Monday, September 25, 2006

September Update

Life: I found a great apartment on Hoxey St, which is only a block from work. Most of september was spent moving in and getting used to my new job. The girlfriend got a temp. job at Berkshire Mall in retail, but really wants a job in williamstown. If anyone knows of one give me a heads up.

Work: I'm really amazed that people have found my blog and commented. There seems to be a need for a website and the ability to buy coffee online. I will be talking to my boss soon about building a website. Keep watch on my blog for updates on this.

Coffee: This post I want to discuss choosing a brand of coffee for your home. When choosing coffee there are several key factors.
1. How fresh is it.
2. How is it packaged.
3. The general quality of the beans.

Coffee begins to stale and lose flavor the instant it is roasted. This is due to affect oxygen has on roasted coffee. First of all avoid any coffee that does not have a date indicating when it was roasted. Second coffee tastes best within the first few hours of being ground, and then rapidly stales. If you do not have a home grinder, most stores have a grinder available. Choose whole beans off the shelf and grind them before leaving the store. Avoid buying pre-ground coffee.

Packaging is important. As I stated above, coffee begins to stale as soon as it is roasted, and stales rapidly after grinding. The way coffee is packaged can go a long way in keeping coffee fresh. Look for sealed bags. Some coffee shops can even heat seal bags for you. Sealing the bag will keep the oxygen supply in the bag limited. Second look for bags that have one-way degassing valves. A one-way degasing vavle looks like a small ring and is usually towards the top of the bag. Coffee releases gasses as it ages. These valves let these gasses and oxygen out of the bag, but keep oxygen from entering the bag.

Quality of the beans should also be a concern when choosing a brand of coffee. First, avoid cheap coffee, its cheap for a reason. They secretly use low quality beans and usually underpay the farmers. Most coffee roasters can explain to you what steps they take to ensure quality. I will cover this much more in depth in another post.

1 Comments:

Blogger think tank said...

Coffee...you are truly the man. No kidding. I myself am also a major fan of coffee, and have become known as a very mild afficianado. Apparently, I didn't know as much as I thought. Nice site. I'll take some of your advice.

9:59 PM  

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