The Barista Manifesto: Common Problems
To people who don’t work or frequent coffee shops, a lot of the language surrounding different various blends, roasts, and drinks of coffee can be obtuse. While there’s no substitute for going out and trying various drinks yourself, the Barista Manifesto is here to help those of you who would like to learn the basics of various roasts! In future editions, this series might look at drink types, notable coffee drinks from across the world, and other interesting facts about coffee; for today, however, we’re going to briefly look at the common types of roasts available and common problems with coffee production. To figure out what’s what in the coffee world, we must first cut through layers of terminology and pretension that permeate the hipster coffee shop. They make good drinks, but their lingo takes some getting used to.
So, the question of the hour: What makes a great tasting cup of coffee?
Frankly, individual taste. At Bean Voyage, we have a variety of different flavorful roasts, all of which can provide rich and different tastes. But we’ve all had a bad cup of coffee — right? A cup of coffee that tastes a bit too bitter, or kind-of sour, or like it’s been burned is no-good; many of these problems happen during the bean roasting process, where raw coffee beans become the brown, brittle beans we know. The roasting process is an excellent place to describe coffee roasts, too.
Roasting is an essential part of the coffee process; it gives beans their aroma and flavor, in addition to their texture, which is essential to the grinding and brewing process. The amount of time a coffee bean is cooked for determines the type of roast it is — a light roast spends the least amount of team cooking, whereas a dark roast spends the most amount of time cooking. As coffee cooks, it (generally) becomes more bitter tasting. While this can result in a delicious dark roast, it can also result in over-roasted beans; over-roasted beans can often be the cause of an extremely bitter cup.
If your coffee tastes too acidic, it’s probably undercooked. Inversely, if it’s too bitter, it has been overcooked. While this both explains how different roasts are made and a common flavor problem for consumers, this isn’t the end of common coffee problems.
Other problems happen at home or at the coffee shop — these are problems that you can fix. The first of these problems is, again, burning: Putting water that’s too hot (boiling water, for instance) can produce a burnt-tasting flavor because the coffee beans are burning! Keeping your cup below 205 * F (96 * C) is essential to producing good-tasting drinks.
Another common problem with coffee taste is freshness — if a bean goes stale, you can taste it! Once ground, coffee should be consumed ASAP to prevent the ashy taste of stale coffee. Storing coffee in a cool, dry place (like the pantry) can make or break a cup! Make sure you keep it out of direct sunlight.
A final common cause for poor coffee taste is grinding; the finer a grind is, the better (and worse) it can taste. A fine grind can make coffee taste especially bitter, but it can be cooked much more quickly (espresso is an example of this). Thicker grinds of coffee take much longer to brew (a french press can take about four minutes), so they risk being underbrewed if you’re in a rush. Keep this in mind when you order and especially if you grind at home!
So, with these problems in mind, we hope you feel empowered the next time you order coffee. This is only a brief guide to the rich flavors of coffee, but it gives us a glimpse into how many different tastes a single magic bean can have.
Bean Voyage is a non profit that provides training and market access to female coffee producers in Costa Rica so they can produce specialty coffee, earn better income and lead sustainable lives.
