How can “coffee” taste so different?
When you read tasting notes on coffee packaging, you will quickly see wildly different flavor descriptions. Have you ever wondered how can “coffee” taste so different? After all, coffee is…
Long term storage
For those who live outside of Ketchikan in Southeast Alaska, access to high quality coffee is either by mail order or by purchasing in bulk amounts when you come to…
How do we determine and categorize roast level?
Terms such as “light roast,” “medium roast,” and “dark roast” are often used to describe the roast level of coffee. The problem with these designations is that they are often…
Brewing Tips
Use specialty grade coffee All other things being equal, the quality of the final cup of coffee will never be any better than the quality of the coffee being brewed. …
Storage and freshness
There is a correlation between coffee freshness and coffee storage (i.e., how, where, and for how long). From the moment coffee is roasted, staling reactions begin to occur. These staling…
What makes “specialty” coffee special?
The specialty coffee, farm to cup, movement mirrors in many ways the farm to table food movement with its emphasis on quality and traceability. Specialty coffee is a term used…
What are tasting notes?
Tasting notes provide the consumer with a general snapshot of what kinds of tastes, aromas, and body (mouthfeel) to expect from a coffee. Flavor is the combination of those three…
Which roast level should I chose?
Roasting coffee causes complex chemical reactions to take place within the coffee seed, and how the coffee is roasted will accentuate or diminish inherent qualities. This is why one coffee…
Can coffee be too fresh?
Yes. Roasting coffee causes complex chemical reactions to take place within the coffee seed. One byproduct of these chemical reactions is the formation of CO2, or carbon dioxide, within the…