Dark Roast (2) [topic: beans]

In continuation to what I wrote about the dark roast, I would like to give out additional information, starting from a personal suggestion. Due to the fact that the dark roast is sharper in taste, I suggest something - which I do with all beans - in order to balance and give a smoother taste. Basically, for every 200gr of  dark roast coffee beans of any type, I add 50gr of Arabica.

Do not get too excited at adverts or anyone who suggests 100% Arabica. This coffee is very rich on the bitter side of taste, yet not fragrant enough and would not really go down well with taste buds apart from the morning's first espresso or as a digestive.

Dark roast's final result

With the slight Arabica blend, the dark roast mixture is more acceptable, especially as a digestive coffee. I consider the dark roast as a good option especially in wintry low gastronomical seasons such as the months between Christmas and Easter or the weeks before Christmas. These are the times where traditions take a break with regards to sweets and heavy meals, thus coffee can afford to be slightly sharper in character.

For those who, like me, enjoy a small piece of chocolate with their espresso, I suggest Milk Chocolate in order to balance the sharp taste. Enjoy!

Stay tuned! In the mean time, keep spreading the love for the BEAN!

Espresso Lungo [topic: review 1]

Another aspect I will be offering through my blog giving out coffee reviews from different places and possibly their related coffee trademarks they serve. I will be quite blunt and straight to the point. However it will not be a review about the place per se but about the coffee experience, thus I might also comment about the same place more than once with regards to their coffee.

This morning I visited Fontanella Tea Gardens at Mdina. For those who are not familiar with the name, don't get the impression that they specialise in teas only. My first comment here is that their choice of coffees is not quite vast, yet acceptable.

Though they use Lavazza (not really the best choice despite the hype around the name), I would say that whoever prepared my espresso lungo knew well what s/he was doing.

Not bad for a presentation

Firstly, I must say that at Fontanella they did not use proper espresso cups but the cappuccino cups (small ones). However, having ordered a lungo, the presentation was not bad at all. Though the waitress had to pass from outside and up through a flight of stairs to my table, the coffee was of an excellent temperature and presentation was not badly damaged. The taste was OK for a Lavazza. I enjoyed it.

I would like to pass a further comment here as at Fontanella I was positively impressed. It is one of the very few coffee serving places in Malta that serve water with an espresso. Good job Fontanella! Kudos to that!!

Stay tuned! In the mean time, keep spreading the love for the BEAN!

Dark Roast (1) [topic: beans]

Today I would like to introduce a coffee bean I find at a local store. It is the DARK ROAST coffee bean. The dark roast beans normally go by their original beans' names, however I buy this mixture of dark roasts (most probably the reminiscence of bean filtering mixed with a dark roasted mix).

A neat way to distinguish your beans

Beans in a dark roast (medium to dark) have a heavy body when compared to lighter to medium roasts. In order to gain a more spicy taste, dark roasts are roasted up to the second crack to an internal temperature of 240°C. Due to this fact, the first remarkable difference in the dark roast bean is in the grinding. As it has a busier roast, dark roast coffee beans can be ground easily as they crack.

Due to the darker roast, the bean loses the original flavour from the bean and obtains the taste from the roasting process. The bean is heavier due to the roast up until the second crack where the body becomes light again. The dark roast contains less acidity than lighter roasts. This may also be related to the oil that develops on the surface of the bean. Thus the caffeine level decreases.

This is how the dark roast ground coffee looks like

Naturally, the dark bean provides a darker taste, yet the end product is not of a different colour. As the taste is darker and bit heavier in taste, some might like to add some brown sugar for a better taste. I would prefer a small chocolate bite instead :-)

Stay tuned for more information about the dark roast! In the mean time, keep spreading the love for the BEAN!

Buying your beans [topic: general]

Let's start from the very beginning (♫ cause that is a very good place to start ♫) ...

The first essential objective of good coffee making is the buying of beans. It is very similar to the experience of buying your greens from a local market, where you get to know the shop keeper (as here it is normally a small family run business) and also s/he gets to know your tastes. Get to know their system and also their suggestions. By time your relation will no longer be seller-client but a coffee lover to another.

Get to know the place ... get to know your taste!

If you still haven't started this experience, I suggest you go for small quantities at a time. Don't hesitate to ask yet don't rely on their selling tips as yet. Get to know them first, kind of testing the market. I'm not much in favour of buying ready-made mixtures and blends, especially when the beans are ground in advance - coffee tends to lose flavour by time, literally from the minute you ground the beans.

To be quite honest, the coffee shop I buy my beans from sells an Italian coffee mix which is quite their own blend of beans and I always fall for it as they know their stuff!

I like it the traditional way

As a rule of thumb, I buy beans and not ground coffee. I make use an old-style manual coffee grinder and grind a handful at a time so as to always keep my coffee fresh. A handful serves 1/2 brews, not more. If you don't have the aptitude yet to get a coffee grinder, I suggest you don't buy more than 100gr of ground coffee at a time so as to keep things fresh :-)

Stay tuned! In the mean time, keep spreading the love for the BEAN!

A very first [topic: general]

Firstly, I would like to welcome each and every single visitor hitting this page. My idea is to post every once in a while to show off my love for coffee - from the bean to the water and the heat pressure that makes the miracle!

Well, coffee is for me what light and water is for plants. I mean, I look at this marvel as a precious asset for our quality of life. Some might look at this as an exaggerated statement, yet that is how I consider my love for coffee - from my morning caffé (espresso) to my post-dinner lungo (sometimes macchiato). Obviously many of us might have their own likes and dislikes, however I consider all sachets; ready made; instant; capsules etc as worryingly fake. Perhaps I will take more time on this idea of 'fake' later on.

It's just a healthy relationship

True coffee is made out of freshly ground beans with a proper macchinetta and time - the time for heat pressure to filtrate water into coffee and blend the taste.

I will be posting every now and then so as to show you my way of blending and the results I get.

Stay tuned! In the mean time, keep spreading the love for the BEAN!