Better Techniques Mean More Delicious Coffees

At Javámo Coffees, we understand the importance of preparation. Drinking a perfect cup of coffee means preparing it just right, and that begins with the coffee bean. Every step of the process, from growing to roasting, must be done right, to ensure the highest quality and richest flavors.

Growing
Coffee is the seed of a cherry from a tree, which grows anywhere from sea level to approximately 6,000 feet, in more than 100 coffee-growing regions around the world.   Each region produces coffee beans with distinctive characteristics.

Coffee cherries ripen at different times, so they are predominantly picked by hand. It takes approximately 2,000 Arabica cherries to produce just one pound of roasted coffee. Since each cherry contains two beans, one pound of coffee is derived from 4,000 coffee beans.

The average coffee tree only produces one to two pounds of roasted coffee per year, and takes four to five years to produce its first crop. These trees can continue to produce maximum crops for 25 years.

Once picked, the coffee cherries must be processed, or stripped of their protective coating, before they can be shipped to the roaster. There are three methods of processing; the dry method (naturally processed) where beans are dried on terraces, then hulled, the wet method (washed), where beans are soaked in fermentation tanks, then stripped, and the semi-washed method which is a combination of the dry and the wet method.  Each method produces different nuances in flavor. Javámo beans are processed by all of these methods, which is dependent upon the country and growers from whom we purchase our coffee. No matter how they are processed, our beans are of the highest quality available in their particular region.

Roasting
There are two types of coffee roasters: air-bed and drum. An air- bed roaster works like a popcorn popper, using hot air to roast the beans. A drum roaster uses a rotating steel drum heated either by gas burners or by ceramic plates heated by gas burners. At Javámo Coffees, we roast coffee beans in the traditional way – by hand and in small batches.   We use the drum method which is simply adding heat and air to the rotating drum over time.  The amount of heat and air and the point at which they are added can alter the taste of the coffee significantly.  While a computerized machine can be programmed to do this, our artisan roaster does it by hand and uses the smell and appearance of beans to tell when the beans have reached “perfection”

Blending
Coffees from different origins are blended in different proportions for several reasons. One goal is to make a coffee that is higher in cup quality than any of the ingredients individually. The essential aim of the blending is to balance the flavors so as to make a cup with varying acidity and different taste characteristics.  Some blends contain up to 5-7 different types of coffee beans.  Another reason might be to create a proprietary or signature blend that leads consumers to equate a particular coffee flavor profile with a particular brand image.  Coffees are also blended to attain consistency from crop year to crop year. This is often done by major brands who do not want to be dependent on any specific origin flavor, either due to concerns around availability or in order that they might obtain coffee from less expensive sources.

After saying all of this, we believe that high quality Arabica coffee should be able to stand alone; it should have a good clean flavor, good aromatics, body and aftertaste.  Even though we blend some of our coffees, we focus primarily on buying high quality coffee beans that can stand on their own!

Tasting
Coffee Tasting is also known as "coffee cupping" and is simply a process of comparing and contrasting different coffees. Tasting only one coffee at a time will not help you discern the different characteristics afforded in different varietals and blends. But if you taste two or three coffees, you can compare them not only in terms of personal preference, but also in terms of aroma, acidity, and flavor.

Tasting Tip: Always taste lighter bodied coffees first and work up to fuller bodied coffees.

Aroma is the first hint of how your coffee will taste. In fact, most of your sense of taste actually comes from your sense of smell - which is why coffee can taste so satisfying and complex.

Acidity, in tasting terms, doesn't mean sour or bitter; it's a lively, tangy, palate-cleansing property, ranging from low to high. Think of the variation from tap water to sparkling water, and you'll get the idea.

Body is the weight or thickness of the beverage on your tongue, its viscosity or heaviness.   Body ranges from light to full.  The best way to describe it is the comparison of how whole milk feels in your mouth compared to water. If you are unsure as to the level of body in the different coffees, add an equal amount of milk to each one and the one with the heavier body will retain more of its flavor when diluted.

Flavor is the perception of the three characteristics above (aroma, acidity, and body) that creates an overall impression. Flavor can be rich (full bodied), complex (multi-flavored), or balanced (no one characteristic overpowers the other).