Preground Esmeralda Follow-Up

Fresh Esmeralda

Preground Esmeralda

Even preground and sitting exposed to the air and light for a week, Esmeralda is still capable of producing a distinct cup.

Ten Tips for Making Tomorrow's Coffee the Best Ever

10.Proper brewing technique
With the exception of a few brewing techniques, there really isn't a wrong way to brew coffee. It's just a matter of finding what you like in your cup, pairing it with the proper brewing method, and making a proper cup of coffee. Follow the rest of the tips below to get the most out of your coffee.
9.Do not burn
Heat is one of the many factors that kills coffee. If you want to instantly kill a good cup of coffee, burn it. Use boiling water and you'll find yourself drinking a rather bad cup. Use around 200 degree F water.
8.Do not let sit or reheat
Just like coffee beans, a cup of coffee can go stale. Coffee only lasts about twenty minutes. If your cup is luke-warm or cold, dump it and make more coffee. Don't reheat it. Reheating destroys the flavors and imparts acidic, bitter notes to the cup.
7.Proper grind
Different brewing methods require different grind settings because the brewing processes vary. A press pot coffee should be coarse, while an automatic drip should be finer. Get that backwards and you'll have an odd tasting cup of coffee. Understand which grind setting is the proper one for you and grind accordingly.
6. Grind fresh
To artificially age your coffee, grind it and let it sit. You'll have a pile of lackluster coffee grinds in minutes. It's that simple. This is because once ground, you've increased the surface area of the coffee by multiples, and it's all touching the air, oxidizing and deteriorating. It's dying. Even if it is immediately packaged and sealed, you'll eventually open that bag, and chances are, you won't use it all that morning.
5.Clean equipment
Coffee mugs do not need to be seasoned. Wash it. And everything else that your coffee touches. Word of warning: don't use strong cleaning liquids unless you like a lemony scent.
4.Fresh beans
Like most food items, coffee has a shelf life. It stales and loses its character, body, aromatics, and flavor. When possible, purchase smaller amounts of coffee that can be used within x days. If you prefer to buy in bulk to save on shipping or to avoid an extra trip to the store, keep the coffee in a dry, cool place and avoid exposing it to the air. Portion a large bag of coffee into smaller bags to avoid exposing the entire lot every morning.
3. 8-10 g per 6 ounces of water
Too little coffee and you'll brew a cup that is overextracted (bitter). Too much coffee and you'll brew a cup that is underextracted (weak or flat).
2. Good water
Coffee is 99% water, so it stands to reason that if you use poor quality water, your coffee will be bad. A simple rule of thumb is that if you don't like how your water tastes, don't use it to brew your coffee. A more complex rule of thumb is to use good water that contains minerals. Bottled (drinking or spring) water usually has the proper mineral content. Distilled or reverse osmosis water does not.
1. Buy from trusted source
Whether you buy online or from a local retailer, know you coffee by knowing your seller. Do they make transparency a priority, or do they hide behind generic coffee terms (i.e. this is our Colombian and that's our dark roast)? By getting as much information about the coffee, you can locate the knowledgeable sellers who are more likely to invest time and energy into sourcing good coffee and roasting it to perfection, and thus, allowing you to make a better decision on your next coffee purchase.

Open House

Our doors are always open to visitors, but on Saturday, September 20^th 2008, we are doing something a bit special.

We are having an open house from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Please stop by as we will have hands-on roasting, cupping, and espresso demonstrations. No need to RSVP, but feel free to call if you have any questions.

Paradise Roasters
6250 Bunker Lake Blvd, Suite 211
Ramsey, MN 55303

(763) 433-0626

Free Coffee Chaff and Burlap Sacks

Diverting Waste to Become More Eco-friendly...

Coffee Chaff

Coffee chaff is the protective skin surrounding the seed (the coffee bean) of the coffee cherry. When the coffee is roasted, this chaff separates from the coffee and collects in the roaster’s chaff collector. Instead of throwing away this lightweight, inedible material, Paradise Roasters bags the chaff for use in private/public composts and gardens.

Collected chaff is available at no charge to anyone who wishes to stop by and pick it up at the roastery. Quantity is limited, so feel free to call ahead to determine availability. If you would like us to ship the chaff to you, we will be happy to do so, but a shipping and handling charge will apply.

When using chaff, don’t use too much as there is a tendency for this stuff to clump and repel water. Used in proper amounts, however, chaff is perfect for acid-loving plants. During the winter months, chaff can form a protective barrier in replace of or in addition to fallen leaves.

Free Burlap Coffee Bags

The majority of green coffee is transported in burlap bags, and once the coffee is roasted, we have no use for the bags. But if you do, we’d be happy to give you one…or twenty. Like the chaff, burlaps bags are free. However, shipping and handling will apply to anyone who cannot pick up.

There is a waiting list for bags that extends until August. If you would like to be added to the list, please feel free to contact us.

New law against lattes gone wild

Mason County officials in Washington have deemed "bikini baristas" to be exotic entertainment, and thus, must either put on more clothing or shut down.

