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Hello all,

It has been a while since our last post. It doesnt mean we are not work on this blog, but we just focusing on something that really supporting our research.

During this period of time (3 months) we have been around and look for Indonesia Specialty coffee all around Indonesia.

We have been in Jakarta to attend the food and beverage exhibition, Bali to look out every possibility of the good Bali Coffee, Bandung for some good coffee, and we are planning going to Medan in the near future. 

During this period time we also do lots of cupping, but some of the cupping seems missing the draft. We will try to find it again and post into our beloved blog here.

Just wait for our good news which will lead us to the next step of our coffee research. Watch out for the new concept of Indonesian Coffee will come and wait for you to enjoy.

Feb 14th 2009: Our 3rd Cupping

Valentine Day...

This is the day we do our cupping for the 3rd times which using the branded coffee on the market. On this time of tasting, other than 4 of us, we invite 2 of our friends which not really into coffee and completely never observing coffee before to help us to give the more objective taste.

Since we have try the Kopi Aroma with the Single Origin and Robusta Blend separately, now we try to blend it together the Single Origin Arabica with the Robusta.

To compare with this we also do the cupping for Guatemala coffee which from 2 different brand, Starbucks and Guatemala Finca Isabel from Spinelli roasting house.

And we also have one of the famous blend from Bakoel Koffie from Jakarta, Indonesia.
Here is our result. 


Guatemala by Starbuck
Fragrance: Earthy, Spicy,
Aroma: Cocoa Smell
Body: Full body
Acidity: Medium acidic (3 out of 5)
Cupper's Point: Balance
Flavor: Cocoa

Comment: The coffee taste nice when its hot and begin to increase the acidity and bitterness when it cold. 

Guatemala Finca Isabel by Spinelli
Fragrance: Strong spicy smell
Aroma: Flowery (Jasmine)
Body: Medium
Acidity: Not acidic (2 out of 5)
Cupper's Point: Good coffee
Flavor: Mild and syrupy
Comment: This coffee is very nice, the acidity and the bitterness is balance.  Even the amateur taste this coffee is good. We score this is the best coffee over all from our 3rd cupping session.

Kaffie Fabriek Aroma Blend (Aceh Arabica/Toraja Arabica/Sumatra Java Robusta 30:30:40)
Fragrance: Earthy, Spicy,

Aroma: Earthy

Body: Full body

Acidity: Less acidic (1 out of 5)

Cupper's Point: Good coffee, suit for Asian touge

Flavor: Mild and syrupy
Comment: This is a very good blend and less acidic. And based on the process of this coffee, it was really natural process. Most of asian will like this, even the amateur coffee drinker.

Bakoel Koffie "Black Mist" blend

Fragrance: Lemony, Earthy

Aroma: Mild smell, earthy, and have a bit of tea leave

Body: Full body

Acidity: normal acidic (3 out of 5)

Cupper's Point: Not an outstanding coffee, just a normal coffee

Flavor: No much characteristic
Comment: There is no special characteristic on this coffee. The taste is not giving any impression and make it hard to describe. It getting very bitter when it cold.

Bakoel Koffie "Heritage 1969" blend

Fragrance: VeryEarthy (Woody)

Aroma: Flowery smell

Body: Full body

Acidity: normal acidic (3 out of 5)

Cupper's Point: Not an outstanding coffee, just a normal coffee

Flavor: No much characteristic, too mild
Comment: Same as Black Mist, there is no special characteristic on this coffee. The taste is not giving any impression and make it hard to describe.

Below is the comment for the Bakoel Koffie, Before the bean was grinded, we found that Bakoel Koffiee coffee bean has a lot of defect beans. We have to pick the bad beans before we grind it. It was not a very good coffee, since as we know the defect beans can effect the taste of the coffee on the time it was roasted. So we assume the characteristic of the coffee above is because of the defect beans which Bakoel Koffie didnt do the picking (QC) before roasting.

