From the Birthplace of Coffee in western Ethiopia the Mankira forest in the Kaffa Region Grounds For Healthstill produces Ethiopian Heirloom "Native Kaffa Type" Semi-forest and wild farming coffee. This may very well be the closest we can get to the flavor of coffee first discovered by humans centuries ago. Generously donated by Atlas Coffee Importers to the Coffee Auction to support their efforts to provide health services to women in coffee growing locations. We are happy to be the high bidder on this fine coffee in support of Grounds For Health and now have it available for you. This coffee reflects our goals of Great Taste, Value, People and Earth friendly. We will additionally donate $1 for every pack of Ethiopa Kaffa Forest Chiri Coop GFH gr 2 sold on our website homeroastcoffee.com this year.
Ethiopia Kaffa Forest Chiri Coop Coffee Mankira Forest Birthplace of Coffee Chiri Coop Smallholder Members
Chiri Coop is a TNS project to organize and educate 440 Smallholder farmers around a centralized Wetmill, Drying, and storage facility "Chiri". The Farmers hand pick and sort the coffee cherries for proper ripeness before submitting to processing.
Chiri Coop uses a modern Eco Pulper to remove the skin and fruit from the cherries while consuming 1/10 the normal amount of water used in the Washed process.
Atlas Coffee Importers cupping note: "Black currant and cocoa in the aroma. Flavors of currant, blackberries, hazelnut and cocoa. Very flavor intense with distinct blackberry acidity. The mouth feel is rich, intense and juicy. Overall it is complex and balanced with mature dark fruit notes and great body."
Photos of Mankira Forest Ethiopia and Chiri Coop Members, and Kaffa / Chiri information courtesy of Atlas Coffee Importers.
Home Roast Coffee is pleased to announce that we were able to win the bids for 3 new Coffees that were donated to Grounds For Health which is instrumental in saving lives in Coffee Producing Regions.
The Auction is one of the ways our Specialty Coffee Community helps support those who Produce the Coffee we love, and we are happy to be part of this effort. The Coffees and related items are Generously donated by Members of our Specialty Coffee Community and Auctioned to Coffee Lovers like you and me.
We will be offering the three Coffees which will be noted as our Grounds for Health Auction wins soon along with a blog post describing them in more detail.
For more information on Grounds for Health click this.
We would like to Thank the Folks who made these Generous Donations:
Atlas Coffee Importers
Crop to Cup Coffee Importers
Mt Top Coffee, and Jim Cone of Coffee and Tea Ltd.
Behmor Inc.
We have all been bombarded lately with Ads and articles touting the benefits of keeping your brain active doing teasers, questions, and puzzles. Many of us are willing to pay for the opportunity to participate in these brain games. Why not use our minds more to accomplish what has become routine in our automated society? Write a letter (this is a thing with actual paper and a manual writing instrument called a Pen) to a friend or loved one, calculate the distance of your next bike ride in your head counting the blocks and miles, create a meal like your Mother used to make where she only told you a pinch of this and a dash of that for seasoning (figure it out), and of course Roast and brew your own coffee.
You can outline your template for roasting, a Profile you might try and tweak to perfection.
Which bean to roast? How much? How fast? Change the heat or stay the course? Use a fan or adjust it? How dark to roast this bean? Which Crack is it in and when does it end? How long should it rest before trying a cup or try it over a few days? Should I blend this with another bean? Which one (s)? Different roasts?
How shall I brew this fresh coffee? Drip? Press? Pour over? Vacuum pot? How much to use? How to grind it? How fine to grind it?
Now analyze it and decide how and what to adjust the next time, if anything.
You have now exercised your mind, made a friend or Loved one's day, done your cardio with a sense of accomplishment, created a new one and probably recalled a fond memory as well eating too much (back to the bike), and enjoyed a great cup of Joe that you made with your own hands and mind.
If you are near us here in Cross Plains Wisconsin you can eliminate shipping costs by picking up your order here at the home office by entering this code at checkout: pickup1
Just wait to receive your order is READY email and stop by. 1019 Tilda Trail, Cross Plains, WI.
