Just roasted a small batch of Sumatra Mandheling

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Permalink Reply by TimmyBahamas on March 2, 2008 at 1:12pm

Very nice! The thought of roasting intrigues me. What special equipment do use?

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Permalink Reply by Tom Ufer on March 2, 2008 at 1:41pm

Since I am the only coffee drinker in the house, I have a small batch roaster for roasting the green beans. It's a Fresh Roast +8 that I purchased from Sweet Maria's. It only roasts 64 grams of green beans at a time but, that's fine with me. If I need a lot of coffee, I can do three or four batches in two hours.

The most important equipment you need for home roasting (or just using whole bean from a store) is the grinder. The better the grinder, the more consistent size your grounds will be. This uniformity is very important when it come to extracting the essence of the beans during brewing.

I brew in a french press which gives me a fuller bodied, more flavorful cup of coffee. I've posted some blogs about my coffee escapades here: http://cigarsmokingman.wordpress.com

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Permalink Reply by Tom Ufer on March 2, 2008 at 2:01pm

This was a single 64 gram roast. After roasting, the 64 grams of green beans usually turns into 56 grams of roasted beans due to the evaporation of moisture. The 56 grams gives me enough beans for two 16 ounce cups of coffee. I had one cup yesterday and one cup this morning.

Yesterday's cup was brewed after letting the beans "rest" for about 11 hours. There was quite a bit of bloom (a golden foam from all the nitrogen being released from the beans). After my typical three minute brew process, I poured and took a sip. the first flavor that hit me was a slight caramel taste and then ended with a semi-sweet chocolate flavor. The caramel flavor took me by surprise as I had never noticed that before. This could be because I normally let the coffee rest for a good 24 hours before I brew.

This morning's cup was more of what I was used to. The semi-sweet baker's chocolate flavor was there in full force. This has always been a very smooth, flavorful bean for me. The finish on each sip always had a rich coffee flavor. Even as the cup cooled, the flavor never turned bitter.

I always make sure I have a stash of the Sumatra Mandheling on hand. This is probably my "Goto" coffee bean that has never let me down.

If I were to pair a cigar with this coffee bean I would probably go with a La Aroma de Cuba or something even milder like a La Unica. The La Unica blend makes for a good breakfast cigar.

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Permalink Reply by TimmyBahamas on March 4, 2008 at 9:57pm

That's great information Tom. I enjoy using the French press for a purer cup as well.

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