Aug 27 2008
Blending in
Being down to the nitty gritty, as I eagerly await the latest additions to my, Ahem, stash (which I will pick up later today), I decided to do a little blending with the final remnants of the remaining beans. Usually when I finish up a pounder of coffee beans, I am left with a couple of remaining ounces. When I try to roast an amount this small in my Nesco, I usually end up blazing it to an oblivion which doesn’t stop me from trying to drink it. Instead of forcing myself to down these charcoal concoctions, I have learned blend these remnants with each other.
I had three ounces of the Ethiopian Koratie Wet process left over along with two ounces of the Panamanian Esmeralda Gesha lot number 5. Both beans on their own, had panned out “ok” for me, but had not evolved into anything spectacular. Perhaps, I thought to myself, if put together they would become something. The nutty smoothness of the Gesha just might compliment the fruity tooty tang of the WP Koratie. I decided on a nice mellow full roast, getting the beans to a nice dark tan at around 23 minutes. I let the beans rest for a bit and then brewed some up in my Chemex carafe. The result was a pretty good coffe that is both bitter yet sour, like a wheat beer with a slice of lemon. It dried my mouth a bit, yet had a memorable taste.
I wouldn’t say that I really stumbled upon anything spectacular in my little experiment, but I do think that I did learn a few things. I have perused charts in coffee books and have read up on the internet about the art of blending, but none of it really sticks. I think I gain more from my own casual monkeying around with the different beans that I could ever get from some book.