Disclaimer:

The comment from the cupping is very subjective on the coffee and the cupper itself. 

Feb 07th 2009: Singapore Barista Championship

Kind of the short notice, we found the info about Singpore 2009 Barista Championship. This is the first Championship for us. Although according to some people this Barista championship is smaller than usual one, but for us it quite amazing to see so many coffee lover come and 

attending this event with enthuastic.

This Singapore 2009 Barista actually is to compete between all Barista in Singapore and to send the championship to Atlanta for International 2009 Barista Championship.

This event held on Feb 5th - Feb 7th. But we only manage to attend on the last day for the last competition and the winner announcement.

There is also a competition between the Barista leader "boss" and the Barista competition attendee "student".

The competition happen really tense and also fast. They can produce 40+ cups within 10mins. and also with arts (picture below). 

From this Barista, we also taste the final result from the "boss" and "student", cappucino. Happen to have it score, we as the amateur coffee taster, and differentiate clearly which cappucino is better. 

The cappucino from "boss" is really amazing, the coffee taste really cut thru the milk and this is a really good taste of the coffee since we still can taste the coffee.

In the other hand, coffee from "student" also nice, and the cappucino really taste good, but compare to the "boss", it was not as tastefull.

From this Barista competition, we found out that with the same coffee, same type of grinder and same level of grind type, using the same espresso machine and also same brand of milk, the taste can be very different depends on the Barista who makes the coffee. This all because of the skill of the Barista.

Barista is not only a coffee maker, but a skillfull job. 

BRAVO!!!!

Feb 06th 2009: Our 2nd cupping

Our 2nd cupping on Feb 6th 2009 was done with product from the local roasters Koffie Fabriek Aroma Bandung and Pontianak Kopi. The coffees that we tasted were from 4 regions in Indonesia, mostly single origin and one blend.

Here is what we discovered;

1. Koffie Aroma - Toraja (Pure Arabica)

Fragrance: Woody, Smoky

Aroma: Earthy, Woody

Acidity: No acidity

Body: Full Body

Flavor: Smoky earthy flavor. However, less interesting than its Aceh cousin

2. Koffie Aroma - Aceh (Pure Arabica)

Fragrance: Smoky, Lemony, Earthy

Aroma: Earthy, Lemony, Citrus

Acidity: Mild

Body: Medium to Full

Flavor: Citrus and earthy flavor that shows the Sumatran heritage

3. Kopi Pontianak

Fragrance: Chocolatie, Woody

Aroma: Woody, Smooky

Acidity: Mild, low

Body: Less Body

Flavor: Bitter but one of authentic local thick coffees which goes well with lots of sugar

4. Koffie Aroma - Robusta blend (Java/Sumatra)
Fragrance: Herbal
Aroma: Smoky but less aromatic
Acidity: No acidity
Body: Medium to Full
Flavor: Bitter and strong cup

Coffee tip of the day:

Each region has its own charecterics which make it unique. It is also why each region has die hard fanatic where what their taste buds have been accustomed with certain flavor. How can you be an unbiased, decerning coffee drinker? Well... spend some time cupping yourself to taste the difference! You might be pleasantly surprised with what you find... :)

Jan 28-30th 2009: Jakarta - Bandung Visit

On the last Chinese New Year, some of us went home to our home country and get excited with how our lovely home country which known as the 4th place of the coffee exporter world wide.

Because of the limited time, we listed out the place that we gonna visit. We have listed down 3 coffee houses that we visit over at Jakarta and Bandung

Here are some picture and from our very own comment.

1. Crema
City: Jakarta, Indonesia

Location: Mega Kuningan

Menu: Coffee, Tea, Wine and Cakes

Ordered: Espresso, Cappucino, Strawbery Cake

Price: Premium

Environment: Nice place to hang out over the tea time.

Comments: Maybe because of its location, the price is just a bit higher than expected on Jakarta. The espresso taste very acidic, but not very bitter. Good to have it with the sweet cake. For the Cappucino, nothing special, and the taste is more on the milk rather than the coffee inside.

