Coffee tasting and its basics by the Pro (Part I) - Ninety Plus Coffee

There is no better finale to a meal than a good cup of coffee. Before coffee is served to the end customers, they have indeed been going through a series of carefully controlled procedures, from cultivating, selecting, processing, roasting, blending, grinding to finally brewing to come to a nice cup of coffee.

 
It's my honor to have Joseph Brodsky, the owner/founder of Ninety Plus Coffee, a US-based coffee producer and developer here to share his insights in cultivating and processing coffee, and how to taste coffee like a pro.

Before diving into the coffee guru's guide, let me first introduce master taster's background. Joseph's active engagement in the coffee production business, incl. the development of processing techniques and innovating the flavor profile, and past experience in developing coffee roasting and retailing business turned him into a living encyclopedia of the coffee supply chain, from planting to selling. Ninety Plus Coffee insists in only producing coffee scoring 90+  from the Coffee Review, which also made NP a boutique coffee supernova in the US,  Europe and Asia.

So, what are the factors that affect the taste of a cup of coffee?

Coffee variety
10,000 varieties exist, mainly still undiscovered in the wild forests of Ethiopia, where originally coffee comes from (Watch the video trailer of Coffee Story: Ethiopia, a book uniquely co-ventured by Ninety Plus Press and Shama Books, an Ethiopian publishing company offering insight into coffee culture).

Microclimate
Soil, altitude, and other local growing conditions.

Ninety Plus Coffee

Processing
Processing coffee aims to convert the raw fruit of the coffee plant into the coffee. It involves removing the pulp from the cherry and drying the seed / bean. The processing method that is used varies and can have a significant effect on the flavor of roasted and brewed coffee.The industry is just now developing processing techniques to bring out very fine qualities in coffee. Ninety Plus is also developing equipment at Ninety Plus Gesha Estates in Panama, including a solar profile dryer called Solkiln™.

Pulping of coffee cherries by machinery (Coffee Research Institute)

Roasting
Coffees of a very high quality are generally roasted very light, where its inherent aromatic characteristics are maximized. Dark roasting burns flavor nuances from special coffees and is more suited for coffees of inferior raw quality.

Color and bean size of different degrees of roast (Sweet maria's)

Grinding and Brewing
Many different grinding and brewing methods are available for consumers and professionals. For home, Aeropress, French Press, or Chemex are the preferred methods.

Aeropress (left), French Press, Chemex (right)

To be continued with some tasting tips and eco-friendly messages by Ninety Plus Coffee ;)

About Ninety Plus Coffee

Ninety Plus Coffee was founded in 2006, when at the beginning the company worked with producers in Ethiopia to process and effectively export top-quality beans. 'Ninety Plus Gesha Estate' in Panama was then opened in 2009 to produce its own coffee.

Ninety Plus Coffee's products:
Panama NP Gesha: Lycello, Juliette, Perci, Perci Red, Lotus SK, Sillvia
Ethiopia NP Heirlooms: Nekisse, Hachira, Kemgin, Tchembe, Tuktant, Aricha, Beloya

Zen in Central - Mana! Fast Slow Food

Vegetarian food is an upward trend with more and more veggie restaurants and bistros opening in town. "Lifestyle" is becoming its adjective in recent years, and a broad spectrum of vegetarian food styles is now available to satisfy different taste buds. Veggie pastas, skewers, pizzas, wraps, burgers, even "fish balls", Chinese, Western, whatever food you feel like, you could almost find a veggie version for it.

MANA! Fast Slow Food, located in the middle of the busiest part in Central, lower Soho, doesn't only add a style to the old building housing it, also  provides a famous flat bread with a delicious (seriously delicious!) Zaatar spread (What is Zaatar?), and gives whoever coming in a relaxing yet meaningful veggie experience. Why? cause MANA! promotes veggie, vegan, organic food, Eco-friendliness and community. "Eat like it matters" is its motto, from the time you buy your flat wrap, you are encouraged to lead a healthy and eco-friendly life.

MANA! is pioneering the food waste reduction movement. Very respectable is its waste separation bins - which collect plastic utensils, paper wastes, food compost etc. They do the good of helping customers reduce carbon footprint eating-in, and in my opinion, a generous act to raise the awareness of waste reduction by setting up 5 or 6 bins inside the small restaurant space.

"You go to the back of any restaurant in Hong Kong, and all their rubbish goes in the same bins – glass bottles, food waste, paper etc… It can make me very sad to see this happening, deeply saddened. It took us a long while & great effort to set up a system. There is no government system in place yet" - says Bobsy, the founder of MANA!

I agree with you Bobsy! So I don't have any reservation recommending you to go there, experience it and get inspired :)

MANA! Fast Slow Food - [Menu] - 92 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong  2851 1611
  
This is Bobsy-->

Check out his blog posts about humanity, spiritual values, ecology...etc.