My Christmas Presents Indian Coffee from Karnataka Chikmagalur

I got 5 pounds of Indian Karnataka Chikmagalur beans from Burman to roast at home and give as gifts. I really like this coffee. It is very well described here in the paper I included with each gift. It is shared below. The region sounds very interesting. I would love to visit some time.

Check out the QR Code below for a great video.

Indian Karnataka Chikmagalur

Tasting Notes:
A great Indian coffee. The aroma is nutty, woody, and some slight smokiness. The taste is classic. Many of the notes in the aroma come through in the flavor like walnuts and some smoke. There’s dark fruit, oak, licorice, and some vanilla tones, like a good dry red wine. The finish has a subdued brightness to it with just hints of lemon zest. The body is medium to full depending on roast and brew. There’s a reason people keep coming back to this bean. It’s a smooth all around great cup of coffee.

The world’s best shade-grown ’mild’ coffees
Indian coffee is the most extraordinary of beverages, offering intriguing subtlety and stimulating intensity. India is the only country that grows all of its coffee under shade.

Indian coffee has a unique historic flavour too! It all began with a long, arduous journey around four hundred years ago... when the legendary saint Bababudan brought seven magical beans from distant Yemen and planted them in the Chandragiri hills of Karnataka. The sensations of aroma, flavour, body and acidity that you enjoy with each coffee experience is rooted in these mystical beginnings.

Coffee plantations in India are essential spice worlds too: a wide variety of spices and fruit crops like pepper, cardamom, vanilla, orange and banana grow alongside coffee plants.

Chikmagalur is a hill station in Karnataka, a state in southwest India. To the north is Baba Budangiri, a mountain range in the Western Ghats, with 3 large caves said to be holy. Trails through forests and grasslands lead up to Mullayanagiri Peak. The cascading Hebbe Falls lie in an area of coffee plantations. The forested Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, northwest of Chikmagalur, is home to elephants, tigers and leopards.




here is the QR code linked video

Thanks Ethiopian Coffee Growers For These Cool Beans! (cool videos)

Having some coffee? Me too. I am having some Ethiopian Natural Yirgacheffe (yer -gah - cheff - aaa). You can't get much more old school than Ethiopian coffee. It's where it all started. Here are my home roasted Yirgacheffe beans.

click for larger photo

Not all coffee tastes the same. It does has different flavors. While these beans make a very nice cup of coffee they do have some brighter flavors that you can detect. Burman Coffee Traders describe it as "...strong notes of melon and strawberry. Accompanied with a bit of blueberry in the aromatics. A bit of citrus acidity upfront at the lighter roasts but all in all pretty mellow in the acidity which gives it a very jammy body. Very clean cup which gives it a nice lingering finish that is not dry and earthy like some." That's pretty accurate just don't think "strong" means it tastes like a smoothie. It is still coffee but there these other notes in the flavors. I also taste a little mocha and the brewed coffee is very fragrant. I really like it!

It is a fascinating process to see how we end up with a cup of coffee. I respect the hard work and time that it takes to have that smile on my face when I take that first sip of brewed coffee.

Check out this video from Sweet Maria's. You can buy beans from all over the world and roast them yourself with what you can buy at Oakland's Sweet Maria's.

Here is an entertaining coffee crazed guy from Old Bisbee Roasters doing a review of a brewed cup

This is a longer video about the coffee trade in Ethiopia

Home Roasting Coffee On The Back Porch

I needed some roasted coffee beans and just got a big batch of different beans from Burman so on a hot July afternoon I set up my Gene Cafe Roaster and did a pound of beans (but not roasted beans) in 2 batches with their BCT Espresso Blend. I gave it a medium roast, nothing too black or oily this time.

The roaster is pretty easy to use you just have to watch the amount you put in it to start and watch for getting the right amount of roast on the beans. Too little or too much is no good. Actually too much is a fire!:)

I have had this roaster for a long time and it suits my needs. You can get started with a popcorn maker. Here are the basic instructions on home roasting coffee.

Warning: it's as addictive as the end product!

Home roasting is fun and saves you lots of money buying coffee from all over the world at 1/2 the price per pound of what you find in the stores.