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November
26,2011

Coffees of Ecuador

Author | Marc Wortman

I have friends that just returned from Ecuador.  Like any good friends, they brought me back coffee fresh from the source.  I was excited to get it home and try it, as I’ve never tried coffee from Ecuador.  Coffee is very much like wine, in that it takes a sample of the world’s offering to fully appreciate every flavor and variety.

Coffees of Ecuador

Ecuador is one of the top 20 producers of coffee in the world.  Although the country itself is small, its varied ecology makes it possible to cultivate all of the varieties of coffee within its borders, including premium Arabica beans and less-expensive Robusta beans.

Coffee cultivation and export is a significant portion of the country’s economy.  While they presently export to the US as well as all over the world, it is not very prevalent in the US.  As a result, very little is written about its unique qualities, and to the best of my knowledge, this would be my first cup of coffee from Ecuador.

El Tostador

The packaging of my friends’ coffee is entirely in Spanish and I am definitely not smarter than a fifth grader yet in Spanish.  But, I know key words so I gave “reading” about the coffee my best shot.  Naturally, I could see that it was produced by El Tostador, Cafe Tostado y Molido, where my friends bought it in Ecuador.

The first thing I noticed is that the words Arabica or Robusta were not printed anywhere on the package.  My rule of thumb when I see this is that it is probably cheaper Robusta beans.  After all, you would promote that you are selling Arabica beans, so if nothing is said, I assume it’s Robusta.  However, I was able to identify from the packaging, the region where the coffee was grown…the province of Loja.  The variety of coffee grown in Loja is Arabica – great news. 

The frest-roasted coffee was ground to order for my friends who brought back a pound for themselves, and brought back a pound for me.  It was ground fine, so I’ve been preparing it by pourover moreso than by press pot, since you would generally use a coarse ground coffee in the press pot to avoid overextraction (sludge).

Read: Pour-Over Brewing Method
Read: Fresh Press Brewing Method

In the end, I couldn’t help but take some of the Spanish from the packaging to a translation website, which told me:
“From the quality coffee plantations of the highlands of the province of Loja, a tradition of flavor and natural fragrance is born.”

Challenges

Ecuador has a couple challenges in order to have its coffee included in the list of Specialty Coffee origins.  First, it hasn’t actively promoted itself as a source of fine coffee to the US market, and promotes itself in the European market mainly on price.  The climate of Ecuador is similar in characteristics to other countries who produce well-recognized coffee.  This leads to the second challenge, that the country’s harvesting and processing standards are not as tightly regulated by the state since other exports, such as bananas, have increased in importance.

I was happy for the opportunity to try a new coffee I hadn’t tried before.  The only way to truly appreciate the world of coffee is to try coffees from around the world.

 

Categorized In | Buying Coffee,Coffees of the World

November
24,2011

Will Coffee Save You on Thanksgiving?

Author | Marc Wortman

I was watching one of those myth debunking shows, and they were talking about the tryptophan in turkey.  This is the chemical that many blame for how tired we all feel after Thanksgiving dinner.  Coincidentally, at the same time as this show was on, I was on a website warning of the dangers of combining alcohol and coffee.  It made me wonder just how much power that coffee has to save us from the lethargy of Thanksgiving Day!

Here is what truly makes you tired on Thanksgiving Day, and whether coffee has it in its power to save you…

Vacation Day Fatigue: Let’s not kid ourselves.  We all knew we had a vacation day today, so nobody got a reasonable regular Wednesday night sleep last night.  I’m not the only one who fell asleep on the couch in the wee hours watching AMC’s The Walking Dead (am I? anybody?).  Coffee can help.  The caffeine in coffee is a psychoactive with stimulant effects.  It reduces physical fatigue, restores alertness when drowsy, and increases wakefulness.

Alcohol: Many of us will drink more than average today – certainly more than an average Thursday afternoon and evening (and night).  Coffee will not help.  The dangers of mixing alcohol and caffeine refer mainly to the direct combination of the two – energy drinks with alcohol, for instance.  The real question is whether caffeine counterbalances the sedative effects of alcohol, and it does not.  Rather, the two create separate effects.  Remember that before you think a coffee will sober you enough to drive home.

