Hungry T's Eating Journal

Friday, Jan 6 - Coffee Quest 1:2

Coffee No. 1 - Honduras Finca el Puente
$15.75/lb

Today, a little about the farm. BTW, this was the #2 ranked coffee in Honduras in 2005 (right behind El Ocotillo).

'[Marysabel] Caballero was born in a coffee producer family from the department of La Paz, after finishing college in the Capital of Honduras she moved to live at Marcala with her parents. There she met her husband Mr. Ezri Herrera a Guatemalan that worked in the chain of coffee. Motivated by their familiar tradition of growing coffee They both put their knowledge together and began to plant what now is one of the best coffee farms of Honduras. Currently Mrs. Caballero is a well recognized coffee producer in the country an due to the quality of her coffee her name is always in the lists of the best coffee of the region.' - COE web page

CC wants to know about grinders. 2 main types, blade and burr. This from about.com...

'Blade Grinders - Most inexpensive grinders use a metal blade to chop up the beans. The blade cuts up the beans, and you control the fineness by how long you let the grinder run. Unfortunately, the resulting coffee grounds can be uneven in size, leading to inconsistent brew quality. Another downfall, is that if you are grinding finely, and therefore leaving the beans in the grinder for a longer period of time, there can be significant heat created by the blades. This can give your final coffee a burned taste. These are fine grinders for basic use, but that's about it.'

'Burr Grinders - Burr grinders crush the beans between a moving grinding wheel and a non-moving surface. The positioning on the burr is what regulates the ground size, which allows for a more consistent grind. In the burr category, there are two different types. Wheel Burr - The less expensive of the two burr grinders. The wheel spins very fast, and these grinders can be noisy. The higher speed rotation make these grinders more messy as well. Conical Burr - The best grinders you can get are conical burr grinders. The burr spins slower than the wheel model, which makes them quieter and less messy. You can use a conical burr grinder for oily or flavored coffees and it's not likely to clog, like the other kinds of grinders. These are the best type, but you will pay the price for them.'

One thing that this doesn't mention (I heard this somewhere) that the faster and warmer the grinding, the more flavor and essential oils you lose. Guess what kind I want want. KitchenAid has a nice tangerine colored one for about $100, but that's about as cheap as it gets...

OK, tomorrow, I will have some tasting notes... I can say preliminarily that the coffee is good, better than most I drink, but it does not beat the Panama I had last week. That stuff was killer...

posted by Hungry T @ 7:46 AM