BEST COFFEE

[Ekinerkan]

For the sake of nostalgia and the absurd I am going to say the best coffee is "David Lynch signature cup coffee"

[juansolorzano]

BEST COFFEE IN THE WORLD... IS COLOMBIAN COFFEE JUAN VALDEZ....PERIOD

[lionlimb]

reply to cowsareforeating from the recent purchases thread:

Yeah, I love the clev. It's not a particularly beautiful object, but it's sturdy and I like the stability of the immersion / pour-over combo. I prefer clean, light roasts of interesting varietals, and it seems that with the clever the flavor of the coffee comes through simply and with balance, rather than having an overwhelming bent of the brew method itself (e.g. the dull viscosity of a kone or the intense "brightness" a.k.a. over-acidity produced by some pour-over methods [since I'm drinking an actual cup of coffee, not trying to imitate the experience of cupping]). It's really quite simple, requires only a basic kettle and scale, and brewing requires only simple counting of seconds rather than a perfect technique first thing in the morning. Some like the holy ritual of creation, but I appreciate that I can err by a gram or second and not ruin 20g of good coffee and 15 minutes. I like that I can get a solid, interesting cuppa every day without having an entire shelf of gear.

[morsto]

The best coffee is esmerelda special. It's also one of the most expensive ones I suppose, I pay ~$20 for 125g. I brew it using v60 dripover. French press is IMO not for the finer coffees, it's alright for anything dark roasted though.

[lionlimb]

the v60 is such a nice lil gadget, and if you're preparing coffees with a distinct flavor profile, I don't think you could do better! If anybody has a unique coffee, or the attention / desire to really invest in and develop pour-over skills, get the Hario v60.

The Esmerelda is quite a sweet, floral coffee, with a very complimentary viscous mouthfeel. When it came onto the scene and started the trend of Gesha cultivars, this was quite unique, while still being pleasant (the background notes being the near-universally-likeable honey-citrus & red / stone fruit and the unique note being its intense, perfumey florals). Its stability, reliably good from harvest to harvest, and its initial fame, have helped it to remain popular.

As consistently nice of a coffee as the Esmerelda is, I think it's important to remember the dynamics at play at its rise to stardom. Gesha cultivars & varietals blew up massively there for a minute, in the context of "specialty" coffee's explosion and the advent of pervasive interest in varietals & roasting techniques. Investors were looking for something new in a time of historic low prices, and the timing was perfect for that particular bean. The Esmerelda is truly a special coffee, if nothing else, for its historical importance.

Coffee is evolving so quickly at the moment, the beans and roasters that were rocking the world a few years ago seem to be struggling to stay in second place now. It's possible to have 90 as your cupping floor now and still have a significant variety of beans to choose from.

I say all this really bitchy sounding stuff to say that I'd be wary of jumping on the "coffee of the moment" bandwagon and declaring one coffee best in show. I don't know that this is a game that can be conclusively won, despite all the politics and trends. If a prominent cupper gives a high rating, everyone rushes to love that coffee, because then their taste is proven good, and no one will question them. Then, the next year comes along, and everyone moves on to something else.

Coffee is immensely variable -- varietals, altitudes, washes, roasts can create an incredible diversity of flavors, with many different ways to be good.

If you truly love the flavors of that coffee, I'd recommend researching some of the good roasters of today (Intelligentsia and Counterculture are great basics to start with, and even Cuvee has a nice Geisha these days) and trying their Geishas. With the current obsession with roasting techniques, the bar is high and the competition fierce, so may roasters are really reaching new heights both in the beans they source and in the washing and roasting techniques they utilize to bring out the maximum delicacy of flavor. Essentially, try the Esmerelda Special's children -- I think you may quite like them.

Geisha's aren't really to my taste, so I don't have any specific ones to recommend. Maybe someone else does?

addendum: interesting article on the history of Geisha coffees, including a bit about the economics of the time and some other factors I didn't really go into here.

http://bootcoffee.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Roast-Geisha-Article-2013-vs.pdf

[Chinorlz]

Mmmmm, I'm glad this thread got revived!

This Geisha varietal is interesting. Never really knew much about it. Cool that Cuvee is roasting it so I'll have to pick some up next time I'm in Austin :)

I agree with you regarding the usage of the Kone with the Chemex. These days I find it to be a little overpowering and have gone back to the original paper filters for a cleaner taste.

The efficiency of aeropress, v60 and other single-unit things are nice but man... I do love having an array of equipment all dedicated to the almighty bean! I enjoy not only the drink(s) but the ritual of the preparation. Maybe its the asian in me and watching my family prepare tea with a similar mindset, but the careful, unrushed process is something I really enjoy. That being said, sometimes you just gotta get it made and get on to work!

I'm glad we have a couple of good roasters here in Houston. I'm buying almost exclusively Greenway beans here. There are at least a couple smaller-time roasters but because of their limited distribution I haven't had much of a chance to see what they're crafting.

[cowsareforeating]

okay that was too much knowledge. recently been giving less fucks about coffee i make, and more fucks about coffee someone else makes for me. too lazy i guess!

I do like the clever dripped as I'm kind of leaning towards a more steepy method myself. been playing with this:

http://www.sowden.co/pages/softbrew.html

tastes like somewhere between ... cleverdripper with more sediment. so clever dripper/drip coffee taste. not really french pressy at all. also i can forego making a cold brew setup if i use this as well

[Chinorlz]

I know people can get real fancy with cold brew setups but I've repurposed my french presses into cold brewers so I can put the whole thing into the fridge to steep and then just press out the grounds and pour out a cold brew. Keeps it pretty simple.

[cowsareforeating]

^ when i french pressed cold brew im more limited by volume and also... i get this oily film at the top overnight in the fridge?

[morsto]

The local top coffee shop has switched from v60 to Kalita wave drip when they do pourover, as coffee brewed with Kalita is much more consistent. I may add that one to my lineup soon as well.

http://vimeo.com/42382657

[Chinorlz]

^ when i french pressed cold brew im more limited by volume and also... i get this oily film at the top overnight in the fridge?

I usually do a batch of two french presses at the same time but since it's usually just two people drinking the stuff it's plenty for a while.

Not sure about the oily film presence. I'll have to watch closer next time but it could be due to bean age or just a consequence of the cold brew process and not seen if using the larger bag-immersion method.

[DJ ANDREW LONDON]

my fav coffe 4 today is

Blonde from Starbucks....
5 cups a day is okay now =)

[t-bone]

Nope.

[Faust]

Friends don't let friends drink starbucks

[blacktulip]

Friends don't let friends drink starbucks

True dat.