Sideyard Coffee: December 4 - Bali Blue Moon 🇮🇩, Quakers and Burners
Dear Sideyard Friends,
With a bunch of new subscribers joining over the past few months, I'm playing a bit of catch up with the quantities of single origin green coffees I've been ordering. For that reason, this week's coffee is technically a blend. It's 80% Bali and 20% El Salvador. What's coming through in the flavor profile is almost entirely the Bali Blue Moon. It's a washed coffee (as opposed to dry process) named for the subtle blue hue seen in the un-roasted beans. The flavor profile is similar to other Indonesian coffees, albeit brighter than some. I'm tasting the typical washed Indonesian earth tones, brown sugar sweetness (especially as it cools), and a hint of spice. It has medium body and a slightly tannic/astringent finish as well. Though many coffees are organic by default (due to the prohibitive cost of petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers), this one is specifically certified.
And now for a quick note on my roasting setup... it involves a perforated stainless steel drum, mounted on a rotisserie-spit, heated in a gas grill. It's beautifully low tech and I love what it can do to green coffee beans. My bagging setup includes a series of food storage tubs for the roasted coffee, an Oxo kitchen scoop, and a cheap digital scale from Amazon. What my setup does not include is one of these $30,000 optical sorters that removes unripened beans that are resistant to roasting (called 'quakers'), or the occasional twice or thrice roasted bean that got stuck in and then unstuck from the perforated steel roasting drum. If you see a very, very light tan colored bean (quaker) or a carbonized shiny black bean (let's call it a 'burner'), do me a favor and pull it out before it sneaks into your grinder? I pull a handful of these anomalies out of each batch every week, but I'm certain a few manage to get past me. Neither of these types of beans will hurt your grinder, nor will they spoil your cup, but it will make me feel better knowing they were sorted. :) If you find either, feel free to pretend like it's your golden ticket for a factory tour!
(It's not not a golden ticket btw; I'm happy to show you my roasting setup anytime).Â
Cheers,
Ryan
p.s. PSA: For new subscribers... Sideyard coffee bags are compostable once the tin tie is torn off!