Coffee Fundamentals

Roasted coffee beans’ appearances can vary from shiny to dull. Some beans have a glistening sheen, while others show a fully matte finish. The difference is caused by oils. Here’s a look at what causes coffee beans to be oily or dry.

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Most (75-90%) of Indonesian coffee are Robusta beans and used to make commercial coffees. Indonesians mostly grow these commercial beans on large plantations with industrial agriculture. You must seek out the single origin, small farm, organic coffees to find something special. 

Indonesia is an archipelago made up of a thousand islands. Some of these have flatter fields and terraced hills that work for plantation agriculture. Others are high islands, centered upon a volcano, whose soils make some of the best coffee. 

The best Robusta beans are dark roasted into espresso beans, and sometimes blended with Arabica. Small farms can grow Arabica beans that highlight the terroir of this country. 

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Costa Rican coffee is full-bodied and rich. People describe it as comforting, sweet, inviting, and chocolaty. Costa Rican coffee consistently wins awards as the best coffee. 

The country has been encouraging innovation towards even higher quality coffee. The government gave out free land for those who would farm coffee in 1891. They also once gave seed coffee for free to farmers. Even today, the government sponsors research into how to make their coffee even better. 

Costa Rica is a small country with a big name in the coffee world. They export 90% of the coffee they grow, which makes up less than 1% of the world’s coffee. This 1% includes many award winners and other top coffees. Costa Rican coffees reflect this elite status with their prices, but bargains are always to be found.

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Ethiopian coffees are sweet and show a wide variety of natural flavors, depending on the region or the roast. The most desired flavor is blueberry, which can be found in the best Ethiopian coffees. Ethiopia is famous for other fruit flavors, like strawberry and melon. 

It’s no surprise that Ethiopia produces some of the best coffees in the world – it is the birthplace of coffee. Coffea arabica, the coffee plant, hails from Ethiopia. They have been caring for the coffee bean for longer than anyone else.

Ethiopia also makes an art out of drinking coffee. Coffee is a community occasion. Any meeting of people will include coffee, served black with sugar. This ceremony starts with roasting the beans. As people smell the beans roasting, they draw near to drink coffee with friends and strangers. 

In this guide we’ll explore the coffees of Ethiopia and the nuances of their flavors.

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Coffee is both art and science, but science has become increasingly predominant in recent years.

Thermometers measure brew water temperature, timers measure pours and brew times, and scales weigh grounds, water and brewed coffee/espresso.

One of the newest gadgets are refractometers, which measure total dissolved solubles.

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Blooming your coffee allows carbon dioxide to be released from the beans which will give you a better flavor and better extraction. It’s a step that should not be skipped in your brewing process!

Brewing freshly roasted coffee grounds creates a frothy head much like a beer’s. Whereas the head is desirable in beer and enhances flavor, the head that develops during coffee brewing interferes with extraction and negatively affects flavor.

To best brew fresh coffee, the head should first be dissipated via blooming.

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