Coffee

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7
Dec 08

Starbucks Black Apron Exclusives: Ethiopia Gemadro Estate Review

Ethiopia Gemadro Estate

Complex flavors, medium-bodied, cocoa tones following the sip and ends with a bit of grapefruit-like bittersweetness. There’s also a breath of mintyness or eucalyptus, but it’s very subtle. Balanced acidity. Tastes best while hot, since once it starts to cool down the bitter tones start to become a bit more pronounced and become rather unpleasant, as opposed to a nice, contrasting flavor.

For some reason… I kinda want to pair this with grapes or prunes; probably an oatmeal raisin cookie. Something tart, sweet, and chewy to go along with the citrusy, grapefruit-like bittersweetness of the coffee would be a great food pairing. Mmm. Cookies. Yeah. Uh… that’s about it.

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4
Oct 08

I’m Starting To Go For More Of Gloria Jean’s Coffee Beans

Shot over to Glorietta to buy some coffee beans. I headed over to Gloria Jean’s this time because the Starbucks store I patronize hasn’t stocked up on fresh coffee beans yet – all they have in the store shelves are the old coffee bean stock, which are mostly just two months away from expiring.

Three things I like about Gloria Jean’s: (1) coffee beans on the store shelves tend to be fresher, since they are delivered quarterly (which is more often than Starbucks, to my knowledge), (2), you can buy by weight. I bought 1/2 pound of decaffeinated Colombian Supremo Beans (they ran out of the non-decaf beans), and (3), some of the beans are mostly cheaper than their equivalents in Starbucks or the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

Also, it was a funny site to see a bunch of cops sitting in two tables outside the GJC store drinking coffee and stuff. I thought they only did Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Creme. Looks like them cops are getting paid better by the government… or are they? Heh.

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27
Nov 07

Review: Sumatra Siborong-Borong (Starbucks Black Apron Exclusive)

Sumatra Siborong-Borong

It took me a while to get to tasting this coffee, but here it is. I picked up a bag of Starbuck’s Black Apron Exclusive just some time ago, and took my time to really get to savor the flavor. Thing about this is, I’m not really a fan of coffees from Sumatra. But I decided to give this one a chance and see what makes it so “special”.

Coffees from Sumatra are usually full-bodied and exhibit a strong, earthy flavor, with herbal and spice undertones, and practically little to no acidity at all (which is why I don’t like ‘em, since the “earthy/dirty” taste lingers in me taste buds). Using the regular Sumatra coffee from Starbucks as a point of comparison, I brewed myself up a few cups of the Sumatra Siborong-Borong.

On the first sip, the earthy flavor characteristic of coffees from the region is the very first thing that comes up. I was pleasant surprised by what followed – the coffee had more zest than what you’d usually expect from a Sumatran coffee; and the flavor mellowed after just a few seconds, indicating a light but very welcome acidity in the mix. What’s more, this coffee more or less retained the flavor as it cooled, as opposed to the regular Sumatra drip that Starbucks offers whose flavor kind of falls flat on cooling. (I don’t know if it’s just me, but that’s what I tasted at the time).

Anyway, after getting a tast of the Sumatra Siborong-Borong from Starbucks, I think I’ll start trying more coffees from Sumatra from this point on (just not the regular beans from Starbucks – I still don’t like that!).

If you can still get a bag of this coffee at your local Starbucks outlet, I’d heartily recommend you pick one up.

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17
Oct 07

Coffee Break Festival 2007

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of checking out the Coffee Break Festival at the Glorietta 4, featuring several coffee merchants and their wares. This particular festival features purely Philippine-grown coffee from different regions, as well as the merchants’ own blends and varieties.

The last time I was here, I was only starting to get into the art of coffee drinking, so I really didn’t do much but load up on the free coffee (hey, who wouldn’t?). This time, I made sure to savor each and every cup of coffee available and to properly review them for your perusal.

Before I get into it, let me just give you a short primer on Philippine coffee. The Philippines grows four varieties of commercially viable coffee, namely Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberica, better known locally as Barako/Baraco. Similar to it’s neighbors in the SE Asia region, Philippine grown coffees exhibit flavors ranging mostly from citrusy to earthy (although not quite as robust as the Sumatra and Sulawesi varieties), as well as coffee with fruity notes and the rarer kind that exhibits mild, spice and herbal undertones.

