One thing I cannot stand with brewing coffee is how difficult it is to replicate a really good cup by controlling the several variables that go in to making brewed coffee. Even when I think I have them all under control, something unexpected comes along to throw it all out of whack. Case in point: yesterday afternoon, i brewed one of the best cups of coffee i've tasted in over a year. Here is the recipe:
14 grams of CoE Ethiopia Red Cherry (sun-dried)
200ml of distilled water (I didn't have any mineral water on hand)
85C water temp
2:30 brew time (includes 30 second pre-infusion)
The result was a cup of coffee that blasted me with an aroma of dried orange peels and zesty lemon, a taste of black currants and red cherries, and an aftertaste of orange juice.
When I tried to replicate this brew this morning, I ended up with a bitter, over-extracted brew that had the same aroma, but lacked any taste other than metal and fruity ash!
The following factors were different:
1) I used mineral water instead of distilled water (which is strange because mineral water almost always tastes better than distilled)
2) For some reason, the brew time was a full 3 minute brew. The only thing I could think of for why this happened is that yesterday's coffee beans were in my checked baggage during a 3 hour
long flight. I've noticed that anytime I put my beans in my checked luggage, they end up becoming vacuum sealed. It must be something with the air pressure that caused any of the oxygen that happened to be trapped in the bag of beans to be sucked out. Another factor that may have altered the beans'is the humidity here in Burma. After opening the bag of beans and exposing them to the damp, warm air, their chemical make-up must have been altered some.
3) I brewed this cup in the morning --- a time when I notice my tastebuds are not quite "awake" yet.
---
OK, so I just brewed another cup this afternoon with the recipe that I used yesterday when making that deliciously citric brew. The aroma was of orange and lemon peels, but the taste was no longer of cherries and black currants. Rather, it had strong floral notes, specifically that of peonies.
I am convinced that the humidity is doing something to the beans causing them to taste "off." I'm also becoming more convinced that these tastes may be much more subjective than previously thought. Does today's brew taste really that much different than yesterdays, or is it all in my head?
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