Grind fine for better flavor and aroma

Full aroma is one of the main traits of Costa Rican coffee, specially the one we produce in my farm in the Dota region.  So, if you like to get the most out of each cup, grind as fine as you can. 

You will probably have to deal with a residue in your cup, but if you don't mind that, then you are in for a special treat.

I just spoke with one of my customers from Bosque Farms, New Mexico today, and he shared his experience with me.  He started buying my Dark roast ground but later moved to my Espresso ground and kept brewing it in their regular coffee maker. 

To deal with the residue in the cup, they simply added a paper filter to the machine (it has its own gold metal filter so the paper filter is additional) and a fuller cup is ready to be served.

Like anything new, there is no guarantee that you will like the results but it is worth a try.  You can do this with any of my roasts, by grinding fine you will get more aroma and flavor out of it.

Give it a try and let me know.

Writing about coffee again

My audience of three should be happy to see that I am back. Yes, I started this coffee blog in 2009 and just like 90% of bloggers I never wrote back.

Why? Well, it is a mix of a few very good reasons. First of all, I wrote all encompassing articles about coffee quality and taste that made me feel I had said it all. I also have very little time and writing to me is a state of mind, I need to be in the mood and have the peace of mind to do it. I also spend a lot of time on the road between the farm and the store, with my home & family exactly at the half way point, so it is always hard.

But the most important reason, is that most of the time i can not think of things to write. For some reason I dont consider my experience as a Costa Rican coffee grower and roaster important. Yes, i know, that is crazy, and when i analyze it, I come to the conclusion that i am silly.

One of the events that started to make me change my mind was a couple of visitors i had in the farm. A Canadian couple came in late January 2011 to spend a week at the farm. And they not only wanted to come visit but also paid for it (!!!!).

If that was not enough of a clue, they also had a great time and are still telling me about it. She is a writer who just published her first travel article about her experience at the Down to Earth Estate. He is a coffee blogger who is still publishing articles about the process and all he learned during that week. (check him out at www.coffeetroupe.com)

Seeing people that interested was an eye opener. I do coffee because i love it and i enjoy the appreciation of my customers. What a great feeling is to open up my email and see messages from people telling me how much they love my coffee.

So, I am back. From now on my articles will be more about the personal experience of producing and selling coffee than educational. I will still throw in some facts and tips, probably comments about how the industry practices affect you, that is also expected from me, but this is going to change a bit in focus. I hope you enjoy it.

Coffee is great fertilizer

Coffee is a great fertilizer and its low PH will intensify the color of your flowers.

So, stop complaining about the number of Starbucks stores on your way to work and ask them for the leftover grounds. They will gladly give them to you and your flowers will look better than ever.

How to store coffee

Coffee has two enemies: humidity and oxygen. Keeping it away from those two is the best way to preserve its characteristics.

Humidity: coffee is higroscopic. This means that it absorbs moisture very fast. If you want to verify this, simply put a bit of ground coffee in a plate on your counter. In a couple of hours it will look "bigger" because the moisture that it is absorbing will increase the volume of the grinds.

Oxygen: the minute we roast coffee it starts to oxydize and lose the good properties of aroma and flavor. To preserve them, you must minimize coffee's contact with oxygen in order to slow down that reaction. that is why good coffee is always packaged in a foil bag with a fresh valve, the whole that allows gas to go out and no oxygen in.

So,the key to keep coffee in good shape and tasting great is to make sure it is in a tightly sealed container, in a dry place. This is specially important if your coffee is already ground.