“When the weather is hot, keep a cool mind. When the weather is cold, keep a warm heart” — unknown

mycuppa February 2019 Newsletter

Wow, it's been a sizzling hot summer reminiscent of 2014 and 2009, which looks remarkably like five-year cycles.

Our coolers have been running flat out since early December, and it's adding to our workload, having to manage our production around uncomfortable weather conditions.

I wake up earlier every morning to beat the heat. It's become so ridiculous that I wake up at 3 am to head to work.

An important message for our customers - Freight companies collect from us earlier in the afternoons.

Unfortunately, we can't change this or ask them to go away and come back later.

The sheer volume of parcels in the Australian network and traffic congestion on the roads are forcing couriers to finish their collection earlier.

Please get your orders in before 2 pm on Sendle and 3:15 pm for AusPost; otherwise, they may miss the collection and spill into the next day.

The December nightmares of freight problems were right in January, except for the fateful 9th when a large, line-haul semi carrying 1000 Sendle parcels caught fire between Melbourne and Sydney.

For those customers affected, we graciously helped them out, but it was a rather long delay of 15 days after the incident occurred until we became aware of the problem and its impact.

This month's feature article helps explain some of the mysteries behind "Filter Roast" style coffees. We look into how and why these are popular for enthusiasts of alternative brewing methods.

February's Secret Label is a beauty, and we are quietly confident of trying to topple December's mammoth haul.

We decided to engineer February's Secret Label as a blend, but this time, a far simpler construction with intensity and lush layers of intersecting rich flavours.

Think ripe cherry, pecan, Car-A-Mello, sticky date pudding and gob-stopping dark chocolate wrapped in the sweetest, velvety body.

 

February Secret Label

We have designed a classy blend for February's Secret Label, including a bean rarely used in coffees due to its scarce availability.

This month's Secret Label reminds us of Sticky Date pudding - ripe cherries, pecan, Car-A-Mello and chocolate in the sweetest, smoothest body we have tasted in a long time.

Delicious as a black or with milk - we loved the versatility.

Acids are well-tamed and superbly balanced.

Roasted daily until the campaign allocation runs out - it will not last the entire month.

The rise and rise of Filter-Style Roasts

They dress like lab technicians or wear aprons with military-school neatness hunched over coffee apparatus, deep in concentration with a laser-like focus on the task.

 

Just like a science experiment, they carefully brew tiny batches of aromatic coffee particles with expert precision - measuring grinds and dose, controlling the temperature with split-second time management; it's more than just a brew for these hard-core enthusiasts who are fully committed to honing their filter-style techniques.

Alternative brewing of coffee (e.g. which generally excludes traditional methods such espresso, mok pot or French Press/plunger) is a big "thing" in a surprising number of areas worldwide.

Scandinavian countries, where coffee consumption is higher per capita than the rest of the world, go wild for their lighter roasted coffee beans - it's not a recent fad but a severe coffee religion for these filter-style devotees.

Other regions like the US and Asia are seeing higher growth rates on the rising popularity of Ready-To-Drink (RTD) cold-brew beverages, e.g. brewed coffee in a can (or bottle) and in places like Japan, easily accessible from vending machines.

Mostly, expansion of the RTD segment has been about convenience (point of sale) and displacing the rather unappetising legacy of over-roasted, over-brewed, mediocre quality bulk-batch drip systems - you know, the stuff in diners sitting on the warmer for hours poured from jugs or carafes like tar sealing a road.

The coffee equipment markets are witnessing rapid growth, especially in the portable segment with devices like the popular Aeropress.

The emergence of new brewing methods has challenged the belief that all coffees must be roasted in the same way. This has led some coffee enthusiasts to embrace geeky gear that offers simplicity, the potential for achieving cleaner flavours on the go, and lower acidity than pump-based espresso machines.

Modern brew devices tend to respond well with lighter styles of roasting - although that's probably not entirely correct and more of a broad generalisation as coffee is only ever suitable based upon whatever the individual prefers - some like it light, others medium and surprisingly, many still love it dark.