So, let’s get to it!

Siete Baracos Coffee

Siete Baracos Coffee

The coffee that the people from Siete Baracos coffee were brewing at the time was their Blackgold variety. It was a nice, medium-bodied coffee with low acidity, berry and mild citrus notes and very subtle earthy finish, but ultimately ordinary coffee; many other coffees from Batangas and Lipa share the same characteristics, and the Blackgold offering didn’t have much to distinguish itself from the pack.

It wasn’t bad, but nothing really special here.

Gourmet’s Coffee

Gourmet's Coffee

I’ve been seeing Gourmet’s coffee around for some time now, and while I can’t quite be sure of it, I’ve heard that they used to grow their coffee (as well several other things) organically (I’m now slapping myself for not even bothering to ask them about it!).

Anyway, they had several varieties of coffee available, simply named Robusta, Mountain Grown, and Batangas Baraco, respectively. At the time I was at their booth, they were brewing their Robusta variety (all the merchants brew just 1 variety at a time).

Their Robusta coffee exhibited nice acidity, a medium-full body with earthy flavor and citrus notes, and finishes with a mild, earthy zest.

I was egging them to brew me up a batch of their Mountain Grown coffee, but to no avail. Oh well.

The Coffee Beanery

The Coffee Beanery

I tasted The Coffee Beanery’s Cravings Blend, which was a medium roasted coffee of blended Arabica and Robusta beans from the northern regions of Benguet and Ilocos, served up to as an Americano. As such, it had a nice crema and a wonderful, very pronounced nutty aroma and flavor.

This was by far the best tasting coffee that I had tried in the exhibit; these guys know what they’re doing!

Still, I would have been really interested to compare how the Cravings blend would have tasted as a regular drip coffee.

Continental Coffee / Batangas Harvest Coffee

Continental Coffee / Batangas Harvest Coffee

Continental Coffee offers up two dark-roasted varieties: An Arabica and Robusta blend, and a pure Baraco offering in either a strong or mild variety.

I sampled their milder Baraco coffee, which exhibited a nice, winey flavor with cherry notes, very similar to the coffee from Amadeo that I wrote about a while back, albeit this one had a more pleasant medium body.

It doesn’t have much in the way of acidity, so the winey flavor tends to stay in your mouth for a while; I’m not sure if this is a desirable trait for some people, but as for me, I’m not too much of a fan of this one because of that. It gets old quickly for me, is what I’m trying to say.

Monk’s Blend

Monk's Blend Coffee

Monk’s Blend offers a medium roasted Arabica and Robusta blend from the Bukidnon region. They had no other varieties, simply the same blend as either whole coffee beans or bagged, pre-ground coffee.

Theirs is a full-bodied coffee, with a very nice nutty and milky flavor, with a subtly sweet caramel finish, and nicely balanced acidity (as such, the flavor lingers for only about 3-5 seconds, enough for you to savor it but not enough to make you tire of it for too soon). I liked it; prolly the best tasting coffee next to The Coffee Beanery’s Cravings Blend.

However, one thing ticked me off about these guys. One of the attendants tried to sell me the pre-ground variety, and included in on of his “selling points” was that it had a shelf life of one year. One freaking year. Coffee grounds. Still fresh, he says. All the while expounding the fact that they do not use any sort of preservatives.

Are you freaking kidding me?

Coffee is food. Food spoils after some time. And somebody please correct me if I have it all wrong, but ground coffee spoils after a week in open air and a little after two months when it’s sealed, does it not? Even when it’s frozen, what I know is that coffee cannot last for as long as a year without preservatives and still be fresh and taste good. I just cannot imagine it, even when you use a vacuum-sealed bag or container. So far, I’ve asked a handful of baristas about this and they concurred that it was just not possible.

So, while their coffee tasted quite good, minus points for using chemical preservatives – and for that guy trying to make me believe his bullshit.

Cafe de Lipa

Cafe de Lipa

Last but not the least, Cafe de Lipa. They offer two varieties, mainly a dark roasted Baraco of the same name and a medium roasted Batangas Blend.