2. Newspaper Coffee House

City: Bandung, Indonesia

Location: Paris van Java

Menu: Coffee, soft-drink, cakes

Ordered: Espresso, Cafe Latte

Price: Medium

Environment: A little bit not comfort for hang out, because of the place bit dark and looks dusty. But as their concept is newspaper, the decoration is match with the concept. Have a good location in Bandung where lots of coffee house took place.

Comment: Espresso taste bitter, not very acidic. Caffee Late taste weird which can not taste the coffee at all.

3. Caswell's Coffee

City: Jakarta, Indonesia

Location: Kemang

Menu: Coffee, Tea, Cakes, Sandwiches

Ordered: Single Origin Aceh Gayo Coffee, Single Origin PNG coffee

Price: Medium

Environment: The one we went is not the coffee house, but more like the warehouse and Barista Training Centre. But they do serve coffee there. The concept their have on this place is more into the professionalism coffee tasting place. The place looks like a living room, so it feels like tasting coffee at home.

Comment: Aceh Gayo taste nice, It mild and the medium body really hit with ASIAN taste. And since this is an Indonesian coffee, the aroma is earthy. This is a good coffee.

PNG Bunom, have a full body with the a little sweet aroma, makes it taste like caramelized coffee. Also a good coffee, will taste more the single origin when we go there the 2nd time. Sure we will go back.

Over all the coffee houses that we visited have their own style, taste and concept. Begin to understand, that coffee house business is not only about coffee, but also about the concept and style. Here is some picture we took for coffee houses in Bandung.

Jan 17th 2009: Our First Cupping

So you might wonder how do people decide which beans are are good, fair or exceptional...

Well, just like wine tasting, in coffee world people do "cupping" to decide bean's fragrance and taste objectively. Each coffee bean has distinctive flavor, acidity and body. And you can use many words to describe the qualities it possess. Simply put, more words there are, more complex the bean is, and it tend to be an exceptional bean.

So we decided to put 5 distinctive beans under our cupping test!

1. Toraja (Kopi Bali)

2. Cilemo 1st (our very own first roast!)

3. Mawar (Bali Mawar Kopi)

4. Bali Supremo (Kopi Bali)

5. Highlander espresso (Highlander Coffee)

Cupping is quite a simple affair...

The first step is to grind each of the bean in our cute and trusty bean grinder.

The second step is to put the grinds in to a cup.
(8.25g grind to 150ml water)

Then check the flavor of the bean.

Pour hot water (92-96 Celsius) and brew the coffee for 4 minutes...

Next Step is to break the coffee crust on the surface. And check the aroma of the coffee.

Remove the power from the cup using 2 spoons.

Scoop coffee using the spoon and quickly suck in to your mouth and savour the teste and fragrance.

This is what we found in our cupping...

Toraja

Flavor/Fragrance: slightly spicy, herbal

Aroma: charred, smokey, sweet

Body: light to medium body

Acidity: medium

Cupper Point/After Taste: slight acidity at first, but gets bitter after 1 min

Cilemo 1st
Flavor/Fragrance: woody, earthy, a little citrus
Aroma: woody, smokey
Body: full bodied
Acidity: mild
Cupper Point/After Taste: woody, mild acidity, bitter at first, it gets more bitter after 1 min

Mawar
Flavor/Fragrance: earthy

Aroma: woody

Body: full bodied, very strong
Acidity: mild
Cupper Point/After Taste: woody, bitter at first, after 1 min, it gets very bitter and completely looses acidity

Bali Supremo

Flavor/Fragrance: sweet, earthy

Aroma: honey
Acidity: mild
Cupper Point/After Taste: woody, bitter at first, after 1 min, it gets very bitter and completely looses acidity
Body: light

Highlander espresso

Flavor/Fragrance: balanced, ordinary

Aroma: citrus, rich
Body: light
Acidity: well balanced
Cupper Point/After Taste: balanced but ordinary at first, more bitterness but still well balanced after 1 min

Jan 13-14th 2009: Barista Training

After we are back from Bali and also doing our first roasting, the interest of coffee in us extremely getting stronger and stronger. After turning from coffee house to coffee house, from Starbuck to Gloria Jeans, from Highlander to TCC, we decided to get know more about the coffee and how to make a good coffee. The only source for this idea will be the training. We hooked on 1 Barista training centre in Singapore, and decided to register.