A reason lighter roast depths may be more appealing for these contemporary brew methods is due to the reduction of "roast" notes from the brew that can dominate the cup and detract from the coffee's natural fruits, acids and flavours.

The coffee industry fell into a name for these lighter roasting styles by calling it a "filter" roast, which by default implies the roasting profile is shorter in duration, with the beans dumped at a lower finish temperature compared to traditional methods like espresso.

The filter roast coffee beans are not as "developed" and may lack the fuller body, intensity of flavour and other desirable attributes if used for a milk-based espresso beverage, so caveat-emptor to anyone wanting to use filter roasts on espresso gear.

It has taken almost a decade of optimisation and the use of intelligent roasting tools for the industry to achieve decent results in its pursuit of filter roast nirvana.

The market has endured some shocking and horrendous failures for a large part of the "filter roast" journey. In the early days, it was common to experience sour, woody, grassy, astringent, and excessively acidic examples that may have been more suited to cleaning the toilet bowl than consuming with joy.

You see, it all came down to interpretation and skill. Early adopters were pushing the boundaries - trying to get away with roasting lighter and lighter to extract more sweetness of the fruity acids. Still, unfortunately, the roasted coffees were underdeveloped and would, therefore, introduce side effects and unpleasant taints into the unbalanced brews to accompany the fruit.

There are also areas in the cafe espresso segment where both roasters and baristas targeted lighter and lighter roasts to extract on high-end equipment - hunting for the intense sweetness and purity of fruits that espresso enthusiasts desire; however, it comes with a double-edged sword as the predominant cafe orders for milk-based espresso beverages like latte, cappuccino and flat white tasted terrible - sour, weak and with sometimes milk or soy curdling consequences.

Unfortunately, this practice continues today in many premium cafes where experimentation and selfish pursuits of baristas come at the expense of pleasing the average coffee consumer who wants a smooth, rich, creamy beverage with a chocolate aftertaste.

Filter Roast coffees can be incredibly challenging to work with for espresso extraction. The grind needs to be highly consistent (even particle size is typically only available on the top grinders).

Dialling in or achieving consistency from one day to the next often becomes rather frustrating.

As filter roast coffees are lighter, the de-gas period can also take longer, sometimes (depending upon the weather) up to 12+ days post-roast before they reach a stable and optimal stage and consuming the filter roast coffee before it's adequately developed may yield some disappointment (also depending upon the brew method and the roasting).

Not all coffee beans are suitable for filter roast styles. Ethiopian coffee beans that are processed naturally are usually preferred for filter roasts because of their fabulous inherent fruitiness and complexity.

Roasting and brewing coffee can be challenging if the process needs to be executed perfectly.

Washed coffees generally yield cleaner cups, but some may require more complexity, resulting in a one-dimensional or boring taste.

On the other hand, natural coffees can be more challenging to work with, but when done right, they can produce more unique and exciting flavour profiles.

Coffees that might work well for espresso (in the context of milk-based espresso) may not work for Filter Roast styles - it all comes down to the individual bean and the execution.

Filter Roast styles also tend to be single-origin lots rather than blends - it's quite challenging to produce a balanced blend from Filter Roasting profiles as coffees often develop their peak attributes at different stages in the roast profile.

We have two(2) roasting platforms designed for Filter Styles. Our Filter Roast segment has a deliberate focus on minimalism.

Despite having an extensive portfolio, we offer a limited selection of 1 to 3 products. We understand that this may come as a surprise, but we believe in concentrating on a single offering and executing it to the best of our abilities.

We have the skills and expertise to generate exceptional Filter Style coffees.

However, the demand remains relatively low in the home consumer market, primarily dominated by a heritage of milk-based espresso.

Our promise has always been to provide a broad portfolio of roasted coffees that are fresher than our competitors; hence, trying to add multiple Filter Roast alternatives would mean we don't have the hours in the day to roast, pack and send with lightning speed, already a big challenge that spans long days.