Progress: #6. Learn more about coffee

Some more I've learned about Gesha: A pound at auction from Panama went for $1300 in 2020. Though coffee tastes are definitely individual, Gesha consistently ranks at the top of blind taste tests.

I found this limited edition Gesha coffee from Costa Rica from Detour Coffee, which - with an initial buyer discount of $10 -  cost me $36 for 300g, which I thought quite reasonable.

Detour Coffee is located in Dundas, Ontario, and I remember really liking beans of theirs that I sampled in a Roaster's Pack subscription (which was a - highly recommended - birthday gift from my sister).

Their motto is that coffee is an adventure and, the more you know, the more you want to know.

Though the Black Sheep Gesha was still my favourite of the two, this roast had all the scents and flavours I've been missing, and I'll definitely be consuming this one until it's gone.

(This was especially welcome after a rough night of toddler teething.)

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #6. Learn more about coffee

This morning I tried the Gurmah from Mokha Bunn (see post yesterday for more details). I'm really not used to medium roast coffee tasting and smelling so dark, and I had hoped to be able to detect more sweet and fruity notes than I have so far. I'll save the last one for after I try another coffee from another roaster that arrived yesterday, because I'm particularly jazzed about that one.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #6. Learn more about coffee

I am using the opportunity of this goal to sample some expensive specialty coffee I've been wanting to try. 

First, I ordered these coffees from Mokha Bunn, as I think Yemeni beans fit my preferred flavour profile. Also, this site is AWESOME, with lots of great historical information about coffee in Yemen and such devices as a coffee selector based on your preferences and method of brew. 

This place is fairly local to me (it's in Kitchener and I'm in Toronto), so the shipping only took a day from time of order, which is amazing. I was also impressed with the insert of a coffee taste chart based on such factors as temperature, grind, ratio, and extraction. This is something I want to learn more about (though I'm not sure all factors are relevant to the Ibrik -- are they?). They also do a buy 5 orders, get the next 25% off, and I like incentives like this (especially when this specialty coffee worked out to $29 for 250g). 

This morning, I tried their Mokha Blend, medium roast. It definitely wasn't as sweet as I hoped, but - as their site says - it's a really dense coffee that may require a lower brewing temp and very fine grind. I always do the latter, but I'll try to pour before it completely boils next time. I'm looking forward to trying the other two packs of beans.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #6. Learn more about coffee

 It's odd to learn more about a coffee AFTER drinking and loving it, but Gesha (Geisha) coffee is actually the most expensive and valuable coffee in the world (as much as $601 / per pound -- that isn't a typo).

It originated in the Gori Gesha Forest in Ethiopia, but is now grown around the (coffee-growing) world. It is known for its unique sweet flavour profile.

My sister's friend owns a coffee roastery and I once had the rare opportunity to try a very limited run of this coffee. (I think the producer actually lost money on this one, but was just so excited to roast such a special bean.) He sold it in small 100g tins and I bought a lot. It was the best coffee I've ever tasted and I miss it every day.

I tried to get some good coffee-loving friends to buy some when he eventually started selling it off for $10/tin. They didn't. That's an absolutely wild price and truth be told my heart kind of hurts that they didn't get to try such a special coffee (though the fault really lies with me because I drank all I had instead of buying them some, which is definitely what I should have done). I didn't even know quite how special it was at the time, and I don't know if I'll ever get an opportunity to have it again.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #6. Learn more about coffee

 I bought a mocha pot recently and used it yesterday. I've never been a fan of espresso; it tastes like a permanent marker to me and is too small a cup to savour. Therefore, I added water when I was done to make it an Americano. It was good, but I prefer the crema of the Ibrik or French Press.

Original goal list posted here

Completed #31. Make my own vegan doughnuts

 I thought these would taste better than these did, but there are a billion other recipes out there. I think the effort to fry them and let them yeast-rise may be worth it instead of this one, which is baked and oven-risen. I used this recipe.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #6. Learn more about coffee

 Yesterday, I tried this pretty manual grinder I bought. It was quite a workout, but was quiet enough that I could grind it without my toddler even really noticing that a noise was happening. It also made waiting on the Ibrik water to boil seem like it didn't take so long because I was occupied with grinding the beans the entire time.

They made a really smooth and flavourful cup of coffee. (Though, truth be told, sometimes I like a bit of grit in my cup.)

Original goal list posted here

Progress #6. Learn more about coffee

 The cool thing about the coffee experience is that it is so different depending on who you talk to.  This goal is a lot about learning more about myself and my preferences in relation to coffee.

I think I will start with making a point form list of some things I already know about coffee, as it isn't insubstantial (it's kind of quietly one of my autistic hyperfocii):

- I think coffee roasts need to be light or medium if you're drinking them for taste, because that is the taste of the actual origin flavours. In a dark roast, those flavours have been burned out and you're tasting the burn.

- My consistent favourite coffee bean is Ethiopian, natural drying process, light or light medium roast, pref. Guji region, with blueberry tasting notes

- I most consistently order beans from De Mello Coffee Roasters

- The best coffee I ever had was a Columbian Gesha from Black Sheep Coffee Roasters

- The other bean type I have more recently taken to is from Myanmar

- Someone recommend beans from Yemen based on my flavour palate, so I want to try those soon.

- I also like really bad coffee, especially when travelling, because it makes me feel like I'm roughing it and tastes like adventure. (Therefore, I'm not the kind of coffee snob who has to take machinery and beans along with me to appreciate the trip. I'll even drink instant on hand, or a hotel Keurig cup, and call it part of the experience).

- I know how to roast my own green beans in a vintage popcorn popper from my youth. I haven't yet mastered it, I guess, because I can still buy better tasting ones.

- A coffee bean is not a bean. It's a seed from the coffee cherry.

- I didn't start drinking coffee until I was 21. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I stopped drinking coffee entirely because it was completely unappealing to me and that seems weird now. (The first coffee I drank again was a really bad hospital coffee the morning after her birth.)

- I own the following coffee devices: French Press, Aeropress, Ibrik, Vacuum, Pour Over, cloth filters for said Pour Over (they honestly make a better tasting coffee, in addition to being environmentally better), electric grinder, manual grinder (just purchased), Mocha Pot (just purchased, not yet used).

- If I had to rank the machines I own by taste preference, it would be: Ibrik, French Press, Vacuum, Pour Over, Aeropress.

- I used to just own a regular drip for many years, and then gave it away many years ago and haven't gone back.

- The best book I know about coffee is "The Art and Craft of Coffee" by Kevin Sinnott, which I keep on my counter with a select few other cooking books, and which will actually help centre me in this goal and deciding what it is I want to learn. I went first with manual grinders, and experimented with the one I bought yesterday morning. Post to follow!

Completed #11. Grow my own mushrooms

 Grew, cooked, made a good sandwich.

Original goal list posted here

Progress #11. Grow my own mushrooms

 Round 2. (Well, to be fair, it's actually Round 3, I guess, because once I tried to grow mushrooms by attempting to extract mycelium from existing store-bought mushrooms and spreading it on spent coffee grounds in a mason jar. Ambitious.)

Original goal list posted here

Progress #11. Grow my own mushrooms

 All my mushroom attempt yielded was mold, and not the kind you'd want to eat. I'm going to buy one of those cardboard kits instead. Then, I will buy them in the store, or forage for the three foolproof mushrooms I know.

Original goal list posted here