Time for a refill...

This blog started as a place for me to talk about coffee. But it didn't take long till I realized I'd settled on a single coffee origin (the place where the beans are grown) which we both liked: the state of Chiapas in Mexico. 

Chiapas is the most southern state in Mexico bordering the Central American country of Guatemala. 

 

Chiapas State, Mexico- their highlands are home of some fantastic coffee!

I eventually accepted there was really only one way to roast it for us to both enjoy our morning cup: a dark roast that goes into 2nd crack by about 29 seconds.

A recent typical roast of greens from Chiapas, Mexico.

Life has caught up with us. For a number of years we both have had to limit our intake of coffee (bummer!). And I suspect the medical professionals we see on a regular basis would just as soon we stopped drinking coffee altogether! I've been told tea is an alternative but sadly tea (other than herbal tea) has more caffeine than coffee- who'd a thunk it?!

So even though the subject gets neglected here on iwantsomecoffee.blogspot.com, coffee roasting continues on a (mostly) weekly basis. And every Sunday I get in the golf cart and drive around the park and share freshly roasted coffee with a few friends. I could probably find others that enjoy what we drink but I'm at the limit of what I can supply (has to do with tariffs the US has imposed on trading partners).

I was shocked by the reality that not everyone likes the coffee I've settled on. Oops! I can only guess that the dark roast is a very long way from the far more popular light roast of Central American varieties... those varieties are admittedly the most universally popular. We did those a few years ago and and got over it. We found 'old reliable' worked for us. But the truth is that the mass of coffee drinkers like a lighter roast.

Oddly my exclusive coffee mug is a tallish 10 oz double-wall ceramic cup which bears the logo of Starbucks. 'Oddly' because it's been many years since I've had a cup of Starbucks coffee. That said, I'm still a fan of that friend of the coffee-drinker! They do a good job roasting greens so that the flavor of your favorite is consistent year after year. I find that amazing! 

Just because a bean is from a certain geographic region doesn't guarantee the brewed taste will be what you expect. Rain fall, soil content and preparation, pruning of the coffee plant, shade (the coffee plant struggles with direct sun), harvesting practices, coffee 'cherry' processing to remove the fruit and leave the 'seed', drying, hand sorting, aging, bla-bla-blah are all involved in what ends up in the cup. 

Thompson Owen of sweetmarias.com provides an incredible resource for home coffee roasters by supplying greens, equipment, supplies and information. I started my adventures with coffee roasting one December Saturday in 2003 when I visited with Thompson (emphatically not Tom!) and got an intro to the art. He is amazing- he may not walk on water but he knows where the rocks are to walk on.

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