Process is important. “Understand the
process,” I say. But what does that entail? Is “process” simply
a set of steps you follow to accomplish a task correctly – In this
case brewing coffee?
Yes.
So, we're done then?
No, we're not. Because as
straightforward as it should be, to everyone's dismay (not really)
there are few professionals who get it right. What are they not doing
right and WHY are they not doing it right?
Let's start with: What is the process?
In a nutshell: Start with properly
roasted, quality, fresh, (whole) coffee beans. Understand correct
dosing (coffee:water ratio) and particle size. Use correct dosing for
chosen brewing method. Grind fresh with a good, adjustable burr
grinder. Use water within (generally) specific TDS parameters. And
brew! Then taste and adjust until it's just right. All of these
steps are taken in order to produce a specific result – excellent
coffee.
Now let's work through these “simple”
things and see where the problems are.
Quality coffee – Now there are
cupping scores and tasting notes in respect to the green coffee. So,
as a coffee roaster it's simple to get your hands on quality beans.
And I would suppose that most coffee shops who are making a claim of
craft, artisanal, or “Third Wave” coffee are, in fact, sourcing
quality green.
Properly roasted – Here is where we
need to take a closer look. Because as I have often said, the higher
the quality of your green, the more complexity within that specific
lot, the more skill it takes to roast it.
So, what does “highly skilled” as a
roaster mean? Is it about experience and dedication? Is it about
talent?
I think if I had to list these factors
it would be: talent, dedication, and experience. And when I talk
about dedication, I think you can use the word “dedication” as a
more serious sounding replacement for the word “passion”. You
can't be dedicated to a thing without loving or enjoying that thing.
And the dedication isn't simply to the craft. It's a dedication to
the result of the craft, which is excellent coffee. With dedication
and experience, you can always be above average to really, really
good. But in my experience, without some inherent skill, aptitude or
talent for the craft, you will never be exceptional.
So the first weakening of the process
is with the roasting? What is the talent level of your roaster? How
many hours of work have they put in? How many varietals from how many
regions have they roasted? And how many years have they been doing
it? Whether YOU are the roaster or your shop does the roasting, or
you bring in your beans from somewhere – in which case you have to
ask all these questions about their roaster – the likelihood is
perhaps your coffee program isn't on as solid a ground as you were
led to believe or that you are leading others to believe.
Now, I could really stop there, because
the roasting of the coffee is probably the most important step in the
coffee making process.
But let's assume the roasting is spot
on.
Correct dosing is a known thing, so
there's really no excuse for getting that wrong Look up “Gold Cup”
standards or SCA brewing standards. Coffee science doesn't change.
Grind size is a generally known thing
that you specifically tune to your coffee and your taste.
The same can be said for water
chemistry.
Brewing technique? That takes a bit of
skill. It takes some practice. And of course the goal again...
excellent coffee.
So the reasons for not executing
excellent coffee?
Either you don't know how. Or you don't
care to know how. Often it's both.
If you care about the prestige of
sourcing excellent coffees, but don't take the time to make sure you
have a highly experienced roaster who can create sweetness and
dynamic complexity and balance and mouthfeel in your coffee – then
what?
Well, what happens is if the
fundamentals of your coffee program are not rock solid, the smaller
details, like brewing parameters or water chemistry are going to be
an afterthought as well.
Or do you try to unknowingly take short
cuts? You have a refractometer of some sort, you measure TDS to
perfection... you dial in temperatures precisely, and what you do is
end up chasing numbers instead of following flavor.
Great coffee, excellent coffee,
exceptional coffee is not the result of following a set of numbers.
Exceptional coffee is the result of
understanding the process with the end goal of a delicious cup of
coffee. This means fundamentals of brewing and this means following
the flavor.
It's really simple. Everyone should be
able to do it.
You should be able to do it. So why
aren't you?
