Oh by the way...

The flavor of the coffee in the cup can vary a lot with temperature. Thompson Owen has mentioned that in at least a couple of his articles, but it was also introduced in the early pages of a non-ficiton titled The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers. In one of those early paragraphs Mokhtar Alkhanshali, the American of Yemen heritage and the subject of the book, orders a couple pour-overs at Blue Bottle Coffee at Jack London Square in Oakland, CA. It was a special Ethiopian coffee he'd had in the past and asked the author to let it cool before trying it in order to let the special flavors and sweetness present themselves.

I have no idea what specific Ethiopian they had, and likely it wouldn't make any difference since things like this are often harvest-specific. Still, I thought 'what the hell... let's see what happens'. We happened to be having an Ethiopian Yirgachef (a favorite) and I'll be damned. It tasted completely different by the time I got to the bottom of the cup. And it was all good.

I learned a lot about coffee taste that day from reading Eggers's book. And it isn't just Ethiopian coffees it applies to.

Btw, it's a great book and includes coverage of the start of the wars in Yemen. Scarey as anything from Stephen King as Alkhanshali tries to get out of Yemen without losing all the coffee he just bought. Well... sans witches. Good read.