Author: Pete Denison

Crop to Cup – Part 4

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The fourth instalment in this Crop to Cup series looks at the final steps of processing, followed by the roasting of our “microlot” of coffee, kindly received straight off the tree from a barista friend about a month ago. As with anything, good things come to those who wait, and four weeks after starting, we are almost to the point of tasting the fruits of our labour.

To date, we have worked our way through Pulping, Fermentation (Crop to Cup – Part 1), Drying (Crop to Cup – Part 2), Drying again (yep – it took a while) (Crop to Cup – Part 3), and we continue on below.

4. Parchment Removal (Hulling)

In Part 3 of this series, drying continued in preparation for the final “hulling” or parchment removal prior to roasting. After a further two weeks drying (four in total) it was time to remove the parchment layer.

As I have written in previous posts, the beans being “dry enough” and the parchment ready for removal, is determined both by observing an appropriate drying time (approximately two weeks to a month), and having the parchment split easily off the inner bean upon attempted removal. According to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF):

Inadequate drying – greater than 12 per cent moisture – will cause mouldiness and stale aroma during storage.

Upon proceeding with the hulling by hand (or rather thumbnail and finger), it is clear this is quite a labour intensive undertaking. After 1 hour, the parchment layer was removed from our crop, and we were a step further along in the process.

Photo 13-10-2013 5 41 17 am

Given the time and labour intensive nature of this part in the process, the DAFF suggests the following:

Place the beans, a small quantity at a time, in a food processor or similar type of blender. Use plastic blades to avoid breaking the coffee beans. Blend at low speed for approximately 30 seconds to remove the parchment from the beans.

My mother uses a similar approach, blending on low-speed for 8–9 seconds, which she finds removes much of the parchment layer without damaging the green bean inside. Whether done by hand or machine, you will be left with a fine outer layer of “silver skin” remaining on much of the bean. Enlisting the assistance of my son to provide a quick rubbing of the beans between his hands removed this final layer. Blowing away any remaining silver skin completes the process.

Photo 13-10-2013 5 47 51 am

We were now ready for roasting!

5. Roasting

With a dry weight of 35 grams, there was certainly no margin for error, and had me thinking I really should be calling this a “nanolot”, as “micro” probably doesn’t go far enough (yes an hour of hulling for 35 grams of green beans – as I said – very labour intensive!).

So proceed with care I did.

Photo 13-10-2013 6 01 02 am

The roast was undertaken via my usual breadmaker / heat gun set up which I have previously written about. The heat ramp was very slow, and the total roast time 12 minutes, with the beans pulled out 3 minutes after first crack. The result looked like a pretty even roast, and was cooled and bagged. A few days rest and it will be ready for tasting.

Photo 13-10-2013 6 07 14 am

Check back soon for the much anticipated taste test!

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Nock Co. Kickstarter Project

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Many pen-obsessed folk similar to myself have been waiting for the day to arrive when Nock Co. launch their Kickstarter campaign seeking funding to manufacture a series of high quality nylon pen cases. The project is now live – so get cracking!

Images: Nock Co. Kickstarter page

Images: Nock Co. Kickstarter page

In a post published on this blog back in June about my four favourite podcasts, you may recall The Pen Addict with Brad Dowdy and Myke Hurley was an inclusion in this list. For those who listen to the podcast, read the Pen Addict blog, or follow Brad on Twitter, the launch of this Kickstarter campaign will come as no surprise, however the email advising of the start to the campaign was a most welcome arrival in my inbox.

Brad has teamed up with Jeffrey Bruckwicki of Old Fourth Tailoring to design and manufacture pen cases (all hand-made in the USA), and in a nice touch, we see notebook case integration into some of the designs as well. The two appear to be a great fit (pardon the tailoring pun), and have created some fantastic designs (those pictured above are just two of many available) which you really should check out for yourself, as any attempt at describing the products to you in words will not do the cases justice. Depending on the model, the cases are either lined or unlined, and come in some cool launch colours (including a limited edition colour on a particular model that will only be available through this launch project).

You needn’t take my word for it that many are interested, with the $5000 funding goal being met within the first hour, and (at the time of writing) the project now supported to the tune of over $27,000, the numbers speak for themselves. All bar one ($25) of the 10 funding levels are still open, with 28 days left to run in the campaign. I understand the money raised will be used for additional manufacturing equipment which bodes well for the company in the longer term.

Enough from me – go check out Nock Co. on Kickstarter and be sure to watch the video outlining the project.

What’s that? Oh yes…sorry – my backing? That would be “All the Cases” at $75.00 (which is a steal for what you will receive). Told you I had been waiting for this day.

Crop to Cup – Part 3

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photo (4)

Continued from Crop to Cup Part 1 and Part 2

If you have been reading this series of posts to date, you will know that for my wet processed micro lot I am following the steps listed below:

  1. Pulping
  2. Fermentation
  3. Drying
  4. Parchment removal (hulling)
  5. Roasting

The first two stages were outlined in Parts 1 and 2 of this series, along with the initial phase of stage 3, in which today we learn that patience is indeed a virtue.

3. Drying continued

Every day I walk past my drying rack, checking (and turning) the beans, as the remaining moisture is drawn out, courtesy of the great weather we have been having of late in South East QLD. No rain to speak of (though many gardens need it), and fairly low humidity (compared to usual levels) have made for what I would consider perfect ‘bean drying’ weather. Although the beans have been undercover and would not be directly affected by rain, the increased humidity and overall moisture in the air would likely have required a longer period of drying.

