Home-roasted Ethiopian

I always roast my own coffee in the warm months, and when I can in the winter. I use a hot-air roaster, the i-Roast 2, and the temperature in the room affects it - roasting is much easier in the summer!

Last week I roasted a small batch of Ethiopia Dry-Process Yirga Cheffe Konga from Sweet Maria's. 

The i-Roast 2 roasts fast and hot, I did my best to take the roast past "City" but not too far, and it came out well.

When ground and brewed, 16 grams of coffee for a 12 ounce cup, it was delicious. Fruity but not too sweet. I picked up blueberry, strawberry and chocolate notes. The label from Sweet Maria's lists several more fruits - they may have been in there too. 

I found this coffee a wonderful change from the French Roast I usually drink. But when my wife took a sip she pronounced it too fruity. I didn't think so, but the light-roasted fruit-intensive Ethiopians are not everyone's cup of tea - so to speak.

Pour Over Coffee Maker

So I recently purchased a Melitta pour over coffee maker, http://tinyurl.com/p2z8qpk.  The claim to fame here is that the coffee you brew with this is smoother and enables you to have much more control over the brewing process.  The process is simple.

• Grind some fresh coffee beans.
• Put some grounds in the filter on top.
• Boil some water. 
• Measure the amount of water in a measuring cup.
• Wet the grounds and after sufficiently wet, gently pour your measured amount of water on the top.
• Make sure to wet all the grounds evenly and to let the water go through before "flooding" the filter.  You want the water to have a sufficient amount of time to extract from the grounds.  

I performed this process with Starbucks French Roast beans, freshly ground (I like to use 1 tsp of grounds per ounce of water but I know some people might find that excessive).  I did find that the coffee was smoother, and the strength was very adjustable according to my pour.  The strength is more like what you might get from a drip maker.  My only complaint was that the coffee was not as hot by the time it was in the mug.  Pre-heating your mug is a must with this method.  Overall, for a quick cup, this process is actually pretty quick.  For a $10 coffee maker, definitely something to add to your arsenal.  Another great thing about this maker is you can brew a much larger amount than I am able to do in my standard method moka pot.  Perfect for when you have guests.