It's curious that the crackdown here isn't about the unsafe working environment. Semi-nude baristas working near scalding milk, pressurized steam, and hot coffee screams injury and lawsuit.

photo by: waɪ.tiː's

Brett Favre Traded to the New York Jets

Aaron and I had a bet concerning whether Brett Favre would play in the NFL this upcoming season. We made this bet two months ago. Today, it was reported that the Green Bay Packers traded Brett Favre to the New York Jets.

Aaron has conceded. I am the new owner of two relatively used dollar bills.

Perhaps I can bet Miguel a Brett Favre - New York Jets jersey that Chad Pennington will never throw another ball for the New York Jets again? Or maybe tickets to a game? The pre-season Giants - Jets game on Saturday, August 23 would even suffice. I'll have to look over the Jets' schedule.

While I'm in New York, I should check out some coffee shops too.

Espresso Havana Reserve will Return

Based on customer feedback, we will bring back Espresso Havana Reserve for a limited time starting September 2nd, 2008.

Designed to pair well with a fine cigar, this blend offers a heavy mouthfeel and smoky tobacco-like tastes.

And like the last version of Havana Reserve, this espresso blend will also contain Panama Esmeralda.

Feel free to call us (763-433-0626) to secure Havana Reserve. It won't be on the website for a few more weeks, but that doesn't mean you can't place a preorder.

Espresso Havana Reserve will replace Safari Espresso Blend, so if you mean to try that espresso, do so quickly as it will be gone September 2nd 2008.

Espresso Adagio

A prelude...

Top-Ten Brewing Methods

According to Miguel...
10. Percolator
9. Cowboy
8. AeroPress
7. Turkish
6. Clover
5. Moka Pot
4. Espresso
3. Press Pot
2. Siphon
1. Drip

According to Aaron...
10. Moka Pot
9. Auto-Drip: Paper Filter
8. Auto-Drip: Gold Filter
7. AeroPress
6. Vac-Pot
5. Manual-Drip: Paper Filter
4. Clover
3. Espresso
2. Press Pot
1. Manual-Drip: Gold Filter

Geisha or Gesha?

We recently received an email questioning the validity of the varietal name "Geisha" that we have listed on our Panama Esmeralda page. This particular emailer believed that we were perhaps confused with the Japanese Geisha, who are traditional Japanese artists that, in turn, are often confused for prostitutes.

We were told to use the word "Gesha" as it is "a small area in Ethiopia where grows a coffee variety that is only slightly evolved from the original wild coffee."

We are posting the following response, because there is obviously misunderstanding regarding this famous coffee varietal, and we just wanted to throw out some clarification regarding Geisha.

Our response:

On several occasions during the mid 20th century, coffees were distributed to national coffee research labs around the world under the name Geisha, or on occasion, these same varietals were labeled Abbyssinian or simply Ethiopian, but never Gesha.

While it is possible, perhaps likely, that this Geisha name is taken from a township named Gesha or Gecha, it is not certain. The coffees that have been distributed as Geisha have all come from Southwestern Ethiopia mostly from the Bench Maji growing area. Within this area, there is a locale called Geisha Mountain which is where the varietal planted in Panama known as Geisha is thought to have originated.

It should be noted that several distinct varietals (all labeled Geisha) were collected on this mission and one eventually made it to Panama. Other varietal selections from this region have also been planted in Malawi and Kenya under the Geisha name. The collections of varietals labeled Geisha were originally distributed to coffee research stations in Kenya and Tanzania where they were used in hybridization projects. Selections that showed good disease resistance were later distributed to other research stations around the world, notably India, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. These varietals were always identified as Geisha and not Gesha.

The Geisha varietal planted in Panama was brought from a research station in neighboring Costa Rica. It was planted and called Geisha in Panama, but due to its low yields, was afterwards quickly forgotten. It wasn’t until after the “rediscovery” of this varietal less than a decade ago that anyone had ever called it “Gesha,” and then it was only called that in speculation as to its origins.

The truth is that no one knows exactly where this varietal was originally collected or that its location will ever be known. Some people have speculated it comes from around one of 3 towns called either Gesha or Gecha on some English maps, but it is important to note that these spellings are all translations from Amharic. There is no agreed upon way of transliterating Amharic into Roman characters so we often see widely varied spellings of the same places and names. Yirgacheffe is a classic example of this. Depending on the source doing the translation, it may be spelled Yrgacheffe, Yergacheffe, Yirgacheffe or Yerga Cheffe. Because multiple translations of the possible originating locale this varietal may be named after, and for the fact that everywhere it has been planted for the past 75+ years has been labeled “Geisha,” we believe Geisha to be the better choice.

As to the assertion that the Geisha is only slightly evolved from the original “wild coffee,” we are unaware of any evidence that supports this. The Geisha varietal now being cultivated has had as much human-selective pressure as any other cultivar commonly planted. What is being grown in Panama is not straight from the wild forests of Ethiopia but the result of many successive generations of plants selected for their desired qualities, which for most of the 20th century was disease resistance, not cup quality. To say this varietal, or any coffee varietal, is somehow more or less evolved than another is unfounded since coffee species hybridize quite frequently in nature, and the various progeny from these hybrids are still evolving today, both from natural selection and selective, human pressure.