Better quality beans

dfk41

Having played around with my Moccamaster for a month or so, and becoming more used to it, I want to experiment with buying some ‘better’ coffee. Everyone has their own view but I thought to try and seek coffees around 87 and higher to try. Where do you start? Is it just a question of hunting the various websites? Then the next problem is, you can have a decent coffee, but does the roaster have the skillsets to do it justice?

All help welcome

MediumRoastSteam

dfk41 Everyone has their own view but I thought to try and seek coffees around 87 and higher to try.

I think you are on the ball there Dfk. I’ve tried coffees scored at 87, 88 and in all honesty… plenty of disappointments. I think there’s a lot to be said about the skill of the roaster. I wouldn’t make a choice based on cup scoring alone.

dfk41

MediumRoastSteam So, can anyone recommend a roaster with a decent cupping score that actually resembles the woffle on the bag!

MediumRoastSteam

dfk41 - I tend to buy from Foundry, and also bought from Dark Arts. Will give Dark Woods a go at some point, but their prices are a level up from what I usually pay. I only drink espresso though - can’t comment on filter.

MWJB

Most roasters do not list cup scores.

You’re not going to cup the coffee anyway, roasters have differing cupping practices, so you may as well just brew.

Don’t focus so much on the coffee matching the notes, just make the best cup you can and rate it by overall preference.

Darkwoods are the only roaster I can recommend at the moment, for their light roasts only.

Buying well roasted coffee for filter is the hardest aspect of making coffee at home.

dfk41

MWJB For filter Mark, I am quite happy to go light. Darkwoods was the first roaster I tried if you remember so I might revisit them. Many ta’s

MWJB

dfk41 Just as an example:

I only aim to buy light roasts, I give a general score out of 5 for all beans I brew, 1 - Light, 2 - Med light, 3 Medium (say Illy monoarabica level). The last 59 bags averaged 2.2 out of 5, so light/med & generally darker than I aim for (though some light/med have been very good).

I do similar for whether the beans match notes: 3 for maybe/maybe not, 4 for a little (one or two quoted note present), 5 for bang on the notes. The average for the same 59 bags is 3.7/5, so closer to ‘a little’. 8 of the 59 bags scored a 5.

I don’t think the Darkwoods Ipanema Brazil Gesha would be your kind of coffee.

dfk41

I am about to order 4 × 250 gms from Dark Woods again. I have just used my 80th filter paper this morning, starting off on April 12th. I would say brew scales certainly help. Is it a fair assumption that as in the espresso world as a general rule of thumb, lighter roasts need a tighter grind?

MWJB

dfk41 No, drip brewing is effectively brute force brewing, you’re using a large amount of brew water for the dose so extracting is much easier & very consistent (if brew water & coffee dose weights are held constant).

You shouldn’t need to make large, or frequent grind adjustments. more like small & occasional. Go by what the specific issue is with a certain bag.

You won’t swing from very under-extracted to over extracted. Mostly just correcting smaller issues with clarity and mouthfeel.

For instance, the last coffee I brewed was a little more muddled in flavour than I expect, more filmy in mouthfeel, though some flavours noted were present. Going a little coarser with this one coffee to clean it up a tad.