We are glad that we took this Barista course, because as a amateur about coffee, we did learn alot from this training. It was 2 days training which 4hrs each day. We done this training on weekday after work hour.
First day, we were taught about the basic knowledge about coffee and also the history about the coffee around the world. After all the theory, we bump to the espresso making with its history.

It is a complete step by step of making a good espresso. And we learn that making espresso is not just making a good coffee. It include art, precission and passion which will determined the taste of your coffee.

The espresso making starts as learning how to precisely grind your espresso. Best espresso should take around 25-30 sec to brew 1 shot of espresso (30ml). To make this happen, the coffee grinding part is very important, because if the grind is too fine, then it will take longer to brew 30ml and it will taste awfully bitter. In the other hand if to coarse, then the brewwing will way too fast and makes the result tasteless. So grinding part also take a good part on making a good espresso.








On this training we have to trial and error to get familiar with the espresso machine and learn how to texture the milk in the way t create a good espresso, capucino or cafe latte.
It was not easy to make a good espresso, but all we have to do is learn, try and re-try. Practise make perfect.





























At the end of the practice, there is a test/exam for us to get the good Espresso, Cafe Latte and Cappucino, which is official our very first piece of coffee. The point that they counted not only the result, but it also included the cleanliness, the sequence, and the correct way to make a great coffee.


After the exam, we have another agenda on the training, which teach us how to do the coffee tasting. We are prepared using 3 different single origin coffee which will help us to differentiate on each characteristic of the each single origin coffee. The single origin coffee bean we are using are Brazil Santos, Ethiopia, and Sumatra Mandheling.
Based on our taste, 3 of us at the end likes Ethiopia and 1 of us likes Brazil.

Do you need to know on our tasting result?

Jan 10th 2009: Coffee Roasting Experience

This is our first experience on roasting, and since we dont have the proper coffee roaster, we just following the amateur guide to roast the coffee using frying pan. We believe we will end up with the modern and proper coffee roaster in the near future.
Before the roasting process begin, we preparing some stuff that we will need.


1. Frying pan


2. Gas


3. Stir-stick


4. And the most important the guide book on when the roasting should be stop.



We pour half of the picked green bean into the frying pan and start the roasting process. As per the guidance the bean need to be stirred all the time to get all bean roasted equally. If using the modern roaster, there s the drum which will keep rolling to make sure all the bean got heated and roasted equally.







After 14 minutes stirring, then it came the first crack and we were very happy and excited about it because that's mean we are doing the correct way.
The beans began to turn light brown color as it start the first crack.
And we can see the chaff begin to separated from its bean.
The smell of the coffee began to filled the kitchen area, and it was really smell good.



On the next 10 minutes stirring, the second crack begin to sounding and the color of the bean turning more and more brownish color, and some of them were turned to black which we think it over roasted. Because using the fying pan, we can not make the equalization on roasting the bean. The stage of the roasting that we were targeting was the full city to french roast.
The smell begun to turn stronger and start the smokey smell, the coffee smell didnt as strong as before, and the smoke begun to be seen and filled the kitchen.
After the second crack sounded, we keep stirring for next 5 minutes before we turn off the gas.
After we finish the roasting, it time to get rid off the chaff from the frying pan. And then we use the media to putthe roasted beans.













After the roasting, here come the grinding process for coffee tasting. We grind the roasted coffee using th norm coffee grinder as coarse grind for the tasting.
And as after grinding we brew it using the boiled water (around 80 deg C).
After brewing we were using the drip filter.