The ideal drying time?

For further information here we again refer to our two main sources:

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF)

Whichever method of drying you use, the parchment on the coffee bean will dry to a pale straw colour and be brittle to touch. At this stage, test the dryness of the beans by removing the parchment by hand off several coffee beans. If dry, the bean inside should be greyish blue in colour, hard, and likely to break when bitten between the teeth, if not soft and chewy. If soft, continue the drying process.

The ‘methods’ of drying referred to above include the natural sun drying method I am following, or alternatively, a food dehydrator, which must be kept at 40 degrees celsius over the course of several days to complete the drying. Whilst a dehydrator may be a more rapid method of drying, some of the romance is lost, if I imagine hundreds of square metres of beans drying in the sun on a Colombian hillside. Though the strength of this argument wanes a little when my entire crop fits into my palms cupped together.

Anyway, for the current crop, sun drying it shall be.

My Mother

I usually leave it at least two weeks to dry out. Sometimes you might get away with 10 days or so, but two weeks just to be safe. Your best guide is to crack off the parchment layer with your thumbnail, and if you get a good split or cracking noise you can be fairly sure it is dry enough. Once I have removed this layer and simply have the green bean, a couple of days more drying will really finish them off.

We agreed that my planned two further weeks (making four in total) drying time would not be to the detriment of the end result (that is, be too long). The four week time frame is due to a holiday occurring in the middle of this process , rather than specifically planning a drying time of this length. I do note however this does coincide with the upper end of the 5–30 day recommendations of the DAFF.

Drying – Two Weeks In
As noted above, after two weeks I am now half way through my planned drying time and testing a couple of the beans would appear to show that everything is on track. You will see in the picture below that that the outer parchment is quite dry (it also comes away from the inner bean with a nice crack when pressure from my thumb is applied).

photo (5)

Referring to the DAFF instructions above, the bean is blue/grey in colour and feels reasonably hard, though I did not see the need to give it the ‘bite test’. In another two weeks I would expect the beans will be well and truly dry and begging to be roasted, at which time I will provide an update with another post.

In the mean time, have a look at my magazine Brew – Ways of Coffee on Flipboard for some great articles I have collected from around the web.

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Away we go with iOS 7…almost

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Image representing Apple as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

Today sees the release – and no doubt many a download – of iOS 7, the latest update and vastly overhauled version of Apple’s mobile software. There are numerous feature improvements that go beyond the most obvious, which is the ‘modernised’ user interface or ‘look and feel’ of the new system.

Of the many new features, I am most looking forward to Control Center (with many system settings now finally seeing the light of day, no longer requiring numerous taps to access), iTunes Radio, improved Notification Center, automatic app updates, intelligent data refreshing, better camera control, and improved photo management. However I am sure I will find compelling uses for many of the other new features I have read about or will stumble across along the way.

This update also brings a further level of complexity in relation to which Apple devices will support which version of the operating system. A recent silent update on the App Store now sees older versions of the operating system able to download legacy versions of many apps, as this article in 9to5 Mac explains. Further information around device compatibility (and an excellent table on feature support) can be found in an article by Brock Kyle, and another at TUAW.

Incidentally it does not appear both devices I currently use (iPhone 4s and iPad 2) will support all iOS 7 features, for example Air Drop and some of the advanced camera and photo features are only available in later model hardware. It is also worth noting I must wait a little longer for iTunes Radio given it is initially US only.

What should you do before you install the update? I would suggest reading this summary from TUAW, and proceeding from there.

As I finish this brief post (which in Australia is the early hours of September 19), my iPhone 4s is showing an error on attempting to commence the update. This has been entirely expected as Apple’s servers are being repeatedly slammed by the combined weight of a highly anticipated, worldwide software rollout. Should you also be experiencing this (and judging by the comments on numerous internet sites many are), keep trying – it is only a matter of time, and in any event, at 728MB, the entire process won’t be quick.

Patience is a virtue.

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What’s Roasting #5 – Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and El Salvador Siberia

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Ethiopian woman coffee farmer with basket of c...

Ethiopian coffee farmer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After aiming my recent roasting efforts towards blending, it’s time to get back to some of my favourite regions and sample some single origins. I will also post a further update in the Crop to Cup series in the near future, as we get closer to roasting and sampling.

So, in searching for a fruity African varietal, this Ethiopian Yirgacheffe came along through the good folks at Ministry Grounds, who also supplied the following roasting advice on this coffee:

Go easy on the heat early on, allowing a gentle drying period. But build some momentum up to the start of first crack. When the beans go exothermic, expect a temp rate drop and try and anticipate this. Not letting the rate rise drop too much will develop the sugars and fruit flavours fully. Don’t go near second crack!

Vista panorámica de la ciudad de Santa Ana (El...

Santa Ana (El Salvador) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At the same time I stumbled across a Central American variety in the form of the El Salvador Siberia Pacamara which placed 20th in the 2012 Cup of Excellence, and certainly read well in terms of its potential out of the roaster and into the cup:

Floral with green apple, pineapple and black cherry. Lovely honeycomb and sugarcane sweetness. A balanced cup.

I am looking forward to seeing whether the El Salvador lives up to the usual crispness of varieties from the Central American region, and likewise the usual blueberry explosion of the Yirgacheffe. Tasting review to follow soon.

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