October 2014 - Filter coffees

Date Posted:1 October 2014 

filter coffees

For more than a year now, we have wanted to establish a focused Filter Category on mycuppa.com.au.

Filter and non-espresso brew methods have grown in significance over the last few years to the point where they deserve a dedicated focus and more importantly they deserve a special approach to roasting.

Whenever I am about to load the next batch of raw (green) coffee into either our Geisen or Joper roasters, there is the same group of thoughts that run very quickly through my mind............creating a momentary sense of dilemma for me............."Who are the customers that will purchase this coffee and how will they use it ?".

This sort of "check" occurs without fail every single batch.......more than 100 times every week.

When roasting coffee beans, you need to know the outcome before you begin. It's like driving to a destination, there is a target and you need to reach it.

Unfortunately, when it comes to preparing coffee to make available for general sale, there is no single or simple answer to the question of "who is going to buy it" and therefore any particular batch of roasted coffee has unknown (or undefined) end-customer brew methods - ranging from plunger to filter to espresso (machine).

So why do we need to know the end-brew method before roasting ?

A simplistic view of theories relating to the art of roasting coffee dictates that you approach the bean (or blend) based on a desired outcome that suits (or is compatible with) known input variables of moisture, density, processing type and combine it with our physical experiences of the bean's behaviour during the roast batch cycle and how it tastes (or cups) at certain roast depths. This is generally termed "the profile" and each coffee has a unique profile in this respect.

If you are now somewhat confused with all this, let me put it in a simple context........we use tools to measure and manage the temperature, airflow, rotation and duration of the roasting process to achieve our desired outcomes. These are dynamically changing throughout a 15 minute roast batch and each nuance is managed with delicate and extreme precision - timing and applied energy are vital - just like they are in cooking any food substance.

Getting back to our original paradox, filter brew methods generally benefit from a lighter and more gentle roasting profile - thus retaining more of the original fruits and character of the coffee bean.

I will make a major confession here right now - the majority of our coffees are roasted in a style to suit milk-based espresso.

Why ?

Because statistically, around 92% of the quality (specialty) coffee beans produced in Australia are destined for milk-based espresso consumption - flat white, latte, cappuccino, piccolo.......even the humble macchiato has a dash of milk.

This 1-eye'd focus on milk-based espresso creates a real challenge for "black" coffee drinkers as the acid balance is not ideal.

Unfortunately, there is an urban myth circulating the coffee drinking community that if you get the "black" brew perfect it will also taste great in milk. This can be true in some circumstances, but that theory just does not stack up as a "general rule" that can apply to everything.

For our Filter Category, we have taken some dramatic steps to alter our roast profiles to achieve higher levels of retained fruits and reduce the amounts of "roast" that are resident in espresso style coffees.

We are not going to roast all of our 60+ coffees in both espresso and filter styles - that's just insane !.

First and foremost, our #1 priority is fresh roasted coffee and turning over our stock every 24 - 48hrs.

Our Filter Category will be a subset of our coffees - they are higher grade microlots that we know work well in a filter brew situation.

Roasted lighter, sometimes they may not always suit espresso extraction, unless you have high quality machines, grinders and skill levels used to dealing with lighter roast styles.

For those of you with Chemex, Kone, Aeropress, V60, Pourover's, Cold Filtered brewers such as , Syphons or any of the various non-espresso brew methods, I encourage you to give our Filter Coffees a run.

Filter coffees are one of the most delicate methods of brewing coffees - bringing out the true character and clarity of flavors.