eightpointnine.com

eightpointnine.com

Hey everyone, sorry it's been so long, but I'm back and raring to go once again, this time, not a cafe, but a website.

eightpointnine.com is a website that allows you to create your own blend of coffee and have it shipped to you, in your grind of choice (or full beans if you grind at home!)

Finding this website through them following me on twitter, I had to venture into them.

You can either create your own blend from scratch, or use their own grandcru blends which are updated weekly.

You start your journey by simply adjusting 2 sliders; flavour and body, then you can continue to personally name and discover what signature flavours your blend will hold when received 

not so much a subscription service but you can adjust how often your coffee will be sent out to you, and even if you're not massively keen on them its easy enough to cancel.

one of the brilliant options in my opinion is that once you receive your blend, before they prepare and send out the next, you can simply return to the sliders to adjust how the next batch will be

I opted for a rich, sweet blend aptly named 'buzzy wake up' (if you don't want to name your coffee the website fills in a witty automatic name)

the coffee is delivered in a small enough package able to fit right through your letter box so no having to wait around to sign for packages, your coffee will be ready for you when you wake up(if your postman is early, if that ever still happens) or when you get home (like the rest of England)

each blend of coffee comes with a fancy taste card of: what percentage of beans your blend is, how it will taste, the key taste features and even a step by step on how to make the most of it.

(it even tells you who blended the coffee for you, thanks Paul!)

after doing a cupping test I really cannot wait to get this beauty into my moka pot tomorrow morning

Did I mention your first bags free?

I suggest all coffee lovers get involved with eightpoinynine  if you only have a morning coffee or, like myself, completely fascinated by the stuff!

Keep it up eightpointnine, you're doing the coffee nation proud!

You can find eightpointnines press pack at : http://t.co/W43i03q

or there website can be found here : http://www.eightpointnine.com/

Twitter:

@eightpointnine - for them

@baristablogsuk - for me!

Beans, Beans, there're good for your heart?

 As everyone should know, coffee is everywhere in the world. With it being such a huge market almost every major customer based company either have, or are implementing coffee sales into their business, be it traditional espresso machines & grinders, bean to cup, or even a simple drip filter.

This post will focus on how the coffee gets from A to B, tree to you.

The history of coffee 

There is a lot of folk law and rumor around where and when coffee originated, although most story’s date back to around the 17^th-century at either Ethiopia, or Yemen.

Coffee grows at its best between the tropics of cancer & Capricorn, this area is known as the “coffee belt”

From seedling, coffee plants take around 5-10 years to start baring fruit, known as the cherry and can continue to produce fruit for 10-20 years after. When fully-grown plants can reach heights of 5-10m

The Beans

Coffee is well known and loved for its caffeine content, which in the wild acts as the coffee plant’s natural pesticide.

There are 2 main types of coffee beans; Arabica and Robusta. There are others however, including Libercia & Excelsa. But here I will focus on the main 2.

Arabica

Coffea Arabica grows at heights of between 1970-6500 ft., a lot higher than the Robusta variety, this is due to its caffeine content. Usually between 1-1.5%, around half that of the Robusta. Its basic flavors can be: light, delicate, acidic, aromatic and sweet.

Due to the high altitudes of the growth of Arabica, getting the beans from the plant proves to be more difficult than the Robusta extraction. Having to be picked, or stripped by hand and then transferred to the processing location. Because of the flavorings and the extraction process, Arabica is widely known as a premium bean.

Robusta

Or canephora grows at a lower level, between 650-1970 ft., which makes it a lot easier to extract. Robusta can still be hand picked but is usually left to machinery.

Caffeine content between 2-4% with basic flavors including: chocolaty, earthy, full bodies, not very aromatic and robust

Processing the cherry

Once the coffee cherries are picked they then have to be extracted, this can be either the wet , or the dry process.

Wet

In the wet process, the ripe coffee cherries are immersed into water where any left floating are removed as defective. The remaining cherries are then pressed by machine against a perforated surface allowing the seed, and some pulp to pass through. After this is removed from the machine, the beans are left to dry to around 10% moisture content, usually by sun drying or machine drying. The end result of the wet process leaves behind a “washed coffee bean”.

Dry

The dry process happens by ripe cherries being placed on a surface of land. The process takes about 2 weeks, and the cherries must be raked while drying to avoid mildew. Dry processing produces coffee with less acidity and more body compared to the wet process, this is due to the coffee bean, or seed absorbing some of the characteristics of the bean while drying. Once dried to the specific level the beans are then placed into a machine, which breaks away the mucilage from the bean.

Roasting

Once the beans have been extracted from the cherries they then have to be roasted!

Coffee beans are originally a greenish-yellow color until we roast them!

Coffee beans are also usually transported before roasting, as once roasted the beans begin to lose their freshness.

The first stage in roasting is endothermic. The green beans are slowly dried to become yellowish and the beans begin to smell like toast, or popcorn.

The second stage, usually called the first crack happens at around 205 degrees Celsius (400 f). During this step the beans can in crease in size by 100%, becomes a light brown color and experiences a weight loss of around 5%.

In the next stage, temperature is increased to around 220 Celsius, the color changes from a light to a medium brown and a further weight loss of around 13% occurs.

In second step is followed by a short endothermic period, which is followed by another exothermic step called the second crack. This crack takes place between 225-230 Celsius. And the roast color is defined and medium- dark brown. The second crack is much quicker sounding and the beans take on an oily sheen.


Once roasted they are ready to either blend, or send out to retailers!



this is what I have so far, please feel free to leave a comment or hit me up @baristablogsuk if I've missed anything or you would like to know more.