Coffee in the TEOTWAWKI

[TexPrep]

As do we…and I already dread using it.

To be honest I couldnt tell you the last time I had instant coffee but it's probably been three decades at least.
Thought about trying some the other day but I figured it'd be best if I didnt know.

 

[TexPrep]

Some people, and my wife is one of them, can drink and even enjoy rancid coffee, although I now have her spoiled on fresh roasted coffee and she prefers the fresh roast. She can drink coffee that's been sitting in the pot for hours. You know that last inch of coffee in the pot at a truck stop that was made sometime in the early morning and it's now afternoon. Not me.
It's the aftertaste that tells you whether it is rancid or not.
Many many years ago, I sometimes wondered why coffee didn't taste like coffee candy. The coffee candy had no bad aftertaste and no unpleasantness. Just a nice clean coffee flavor. That's what my coffee tastes like every morning now.

I'll never forget the day I tossed my percolator into the camping box after I found out what coffee should really taste like.
Since then I've stopped using the perculator all together and just use a large insulated mug and a gold filter on top,kind of a quick and dirty drip coffee maker.

 

[TexPrep]

The truth about commercial coffee.
When you roast your own coffee, you get to see what the coffee looks like before it is roasted. And the appearance of the green coffee can tell you a lot about how it's going to taste.
This is what it should look like.

Not necessarily that color, but the beans should all be the same color and close to the same size. When you start with good consistent beans, you can roast them consistently and evenly at any roast level.

But when the coffee is picked, it is not consistent.

There are large beans, small beans, misshapen beans, insect damaged beans, light beans, dark beans (the worst), overripe beans and underripe beans. With coffee destined for specialty coffee shops or home roasters, they sort out all the undesirable beans and what do you think they do with them?
Throw them away?
NOPE guess again.
They don't throw anything away, they just mix them in with the beans going to Folgers, Maxwell House, Charbucks, etc.
The photo above was from a batch of Ethiopian Kembata that didn't get sorted properly. I called the supplier and let them have an earful and emailed that picture to them, and they were as horrified as I was. They are still trying to appease me. The last time I visited them in person (a few weeks ago) they asked me what coffee I wanted to try and gave me a bag for free.
I did not send the unsorted coffee back. Not because I wanted to drink it, but because I roast coffee for my brother in law and that coffee was perfectly suitable for him.
Why?
Because he likes dark roast. You see, this is the dirty little secret about commercial coffee and why 99.9% of it is roasted so dark - dark roast hides the defects. What they call "Medium Roast" is at the dark end of the medium roast spectrum, somewhere around Full City+ which is borderline dark.
I can't drink light or medium roasted coffee that looks like that - nobody can - It's awful. But roast it dark and burn off all the defects and nobody is the wiser.
So, in summary, while 99.9% of people are drinking coffee that starts out looking like this:

I'm drinking coffee that starts off looking like this and paying less per pound for it than most of the 99.9%:

I still like dark roast the best but roasting at home opened up a new world for me.
I started buying beans that were intended to be lightly roasted and you can really taste the undertones that you dont get with dark roast.

 

[Cindyd]

The truth about commercial coffee.
When you roast your own coffee, you get to see what the coffee looks like before it is roasted. And the appearance of the green coffee can tell you a lot about how it's going to taste.
This is what it should look like.

Not necessarily that color, but the beans should all be the same color and close to the same size. When you start with good consistent beans, you can roast them consistently and evenly at any roast level.

But when the coffee is picked, it is not consistent.

There are large beans, small beans, misshapen beans, insect damaged beans, light beans, dark beans (the worst), overripe beans and underripe beans. With coffee destined for specialty coffee shops or home roasters, they sort out all the undesirable beans and what do you think they do with them?
Throw them away?
NOPE guess again.
They don't throw anything away, they just mix them in with the beans going to Folgers, Maxwell House, Charbucks, etc.
The photo above was from a batch of Ethiopian Kembata that didn't get sorted properly. I called the supplier and let them have an earful and emailed that picture to them, and they were as horrified as I was. They are still trying to appease me. The last time I visited them in person (a few weeks ago) they asked me what coffee I wanted to try and gave me a bag for free.
I did not send the unsorted coffee back. Not because I wanted to drink it, but because I roast coffee for my brother in law and that coffee was perfectly suitable for him.
Why?
Because he likes dark roast. You see, this is the dirty little secret about commercial coffee and why 99.9% of it is roasted so dark - dark roast hides the defects. What they call "Medium Roast" is at the dark end of the medium roast spectrum, somewhere around Full City+ which is borderline dark.
I can't drink light or medium roasted coffee that looks like that - nobody can - It's awful. But roast it dark and burn off all the defects and nobody is the wiser.
So, in summary, while 99.9% of people are drinking coffee that starts out looking like this:

I'm drinking coffee that starts off looking like this and paying less per pound for it than most of the 99.9%:

"There are large beans, small beans, misshapen beans, insect damaged beans, light beans, dark beans (the worst), overripe beans and underripe beans".

