Coffee roasting Blog: Origin story.
Pilot post : June 30. Honduras Comsa Natural Uganda Bugius.
Why do I like roasting coffee? I am a fan of coffee. My name is Brad, I am 46 and I am working on my 15th year of coffee roasting. I enjoy exploring the world through the different tastes of coffee. Why not share the voyage?
My birth family home had smells of coffee, my father was a religious devotee to the big box coffee brand, EF_0ldgers. He would drink that coffee all day and all night even earned the nickname, Muggs. I didn’t particularly love the taste of this coffee. Further exploration was needed. I tried mixing my own coffee from the store preroasted, French Roast and a Hawaiian Kona coffee. Didn’t specifically love the flavor but it was different than the coffee from my childhood home. So what else was out there?
Single Origin coffee, that must be different. Ch@rbucks was always marketing the single origin as a special or unique thing. Didn’t necessarily care for the flavor. Further exploraration and development was needed.
Buying single origin coffee can be expensive, so I will buy it in bulk. Yeah, thats not a great idea either. The fifth pound in the bag started to taste stale and skunky.
Roasting coffee is the answer to freshness and the best tasting coffee!
The 15 rule is how I enjoy my coffee,
15 months from harvest,
15 days from roasting,
15 minutes from grinding.
I have coffee flavor preferences and I will share over the years how they have been developed, but lets start with my coffee that I am listing.
Lets talk about this batch of coffee and maybe you would like to try it with me?
Honduras Comsa Natural HCN
Uganda bugisu UB
Honduras coffee is a good coffee producing country. Third highest producer of Arabica coffee in the Americas. They are the fourth largest producer of Arabica coffee in the world.
I have not yet had coffee from all of the Nicaraguan producing regions, but there are 6 of them.
Copan
Montecillos
Opalaca
Comayagua
El Paraiso
Agalta
HCN Comsa coop is in the Montecillos range where the coffee from this coop is grown under shade canopy. Mountains between 4,000 and 5600 feet. Volcanic soil and the area produce a delicious coffee that is complex flavoring, chocolately finishes.
Coffee grown at this altitude can take a medium city roast without losing too many local terroir flavors.
This one is a caramel and chocolate finish with some light pitted fruit notes.
Uganda Bugisu UB
Ugandan coffee is not new to me, but I have have far less of it in my formative roasting years. Sipi Falls it the most popular or region of note from Uganda, so it is always fun to roast other coffee from the countries other regions.
Uganda is the largest coffee exporter in Africa. Arabica coffee was not its only coffee product, lots of espresso beans or robusta are grown in Uganda(quite delicious).
Four Arabica growing regions
Bugisu
Rwenzori
West Nile
Sebei
3 Robusta producing areas
Buganda
Ankole
Busoga
This is a coffee which I wish to learn more over the upcoming years as I enjoy it. UB is grown at much higher altitudes 4,400 - 8500 feet. This coffee bean can take a variety of roasts. I have been able to enjoy this one roasting a little darker to enjoy the chocolate and praline roast flavor from the roaster.
The light roast of this coffee has a higher caffeine content without the grassy flavors that can come from underroasted coffee.
The UB coffee I have at the moment has a tasty Chocolate Praline finish. The praline really shows through on its dark roast side. At lighter roasts the coffee has a nice smooth texture and a bit of an earthy flavor to it. No doubt this is due to the natural shade canopy that it is grown under. This shade canopy keeps the hot African sun from scorching the coffee trees, and enriching the area’s soil.