Mommy, where do coffee beans come from?

If you've taken a tour at Chazzano Coffee Roasters, you might have heard me talk about coffee cherries. You may have heard about my crazy hope that my coffee tree seedlings may produce coffee cherries. Above, you'll see the coffee cherries growing on Coast Three Coffee farm in El Salvador. There are two coffee beans in each cherry. The cherries are handpicked from the trees because it is highly impractical to machine pick coffee grown on mountainsides.

Then the coffee is milled and processed. Will it be dry processed or wet processed? How much water do you have around your farm? What is the preferred flavor profile for your particular coffee varietals? Below: The cherry and most of the outer layers of the coffee bean have been removed and the coffee beans are drying out in the sun.

New Coffee Offerings!

I am going to start cupping some new Papua New Guinea Purosa (Fair Trade Organic (FTO)), am El Salvador Organic Cuzcachapa Rainforest Alliance as well as a SWP (Swiss Water Process) Decaf Peru (Fair Trade Organic).

Even though I have cupped the PNG Purosa for many years and it remains one of my favorite coffees, with each batch and with each new crop, I need to experiment to find the sweet spot. There is a process by which I investigate the roast profile that will bring out the awesome character of the particular coffee. I roast the coffee at different roast profiles- from a light City Roast to a Full City+. Rarely do I roast a coffee to Vienna- the coffee flavor profile has too much to lose when coffee is roasted too dark. (However, Sumatra Mandheling is superb at Vienna roast- there is a great bittersweet chocolate that survives and thrives at that profile.

I'm interested in how the El Salvador will work as part of a blend. I have not been impressed with coffee from El Salvador- yet. I'll let you know.

I buy only Decaffeinated coffee that became that way through the Swiss Water Process. I have found that the coffee does not lose all of its aromatics and complex flavor profile. Besides, I appreciate the lack of chemicals in my cup of coffee. Several years ago, I forgot that I was drinking my Decaf Extravaganza blend. It was so good, I forgot that it was Decaf. If coffee isn't full of aromatics with a great mouthfeel, it just isn't worth drinking. Besides it won't make you sing- only, Good Coffee Makes You Sing.

Papua New Guinea


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