I'm not laughing at your post I appreciate the information but I couldn't help but think of Bubba Gump when I started reading about the different kinds of coffee....I was thinking I bet they go good with coconut shrimp, fried shrimp, pineapple shrimp, barbecue shrimp, boiled shrimp, etc...
I know, I'm warped..

 

[DrHenley]

Green beans have a shelf life of about a year. I'm sure if you took extreme measures you could get them to last longer.

Green beans are sometimes many months old when you get them. They haven't been sealed in anything, just stored in huge burlap sacks in a warehouse. They are good for up to a year like that.
My main supplier (CBC) tells on their web site the approximate date of harvest. The beans I'm roasting now were harvested in February and March, so they've been in the warehouse three or four months (which is relatively fresh). I've seen their warehouse...
I vacuum pack them in batch size portions when I get them.

 

[TexPrep]

Green beans are sometimes many months old when you get them. They haven't been sealed in anything, just stored in huge burlap sacks in a warehouse. They are good for up to a year like that.
My main supplier (CBC) tells on their web site the approximate date of harvest. The beans I'm roasting now were harvested in February and March, so they've been in the warehouse three or four months (which is relatively fresh). I've seen their warehouse...
I vacuum pack them in batch size portions when I get them.

Seems like 4 or 5 months is the standard time you'll get your beans.
Also found a link saying you can keep them for two years if they're properly stored.
Sounds like a year and a half is about as good as you can get when storing them.
Although I'd be willing to bet 3 year old beans would still be better than instant.

 

[DrHenley]

Lucky for me my Wife isn't a coffee drinker.
She laughs at all of my coffee equipment, She calls it my coffee corner....dont mind the Sous Vide machine in the front.
View attachment 16591

I see you have a Cuisinart grinder. I've read good and bad about them, what's your opinion?

I got an Oxo last year that is comparable to the Cuisinart, and have been pretty impressed with the quality for the price. My only gripes are that it has too much retention and doesn't grind as fine as my Capresso, which it replaced as my main grinder. The Capresso is my travel grinder now, LOL. The Capresso has been a workhorse for eight years and I figured it was time to retire is as a daily grinder before it wore out. It is probably not as consistent as your $500 single doser, but it will do espresso, and since the detent is worn out, it is infinitely adjustable LOL.
This is what I use to make my coffee, both at home and on the road (the wife uses a drip):

 

[TexPrep]

I see you have a Cuisinart grinder. I've read good and bad about them, what's your opinion?

I got an Oxo last year that is comparable to the Cuisinart, and have been pretty impressed with the quality for the price. My only gripes are that it has too much retention and doesn't grind as fine as my Capresso, which it replaced as my main grinder. The Capresso is my travel grinder now, LOL. The Capresso has been a workhorse for eight years and I figured it was time to retire is as a daily grinder before it wore out. It is probably not as consistent as your $500 single doser, but it will do espresso, and since the detent is worn out, it is infinitely adjustable LOL.
This is what I use to make my coffee, both at home and on the road (the wife uses a drip):

Dont really use it anymore since it wont grind coffee precisely enough for the Espresso machine or the OXO cold brew maker.
I just use the Rancilio burr grinder for all my grinding, it'll do more than a single dose. Just fill up the hopper and hold down the button.
I pretty much only make cold brew in the heat of the summer other than some Espresso on occasion and it helps if your grind is accurate and on the coarse side for the iced coffee,if you get a bunch of fine grounds it plugs up the OXO cold brew maker.

For drip coffee you cant beat the Technivorm MoccaMaster.
While it's a bit pricey it makes Great Coffee!!!

 

[DrHenley]

The Oxo does coarse really well, but doesn't go very fine. Not even close to espresso. With the Aeropress I used to grind fine, but now I have to adjust the brew time for the coarser grind from the Oxo.
I love the Aeropress because you have complete control over every variable. You can use anything from light to dark and espresso grind to French press grind in it by just adjusting temperature, brew time and dosage. You can even make cold brew in one minute.
It won't do true espresso, but you can get close enough to make cappuccino or Americano.
And it costs 30 bucks

 

[TexPrep]

The Oxo does coarse really well, but doesn't go very fine. Not even close to espresso. With the Aeropress I used to grind fine, but now I have to adjust the brew time for the coarser grind from the Oxo.
I love the Aeropress because you have complete control over every variable. You can use anything from light to dark and espresso grind to French press grind in it by just adjusting temperature, brew time and dosage. You can even make cold brew in one minute.
It won't do true espresso, but you can get close enough to make cappuccino or Americano.
And it costs 30 bucks

When I was talking about the OXO I was referring to the cold brew set up they have.
It's great and reasonably priced at around $50 bucks.
Set it up and let it sit overnight and you have a weeks worth of cold brew.
Havent tried the Aeropress,I'll have to look into it.
Did a little reading and it sounds interesting.

