Coffee Review: Heart Roasters, Ethiopia Yukro

Background: Ethiopian coffees vary from region to region, lot to lot, and by the processing methods of how the beans are washed and dried. They are most well known for being fruity and vibrant coffees.

Flavor: Brewed in a Chemex pot, the lightly roasted beans produced a citrusy brew with walnut aroma that tasted very much like tea. I didn't want to believe the tasting notes on the label when it said "lemonade and strawberries", but as this coffee cooled down it did indeed taste like drinking an Arnold Palmer after taking a bite of a strawberry!

Source: Heart opened in 2009 in Portland and is a "micro-roaster" focused on producing small batches of a small selection of single origin coffees from Latin America and Africa. They document the lives of their coffees on their website-- describing how the cherries are picked and processed, as well as photos of the factories and the names of the farmers.

Rating: This isn't the type of coffee you should add milk to, as it would mask the bright, citrus flavor and tart mouthfeel. There are many a times that call for a comforting milky coffee beverage, but this is not one of them. If you are willing to give a little extra attention and time into preparing this coffee as a pourover, you will be rewarded with a crisp, aromatic brew that actually gets sweeter, not bitter, as it cools. I appreciate Heart for breaking out the tasting notes of their coffees into flavors that we can all relate to: cranberry, watermelon, brown sugar, and red wine are much more familiar than "damp alfalfa" and "marron glacé" (yes, Blue Bottle, I'm talking about you).

Product Review: Hario Manual Coffee Grinder

You probably already know why burr grinders are better than blade grinders for coffee. Burrs crush the beans into uniform size pieces, resulting in grounds that will extract all their coffee-ness to the best of their ability at the same rate. Blades chop the beans into uneven pieces-- so the little coffee grounds wind up being over-extracted (bitter taste) and the big ones never have the chance to bloom to into their full potential (weak taste). Outside of taking your beans to your local coffeehouse to have them ground for you in a commercial grinder (which, by the way, is totally acceptable if you are purchasing the beans from them), there's few affordable burr grinders out there that are easy to use, easy to clean, and easy to store.

I bought this little Hario brand hand crank burr grinder after my electric burr grinder broke (at the time, the most inexpensive electric burr grinder I could find was a Black and Decker model at $50. It broke after about 15 uses).

The grind can be adjusted by manually turning and clicking the burrs into place-- further apart for a larger grind, closer together for a finer grind. If you don't like to weigh your beans, it makes just enough coffee for a small press pot; or for two hand poured cups. If you want to prepare coffee for a crowd this isn't the device for you, but they do make a slightly larger model that has a glass bottom and is very handsome. The only other downside is that the burrs aren't labeled , so if you forget what setting you want for say, drip coffee, and the day before you made it for french press, you have to grind a little bit, then open it up to check the size.

The best thing about grinding your own coffee by hand is the timing and ritual of it all. Put on a kettle to boil, grind your coffee and set up the pot, put your bread in the toaster. Breakfast is served!

Review: Moloka'i Hawaiian Coffee, Trader Joe's

Background: Moloka'i is an island in the Hawaiian archipelago, where King Kamehameha had coffee trees brought in to grow his own "royal" supply of beans. Today these coffee plantations are a source of economic development, tourism, and pride for the islands.

Flavor: Brewed in a press pot, the beans produced a lightly acidic coffee with woodsy flavors and an almond aroma.

Source: This Trader Joe's exclusive of 100% coffee arabica beans lists the product as being grown, roasted, and packed on the island, where "growers control every step of the production process from irrigation and harvest to roasting and packaging."

Rating: The label descibes a dark roast, but the coffee wasn't as full-bodied as I had hoped. For the second pot I used a few more scoops of grounds than normal and it produced a darker brew, but the flavors still weren't coming out (This is supposed to be coffee fit for a king, after all.) Overall, I'm usually a fan of Trader Joe's coffees, for both the price and the variety, but this one doesn't make the cut. Their Bay Blend would be a more reliable choice if looking for a richly flavorful coffee.

Review: Cafe San Ramon, Counter Culture

Background: Cafe San Ramon is one of several "Direct Trade Certified" coffees from this Durham, NC-based company that has a strong presence in the DC-area coffee scene. (On my last count at least 5 shops in the area use their products and they run a Regional Training Center in Adams Morgan.) 

Flavor: Brewed in a press pot, the cocoa-scented beans produced a smooth coffee with flavors of sweet chocolate and brown sugar, with a mild finish.

Source: Shade-grown in the mountains of Nicaraugua's Matagalpa region, the beans are "cultivated, harvested, sorted, pulped, fermented, and washed entirely on the farm where it was grown by the farmer and his family."

Rating: The beans were so chocolate-y smelling (and looking) that I was tempted to pop a couple in my mouth while waiting for the water to boil. With coffee this sweet, there's no need for sugar or a giant muffin to temper just another Manic Monday. I also think this would make a fine cafe con leche for those who prefer an even gentler nudge to wake up.

Review: David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee

Background: David Lynch is a coffee fan, so much so that the beverage plays a near-supporting role in several of his works, most notably the television series Twin Peaks, where characters such as Agent Dale Cooper and FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole (played by Lynch himself) declare regularly their love of a good cup of coffee.

"DAMN good coffee! And HOT! --Dale Cooper

"I was wondering if I might trouble you for a cup of hot, black coffee." -- Gordon Cole

Flavor: Brewed in a press pot, the Organic House Roast beans produced a light to medium bodied coffee w/ mild, slightly sweet and warm flavors of chocolate, spice, nuts.

Source: Proprietary cooperative in Oaxaca, Mexico

Fair Trade: From the David Lynch coffee website: "While the Fair Trade Certified label guarantees that certified cooperatives of coffee growers (as opposed to single family farms) receive a minimum floor price for their product, we don't pay to use the Fair Trade label on our packaging. Instead our supplier focuses on building direct relationships with our producers and signing multi-year contracts at fixed prices which they negotiate with the producers themselves."

Rating: Mild and pleasant, this would be a good coffee to have at breakfast, or a la Gordon Cole, with a slice of cherry pie for an afternoon pick-me-up.