KC Coffee Geek recently gave me a bunch of coffee. I really benefit from him trying so many roasters. :-) Among the haul were two bags of Kenyan Coffee from H & S Coffee Roasters (Wyoming) The beans were the same, the roaster was the same - the difference was that one was roasted 30 seconds longer than the other. I avoided looking at his notes because where would be the fun in that? Going to compare afterwards to see how my thoughts match up.
I gave them a try this morning. Trying to see if I could figure out which was which. First thing I did was play with the beans. The color was the pretty much the same, though beans from bag # 2 slightly larger to me. Not a lot, it's the difference between using a size 7 instead of 8 knitting needle. If you don't knit that won't mean anything, but it's a subtle difference that can mean everything to the finished product.
I didn't notice a huge difference in the smell of the whole beans either, but I asked the kid to smell them. She's young and has a fresh nose. She is also familiar with the smell of coffee since I'm always saying "Hey smell this one!" She said that the beans from bag 2 smelled sweeter than the beans from bag 1. Bag 1 smelled more plant like.
When I ground them I was more drawn to the smell of bean 1. Bean 2 smelled good, I just liked 1 better.
I brewed them both in the Bee House dripper with a rinsed bamboo filter. 20 grams of beans enough water for a basic mug which is about 10-11 oz. I used the pulse method and both had a nice head of foamy cream on top. That is one of my favorite parts of a pour over - watching the creamy goodness form.
Taste wise I would say bean 2 was mellower, it had a nice aroma but for me there just wasn't as much depth to the taste. Bean 1 came across as more acidic to me. There was a dryness to the aftertaste. There was some of that in bean 2, but not as pronounced for me. It was stronger in both cups as the coffee cooled a bit.
I didn't notice a huge difference in the smell of the whole beans either, but I asked the kid to smell them. She's young and has a fresh nose. She is also familiar with the smell of coffee since I'm always saying "Hey smell this one!" She said that the beans from bag 2 smelled sweeter than the beans from bag 1. Bag 1 smelled more plant like.
When I ground them I was more drawn to the smell of bean 1. Bean 2 smelled good, I just liked 1 better.
I brewed them both in the Bee House dripper with a rinsed bamboo filter. 20 grams of beans enough water for a basic mug which is about 10-11 oz. I used the pulse method and both had a nice head of foamy cream on top. That is one of my favorite parts of a pour over - watching the creamy goodness form.
Taste wise I would say bean 2 was mellower, it had a nice aroma but for me there just wasn't as much depth to the taste. Bean 1 came across as more acidic to me. There was a dryness to the aftertaste. There was some of that in bean 2, but not as pronounced for me. It was stronger in both cups as the coffee cooled a bit.
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