 

[DrHenley]

No, I was just referring to my Oxo grinder. It had nothing to do with your Oxo cold brew.
James Hoffman has done several videos on the Aeropress. I follow most of his suggestions.

 

[DrHenley]

BTW, in case somebody wants to know who James Hoffman is...
He does a lot of coffee videos on YouTube. If you've heard of Ian on Forgotten Weapons called "Gun Jesus"...well James Hoffman is "Coffee Jesus" only more qualified. He literally wrote the book on coffee (The World Atlas of Coffee). And he won the World Barista Championship.

 

[Schattentarn]

SHTF without coffee is a real SHTF. We now have baby forumla and tampon shortages. If Biden allows a coffee shortage to happen, it may be the end for him.

 

[DrHenley]

 

[DrHenley]

The worst thing is waiting for the coffee to rest for a week before you can brew it.

On day one, usually the roast flavors are predominant, then for two or three days the origin flavors start coming out. After that the origin flavors diminish and the roast flavors start to take over again. I don't really care much for the roast flavors so I rarely let it develop for a week.

I'm looking for maximum origin flavor. Like blackberry and dried plum in Kenyans, and blueberry and dark chocolate in Yemen Mochas. The most unusual origin flavor was lime in some Peruvian. Not something I'd want to drink all the time but it was interesting and easy to drink.

 

[DrHenley]

Sampling some Yemen Mocca Khulani Natural that I roasted early this morning.
It's already chocolaty with a bit of fruitiness (can't tell what fruit yet), can't wait to see what it tastes like tomorrow.

 

[TexPrep]

On day one, usually the roast flavors are predominant, then for two or three days the origin flavors start coming out. After that the origin flavors diminish and the roast flavors start to take over again. I don't really care much for the roast flavors so I rarely let it develop for a week.

I'm looking for maximum origin flavor. Like blackberry and dried plum in Kenyans, and blueberry and dark chocolate in Yemen Mochas. The most unusual origin flavor was lime in some Peruvian. Not something I'd want to drink all the time but it was interesting and easy to drink.

I rarely made it to the week waiting period.
If I did it was because I already had beans that were ready.

 

[DrHenley]

Coffee Flavor Chemistry
There is one chemical that is responsible for the distinctive taste of coffee, 2-Furanmethanethiol.
But coffee has thousands of chemical compounds in it, and the proportions of those compounds is what make different kinds of coffee taste different.

Some of the more important chemicals contributing to the smell and taste of coffee:

• Caffeine, which is bitter.
• Caramelized sugars which are sweet.
• (E)-ß-Damascenone which is fruity
• 3-Mercapto- 3-methylbutylformate which is roasty
• 2-Isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, 2,3-Diethyl-5-methylpyrazine, 2-Ethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazine, and 2-Isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine which are earthy
• Guaiacol, 4-Vinylguaiacol, and 4-Ethylguaiacol which are spicy
• Acetylmethylcarbinol, and 2,3-Butanedione which are buttery (Acetylmethylcarbinol is the chemical in butter that gives it a buttery taste)
• Vanillin, which is, of course, vanilla flavor
• 4-Hydroxy-2,5-dimethyl- 3(2H)-furanone which is caramel-like
• Phosphoric acid (primary contributor to acidity), Quinic acid, Formic acid, Acetic acid, Propanoic acid, Butanoic acid, Methylpropanoic acid, Pentanoic acid, Lactic acid, Pyruvic acid, Malic acid, Tartaric acid, Citric acid (and many more) which are acidic
• Palmitic acid and Linoleic Acid which are fatty acids, and contribute to "mouth feel."
• Dimethyl Disulfide, which is nasty (human feces odor) and you don't want much of it in the coffee
• 2-Ethylphenol which has a tar-like medicinal odor (don't want much of this either)
• Putrescine - let's put it this way, it has the same root word as "putrid".

Most of these don't exist in green coffee beans. They have to be created by roasting.

 

[Cindyd]

I saw this on Fox this morning...RE: Coffee

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6307653678112

 

[DrHenley]

I saw this on Fox this morning...RE: Coffee

https://video.foxnews.com/v/6307653678112

Yes, there have been a number of studies that showed that coffee decreases the risk of dementia, heart disease, type II diabetes, liver cancer and suicide.