For this one, I had their Cafe de Lipa Baraco, served up as an Americano. It had a thin-medium body with a winey flavor and cherry notes. Similar to Continental Coffee’s offering that I tasted, but less desirable (in my opinion), due to the thinner mouthfeel.

Besides the merchants I took to and those that I didn’t, there were other booths that I didn’t bother to visit, namely Figaro, Nescafe, and Dunkin’ Donuts. I already wrote about my dislike for Figaro’s drip coffee (although I do like their espresso-based drinks), so I didn’t bother with them. Dunkin’ Donuts has already gone the drain a few years ago, so you can’t expect a donut shop who can’t even sell decent donuts to provide decent coffee (you oughta see the donuts they sell here, they are damn small!). And Nescafe? Well… forget it.

What I do wish the merchants did was offer more than one coffee variety at a time, or at least a drip and an espresso brew at once or the same time. It makes it harder to compare offerings from different merchants when you also have to factor in different brewing methods. Anyway, those gripes do not really diminish the event in any large way whatsoever.

All in all it was a pretty good event. Not without it’s shortcomings, but it was good; I got to sample a wider range of coffees from the Philippines as well as revisit old flavors, all in one place! Of course, tasting coffee in a mall exhibition cannot replace the experience of going to different coffee growing regions and savoring the coffee in their own native context.

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29
Aug 07

How Not To Brew Coffee

Of all the ways to prepare coffee, Filipinos have prolly chosen the worst way of doing it – boiling. Regardless of the roast or grind, we (and by we I mean they) will simply dump an unmeasured amount of coffee (based simply on tantsa, or instinct, if you will) into a pot of water and bring it to a complete boil for five minutes.

The result? Coffee burned beyond recognition.

A prime example of this was when we were visiting our relatives south of the capital. A traditional Filipino breakfast is always inclusive of coffee along with pan de sal (bread rolls) or eggs and stir-fried rice; I hung around the kitchen while they prepped breakfast. Being the elitist bastard [poseur?] that I am, I immediately expostulated on their incorrect method of brewing.

I asked them all to get cups and to taste the coffee they had just made. It was bland, they said, but also adding that they had not yet added milk and sugar so it was to be expected. On this point I decided to give them a crash course in coffee preparation and cupping (with what limited facilities were available to us).

We started off with a clean pot of water (4 cups), bringing it to a boil, and letting it cool off for a few seconds. Once it was off the boil, we added the proportional amount of coffee grounds (around two table spoons per cup – no scoop was available to us at that time). After four minutes, I transferred the coffee to a pitcher, running it through a strainer to remove the used grounds.

Next, I asked them to get two cups each, one for the coffee they boiled, and another for our current batch. I asked them to smell both. The boiled coffee had a burnt aroma, while the ones we made afterward had a subtle fruity aroma. With that done, we all took sips from both cups, noting the mouthfeel and flavor of each brew. The boiled coffee tasted very bland and had very thin body – much like flavored water; the properly brewed coffee had a medium body and winey flavor with cherry tones.

They weren’t used to the strong flavor of properly brewed coffee (as opposed to next to no flavor of boiled coffee), so they were understandably reluctant. I gave them some notes on coffee origins and flavors, and some other tips to find the kind of coffee they’d like. After giving it some thought, they started to appreciate notable differences of the twain.

Then, come lunch time, they went right back to boiling it. Oh well.

Notes:
The coffee grounds were purchased from a market in Amadeo, Cavite. It was unevenly ground, with mostly coarse particles and some slightly finer particles. We were unsure of the kind of bean or if it was a blend or single origin, since it was purchased by weight (no mark or brand). It was definitely unlike the coffee I tasted a while back in Bag of Beans, which while of the same origin, had a earthy, citrusy tones.

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16
Jul 07

Bag Of Beans

Yesterday we happened to be on our way to Batangas, south of the capital, and we stopped over at this coffee shop along Aguinaldo Highway in Tagaytay called Bag of Beans. BoB is basically a coffee shop, bakery, and a garden restaurant all at the same time. They serve pies, steaks, and coffee. And the coffee, of course, is the focus of this particular post.

