The Early Days: Coffee 101- and some cool vinyl

Coffee 101

Coffee is a seed from a cherry picked from a bush. From there it is processed. Then it is shipped, then it is roasted and packaged. From there is it ground and brewed. The important thing to remember is that the flavor of coffee depends largely on 5 major things; the type of bean, the processing of the bean, the roasting of the bean, the coarseness of the grind and finally, how it is brewed.

Visually it looks like this:

Coffee type-

            Arabica or Robusta (Roasted Record only sells Arabica)

Process-

Dry Process or Natural process- beans left to ferment with the fruit around the seed. 

Honey Process- beans have skin removed, but the pulp remains on the seed and the beans are dried that way

Wet process, or washed- The seed is removed from the pulp and skin and washed in water before drying. 

Region- The Arabica beans have a difference in taste based on “terroir” or French for “dirt.” This is the same as wine.

Quality- The seeds are different sizes after drying. Each country has a different system for grading such as Kenya AA, Columbia Supremo, or coffees graded 18 or higher.

* PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ONLY SELL THE GRADE 18.

Roast- the roast dehydrates the bean and is part art and part science. It is only a matter of seconds in the roaster that determines a medium roast from a dark roast. The roast itself is the part where a roaster displays what they think the bean should taste like. No two origins are roasted the same. Ethiopians are roasted entirely differently than Sumatrans and Colombians. The Roasted Record is in the business of buying the best beans and roasting them to perfection as we believe it to be.

Packaging- We package the beans warm and directly from the roaster. This is highly preferable as the beans will “degas” once roasted and the less they are exposed to oxygen the better. Our beans are put into a sealed bag with a one way degasing valve immediately after roasting allowing them to “settle” into their full flavor and this also prolongs their shelf life. Coffee from The Roasted Record can last up to 6 months with acceptable freshness, but we restock our retailers in less than 45 days, buying back their inventory as coffee freshness is part of what we sell.

Whole Bean vs. Ground. We prefer to sell whole bean as it keeps its flavor longer in the package, but otherwise the ground coffee we sell is ground for a percolator coffee machine.  It is ground in a burr grinder for consisitency.

Grind- If the customer grinds it coarsely, it will display less flavor and will require a greater concentration of coffee to water ratio. The following is our recommendation for brewing preparation:

French Press- Coffee 1 part, water 10 parts. (20 grans of coffee requires 200 grams of water at 203 degrees.) This is the earthiest and fullest way to prepare the coffee. It is thick and full of sediment and has residual oils in the cup. It will change flavors significantly as it cools.

Drip coffee- This is the medium grind and should be prepared with coffee 1 part and water 12 part. 20 grams of coffee for 240 grams of water. This I s a good balance of taste, but with most coffee machines, the temperature of the water is not as controlled as it could be. The range for which coffee should be brewed is 195-205 degrees F. Depending on the voltage in your house, your coffee machine may not get to the ideal temperature.

Pour over- A finer grind than drip, we prefer 1 part coffee for 15 parts water. 20 grams of coffee for 300 grams of water. This is best for a clean cup of coffee with no sediment and a bright taste. This can be used for every range of coffee, but excels at the East Africans such as Ethiopia and Kenya.

Espresso- This is the finest of grinds available. It is essentially a powder. It must be made in an espresso machine and any of our single origin coffees are ideal for espresso. Espresso is concentrated coffee and displays the most flavor in each bean. Some coffees are not suitable for espresso, but everything The Roasted Recored sells is perfect for Espresso.

Brewing- Until The Roasted Record opens it’s shop, 2-3 years from now, we can only control the first few parts of great coffee. The grind and the brewing method is up to the customer. We can recommend to our corporate accounts how to make their coffee, but one of the greatest parts of coffee is the individual drinking it can determine how it tastes.

The way we approach coffee is that it is simple to make coffee in a coffee maker if you don’t care where it comes from or how its made. That is akin to eating at Mc Donald’s every night for dinner. OR you can take a little bit of interest in your daily drink and trust The Roasted Record to do what it does and get the best coffee and roast it to a point where it can be properly prepared by the customer every morning. This process takes as little as 3 minutes to as much as 7 minutes. This would be the same as eating as a place like The District Table every morning.

Conclusion-

The vast majority of Americans drink crappy coffee every day and couldn’t care less  where it comes from, how its processed or how it brewed. Essentially they drink McDonalds every morning. We sell the ability to have the best for less than Starbucks or Peet’s. We are local and save on marketing costs and shipping costs. We deliver the best to our neighbors as much as they will allow.

And on top of that- We sell collectible vinyl records.  That's why the image is of a 1967 original press of Andy Warhol produced Velvet Undergound. And Gorrilaz (a limited clear vinyl) because it's just that good.

Mike Mann

Owner

The Roasted Record LLC

mike@theroastedrecord.com