CI clumsily wields the hydraulic principle!
January 23, 2006 – 11:24 pmthere is a dramatic difference in cup character between SM’s zimbabwe aaa+ and the award-winning leopard forest zimbabwe aa+ bizarrely imported directly to tiny travelers rest, s.c. (the background) — a taste divergence easily explained by numerous differences in the cultivar, processing and import route of the respective coffees. but what struck me was the difference in the way it handled (yes, this subject again … don’t accuse this blog of abandoning a topic some find less than scintillating in the name of eye candy and page views).
the similarities: dry, earthy/grass aromatics. chaffy. extremely even roast finish with both. extreme balance in the cup (extending, in the case of the local import, to near-boring blandness). the tactile experiences were wholly apart, though, and unexpectedly yielded another facet to the theory of what makes a coffee that handles well in the shot-building process. the original intent of the comparisons was to simply get my bearings on the zim, since i’d really become befuddled with the odd balance and “baggy” taste of the local stuff. it was supposed to be award winning, supposed to have been cupped at 87 by the east african contest judges. but, to my palate, it wasn’t in the same league as the kenyas and ethiopians. thus, a direct comparison over various roast profiles, rest times and brew conditions of the aa+ with the expertly vetted aaa+ from my usual supplier.
what i found was that it took a much coarser grind to get the aa+ to pull espresso (2 oz. double shot in 27 seconds). there was a springy/gummy feel to the grounds under the tamper, a very poor cup when down-dosed, and my best example yet of a coffee that brews best with the aussie method of leveraging hydraulics via the up-dose. the aaa+, on the other hand took a bit longer to reach a comparable roast at the same profiles (i started with the exact same weight in green coffee), took a much finer grind to pull as espresso, packed much “cleaner” and “snappier” in the portafilter and brewed very thin in body, though nice and balanced in the flavor profile. there’s no doubt that the darker i roasted the better each bean handled, as theorized earlier. comparatively, however, there was a major difference in how the blander, “wetter”-feeling aa+ handled from the more complex-tasting, “drier”-handling aaa+ in the shot build … which suggests that a shot that feels better may tend to brew better the american, down-dosed way while the more demanding, erratic behavior of a coffee in your hands could indicate a prime candidate for australian up-dosing**. fight the more difficult shot-build, in other words, with the hydraulic virtues of a tightly packed portafilter! use the force! instaurator is your father!
**mind-blowingly counteractive caveat: at least in the case of the twin zimbabwes. and really, who drinks zim? the land of dictatorial power grabs offers far less opportunity for excellence in the cup than, say, its better-known east african neighbors. speaking of which … a foursome of us has just purchased a hefty lot of the wet-processed ethiopian sidamo that has gotten some recent raves. you will likely be force-fed more random and spontaneous quasi-theorems as we delve into it!
Hey Ben,
Next time you come in, grab some of our AB+ and also our C coffee and roast them as espresso. I’ve actually not had the best results roasting our AA+ as espresso, and much prefer it in a French press. I find our AB+ beans do the job better as espresso. We have one customer who insists on our C roasted darker for his espresso, partly because of the variety of coffee blended into the C. Our new crop is coming from Zim in a couple of weeks, got a bag of “Pinnacle” (AAA+) coming, said to be the best coffee produced in Zim in 8 years, according to Cephas, head cupper at the Zim Coffee Mill — had to fight for ONE bag of it, the rest was snapped up by a Dutch importer. Would be interested what you and your roasting club think.
I don’t want to, as they say in Zimbabwe, “teach my grandmother to suck eggs” (NO idea where that phrase originated), but you DO know that AA refers to the size of the bean, not the quality. So a AAA bean is bigger than an AA and AB is slightly smaller (screen 19, 18 adn 16 respectively). The plus refers to quality, i.e. that it has a good even color, is uniformly sized, produces an even, bright roast with acidity, body and a pleasant flavor. FAQ is “fair to average quality”, where the bean is uniformly sized with the odd defective bean, fair to mixed in color with some open center cuts, pleasant, mild acidity and body, considered a medium quality blender. You can have AA beans that are FAQ, and AAs that are plus quality. Some Kenyan AAs are FAQ.
Because the size doesn’t really matter once you grind it, for espresso you might find a great coffee that is a smaller bean, because of the variety of coffee it is and how they blended it at the mill.
A note about our cupping results: We are very happy with our 87, the best Kenyans cup at a 93. I doubt we’ll ever get above a 90, because our farm is only at about 3500-3800 ft and our soils are more doloritic than the Kenyan soils, and we have higher rainfall most years than the Kenyans that have one the prizes. As far as Zimbabwe goes, we are doing the best we can.
If you want filet mignon, don’t order a New York strip. Both can be great steaks, depending how they’re grilled and who does the grilling. But it’s not fair to ask a strip to be a filet.
Cheers,
Ildi
ildi:
well put. what it has come down to for me (much of this since i wrote the above post) is that there’s just a whole different way to use your aa. it took me a long time to figure it out. i kept wondering what the “baggy” or “bland” aspects were, but, as mentioned above, the more i played with it the more i realized your zim took a dramatically different dose, brew temp, roast — just about everything. i’m accustomed to adjusting these parameters, but the adjustments in this case were larger than most. i finally got the aa tasting mighty good (just as my bag ran out, of course) although as you say it probably is not best for espresso. it just took me awhile to find out what you already knew, apparently — that the aa is just a very strange bean when pulled as shots.
i am definitely interested in trying the new crop. and i’m definitely interested in trying the “golden bag.” and i should probably, in fairness, spend some time with the ab. i certainly will try not to place new york strip expectations on a filet mignon, or vice versa. and i am aware of the bean-size thing … not sure if i gave the wrong impression, but i’ll try to be more clear.
thanks for the comments. and thanks for the chance to bloviate about your coffee. i’ll be out again soon — a direct importer in TR in just too cool to pass up for very long.
ben
p.s. the swipe at zimbabwe was a snarky jibe not meant to be serious. i get misunderstood sometimes when i do that (i.e., some people think i’m an actual fan of updosing). so don’t think i’ve written off all zim.