We’ve gone past Bag of Beans many times on our previous trips through the area, so this time we decided to check it out. We parked just in front of it and checked out the shop, before heading down into the dining area. Here’s the cool part: The dining area is an outdoor garden situated below the shop that you can see along the highway; it’s accessible through the pathway beside the shop that leads you a little bit down the side of the hill that the shop and the highway itself is situated on.

The garden dining area is very pleasant and conducive to having a relaxed conversation over coffee or tea. You can choose between uncovered wooden tables with benches, covered booths, and tables situated right beneath blooming foliage. It’s really suited to the weather; imagine yourself drinking a hot cup of coffee, with the cold air lightly blowing through the garden, kicking up some of the fallen leaves on the ground.

It was, however, drizzling, so we had to go into a covered dining area. We ordered lunch – steak and fries – and of course, coffee.

Bag of Beans serves homegrown coffee, straight out of Amadeo, Cavite. While they sell whole beans and blends of more variety at the shop, they only have the Barako and the drip varieties available á la carte. First up, I ordered their Barako coffee.

The BoB Barako is a bold coffee that has a medium body, a sharp citrusy taste and earthy undertones. I just didn’t like the fact that as it cooled, it started tasting more and more burnt. Not cool.

The regular Drip Coffee that BoB served me was a slightly more pleasant experience. A coffee with light body, a similar but slightly milder citrus flavor, subtler earthy undertones, and a clean finish. It retained the same characteristics as it cooled. It’s a less intense though much more pleasant experience than that of their Barako variety, if you will.

Both coffees served to me were dark roasts (gotta admit that I thought that all dark roasted coffees would have stronger flavors… figures, guess I’m still a n00b), of Liberica and Arabica beans, respectively.

I guess it’s a trait of the majority of coffees produced here in the Philippines, this strong citrus flavor. It features prominently in Figaro’s coffee, which serves only coffee from local producers, as well as from Starbuck’s Kape Vinta Blend. I hate both of them. That’s not to say it’s a bad kind of coffee, I just have a preference for coffees without that certain characteristic (which is why I also don’t like coffees from Sumatra and Sulawesi, albeit to a lesser degree). Despite that, I can still appreciate such coffee, as long as it doesn’t taste burnt.

On the whole, the experience of dining and drinking coffee at Bag of Beans is pleasant. I would say that the coffee tastes pretty good (if you prefer the kind of coffee they serve – just OK for me), the food is good, the environment is fantastic, thus, overall, it’s a winning combination.

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11
Jun 07

First Perfect Cup

After two tries, I think I finally brewed my first perfect cup (or to be precise, two cups) of coffee on my own. (First I went home and found out I had no measuring cups, and the next I miscalculated the proportions). I can say this: I’m really enjoying the entire process of preparing and savoring the coffee.

I picked up a bag of Colombian Nariño Supremo from Starbucks, as I wanted to start with something relatively basic, and coffee that I was already familiar with. (I also really like the Civet Coffee that Bo’s Coffee Club is offering, but I’ll have that on a later occasion). I had a third of it ground, and the rest I stowed to maintain freshness.

So I got me French Press, scooped up the grounds, poured in the hot water, 4 minutes, and then into me mug with it. Took in the aroma, slurp, and let it swirl in my mouth for a moment. The Colombian Nariño Supremo has a nutty, earthy aroma, and as for taste, it’s got medium body, bright acidity, a subtly bitter aftertaste, but overall pleasant flavor.

I wish I had a donut from Krispy Kreme or something – the Starbucks baristas usually recommend a walnut or espresso brownie with this coffee, but I don’t think either goes well with this blend. (Not to say that it tastes bad, but I’d say the walnut brownie goes best with Café Estima or Caffe Verona, and as for the espresso brownie, well, personally, I think it tastes awful). At least for me, that is.

I’ve only been a coffee enthusiast (but by no means an expert) for less than a year, but I guess I can say that I’ve got a fair handle on the fundamentals of coffee tasting; so far so good. Just have to get into it more.

I’m gonna be looking to try another blend within the next few weeks or so; I’m looking around at the different coffee shops we have at the mall.