Carol C wrote:Our son-in-law is coming to Louisville in a few weeks and is a real coffee connoisseur. We’d like suggestions for some full bodied, flavorful beans since Bob and I not discerning coffee drinkers. We have tried Consumer Choice, Sangeros, Café Classico and Peets all which have been very good. The problem is that there are so many choices among the different brands and only so much time to try them. We would appreciate any recommendations or suggestions you might have for specific beans. Thanks.
Corol.
The key to good coffee is drinking it fresh.. This applies to all varieties of bean. Also the smaller the roast batch generally the more control over the roast. This usually means more chartacter That's why Micro roasteries rock.
Coffee once roasted, goes through a carmelization period. Or degassing period. This is why you need a one way valve on a fresh roasted bag of coffee. It would explode otherwise.
This process is usually completed after 4 days , or as we say in the biz "peaks" around that time. It is generally considered ok to start drinking coffee after 24 hours from roasting but again it's all personal taste. I like to try it during the intitial process, around a couple of days old, just to tast the changes going on over the week. My favorite is exactly 3 weeks after roasting. Don't ask me why it just tastes perfect to me.
Anyway most beans if roasted correctly and stored properly will be full of flavor. However, light and air are a roasted bean's kryptonite, so keep the beans sealed in a dry, cool, dark place like a pantry. I do not recommend you keep coffee in the fridge or freezer. Even small tempreture changes effect coffee.
Coffee is like charcoal it takes on all the flavors of what it's exposed to, so if u want it to taste like leftovers....
Try to keep coffee wholebean until it is brewed, the difference between fresh ground and pre ground is night and day. As I said air kills coffee after roasting and once ground it is more exposed. It's worth it to buy even the cheapest grinder.
So really Carol your choices are what variety of bean and what type of roast you want to try. Your brother inlaw will probably have his own ideas on what he likes, since he is a bit of a java man.
By visiting coffee shops that roast their own coffee or coffee shops that buy from local roasteries you are asured fresher coffee and therefore infinatly better quality.
This is a great time for coffee lovers in Louisville. Starting with Heini Bros who put coffee on the map in Louisville and great coffee shops such as Days and Java, there are also a bunch of new Micro roasteries and Coffee shops opening up.
Sunergos and Atomic are a couple of my favorite roasters and will have everything you are looking for fresh. I believe a new roastery is opening soon called Ray's Monkey House on Bardstown RD. Derby city coffee shop on Main st sells most local micro roasts too. I'm a big fan of Caffe Classico on Frankfort for a refined cup.
I myself only roast Organic coffees and only coffees in season. I also roast all my coffee to my taste ... a medium roast. I suggest you do a little coffee crawl around town. Your Brother inlaw could have all his coffee needs met.
As a roaster I'm very excited to see all the new coffee micro roasters popping up. All ships rise with the tide and the quality of coffee can only get better in Louisville.
