Coffee is a daily morning highlight, so I'm always chipping away at this goal.
While shopping online for a birthday gift, I found that the author of my favourite coffee guide, Kevin Sinnot, had another book, so I popped that in my cart. I read it. It seems almost like a precursor to the guide I love, except interspersed with psalms and comparisons between coffee and Christianity, which wasn't exactly what I was expecting.
I am learning that my flavour palate definitely prefers coffees whose flavour notes are "sweet". I've heard time and again that Yemen has sweet coffee beans, so I've been investigating. As mentioned previously, the ones I received from Mokha Bunn were a very dark-roasted medium and I couldn't really taste any flavour notes. They tasted more like the smokiness I associate with dark roast - burnt out, and not my thing. As a result, I found some more local Yemen beans online at a roaster called Maravai, where I could request a roast type. Erring on the side of caution, I requested light. Now, I have roasted my own beans and these were even lighter than any I have done - and I usually turn the roaster off after first crack (which is very light). As such, this roast really brought out the acidity in the beans in a way that I did not love. They also didn't taste sweet. I then tried mixing the two roasts together which, of the three, was my preference, but - again - this didn't make flavour notes suddenly appear. (I ended up surprisingly preferring all of these beans in the French press to the Ibrik. Maybe soon I'll try out the vacuum again.)
From Maravai, I also ordered an Ethiopian Gesha, and again requested light. I ended up with the same issues as with the Yemen -- heightened acidity that I didn't find palatable. I learned from the recent Sinnot book I purchased that the only real issue with light roast is that it can really showcase any issues present in the production process. I ended up mixing these ones with a basic Columbian from De Mello and, again, preferring the Press.
I subsequently ordered two more Gesha from another local roaster, I Drink Coffee, out of Milton. The absolutely amazing thing about this place is that I ordered online at 7:18am, and they were on my doorstep by 11:25am that same day. I thought maybe I had the days I ordered them mixed up and just thought it was that morning. Email receipts confirm: Just over 4 hours after order, delivery. For this, I emailed a thanks. I wish, however, I was as impressed with the beans. Like Mokha Bunn, they were a very dark medium roast, and it just tastes like the origin flavours were burned out. I think I was spoiled on my first two Gesha attempts - both limited runs by Black Sheep Coffee Roasters and Detour Coffee Roasters. Both my favourite coffees I've ever had; both disappeared into the ether.
If roast type is the problem, I'm waiting on my final last ditch effort: I ordered 2 lbs of green Columbian Gesha beans from Green Beanery that I will try to roast and perfect myself.
Failing that, any good recommendations for Gesha beans that aren't limited runs, or Yemen beans that actually taste sweet would be appreciated.
Failing THAT, I'll stick with whatever natural-processed Ethiopian beans De Mello has on hand.
Original goal list posted here
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