It is easy to think that making coffee should be an easy, effortless part of one’s day but I have found that making a good cup of coffee is a labour of love.  And making good coffee spoils you for all the bad coffee that there is in the world.  Where a good cup can make your life richer, a bad cup is – at times – depressing.

It has struck me that until this project I have never observed my coffee so closely.  For the first time I noticed the bubbles on a freshly poured cup, the colour and sheen of the beans, the after taste or pleasant absence of one.  The body.  It gives life to an otherwise robotic act.

Though I have not been blogging or trying new beans, the Roasters Road has not been far from my mind.  As I look forward to 2010 I am excited to think of this project being a part of my year.  So with that in mind, on the 2nd I visited Calgary’s newly opened Phil & Sebastian’s for a dreamy latte and a bag of freshly roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.

To the riches of good coffee in 2010!

I immediately loved the packaging and appreciate its value in keeping the beans fresh for as long as possible.  The bags are vacuum sealed but have a zip lock top, keeping the beans dark and sealed right in the original packaging.  All coffee should come in these bags.

The bag is covered in pictures of significance in Alberta – Moraine Lake, an early oil well, a grain elevator and a wild rose.  This to me is another example of the local pride often intertwined in marketing a local roaster.  I first heard of St. City Roasters via a tweet on twitter.  Seems the locals are proud of St. City Roasters too.

I opened the bag of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, a medium roast originating in the birthplace of coffee.  I was immediately struck by how dark and oily these beans appeared.  They were so dark, I double checked the bag to confirm its roast.  However, the brew delivered a medium roast as promised and a great one at that.  Loved this coffee.

The beans are 49th’s Tanzania Hope Peaberry.  They are organic and fair trade.  These are two terms that I have heard repeatedly without understanding until recently.  “Organic” is as is sounds – grown naturally without chemicals etc. but “fair trade” is a little more ambiguous.  According to The Coffee Companion – A Connoisseurs Guide by Jon Thorn, the fair trade phenomenon began in the late 1990s when the over supply of green coffee in the market drove prices below the cost of production.  The fair trade movement gained momentum during this crisis as small roasters began to cut out the middlemen and buy their beans direct, at a premium from the farmers.

With the purchase of these beans I received a page with details of the originating farm and region.  In addition to paying a premium directly to the farmer, the Hope Project helps the farmer with water supply issues to make a greater contribution to sustainability.

That all aside, this bag of beans has reinvigorated my enthusiasm for my project.  I was finally able to put my new burr grinder to good use and was enamored by the difference it made in the coffee I poured from my drip coffee maker.  The first thing I noticed was the bubbles – there was nearly a froth after pouring a cup.  It was an indication to me that something was clearly different.  Secondly, as I sat down with coffee in one hand and the coffee details in the other I was amazed to read the coffee described as I savored my first taste:

“Sweet aroma, full body and bright acidity.  A complex cup with a creamy mouthfeel and dense flavours.  Caramel, apple and a berry finish.”

When I had read this before it seemed like java jargon.  Blah, blah, blah.  But the description is remarkably and totally accurate.  I am clearly a newbie but I was pleasantly surprised by my ability to identify and relate to the description provided with these beans.

Third, I knew that I had finally got it right.  The freshly opened bag of beans, the appropriate grinder and my usual 12 cup coffee drip made exactly the cup that these beans were meant for.

Maybe there is hope for this coffee connoisseur after all!

I was eager to tear into my beans as soon as they arrived on my doorstep and I did without much thought.  As a result, my Longitude 123W beans from 49th Parallel sat in a closed bag in the freezer until this week when I finally managed to get out to get a proper grinder.  The pot of coffee still failed to live up to my expectations of this roasted blend.  It was bitter with a long lingering after taste and just lacked flavour.

Again I learned how much I have to learn.  I began to question the practice of freezing my coffee.  I’ve been doing it for years – I’m sure that my mom had told me to do it once.  My parents think that freezing is some sort of cryogenic preservation process keeping things exactly as they were when you put them in the freezer.  Growing up they froze corn on the cob, claiming it tasted as fresh as the day it was picked.  Recently, I went over to their house and found potato chips in their freezer – keeps them as crisp as the day they were packaged they said.

Coffee beans are best within the first week after opening but according to numerous websites you can prolong the life of the coffee by storing week long amounts in moisture tight containers.  Taking the coffee in and out of the freezer will deteriorate the flavour.  Moisture will ruin it.  Coffee for the week should be stored in an air tight container in cupboard away from heat.  You should never brew frozen coffee.

I violated these recommendations at nearly every turn.    I will have to leave my impressions of Longitude 123W in the garbage next to today’s soggy grinds.  I believe my second bag, Tanzania Hope Peaberry, will have been sufficiently preserved in it’s sealed package.  Will start fresh tomorrow.

For more about keeping and freezing coffee:

http://www.cobblestonecoffee.com/content-21-8012.html
http://www.coffeeam.com/stgrandbrco.html
http://www.ineedcoffee.com/99/storage/

Kingston is the oldest community in Canada.  It was an integral part of the early political landscape prior to confederation and was home to Canada’s first prime minister, John A. MacDonald.   It is home to Queens, the infamous Kingston Penitentiary and the Royal Military College of Canada.

Cooke’s is a true reflection of Kingston culture where past meets present.  It seems fitting that they also roast one of the world’s oldest beverages.  History aside, Cooke’s coffee is of an exceptional quality.

The trip was post grinder disaster and prior to my grinder research so I naturally bought two bags of ground coffee.  Today I brewed my first batch of their Mr. Cooke’s blend.  It is a Medium Rich roast coffee.  The aroma of the coffee smelled burnt but  was surprisingly absent of a strong burnt flavour.  The coffee was very smooth and had virtually no after taste.  The cup was a great morning coffee, but would be dark enough to work with an evening dessert.  I’m looking forward to the rest of the bag.

This apparently was a terrible mistake.  I was very disappointed with the pot of coffee which did not, even remotely, live up to its aroma.  So I learned the hardway what I could have learned with a little more reading.  Brewing coffee from beans at home is ALL in the grinder.  Burr grinder to be specific, rather than a blade grinder.

I am doing my research and will make an educated purchase before I brew another pot.  A slight speed bump in this java journey…

It was a vacation in a cup and it refreshed my spirit.

Soon after, I was at my sister-in-law’s for dinner and she excitedly brewed a pot of Cookies ‘n Cream to share with the group.  She had never lived in Saint John and certainly had not had the coffee before the recent family visit.  She thought the coffee was amazing.

It struck me that this little roaster in this small Canadian city was roasting extraordinary coffee.  It is as unique as its home.  I then started looking into why this is so and learned that roasting is an art.  The roasts and blends produced by these “boutique” roasters are their own masterpieces.

I have decided to set out on a journey, one pot at a time, tasting the coffees of Canada.  I am a newbie coffee taster but hope to become more educated as I go.