Overeating: The average American will consume 4,500 calories today.  It takes the body alot of energy to process that much.  Coffee will only help a bit.  There are studies on caffeine’s digestive qualities, and it will improve focus.  For many however, it increases heartburn, which will be associated with the big eating of Thanksgiving Day.

Tryptophan: This chemical will cause fatigue, but there are only trace amounts of it in turkey.  It is a myth that the quantity of this chemical in the turkey we eat is the cause of fatigue on Thanksgiving Day.

The Aftermath: Alot of work goes into preparing Thanksgiving dinner, and alot of work goes into cleaning up and returning to normalcy.  Coffee can help.  For all of the stimulant effects mentioned under fatigue, a cup or two of coffee after Thanksgiving dinner will most certainly give you that little more drive and focus that you need to be productive and prepare for a most unproductive evening and night.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy great coffee today.

Categorized In | Uncategorized

November
18,2011

Where Does McDonald’s Coffee Come From?

Author | Marc Wortman

Question: “How does McDonalds make such good coffee? All they would tell me is that its from special high altitude beans grown in Brazil. An employee even gave me a bag of it and I made it at home but it did not taste as good. I’m going to try something other than paper filters. Whats their secret?” – Ed F.

Answer: Thank you for the email.  It’s an interesting question, something similar was asked last year about the coffee chain Tim Horton’s and where their coffee comes from.

Read: Where Does Tim Horton’s Coffee Come From?

We can only go by what information the company chooses to share with us, and I’m actually surprised you were given some of their whole bean coffee to take home.

McDonald’s shares some information on their website.  Their Premium Roast Coffee is advertised as “a blend of Arabica beans grown in Brazil and the mountains of Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica,” brewed no more than 30 minutes before you buy it.  By comparison, Tim Horton’s limits it to 20 minutes.

As a sidenote, McDonald’s even tries to introduce their own Juan Valdez in “Pedro Gaviña”, who apparently has been roasting coffee for McDonald’s for the last 25 years.  If that’s true, then their brewing or stocking practices have improved incredibly because their coffee today does not taste like it did even 20 years ago.  You can read his story here.

I hope that helps, it’s as much information as is released publically.  I say if you enjoy it, keep enjoying it.  It’s priced right compared to a Starbucks coffee which I consider to be slightly more flavorful, but much more expensive.  Their coffee maker may be coming closer to optimal brewing temperature than your home machine.  And, I do recommend a mesh reusable filter as it allows more coffee solids into the cup although it seems to me I see McDonald’s employees dumping ground coffee into paper filters in their restaurants.

Categorized In | Buying Coffee

November
15,2011

Reverse Osmosis and Coffee

Author | Marc Wortman

Question: “How will using reverse osmosis water in my coffee maker affect the flavor? Is it a bad choice?” - Tina

Answer: I’m hearing more and more about water filtration and purification systems in the home, and reverse osmosis continues to come up.  I’m by no stretch a chemist, but I’ve made a valiant attempt to understand how RO works and will do my best to explain it, leading to how that would affect the taste of your coffee.


RO works by creating two “chambers” separated by a membrane.  The membrane acts as a filter that removes unwanted chemicals and particles from the water in the first chamber, which (along with some waste water) is flushed into sewage, while the second chamber contains a purified water that pours from your tap for cooking and drinking.

So, the short answer to your question is that not only will it not affect the flavor of your coffee adversely, but it will likely make it taste even better.  Water is one of the most underrated ingredients in making good coffee at home.  Fresh roasted whole bean coffee and unfiltered water still make only a mediocre coffee.  When I use my drip brewer, I only pour filtered water from the Brita in my fridge, or I use one of two methods that involve boiling water – the French Press or the pourover method.  So, I did further research comparing RO to boiling water as purification methods.

While RO is certainly more convenient than having to boil water each time you want to use it, it ALSO appears to be a better system for purifying water.  The membrane in RO will stop many unwanted particles from ending up in the water that you drink.  While boiling water will kill bacteria, it will only move unwanted particles around in the water which will end up in your cup.

So enjoy your new RO system!  I think you will find that it has a very favorable effect on your coffee.  Thank you for the question.

Categorized In | Brewing Coffee

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