Today, I brewed a cup of the Ethiopia Organic Idido Misty Valley DP beans I had roasted the day before. I normally roast to a City+ / Full City level on the majority of my coffee beans. Yesterday, I decided to switch it up a bit and took the beans to a Full City+ / Vienna – Light French roast level.
At this level you start to get roast flavor characteristics instead of origin flavor characteristics. Cupping reports for this bean show a variety of fruit tastes as the origin flavors: strawberry, orange marmalade, mango and apricot. The reports show that roast tastes trend towards nuts and chocolate.
As you can see in the photo to the left, the beans had a great deep brown color and a nice oily sheen to them.
I prepared the brew using my standard method; bring 16 oz of water to a boil, grind 28 grams of beans, brew for 3 minutes in a french press, plunge and pour. When I brew in my french press, I leave the coffee alone for the first minute, agitate for the second minute and leave it alone for the final minute.
Once I had poured the coffee, I could see a good amount of coffee oils floating on the surface. This is one of the reasons I love using a french press. I feel you get a fuller bodied cup of coffee since very little is trapped in the pot.
I always drink my coffee black, never any cream or sweetener.
First sip brought forth a very rich syrupy, caramel flavor. The coffee had a lot of body and a nice, sweet finish. Subsequently, I received deep, dark chocolate flavors along with that sweet aftertaste.
Even as the cup cooled, I still found that strong chocolate flavor being predominant. This was a very strong, full-bodied roast. The bittersweet chocolate flavor lingered on my palate for quite some time after I had finished the cup.
Overall, this roast level was very enjoyable even if there was not a lot of complexity to the flavors. The lighter roast levels definitely give you more flavor in my opinion. I think you get a good balance of origin flavor and roast flavor at the City+ / Full City levels. This level was a nice change of pace and a fun experiment for me.
I think you need to elaborate on the whole city+ stuff maybe do a primer from start to finish on acquiring unroasted beans, the roasting process etc. While it sounds interesting I have no Idea what you’re talking about.
Hi Matt, thanks for reading. You are absolutely right. A primer on greens and roasting levels is a great idea. I will put one together as my next coffee posting.
Is this new crop IMV? I haven’t heard of it being available for the past couple years. Where did you get it?
I got it a while ago from Sweet Maria’s. I don’t see it available on their site right now.