BONUS - Pick Up orders in June will receive a 4 oz (aprox) SAMPLE of Green Coffee.
Specialty coffee is often chosen by the Country and Region of Origin. Here is how we make sure you get the Gourmet Green coffee you order.
Home Roast Coffee is just the three of us so maintaining consistent standard operating procedures is pretty easy. We receive an email notification for every order that we use as the packing slip, we also check the order in our site for any special information.
Every bag of coffee we receive is tagged at the dock with it's full Tittle and weight and stored in a specified location based alphabetically. We select the Bag of coffee that matches the pick list and label the appropriate zip bag for the weight. When finished with the Origin bag we mark the Lbs removed on the tag with the date, seal the bag and replace it in the proper storage location.
Panama Finca Candela coffee pulled from storage to packing station and opened.
Panama Finca Candela ready to scoop
We use a fresh scoop, pitcher, and funnel for every coffee so we Zero out the commercial scale for every coffee before packing.
The Big funnel helps get the beans in the bag.
5 Lbs Panama Finca Candela ready to fill bag.
Setting Tare weight to zero for weight of bag on our second commercial scale with 5 Lb Panama Finca Candela ready for a second weight check.
Panama Finca Candela 5 Lbs ready to tape and ship.
Now that the 5 Lb Panama is ready to go we put it in the shipping package and check it on the packing slip.
When every item on the packing slip is checked off we check the packing weight of the package to be certain it matches the total Lbs purchased and sign the packing slip.
We want you to enjoy your coffee and that includes getting what you ordered as soon as we can get it shipped.
Brewing delicious coffee really only requires these 5 things
Fresh Roasted (within 2 weeks) Specialty grade Coffee
Hot water preferably filtered to remove chlorine but retaining some minerals (no distilled water) at 198 degrees f to 202 degrees f.
A decent coffee grinder capable of grinding the desired particle size with little variation of pieces from that desired size.
A Brewer or devise that allows the hot water to pass through your ground coffee then separate the grounds from the coffee in about 4 minutes.
And, this basic bit of chemistry or physics knowledge:
The larger the particle size of your grounds the less surface area you will have exposed to the hot water and will therefore extract slightly less of the total flavor of the bean.
In terms of taste this generally means large size Course grind will be less bitter but weaker if using the same amount of a finer grind. The important thing to remember here is to use the proper Grind size (within a range) for the brew method you choose. Course Grinds are good for Press Pots (French Press) and should produce a rich round less bitter taste but may require more coffee per cup to reach the strength you like. Pour over through a filter and most standard home brewers work well with a medium grind you will want to experiment by changing the grind slightly one way or the other while using the same coffee and amount of coffee. With filters if you go too fine you will plug the pores in the filter and end up with weak or bitter coffee. If you try too course a grind your coffee will taste weak which can also be bitter because the coffee can't release enough of it's flavor so all your senses detect is the bitterness.
Bitterness is a sign of just plain Bad coffee, Stale coffee, Weak coffee (how much coffee with how much water), Improperly Ground coffee (very small particles in with a medium grind will plug a filter), Poorly brewed coffee (too fast or slow, too hot, left on a burner), and should not be confused with the bitter sweet taste of a Dark Roast coffee.
A good brewer simply delivers the proper temperature water evenly over Freshly ground coffee in 4 minutes.
Excellent and cheap methods of brewing a few cups are the French Press and Pour Over or Dripper, either one is available in Department stores from $3 to $50 on the high end. Ad a good Grinder $129 from our Grinders and Accessories and any method to boil water then pour just after boil stops.
Below Bodum French Press empty with plunger all the way down. About $20 - $50 depending on size.
Hario V60 Dripper (Pour Over) with filter and an "I Roasted This Coffee Mug". Plastic Drippers are available under $10, Hario Ceramics about $20 - $30.
Baratza Encore Coffee grinder with French Press
Medium Ground Fresh Coffee into Hario Dripper
Nesco Hot water Kettle pouring just below boiling water onto grounds in Pour Over Dripper, stay around middle pour slowly but under 4 minutes.
This is really good coffee!