The rest of the green bean and roasted beans we kept it on the air-tight container.


















It was the very fine and excited day for us to have the first cup of our very own coffee... Even it was not the best coffee, but we really appreciate the effort of each of us did, and the coffee taste good. Can compare with Starbuck Daily Brew... hahahha....
Great.....
See you in the next article. =)

Happy coffeing...

Jan 10th, 2009: Hand Picking Coffee

Just a week after we return to Singapore from Bali, we are very excited with the bean that we bought and with the guide from the book, we begin to work on what the coffee amateur did on picking, roasting, grinding until the tasting.

First, we just realized the green bean that we got from "Kopi Mawar" still need lots of job to be done. With the guide from the Japanese book for coffee knowledge, we finally figure out the type of the bad bean which need to be taken away before it roasting. Taking out bad beans as it will affect the taste.
So before we begin to roast the green bean, we have to separate the good bean from the bad one. And as we figure out, hand picking was the only option that we have.
There are 4 of us doing the hand picking on the good beans to the bad beans.
One by one the beans were picked and as per the first time, we almost on doubt that we take the bad bean as the good bean. but with clarifying from each other with the good help from the book guidance, finally we can assure that which one was the good and which was bad.
The hand picking was looked simple, but never come to our mind it was not as easy as we thought.
With the very patient, we were picking 1 Kg unpicked bean one by one.
Here are some picture from the experiment that we have on the hand picking process.















And below is the picture of the good and the bad bean. Madu atau Racun? Which one to choose? Left is the good beans and right the bad beans.














Phew...quite a work but it was great experience to learn the difference between bad beans and good beans. We ended up with red eyes, sore hands but its worth it.

After the good bean has been choosen we are ready on the roasting process. Which will be on the next blog.

Jan 03rd, 2009: Kopi Mawar Singaraja Visit

January 3rd, 2009. Early morning, we are heading to the coffee plantation in Bali. The area is called Singaraja. The distant is about 3 hrs drive from Denpasar.
Once we reach there, we went to on of the traditional coffee roaster, called "Kopi Mawar". This "Kopi Mawar" is known by the local people for the finest traditional local coffee taste. The roasting process is very traditional and they mixed the bean between Arabica and Robusta.



For this Kopi Mawar, they buy the green bean from the plantation which delivered to them daily. Because this is a home roaster, it only can roast up to 40kgs daily and sold out daily. After the roasting, some of the buyer is local traditional coffee shop. They always sell the fresh grind coffee powder. This is traditional coffee seller.




















We also bought some of the roasted bean and green bean from "Kopi Mawar" for tasting purpose and our traditional coffee research. The result of the tasting and roasting will posted on the next blog.

Jan 02nd, 2009: Kintamani Visit

We traveled to Bali early this year to visit some of the coffee maker area. On Jan 2nd, we went to one of the most popular agriculture tourism place. The place is in Kintamani area which is the volcano high land in Bali. On the spot they traditionally roast the coffee using the frying-pan.

This method of roasting coffee is consider as the most traditional way and yet still being used in this tourism agriculture site to produce the coffee and sell it to tourist. They call it as Authentic Bali Coffee.

Actually when we was there, we experience the taste of this coffee on the spot. They also provided other taster of their product like Cocoa, Ginger Coffee, Lemon Grass tea. As we taste their authentic roasted coffee, the aroma was not very strong, and acidity level also low.

One of the attraction on this site is while you tasting the coffee you also can feel the nature around you. The location is perfect for relaxing and chit-chatting while tasting the coffee they provided. On the so-called forest, they also have some coffee tree.

For sure the coffee fruit you see above was still young and still have a way to go for to grow until the coffee can be harvested.

It was a nice place to have the coffee.

First Posting

This blog was created on 11 Jan 2009 and still under construction

Come again later to view our research in coffee