 

[Schattentarn]

I take drip irrigation through the veins each morning just to get me out of bed.

 

[Buttoni]

Yes, there have been a number of studies that showed that coffee decreases the risk of dementia, heart disease, type II diabetes, liver cancer and suicide.

Not terribly fond of the taste of coffee (other than in ice cream), but I drink my 1 cup a day for the touted health benefits and to prevent withdrawal headaches, which are a bit#h to deal with. We have some in vacuum pouches from My Patriot Supply for SHTF. Hope it's decent, but it's probably not. I think half it is ground and then we ordered the last batch as whole beans.

 

[DrHenley]

Here is a great starter kit for anyone who wants to jump into home roasting:

https://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Roaster-Bundle-Extension-Cooler/dp/B09MDLK417This one can be easily used indoors, preferably under a range hood.

It includes the FreshRoast SR800 air roaster, a bean cooler, an extention tube (makes the beans roast more evenly) and some sample packs of green coffee. The bundle saves about $200 from the price if pieces are bought separately. The extension tube is very difficult to find on its own. I would have bought the SR800 instead of building my own if I had been able to find the extension tube.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

@DrHenley since you are a connoisseur, would you be interested in a la spaziale S1 with probably a matching grinder (I have to find that box) for the price of shipping? It was given to us and I just want it out of my barn. DM/PM if you are interested.

 

[DrHenley]

Yes!
...I'll PM you.

 

[campandtravel]

@DrHenley

Really good information here, thank you.

I have a question. How long will an unopened can (metal can, plastic can) of ground coffee beans last? I've had a can on the shelf for almost two years now and I don't want to open it because the coffee in there isn't what I like, although I'd consider it a blessing if there was none of the good stuff left. So it's just sitting and I'm worried it'll go bad eventually. Do you have any experience with that?

 

[DrHenley]

@DrHenley
I have a question. How long will an unopened can (metal can, plastic can) of ground coffee beans last? I've had a can on the shelf for almost two years now and I don't want to open it because the coffee in there isn't what I like, although I'd consider it a blessing if there was none of the good stuff left. So it's just sitting and I'm worried it'll go bad eventually. Do you have any experience with that?

"Bad" is relative. It's not going to kill you no matter how long it's been in the can as long as it's well sealed. It just tastes progressively worse. James Hoffman did some YT videos in which he drank coffee that was decades old out of curiosity. (video below).

Back in the dark ages before whole bean coffee was a "thing", I bought ground coffee for many years and paid attention to how it tasted when I first opened the package, and how the taste changed thereafter...whether it was a bag, a brick, or a can. The best was vacuum packed in a can with CO2.

Whenever coffee is ground, oxygen comes into contact with the grounds. Even if they vacuum pack it after grinding, it has begun to oxidize already. Unless their grinder is in a pure CO2 environment, which I doubt.

This is not true with whole bean coffee. After roasting, the beans give off gasses (mostly CO2) for a few days. They package it while it is still offgassing in bags with one-way valves, and the gas that comes out of the beans purges most of the oxygen from the bags. Unless the ground coffee you buy is in that type of bag, it was not offgassing when it was bagged. Most ground coffee does not.

However, those "one way valves" aren't perfect and the do let some air in.

If vacuum packed in CO2 immediately after grinding, you have a chance of the coffee lasting a good while in a controlled environment (no heat getting to it)
But there is no way I can quantify that.

 

[campandtravel]

Thanks for that. So I guess the only thing to do is open one up and see. I just don't want to drink that much of that coffee, and the can is so big!

Pretty much none of my stored food is food I want to eat, although I'd be happy to eat it if I had no choice. It's a problem I'm having across the board. I know people say to buy what you would eat but what I eat is fresh food, not food that stores well.

I watched that video, and I also tried some vacuum-sealed espresso I've had for two years. It's been in the freezer, then out of it (not sure if that matters) and it was disgusting. But I haven't tried that brand fresh, so I'm not sure how much was the age and how much was the bean.

Anyway thank you.

 

[campandtravel]

I can confirm that six months past "best buy" date is still totally fine. Tastes like typical complimentary coffee in the waiting room at the mechanic's. It'll be 18 months before I can test a year out, thank goodness.

 

[DrHenley]

I can confirm that six months past "best buy" date is still totally fine. Tastes like typical complimentary coffee in the waiting room at the mechanic's..

We have different definitions of "totally fine." LOL
My wife used to think that was totally fine, I never have. But I spoiled her with fresh roasted coffee and now she can't drink that swill anymore.