The Art and Craft of Coffee by Kevin Sinnott Read Free Book Online Page A

bright light in a cool place, away from heat.
6. Do not refreeze.
    Some hobbyists divide their beans into coffee pot–sized portions before freezing. This way, they can remove just enough to brew one pot without exposing the other beans to air and humidity. Use two bags per serving for double insulation.
Evaluating the Freshness of Roasted Beans
To test for freshness, grind some roasted coffee beans, place them in an open-drip filter, and pour freshly boiled hot water over the grounds. Fresh-roasted coffee will swell up from the release of carbon dioxide gas. Stale coffee will remain fl at throughout the brew cycle. Of course, such a test, by its nature, happens too late. We want to know before we buy our beans whether they are fresh.

You can roast green beans to light or dark roasts.
    The Basics of Blended Beans
    Bean blends combine the best qualities of one single origin with the different but complementary qualities of another, resulting in a unique, signature taste. In a perfect blend, the result is greater than the individual parts, causing a third unique flavor to emerge. Sometimes the word “distinguished” describes this signature taste.
    Blending experts typically combine no more than three different coffees. Many commercial blends feature more than three coffee varieties, but this is mostly due to practical considerations such as bean sourcing and availability. Keep in mind, a large roasting company needs to distribute a large volume of coffee and once it promotes a blend needs to maintain its flavor consistency and cost.
    The home aficionado has no such constraints. We can create a one-time perfect blend that we never have to recreate or mass produce. We likely care little if the varieties we blend are expensive. We aim to create unique, personal flavors. Leave consistency to others.
    Starting from scratch on your own blend can be a challenge. Here are three examples of proven blends to give you a taste:
• Mocha-Java: One-third Yemen Mocha to two-thirds Sumatra Mandheling, all Full City roast
• Black and Tan: One-half Vienna Roast (dark roast) Colombian to one-half City roast (light roast) Colombian
• Proprietary Roast #1: One-quarter Kenya AA to one-quarter Guatemala Coban to one-half Brazil, all Full City roast
    Crafting a Personal Bean Blend
    To start crafting your personal blend, combine two varieties of brewed coffee you enjoy and see how they taste together. Use a yin/yang approach. For example, try pairing a bright Colombian coffee with a low-acid Brazilian coffee. Many types of satisfying combinations exist. Check out chapter 1 for a list of regional traits. It’s a good place to create your short list. (It’s best to experiment using brewed coffee rather than beans. Then it becomes a matter of recreating that same ratio using coffee beans.)
    Tweak your blend by changing the percentages of each coffee variety, or try blending half light roast and half dark roast of any two coffees, even two of the same variety. It’s a trade secret that one well-regarded specialty blend is actually a single-origin variety made from two roasts from two different Colombian bean regions.
Materials
Brewed coffee samples of each potential blend component
Coffee brewer (pick your favorite from chapter 5 , “Brewing,” and follow instructions)
Thermal carafe for each brewed sample, to keep coffee hot
8-ounce (240 ml) measuring cup (one for each coffee)
Coffee cups or drinking vessels
    Instructions
1. Brew each coffee sample and then pour each into a thermos to preserve heat.
2. Measure 5 ounces (150 ml) of each into individual measuring cups. Pour 3 ounces (90 ml) of one into a coffee cup and then add 1 ounce (30 ml) of another to the same cup.
3. Repeat, sampling until you reach your desired ratio.
4. When you get a cup you like, note its ratios.
5. Finally, mix roasted beans in identical portions. This should allow you to streamline future production runs of your blend by roasting the beans blended. Note, however,