

Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium intensity / Excellent sweet citrus and floral notes

Roast: City+, FC+

Compare to: East African brightness (Kenya-like) with a milder, less acidic cup overall than most coffees from the Kenya plateau. Slight wild notes.