Enthusiast Coffee

Coffee Species And Varietals Picture Sourced from James Hoffmann Difficult Questions Species and varietals are a complex subject. (But then, what isn’t?) The problem isn’t just that there are more than 100 species of coffee and thousands of coffee varietals, with more being discovered or bred each year. The real challenge lies in the fact that genetic testing for coffee is not readily accessible to farmers. Since it is generally difficult to differentiate coffee species/varietals just by looking at them, misidentifications and misclassifications often occur. [Read More]

Processing Image sourced from Unsplash (Joel Friedrich) Coffee processing refers to the method of coffee fermentation. Processing can generally be classified into washed/wet, natural/dry, honey/hybrid/pulped-natural, and anaerobic methods. Note: There will be a lot of repetition of the word “general.” The specifics of processing can vary by farmer, processing station, region, and country. For example, the washed process in Kenya may not be the same as the washed process in Colombia. [Read More]

Roast Level Image sourced from Unsplash (Nousnou Iwasaki) The roast level is arguably the most important element in determining the flavor profile of coffee beans. People who aren’t interested in coffee may not know the difference between the Gesha and Bourbon varietals or recognize the distinct flavors of coffee from Ethiopia versus Brazil. However, most people, even those who know nothing about coffee, seem to differentiate between light roast and dark roast by taste. [Read More]