Thursday, November 16, 2006
Red Mountain, Papua New Ginea
I don't know much about this Papua New Guinea, the "Red Mountain". It just came into the shop today for the first time. The roasting would have been done just yesterday, and the ridiculous amount of gas it gave off would seem to support that. As soon as the hot water hit the inside of the beaker the grounds puffed up bigger than any coffee I have ever seen. The crust expanded and put out large bubbles like a seventh grade vinegar and baking soada volcano. I had to wait a minute just to add the rest of the water, after the grounds settled back down a bit.
There was a sweetness to the aroma that it was giving off that put me very much in mind of red velvet cake, if you know what that is. It's really just chocolate cake with enough red food coloring in it to wipe out half the cactus population in Mexico. But then I thought, just because they call it "Red" Mountain does not mean I have to envision red things in the flavor, does it? Then I came to my senses, it was caramel. It smelled like a dark molases enhanced caramel. For some reason, I always think of bread when I smell the coffee crust, but this another story; sweet caramel.
After plunging and pouring, I noticed that there was not the amount of oily residue floating on top, at least not as much as I expect from a plunged brew. There was, however, a very persistant foam that took a good 6-8 minutes to dissapate. I wish crema was as tenacious. Hmm, maybe this would be good in espresso, carmel, crema, try it out folks and see what you get.
The body seemed medium to thin, but not in a negative way. It was very much in balance with the very pleasant acidity which was lightly giving off a little grapefruit/tangerine, very lightly. A slight buttery mouthfeel complemented the the balanced acid/body very well too; the trifecta of tactile.
At this point I could swear my mouth was begining to warm up a bit, the way it would with spice. Not woody spice like cloves or nutmeg, but like red peppers? No, it seemed not quite that intense, ginger I think. Not the flavor of the ginger, but the heat of it.
One of the really pleasant things about this coffe was the way the aftertaste came on as a kind of sweentness, and then sharply trailed off to a mild hint, a shadow of the beautifully balanced appeal it had in the begining. The acidity became more prominent as it cooled off, which gave it a crispness that was just approaching the cusp of some African coffees, but still held on to its clean Indonesian roots.
This was an excellent coffee that would go very well as an after dinner beverage, rounding off a filling a thick textured meal. But I get the feeling you would need a vanilla dessert, not chocolate. So if you are into coffe and food pairings, that would be my recomendation.
(edit: I just realized that apparently Daniel Humphries and Daryn Berlyn are also thinking of drawing straight shots of this stuff, follow the same link in "get to know your roasters") ¶ 11/16/2006 08:41:00 PM
I don't know much about this Papua New Guinea, the "Red Mountain". It just came into the shop today for the first time. The roasting would have been done just yesterday, and the ridiculous amount of gas it gave off would seem to support that. As soon as the hot water hit the inside of the beaker the grounds puffed up bigger than any coffee I have ever seen. The crust expanded and put out large bubbles like a seventh grade vinegar and baking soada volcano. I had to wait a minute just to add the rest of the water, after the grounds settled back down a bit.
There was a sweetness to the aroma that it was giving off that put me very much in mind of red velvet cake, if you know what that is. It's really just chocolate cake with enough red food coloring in it to wipe out half the cactus population in Mexico. But then I thought, just because they call it "Red" Mountain does not mean I have to envision red things in the flavor, does it? Then I came to my senses, it was caramel. It smelled like a dark molases enhanced caramel. For some reason, I always think of bread when I smell the coffee crust, but this another story; sweet caramel.
After plunging and pouring, I noticed that there was not the amount of oily residue floating on top, at least not as much as I expect from a plunged brew. There was, however, a very persistant foam that took a good 6-8 minutes to dissapate. I wish crema was as tenacious. Hmm, maybe this would be good in espresso, carmel, crema, try it out folks and see what you get.
The body seemed medium to thin, but not in a negative way. It was very much in balance with the very pleasant acidity which was lightly giving off a little grapefruit/tangerine, very lightly. A slight buttery mouthfeel complemented the the balanced acid/body very well too; the trifecta of tactile.
At this point I could swear my mouth was begining to warm up a bit, the way it would with spice. Not woody spice like cloves or nutmeg, but like red peppers? No, it seemed not quite that intense, ginger I think. Not the flavor of the ginger, but the heat of it.
One of the really pleasant things about this coffe was the way the aftertaste came on as a kind of sweentness, and then sharply trailed off to a mild hint, a shadow of the beautifully balanced appeal it had in the begining. The acidity became more prominent as it cooled off, which gave it a crispness that was just approaching the cusp of some African coffees, but still held on to its clean Indonesian roots.
This was an excellent coffee that would go very well as an after dinner beverage, rounding off a filling a thick textured meal. But I get the feeling you would need a vanilla dessert, not chocolate. So if you are into coffe and food pairings, that would be my recomendation.
(edit: I just realized that apparently Daniel Humphries and Daryn Berlyn are also thinking of drawing straight shots of this stuff, follow the same link in "get to know your roasters") ¶ 11/16/2006 08:41:00 PM
